Oldham County, Texas · Vega
Water spreading, a burst pipe, sewage, mold or smoke? Call to be connected with a restoration company that serves Vega, Boys Ranch and Wildorado. 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 Oldham County on about 25 nights a year, mostly November to February. Older homes, 33% of the stock here, are most at risk.
Basements flood here mostly in July. Oldham County averages 1.8 days a year with an inch of rain or more.
Backups often follow heavy rain, which Oldham County gets about 1.8 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 and, with about 102 freeze-thaw days a year, from winter ice dams. Most show up as ceiling stains in the room below.
6% of occupied homes in Oldham County heat mainly with wood or propane, below the Texas county median of 6.5%.
About 45 nights a year here stay at 65°F or warmer, so basements and crawl spaces can grow mold even without a leak.
Local risk profile
About 2,249 people live in Oldham County, 1,501 square miles in northwest Texas, in roughly 776 homes. Vega is the county seat; Boys Ranch, Wildorado and Adrian are the next largest communities. The county's median home was built in 1967.
55/100 Water Damage Risk Index: Elevated Oldham County ranks 80 of 232 Texas counties. See the statewide ranking and method.The three factors where Oldham County ranks highest compared with other Texas counties.
Oldham is on the colder side of Texas for pipes. From 2015–2024 it averaged 25 nights a year at 20°F or colder, the range where pipes in exterior walls, crawl spaces and unheated garages freeze, and 108 nights at or below 32°F. That ranks 7th of 232 counties.
The longest cold spell was straight 7 days without the temperature rising above freezing, ending in February 2021. The coldest night reached about -9°F on February 15, 2021. Burst pipes usually show up when a spell like that breaks and the ice thaws.
Expect the hardest freezes in January, inside a season that runs November to February. That's when an outdoor spigot left connected to a hose, or a pipe in a crawl space, is most likely to split.
On average the first fall freeze arrives around Oct 29 and the last spring freeze around Apr 6.
Oldham gets fewer downpours than most Texas counties, but they still fill basements. About 1.8 days a year bring an inch or more (222nd of 232), most often in July, out of 16.5 inches of total precipitation. On July 30, 2022, 3.12 inches fell in a single day. Multi-day storms matter most for basements; the wettest three days on record here totaled 4.55 inches (through July 30, 2022).
The temperature crosses 32°F in both directions on roughly 102 days a year. Each cycle melts and refreezes water at roof edges and in foundation cracks, which is how ice dams and basement seepage get started.
Housing
Texas's 232 counties range widely in housing age; Oldham ranks 25th, with 71% of its homes built before 1980.
In Oldham County 33% 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.
14% of homes are manufactured or mobile homes, close to 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.
With 21% of homes empty at survey time, landlords and seasonal owners should shut off the main or schedule checks in winter. An unheated vacant house is also where many policies limit freeze coverage.
Beyond water
Oldham County averages 45 warm, muggy nights a year (lows of 65°F or more) and gets the most rain in July. 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 expectBy main heating fuel, Oldham County homes break down as 53% utility gas, 41% electric, 5% propane and under 1% wood. Fires here are likelier to start in the kitchen or the wiring than in the furnace. After any fire, keep the HVAC off until ducts are checked, or soot will travel through the house.
Fire and smoke cleanup: first stepsCoverage
Calls connect to restoration companies that work across Oldham County. The largest communities by population:
Population from ACS 2020-2024 5-year estimates. Townships and unincorporated areas are covered too.
Nearby
Deaf Smith and Hartley get more pipe-freeze nights than Oldham. All of its neighbors see more heavy-rain days. Deaf Smith County has the oldest housing nearby, with 72% of homes built before 1980.
By the numbers
| Factor | Oldham | Texas median | Rank |
|---|---|---|---|
| Homes built before 1960 | 33% | 20% | 42 of 232 |
| Homes built before 1980 | 71% | 46% | 25 of 232 |
| Homes built 2000 or later | 18% | 26% | 167 of 232 |
| Manufactured or mobile homes | 14% | 13% | 105 of 232 |
| Vacant homes | 21% | 17% | 70 of 232 |
| Wood or propane heat | 5.5% | 6.5% | 137 of 232 |
| Nights at 20°F or colder | 25/yr | 3/yr | 7 of 232 |
| Days with 1 inch+ of rain | 1.8/yr | 7.8/yr | 222 of 232 |
| Freeze-thaw days | 102/yr | 27/yr | 4 of 232 |
| Muggy nights (65°F+) | 45/yr | 129/yr | 224 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 Oldham County: freezing from November to February, heavy rain in June, July 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