Telfair County, Georgia · McRae
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Pipes freeze in Telfair County on about 0 nights a year, mostly midwinter. Older homes, 23% of the stock here, are most at risk.
Basements flood here mostly in January. Telfair County averages 10.5 days a year with an inch of rain or more.
Backups often follow heavy rain, which Telfair County gets about 10.5 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.
5% of occupied homes in Telfair County heat mainly with wood or propane, below the Georgia county median of 7.1%.
With 133 muggy nights a year, mold in Telfair County can appear within days of a leak. Dry first, then clean.
Local risk profile
About 11,831 people live in Telfair County, 437 square miles in southern Georgia, in roughly 4,705 homes. McRae is the county seat; McRae-Helena, Lumber City and Milan are the next largest communities. The county's median home was built in 1979.
45/100 Water Damage Risk Index: Elevated Telfair County ranks 108 of 159 Georgia counties. See the statewide ranking and method.The three factors where Telfair County ranks highest compared with other Georgia counties.
Telfair 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 17°F, on December 24, 2022.
Telfair gets fewer downpours than most Georgia counties, but they still fill basements. Of roughly 49.5 inches of yearly precipitation, the damage comes from the 10.5 days a year with an inch or more, ranked 136th of 159. January, February and December see the most. The single wettest day in the record: 4.78 inches, September 27, 2024. Multi-day storms matter most for basements; the wettest three days on record here totaled 6.9 inches (through September 28, 2024).
Housing
Georgia's 159 counties range widely in housing age; Telfair ranks 18th, with 52% of its homes built before 1980.
In Telfair County 23% 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 28% 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 26% 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.
29% of homes were vacant at survey time. A leak in an empty rental or seasonal house can run for days before anyone notices, which is why those losses tend to be larger.
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
Telfair County averages 133 warm, muggy nights a year (lows of 65°F or more) and gets the most rain in August. 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 Telfair County it's 9% utility gas, 85% electric, 5% 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 Telfair County. The largest communities by population:
Population from ACS 2020-2024 5-year estimates. Townships and unincorporated areas are covered too.
Nearby
Dodge and Wilcox get more pipe-freeze nights than Telfair. Its housing is the oldest in the area by share of homes built before 1980.
By the numbers
| Factor | Telfair | Georgia median | Rank |
|---|---|---|---|
| Homes built before 1960 | 23% | 15% | 26 of 159 |
| Homes built before 1980 | 52% | 38% | 18 of 159 |
| Homes built 2000 or later | 19% | 27% | 126 of 159 |
| Manufactured or mobile homes | 26% | 21% | 62 of 159 |
| Vacant homes | 29% | 14% | 12 of 159 |
| Wood or propane heat | 5.3% | 7.1% | 95 of 159 |
| Nights at 20°F or colder | 0/yr | 2/yr | 117 of 159 |
| Days with 1 inch+ of rain | 11/yr | 12/yr | 136 of 159 |
| Freeze-thaw days | 18/yr | 29/yr | 110 of 159 |
| Muggy nights (65°F+) | 133/yr | 112/yr | 28 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 Telfair County: freezing from midwinter, heavy rain in January, February 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