Lucas County, Iowa · Chariton
Water spreading, a burst pipe, sewage, mold or smoke? Call to be connected with a restoration company that serves Chariton, Russell and Williamson. 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.
Lucas County averages 53 nights a year at 20°F or colder, mostly November to March, and 48% of its homes predate 1960.
Basements flood here mostly in July. Lucas County averages 6.6 days a year with an inch of rain or more.
Sewage backups in Lucas County spike on heavy-rain days, about 6.6 a year, when sewer mains fill up and water finds the lowest drain.
Roof leaks here come from summer downpours and, with about 93 freeze-thaw days a year, from winter ice dams. Most show up as ceiling stains in the room below.
37% of occupied homes in Lucas County heat mainly with wood or propane, above the Iowa county median of 22.1%.
About 38 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
Lucas County covers 431 square miles of southern Iowa, with about 8,716 residents and 4,074 homes. The county seat is Chariton, and Russell, Williamson and Lucas round out the largest towns. Half the homes here were built before 1962, half after.
40/100 Water Damage Risk Index: Moderate Lucas County ranks 78 of 99 Iowa counties. See the statewide ranking and method.The three factors where Lucas County ranks highest compared with other Iowa counties.
Winters here are on the gentler end for Iowa, and pipes still freeze. It averaged 130 freezing nights a year over 2015–2024, 53 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 79th.
On January 31, 2019 the low fell to about -21°F, and in the stretch ending January 2018 the county went 16 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.
Freezing nights typically start around Oct 19 and end around Apr 23.
Lucas gets fewer downpours than most Iowa counties, but they still fill basements. Of roughly 35.8 inches of yearly precipitation, the damage comes from the 6.6 days a year with an inch or more, ranked 68th of 99. July, September and October see the most. The single wettest day in the record: 2.98 inches, November 5, 2022. The worst three-day stretch dropped 4.01 inches, ending October 9, 2018, the kind of soaking that overwhelms sump pumps and storm sewers.
About 93 days a year swing from below freezing at night to above freezing by day. Those freeze-thaw cycles feed ice dams on roofs, open cracks in foundations and driveways, and stress pipes that are already marginal.
Housing
Iowa's 99 counties range widely in housing age; Lucas ranks 37th, with 75% of its homes built before 1980.
Older and newer homes sit side by side here: 48% predate 1960 and 13% are from 2000 or later. Corroded pipe is the typical failure in the first group, burst supply hoses in the second.
Beyond water
Summer nights that don't drop below 65°F, a good marker of humid air, come about 38 times a year here, above 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 expectBy main heating fuel, Lucas County homes break down as 35% utility gas, 24% electric, 33% propane and 4% wood. Wood and propane heat are more common here than in most Iowa counties. Heating equipment is one of the leading causes of home fires nationally, and the NFPA recommends having chimneys and vents inspected every year.
Fire and smoke cleanup: first stepsCoverage
Calls connect to restoration companies that work across Lucas County. The largest communities by population:
Population from ACS 2020-2024 5-year estimates. Townships and unincorporated areas are covered too.
Nearby
Marion and Wayne get more pipe-freeze nights than Lucas. Its housing is the oldest in the area by share of homes built before 1980.
By the numbers
| Factor | Lucas | Iowa median | Rank |
|---|---|---|---|
| Homes built before 1960 | 48% | 48% | 50 of 99 |
| Homes built before 1980 | 75% | 73% | 37 of 99 |
| Homes built 2000 or later | 13% | 13% | 56 of 99 |
| Manufactured or mobile homes | 5% | 3.2% | 20 of 99 |
| Vacant homes | 9% | 9.5% | 58 of 99 |
| Wood or propane heat | 37% | 22% | 14 of 99 |
| Nights at 20°F or colder | 53/yr | 62/yr | 79 of 99 |
| Days with 1 inch+ of rain | 6.6/yr | 7.1/yr | 68 of 99 |
| Freeze-thaw days | 93/yr | 94/yr | 54 of 99 |
| Muggy nights (65°F+) | 38/yr | 29/yr | 19 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 Lucas County: freezing from November to March, heavy rain in July, September and October.
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