Chickasaw County, Mississippi · Houston
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Pipes freeze in Chickasaw County on about 4 nights a year, mostly January. Older homes, 17% of the stock here, are most at risk.
Basements flood here mostly in April. Chickasaw County averages 15.4 days a year with an inch of rain or more.
17% 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.
Chickasaw County's wettest day in the 2015–2024 record brought 3.75 inches, and about 40 freeze-thaw days a year mean ice dams in some winters.
25% of occupied homes in Chickasaw County heat mainly with wood or propane, above the Mississippi county median of 15.1%.
With 110 muggy nights a year, mold in Chickasaw County can appear within days of a leak. Dry first, then clean.
Local risk profile
Chickasaw County covers 502 square miles of northeast Mississippi, with about 16,915 residents and 7,851 homes. The county seat is Houston, and Okolona, New Houlka and Woodland round out the largest towns. Half the homes here were built before 1978, half after.
49/100 Water Damage Risk Index: Elevated Chickasaw County ranks 39 of 82 Mississippi counties. See the statewide ranking and method.The three factors where Chickasaw County ranks highest compared with other Mississippi counties.
Chickasaw County gets more hard-freeze nights than most of Mississippi. It averaged 42 freezing nights a year over 2015–2024, 4 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 17th.
The longest cold spell was straight 5 days without the temperature rising above freezing, ending in February 2021. The coldest night reached about 6°F on January 17, 2018. Burst pipes usually show up when a spell like that breaks and the ice thaws.
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.
Freezing nights typically start around Nov 12 and end around Mar 19.
Chickasaw gets fewer downpours than most Mississippi counties, but they still fill basements. Of roughly 55.9 inches of yearly precipitation, the damage comes from the 15.4 days a year with an inch or more, ranked 68th of 82. January, February and April see the most. The single wettest day in the record: 3.75 inches, April 10, 2024. The worst three-day stretch dropped 6.77 inches, ending February 22, 2019, the kind of soaking that overwhelms sump pumps and storm sewers.
Freeze-thaw days, below freezing overnight and above it by afternoon, come about 40 times a year here. They're the main driver of ice dams and of water working its way through foundation cracks in late winter.
Housing
Roughly 54% of the county's housing was built before 1980. That puts Chickasaw among the oldest housing stocks of Mississippi's 82 counties.
Housing age is mixed: 17% of homes are pre-1960 and 19% are 2000 or newer. Ask any plumber which era your house is from and you'll know which failures to watch for.
About 26% 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.
Here 23% of housing is manufactured homes. Check the skirting and the heat tape on the main water line every fall, because that one exposed line is what freezes.
Beyond water
About 110 nights a year in Chickasaw County stay at 65°F or warmer, a sign of muggy summer air (67th of 82 counties). February 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 Chickasaw County it's 22% utility gas, 52% electric, 22% propane and 3% wood. Wood and propane heat are more common here than in most Mississippi counties. Heating equipment is one of the leading causes of home fires nationally, and the NFPA recommends having chimneys and vents inspected every year.
Fire and smoke cleanup: first stepsCoverage
Calls connect to restoration companies that work across Chickasaw County. The largest communities by population:
Population from ACS 2020-2024 5-year estimates. Townships and unincorporated areas are covered too.
Nearby
Calhoun and Pontotoc get more pipe-freeze nights than Chickasaw. Its housing is the oldest in the area by share of homes built before 1980.
By the numbers
| Factor | Chickasaw | Mississippi median | Rank |
|---|---|---|---|
| Homes built before 1960 | 17% | 15% | 27 of 82 |
| Homes built before 1980 | 54% | 45% | 13 of 82 |
| Homes built 2000 or later | 19% | 23% | 58 of 82 |
| Manufactured or mobile homes | 23% | 20% | 33 of 82 |
| Vacant homes | 15% | 17% | 54 of 82 |
| Wood or propane heat | 25% | 15% | 16 of 82 |
| Nights at 20°F or colder | 4/yr | 3/yr | 17 of 82 |
| Days with 1 inch+ of rain | 15/yr | 16/yr | 68 of 82 |
| Freeze-thaw days | 40/yr | 32/yr | 23 of 82 |
| Muggy nights (65°F+) | 110/yr | 125/yr | 67 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 Chickasaw County: freezing from January, 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