Irwin County, Georgia · Ocilla
Water spreading, a burst pipe, sewage, mold or smoke? Call to be connected with a restoration company that serves Ocilla. Start the steps below while you wait.
Answered 24/7 by a participating local provider. We're a referral service and don't do the work ourselves. How it works
Start here
Pick the closest match. These steps limit the damage and protect your insurance claim. Skip anything that isn't safe.
With 20% 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.
Basements flood here mostly in January. Irwin County averages 11.7 days a year with an inch of rain or more.
Sewage backups in Irwin County spike on heavy-rain days, about 11.7 a year, when sewer mains fill up and water finds the lowest drain.
Irwin County's wettest day in the 2015–2024 record brought 4.51 inches.
11% of occupied homes in Irwin County heat mainly with wood or propane, above the Georgia county median of 7.1%.
About 129 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
Irwin County covers 354 square miles of southern Georgia, with about 9,285 residents and 4,223 homes. Ocilla is the county seat. The county's median home was built in 1982.
46/100 Water Damage Risk Index: Elevated Irwin County ranks 104 of 159 Georgia counties. See the statewide ranking and method.The three factors where Irwin County ranks highest compared with other Georgia counties.
Irwin 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 17 nights at or below 32°F. That ranks 117th of 159 counties.
With only about 17 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 17°F, on December 24, 2022.
Rainfall is about average for Georgia. Of roughly 50.6 inches of yearly precipitation, the damage comes from the 11.7 days a year with an inch or more, ranked 99th of 159. January, February and April see the most. The single wettest day in the record: 4.51 inches, September 27, 2024. Multi-day storms matter most for basements; the wettest three days on record here totaled 6.77 inches (through September 28, 2024).
Housing
Georgia's 159 counties range widely in housing age; Irwin ranks 35th, with 47% of its homes built before 1980.
In Irwin County 20% 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.
About 37% 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.
24% 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
Irwin County averages 129 warm, muggy nights a year (lows of 65°F or more) and gets the most rain in June. 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 Irwin County's occupied homes: 2% utility gas, 83% electric, 11% propane and under 1% wood. Propane heat is above the Georgia norm. Annual chimney and vent inspection, which the NFPA recommends, is one of the most effective fire-prevention habits for these homes.
Fire and smoke cleanup: first stepsCoverage
Calls connect to restoration companies that work across Irwin County. The largest communities by population:
Population from ACS 2020-2024 5-year estimates. Townships and unincorporated areas are covered too.
Nearby
Tift and Turner get more pipe-freeze nights than Irwin. Turner County has the oldest housing nearby, with 54% of homes built before 1980.
By the numbers
| Factor | Irwin | Georgia median | Rank |
|---|---|---|---|
| Homes built before 1960 | 20% | 15% | 41 of 159 |
| Homes built before 1980 | 47% | 38% | 35 of 159 |
| Homes built 2000 or later | 17% | 27% | 144 of 159 |
| Manufactured or mobile homes | 24% | 21% | 68 of 159 |
| Vacant homes | 15% | 14% | 74 of 159 |
| Wood or propane heat | 11% | 7.1% | 54 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 | 99 of 159 |
| Freeze-thaw days | 17/yr | 29/yr | 119 of 159 |
| Muggy nights (65°F+) | 129/yr | 112/yr | 46 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 Irwin County: freezing from midwinter, heavy rain in January, February and April.
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