Berkeley County, South Carolina · Moncks Corner
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With 4% of homes built before 1960 and about 1 hard-freeze night a year, frozen and split pipes are a leading winter risk in the county.
August brings the most downpours to Berkeley County, part of 13.3 heavy-rain days a year. Check the sump first.
Sewage backups in Berkeley County spike on heavy-rain days, about 13.3 a year, when sewer mains fill up and water finds the lowest drain.
Berkeley County's wettest day in the 2015–2024 record brought 8.45 inches, and about 22 freeze-thaw days a year mean ice dams in some winters.
3% of occupied homes in Berkeley County heat mainly with wood or propane, below the South Carolina county median of 5.1%.
About 126 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
With 100,600 homes and around 246,802 residents, Berkeley County is 1,104 square miles of southeast South Carolina. The county seat is Moncks Corner, and Goose Creek, Hanahan and Ladson round out the largest towns. Much of its housing is recent, with a median build year of 2002.
38/100 Water Damage Risk Index: Moderate Berkeley County ranks 38 of 46 South Carolina counties. See the statewide ranking and method.The three factors where Berkeley County ranks highest compared with other South Carolina counties.
Berkeley County is milder than most of South Carolina, but not mild enough to skip winterizing. From 2015–2024 it averaged 1 night a year at 20°F or colder, the range where pipes in exterior walls, crawl spaces and unheated garages freeze, and 22 nights at or below 32°F. That ranks 40th of 46 counties.
With only about 22 freezing nights a year, many homes here aren't built for cold, so a single arctic outbreak can burst pipes across the county. The record low in this data was about 14°F, on January 5, 2018.
Heavy rain is a bigger factor here than in most of South Carolina. The county gets about 52.8 inches of rain and melted snow a year, with 13.3 days of an inch or more (8th of 46). Those downpours cluster in August, September and October, when sump pumps and gutters are tested hardest. The wettest day on record brought 8.45 inches on October 8, 2016. Multi-day storms matter most for basements; the wettest three days on record here totaled 15.4 inches (through October 5, 2015).
About 22 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
Roughly 19% of the county's housing was built before 1980. That puts Berkeley among the newer housing stocks of South Carolina's 46 counties.
Since 2000 the county has added enough housing that 54% of homes are that new. Modern PEX and copper rarely fail on their own; the leaks come from connections, appliances and storms.
27% date from 1980 to 1999, the window when polybutylene, a gray flexible plastic supply pipe, was used in some homes. It's prone to leaks at the fittings, so it's worth checking for in a house from those years.
Here 14% 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
Berkeley County averages 126 warm, muggy nights a year (lows of 65°F or more) and gets the most rain in August. 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 Berkeley County it's 19% utility gas, 77% electric, 3% 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 Berkeley County. The largest communities by population:
Population from ACS 2020-2024 5-year estimates. Townships and unincorporated areas are covered too.
Nearby
Clarendon, Georgetown, Orangeburg and Williamsburg get more pipe-freeze nights than Berkeley. Orangeburg County has the oldest housing nearby, with 45% of homes built before 1980.
By the numbers
| Factor | Berkeley | South Carolina median | Rank |
|---|---|---|---|
| Homes built before 1960 | 3.9% | 15% | 45 of 46 |
| Homes built before 1980 | 19% | 40% | 43 of 46 |
| Homes built 2000 or later | 54% | 25% | 2 of 46 |
| Manufactured or mobile homes | 14% | 22% | 36 of 46 |
| Vacant homes | 6.8% | 16% | 45 of 46 |
| Wood or propane heat | 2.7% | 5.1% | 40 of 46 |
| Nights at 20°F or colder | 1/yr | 2/yr | 40 of 46 |
| Days with 1 inch+ of rain | 13/yr | 12/yr | 8 of 46 |
| Freeze-thaw days | 22/yr | 35/yr | 41 of 46 |
| Muggy nights (65°F+) | 126/yr | 114/yr | 6 of 46 |
Rank 1 is the highest value. Bars run from the lowest to the highest South Carolina county; the tick marks the median; orange means higher water damage risk than the median, green means lower.
Questions
Peak risk months in Berkeley County: freezing from midwinter, heavy rain in August, September 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