Gregg County, Texas · Longview
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With 15% of homes built before 1960 and about 2 hard-freeze nights a year, frozen and split pipes are a leading winter risk in the county.
April brings the most downpours to Gregg County, part of 15.6 heavy-rain days a year. Check the sump first.
15% 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.
Gregg County's wettest day in the 2015–2024 record brought 6.57 inches, and about 27 freeze-thaw days a year mean ice dams in some winters.
2% of occupied homes in Gregg County heat mainly with wood or propane, below the Texas county median of 6.5%.
With 128 muggy nights a year, mold in Gregg County can appear within days of a leak. Dry first, then clean.
Local risk profile
Gregg County covers 273 square miles of eastern Texas, with about 125,480 residents and 53,883 homes. Longview is the county seat; Kilgore, White Oak and Liberty City are the next largest communities. Half the homes here were built before 1980, half after.
51/100 Water Damage Risk Index: Elevated Gregg County ranks 112 of 232 Texas counties. See the statewide ranking and method.The three factors where Gregg County ranks highest compared with other Texas counties.
Pipe-freeze risk in Gregg County sits near the middle of the state. From 2015–2024 it averaged 2 nights a year at 20°F or colder, the range where pipes in exterior walls, crawl spaces and unheated garages freeze, and 28 nights at or below 32°F. That ranks 126th of 232 counties.
On February 16, 2021 the low fell to about -2°F, and in the stretch ending February 2021 the county went 4 days in a row below freezing. Leaks from split pipes typically appear the day the thaw arrives.
Expect the hardest freezes in January, inside a season that runs midwinter. That's when an outdoor spigot left connected to a hose, or a pipe in a crawl space, is most likely to split.
Freezing nights typically start around Nov 13 and end around Feb 26.
Heavy rain is a bigger factor here than in most of Texas. About 15.6 days a year bring an inch or more (27th of 232), most often in April, out of 52.4 inches of total precipitation. On March 9, 2016, 6.57 inches fell in a single day. The worst three-day stretch dropped 9.45 inches, ending March 11, 2016, the kind of soaking that overwhelms sump pumps and storm sewers.
About 27 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 50% of the county's housing was built before 1980. That puts Gregg near the middle of Texas's 232 counties.
The mix runs from 15% built before 1960 to 22% built since 2000, so older neighborhoods bring aging pipe while newer subdivisions bring failed appliance lines and water heaters.
28% 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.
8% of homes are manufactured or mobile homes, below 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.
Renters occupy 40% of homes. If you rent, the building is usually the landlord's to repair, but your belongings are only covered by renters insurance.
Beyond water
Gregg County averages 128 warm, muggy nights a year (lows of 65°F or more) and gets the most rain in April. 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 Gregg County it's 32% utility gas, 66% electric, 2% 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 Gregg County. The largest communities by population:
Population from ACS 2020-2024 5-year estimates. Townships and unincorporated areas are covered too.
Nearby
Smith and Upshur get more pipe-freeze nights than Gregg. Its housing is the oldest in the area by share of homes built before 1980.
By the numbers
| Factor | Gregg | Texas median | Rank |
|---|---|---|---|
| Homes built before 1960 | 15% | 20% | 154 of 232 |
| Homes built before 1980 | 50% | 46% | 94 of 232 |
| Homes built 2000 or later | 22% | 26% | 149 of 232 |
| Manufactured or mobile homes | 7.9% | 13% | 177 of 232 |
| Vacant homes | 10% | 17% | 186 of 232 |
| Wood or propane heat | 1.8% | 6.5% | 212 of 232 |
| Nights at 20°F or colder | 2/yr | 3/yr | 126 of 232 |
| Days with 1 inch+ of rain | 16/yr | 7.8/yr | 27 of 232 |
| Freeze-thaw days | 27/yr | 27/yr | 112 of 232 |
| Muggy nights (65°F+) | 128/yr | 129/yr | 119 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 Gregg County: freezing from midwinter, heavy rain in January, April and May.
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