Dooly County, Georgia · Vienna
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Dooly County averages 1 night a year at 20°F or colder, mostly midwinter, and 19% of its homes predate 1960.
Basements flood here mostly in December. Dooly County averages 11.3 days a year with an inch of rain or more.
Backups often follow heavy rain, which Dooly County gets about 11.3 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 20 freeze-thaw days a year, from winter ice dams. Most show up as ceiling stains in the room below.
8% of occupied homes in Dooly County heat mainly with wood or propane, above the Georgia county median of 7.1%.
About 125 nights a year here stay at 65°F or warmer, so basements and crawl spaces can grow mold even without a leak.
Local risk profile
With 4,778 homes and around 10,984 residents, Dooly County is 393 square miles of central Georgia. Besides Vienna, the county seat, the biggest communities are Unadilla, Byromville and Pinehurst. The county's median home was built in 1983.
48/100 Water Damage Risk Index: Elevated Dooly County ranks 92 of 159 Georgia counties. See the statewide ranking and method.The three factors where Dooly County ranks highest compared with other Georgia counties.
For frozen pipes, Dooly County is a typical Georgia county, which is still plenty. From 2015–2024 it averaged 1 night a year at 20°F or colder, the range where pipes in exterior walls, crawl spaces and unheated garages freeze, and 20 nights at or below 32°F. That ranks 85th of 159 counties.
With only about 20 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 13°F, on December 24, 2022.
Dooly gets fewer downpours than most Georgia counties, but they still fill basements. Of roughly 51.3 inches of yearly precipitation, the damage comes from the 11.3 days a year with an inch or more, ranked 117th of 159. January, April and December see the most. The single wettest day in the record: 4.67 inches, September 17, 2020. Multi-day storms matter most for basements; the wettest three days on record here totaled 5.91 inches (through March 6, 2020).
Freeze-thaw days, below freezing overnight and above it by afternoon, come about 20 times a year here. They're the main driver of ice dams and of water working its way through foundation cracks in late winter.
Housing
45% of homes in Dooly County predate 1980, above the Georgia county median of 38.4%, which ranks 38th of Georgia's 159 counties.
Older and newer homes sit side by side here: 19% predate 1960 and 15% are from 2000 or later. Corroded pipe is the typical failure in the first group, burst supply hoses in the second.
39% 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.
31% 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.
Renters occupy 35% 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
About 125 nights a year in Dooly County stay at 65°F or warmer, a sign of muggy summer air (59th of 159 counties). December is the wettest month. 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 Dooly County's occupied homes: 5% utility gas, 87% electric, 8% 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 Dooly County. The largest communities by population:
Population from ACS 2020-2024 5-year estimates. Townships and unincorporated areas are covered too.
Nearby
Dooly gets more pipe-freeze nights than any of its neighbors. Macon County has the oldest housing nearby, with 55% of homes built before 1980.
By the numbers
| Factor | Dooly | Georgia median | Rank |
|---|---|---|---|
| Homes built before 1960 | 19% | 15% | 48 of 159 |
| Homes built before 1980 | 45% | 38% | 38 of 159 |
| Homes built 2000 or later | 15% | 27% | 152 of 159 |
| Manufactured or mobile homes | 31% | 21% | 35 of 159 |
| Vacant homes | 16% | 14% | 70 of 159 |
| Wood or propane heat | 8.3% | 7.1% | 76 of 159 |
| Nights at 20°F or colder | 1/yr | 2/yr | 85 of 159 |
| Days with 1 inch+ of rain | 11/yr | 12/yr | 117 of 159 |
| Freeze-thaw days | 20/yr | 29/yr | 102 of 159 |
| Muggy nights (65°F+) | 125/yr | 112/yr | 59 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 Dooly County: freezing from midwinter, heavy rain in January, April and December.
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