McDuffie County, Georgia · Thomson
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McDuffie County averages 2 nights a year at 20°F or colder, mostly January, and 13% of its homes predate 1960.
December brings the most downpours to McDuffie County, part of 11.7 heavy-rain days a year. Check the sump first.
13% of homes here predate 1960, when clay and cast iron sewer laterals were standard. Roots and cracks in those lines are a common cause of backups.
In McDuffie County, 5.53 inches fell on the wettest day of the 2015–2024 record. Storms like that, and ice dams in snowy winters, cause most roof leaks.
10% of occupied homes in McDuffie County heat mainly with wood or propane, above the Georgia county median of 7.1%.
With 105 muggy nights a year, mold in McDuffie County can appear within days of a leak. Dry first, then clean.
Local risk profile
With 9,510 homes and around 21,718 residents, McDuffie County is 257 square miles of eastern Georgia. Thomson is the county seat; Dearing is the next largest community. Much of its housing is recent, with a median build year of 1985.
46/100 Water Damage Risk Index: Elevated McDuffie County ranks 105 of 159 Georgia counties. See the statewide ranking and method.The three factors where McDuffie County ranks highest compared with other Georgia counties.
McDuffie is on the colder side of Georgia for pipes. It averaged 34 freezing nights a year over 2015–2024, 2 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 48th.
Most freezing nights fall from January, peaking in January. Disconnect garden hoses and shut off outdoor spigots before the first hard frost, and keep the heat at 55°F or higher if you'll be away.
On average the first fall freeze arrives around Nov 21 and the last spring freeze around Mar 17.
Rainfall is about average for Georgia. Of roughly 47.7 inches of yearly precipitation, the damage comes from the 11.7 days a year with an inch or more, ranked 99th of 159. January, April and December see the most. The single wettest day in the record: 5.53 inches, September 27, 2024. Multi-day storms matter most for basements; the wettest three days on record here totaled 8.05 inches (through September 28, 2024).
The temperature crosses 32°F in both directions on roughly 33 days a year. Each cycle melts and refreezes water at roof edges and in foundation cracks, which is how ice dams and basement seepage get started.
Housing
Roughly 41% of the county's housing was built before 1980. That puts McDuffie near the middle of Georgia's 159 counties.
Housing age is mixed: 13% of homes are pre-1960 and 20% are 2000 or newer. Ask any plumber which era your house is from and you'll know which failures to watch for.
40% 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.
Manufactured and mobile homes make up 24% 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.
Renters occupy 35% 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
McDuffie County averages 105 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 expectBy main heating fuel, McDuffie County homes break down as 22% utility gas, 67% electric, 9% 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 McDuffie County. The largest communities by population:
Population from ACS 2020-2024 5-year estimates. Townships and unincorporated areas are covered too.
Nearby
McDuffie gets more pipe-freeze nights than any of its neighbors. Warren County has the oldest housing nearby, with 56% of homes built before 1980.
By the numbers
| Factor | McDuffie | Georgia median | Rank |
|---|---|---|---|
| Homes built before 1960 | 13% | 15% | 91 of 159 |
| Homes built before 1980 | 41% | 38% | 69 of 159 |
| Homes built 2000 or later | 20% | 27% | 124 of 159 |
| Manufactured or mobile homes | 24% | 21% | 68 of 159 |
| Vacant homes | 14% | 14% | 78 of 159 |
| Wood or propane heat | 10% | 7.1% | 62 of 159 |
| Nights at 20°F or colder | 2/yr | 2/yr | 48 of 159 |
| Days with 1 inch+ of rain | 12/yr | 12/yr | 99 of 159 |
| Freeze-thaw days | 33/yr | 29/yr | 65 of 159 |
| Muggy nights (65°F+) | 105/yr | 112/yr | 92 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 McDuffie 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