Sharp County, Arkansas · Ash Flat
Water spreading, a burst pipe, sewage, mold or smoke? Call to be connected with a restoration company that serves Cherokee Village, Cave City and Highland. Start the steps below while you wait.
Answered 24/7 by a participating local provider. We're a referral service and don't do the work ourselves. How it works
Start here
Pick the closest match. These steps limit the damage and protect your insurance claim. Skip anything that isn't safe.
With 8% of homes built before 1960 and about 13 hard-freeze nights a year, frozen and split pipes are a leading winter risk in the county.
Heavy rain days of an inch or more come about 14.9 times a year here, most often in May. A sump pump that hasn't run since last season is a common weak point.
Backups often follow heavy rain, which Sharp County gets about 14.9 days a year, when storm water overloads sewer mains and pushes up through the lowest drain in the house.
In Sharp County, 4.12 inches fell on the wettest day of the 2015–2024 record. Storms like that, and ice dams in snowy winters, cause most roof leaks.
39% of occupied homes in Sharp County heat mainly with wood or propane, above the Arkansas county median of 10.9%.
Muggy summer nights, lows of 65°F or more, come about 81 times a year in Sharp County. Mold after a leak spreads fastest from June through August.
Local risk profile
About 17,773 people live in Sharp County, 605 square miles in northern Arkansas, in roughly 9,525 homes. Besides Ash Flat, the county seat, the biggest communities are Cherokee Village, Cave City and Highland. Half the homes here were built before 1978, half after.
35/100 Water Damage Risk Index: Moderate Sharp County ranks 71 of 75 Arkansas counties. See the statewide ranking and method.The three factors where Sharp County ranks highest compared with other Arkansas counties.
Sharp County gets more hard-freeze nights than most of Arkansas. From 2015–2024 it averaged 13 nights a year at 20°F or colder, the range where pipes in exterior walls, crawl spaces and unheated garages freeze, and 71 nights at or below 32°F. That ranks 12th of 75 counties.
The longest cold spell was straight 10 days without the temperature rising above freezing, ending in February 2021. The coldest night reached about -4°F on February 16, 2021. Burst pipes usually show up when a spell like that breaks and the ice thaws.
Expect the hardest freezes in January, inside a season that runs December to February. That's when an outdoor spigot left connected to a hose, or a pipe in a crawl space, is most likely to split.
Freezing nights typically start around Nov 4 and end around Mar 29.
Sharp gets fewer downpours than most Arkansas counties, but they still fill basements. Of roughly 54.9 inches of yearly precipitation, the damage comes from the 14.9 days a year with an inch or more, ranked 63rd of 75. March, April and May see the most. The single wettest day in the record: 4.12 inches, April 30, 2017. The worst three-day stretch dropped 7.02 inches, ending August 16, 2016, the kind of soaking that overwhelms sump pumps and storm sewers.
Freeze-thaw days, below freezing overnight and above it by afternoon, come about 64 times a year here. They're the main driver of ice dams and of water working its way through foundation cracks in late winter.
Housing
Arkansas's 75 counties range widely in housing age; Sharp ranks 8th, with 58% of its homes built before 1980.
Housing age is mixed: 8% of homes are pre-1960 and 14% are 2000 or newer. Ask any plumber which era your house is from and you'll know which failures to watch for.
The 1980s and 1990s account for 28% of the county's homes. If yours is from those decades, look under the sinks and at the water heater for gray plastic pipe stamped PB, which is polybutylene and leak-prone.
Manufactured and mobile homes make up 12% of the housing here. Water lines in the underbelly depend on intact skirting and working heat tape, and they're usually the first to freeze in a cold snap.
With 28% of homes empty at survey time, landlords and seasonal owners should shut off the main or schedule checks in winter. An unheated vacant house is also where many policies limit freeze coverage.
Beyond water
Summer nights that don't drop below 65°F, a good marker of humid air, come about 81 times a year here, below the Arkansas county median of 105. Keep indoor humidity under 60%, as the EPA advises, and dry any leak within 24 to 48 hours; in a humid month a wet basement left alone won't dry by itself.
Mold remediation: what to expectBy main heating fuel, Sharp County homes break down as 6% utility gas, 54% electric, 32% propane and 7% wood. Wood and propane heat are above the Arkansas norm. Annual chimney and vent inspection, which the NFPA recommends, is one of the most effective fire-prevention habits for these homes.
Fire and smoke cleanup: first stepsCoverage
Calls connect to restoration companies that work across Sharp County. The largest communities by population:
Population from ACS 2020-2024 5-year estimates. Townships and unincorporated areas are covered too.
Nearby
Fulton and Izard get more pipe-freeze nights than Sharp. Its housing is the oldest in the area by share of homes built before 1980.
By the numbers
| Factor | Sharp | Arkansas median | Rank |
|---|---|---|---|
| Homes built before 1960 | 8.2% | 15% | 67 of 75 |
| Homes built before 1980 | 58% | 46% | 8 of 75 |
| Homes built 2000 or later | 14% | 23% | 69 of 75 |
| Manufactured or mobile homes | 12% | 15% | 55 of 75 |
| Vacant homes | 28% | 18% | 6 of 75 |
| Wood or propane heat | 39% | 11% | 5 of 75 |
| Nights at 20°F or colder | 13/yr | 6/yr | 12 of 75 |
| Days with 1 inch+ of rain | 15/yr | 17/yr | 63 of 75 |
| Freeze-thaw days | 64/yr | 48/yr | 11 of 75 |
| Muggy nights (65°F+) | 81/yr | 105/yr | 62 of 75 |
Rank 1 is the highest value. Bars run from the lowest to the highest Arkansas county; the tick marks the median; orange means higher water damage risk than the median, green means lower.
Questions
Peak risk months in Sharp County: freezing from December to February, heavy rain in March, April and May.
Sources: U.S. Census Bureau, ACS 2024 5-year estimates (2020-2024); weather from NOAA nClimGrid-Daily county averages (EpiNOAA), 2015–2024, averaged across the county; county boundaries from Census TIGER. Reviewed 2026-10-21. Methodology