Alcorn County, Mississippi · Corinth
Water spreading, a burst pipe, sewage, mold or smoke? Call to be connected with a restoration company that serves Corinth, Farmington and Glen. 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.
Alcorn County averages 9 nights a year at 20°F or colder, mostly December to February, and 14% of its homes predate 1960.
Heavy rain days of an inch or more come about 16.2 times a year here, most often in December. A sump pump that hasn't run since last season is a common weak point.
Backups often follow heavy rain, which Alcorn County gets about 16.2 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 and, with about 58 freeze-thaw days a year, from winter ice dams. Most show up as ceiling stains in the room below.
10% of occupied homes in Alcorn County heat mainly with wood or propane, below the Mississippi county median of 15.1%.
Muggy summer nights, lows of 65°F or more, come about 92 times a year in Alcorn County. Mold after a leak spreads fastest from June through August.
Local risk profile
Alcorn County covers 400 square miles of northeast Mississippi, with about 34,289 residents and 16,283 homes. Corinth is the county seat; Farmington, Glen and Rienzi are the next largest communities. The county's median home was built in 1981.
56/100 Water Damage Risk Index: Elevated Alcorn County ranks 26 of 82 Mississippi counties. See the statewide ranking and method.The three factors where Alcorn County ranks highest compared with other Mississippi counties.
Alcorn is on the colder side of Mississippi for pipes. It averaged 61 freezing nights a year over 2015–2024, 9 of them at 20°F or colder, cold enough for pipes in outside walls and crawl spaces to freeze. Among 82 Mississippi counties that's 1st.
The longest cold spell was straight 7 days without the temperature rising above freezing, ending in February 2021. The coldest night reached about -2°F on January 17, 2024. Burst pipes usually show up when a spell like that breaks and the ice thaws.
Expect the hardest freezes in January, inside a season that runs December to February. That's when an outdoor spigot left connected to a hose, or a pipe in a crawl space, is most likely to split.
On average the first fall freeze arrives around Nov 6 and the last spring freeze around Mar 30.
Rainfall is about average for Mississippi. About 16.2 days a year bring an inch or more (42nd of 82), most often in December, out of 60.5 inches of total precipitation. On September 1, 2017, 3.92 inches fell in a single day. Multi-day storms matter most for basements; the wettest three days on record here totaled 6.51 inches (through February 23, 2019).
About 58 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
Mississippi's 82 counties range widely in housing age; Alcorn ranks 28th, with 48% of its homes built before 1980.
Housing age is mixed: 14% 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.
The 1980s and 1990s account for 31% of the county's homes. If yours is from those decades, look under the sinks and at the water heater for gray plastic pipe stamped PB, which is polybutylene and leak-prone.
Manufactured and mobile homes make up 17% 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 32% 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
About 92 nights a year in Alcorn County stay at 65°F or warmer, a sign of muggy summer air (81st of 82 counties). March 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 Alcorn County it's 36% utility gas, 54% electric, 9% propane and under 1% wood. Most homes here heat with gas or electricity, so cooking and electrical faults are the likelier fire sources. Even a contained kitchen fire can send soot through the ductwork to every room.
Fire and smoke cleanup: first stepsCoverage
Calls connect to restoration companies that work across Alcorn County. The largest communities by population:
Population from ACS 2020-2024 5-year estimates. Townships and unincorporated areas are covered too.
Nearby
Alcorn gets more pipe-freeze nights than any of its neighbors. All of its neighbors see more heavy-rain days. Tishomingo County has the oldest housing nearby, with 49% of homes built before 1980.
By the numbers
| Factor | Alcorn | Mississippi median | Rank |
|---|---|---|---|
| Homes built before 1960 | 14% | 15% | 46 of 82 |
| Homes built before 1980 | 48% | 45% | 28 of 82 |
| Homes built 2000 or later | 21% | 23% | 54 of 82 |
| Manufactured or mobile homes | 17% | 20% | 55 of 82 |
| Vacant homes | 11% | 17% | 73 of 82 |
| Wood or propane heat | 10% | 15% | 56 of 82 |
| Nights at 20°F or colder | 9/yr | 3/yr | 1 of 82 |
| Days with 1 inch+ of rain | 16/yr | 16/yr | 42 of 82 |
| Freeze-thaw days | 58/yr | 32/yr | 1 of 82 |
| Muggy nights (65°F+) | 92/yr | 125/yr | 81 of 82 |
Rank 1 is the highest value. Bars run from the lowest to the highest Mississippi county; the tick marks the median; orange means higher water damage risk than the median, green means lower.
Questions
Peak risk months in Alcorn County: freezing from December to February, heavy rain in February, March 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