Nance County, Nebraska · Fullerton
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With 60% of homes built before 1960 and about 63 hard-freeze nights a year, frozen and split pipes are a leading winter risk in the county.
August brings the most downpours to Nance County, part of 5 heavy-rain days a year. Check the sump first.
60% 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 Nance County, 3.6 inches fell on the wettest day of the 2015–2024 record. Storms like that, and ice dams in snowy winters, cause most roof leaks.
13% of occupied homes in Nance County heat mainly with wood or propane, below the Nebraska county median of 19.4%.
With 36 muggy nights a year, mold in Nance County can appear within days of a leak. Dry first, then clean.
Local risk profile
Nance County covers 442 square miles of eastern Nebraska, with about 3,324 residents and 1,606 homes. Fullerton is the county seat; Genoa and Belgrade are the next largest communities. It has some of the oldest housing in the state: the median home went up in 1950.
63/100 Water Damage Risk Index: Elevated Nance County ranks 9 of 93 Nebraska counties. See the statewide ranking and method.The three factors where Nance County ranks highest compared with other Nebraska counties.
For frozen pipes, Nance County is a typical Nebraska county, which is still plenty. In the 2015–2024 record the county logged about 63 nights a year at or below 20°F (49th of 93) and 143 below freezing. Twenty degrees is roughly where uninsulated pipes start to freeze.
The longest cold spell was straight 20 days without the temperature rising above freezing, ending in March 2019. The coldest night reached about -30°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 18 and the last spring freeze around Apr 22.
Rainfall is about average for Nebraska. About 5 days a year bring an inch or more (48th of 93), most often in August, out of 27.1 inches of total precipitation. On August 16, 2017, 3.6 inches fell in a single day. Multi-day storms matter most for basements; the wettest three days on record here totaled 4.24 inches (through March 16, 2021).
The temperature crosses 32°F in both directions on roughly 106 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
Roughly 81% of the county's housing was built before 1980. That puts Nance among the oldest housing stocks of Nebraska's 93 counties.
60% 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 Census counted 16% of homes as vacant, above the Nebraska county median of 14.2%. Empty houses are where a small leak turns into a large claim, because nobody is there to hear it.
Beyond water
Summer nights that don't drop below 65°F, a good marker of humid air, come about 36 times a year here, above the Nebraska county median of 27. 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 Nance County's occupied homes: 44% utility gas, 43% electric, 10% propane and 2% 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 Nance County. The largest communities by population:
Population from ACS 2020-2024 5-year estimates. Townships and unincorporated areas are covered too.
Nearby
Boone, Greeley and Platte get more pipe-freeze nights than Nance. All of its neighbors see more heavy-rain days. Its housing is the oldest in the area by share of homes built before 1980.
By the numbers
| Factor | Nance | Nebraska median | Rank |
|---|---|---|---|
| Homes built before 1960 | 60% | 49% | 10 of 93 |
| Homes built before 1980 | 81% | 73% | 16 of 93 |
| Homes built 2000 or later | 11% | 12% | 51 of 93 |
| Manufactured or mobile homes | 1.1% | 5% | 89 of 93 |
| Vacant homes | 16% | 14% | 35 of 93 |
| Wood or propane heat | 13% | 19% | 70 of 93 |
| Nights at 20°F or colder | 63/yr | 64/yr | 49 of 93 |
| Days with 1 inch+ of rain | 5/yr | 5.1/yr | 48 of 93 |
| Freeze-thaw days | 106/yr | 112/yr | 56 of 93 |
| Muggy nights (65°F+) | 36/yr | 27/yr | 26 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 Nance County: freezing from November to March, heavy rain in May, 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