Cuming County, Nebraska · West Point
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With 52% of homes built before 1960 and about 66 hard-freeze nights a year, frozen and split pipes are a leading winter risk in the county.
Basements flood here mostly in June. Cuming County averages 5.7 days a year with an inch of rain or more.
Sewage backups in Cuming County spike on heavy-rain days, about 5.7 a year, when sewer mains fill up and water finds the lowest drain.
Cuming County's wettest day in the 2015–2024 record brought 2.72 inches, and about 101 freeze-thaw days a year mean ice dams in some winters.
18% of occupied homes in Cuming County heat mainly with wood or propane, close to the Nebraska county median of 19.4%.
With 32 muggy nights a year, mold in Cuming County can appear within days of a leak. Dry first, then clean.
Local risk profile
About 8,975 people live in Cuming County, 570 square miles in northeast Nebraska, in roughly 4,153 homes. West Point is the county seat; Wisner, Beemer and Bancroft are the next largest communities. It has some of the oldest housing in the state: the median home went up in 1958.
64/100 Water Damage Risk Index: Elevated Cuming County ranks 5 of 93 Nebraska counties. See the statewide ranking and method.The three factors where Cuming County ranks highest compared with other Nebraska counties.
For frozen pipes, Cuming County is a typical Nebraska county, which is still plenty. It averaged 143 freezing nights a year over 2015–2024, 66 of them at 20°F or colder, cold enough for pipes in outside walls and crawl spaces to freeze. Among 93 Nebraska counties that's 41st.
The longest cold spell was straight 22 days without the temperature rising above freezing, ending in March 2019. The coldest night reached about -28°F on February 16, 2021. Burst pipes usually show up when a spell like that breaks and the ice thaws.
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 22.
Heavy rain is a bigger factor here than in most of Nebraska. Of roughly 28.6 inches of yearly precipitation, the damage comes from the 5.7 days a year with an inch or more, ranked 22nd of 93. June, August and September see the most. The single wettest day in the record: 2.72 inches, August 16, 2017. Multi-day storms matter most for basements; the wettest three days on record here totaled 4.66 inches (through September 25, 2015).
About 101 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
Nebraska's 93 counties range widely in housing age; Cuming ranks 38th, with 75% of its homes built before 1980.
Older and newer homes sit side by side here: 52% predate 1960 and 10% are from 2000 or later. Corroded pipe is the typical failure in the first group, burst supply hoses in the second.
Renters occupy 31% 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
Cuming County averages 32 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 expectBy main heating fuel, Cuming County homes break down as 48% utility gas, 29% electric, 17% propane and 1% 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 Cuming County. The largest communities by population:
Population from ACS 2020-2024 5-year estimates. Townships and unincorporated areas are covered too.
Nearby
Thurston and Wayne get more pipe-freeze nights than Cuming. It also has the most heavy-rain days in its area. Its housing is the oldest in the area by share of homes built before 1980.
By the numbers
| Factor | Cuming | Nebraska median | Rank |
|---|---|---|---|
| Homes built before 1960 | 52% | 49% | 33 of 93 |
| Homes built before 1980 | 75% | 73% | 38 of 93 |
| Homes built 2000 or later | 9.8% | 12% | 63 of 93 |
| Manufactured or mobile homes | 2.7% | 5% | 75 of 93 |
| Vacant homes | 8.3% | 14% | 76 of 93 |
| Wood or propane heat | 18% | 19% | 53 of 93 |
| Nights at 20°F or colder | 66/yr | 64/yr | 41 of 93 |
| Days with 1 inch+ of rain | 5.7/yr | 5.1/yr | 22 of 93 |
| Freeze-thaw days | 101/yr | 112/yr | 71 of 93 |
| Muggy nights (65°F+) | 32/yr | 27/yr | 34 of 93 |
Rank 1 is the highest value. Bars run from the lowest to the highest Nebraska county; the tick marks the median; orange means higher water damage risk than the median, green means lower.
Questions
Peak risk months in Cuming County: freezing from November to March, heavy rain in June, August and September.
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