Webster County, Kentucky · Dixon
Water spreading, a burst pipe, sewage, mold or smoke? Call to be connected with a restoration company that serves Providence, Sebree and Dixon. 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.
Webster County averages 16 nights a year at 20°F or colder, mostly December to February, and 27% of its homes predate 1960.
Heavy rain days of an inch or more come about 13.4 times a year here, most often in March. A sump pump that hasn't run since last season is a common weak point.
Backups often follow heavy rain, which Webster County gets about 13.4 days a year, when storm water overloads sewer mains and pushes up through the lowest drain in the house.
In Webster County, 3.23 inches fell on the wettest day of the 2015–2024 record. Storms like that, and ice dams in snowy winters, cause most roof leaks.
12% of occupied homes in Webster County heat mainly with wood or propane, close to the Kentucky county median of 12.6%.
With 83 muggy nights a year, mold in Webster County can appear within days of a leak. Dry first, then clean.
Local risk profile
Webster County covers 332 square miles of western Kentucky, with about 12,842 residents and 5,723 homes. Dixon is the county seat; Providence, Sebree and Clay are the next largest communities. Half the homes here were built before 1977, half after.
63/100 Water Damage Risk Index: Elevated Webster County ranks 19 of 120 Kentucky counties. See the statewide ranking and method.The three factors where Webster County ranks highest compared with other Kentucky counties.
Winters here are on the gentler end for Kentucky, and pipes still freeze. It averaged 74 freezing nights a year over 2015–2024, 16 of them at 20°F or colder, cold enough for pipes in outside walls and crawl spaces to freeze. Among 120 Kentucky counties that's 93rd.
On February 19, 2015 the low fell to about -5°F, and in the stretch ending February 2021 the county went 10 days in a row below freezing. Leaks from split pipes typically appear the day the thaw arrives.
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 2 and end around Mar 30.
Heavy rain is a bigger factor here than in most of Kentucky. The county gets about 51.7 inches of rain and melted snow a year, with 13.4 days of an inch or more (29th of 120). Those downpours cluster in February, March and July, when sump pumps and gutters are tested hardest. The wettest day on record brought 3.23 inches on July 4, 2016. The worst three-day stretch dropped 4.79 inches, ending September 29, 2024, the kind of soaking that overwhelms sump pumps and storm sewers.
The temperature crosses 32°F in both directions on roughly 64 days a year. Each cycle melts and refreezes water at roof edges and in foundation cracks, which is how ice dams and basement seepage get started.
Housing
55% of homes in Webster County predate 1980, above the Kentucky county median of 44.1%, which ranks 24th of Kentucky's 120 counties.
27% were built before 1960. Homes from that era often still have galvanized steel supply pipe, which rusts from the inside until it pinholes, and cast iron drains that crack with age. Slow leaks behind walls are a common start to water damage in these houses.
The 1980s and 1990s account for 23% of the county's homes. If yours is from those decades, look under the sinks and at the water heater for gray plastic pipe stamped PB, which is polybutylene and leak-prone.
Manufactured and mobile homes make up 16% 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
Webster County averages 83 warm, muggy nights a year (lows of 65°F or more) and gets the most rain in July. 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 expectHeating fuel matters for fire risk. In Webster County it's 36% utility gas, 51% electric, 10% propane and 3% 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 Webster County. The largest communities by population:
Population from ACS 2020-2024 5-year estimates. Townships and unincorporated areas are covered too.
Nearby
Crittenden, Henderson and Union get more pipe-freeze nights than Webster. It also has the most heavy-rain days in its area. Crittenden County has the oldest housing nearby, with 60% of homes built before 1980.
By the numbers
| Factor | Webster | Kentucky median | Rank |
|---|---|---|---|
| Homes built before 1960 | 27% | 18% | 20 of 120 |
| Homes built before 1980 | 55% | 44% | 24 of 120 |
| Homes built 2000 or later | 22% | 25% | 81 of 120 |
| Manufactured or mobile homes | 16% | 19% | 71 of 120 |
| Vacant homes | 14% | 13% | 52 of 120 |
| Wood or propane heat | 12% | 13% | 69 of 120 |
| Nights at 20°F or colder | 16/yr | 20/yr | 93 of 120 |
| Days with 1 inch+ of rain | 13/yr | 12/yr | 29 of 120 |
| Freeze-thaw days | 64/yr | 73/yr | 100 of 120 |
| Muggy nights (65°F+) | 83/yr | 59/yr | 13 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 Webster County: freezing from December to February, heavy rain in February, March 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