Runnels County, Texas · Ballinger
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With 56% of homes built before 1960 and about 5 hard-freeze nights a year, frozen and split pipes are a leading winter risk in the county.
May brings the most downpours to Runnels County, part of 5.3 heavy-rain days a year. Check the sump first.
56% 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.
In Runnels County, 4.24 inches fell on the wettest day of the 2015–2024 record. Storms like that, and ice dams in snowy winters, cause most roof leaks.
10% of occupied homes in Runnels 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 112 times a year in Runnels County. Mold after a leak spreads fastest from June through August.
Local risk profile
Runnels County covers 1,051 square miles of central Texas, with about 9,874 residents and 4,990 homes. Ballinger is the county seat; Winters, Miles and Rowena are the next largest communities. It has some of the oldest housing in the state: the median home went up in 1958.
63/100 Water Damage Risk Index: Elevated Runnels County ranks 25 of 232 Texas counties. See the statewide ranking and method.The three factors where Runnels County ranks highest compared with other Texas counties.
Runnels is on the colder side of Texas for pipes. It averaged 42 freezing nights a year over 2015–2024, 5 of them at 20°F or colder, cold enough for pipes in outside walls and crawl spaces to freeze. Among 232 Texas counties that's 54th.
The longest cold spell was straight 9 days without the temperature rising above freezing, ending in February 2021. The coldest night reached about 0°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 January. 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 Nov 14 and the last spring freeze around Mar 4.
Runnels gets fewer downpours than most Texas counties, but they still fill basements. About 5.3 days a year bring an inch or more (165th of 232), most often in May, out of 25.6 inches of total precipitation. On September 3, 2024, 4.24 inches fell in a single day. Multi-day storms matter most for basements; the wettest three days on record here totaled 6.34 inches (through September 4, 2024).
About 40 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
76% of homes in Runnels County predate 1980, above the Texas county median of 45.8%, which ranks 10th of Texas's 232 counties.
56% were built before 1960. Homes from that era often still have galvanized steel supply pipe, which rusts from the inside until it pinholes, and cast iron drains that crack with age. Slow leaks behind walls are a common start to water damage in these houses.
With 24% 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
Runnels County averages 112 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 expectMain heating fuel in Runnels County's occupied homes: 48% utility gas, 41% electric, 9% propane and 2% 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 Runnels County. The largest communities by population:
Population from ACS 2020-2024 5-year estimates. Townships and unincorporated areas are covered too.
Nearby
Runnels gets more pipe-freeze nights than any of its neighbors. Its housing is the oldest in the area by share of homes built before 1980.
By the numbers
| Factor | Runnels | Texas median | Rank |
|---|---|---|---|
| Homes built before 1960 | 56% | 20% | 1 of 232 |
| Homes built before 1980 | 76% | 46% | 10 of 232 |
| Homes built 2000 or later | 7.4% | 26% | 222 of 232 |
| Manufactured or mobile homes | 6.9% | 13% | 192 of 232 |
| Vacant homes | 24% | 17% | 53 of 232 |
| Wood or propane heat | 10% | 6.5% | 71 of 232 |
| Nights at 20°F or colder | 5/yr | 3/yr | 54 of 232 |
| Days with 1 inch+ of rain | 5.3/yr | 7.8/yr | 165 of 232 |
| Freeze-thaw days | 40/yr | 27/yr | 59 of 232 |
| Muggy nights (65°F+) | 112/yr | 129/yr | 172 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 Runnels 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