Union County, Mississippi · New Albany
Water spreading, a burst pipe, sewage, mold or smoke? Call to be connected with a restoration company that serves New Albany, Myrtle and Blue Springs. 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.
Union County averages 6 nights a year at 20°F or colder, mostly December to January, and 18% of its homes predate 1960.
February brings the most downpours to Union County, part of 16.8 heavy-rain days a year. Check the sump first.
18% 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 Union County, 4.43 inches fell on the wettest day of the 2015–2024 record. Storms like that, and ice dams in snowy winters, cause most roof leaks.
9% of occupied homes in Union County heat mainly with wood or propane, below the Mississippi county median of 15.1%.
With 101 muggy nights a year, mold in Union County can appear within days of a leak. Dry first, then clean.
Local risk profile
With 12,250 homes and around 28,122 residents, Union County is 416 square miles of northeast Mississippi. The county seat is New Albany, and Myrtle and Blue Springs round out the largest towns. Much of its housing is recent, with a median build year of 1985.
65/100 Water Damage Risk Index: Elevated Union County ranks 10 of 82 Mississippi counties. See the statewide ranking and method.The three factors where Union County ranks highest compared with other Mississippi counties.
Union is on the colder side of Mississippi for pipes. It averaged 51 freezing nights a year over 2015–2024, 6 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 6th.
On January 17, 2024 the low fell to about 3°F, and in the stretch ending February 2021 the county went 7 days in a row below freezing. Leaks from split pipes typically appear the day the thaw arrives.
Most freezing nights fall from December to 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 12 and the last spring freeze around Mar 23.
Rainfall is about average for Mississippi. The county gets about 59.1 inches of rain and melted snow a year, with 16.8 days of an inch or more (29th of 82). Those downpours cluster in February, April and December, when sump pumps and gutters are tested hardest. The wettest day on record brought 4.43 inches on July 4, 2015. Multi-day storms matter most for basements; the wettest three days on record here totaled 7.91 inches (through February 23, 2019).
The temperature crosses 32°F in both directions on roughly 48 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 43% of the county's housing was built before 1980. That puts Union near the middle of Mississippi's 82 counties.
Housing age is mixed: 18% of homes are pre-1960 and 24% are 2000 or newer. Ask any plumber which era your house is from and you'll know which failures to watch for.
32% 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 21% 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.
20% 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.
Beyond water
Union County averages 101 warm, muggy nights a year (lows of 65°F or more) and gets the most rain in February. 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 Union County it's 43% utility gas, 48% electric, 7% propane and 2% 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 Union County. The largest communities by population:
Population from ACS 2020-2024 5-year estimates. Townships and unincorporated areas are covered too.
Nearby
Benton, Prentiss and Tippah get more pipe-freeze nights than Union. It also has the most heavy-rain days in its area. Prentiss County has the oldest housing nearby, with 48% of homes built before 1980.
By the numbers
| Factor | Union | Mississippi median | Rank |
|---|---|---|---|
| Homes built before 1960 | 18% | 15% | 25 of 82 |
| Homes built before 1980 | 43% | 45% | 49 of 82 |
| Homes built 2000 or later | 24% | 23% | 37 of 82 |
| Manufactured or mobile homes | 21% | 20% | 39 of 82 |
| Vacant homes | 20% | 17% | 23 of 82 |
| Wood or propane heat | 9.1% | 15% | 61 of 82 |
| Nights at 20°F or colder | 6/yr | 3/yr | 6 of 82 |
| Days with 1 inch+ of rain | 17/yr | 16/yr | 29 of 82 |
| Freeze-thaw days | 48/yr | 32/yr | 6 of 82 |
| Muggy nights (65°F+) | 101/yr | 125/yr | 76 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 Union County: freezing from December to January, heavy rain in February, 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