Crawford County, Kansas · Girard
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With 37% of homes built before 1960 and about 21 hard-freeze nights a year, frozen and split pipes are a leading winter risk in the county.
May brings the most downpours to Crawford County, part of 12.1 heavy-rain days a year. Check the sump first.
37% 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.
Crawford County's wettest day in the 2015–2024 record brought 4.47 inches, and about 71 freeze-thaw days a year mean ice dams in some winters.
9% of occupied homes in Crawford County heat mainly with wood or propane, below the Kansas county median of 16.9%.
With 80 muggy nights a year, mold in Crawford County can appear within days of a leak. Dry first, then clean.
Local risk profile
About 39,008 people live in Crawford County, 590 square miles in southeast Kansas, in roughly 18,126 homes. The county seat is Girard, and Pittsburg, Frontenac and Arma round out the largest towns. Half the homes here were built before 1972, half after.
48/100 Water Damage Risk Index: Elevated Crawford County ranks 64 of 105 Kansas counties. See the statewide ranking and method.The three factors where Crawford County ranks highest compared with other Kansas counties.
Winters here are on the gentler end for Kansas, and pipes still freeze. From 2015–2024 it averaged 21 nights a year at 20°F or colder, the range where pipes in exterior walls, crawl spaces and unheated garages freeze, and 84 nights at or below 32°F. That ranks 102nd of 105 counties.
Cold snaps are the real risk. The worst in the record lasted 13 days below freezing (ending February 2021), and the low bottomed out near -13°F on February 16, 2021.
Expect the hardest freezes in January, inside a season that runs December to February. That's when an outdoor spigot left connected to a hose, or a pipe in a crawl space, is most likely to split.
Freezing nights typically start around Nov 3 and end around Apr 6.
Heavy rain is a bigger factor here than in most of Kansas. The county gets about 44.9 inches of rain and melted snow a year, with 12.1 days of an inch or more (2nd of 105). Those downpours cluster in May, August and September, when sump pumps and gutters are tested hardest. The wettest day on record brought 4.47 inches on May 21, 2019. The worst three-day stretch dropped 7.28 inches, ending May 23, 2019, the kind of soaking that overwhelms sump pumps and storm sewers.
About 71 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
62% of homes in Crawford County predate 1980, below the Kansas county median of 73.7%, which ranks 80th of Kansas's 105 counties.
Since 2000 the county has added enough housing that 18% of homes are that new. Modern PEX and copper rarely fail on their own; the leaks come from connections, appliances and storms.
Renters occupy 39% of homes. If you rent, the building is usually the landlord's to repair, but your belongings are only covered by renters insurance.
Beyond water
About 80 nights a year in Crawford County stay at 65°F or warmer, a sign of muggy summer air (6th of 105 counties). May 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 Crawford County's occupied homes: 59% utility gas, 31% electric, 8% propane and 2% 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 Crawford County. The largest communities by population:
Population from ACS 2020-2024 5-year estimates. Townships and unincorporated areas are covered too.
Nearby
Bourbon and Neosho get more pipe-freeze nights than Crawford. Labette County has the oldest housing nearby, with 76% of homes built before 1980.
By the numbers
| Factor | Crawford | Kansas median | Rank |
|---|---|---|---|
| Homes built before 1960 | 37% | 48% | 75 of 105 |
| Homes built before 1980 | 62% | 74% | 80 of 105 |
| Homes built 2000 or later | 18% | 11% | 18 of 105 |
| Manufactured or mobile homes | 4.8% | 5.6% | 61 of 105 |
| Vacant homes | 13% | 15% | 65 of 105 |
| Wood or propane heat | 9.3% | 17% | 88 of 105 |
| Nights at 20°F or colder | 21/yr | 39/yr | 102 of 105 |
| Days with 1 inch+ of rain | 12/yr | 6.8/yr | 2 of 105 |
| Freeze-thaw days | 71/yr | 97/yr | 104 of 105 |
| Muggy nights (65°F+) | 80/yr | 59/yr | 6 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 Crawford County: freezing from December to February, 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