Lewis County, Tennessee · Hohenwald
Water spreading, a burst pipe, sewage, mold or smoke? Call to be connected with a restoration company that serves Hohenwald. 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 Lewis County on about 11 nights a year, mostly December to February. Older homes, 13% of the stock here, are most at risk.
Basements flood here mostly in February. Lewis County averages 15.8 days a year with an inch of rain or more.
13% 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.
Lewis County's wettest day in the 2015–2024 record brought 4.07 inches, and about 62 freeze-thaw days a year mean ice dams in some winters.
14% of occupied homes in Lewis County heat mainly with wood or propane, above the Tennessee county median of 7.8%.
Muggy summer nights, lows of 65°F or more, come about 70 times a year in Lewis County. Mold after a leak spreads fastest from June through August.
Local risk profile
Lewis County covers 282 square miles of southwest Tennessee, with about 12,992 residents and 5,804 homes. The county seat is Hohenwald. Much of its housing is recent, with a median build year of 1991.
50/100 Water Damage Risk Index: Elevated Lewis County ranks 49 of 95 Tennessee counties. See the statewide ranking and method.The three factors where Lewis County ranks highest compared with other Tennessee counties.
Pipe-freeze risk in Lewis County sits near the middle of the state. From 2015–2024 it averaged 11 nights a year at 20°F or colder, the range where pipes in exterior walls, crawl spaces and unheated garages freeze, and 66 nights at or below 32°F. That ranks 45th of 95 counties.
Cold snaps are the real risk. The worst in the record lasted 7 days below freezing (ending February 2021), and the low bottomed out near -5°F on January 17, 2024.
Most freezing nights fall from December to February, 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 5 and end around Apr 2.
Heavy rain is a bigger factor here than in most of Tennessee. The county gets about 59.9 inches of rain and melted snow a year, with 15.8 days of an inch or more (13th of 95). Those downpours cluster in February, March and September, when sump pumps and gutters are tested hardest. The wettest day on record brought 4.07 inches on September 1, 2017. The worst three-day stretch dropped 5.27 inches, ending February 24, 2022, the kind of soaking that overwhelms sump pumps and storm sewers.
Freeze-thaw days, below freezing overnight and above it by afternoon, come about 62 times a year here. They're the main driver of ice dams and of water working its way through foundation cracks in late winter.
Housing
Roughly 36% of the county's housing was built before 1980. That puts Lewis among the newer housing stocks of Tennessee's 95 counties.
The mix runs from 13% built before 1960 to 30% built since 2000, so older neighborhoods bring aging pipe while newer subdivisions bring failed appliance lines and water heaters.
About 35% 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.
24% of homes are manufactured or mobile homes, above the Tennessee county median of 15.9%. 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
Lewis County averages 70 warm, muggy nights a year (lows of 65°F or more) and gets the most rain in February. 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 expectBy main heating fuel, Lewis County homes break down as 27% utility gas, 57% electric, 10% propane and 4% wood. Wood and propane heat are more common here than in most Tennessee counties. Heating equipment is one of the leading causes of home fires nationally, and the NFPA recommends having chimneys and vents inspected every year.
Fire and smoke cleanup: first stepsCoverage
Calls connect to restoration companies that work across Lewis County. The largest communities by population:
Population from ACS 2020-2024 5-year estimates. Townships and unincorporated areas are covered too.
Nearby
Hickman gets more pipe-freeze nights than Lewis. Wayne County has the oldest housing nearby, with 48% of homes built before 1980.
By the numbers
| Factor | Lewis | Tennessee median | Rank |
|---|---|---|---|
| Homes built before 1960 | 13% | 16% | 72 of 95 |
| Homes built before 1980 | 36% | 41% | 71 of 95 |
| Homes built 2000 or later | 30% | 27% | 35 of 95 |
| Manufactured or mobile homes | 24% | 16% | 14 of 95 |
| Vacant homes | 7.2% | 12% | 83 of 95 |
| Wood or propane heat | 14% | 7.8% | 25 of 95 |
| Nights at 20°F or colder | 11/yr | 11/yr | 45 of 95 |
| Days with 1 inch+ of rain | 16/yr | 14/yr | 13 of 95 |
| Freeze-thaw days | 62/yr | 60/yr | 45 of 95 |
| Muggy nights (65°F+) | 70/yr | 74/yr | 53 of 95 |
Rank 1 is the highest value. Bars run from the lowest to the highest Tennessee county; the tick marks the median; orange means higher water damage risk than the median, green means lower.
Questions
Peak risk months in Lewis County: freezing from December to February, heavy rain in February, March 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