LaPorte County, Indiana · La Porte
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With 39% of homes built before 1960 and about 39 hard-freeze nights a year, frozen and split pipes are a leading winter risk in the county.
Basements flood here mostly in June. LaPorte County averages 6.6 days a year with an inch of rain or more.
Sewage backups in LaPorte County spike on heavy-rain days, about 6.6 a year, when sewer mains fill up and water finds the lowest drain.
LaPorte County's wettest day in the 2015–2024 record brought 5.25 inches, and about 88 freeze-thaw days a year mean ice dams in some winters.
7% of occupied homes in LaPorte County heat mainly with wood or propane, below the Indiana county median of 17%.
About 32 nights a year here stay at 65°F or warmer, so basements and crawl spaces can grow mold even without a leak.
Local risk profile
With 50,038 homes and around 111,917 residents, LaPorte County is 598 square miles of northern Indiana. The county seat is La Porte, and Michigan City, Westville and Trail Creek round out the largest towns. The county's median home was built in 1969.
60/100 Water Damage Risk Index: Elevated LaPorte County ranks 9 of 92 Indiana counties. See the statewide ranking and method.The three factors where LaPorte County ranks highest compared with other Indiana counties.
LaPorte is on the colder side of Indiana for pipes. It averaged 120 freezing nights a year over 2015–2024, 39 of them at 20°F or colder, cold enough for pipes in outside walls and crawl spaces to freeze. Among 92 Indiana counties that's 6th.
Cold snaps are the real risk. The worst in the record lasted 19 days below freezing (ending March 2015), and the low bottomed out near -20°F on January 31, 2019.
The freeze season here runs November to March, with January the coldest. If you travel then, leave the thermostat at 55°F or above and open sink cabinets on outside walls.
On average the first fall freeze arrives around Oct 25 and the last spring freeze around Apr 28.
Rainfall is about average for Indiana. Of roughly 40 inches of yearly precipitation, the damage comes from the 6.6 days a year with an inch or more, ranked 58th of 92. May, June and July see the most. The single wettest day in the record: 5.25 inches, August 16, 2016. Multi-day storms matter most for basements; the wettest three days on record here totaled 5.36 inches (through August 18, 2016).
The temperature crosses 32°F in both directions on roughly 88 days a year. Each cycle melts and refreezes water at roof edges and in foundation cracks, which is how ice dams and basement seepage get started.
Housing
65% of homes in LaPorte County predate 1980, above the Indiana county median of 58.2%, which ranks 28th of Indiana's 92 counties.
39% were built before 1960. Homes from that era often still have galvanized steel supply pipe, which rusts from the inside until it pinholes, and cast iron drains that crack with age. Slow leaks behind walls are a common start to water damage in these houses.
The Census counted 13% of homes as vacant, above the Indiana county median of 9.2%. Empty houses are where a small leak turns into a large claim, because nobody is there to hear it.
Beyond water
Summer nights that don't drop below 65°F, a good marker of humid air, come about 32 times a year here, below the Indiana county median of 38. Mold grows when indoor humidity stays above about 60%, the EPA's ceiling. A basement dehumidifier set to 50% and drying anything wet within 24 to 48 hours prevents most problems.
Mold remediation: what to expectBy main heating fuel, LaPorte County homes break down as 83% utility gas, 9% electric, 5% propane and 1% wood. Heating equipment, cooking and electrical failures cause most home fires nationally. Even a small kitchen fire can leave soot through the whole house, because smoke follows air currents into closets, ducts and attic space.
Fire and smoke cleanup: first stepsCoverage
Calls connect to restoration companies that work across LaPorte County. The largest communities by population:
Population from ACS 2020-2024 5-year estimates. Townships and unincorporated areas are covered too.
Nearby
Porter gets more pipe-freeze nights than LaPorte. It also has the most heavy-rain days in its area. Its housing is the oldest in the area by share of homes built before 1980.
By the numbers
| Factor | LaPorte | Indiana median | Rank |
|---|---|---|---|
| Homes built before 1960 | 39% | 35% | 31 of 92 |
| Homes built before 1980 | 65% | 58% | 28 of 92 |
| Homes built 2000 or later | 15% | 18% | 66 of 92 |
| Manufactured or mobile homes | 4.2% | 6.4% | 66 of 92 |
| Vacant homes | 13% | 9.2% | 16 of 92 |
| Wood or propane heat | 6.5% | 17% | 77 of 92 |
| Nights at 20°F or colder | 39/yr | 33/yr | 6 of 92 |
| Days with 1 inch+ of rain | 6.6/yr | 7.8/yr | 58 of 92 |
| Freeze-thaw days | 88/yr | 84/yr | 12 of 92 |
| Muggy nights (65°F+) | 32/yr | 38/yr | 70 of 92 |
Rank 1 is the highest value. Bars run from the lowest to the highest Indiana county; the tick marks the median; orange means higher water damage risk than the median, green means lower.
Questions
Peak risk months in LaPorte County: freezing from November to March, heavy rain in May, June and July.
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