Trinity County, Texas · Groveton
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With 11% of homes built before 1960 and about 1 hard-freeze night a year, frozen and split pipes are a leading winter risk in the county.
May brings the most downpours to Trinity County, part of 15.9 heavy-rain days a year. Check the sump first.
Sewage backups in Trinity County spike on heavy-rain days, about 15.9 a year, when sewer mains fill up and water finds the lowest drain.
Trinity County's wettest day in the 2015–2024 record brought 5.35 inches.
13% of occupied homes in Trinity 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 146 times a year in Trinity County. Mold after a leak spreads fastest from June through August.
Local risk profile
With 8,326 homes and around 14,046 residents, Trinity County is 694 square miles of eastern Texas. The county seat is Groveton, and Trinity and Westwood Shores round out the largest towns. Much of its housing is recent, with a median build year of 1988.
45/100 Water Damage Risk Index: Elevated Trinity County ranks 165 of 232 Texas counties. See the statewide ranking and method.The three factors where Trinity County ranks highest compared with other Texas counties.
Trinity County is milder than most of Texas, but not mild enough to skip winterizing. It averaged 16 freezing nights a year over 2015–2024, 1 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 159th.
On February 16, 2021 the low fell to about 4°F, and in the stretch ending February 2021 the county went 3 days in a row below freezing. Leaks from split pipes typically appear the day the thaw arrives.
With only about 16 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 4°F, on February 16, 2021.
Heavy rain is a bigger factor here than in most of Texas. Of roughly 55 inches of yearly precipitation, the damage comes from the 15.9 days a year with an inch or more, ranked 24th of 232. April, May and December see the most. The single wettest day in the record: 5.35 inches, December 8, 2018. Multi-day storms matter most for basements; the wettest three days on record here totaled 10.89 inches (through August 29, 2017).
Housing
Roughly 33% of the county's housing was built before 1980. That puts Trinity among the newer housing stocks of Texas's 232 counties.
Since 2000 the county has added enough housing that 32% of homes are that new. Modern PEX and copper rarely fail on their own; the leaks come from connections, appliances and storms.
35% 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.
Manufactured and mobile homes make up 38% of the housing here. Water lines in the underbelly depend on intact skirting and working heat tape, and they're usually the first to freeze in a cold snap.
27% 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
About 146 nights a year in Trinity County stay at 65°F or warmer, a sign of muggy summer air (70th of 232 counties). May is the wettest month. The EPA recommends keeping indoor humidity below 60%, ideally 30 to 50%. Basements can pass 60% on their own in summer, so a dehumidifier matters even without a leak, and anything wet should be dried within 24 to 48 hours.
Mold remediation: what to expectBy main heating fuel, Trinity County homes break down as 6% utility gas, 79% electric, 12% propane and 1% wood. Propane 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 Trinity County. The largest communities by population:
Population from ACS 2020-2024 5-year estimates. Townships and unincorporated areas are covered too.
Nearby
Houston gets more pipe-freeze nights than Trinity. Houston County has the oldest housing nearby, with 48% of homes built before 1980.
By the numbers
| Factor | Trinity | Texas median | Rank |
|---|---|---|---|
| Homes built before 1960 | 11% | 20% | 187 of 232 |
| Homes built before 1980 | 33% | 46% | 181 of 232 |
| Homes built 2000 or later | 32% | 26% | 72 of 232 |
| Manufactured or mobile homes | 38% | 13% | 2 of 232 |
| Vacant homes | 27% | 17% | 30 of 232 |
| Wood or propane heat | 13% | 6.5% | 45 of 232 |
| Nights at 20°F or colder | 1/yr | 3/yr | 159 of 232 |
| Days with 1 inch+ of rain | 16/yr | 7.8/yr | 24 of 232 |
| Freeze-thaw days | 16/yr | 27/yr | 165 of 232 |
| Muggy nights (65°F+) | 146/yr | 129/yr | 70 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 Trinity 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