Scott County, Kansas · Scott City
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With 53% of homes built before 1960 and about 57 hard-freeze nights a year, frozen and split pipes are a leading winter risk in the county.
Basements flood here mostly in May. Scott County averages 3 days a year with an inch of rain or more.
Sewage backups in Scott County spike on heavy-rain days, about 3 a year, when sewer mains fill up and water finds the lowest drain.
Scott County's wettest day in the 2015–2024 record brought 1.8 inches, and about 123 freeze-thaw days a year mean ice dams in some winters.
7% of occupied homes in Scott County heat mainly with wood or propane, below the Kansas county median of 16.9%.
With 32 muggy nights a year, mold in Scott County can appear within days of a leak. Dry first, then clean.
Local risk profile
Scott County covers 718 square miles of western Kansas, with about 5,027 residents and 2,334 homes. Besides Scott City, the county seat, the biggest community is Shallow Water. It has some of the oldest housing in the state: the median home went up in 1959.
52/100 Water Damage Risk Index: Elevated Scott County ranks 52 of 105 Kansas counties. See the statewide ranking and method.The three factors where Scott County ranks highest compared with other Kansas counties.
Scott is on the colder side of Kansas for pipes. From 2015–2024 it averaged 57 nights a year at 20°F or colder, the range where pipes in exterior walls, crawl spaces and unheated garages freeze, and 139 nights at or below 32°F. That ranks 8th 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 -18°F on February 15, 2021.
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.
On average the first fall freeze arrives around Oct 17 and the last spring freeze around Apr 19.
Scott gets fewer downpours than most Kansas counties, but they still fill basements. The county gets about 18.2 inches of rain and melted snow a year, with 3 days of an inch or more (96th of 105). Those downpours cluster in May, June and July, when sump pumps and gutters are tested hardest. The wettest day on record brought 1.8 inches on July 27, 2020. Multi-day storms matter most for basements; the wettest three days on record here totaled 2.63 inches (through September 26, 2017).
About 123 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
Roughly 83% of the county's housing was built before 1980. That puts Scott among the oldest housing stocks of Kansas's 105 counties.
In Scott County 53% of homes are older than 1960. If yours is one of them and the plumbing has never been replaced, expect galvanized steel supply pipe and cast iron drain lines, the two materials most likely to fail quietly.
Renters occupy 33% 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 32 nights a year in Scott County stay at 65°F or warmer, a sign of muggy summer air (90th 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 Scott County's occupied homes: 76% utility gas, 17% electric, 7% 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 Scott County. The largest communities by population:
Population from ACS 2020-2024 5-year estimates. Townships and unincorporated areas are covered too.
Nearby
Wichita gets more pipe-freeze nights than Scott. Wichita County has the oldest housing nearby, with 87% of homes built before 1980.
By the numbers
| Factor | Scott | Kansas median | Rank |
|---|---|---|---|
| Homes built before 1960 | 53% | 48% | 35 of 105 |
| Homes built before 1980 | 83% | 74% | 14 of 105 |
| Homes built 2000 or later | 9.1% | 11% | 68 of 105 |
| Manufactured or mobile homes | 1.2% | 5.6% | 104 of 105 |
| Vacant homes | 1.9% | 15% | 105 of 105 |
| Wood or propane heat | 6.6% | 17% | 96 of 105 |
| Nights at 20°F or colder | 57/yr | 39/yr | 8 of 105 |
| Days with 1 inch+ of rain | 3/yr | 6.8/yr | 96 of 105 |
| Freeze-thaw days | 123/yr | 97/yr | 11 of 105 |
| Muggy nights (65°F+) | 32/yr | 59/yr | 90 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 Scott County: freezing from November to March, heavy rain in May, June and July.
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