Wood County, Texas · Mineola
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Pipes freeze in Wood County on about 3 nights a year, mostly midwinter. Older homes, 11% of the stock here, are most at risk.
Basements flood here mostly in April. Wood County averages 14.8 days a year with an inch of rain or more.
Backups often follow heavy rain, which Wood County gets about 14.8 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 29 freeze-thaw days a year, from winter ice dams. Most show up as ceiling stains in the room below.
12% of occupied homes in Wood 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 125 times a year in Wood County. Mold after a leak spreads fastest from June through August.
Local risk profile
With 22,388 homes and around 46,961 residents, Wood County is 645 square miles of eastern Texas. The county seat is Mineola, and Winnsboro, Holly Lake Ranch and Quitman round out the largest towns. Much of its housing is recent, with a median build year of 1990.
50/100 Water Damage Risk Index: Elevated Wood County ranks 123 of 232 Texas counties. See the statewide ranking and method.The three factors where Wood County ranks highest compared with other Texas counties.
For frozen pipes, Wood County is a typical Texas county, which is still plenty. 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 30 nights at or below 32°F. That ranks 94th of 232 counties.
Cold snaps are the real risk. The worst in the record lasted 8 days below freezing (ending February 2021), and the low bottomed out near -3°F on February 16, 2021.
The freeze season here runs midwinter, with January the coldest. If you travel then, leave the thermostat at 55°F or above and open sink cabinets on outside walls.
On average the first fall freeze arrives around Nov 15 and the last spring freeze around Feb 28.
Heavy rain is a bigger factor here than in most of Texas. About 14.8 days a year bring an inch or more (33rd of 232), most often in April, out of 52.1 inches of total precipitation. On October 24, 2015, 5.97 inches fell in a single day. Multi-day storms matter most for basements; the wettest three days on record here totaled 9.3 inches (through October 25, 2015).
About 29 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
Texas's 232 counties range widely in housing age; Wood ranks 179th, with 34% of its homes built before 1980.
30% of homes were built in 2000 or later, more than in most of Texas. Newer plumbing rarely corrodes, so damage here tends to come from appliance supply lines, water heaters, sump pumps and storms.
About 36% 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.
Manufactured and mobile homes make up 16% 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.
Beyond water
Wood County averages 125 warm, muggy nights a year (lows of 65°F or more) and gets the most rain in May. 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, Wood County homes break down as 13% utility gas, 74% electric, 9% propane and 3% wood. Wood heat is above the Texas norm. Annual chimney and vent inspection, which the NFPA recommends, is one of the most effective fire-prevention habits for these homes.
Fire and smoke cleanup: first stepsCoverage
Calls connect to restoration companies that work across Wood County. The largest communities by population:
Population from ACS 2020-2024 5-year estimates. Townships and unincorporated areas are covered too.
Nearby
Hopkins and Rains get more pipe-freeze nights than Wood. It also has the most heavy-rain days in its area. Hopkins County has the oldest housing nearby, with 43% of homes built before 1980.
By the numbers
| Factor | Wood | Texas median | Rank |
|---|---|---|---|
| Homes built before 1960 | 11% | 20% | 183 of 232 |
| Homes built before 1980 | 34% | 46% | 179 of 232 |
| Homes built 2000 or later | 30% | 26% | 86 of 232 |
| Manufactured or mobile homes | 16% | 13% | 86 of 232 |
| Vacant homes | 17% | 17% | 115 of 232 |
| Wood or propane heat | 12% | 6.5% | 60 of 232 |
| Nights at 20°F or colder | 3/yr | 3/yr | 94 of 232 |
| Days with 1 inch+ of rain | 15/yr | 7.8/yr | 33 of 232 |
| Freeze-thaw days | 29/yr | 27/yr | 105 of 232 |
| Muggy nights (65°F+) | 125/yr | 129/yr | 131 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 Wood County: freezing from midwinter, heavy rain in February, April and May.
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