Dougherty County, Georgia · Albany
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With 23% of homes built before 1960 and about 1 hard-freeze night a year, frozen and split pipes are a leading winter risk in the county.
Basements flood here mostly in January. Dougherty County averages 12.2 days a year with an inch of rain or more.
Sewage backups in Dougherty County spike on heavy-rain days, about 12.2 a year, when sewer mains fill up and water finds the lowest drain.
Dougherty County's wettest day in the 2015–2024 record brought 4.94 inches.
3% of occupied homes in Dougherty County heat mainly with wood or propane, below the Georgia county median of 7.1%.
With 140 muggy nights a year, mold in Dougherty County can appear within days of a leak. Dry first, then clean.
Local risk profile
With 40,653 homes and around 83,091 residents, Dougherty County is 329 square miles of southwest Georgia. The county seat is Albany, and Putney is the other large town. The county's median home was built in 1975.
63/100 Water Damage Risk Index: Elevated Dougherty County ranks 19 of 159 Georgia counties. See the statewide ranking and method.The three factors where Dougherty County ranks highest compared with other Georgia counties.
For frozen pipes, Dougherty County is a typical Georgia county, which is still plenty. In the 2015–2024 record the county logged about 1 night a year at or below 20°F (85th of 159) and 14 below freezing. Twenty degrees is roughly where uninsulated pipes start to freeze.
With only about 14 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 16°F, on December 24, 2022.
Rainfall is about average for Georgia. The county gets about 51.5 inches of rain and melted snow a year, with 12.2 days of an inch or more (70th of 159). Those downpours cluster in January, February and December, when sump pumps and gutters are tested hardest. The wettest day on record brought 4.94 inches on December 6, 2016. Multi-day storms matter most for basements; the wettest three days on record here totaled 6.94 inches (through December 6, 2016).
Housing
61% of homes in Dougherty County predate 1980, above the Georgia county median of 38.4%, which ranks 1st of Georgia's 159 counties.
In Dougherty County 23% 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.
The 1980s and 1990s account for 25% of the county's homes. If yours is from those decades, look under the sinks and at the water heater for gray plastic pipe stamped PB, which is polybutylene and leak-prone.
Renters occupy 55% 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
Dougherty County averages 140 warm, muggy nights a year (lows of 65°F or more) and gets the most rain in December. 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 Dougherty County's occupied homes: 17% utility gas, 79% 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 Dougherty County. The largest communities by population:
Population from ACS 2020-2024 5-year estimates. Townships and unincorporated areas are covered too.
Nearby
Dougherty gets more pipe-freeze nights than any of its neighbors. Its housing is the oldest in the area by share of homes built before 1980.
By the numbers
| Factor | Dougherty | Georgia median | Rank |
|---|---|---|---|
| Homes built before 1960 | 23% | 15% | 30 of 159 |
| Homes built before 1980 | 61% | 38% | 1 of 159 |
| Homes built 2000 or later | 14% | 27% | 158 of 159 |
| Manufactured or mobile homes | 4.7% | 21% | 140 of 159 |
| Vacant homes | 16% | 14% | 68 of 159 |
| Wood or propane heat | 2.9% | 7.1% | 130 of 159 |
| Nights at 20°F or colder | 1/yr | 2/yr | 85 of 159 |
| Days with 1 inch+ of rain | 12/yr | 12/yr | 70 of 159 |
| Freeze-thaw days | 14/yr | 29/yr | 140 of 159 |
| Muggy nights (65°F+) | 140/yr | 112/yr | 10 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 Dougherty County: freezing from midwinter, heavy rain in January, February 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