Cedar County, Iowa · Tipton
Water spreading, a burst pipe, sewage, mold or smoke? Call to be connected with a restoration company that serves Tipton, West Branch and Durant. 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 47% of homes built before 1960 and about 57 hard-freeze nights a year, frozen and split pipes are a leading winter risk in the county.
Basements flood here mostly in June. Cedar County averages 7 days a year with an inch of rain or more.
Sewage backups in Cedar County spike on heavy-rain days, about 7 a year, when sewer mains fill up and water finds the lowest drain.
Cedar County's wettest day in the 2015–2024 record brought 3.56 inches, and about 96 freeze-thaw days a year mean ice dams in some winters.
32% of occupied homes in Cedar County heat mainly with wood or propane, above the Iowa county median of 22.1%.
With 30 muggy nights a year, mold in Cedar County can appear within days of a leak. Dry first, then clean.
Local risk profile
Cedar County covers 579 square miles of eastern Iowa, with about 18,349 residents and 8,300 homes. Besides Tipton, the county seat, the biggest communities are West Branch, Durant and Clarence. The county's median home was built in 1965.
44/100 Water Damage Risk Index: Moderate Cedar County ranks 66 of 99 Iowa counties. See the statewide ranking and method.The three factors where Cedar County ranks highest compared with other Iowa counties.
For frozen pipes, Cedar County is a typical Iowa county, which is still plenty. It averaged 139 freezing nights a year over 2015–2024, 57 of them at 20°F or colder, cold enough for pipes in outside walls and crawl spaces to freeze. Among 99 Iowa counties that's 63rd.
On January 31, 2019 the low fell to about -31°F, and in the stretch ending February 2019 the county went 17 days in a row below freezing. Leaks from split pipes typically appear the day the thaw arrives.
Most freezing nights fall from November to March, peaking in January. Disconnect garden hoses and shut off outdoor spigots before the first hard frost, and keep the heat at 55°F or higher if you'll be away.
On average the first fall freeze arrives around Oct 19 and the last spring freeze around Apr 24.
Rainfall is about average for Iowa. Of roughly 37.5 inches of yearly precipitation, the damage comes from the 7 days a year with an inch or more, ranked 52nd of 99. June, July and September see the most. The single wettest day in the record: 3.56 inches, August 12, 2016. Multi-day storms matter most for basements; the wettest three days on record here totaled 3.75 inches (through August 13, 2016).
The temperature crosses 32°F in both directions on roughly 96 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
68% of homes in Cedar County predate 1980, close to the Iowa county median of 72.8%, which ranks 63rd of Iowa's 99 counties.
Growth since 2000 added 20% of today's homes. In houses that new, the weak points are washing machine hoses, ice maker lines, water heaters and sump pumps rather than the pipes in the walls.
Beyond water
About 30 nights a year in Cedar County stay at 65°F or warmer, a sign of muggy summer air (45th of 99 counties). June is the wettest month. The EPA recommends keeping indoor humidity below 60%, ideally 30 to 50%. Basements can pass 60% on their own in summer, so a dehumidifier matters even without a leak, and anything wet should be dried within 24 to 48 hours.
Mold remediation: what to expectBy main heating fuel, Cedar County homes break down as 53% utility gas, 13% electric, 31% propane and 2% wood. Propane heat is above the Iowa 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 Cedar County. The largest communities by population:
Population from ACS 2020-2024 5-year estimates. Townships and unincorporated areas are covered too.
Nearby
Johnson and Linn get more pipe-freeze nights than Cedar. Clinton County has the oldest housing nearby, with 77% of homes built before 1980.
By the numbers
| Factor | Cedar | Iowa median | Rank |
|---|---|---|---|
| Homes built before 1960 | 47% | 48% | 53 of 99 |
| Homes built before 1980 | 68% | 73% | 63 of 99 |
| Homes built 2000 or later | 20% | 13% | 13 of 99 |
| Manufactured or mobile homes | 4.3% | 3.2% | 29 of 99 |
| Vacant homes | 8.2% | 9.5% | 69 of 99 |
| Wood or propane heat | 32% | 22% | 25 of 99 |
| Nights at 20°F or colder | 57/yr | 62/yr | 63 of 99 |
| Days with 1 inch+ of rain | 7/yr | 7.1/yr | 52 of 99 |
| Freeze-thaw days | 96/yr | 94/yr | 24 of 99 |
| Muggy nights (65°F+) | 30/yr | 29/yr | 45 of 99 |
Rank 1 is the highest value. Bars run from the lowest to the highest Iowa county; the tick marks the median; orange means higher water damage risk than the median, green means lower.
Questions
Peak risk months in Cedar County: freezing from November to March, heavy rain in June, July and September.
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