Kanawha County, West Virginia · Charleston
Water spreading, a burst pipe, sewage, mold or smoke? Call to be connected with a restoration company that serves Charleston, South Charleston and St. Albans. 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.
Kanawha County averages 20 nights a year at 20°F or colder, mostly December to March, and 43% of its homes predate 1960.
Heavy rain days of an inch or more come about 7.5 times a year here, most often in February. A sump pump that hasn't run since last season is a common weak point.
Backups often follow heavy rain, which Kanawha County gets about 7.5 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 76 freeze-thaw days a year, from winter ice dams. Most show up as ceiling stains in the room below.
3% of occupied homes in Kanawha County heat mainly with wood or propane, below the West Virginia county median of 10.1%.
Muggy summer nights, lows of 65°F or more, come about 46 times a year in Kanawha County. Mold after a leak spreads fastest from June through August.
Local risk profile
About 176,537 people live in Kanawha County, 902 square miles in southwest West Virginia, in roughly 90,408 homes. The county seat is Charleston, and South Charleston, St. Albans and Cross Lanes round out the largest towns. The county's median home was built in 1966.
63/100 Water Damage Risk Index: Elevated Kanawha County ranks 10 of 55 West Virginia counties. See the statewide ranking and method.The three factors where Kanawha County ranks highest compared with other West Virginia counties.
Kanawha County is milder than most of West Virginia, but not mild enough to skip winterizing. In the 2015–2024 record the county logged about 20 nights a year at or below 20°F (48th of 55) and 88 below freezing. Twenty degrees is roughly where uninsulated pipes start to freeze.
On February 20, 2015 the low fell to about -13°F, and in the stretch ending January 2018 the county went 13 days in a row below freezing. Leaks from split pipes typically appear the day the thaw arrives.
Expect the hardest freezes in January, inside a season that runs December to March. 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 2 and the last spring freeze around Apr 17.
Heavy rain is a bigger factor here than in most of West Virginia. Of roughly 47.6 inches of yearly precipitation, the damage comes from the 7.5 days a year with an inch or more, ranked 12th of 55. February, May and June see the most. The single wettest day in the record: 2.75 inches, February 17, 2023. Multi-day storms matter most for basements; the wettest three days on record here totaled 3.6 inches (through June 24, 2016).
The temperature crosses 32°F in both directions on roughly 76 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
Roughly 70% of the county's housing was built before 1980. That puts Kanawha among the oldest housing stocks of West Virginia's 55 counties.
In Kanawha County 43% 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.
Manufactured and mobile homes make up 10% 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.
Renters occupy 29% of homes. If you rent, the building is usually the landlord's to repair, but your belongings are only covered by renters insurance.
Beyond water
Kanawha County averages 46 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 expectBy main heating fuel, Kanawha County homes break down as 53% utility gas, 44% electric, 1% propane and 1% wood. Most homes here heat with gas or electricity, so cooking and electrical faults are the likelier fire sources. Even a contained kitchen fire can send soot through the ductwork to every room.
Fire and smoke cleanup: first stepsCoverage
Calls connect to restoration companies that work across Kanawha County. The largest communities by population:
Population from ACS 2020-2024 5-year estimates. Townships and unincorporated areas are covered too.
Nearby
Clay, Fayette, Jackson, Raleigh and Roane get more pipe-freeze nights than Kanawha. It also has the most heavy-rain days in its area. Its housing is the oldest in the area by share of homes built before 1980.
By the numbers
| Factor | Kanawha | West Virginia median | Rank |
|---|---|---|---|
| Homes built before 1960 | 43% | 31% | 8 of 55 |
| Homes built before 1980 | 70% | 55% | 7 of 55 |
| Homes built 2000 or later | 12% | 17% | 49 of 55 |
| Manufactured or mobile homes | 9.5% | 16% | 45 of 55 |
| Vacant homes | 15% | 17% | 34 of 55 |
| Wood or propane heat | 2.5% | 10% | 54 of 55 |
| Nights at 20°F or colder | 20/yr | 25/yr | 48 of 55 |
| Days with 1 inch+ of rain | 7.5/yr | 6.8/yr | 12 of 55 |
| Freeze-thaw days | 76/yr | 89/yr | 50 of 55 |
| Muggy nights (65°F+) | 46/yr | 27/yr | 5 of 55 |
Rank 1 is the highest value. Bars run from the lowest to the highest West Virginia county; the tick marks the median; orange means higher water damage risk than the median, green means lower.
Questions
Peak risk months in Kanawha County: freezing from December to March, heavy rain in February, May and June.
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