Sharkey County, Mississippi · Rolling Fork
Water spreading, a burst pipe, sewage, mold or smoke? Call to be connected with a restoration company that serves Rolling Fork, Anguilla and Cary. 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.
Pipes freeze in Sharkey County on about 2 nights a year, mostly midwinter. Older homes, 17% of the stock here, are most at risk.
Basements flood here mostly in April. Sharkey County averages 15.6 days a year with an inch of rain or more.
Backups often follow heavy rain, which Sharkey County gets about 15.6 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 24 freeze-thaw days a year, from winter ice dams. Most show up as ceiling stains in the room below.
8% of occupied homes in Sharkey County heat mainly with wood or propane, below the Mississippi county median of 15.1%.
About 136 nights a year here stay at 65°F or warmer, so basements and crawl spaces can grow mold even without a leak.
Local risk profile
With 1,650 homes and around 3,872 residents, Sharkey County is 432 square miles of western Mississippi. The county seat is Rolling Fork, and Anguilla, Cary and Panther Burn round out the largest towns. The county's median home was built in 1977.
45/100 Water Damage Risk Index: Elevated Sharkey County ranks 51 of 82 Mississippi counties. See the statewide ranking and method.The three factors where Sharkey County ranks highest compared with other Mississippi counties.
For frozen pipes, Sharkey County is a typical Mississippi county, which is still plenty. From 2015–2024 it averaged 2 nights a year at 20°F or colder, the range where pipes in exterior walls, crawl spaces and unheated garages freeze, and 26 nights at or below 32°F. That ranks 47th of 82 counties.
On January 17, 2024 the low fell to about 9°F, and in the stretch ending February 2021 the county went 3 days in a row below freezing. Leaks from split pipes typically appear the day the thaw arrives.
Expect the hardest freezes in January, inside a season that runs midwinter. 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 16 and the last spring freeze around Feb 22.
Sharkey gets fewer downpours than most Mississippi counties, but they still fill basements. The county gets about 56.5 inches of rain and melted snow a year, with 15.6 days of an inch or more (60th of 82). Those downpours cluster in January, February and April, when sump pumps and gutters are tested hardest. The wettest day on record brought 4.74 inches on October 26, 2015. Multi-day storms matter most for basements; the wettest three days on record here totaled 7.75 inches (through August 25, 2022).
About 24 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; Sharkey ranks 7th, with 60% of its homes built before 1980.
The mix runs from 17% built before 1960 to 12% built since 2000, so older neighborhoods bring aging pipe while newer subdivisions bring failed appliance lines and water heaters.
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.
24% of homes are manufactured or mobile homes, above the Mississippi county median of 20%. 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.
Renters occupy 34% 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
Summer nights that don't drop below 65°F, a good marker of humid air, come about 136 times a year here, close to the Mississippi county median of 125. Mold grows when indoor humidity stays above about 60%, the EPA's ceiling. A basement dehumidifier set to 50% and drying anything wet within 24 to 48 hours prevents most problems.
Mold remediation: what to expectHeating fuel matters for fire risk. In Sharkey County it's 43% utility gas, 48% electric, 8% 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 Sharkey County. The largest communities by population:
Population from ACS 2020-2024 5-year estimates. Townships and unincorporated areas are covered too.
Nearby
Washington gets more pipe-freeze nights than Sharkey. Washington County has the oldest housing nearby, with 66% of homes built before 1980.
By the numbers
| Factor | Sharkey | Mississippi median | Rank |
|---|---|---|---|
| Homes built before 1960 | 17% | 15% | 31 of 82 |
| Homes built before 1980 | 60% | 45% | 7 of 82 |
| Homes built 2000 or later | 12% | 23% | 78 of 82 |
| Manufactured or mobile homes | 24% | 20% | 31 of 82 |
| Vacant homes | 14% | 17% | 62 of 82 |
| Wood or propane heat | 7.9% | 15% | 67 of 82 |
| Nights at 20°F or colder | 2/yr | 3/yr | 47 of 82 |
| Days with 1 inch+ of rain | 16/yr | 16/yr | 60 of 82 |
| Freeze-thaw days | 24/yr | 32/yr | 59 of 82 |
| Muggy nights (65°F+) | 136/yr | 125/yr | 17 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 Sharkey County: freezing from midwinter, 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