Zapata County, Texas · Zapata
Water spreading, a burst pipe, sewage, mold or smoke? Call to be connected with a restoration company that serves Zapata, Medina and Siesta Shores. 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.
With 9% of homes built before 1960 and about 0 hard-freeze nights a year, frozen and split pipes are a leading winter risk in the county.
Basements flood here mostly in September. Zapata County averages 4.9 days a year with an inch of rain or more.
Sewage backups in Zapata County spike on heavy-rain days, about 4.9 a year, when sewer mains fill up and water finds the lowest drain.
Zapata County's wettest day in the 2015–2024 record brought 3.71 inches.
5% of occupied homes in Zapata County heat mainly with wood or propane, below the Texas county median of 6.5%.
Muggy summer nights, lows of 65°F or more, come about 206 times a year in Zapata County. Mold after a leak spreads fastest from June through August.
Local risk profile
About 13,841 people live in Zapata County, 998 square miles in southern Texas, in roughly 6,255 homes. Zapata is the county seat; Medina, Siesta Shores and Falcon Lake Estates are the next largest communities. Much of its housing is recent, with a median build year of 1992.
27/100 Water Damage Risk Index: Moderate Zapata County ranks 229 of 232 Texas counties. See the statewide ranking and method.The three factors where Zapata County ranks highest compared with other Texas counties.
Zapata County is milder than most of Texas, but not mild enough to skip winterizing. In the 2015–2024 record the county logged about 0 nights a year at or below 20°F (205th of 232) and 3 below freezing. Twenty degrees is roughly where uninsulated pipes start to freeze.
With only about 3 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 19°F, on February 16, 2021.
Zapata gets fewer downpours than most Texas counties, but they still fill basements. The county gets about 19.2 inches of rain and melted snow a year, with 4.9 days of an inch or more (172nd of 232). Those downpours cluster in April, May and September, when sump pumps and gutters are tested hardest. The wettest day on record brought 3.71 inches on August 15, 2022. Multi-day storms matter most for basements; the wettest three days on record here totaled 5.05 inches (through August 16, 2022).
Housing
Texas's 232 counties range widely in housing age; Zapata ranks 200th, with 28% of its homes built before 1980.
The mix runs from 9% built before 1960 to 26% built since 2000, so older neighborhoods bring aging pipe while newer subdivisions bring failed appliance lines and water heaters.
About 46% 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 30% 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 206 nights a year in Zapata County stay at 65°F or warmer, a sign of muggy summer air (10th of 232 counties). September 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, Zapata County homes break down as 5% utility gas, 89% electric, 5% propane and under 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 Zapata County. The largest communities by population:
Population from ACS 2020-2024 5-year estimates. Townships and unincorporated areas are covered too.
Nearby
Zapata gets more pipe-freeze nights than any of its neighbors. All of its neighbors see more heavy-rain days. Jim Hogg County has the oldest housing nearby, with 55% of homes built before 1980.
By the numbers
| Factor | Zapata | Texas median | Rank |
|---|---|---|---|
| Homes built before 1960 | 9.4% | 20% | 197 of 232 |
| Homes built before 1980 | 28% | 46% | 200 of 232 |
| Homes built 2000 or later | 26% | 26% | 116 of 232 |
| Manufactured or mobile homes | 30% | 13% | 12 of 232 |
| Vacant homes | 27% | 17% | 30 of 232 |
| Wood or propane heat | 4.5% | 6.5% | 147 of 232 |
| Nights at 20°F or colder | 0/yr | 3/yr | 205 of 232 |
| Days with 1 inch+ of rain | 4.9/yr | 7.8/yr | 172 of 232 |
| Freeze-thaw days | 3/yr | 27/yr | 218 of 232 |
| Muggy nights (65°F+) | 206/yr | 129/yr | 10 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 Zapata County: freezing from midwinter, heavy rain in April, May and September.
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