Coke County, Texas · Robert Lee
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With 29% of homes built before 1960 and about 4 hard-freeze nights a year, frozen and split pipes are a leading winter risk in the county.
Heavy rain days of an inch or more come about 4 times a year here, most often in September. A sump pump that hasn't run since last season is a common weak point.
Backups often follow heavy rain, which Coke County gets about 4 days a year, when storm water overloads sewer mains and pushes up through the lowest drain in the house.
In Coke County, 4.56 inches fell on the wettest day of the 2015–2024 record. Storms like that, and ice dams in snowy winters, cause most roof leaks.
9% of occupied homes in Coke County heat mainly with wood or propane, above the Texas county median of 6.5%.
Muggy summer nights, lows of 65°F or more, come about 115 times a year in Coke County. Mold after a leak spreads fastest from June through August.
Local risk profile
Coke County covers 912 square miles of central Texas, with about 3,353 residents and 2,144 homes. The county seat is Robert Lee, and Bronte is the other large town. Half the homes here were built before 1974, half after.
52/100 Water Damage Risk Index: Elevated Coke County ranks 102 of 232 Texas counties. See the statewide ranking and method.The three factors where Coke County ranks highest compared with other Texas counties.
Coke County gets more hard-freeze nights than most of Texas. From 2015–2024 it averaged 4 nights a year at 20°F or colder, the range where pipes in exterior walls, crawl spaces and unheated garages freeze, and 40 nights at or below 32°F. That ranks 68th of 232 counties.
Cold snaps are the real risk. The worst in the record lasted 9 days below freezing (ending February 2021), and the low bottomed out near 0°F on February 15, 2021.
The freeze season here runs January, with January the coldest. If you travel then, leave the thermostat at 55°F or above and open sink cabinets on outside walls.
Freezing nights typically start around Nov 14 and end around Feb 27.
Coke gets fewer downpours than most Texas counties, but they still fill basements. Of roughly 22.4 inches of yearly precipitation, the damage comes from the 4 days a year with an inch or more, ranked 187th of 232. May, September and October see the most. The single wettest day in the record: 4.56 inches, September 9, 2020. The worst three-day stretch dropped 8.13 inches, ending September 11, 2020, 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
Roughly 60% of the county's housing was built before 1980. That puts Coke among the oldest housing stocks of Texas's 232 counties.
In Coke County 29% of homes are older than 1960. If yours is one of them and the plumbing has never been replaced, expect galvanized steel supply pipe and cast iron drain lines, the two materials most likely to fail quietly.
About 32% 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.
19% of homes are manufactured or mobile homes, above the Texas county median of 13.4%. 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 26% of homes as vacant, above the Texas county median of 16.6%. Empty houses are where a small leak turns into a large claim, because nobody is there to hear it.
Beyond water
Summer nights that don't drop below 65°F, a good marker of humid air, come about 115 times a year here, below the Texas county median of 129. 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 Coke County it's 24% utility gas, 65% electric, 6% propane and 3% wood. Wood heat is more common here than in most Texas 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 Coke County. The largest communities by population:
Population from ACS 2020-2024 5-year estimates. Townships and unincorporated areas are covered too.
Nearby
Mitchell, Nolan and Runnels get more pipe-freeze nights than Coke. All of its neighbors see more heavy-rain days. Mitchell County has the oldest housing nearby, with 78% of homes built before 1980.
By the numbers
| Factor | Coke | Texas median | Rank |
|---|---|---|---|
| Homes built before 1960 | 29% | 20% | 60 of 232 |
| Homes built before 1980 | 60% | 46% | 49 of 232 |
| Homes built 2000 or later | 7.4% | 26% | 222 of 232 |
| Manufactured or mobile homes | 19% | 13% | 56 of 232 |
| Vacant homes | 26% | 17% | 38 of 232 |
| Wood or propane heat | 9.2% | 6.5% | 79 of 232 |
| Nights at 20°F or colder | 4/yr | 3/yr | 68 of 232 |
| Days with 1 inch+ of rain | 4/yr | 7.8/yr | 187 of 232 |
| Freeze-thaw days | 37/yr | 27/yr | 73 of 232 |
| Muggy nights (65°F+) | 115/yr | 129/yr | 158 of 232 |
Rank 1 is the highest value. Bars run from the lowest to the highest Texas county; the tick marks the median; orange means higher water damage risk than the median, green means lower.
Questions
Peak risk months in Coke County: freezing from January, heavy rain in May, 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