Cheyenne County, Kansas · St. Francis
Water spreading, a burst pipe, sewage, mold or smoke? Call to be connected with a restoration company that serves St. Francis and Bird City. 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.
Pipes freeze in Cheyenne County on about 57 nights a year, mostly November to March. Older homes, 60% of the stock here, are most at risk.
May brings the most downpours to Cheyenne County, part of 2.4 heavy-rain days a year. Check the sump first.
60% 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.
Cheyenne County's wettest day in the 2015–2024 record brought 2.6 inches, and about 129 freeze-thaw days a year mean ice dams in some winters.
14% of occupied homes in Cheyenne County heat mainly with wood or propane, below the Kansas county median of 16.9%.
About 14 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
Cheyenne County covers 1,020 square miles of northwest Kansas, with about 2,628 residents and 1,455 homes. St. Francis is the county seat; Bird City is the next largest community. It has some of the oldest housing in the state: the median home went up in 1951.
55/100 Water Damage Risk Index: Elevated Cheyenne County ranks 36 of 105 Kansas counties. See the statewide ranking and method.The three factors where Cheyenne County ranks highest compared with other Kansas counties.
Cheyenne is on the colder side of Kansas for pipes. It averaged 149 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 105 Kansas counties that's 8th.
On February 15, 2021 the low fell to about -25°F, and in the stretch ending February 2021 the county went 13 days in a row below freezing. Leaks from split pipes typically appear the day the thaw arrives.
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.
On average the first fall freeze arrives around Oct 17 and the last spring freeze around Apr 25.
Cheyenne gets fewer downpours than most Kansas counties, but they still fill basements. About 2.4 days a year bring an inch or more (104th of 105), most often in May, out of 18 inches of total precipitation. On March 14, 2021, 2.6 inches fell in a single day. Multi-day storms matter most for basements; the wettest three days on record here totaled 4.08 inches (through May 13, 2023).
About 129 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
Kansas's 105 counties range widely in housing age; Cheyenne ranks 7th, with 86% of its homes built before 1980.
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 14 times a year here, below the Kansas county median of 59. 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, Cheyenne County homes break down as 72% utility gas, 14% electric, 14% propane and under 1% wood. Most homes here heat with gas or electricity, so cooking and electrical faults are the likelier fire sources. Even a contained kitchen fire can send soot through the ductwork to every room.
Fire and smoke cleanup: first stepsCoverage
Calls connect to restoration companies that work across Cheyenne County. The largest communities by population:
Population from ACS 2020-2024 5-year estimates. Townships and unincorporated areas are covered too.
Nearby
Every neighboring county gets more pipe-freeze nights than Cheyenne. Its housing is the oldest in the area by share of homes built before 1980.
By the numbers
| Factor | Cheyenne | Kansas median | Rank |
|---|---|---|---|
| Homes built before 1960 | 60% | 48% | 11 of 105 |
| Homes built before 1980 | 86% | 74% | 7 of 105 |
| Homes built 2000 or later | 4.4% | 11% | 98 of 105 |
| Manufactured or mobile homes | 3.2% | 5.6% | 85 of 105 |
| Vacant homes | 17% | 15% | 38 of 105 |
| Wood or propane heat | 14% | 17% | 66 of 105 |
| Nights at 20°F or colder | 57/yr | 39/yr | 8 of 105 |
| Days with 1 inch+ of rain | 2.4/yr | 6.8/yr | 104 of 105 |
| Freeze-thaw days | 129/yr | 97/yr | 3 of 105 |
| Muggy nights (65°F+) | 14/yr | 59/yr | 103 of 105 |
Rank 1 is the highest value. Bars run from the lowest to the highest Kansas county; the tick marks the median; orange means higher water damage risk than the median, green means lower.
Questions
Peak risk months in Cheyenne County: freezing from November to March, heavy rain in April, May and June.
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