Darlington County, South Carolina · Darlington
Water spreading, a burst pipe, sewage, mold or smoke? Call to be connected with a restoration company that serves Hartsville, Darlington and North Hartsville. 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 Darlington County on about 3 nights a year, mostly January. Older homes, 18% of the stock here, are most at risk.
Basements flood here mostly in September. Darlington County averages 11.2 days a year with an inch of rain or more.
Sewage backups in Darlington 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 37 freeze-thaw days a year, from winter ice dams. Most show up as ceiling stains in the room below.
5% of occupied homes in Darlington County heat mainly with wood or propane, below the South Carolina county median of 5.1%.
Muggy summer nights, lows of 65°F or more, come about 114 times a year in Darlington County. Mold after a leak spreads fastest from June through August.
Local risk profile
About 62,558 people live in Darlington County, 561 square miles in northeast South Carolina, in roughly 29,763 homes. The county seat is Darlington, and Hartsville, North Hartsville and Lamar round out the largest towns. Half the homes here were built before 1984, half after.
61/100 Water Damage Risk Index: Elevated Darlington County ranks 8 of 46 South Carolina counties. See the statewide ranking and method.The three factors where Darlington County ranks highest compared with other South Carolina counties.
Darlington County gets more hard-freeze nights than most of South Carolina. From 2015–2024 it averaged 3 nights a year at 20°F or colder, the range where pipes in exterior walls, crawl spaces and unheated garages freeze, and 38 nights at or below 32°F. That ranks 7th of 46 counties.
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 20 and end around Mar 18.
Rainfall is about average for South Carolina. About 11.2 days a year bring an inch or more (29th of 46), most often in September, out of 50.5 inches of total precipitation. On September 16, 2018, 6.91 inches fell in a single day. The worst three-day stretch dropped 13.04 inches, ending September 17, 2018, the kind of soaking that overwhelms sump pumps and storm sewers.
About 37 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
South Carolina's 46 counties range widely in housing age; Darlington ranks 17th, with 43% of its homes built before 1980.
Older and newer homes sit side by side here: 18% predate 1960 and 20% are from 2000 or later. Corroded pipe is the typical failure in the first group, burst supply hoses in the second.
About 37% 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.
Manufactured and mobile homes make up 30% of the housing here. Water lines in the underbelly depend on intact skirting and working heat tape, and they're usually the first to freeze in a cold snap.
Beyond water
Darlington County averages 114 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 expectHeating fuel matters for fire risk. In Darlington County it's 5% utility gas, 89% electric, 4% 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 Darlington County. The largest communities by population:
Population from ACS 2020-2024 5-year estimates. Townships and unincorporated areas are covered too.
Nearby
Darlington gets more pipe-freeze nights than any of its neighbors. It also has the most heavy-rain days in its area. Marlboro County has the oldest housing nearby, with 56% of homes built before 1980.
By the numbers
| Factor | Darlington | South Carolina median | Rank |
|---|---|---|---|
| Homes built before 1960 | 18% | 15% | 12 of 46 |
| Homes built before 1980 | 43% | 40% | 17 of 46 |
| Homes built 2000 or later | 20% | 25% | 35 of 46 |
| Manufactured or mobile homes | 30% | 22% | 10 of 46 |
| Vacant homes | 14% | 16% | 28 of 46 |
| Wood or propane heat | 4.5% | 5.1% | 27 of 46 |
| Nights at 20°F or colder | 3/yr | 2/yr | 7 of 46 |
| Days with 1 inch+ of rain | 11/yr | 12/yr | 29 of 46 |
| Freeze-thaw days | 37/yr | 35/yr | 20 of 46 |
| Muggy nights (65°F+) | 114/yr | 114/yr | 22 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 Darlington County: freezing from January, heavy rain in May, July 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