Neosho County, Kansas · Erie
Water spreading, a burst pipe, sewage, mold or smoke? Call to be connected with a restoration company that serves Chanute, Erie and St. Paul. 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 Neosho County on about 23 nights a year, mostly December to February. Older homes, 48% of the stock here, are most at risk.
Basements flood here mostly in May. Neosho County averages 12.2 days a year with an inch of rain or more.
48% 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.
Neosho County's wettest day in the 2015–2024 record brought 4.9 inches, and about 76 freeze-thaw days a year mean ice dams in some winters.
18% of occupied homes in Neosho County heat mainly with wood or propane, close to the Kansas county median of 16.9%.
About 79 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
Neosho County covers 571 square miles of southeast Kansas, with about 15,656 residents and 7,219 homes. The county seat is Erie, and Chanute, St. Paul and Thayer round out the largest towns. Half the homes here were built before 1963, half after.
56/100 Water Damage Risk Index: Elevated Neosho County ranks 34 of 105 Kansas counties. See the statewide ranking and method.The three factors where Neosho County ranks highest compared with other Kansas counties.
Winters here are on the gentler end for Kansas, and pipes still freeze. It averaged 88 freezing nights a year over 2015–2024, 23 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 99th.
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 -14°F on February 16, 2021.
Most freezing nights fall from December to February, 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 Nov 1 and end around Apr 8.
Heavy rain is a bigger factor here than in most of Kansas. Of roughly 44.2 inches of yearly precipitation, the damage comes from the 12.2 days a year with an inch or more, ranked 1st of 105. May, August and October see the most. The single wettest day in the record: 4.9 inches, May 21, 2019. The worst three-day stretch dropped 7.09 inches, ending May 23, 2019, the kind of soaking that overwhelms sump pumps and storm sewers.
About 76 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; Neosho ranks 65th, with 70% of its homes built before 1980.
The mix runs from 48% built before 1960 to 13% built since 2000, so older neighborhoods bring aging pipe while newer subdivisions bring failed appliance lines and water heaters.
Manufactured and mobile homes make up 8% of the housing here. Water lines in the underbelly depend on intact skirting and working heat tape, and they're usually the first to freeze in a cold snap.
Beyond water
About 79 nights a year in Neosho County stay at 65°F or warmer, a sign of muggy summer air (7th of 105 counties). May is the wettest month. Mold grows when indoor humidity stays above about 60%, the EPA's ceiling. A basement dehumidifier set to 50% and drying anything wet within 24 to 48 hours prevents most problems.
Mold remediation: what to expectMain heating fuel in Neosho County's occupied homes: 59% utility gas, 22% electric, 14% propane and 4% wood. Wood heat is more common here than in most Kansas 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 Neosho County. The largest communities by population:
Population from ACS 2020-2024 5-year estimates. Townships and unincorporated areas are covered too.
Nearby
Allen gets more pipe-freeze nights than Neosho. It also has the most heavy-rain days in its area. Labette County has the oldest housing nearby, with 76% of homes built before 1980.
By the numbers
| Factor | Neosho | Kansas median | Rank |
|---|---|---|---|
| Homes built before 1960 | 48% | 48% | 52 of 105 |
| Homes built before 1980 | 70% | 74% | 65 of 105 |
| Homes built 2000 or later | 13% | 11% | 41 of 105 |
| Manufactured or mobile homes | 7.9% | 5.6% | 34 of 105 |
| Vacant homes | 11% | 15% | 77 of 105 |
| Wood or propane heat | 18% | 17% | 52 of 105 |
| Nights at 20°F or colder | 23/yr | 39/yr | 99 of 105 |
| Days with 1 inch+ of rain | 12/yr | 6.8/yr | 1 of 105 |
| Freeze-thaw days | 76/yr | 97/yr | 94 of 105 |
| Muggy nights (65°F+) | 79/yr | 59/yr | 7 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 Neosho County: freezing from December to February, heavy rain in May, August 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