Cook County, Georgia · Adel
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With 16% 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.
January brings the most downpours to Cook County, part of 11.6 heavy-rain days a year. Check the sump first.
16% 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.
Cook County's wettest day in the 2015–2024 record brought 4.55 inches.
4% of occupied homes in Cook County heat mainly with wood or propane, below the Georgia county median of 7.1%.
With 128 muggy nights a year, mold in Cook County can appear within days of a leak. Dry first, then clean.
Local risk profile
Cook County covers 228 square miles of southern Georgia, with about 17,532 residents and 7,486 homes. Adel is the county seat; Sparks, Lenox and Cecil are the next largest communities. Much of its housing is recent, with a median build year of 1985.
41/100 Water Damage Risk Index: Moderate Cook County ranks 125 of 159 Georgia counties. See the statewide ranking and method.The three factors where Cook County ranks highest compared with other Georgia counties.
Winters here are on the gentler end for Georgia, and pipes still freeze. From 2015–2024 it averaged 0 nights a year at 20°F or colder, the range where pipes in exterior walls, crawl spaces and unheated garages freeze, and 17 nights at or below 32°F. That ranks 117th of 159 counties.
Hard freezes are uncommon here, about 17 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 24, 2022.
Rainfall is about average for Georgia. The county gets about 51.1 inches of rain and melted snow a year, with 11.6 days of an inch or more (105th of 159). Those downpours cluster in January, February and June, when sump pumps and gutters are tested hardest. The wettest day on record brought 4.55 inches on September 2, 2016. The worst three-day stretch dropped 6.21 inches, ending September 27, 2024, the kind of soaking that overwhelms sump pumps and storm sewers.
Housing
Roughly 44% of the county's housing was built before 1980. That puts Cook among the oldest housing stocks of Georgia's 159 counties.
Housing age is mixed: 16% of homes are pre-1960 and 27% are 2000 or newer. Ask any plumber which era your house is from and you'll know which failures to watch for.
29% 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.
28% of homes are manufactured or mobile homes, above the Georgia county median of 20.9%. Their water lines run under the floor behind the skirting, so a torn skirt or failed heat tape freezes them faster than lines in a site-built house.
Beyond water
Cook County averages 128 warm, muggy nights a year (lows of 65°F or more) and gets the most rain in August. 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 Cook County's occupied homes: 7% utility gas, 88% electric, 3% 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 Cook County. The largest communities by population:
Population from ACS 2020-2024 5-year estimates. Townships and unincorporated areas are covered too.
Nearby
Tift gets more pipe-freeze nights than Cook. Tift County has the oldest housing nearby, with 45% of homes built before 1980.
By the numbers
| Factor | Cook | Georgia median | Rank |
|---|---|---|---|
| Homes built before 1960 | 16% | 15% | 64 of 159 |
| Homes built before 1980 | 44% | 38% | 45 of 159 |
| Homes built 2000 or later | 27% | 27% | 76 of 159 |
| Manufactured or mobile homes | 28% | 21% | 54 of 159 |
| Vacant homes | 16% | 14% | 67 of 159 |
| Wood or propane heat | 3.8% | 7.1% | 107 of 159 |
| Nights at 20°F or colder | 0/yr | 2/yr | 117 of 159 |
| Days with 1 inch+ of rain | 12/yr | 12/yr | 105 of 159 |
| Freeze-thaw days | 17/yr | 29/yr | 119 of 159 |
| Muggy nights (65°F+) | 128/yr | 112/yr | 48 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 Cook County: freezing from midwinter, heavy rain in January, February 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