Holt County, Missouri · Oregon
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Holt County averages 44 nights a year at 20°F or colder, mostly November to March, and 43% of its homes predate 1960.
Heavy rain days of an inch or more come about 8.5 times a year here, most often in July. A sump pump that hasn't run since last season is a common weak point.
43% 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.
In Holt County, 4.48 inches fell on the wettest day of the 2015–2024 record. Storms like that, and ice dams in snowy winters, cause most roof leaks.
19% of occupied homes in Holt County heat mainly with wood or propane, below the Missouri county median of 24.5%.
With 57 muggy nights a year, mold in Holt County can appear within days of a leak. Dry first, then clean.
Local risk profile
About 4,240 people live in Holt County, 463 square miles in northwest Missouri, in roughly 2,405 homes. Oregon is the county seat; Mound City, Maitland and Forest City are the next largest communities. The county's median home was built in 1965.
63/100 Water Damage Risk Index: Elevated Holt County ranks 7 of 114 Missouri counties. See the statewide ranking and method.The three factors where Holt County ranks highest compared with other Missouri counties.
Holt is on the colder side of Missouri for pipes. It averaged 118 freezing nights a year over 2015–2024, 44 of them at 20°F or colder, cold enough for pipes in outside walls and crawl spaces to freeze. Among 114 Missouri counties that's 11th.
The longest cold spell was straight 15 days without the temperature rising above freezing, ending in January 2018. The coldest night reached about -21°F on February 16, 2021. Burst pipes usually show up when a spell like that breaks and the ice thaws.
Expect the hardest freezes in January, inside a season that runs November to March. That's when an outdoor spigot left connected to a hose, or a pipe in a crawl space, is most likely to split.
On average the first fall freeze arrives around Oct 23 and the last spring freeze around Apr 13.
Holt gets fewer downpours than most Missouri counties, but they still fill basements. The county gets about 35 inches of rain and melted snow a year, with 8.5 days of an inch or more (96th of 114). Those downpours cluster in June, July and August, when sump pumps and gutters are tested hardest. The wettest day on record brought 4.48 inches on September 14, 2016. Multi-day storms matter most for basements; the wettest three days on record here totaled 5.6 inches (through June 26, 2021).
Freeze-thaw days, below freezing overnight and above it by afternoon, come about 92 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
Roughly 72% of the county's housing was built before 1980. That puts Holt among the oldest housing stocks of Missouri's 114 counties.
43% 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.
Here 8% 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.
The Census counted 28% of homes as vacant, above the Missouri county median of 15.3%. Empty houses are where a small leak turns into a large claim, because nobody is there to hear it.
Beyond water
Holt County averages 57 warm, muggy nights a year (lows of 65°F or more) and gets the most rain in May. 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 Holt County it's 36% utility gas, 37% electric, 17% propane and 2% wood. Heating equipment, cooking and electrical failures cause most home fires nationally. Even a small kitchen fire can leave soot through the whole house, because smoke follows air currents into closets, ducts and attic space.
Fire and smoke cleanup: first stepsCoverage
Calls connect to restoration companies that work across Holt County. The largest communities by population:
Population from ACS 2020-2024 5-year estimates. Townships and unincorporated areas are covered too.
Nearby
Atchison and Nodaway get more pipe-freeze nights than Holt. Atchison County has the oldest housing nearby, with 82% of homes built before 1980.
By the numbers
| Factor | Holt | Missouri median | Rank |
|---|---|---|---|
| Homes built before 1960 | 43% | 25% | 9 of 114 |
| Homes built before 1980 | 72% | 53% | 6 of 114 |
| Homes built 2000 or later | 15% | 21% | 95 of 114 |
| Manufactured or mobile homes | 7.8% | 9.8% | 79 of 114 |
| Vacant homes | 28% | 15% | 14 of 114 |
| Wood or propane heat | 19% | 25% | 76 of 114 |
| Nights at 20°F or colder | 44/yr | 28/yr | 11 of 114 |
| Days with 1 inch+ of rain | 8.5/yr | 10/yr | 96 of 114 |
| Freeze-thaw days | 92/yr | 77/yr | 3 of 114 |
| Muggy nights (65°F+) | 57/yr | 65/yr | 82 of 114 |
Rank 1 is the highest value. Bars run from the lowest to the highest Missouri county; the tick marks the median; orange means higher water damage risk than the median, green means lower.
Questions
Peak risk months in Holt County: freezing from November to March, heavy rain in June, July and August.
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