Floyd County, Iowa · Charles City
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With 53% of homes built before 1960 and about 72 hard-freeze nights a year, frozen and split pipes are a leading winter risk in the county.
Basements flood here mostly in June. Floyd County averages 8.7 days a year with an inch of rain or more.
53% of homes here predate 1960, when clay and cast iron sewer laterals were standard. Roots and cracks in those lines are a common cause of backups.
Floyd County's wettest day in the 2015–2024 record brought 4.53 inches, and about 93 freeze-thaw days a year mean ice dams in some winters.
20% of occupied homes in Floyd County heat mainly with wood or propane, close to the Iowa county median of 22.1%.
Muggy summer nights, lows of 65°F or more, come about 20 times a year in Floyd County. Mold after a leak spreads fastest from June through August.
Local risk profile
With 7,306 homes and around 15,328 residents, Floyd County is 501 square miles of northern Iowa. Besides Charles City, the county seat, the biggest communities are Nora Springs, Rockford and Rudd. It has some of the oldest housing in the state: the median home went up in 1958.
72/100 Water Damage Risk Index: High Floyd County ranks 4 of 99 Iowa counties. See the statewide ranking and method.The three factors where Floyd County ranks highest compared with other Iowa counties.
Floyd County gets more hard-freeze nights than most of Iowa. In the 2015–2024 record the county logged about 72 nights a year at or below 20°F (18th of 99) and 150 below freezing. Twenty degrees is roughly where uninsulated pipes start to freeze.
The longest cold spell was straight 18 days without the temperature rising above freezing, ending in January 2018. The coldest night reached about -29°F on January 31, 2019. Burst pipes usually show up when a spell like that breaks and the ice thaws.
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.
Freezing nights typically start around Oct 14 and end around May 1.
Heavy rain is a bigger factor here than in most of Iowa. The county gets about 38.7 inches of rain and melted snow a year, with 8.7 days of an inch or more (7th of 99). Those downpours cluster in June, August and September, when sump pumps and gutters are tested hardest. The wettest day on record brought 4.53 inches on September 22, 2016. The worst three-day stretch dropped 6.15 inches, ending August 29, 2021, the kind of soaking that overwhelms sump pumps and storm sewers.
Freeze-thaw days, below freezing overnight and above it by afternoon, come about 93 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; Floyd ranks 9th, with 83% of its homes built before 1980.
53% 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.
Beyond water
About 20 nights a year in Floyd County stay at 65°F or warmer, a sign of muggy summer air (85th 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 expectMain heating fuel in Floyd County's occupied homes: 57% utility gas, 20% electric, 18% propane and 2% wood. Fires here are likelier to start in the kitchen or the wiring than in the furnace. After any fire, keep the HVAC off until ducts are checked, or soot will travel through the house.
Fire and smoke cleanup: first stepsCoverage
Calls connect to restoration companies that work across Floyd County. The largest communities by population:
Population from ACS 2020-2024 5-year estimates. Townships and unincorporated areas are covered too.
Nearby
Cerro Gordo and Mitchell get more pipe-freeze nights than Floyd. 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 | Floyd | Iowa median | Rank |
|---|---|---|---|
| Homes built before 1960 | 53% | 48% | 25 of 99 |
| Homes built before 1980 | 83% | 73% | 9 of 99 |
| Homes built 2000 or later | 10% | 13% | 76 of 99 |
| Manufactured or mobile homes | 1.3% | 3.2% | 90 of 99 |
| Vacant homes | 11% | 9.5% | 30 of 99 |
| Wood or propane heat | 20% | 22% | 60 of 99 |
| Nights at 20°F or colder | 72/yr | 62/yr | 18 of 99 |
| Days with 1 inch+ of rain | 8.7/yr | 7.1/yr | 7 of 99 |
| Freeze-thaw days | 93/yr | 94/yr | 54 of 99 |
| Muggy nights (65°F+) | 20/yr | 29/yr | 85 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 Floyd County: freezing from November to March, heavy rain in June, August 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