Bacon County, Georgia · Alma
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Bacon County averages 0 nights a year at 20°F or colder, mostly midwinter, and 23% of its homes predate 1960.
Heavy rain days of an inch or more come about 9.8 times a year here, most often in April. A sump pump that hasn't run since last season is a common weak point.
23% 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 Bacon County, 7.87 inches fell on the wettest day of the 2015–2024 record. Storms like that, and ice dams in snowy winters, cause most roof leaks.
3% of occupied homes in Bacon County heat mainly with wood or propane, below the Georgia county median of 7.1%.
With 134 muggy nights a year, mold in Bacon County can appear within days of a leak. Dry first, then clean.
Local risk profile
With 4,831 homes and around 11,109 residents, Bacon County is 284 square miles of southeast Georgia. The county seat is Alma, and Rockingham is the other large town. The county's median home was built in 1979.
43/100 Water Damage Risk Index: Moderate Bacon County ranks 113 of 159 Georgia counties. See the statewide ranking and method.The three factors where Bacon County ranks highest compared with other Georgia counties.
Bacon County is milder than most of Georgia, but not mild enough to skip winterizing. It averaged 17 freezing nights a year over 2015–2024, 0 of them at 20°F or colder, cold enough for pipes in outside walls and crawl spaces to freeze. Among 159 Georgia counties that's 117th.
With only about 17 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 December 25, 2022.
Bacon gets fewer downpours than most Georgia counties, but they still fill basements. Of roughly 47.2 inches of yearly precipitation, the damage comes from the 9.8 days a year with an inch or more, ranked 152nd of 159. January, April and May see the most. The single wettest day in the record: 7.87 inches, August 31, 2023. Multi-day storms matter most for basements; the wettest three days on record here totaled 8.54 inches (through August 31, 2023).
Housing
Georgia's 159 counties range widely in housing age; Bacon ranks 19th, with 52% of its homes built before 1980.
23% 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.
About 25% 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 31% 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
About 134 nights a year in Bacon County stay at 65°F or warmer, a sign of muggy summer air (24th of 159 counties). August 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 expectMain heating fuel in Bacon County's occupied homes: 1% utility gas, 95% electric, 3% propane and under 1% wood. Fires here are likelier to start in the kitchen or the wiring than in the furnace. After any fire, keep the HVAC off until ducts are checked, or soot will travel through the house.
Fire and smoke cleanup: first stepsCoverage
Calls connect to restoration companies that work across Bacon County. The largest communities by population:
Population from ACS 2020-2024 5-year estimates. Townships and unincorporated areas are covered too.
Nearby
Bacon gets more pipe-freeze nights than any of its neighbors. Ware County has the oldest housing nearby, with 54% of homes built before 1980.
By the numbers
| Factor | Bacon | Georgia median | Rank |
|---|---|---|---|
| Homes built before 1960 | 23% | 15% | 28 of 159 |
| Homes built before 1980 | 52% | 38% | 19 of 159 |
| Homes built 2000 or later | 24% | 27% | 102 of 159 |
| Manufactured or mobile homes | 31% | 21% | 40 of 159 |
| Vacant homes | 13% | 14% | 91 of 159 |
| Wood or propane heat | 3.1% | 7.1% | 124 of 159 |
| Nights at 20°F or colder | 0/yr | 2/yr | 117 of 159 |
| Days with 1 inch+ of rain | 9.8/yr | 12/yr | 152 of 159 |
| Freeze-thaw days | 17/yr | 29/yr | 119 of 159 |
| Muggy nights (65°F+) | 134/yr | 112/yr | 24 of 159 |
Rank 1 is the highest value. Bars run from the lowest to the highest Georgia county; the tick marks the median; orange means higher water damage risk than the median, green means lower.
Questions
Peak risk months in Bacon County: freezing from midwinter, heavy rain in January, 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