Community preparedness — Louisiana
Hurricanes, river flooding, tornadoes, and extreme heat across 64 parishes. LSU AgCenter Extension everywhere. The Cajun Navy. Ham operators who keep communities connected when the levees overflow. Louisiana has been hit harder and more often than almost any state — and its volunteer networks reflect that experience.
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Community calendar
CERT trainings, canning workshops, ham radio exams, garden workdays, first aid classes. Events from local organizations that build community resilience.
64
Parish extension offices
3
NWS forecast offices
30+
Amateur radio clubs
12
Community & tech colleges
Where to plug in
Louisiana sits at the mouth of the Mississippi, with more coastline vulnerability than almost any state. Hurricanes, storm surge, river flooding, tornadoes, and extreme heat are annual facts. The organizations below operate parish by parish — because a hurricane response in Plaquemines Parish looks nothing like a tornado response in Caddo Parish, and Louisiana knows that firsthand.
The LSU AgCenter operates cooperative extension offices in all 64 Louisiana parishes. Programming spans agriculture (sugarcane, rice, cotton, crawfish, cattle), horticulture, food safety, nutrition education, 4-H youth development, and community development. Southern University Ag Center also operates 1890 Extension programs serving historically underserved communities.
The Master Gardener program trains volunteers for Louisiana's subtropical growing conditions. Extension runs food preservation workshops (Louisiana's canning and preserving culture runs deep), hurricane preparedness education, and farm disaster recovery programs. After every hurricane, LSU AgCenter agents are among the first resources connecting agricultural producers with USDA recovery programs.
The Governor's Office of Homeland Security and Emergency Preparedness (GOHSEP) coordinates Louisiana's all-hazards emergency program. GOHSEP works through parish-level offices of emergency preparedness (OEPs) across all 64 parishes. Louisiana's emergency management system is among the most hurricane-experienced in the country, shaped by Katrina, Rita, Gustav, Laura, Delta, and Ida.
CERT programs are active across the state. Orleans Parish, Jefferson Parish, East Baton Rouge Parish, Caddo Parish (Shreveport), Calcasieu Parish (Lake Charles), and Lafayette Parish run established programs. Louisiana also has the Cajun Navy — an informal but increasingly organized volunteer fleet that deploys for flood rescue — which operates alongside formal CERT and emergency management structures. Training is free.
American Red Cross chapters serve all of Louisiana with chapters in New Orleans, Baton Rouge, Shreveport, Lake Charles, Lafayette, Monroe, and other cities. All offer first aid, CPR, AED, and water safety classes year-round. Louisiana chapters are among the most hurricane-deployed in the entire Red Cross network.
During Hurricane Ida in August 2021, Red Cross opened more than 50 shelters across Louisiana and served hundreds of thousands of meals to displaced residents. The Lake Charles area, still recovering from Hurricanes Laura and Delta in 2020, required extended shelter operations. Louisiana Red Cross maintains pre-positioned supplies and trained volunteers year-round because hurricane season never truly ends.
Louisiana has over 30 amateur radio clubs in the ARRL Louisiana Section, part of the Delta Division. ARES teams are activated for every hurricane that threatens the state. Ham operators provide shelter communications, damage reports, welfare traffic, and emergency coordination when cell networks and internet are destroyed — which happens in every major hurricane.
Getting licensed costs $15 for the exam and about $35 for a basic handheld radio. Study at hamstudy.org, then find an exam session. Clubs in New Orleans, Baton Rouge, Shreveport, Lake Charles, Lafayette, and Monroe host exams regularly.
Three NWS offices serve Louisiana: New Orleans/Slidell (southeastern LA, including the metro and the Mississippi River delta), Lake Charles (southwestern LA, including Acadiana), and Shreveport (northern LA and the Ark-La-Tex region). Each runs SKYWARN spotter training, typically before hurricane and severe weather seasons.
Louisiana's weather hazards include hurricanes and tropical storms (the state has been hit by more hurricanes than almost any other), storm surge and coastal flooding, Mississippi and Red River flooding, tornadoes (especially in spring), extreme heat, and heavy rainfall events that can dump 20+ inches in hours. Training is free and runs about 2 hours.
Louisiana has over 300 public library locations overseen by the State Library of Louisiana. Systems like the New Orleans Public Library, East Baton Rouge Parish Library, Shreve Memorial Library (Shreveport), and Calcasieu Parish Public Library (Lake Charles) run extensive community programming. Louisiana libraries have repeatedly served as evacuation shelters and recovery information centers during hurricane seasons.
The Louisiana Community and Technical College System (LCTCS) operates 12 colleges across the state. Institutions like Delgado Community College (New Orleans), Baton Rouge Community College, SOWELA Technical Community College (Lake Charles), and Bossier Parish Community College (Shreveport area) offer affordable continuing education in EMT certification, welding, electrical work, process technology, and other trades critical to Louisiana's economy.
Why this matters
On August 29, 2021 — exactly 16 years after Katrina — Hurricane Ida made landfall near Port Fourchon as a Category 4 storm. Sustained winds of 150 mph destroyed homes, ripped roofs off buildings, and knocked out the entire electrical grid serving the New Orleans metro area. Over a million customers lost power. Some didn't get it back for weeks, in August heat.
The community response was Louisiana at its most Louisiana. Before the storm cleared the coast, the Cajun Navy was already mobilizing — hundreds of volunteer boat owners from across southern Louisiana and neighboring states who self-organize for flood rescue after every hurricane. In LaPlace, Houma, and Grand Isle, Cajun Navy volunteers pulled families from flooded homes while official rescue operations were still staging.
Ham radio operators across southeastern Louisiana provided emergency communications for parishes where cell service was completely destroyed. Red Cross opened more than 50 shelters statewide. CERT teams in Jefferson and Orleans parishes assisted with welfare checks in neighborhoods without power. LSU AgCenter extension agents helped connect displaced farmers and fishermen with disaster recovery programs.
Louisiana has been hit by more major hurricanes than almost any state, and the volunteer infrastructure reflects that experience. The Cajun Navy, the ham radio nets, the church networks, the CERT teams — they exist because Louisiana learned, over and over, that formal help takes time and community help saves lives. The organizations on this page are that community help, and they always need more people in the boats.
The foundation
Community resilience begins with a household that can take care of itself. Cover the first 72 hours, then extend outward to your street, your neighborhood, your parish.
Start with the first 72 hours