Morgan County, Tennessee · Wartburg
Water spreading, a burst pipe, sewage, mold or smoke? Call to be connected with a restoration company that serves Coalfield, Wartburg and Sunbright. 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 Morgan County on about 14 nights a year, mostly December to February. Older homes, 19% of the stock here, are most at risk.
Heavy rain days of an inch or more come about 15.4 times a year here, most often in December. A sump pump that hasn't run since last season is a common weak point.
Sewage backups in Morgan County spike on heavy-rain days, about 15.4 a year, when sewer mains fill up and water finds the lowest drain.
Roof leaks here come from summer downpours and, with about 69 freeze-thaw days a year, from winter ice dams. Most show up as ceiling stains in the room below.
13% of occupied homes in Morgan County heat mainly with wood or propane, above the Tennessee county median of 7.8%.
With 47 muggy nights a year, mold in Morgan County can appear within days of a leak. Dry first, then clean.
Local risk profile
Morgan County covers 522 square miles of northern Tennessee, with about 21,361 residents and 8,566 homes. Wartburg is the county seat; Coalfield, Sunbright and Petros are the next largest communities. Much of its housing is recent, with a median build year of 1985.
68/100 Water Damage Risk Index: Elevated Morgan County ranks 8 of 95 Tennessee counties. See the statewide ranking and method.The three factors where Morgan County ranks highest compared with other Tennessee counties.
Morgan County gets more hard-freeze nights than most of Tennessee. In the 2015–2024 record the county logged about 14 nights a year at or below 20°F (12th of 95) and 75 below freezing. Twenty degrees is roughly where uninsulated pipes start to freeze.
Cold snaps are the real risk. The worst in the record lasted 5 days below freezing (ending February 2015), and the low bottomed out near -6°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 Oct 31 and end around Apr 13.
Heavy rain is a bigger factor here than in most of Tennessee. Of roughly 60 inches of yearly precipitation, the damage comes from the 15.4 days a year with an inch or more, ranked 20th of 95. February, July and December see the most. The single wettest day in the record: 3.73 inches, February 6, 2020. The worst three-day stretch dropped 5.69 inches, ending February 7, 2020, the kind of soaking that overwhelms sump pumps and storm sewers.
Freeze-thaw days, below freezing overnight and above it by afternoon, come about 69 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 42% of the county's housing was built before 1980. That puts Morgan near the middle of Tennessee's 95 counties.
Older and newer homes sit side by side here: 19% 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.
33% 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.
27% 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.
The Census counted 16% of homes as vacant, above the Tennessee county median of 11.9%. Empty houses are where a small leak turns into a large claim, because nobody is there to hear it.
Beyond water
About 47 nights a year in Morgan County stay at 65°F or warmer, a sign of muggy summer air (83rd of 95 counties). February is the wettest month. 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 expectHeating fuel matters for fire risk. In Morgan County it's 43% utility gas, 43% electric, 8% propane and 5% wood. Wood heat is more common here than the state median. Have chimneys swept and fuel-burning appliances serviced each fall, and keep three feet clear around stoves and space heaters.
Fire and smoke cleanup: first stepsCoverage
Calls connect to restoration companies that work across Morgan County. The largest communities by population:
Population from ACS 2020-2024 5-year estimates. Townships and unincorporated areas are covered too.
Nearby
Cumberland, Fentress and Scott get more pipe-freeze nights than Morgan. Anderson County has the oldest housing nearby, with 54% of homes built before 1980.
By the numbers
| Factor | Morgan | Tennessee median | Rank |
|---|---|---|---|
| Homes built before 1960 | 19% | 16% | 31 of 95 |
| Homes built before 1980 | 42% | 41% | 43 of 95 |
| Homes built 2000 or later | 25% | 27% | 61 of 95 |
| Manufactured or mobile homes | 27% | 16% | 7 of 95 |
| Vacant homes | 16% | 12% | 23 of 95 |
| Wood or propane heat | 13% | 7.8% | 28 of 95 |
| Nights at 20°F or colder | 14/yr | 11/yr | 12 of 95 |
| Days with 1 inch+ of rain | 15/yr | 14/yr | 20 of 95 |
| Freeze-thaw days | 69/yr | 60/yr | 13 of 95 |
| Muggy nights (65°F+) | 47/yr | 74/yr | 83 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 Morgan County: freezing from December to February, heavy rain in February, July and December.
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