Louisiana: The Storm-Ready Checklist

Shelter & mitigation money

Louisiana runs Louisiana Fortify Homes Program — check current eligibility and funding rounds directly on the program page before applying.

NAIC lists Louisiana among the 19 states plus DC with a separate hurricane or named-storm deductible in homeowner policies as of June 2025 (content.naic.org/insurance-topics/hurricane-deductibles).

Who to call, before and after

The hazards Louisiana actually faces

• Extreme heat

  Peak season: Jul–Aug

  Extreme heat kills more people in an average US year than any other weather hazard, and most of those deaths are preventable — the risk concentrates in the first heat wave of the season, before bodies acclimate, and in households without reliable cooling. Checking on elderly or isolated neighbors during a heat advisory does more than any single piece of equipment.

• Extreme rainfall and flash flood

  Peak season: Mar–Jun

  Flash flooding is the deadliest hazard tied to rainfall, and most of those deaths are people driving into water they underestimated — six inches of moving water can stall a car, twelve can float one. Rainfall intensity, not just total inches, is what overwhelms storm drains and low-lying roads in a window of an hour or less.

• Tornado

  Peak season: Dec–Apr

  Tornadoes form fast, and even a well-run warning system only buys minutes. The National Weather Service's after-action reports on the deadliest US tornadoes trace back to the same pattern: people heard a warning, stepped outside to look for the funnel, and lost the time a sheltered household would have had. A named safe room — the lowest floor, smallest interior room, most walls between you and outside — and a rehearsed trigger point close most of that gap.

Rules worth knowing

• Emergency prescription refills: Up to a 30-day supply once the governor declares or renews a state of emergency, under Louisiana Board of Pharmacy Rule §519 ('State of Emergency'), automatically activated by the declaration.

Frequently asked