Effingham County, Georgia · Springfield
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Effingham County averages 0 nights a year at 20°F or colder, mostly midwinter, and 5% of its homes predate 1960.
Basements flood here mostly in June. Effingham County averages 11.8 days a year with an inch of rain or more.
Backups often follow heavy rain, which Effingham County gets about 11.8 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. Most show up as ceiling stains in the room below.
3% of occupied homes in Effingham 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 132 times a year in Effingham County. Mold after a leak spreads fastest from June through August.
Local risk profile
About 69,143 people live in Effingham County, 479 square miles in eastern Georgia, in roughly 25,943 homes. The county seat is Springfield, and Rincon and Guyton round out the largest towns. Much of its housing is recent, with a median build year of 2001.
28/100 Water Damage Risk Index: Moderate Effingham County ranks 153 of 159 Georgia counties. See the statewide ranking and method.The three factors where Effingham County ranks highest compared with other Georgia counties.
Effingham County is milder than most of Georgia, but not mild enough to skip winterizing. 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 18 nights at or below 32°F. That ranks 117th of 159 counties.
With only about 18 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 15°F, on December 25, 2022.
Rainfall is about average for Georgia. The county gets about 50.6 inches of rain and melted snow a year, with 11.8 days of an inch or more (94th of 159). Those downpours cluster in May, June and August, when sump pumps and gutters are tested hardest. The wettest day on record brought 8.88 inches on October 8, 2016. Multi-day storms matter most for basements; the wettest three days on record here totaled 11.74 inches (through August 8, 2024).
Housing
19% of homes in Effingham County predate 1980, below the Georgia county median of 38.4%, which ranks 145th of Georgia's 159 counties.
Growth since 2000 added 54% of today's homes. In houses that new, the weak points are washing machine hoses, ice maker lines, water heaters and sump pumps rather than the pipes in the walls.
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.
Here 17% of housing is manufactured homes. Check the skirting and the heat tape on the main water line every fall, because that one exposed line is what freezes.
Beyond water
Summer nights that don't drop below 65°F, a good marker of humid air, come about 132 times a year here, above the Georgia county median of 112. 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 Effingham County's occupied homes: 5% utility gas, 91% electric, 2% propane and under 1% wood. Heating equipment, cooking and electrical failures cause most home fires nationally. Even a small kitchen fire can leave soot through the whole house, because smoke follows air currents into closets, ducts and attic space.
Fire and smoke cleanup: first stepsCoverage
Calls connect to restoration companies that work across Effingham County. The largest communities by population:
Population from ACS 2020-2024 5-year estimates. Townships and unincorporated areas are covered too.
Nearby
Screven gets more pipe-freeze nights than Effingham. Screven County has the oldest housing nearby, with 46% of homes built before 1980.
By the numbers
| Factor | Effingham | Georgia median | Rank |
|---|---|---|---|
| Homes built before 1960 | 5.1% | 15% | 146 of 159 |
| Homes built before 1980 | 19% | 38% | 145 of 159 |
| Homes built 2000 or later | 54% | 27% | 5 of 159 |
| Manufactured or mobile homes | 17% | 21% | 96 of 159 |
| Vacant homes | 6.4% | 14% | 143 of 159 |
| Wood or propane heat | 2.7% | 7.1% | 133 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 | 94 of 159 |
| Freeze-thaw days | 18/yr | 29/yr | 110 of 159 |
| Muggy nights (65°F+) | 132/yr | 112/yr | 33 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 Effingham County: freezing from midwinter, heavy rain in May, June and August.
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