Jeff Davis County, Georgia · Hazlehurst
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Pipes freeze in Jeff Davis County on about 0 nights a year, mostly midwinter. Older homes, 13% of the stock here, are most at risk.
January brings the most downpours to Jeff Davis County, part of 9.9 heavy-rain days a year. Check the sump first.
Sewage backups in Jeff Davis County spike on heavy-rain days, about 9.9 a year, when sewer mains fill up and water finds the lowest drain.
Jeff Davis County's wettest day in the 2015–2024 record brought 5.97 inches.
2% of occupied homes in Jeff Davis County heat mainly with wood or propane, below the Georgia county median of 7.1%.
With 132 muggy nights a year, mold in Jeff Davis County can appear within days of a leak. Dry first, then clean.
Local risk profile
About 14,924 people live in Jeff Davis County, 331 square miles in southern Georgia, in roughly 6,399 homes. The county seat is Hazlehurst, and Satilla and Denton round out the largest towns. Much of its housing is recent, with a median build year of 1986.
29/100 Water Damage Risk Index: Moderate Jeff Davis County ranks 149 of 159 Georgia counties. See the statewide ranking and method.The three factors where Jeff Davis County ranks highest compared with other Georgia counties.
Jeff Davis County is milder than most of Georgia, but not mild enough to skip winterizing. In the 2015–2024 record the county logged about 0 nights a year at or below 20°F (117th of 159) and 18 below freezing. Twenty degrees is roughly where uninsulated pipes start to freeze.
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 18°F, on December 25, 2022.
Jeff Davis gets fewer downpours than most Georgia counties, but they still fill basements. About 9.9 days a year bring an inch or more (149th of 159), most often in January, out of 48.6 inches of total precipitation. On August 31, 2023, 5.97 inches fell in a single day. Multi-day storms matter most for basements; the wettest three days on record here totaled 7.29 inches (through September 12, 2017).
Housing
41% of homes in Jeff Davis County predate 1980, close to the Georgia county median of 38.4%, which ranks 63rd of Georgia's 159 counties.
Housing age is mixed: 13% of homes are pre-1960 and 21% are 2000 or newer. Ask any plumber which era your house is from and you'll know which failures to watch for.
38% 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.
34% 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
About 132 nights a year in Jeff Davis County stay at 65°F or warmer, a sign of muggy summer air (33rd of 159 counties). August 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 expectHeating fuel matters for fire risk. In Jeff Davis County it's 6% utility gas, 89% electric, under 1% 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 Jeff Davis County. The largest communities by population:
Population from ACS 2020-2024 5-year estimates. Townships and unincorporated areas are covered too.
Nearby
Jeff Davis gets more pipe-freeze nights than any of its neighbors. Telfair County has the oldest housing nearby, with 52% of homes built before 1980.
By the numbers
| Factor | Jeff Davis | Georgia median | Rank |
|---|---|---|---|
| Homes built before 1960 | 13% | 15% | 96 of 159 |
| Homes built before 1980 | 41% | 38% | 63 of 159 |
| Homes built 2000 or later | 21% | 27% | 117 of 159 |
| Manufactured or mobile homes | 34% | 21% | 21 of 159 |
| Vacant homes | 14% | 14% | 78 of 159 |
| Wood or propane heat | 1.6% | 7.1% | 151 of 159 |
| Nights at 20°F or colder | 0/yr | 2/yr | 117 of 159 |
| Days with 1 inch+ of rain | 9.9/yr | 12/yr | 149 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 Jeff Davis County: freezing from midwinter, heavy rain in January, February and September.
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