Bryan County, Georgia · Pembroke
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With 4% 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.
April brings the most downpours to Bryan County, part of 10.9 heavy-rain days a year. Check the sump first.
Backups often follow heavy rain, which Bryan County gets about 10.9 days a year, when storm water overloads sewer mains and pushes up through the lowest drain in the house.
In Bryan County, 8.3 inches fell on the wettest day of the 2015–2024 record. Storms like that, and ice dams in snowy winters, cause most roof leaks.
2% of occupied homes in Bryan County heat mainly with wood or propane, below the Georgia county median of 7.1%.
Muggy summer nights, lows of 65°F or more, come about 139 times a year in Bryan County. Mold after a leak spreads fastest from June through August.
Local risk profile
With 17,957 homes and around 48,263 residents, Bryan County is 438 square miles of southeast Georgia. Pembroke is the county seat; Richmond Hill and Buckhead are the next largest communities. Much of its housing is recent, with a median build year of 2005.
24/100 Water Damage Risk Index: Lower Bryan County ranks 157 of 159 Georgia counties. See the statewide ranking and method.The three factors where Bryan County ranks highest compared with other Georgia counties.
Winters here are on the gentler end for Georgia, and pipes still freeze. It averaged 13 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.
Hard freezes are uncommon here, about 13 nights a year at or below 32°F, and that's exactly why they do damage: pipes in attics, exterior walls and slab-edge plumbing are rarely insulated. The coldest night in the record was about 17°F on December 25, 2022.
Bryan gets fewer downpours than most Georgia counties, but they still fill basements. The county gets about 50 inches of rain and melted snow a year, with 10.9 days of an inch or more (129th of 159). Those downpours cluster in April, May and September, when sump pumps and gutters are tested hardest. The wettest day on record brought 8.3 inches on October 8, 2016. The worst three-day stretch dropped 10.71 inches, ending August 8, 2024, the kind of soaking that overwhelms sump pumps and storm sewers.
Housing
9% of homes in Bryan County predate 1980, below the Georgia county median of 38.4%, which ranks 158th of Georgia's 159 counties.
63% of homes were built in 2000 or later, more than in most of Georgia. Newer plumbing rarely corrodes, so damage here tends to come from appliance supply lines, water heaters, sump pumps and storms.
28% 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 11% 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
Summer nights that don't drop below 65°F, a good marker of humid air, come about 139 times a year here, above the Georgia county median of 112. 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 expectMain heating fuel in Bryan County's occupied homes: 6% utility gas, 91% electric, 1% propane and under 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 Bryan County. The largest communities by population:
Population from ACS 2020-2024 5-year estimates. Townships and unincorporated areas are covered too.
Nearby
Bryan gets more pipe-freeze nights than any of its neighbors. Chatham County has the oldest housing nearby, with 42% of homes built before 1980.
By the numbers
| Factor | Bryan | Georgia median | Rank |
|---|---|---|---|
| Homes built before 1960 | 3.8% | 15% | 151 of 159 |
| Homes built before 1980 | 9.1% | 38% | 158 of 159 |
| Homes built 2000 or later | 63% | 27% | 2 of 159 |
| Manufactured or mobile homes | 11% | 21% | 117 of 159 |
| Vacant homes | 7.5% | 14% | 139 of 159 |
| Wood or propane heat | 1.9% | 7.1% | 144 of 159 |
| Nights at 20°F or colder | 0/yr | 2/yr | 117 of 159 |
| Days with 1 inch+ of rain | 11/yr | 12/yr | 129 of 159 |
| Freeze-thaw days | 13/yr | 29/yr | 147 of 159 |
| Muggy nights (65°F+) | 139/yr | 112/yr | 12 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 Bryan 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