Davis County, Iowa · Bloomfield
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Pipes freeze in Davis County on about 49 nights a year, mostly November to March. Older homes, 39% of the stock here, are most at risk.
Basements flood here mostly in July. Davis County averages 7.2 days a year with an inch of rain or more.
Backups often follow heavy rain, which Davis County gets about 7.2 days a year, when storm water overloads sewer mains and pushes up through the lowest drain in the house.
Roof leaks here come from summer downpours and, with about 89 freeze-thaw days a year, from winter ice dams. Most show up as ceiling stains in the room below.
57% of occupied homes in Davis County heat mainly with wood or propane, above the Iowa county median of 22.1%.
Muggy summer nights, lows of 65°F or more, come about 41 times a year in Davis County. Mold after a leak spreads fastest from June through August.
Local risk profile
Davis County covers 502 square miles of southeast Iowa, with about 9,157 residents and 3,612 homes. Besides Bloomfield, the county seat, the biggest communities are Pulaski, Drakesville and Floris. The county's median home was built in 1973.
33/100 Water Damage Risk Index: Moderate Davis County ranks 91 of 99 Iowa counties. See the statewide ranking and method.The three factors where Davis County ranks highest compared with other Iowa counties.
Davis County is milder than most of Iowa, but not mild enough to skip winterizing. It averaged 125 freezing nights a year over 2015–2024, 49 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 94th.
The longest cold spell was straight 16 days without the temperature rising above freezing, ending in January 2018. The coldest night reached about -20°F on January 31, 2019. Burst pipes usually show up when a spell like that breaks and the ice thaws.
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 21 and the last spring freeze around Apr 23.
Rainfall is about average for Iowa. Of roughly 36.1 inches of yearly precipitation, the damage comes from the 7.2 days a year with an inch or more, ranked 42nd of 99. June, July and September see the most. The single wettest day in the record: 3.57 inches, June 25, 2015. Multi-day storms matter most for basements; the wettest three days on record here totaled 4.88 inches (through June 25, 2015).
Freeze-thaw days, below freezing overnight and above it by afternoon, come about 89 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
Iowa's 99 counties range widely in housing age; Davis ranks 74th, with 65% of its homes built before 1980.
Housing age is mixed: 39% of homes are pre-1960 and 17% are 2000 or newer. Ask any plumber which era your house is from and you'll know which failures to watch for.
Manufactured and mobile homes make up 8% 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.
Beyond water
Davis County averages 41 warm, muggy nights a year (lows of 65°F or more) and gets the most rain in May. 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 expectMain heating fuel in Davis County's occupied homes: 26% utility gas, 15% electric, 40% propane and 16% wood. Wood and propane heat are more common here than the state median. Have chimneys swept and fuel-burning appliances serviced each fall, and keep three feet clear around stoves and space heaters.
Fire and smoke cleanup: first stepsCoverage
Calls connect to restoration companies that work across Davis County. The largest communities by population:
Population from ACS 2020-2024 5-year estimates. Townships and unincorporated areas are covered too.
Nearby
Appanoose and Wapello get more pipe-freeze nights than Davis. It also has the most heavy-rain days in its area. Wapello County has the oldest housing nearby, with 76% of homes built before 1980.
By the numbers
| Factor | Davis | Iowa median | Rank |
|---|---|---|---|
| Homes built before 1960 | 39% | 48% | 84 of 99 |
| Homes built before 1980 | 65% | 73% | 74 of 99 |
| Homes built 2000 or later | 17% | 13% | 28 of 99 |
| Manufactured or mobile homes | 7.8% | 3.2% | 7 of 99 |
| Vacant homes | 11% | 9.5% | 27 of 99 |
| Wood or propane heat | 57% | 22% | 2 of 99 |
| Nights at 20°F or colder | 49/yr | 62/yr | 94 of 99 |
| Days with 1 inch+ of rain | 7.2/yr | 7.1/yr | 42 of 99 |
| Freeze-thaw days | 89/yr | 94/yr | 89 of 99 |
| Muggy nights (65°F+) | 41/yr | 29/yr | 10 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 Davis 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