Allegan County, Michigan · Allegan
Water spreading, a burst pipe, sewage, mold or smoke? Call to be connected with a restoration company that serves Holland, Allegan and Wayland. 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.
With 28% of homes built before 1960 and about 39 hard-freeze nights a year, frozen and split pipes are a leading winter risk in the county.
July brings the most downpours to Allegan County, part of 5.3 heavy-rain days a year. Check the sump first.
Backups often follow heavy rain, which Allegan County gets about 5.3 days a year, when storm water overloads sewer mains and pushes up through the lowest drain in the house.
In Allegan County, 2.58 inches fell on the wettest day of the 2015–2024 record. Storms like that, and ice dams in snowy winters, cause most roof leaks.
23% of occupied homes in Allegan County heat mainly with wood or propane, below the Michigan county median of 29%.
About 21 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
About 121,456 people live in Allegan County, 825 square miles in southwest Michigan, in roughly 52,636 homes. Besides Allegan, the county seat, the biggest communities are Holland, Wayland and Otsego. Half the homes here were built before 1982, half after.
50/100 Water Damage Risk Index: Elevated Allegan County ranks 41 of 83 Michigan counties. See the statewide ranking and method.The three factors where Allegan County ranks highest compared with other Michigan counties.
Winters here are on the gentler end for Michigan, and pipes still freeze. In the 2015–2024 record the county logged about 39 nights a year at or below 20°F (74th of 83) and 123 below freezing. Twenty degrees is roughly where uninsulated pipes start to freeze.
Cold snaps are the real risk. The worst in the record lasted 18 days below freezing (ending March 2015), and the low bottomed out near -13°F on February 20, 2015.
The freeze season here runs November to March, with January the coldest. If you travel then, leave the thermostat at 55°F or above and open sink cabinets on outside walls.
Freezing nights typically start around Oct 25 and end around Apr 29.
Heavy rain is a bigger factor here than in most of Michigan. The county gets about 38.7 inches of rain and melted snow a year, with 5.3 days of an inch or more (12th of 83). Those downpours cluster in June, July and October, when sump pumps and gutters are tested hardest. The wettest day on record brought 2.58 inches on October 15, 2017. The worst three-day stretch dropped 5.31 inches, ending June 27, 2021, the kind of soaking that overwhelms sump pumps and storm sewers.
Freeze-thaw days, below freezing overnight and above it by afternoon, come about 90 times a year here. They're the main driver of ice dams and of water working its way through foundation cracks in late winter.
Housing
Michigan's 83 counties range widely in housing age; Allegan ranks 74th, with 48% of its homes built before 1980.
25% of homes were built in 2000 or later, more than in most of Michigan. Newer plumbing rarely corrodes, so damage here tends to come from appliance supply lines, water heaters, sump pumps and storms.
The 1980s and 1990s account for 27% 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.
Here 11% of housing is manufactured homes. Check the skirting and the heat tape on the main water line every fall, because that one exposed line is what freezes.
Beyond water
Summer nights that don't drop below 65°F, a good marker of humid air, come about 21 times a year here, above the Michigan county median of 10. 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 Allegan County's occupied homes: 63% utility gas, 6% electric, 19% propane and 4% wood. Fires here are likelier to start in the kitchen or the wiring than in the furnace. After any fire, keep the HVAC off until ducts are checked, or soot will travel through the house.
Fire and smoke cleanup: first stepsCoverage
Calls connect to restoration companies that work across Allegan County. The largest communities by population:
Population from ACS 2020-2024 5-year estimates. Townships and unincorporated areas are covered too.
Nearby
Barry, Kent and Ottawa get more pipe-freeze nights than Allegan. Kalamazoo County has the oldest housing nearby, with 58% of homes built before 1980.
By the numbers
| Factor | Allegan | Michigan median | Rank |
|---|---|---|---|
| Homes built before 1960 | 28% | 32% | 48 of 83 |
| Homes built before 1980 | 48% | 58% | 74 of 83 |
| Homes built 2000 or later | 25% | 16% | 6 of 83 |
| Manufactured or mobile homes | 11% | 7.3% | 18 of 83 |
| Vacant homes | 14% | 20% | 53 of 83 |
| Wood or propane heat | 23% | 29% | 57 of 83 |
| Nights at 20°F or colder | 39/yr | 54/yr | 74 of 83 |
| Days with 1 inch+ of rain | 5.3/yr | 3.9/yr | 12 of 83 |
| Freeze-thaw days | 90/yr | 95/yr | 59 of 83 |
| Muggy nights (65°F+) | 21/yr | 10/yr | 17 of 83 |
Rank 1 is the highest value. Bars run from the lowest to the highest Michigan county; the tick marks the median; orange means higher water damage risk than the median, green means lower.
Questions
Peak risk months in Allegan County: freezing from November to March, heavy rain in June, July 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