Ida County, Iowa · Ida Grove
Water spreading, a burst pipe, sewage, mold or smoke? Call to be connected with a restoration company that serves Ida Grove, Holstein and Battle Creek. 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 60% of homes built before 1960 and about 68 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 5.9 times a year here, most often in August. A sump pump that hasn't run since last season is a common weak point.
Backups often follow heavy rain, which Ida County gets about 5.9 days a year, when storm water overloads sewer mains and pushes up through the lowest drain in the house.
In Ida County, 2.5 inches fell on the wettest day of the 2015–2024 record. Storms like that, and ice dams in snowy winters, cause most roof leaks.
14% of occupied homes in Ida County heat mainly with wood or propane, below the Iowa county median of 22.1%.
About 28 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 3,369 homes and around 6,911 residents, Ida County is 432 square miles of western Iowa. Ida Grove is the county seat; Holstein, Battle Creek and Galva are the next largest communities. It has some of the oldest housing in the state: the median home went up in 1952.
59/100 Water Damage Risk Index: Elevated Ida County ranks 26 of 99 Iowa counties. See the statewide ranking and method.The three factors where Ida County ranks highest compared with other Iowa counties.
Ida County gets more hard-freeze nights than most of Iowa. In the 2015–2024 record the county logged about 68 nights a year at or below 20°F (30th of 99) and 144 below freezing. Twenty degrees is roughly where uninsulated pipes start to freeze.
The longest cold spell was straight 32 days without the temperature rising above freezing, ending in March 2019. The coldest night reached about -28°F on February 16, 2021. 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.
Freezing nights typically start around Oct 16 and end around Apr 28.
Ida gets fewer downpours than most Iowa counties, but they still fill basements. About 5.9 days a year bring an inch or more (89th of 99), most often in August, out of 30.7 inches of total precipitation. On October 13, 2023, 2.5 inches fell in a single day. The worst three-day stretch dropped 4.35 inches, ending August 19, 2015, the kind of soaking that overwhelms sump pumps and storm sewers.
The temperature crosses 32°F in both directions on roughly 92 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
84% of homes in Ida County predate 1980, above the Iowa county median of 72.8%, which ranks 7th of Iowa's 99 counties.
Before 1960 is when 60% of these homes went up. Galvanized supply lines and cast iron drains were standard then, and after 60-plus years both corrode and crack, often out of sight inside a wall or under a slab.
Beyond water
Summer nights that don't drop below 65°F, a good marker of humid air, come about 28 times a year here, close to the Iowa county median of 29. 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 Ida County's occupied homes: 42% utility gas, 40% electric, 13% propane and under 1% 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 Ida County. The largest communities by population:
Population from ACS 2020-2024 5-year estimates. Townships and unincorporated areas are covered too.
Nearby
Cherokee gets more pipe-freeze nights than Ida. Cherokee County has the oldest housing nearby, with 84% of homes built before 1980.
By the numbers
| Factor | Ida | Iowa median | Rank |
|---|---|---|---|
| Homes built before 1960 | 60% | 48% | 4 of 99 |
| Homes built before 1980 | 84% | 73% | 7 of 99 |
| Homes built 2000 or later | 7.7% | 13% | 91 of 99 |
| Manufactured or mobile homes | 0.9% | 3.2% | 94 of 99 |
| Vacant homes | 9.5% | 9.5% | 49 of 99 |
| Wood or propane heat | 14% | 22% | 80 of 99 |
| Nights at 20°F or colder | 68/yr | 62/yr | 30 of 99 |
| Days with 1 inch+ of rain | 5.9/yr | 7.1/yr | 89 of 99 |
| Freeze-thaw days | 92/yr | 94/yr | 67 of 99 |
| Muggy nights (65°F+) | 28/yr | 29/yr | 53 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 Ida County: freezing from November to March, heavy rain in May, 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