Cocke County, Tennessee · Newport
Water spreading, a burst pipe, sewage, mold or smoke? Call to be connected with a restoration company that serves Newport, Cosby and Parrottsville. 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.
With 17% of homes built before 1960 and about 10 hard-freeze nights a year, frozen and split pipes are a leading winter risk in the county.
Basements flood here mostly in February. Cocke County averages 8.1 days a year with an inch of rain or more.
Sewage backups in Cocke County spike on heavy-rain days, about 8.1 a year, when sewer mains fill up and water finds the lowest drain.
Cocke County's wettest day in the 2015–2024 record brought 3.62 inches, and about 65 freeze-thaw days a year mean ice dams in some winters.
17% of occupied homes in Cocke County heat mainly with wood or propane, above the Tennessee county median of 7.8%.
With 60 muggy nights a year, mold in Cocke County can appear within days of a leak. Dry first, then clean.
Local risk profile
Cocke County covers 436 square miles of eastern Tennessee, with about 36,813 residents and 17,957 homes. Besides Newport, the county seat, the biggest communities are Cosby and Parrottsville. Much of its housing is recent, with a median build year of 1987.
31/100 Water Damage Risk Index: Moderate Cocke County ranks 85 of 95 Tennessee counties. See the statewide ranking and method.The three factors where Cocke County ranks highest compared with other Tennessee counties.
For frozen pipes, Cocke County is a typical Tennessee county, which is still plenty. It averaged 70 freezing nights a year over 2015–2024, 10 of them at 20°F or colder, cold enough for pipes in outside walls and crawl spaces to freeze. Among 95 Tennessee counties that's 56th.
On February 20, 2015 the low fell to about -1°F, and in the stretch ending February 2015 the county went 3 days in a row below freezing. Leaks from split pipes typically appear the day the thaw arrives.
The freeze season here runs December to February, with January the coldest. If you travel then, leave the thermostat at 55°F or above and open sink cabinets on outside walls.
On average the first fall freeze arrives around Oct 29 and the last spring freeze around Apr 4.
Cocke gets fewer downpours than most Tennessee counties, but they still fill basements. The county gets about 51.9 inches of rain and melted snow a year, with 8.1 days of an inch or more (91st of 95). Those downpours cluster in February, May and August, when sump pumps and gutters are tested hardest. The wettest day on record brought 3.62 inches on August 18, 2021. Multi-day storms matter most for basements; the wettest three days on record here totaled 6.09 inches (through September 28, 2024).
Freeze-thaw days, below freezing overnight and above it by afternoon, come about 65 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
Tennessee's 95 counties range widely in housing age; Cocke ranks 53rd, with 40% of its homes built before 1980.
Older and newer homes sit side by side here: 17% predate 1960 and 25% are from 2000 or later. Corroded pipe is the typical failure in the first group, burst supply hoses in the second.
About 35% 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 28% 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.
Beyond water
Summer nights that don't drop below 65°F, a good marker of humid air, come about 60 times a year here, below the Tennessee county median of 74. 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 Cocke County it's 11% utility gas, 70% electric, 11% propane and 6% wood. Wood and propane heat are more common here than the state median. Have chimneys swept and fuel-burning appliances serviced each fall, and keep three feet clear around stoves and space heaters.
Fire and smoke cleanup: first stepsCoverage
Calls connect to restoration companies that work across Cocke County. The largest communities by population:
Population from ACS 2020-2024 5-year estimates. Townships and unincorporated areas are covered too.
Nearby
Greene and Hamblen get more pipe-freeze nights than Cocke. Hamblen County has the oldest housing nearby, with 51% of homes built before 1980.
By the numbers
| Factor | Cocke | Tennessee median | Rank |
|---|---|---|---|
| Homes built before 1960 | 17% | 16% | 42 of 95 |
| Homes built before 1980 | 40% | 41% | 53 of 95 |
| Homes built 2000 or later | 25% | 27% | 59 of 95 |
| Manufactured or mobile homes | 28% | 16% | 5 of 95 |
| Vacant homes | 14% | 12% | 34 of 95 |
| Wood or propane heat | 17% | 7.8% | 14 of 95 |
| Nights at 20°F or colder | 10/yr | 11/yr | 56 of 95 |
| Days with 1 inch+ of rain | 8.1/yr | 14/yr | 91 of 95 |
| Freeze-thaw days | 65/yr | 60/yr | 24 of 95 |
| Muggy nights (65°F+) | 60/yr | 74/yr | 74 of 95 |
Rank 1 is the highest value. Bars run from the lowest to the highest Tennessee county; the tick marks the median; orange means higher water damage risk than the median, green means lower.
Questions
Peak risk months in Cocke County: freezing from December to February, heavy rain in February, May and August.
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