New Hanover County, North Carolina · Wilmington
Water spreading, a burst pipe, sewage, mold or smoke? Call to be connected with a restoration company that serves Wilmington, Murraysville and Myrtle Grove. 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 14% of homes built before 1960 and about 2 hard-freeze nights a year, frozen and split pipes are a leading winter risk in the county.
Basements flood here mostly in August. New Hanover County averages 16.5 days a year with an inch of rain or more.
14% 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.
New Hanover County's wettest day in the 2015–2024 record brought 8.42 inches, and about 32 freeze-thaw days a year mean ice dams in some winters.
2% of occupied homes in New Hanover County heat mainly with wood or propane, below the North Carolina county median of 11.7%.
Muggy summer nights, lows of 65°F or more, come about 123 times a year in New Hanover County. Mold after a leak spreads fastest from June through August.
Local risk profile
With 120,050 homes and around 235,229 residents, New Hanover County is 192 square miles of southeast North Carolina. Besides Wilmington, the county seat, the biggest communities are Murraysville, Myrtle Grove and Kings Grant. Much of its housing is recent, with a median build year of 1993.
51/100 Water Damage Risk Index: Elevated New Hanover County ranks 52 of 100 North Carolina counties. See the statewide ranking and method.The three factors where New Hanover County ranks highest compared with other North Carolina counties.
Winters here are on the gentler end for North Carolina, and pipes still freeze. In the 2015–2024 record the county logged about 2 nights a year at or below 20°F (91st of 100) and 32 below freezing. Twenty degrees is roughly where uninsulated pipes start to freeze.
Most freezing nights fall from January, 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.
Freezing nights typically start around Nov 24 and end around Mar 17.
Heavy rain is a bigger factor here than in most of North Carolina. Of roughly 61.3 inches of yearly precipitation, the damage comes from the 16.5 days a year with an inch or more, ranked 4th of 100. June, August and September see the most. The single wettest day in the record: 8.42 inches, September 15, 2018. The worst three-day stretch dropped 17.22 inches, ending September 16, 2018, the kind of soaking that overwhelms sump pumps and storm sewers.
The temperature crosses 32°F in both directions on roughly 32 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
North Carolina's 100 counties range widely in housing age; New Hanover ranks 79th, with 31% of its homes built before 1980.
37% of homes were built in 2000 or later, more than in most of North Carolina. Newer plumbing rarely corrodes, so damage here tends to come from appliance supply lines, water heaters, sump pumps and storms.
About 32% of homes went up between 1980 and 1999. Some houses from the late 1970s to the mid-1990s were plumbed with polybutylene, a gray plastic pipe known for failing at fittings. A plumber can tell you in a few minutes whether you have it.
Renters occupy 39% 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
New Hanover County averages 123 warm, muggy nights a year (lows of 65°F or more) and gets the most rain in September. 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 expectMain heating fuel in New Hanover County's occupied homes: 9% utility gas, 88% electric, 2% propane and under 1% 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 New Hanover County. The largest communities by population:
Population from ACS 2020-2024 5-year estimates. Townships and unincorporated areas are covered too.
Nearby
Pender gets more pipe-freeze nights than New Hanover. 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 | New Hanover | North Carolina median | Rank |
|---|---|---|---|
| Homes built before 1960 | 14% | 18% | 67 of 100 |
| Homes built before 1980 | 31% | 41% | 79 of 100 |
| Homes built 2000 or later | 37% | 26% | 21 of 100 |
| Manufactured or mobile homes | 2.7% | 17% | 97 of 100 |
| Vacant homes | 13% | 13% | 57 of 100 |
| Wood or propane heat | 1.7% | 12% | 99 of 100 |
| Nights at 20°F or colder | 2/yr | 5/yr | 91 of 100 |
| Days with 1 inch+ of rain | 17/yr | 12/yr | 4 of 100 |
| Freeze-thaw days | 32/yr | 57/yr | 93 of 100 |
| Muggy nights (65°F+) | 123/yr | 89/yr | 3 of 100 |
Rank 1 is the highest value. Bars run from the lowest to the highest North Carolina county; the tick marks the median; orange means higher water damage risk than the median, green means lower.
Questions
Peak risk months in New Hanover County: freezing from January, 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