Grimes County, Texas · Anderson
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Grimes County averages 1 night a year at 20°F or colder, mostly midwinter, and 10% of its homes predate 1960.
Basements flood here mostly in May. Grimes County averages 12.7 days a year with an inch of rain or more.
Backups often follow heavy rain, which Grimes County gets about 12.7 days a year, when storm water overloads sewer mains and pushes up through the lowest drain in the house.
Roof leaks here come from summer downpours. Most show up as ceiling stains in the room below.
18% of occupied homes in Grimes 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 157 times a year in Grimes County. Mold after a leak spreads fastest from June through August.
Local risk profile
With 12,349 homes and around 31,340 residents, Grimes County is 787 square miles of eastern Texas. Besides Anderson, the county seat, the biggest communities are Navasota, Plantersville and Bedias. Much of its housing is recent, with a median build year of 1997.
42/100 Water Damage Risk Index: Moderate Grimes County ranks 178 of 232 Texas counties. See the statewide ranking and method.The three factors where Grimes County ranks highest compared with other Texas counties.
Grimes County is milder than most of Texas, but not mild enough to skip winterizing. From 2015–2024 it averaged 1 night a year at 20°F or colder, the range where pipes in exterior walls, crawl spaces and unheated garages freeze, and 13 nights at or below 32°F. That ranks 159th of 232 counties.
With only about 13 freezing nights a year, many homes here aren't built for cold, so a single arctic outbreak can burst pipes across the county. The record low in this data was about 6°F, on February 16, 2021.
Heavy rain is a bigger factor here than in most of Texas. Of roughly 49.4 inches of yearly precipitation, the damage comes from the 12.7 days a year with an inch or more, ranked 57th of 232. April, May and December see the most. The single wettest day in the record: 7.59 inches, May 27, 2016. Multi-day storms matter most for basements; the wettest three days on record here totaled 15.35 inches (through August 28, 2017).
Housing
24% of homes in Grimes County predate 1980, below the Texas county median of 45.8%, which ranks 205th of Texas's 232 counties.
Since 2000 the county has added enough housing that 47% of homes are that new. Modern PEX and copper rarely fail on their own; the leaks come from connections, appliances and storms.
29% 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.
Here 22% of housing is manufactured homes. Check the skirting and the heat tape on the main water line every fall, because that one exposed line is what freezes.
Beyond water
Grimes County averages 157 warm, muggy nights a year (lows of 65°F or more) and gets the most rain in May. Mold grows when indoor humidity stays above about 60%, the EPA's ceiling. A basement dehumidifier set to 50% and drying anything wet within 24 to 48 hours prevents most problems.
Mold remediation: what to expectBy main heating fuel, Grimes County homes break down as 10% utility gas, 71% electric, 18% propane and under 1% wood. Propane 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 Grimes County. The largest communities by population:
Population from ACS 2020-2024 5-year estimates. Townships and unincorporated areas are covered too.
Nearby
Grimes gets more pipe-freeze nights than any of its neighbors. Madison County has the oldest housing nearby, with 42% of homes built before 1980.
By the numbers
| Factor | Grimes | Texas median | Rank |
|---|---|---|---|
| Homes built before 1960 | 10% | 20% | 189 of 232 |
| Homes built before 1980 | 24% | 46% | 205 of 232 |
| Homes built 2000 or later | 47% | 26% | 22 of 232 |
| Manufactured or mobile homes | 22% | 13% | 41 of 232 |
| Vacant homes | 17% | 17% | 111 of 232 |
| Wood or propane heat | 18% | 6.5% | 10 of 232 |
| Nights at 20°F or colder | 1/yr | 3/yr | 159 of 232 |
| Days with 1 inch+ of rain | 13/yr | 7.8/yr | 57 of 232 |
| Freeze-thaw days | 12/yr | 27/yr | 177 of 232 |
| Muggy nights (65°F+) | 157/yr | 129/yr | 58 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 Grimes County: freezing from midwinter, heavy rain in April, May 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