Henderson County, Texas · Athens
Water spreading, a burst pipe, sewage, mold or smoke? Call to be connected with a restoration company that serves Athens, Gun Barrel City and Chandler. 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.
Henderson County averages 3 nights a year at 20°F or colder, mostly midwinter, and 9% of its homes predate 1960.
Heavy rain days of an inch or more come about 13 times a year here, most often in April. A sump pump that hasn't run since last season is a common weak point.
Backups often follow heavy rain, which Henderson County gets about 13 days a year, when storm water overloads sewer mains and pushes up through the lowest drain in the house.
In Henderson County, 6.74 inches fell on the wettest day of the 2015–2024 record. Storms like that, and ice dams in snowy winters, cause most roof leaks.
7% of occupied homes in Henderson 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 134 times a year in Henderson County. Mold after a leak spreads fastest from June through August.
Local risk profile
Henderson County covers 874 square miles of eastern Texas, with about 84,862 residents and 41,852 homes. Athens is the county seat; Gun Barrel City, Chandler and Tool are the next largest communities. Much of its housing is recent, with a median build year of 1988.
48/100 Water Damage Risk Index: Elevated Henderson County ranks 138 of 232 Texas counties. See the statewide ranking and method.The three factors where Henderson County ranks highest compared with other Texas counties.
Pipe-freeze risk in Henderson County sits near the middle of the state. From 2015–2024 it averaged 3 nights a year at 20°F or colder, the range where pipes in exterior walls, crawl spaces and unheated garages freeze, and 27 nights at or below 32°F. That ranks 94th of 232 counties.
On February 16, 2021 the low fell to about -1°F, and in the stretch ending February 2021 the county went 7 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 22 and end around Feb 23.
Heavy rain is a bigger factor here than in most of Texas. The county gets about 48 inches of rain and melted snow a year, with 13 days of an inch or more (54th of 232). Those downpours cluster in April, May and October, when sump pumps and gutters are tested hardest. The wettest day on record brought 6.74 inches on October 24, 2015. The worst three-day stretch dropped 10.43 inches, ending October 25, 2015, the kind of soaking that overwhelms sump pumps and storm sewers.
Freeze-thaw days, below freezing overnight and above it by afternoon, come about 25 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
Texas's 232 counties range widely in housing age; Henderson ranks 176th, with 34% of its homes built before 1980.
Growth since 2000 added 34% of today's homes. In houses that new, the weak points are washing machine hoses, ice maker lines, water heaters and sump pumps rather than the pipes in the walls.
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.
Here 26% 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.
20% of homes were vacant at survey time. A leak in an empty rental or seasonal house can run for days before anyone notices, which is why those losses tend to be larger.
Beyond water
Summer nights that don't drop below 65°F, a good marker of humid air, come about 134 times a year here, close to the Texas county median of 129. 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, Henderson County homes break down as 11% utility gas, 81% electric, 6% propane and 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 Henderson County. The largest communities by population:
Population from ACS 2020-2024 5-year estimates. Townships and unincorporated areas are covered too.
Nearby
Henderson gets more pipe-freeze nights than any of its neighbors. Navarro County has the oldest housing nearby, with 47% of homes built before 1980.
By the numbers
| Factor | Henderson | Texas median | Rank |
|---|---|---|---|
| Homes built before 1960 | 9% | 20% | 199 of 232 |
| Homes built before 1980 | 34% | 46% | 176 of 232 |
| Homes built 2000 or later | 34% | 26% | 63 of 232 |
| Manufactured or mobile homes | 26% | 13% | 18 of 232 |
| Vacant homes | 20% | 17% | 80 of 232 |
| Wood or propane heat | 7.4% | 6.5% | 106 of 232 |
| Nights at 20°F or colder | 3/yr | 3/yr | 94 of 232 |
| Days with 1 inch+ of rain | 13/yr | 7.8/yr | 54 of 232 |
| Freeze-thaw days | 25/yr | 27/yr | 123 of 232 |
| Muggy nights (65°F+) | 134/yr | 129/yr | 103 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 Henderson County: freezing from midwinter, heavy rain in April, May 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