Ballard County, Kentucky · Wickliffe
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With 23% of homes built before 1960 and about 15 hard-freeze nights a year, frozen and split pipes are a leading winter risk in the county.
March brings the most downpours to Ballard County, part of 14.1 heavy-rain days a year. Check the sump first.
23% 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.
Ballard County's wettest day in the 2015–2024 record brought 3.72 inches, and about 56 freeze-thaw days a year mean ice dams in some winters.
29% of occupied homes in Ballard County heat mainly with wood or propane, above the Kentucky county median of 12.6%.
With 89 muggy nights a year, mold in Ballard County can appear within days of a leak. Dry first, then clean.
Local risk profile
Ballard County covers 247 square miles of southwest Kentucky, with about 7,654 residents and 3,702 homes. Wickliffe is the county seat; La Center, Kevil and Barlow are the next largest communities. Half the homes here were built before 1982, half after.
58/100 Water Damage Risk Index: Elevated Ballard County ranks 36 of 120 Kentucky counties. See the statewide ranking and method.The three factors where Ballard County ranks highest compared with other Kentucky counties.
Winters here are on the gentler end for Kentucky, and pipes still freeze. From 2015–2024 it averaged 15 nights a year at 20°F or colder, the range where pipes in exterior walls, crawl spaces and unheated garages freeze, and 66 nights at or below 32°F. That ranks 102nd of 120 counties.
Cold snaps are the real risk. The worst in the record lasted 11 days below freezing (ending February 2021), and the low bottomed out near -6°F on February 19, 2015.
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 8 and end around Mar 26.
Heavy rain is a bigger factor here than in most of Kentucky. About 14.1 days a year bring an inch or more (19th of 120), most often in March, out of 52.3 inches of total precipitation. On October 29, 2020, 3.72 inches fell in a single day. The worst three-day stretch dropped 4.59 inches, ending December 29, 2015, the kind of soaking that overwhelms sump pumps and storm sewers.
About 56 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 48% of the county's housing was built before 1980. That puts Ballard among the oldest housing stocks of Kentucky's 120 counties.
Before 1960 is when 23% 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.
27% date from 1980 to 1999, the window when polybutylene, a gray flexible plastic supply pipe, was used in some homes. It's prone to leaks at the fittings, so it's worth checking for in a house from those years.
16% of homes are manufactured or mobile homes, close to the Kentucky county median of 18.5%. Their water lines run under the floor behind the skirting, so a torn skirt or failed heat tape freezes them faster than lines in a site-built house.
Beyond water
Ballard County averages 89 warm, muggy nights a year (lows of 65°F or more) and gets the most rain in March. 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 expectMain heating fuel in Ballard County's occupied homes: 23% utility gas, 47% electric, 29% propane and under 1% wood. Propane heat is above the Kentucky norm. Annual chimney and vent inspection, which the NFPA recommends, is one of the most effective fire-prevention habits for these homes.
Fire and smoke cleanup: first stepsCoverage
Calls connect to restoration companies that work across Ballard County. The largest communities by population:
Population from ACS 2020-2024 5-year estimates. Townships and unincorporated areas are covered too.
Nearby
Ballard gets more pipe-freeze nights than any of its neighbors. McCracken County has the oldest housing nearby, with 54% of homes built before 1980.
By the numbers
| Factor | Ballard | Kentucky median | Rank |
|---|---|---|---|
| Homes built before 1960 | 23% | 18% | 42 of 120 |
| Homes built before 1980 | 48% | 44% | 39 of 120 |
| Homes built 2000 or later | 25% | 25% | 58 of 120 |
| Manufactured or mobile homes | 16% | 19% | 70 of 120 |
| Vacant homes | 13% | 13% | 60 of 120 |
| Wood or propane heat | 29% | 13% | 12 of 120 |
| Nights at 20°F or colder | 15/yr | 20/yr | 102 of 120 |
| Days with 1 inch+ of rain | 14/yr | 12/yr | 19 of 120 |
| Freeze-thaw days | 56/yr | 73/yr | 119 of 120 |
| Muggy nights (65°F+) | 89/yr | 59/yr | 6 of 120 |
Rank 1 is the highest value. Bars run from the lowest to the highest Kentucky county; the tick marks the median; orange means higher water damage risk than the median, green means lower.
Questions
Peak risk months in Ballard County: freezing from December to February, heavy rain in March, May and December.
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