Calhoun County, South Carolina · St. Matthews
Water spreading, a burst pipe, sewage, mold or smoke? Call to be connected with a restoration company that serves St. Matthews and Cameron. 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.
Pipes freeze in Calhoun County on about 2 nights a year, mostly midwinter. Older homes, 16% of the stock here, are most at risk.
Basements flood here mostly in June. Calhoun County averages 11.2 days a year with an inch of rain or more.
Sewage backups in Calhoun County spike on heavy-rain days, about 11.2 a year, when sewer mains fill up and water finds the lowest drain.
Roof leaks here come from summer downpours and, with about 29 freeze-thaw days a year, from winter ice dams. Most show up as ceiling stains in the room below.
12% of occupied homes in Calhoun County heat mainly with wood or propane, above the South Carolina county median of 5.1%.
Muggy summer nights, lows of 65°F or more, come about 120 times a year in Calhoun County. Mold after a leak spreads fastest from June through August.
Local risk profile
With 7,068 homes and around 14,182 residents, Calhoun County is 381 square miles of central South Carolina. Besides St. Matthews, the county seat, the biggest community is Cameron. Much of its housing is recent, with a median build year of 1988.
52/100 Water Damage Risk Index: Elevated Calhoun County ranks 23 of 46 South Carolina counties. See the statewide ranking and method.The three factors where Calhoun County ranks highest compared with other South Carolina counties.
Pipe-freeze risk in Calhoun County sits near the middle of the state. In the 2015–2024 record the county logged about 2 nights a year at or below 20°F (20th of 46) and 29 below freezing. Twenty degrees is roughly where uninsulated pipes start to freeze.
Most freezing nights fall from midwinter, 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 21 and end around Mar 13.
Rainfall is about average for South Carolina. About 11.2 days a year bring an inch or more (29th of 46), most often in June, out of 50.3 inches of total precipitation. On October 8, 2016, 6.11 inches fell in a single day. The worst three-day stretch dropped 11.83 inches, ending October 5, 2015, the kind of soaking that overwhelms sump pumps and storm sewers.
About 29 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
36% of homes in Calhoun County predate 1980, below the South Carolina county median of 39.8%, which ranks 28th of South Carolina's 46 counties.
Older and newer homes sit side by side here: 16% predate 1960 and 25% are from 2000 or later. Corroded pipe is the typical failure in the first group, burst supply hoses in the second.
The 1980s and 1990s account for 39% of the county's homes. If yours is from those decades, look under the sinks and at the water heater for gray plastic pipe stamped PB, which is polybutylene and leak-prone.
30% of homes are manufactured or mobile homes, above the South Carolina county median of 22%. Their water lines run under the floor behind the skirting, so a torn skirt or failed heat tape freezes them faster than lines in a site-built house.
Beyond water
Calhoun County averages 120 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 Calhoun County it's 3% utility gas, 83% electric, 12% propane and under 1% wood. Propane heat is above the South Carolina norm. Annual chimney and vent inspection, which the NFPA recommends, is one of the most effective fire-prevention habits for these homes.
Fire and smoke cleanup: first stepsCoverage
Calls connect to restoration companies that work across Calhoun County. The largest communities by population:
Population from ACS 2020-2024 5-year estimates. Townships and unincorporated areas are covered too.
Nearby
Calhoun gets more pipe-freeze nights than any of its neighbors. Orangeburg County has the oldest housing nearby, with 45% of homes built before 1980.
By the numbers
| Factor | Calhoun | South Carolina median | Rank |
|---|---|---|---|
| Homes built before 1960 | 16% | 15% | 16 of 46 |
| Homes built before 1980 | 36% | 40% | 28 of 46 |
| Homes built 2000 or later | 25% | 25% | 24 of 46 |
| Manufactured or mobile homes | 30% | 22% | 13 of 46 |
| Vacant homes | 13% | 16% | 30 of 46 |
| Wood or propane heat | 12% | 5.1% | 3 of 46 |
| Nights at 20°F or colder | 2/yr | 2/yr | 20 of 46 |
| Days with 1 inch+ of rain | 11/yr | 12/yr | 29 of 46 |
| Freeze-thaw days | 29/yr | 35/yr | 36 of 46 |
| Muggy nights (65°F+) | 120/yr | 114/yr | 9 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 Calhoun County: freezing from midwinter, 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