Habersham County, Georgia · Clarkesville
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Pipes freeze in Habersham County on about 4 nights a year, mostly January. Older homes, 12% of the stock here, are most at risk.
Basements flood here mostly in December. Habersham County averages 18 days a year with an inch of rain or more.
Sewage backups in Habersham County spike on heavy-rain days, about 18 a year, when sewer mains fill up and water finds the lowest drain.
Habersham County's wettest day in the 2015–2024 record brought 5.41 inches, and about 51 freeze-thaw days a year mean ice dams in some winters.
17% of occupied homes in Habersham County heat mainly with wood or propane, above the Georgia county median of 7.1%.
Muggy summer nights, lows of 65°F or more, come about 70 times a year in Habersham County. Mold after a leak spreads fastest from June through August.
Local risk profile
With 19,071 homes and around 47,793 residents, Habersham County is 277 square miles of northern Georgia. Besides Clarkesville, the county seat, the biggest communities are Cornelia, Demorest and Raoul. Much of its housing is recent, with a median build year of 1992.
63/100 Water Damage Risk Index: Elevated Habersham County ranks 21 of 159 Georgia counties. See the statewide ranking and method.The three factors where Habersham County ranks highest compared with other Georgia counties.
Habersham is on the colder side of Georgia for pipes. It averaged 52 freezing nights a year over 2015–2024, 4 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 18th.
The freeze season here runs January, with January the coldest. If you travel then, leave the thermostat at 55°F or above and open sink cabinets on outside walls.
On average the first fall freeze arrives around Nov 13 and the last spring freeze around Mar 29.
Heavy rain is a bigger factor here than in most of Georgia. About 18 days a year bring an inch or more (4th of 159), most often in December, out of 65.7 inches of total precipitation. On September 27, 2024, 5.41 inches fell in a single day. Multi-day storms matter most for basements; the wettest three days on record here totaled 9.29 inches (through September 28, 2024).
About 51 days a year swing from below freezing at night to above freezing by day. Those freeze-thaw cycles feed ice dams on roofs, open cracks in foundations and driveways, and stress pipes that are already marginal.
Housing
Roughly 29% of the county's housing was built before 1980. That puts Habersham among the newer housing stocks of Georgia's 159 counties.
Older and newer homes sit side by side here: 12% predate 1960 and 30% are from 2000 or later. Corroded pipe is the typical failure in the first group, burst supply hoses in the second.
About 42% of homes went up between 1980 and 1999. Some houses from the late 1970s to the mid-1990s were plumbed with polybutylene, a gray plastic pipe known for failing at fittings. A plumber can tell you in a few minutes whether you have it.
Manufactured and mobile homes make up 20% 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
About 70 nights a year in Habersham County stay at 65°F or warmer, a sign of muggy summer air (150th 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 Habersham County's occupied homes: 10% utility gas, 73% electric, 14% propane and 2% wood. Wood and propane heat are more common here than in most Georgia counties. Heating equipment is one of the leading causes of home fires nationally, and the NFPA recommends having chimneys and vents inspected every year.
Fire and smoke cleanup: first stepsCoverage
Calls connect to restoration companies that work across Habersham County. The largest communities by population:
Population from ACS 2020-2024 5-year estimates. Townships and unincorporated areas are covered too.
Nearby
Rabun, Towns and White get more pipe-freeze nights than Habersham. Stephens County has the oldest housing nearby, with 44% of homes built before 1980.
By the numbers
| Factor | Habersham | Georgia median | Rank |
|---|---|---|---|
| Homes built before 1960 | 12% | 15% | 98 of 159 |
| Homes built before 1980 | 29% | 38% | 115 of 159 |
| Homes built 2000 or later | 30% | 27% | 64 of 159 |
| Manufactured or mobile homes | 20% | 21% | 85 of 159 |
| Vacant homes | 12% | 14% | 97 of 159 |
| Wood or propane heat | 17% | 7.1% | 30 of 159 |
| Nights at 20°F or colder | 4/yr | 2/yr | 18 of 159 |
| Days with 1 inch+ of rain | 18/yr | 12/yr | 4 of 159 |
| Freeze-thaw days | 51/yr | 29/yr | 13 of 159 |
| Muggy nights (65°F+) | 70/yr | 112/yr | 150 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 Habersham County: freezing from January, 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