Louisiana Local Risk Guide
Louisiana local risk and household continuity guide.
Which hazards matter in your parish, when to pay closer attention, and how your household keeps water, cool air, medicine, and a way out when the systems around it go down.
Last reviewed October 2026
By Dan Whelan, founder of New World Survival
Researched from government agencies, university extension services, and other published sources. See our sources
Why this page exists
Louisiana risk changes from one parish to the next.
A household in Cameron Parish plans around storm surge and a long drive inland. A household in Livingston or Tangipahoa Parish plans around rain that falls faster than rivers and bayous can carry it off. A household in Caddo or Ouachita Parish plans around spring tornadoes and the occasional hard freeze that breaks water lines. Nearly every household in the state shares one more planning problem: a long power outage in hot weather.
This page helps you find the agencies and forecast office that serve your parish, see which months deserve closer attention, understand which household systems tend to fail together, and choose preparations that cover several Louisiana hazards at once. It focuses on warning, continuity, and recovery. For land, water law, elevation and insurance costs, and property due diligence, see the main Louisiana guide.
Related guide
Choosing land or comparing places in Louisiana? The main Louisiana land and self-reliance guide covers the statewide score, six land-search regions, water law, cottage food and right-to-farm rules, growing conditions, the cost of elevation and drainage, insurance, and a parcel checklist. This Local Risk guide focuses on warning systems, household disruption, continuity, and recovery.
Start here
Identify your parish office and forecast office.
Louisiana has 64 parishes. Each has an office of homeland security and emergency preparedness (OHSEP, the parish emergency management office) that calls local evacuations, opens shelters, runs many alert systems, and announces when residents can return. Knowing your parish office and the National Weather Service office that issues your warnings is the starting point for every other decision on this page.
Find your parish OHSEP
GOHSEP, the state emergency management agency, lists the director and contact details for every parish office. Call or visit the parish site to find its alert sign-up and evacuation guidance.
Parish OHSEP contactsFind your NWS forecast office
Enter your address at weather.gov to see which office issues warnings for your location. Four offices cover Louisiana, and one of them is in Mississippi.
National Weather ServiceCheck your flood map
Look up the mapped flood zone for your home and for the roads you drive most. A map is a starting point, not a guarantee; the flood section below explains why.
FEMA Flood Map Service CenterFind your evacuation phase
The Louisiana Emergency Preparedness Guide explains the three hurricane evacuation phases and shows the contraflow routes on I-10, I-55, and I-59.
2025 state emergency guide (PDF)NWS offices serving Louisiana
Parish assignments from the National Weather Service public zone list, checked October 2026. River forecasts come from the Lower Mississippi River Forecast Center in Slidell for most Louisiana rivers and from the West Gulf River Forecast Center in Fort Worth for the Sabine.
Statewide baseline
Ten preparations that address several Louisiana hazards at once.
These preparations reduce disruption across most of the hazards on this page, wherever in Louisiana you live. Each one connects to a documented Louisiana pattern.
Two warning channels that do not share a weak point
Wireless Emergency Alerts need no sign-up and reach phones automatically. Add a NOAA Weather Radio with battery backup, programmed with the code for your parish, so warnings still reach you when cell service is overloaded or towers lose power. The state’s Get A Game Plan app or your parish alert system makes a third channel.
Your evacuation phase and two routes out
Louisiana’s hurricane evacuation phases follow geography: south of the Intracoastal Waterway, south of I-10, and the east bank of the New Orleans metro. Know which applies to your home, pick a primary and an alternate route, and decide on a destination before June, so the decision during a storm is only about timing.
A plan for a week of heat without power
In the Hurricane Ida report, the National Hurricane Center counted 13 Louisiana deaths from heat during the outages that followed the storm. CDC advises using fans only when indoor temperatures are below 90°F, because above that a fan can raise body temperature. Decide now where each household member would go to cool off, or how you would power one cooled room. See cooling during outages.
Generator placement decided before the storm
CPSC says to run portable generators outside only, at least 20 feet from the house, with exhaust pointed away from doors and windows, and never in a garage or other enclosed space, even with doors open. Louisiana’s health department counted nine carbon monoxide deaths after Hurricane Laura, eight linked to generators. Pick the spot, buy the cord, and install battery-backed carbon monoxide alarms now. See generators.
Ready.gov recommends at least one gallon per person per day for several days, and the Red Cross recommends a two-week supply at home. Louisiana households lose tap water for reasons beyond hurricanes: freezes that drop system pressure, and saltwater moving up the Mississippi in drought years. A two-week supply matches the Red Cross home recommendation.
Refrigerated food and medicine
FDA says an unopened refrigerator keeps food cold for about four hours and a full freezer about 48 hours. Discard perishable food that has been above 40°F for two hours or more. FDA also says insulin in its original vial or pen may be kept unrefrigerated between 59°F and 86°F for up to 28 days. Keep a written medication list and ask your pharmacy how early you can refill before a storm.
A tornado plan that works at night and in the fall
NWS New Orleans reports that 39 percent of tornadoes in its area from November through February occur in the evening and overnight, and that most fatal tornado events there have happened at night. Keep a weather radio where it will wake you, and pick an interior room on the lowest floor with no windows. A mobile home is not safe in a tornado; know the closest sturdy building.
Flood exposure checked beyond the map
Check your home and your two most-used routes on the FEMA flood map, then ask neighbors and your parish where water has gone before. The National Weather Service notes that 12 inches of rushing water can carry away most cars. Know which underpasses and low roads on your routes flood first.
Documents and policy status in one waterproof place
Keep identification, insurance policies, deeds or leases, and prescriptions in a waterproof container you can grab, with copies stored online or with someone outside the state. Confirm before June whether flood coverage is in force. Costs and coverage choices are covered in the main Louisiana guide.
Reunification and pet arrangements
Storms and evacuations often find family members at work, school, or another parish. Set an out-of-state contact, a meeting place, and who collects children and pets. Shelter rules for animals vary by parish, so ask your parish office before the season. See preparing with pets.
Hazard profile
What can happen, where it matters, and your first decision.
Each row connects a Louisiana hazard to the household disruption it tends to cause and the planning decision it calls for. The "Full guide" column links to the national page with detailed before, during, and after steps.
| Hazard | Where it matters | Higher-attention period | Warning character | Likely household disruption | First planning decision | Full guide |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Hurricanes and tropical storms | Statewide; strongest wind in coastal and southern parishes, but inland parishes lose power and trees too | June 1 to November 30; most activity mid-August to mid-October | Days of forecast. A hurricane watch comes about 48 hours and a warning about 36 hours before tropical storm force winds | Outages lasting days to weeks, roof and tree damage, fuel and supply gaps, evacuation | Will you leave, and on which phase? If you stay, how will you keep cool and keep carbon monoxide out? | Hurricane guide → |
| Storm surge | Coastal parishes, especially south of the Intracoastal Waterway and outside levee systems | Same as hurricane season | Storm surge watch generally within 48 hours; warning generally within 36 hours | Inundation of homes and roads, long delays before reentry | Do you know your evacuation phase, and will you leave when it is called? | Hurricane guide → |
| Heavy rain and flash flooding | Statewide; the August 2016 storm dropped 20 to 30 inches across the Baton Rouge area and Florida Parishes | Year-round; tropical systems and slow-moving storms bring the largest totals | Flood watches hours to a day ahead; flash flood warnings minutes to hours | Flooded homes outside mapped zones, cut roads, displacement | Which of your routes floods first, and where would you go if your street flooded overnight? | Flood guide → |
| River flooding and spillway operations | Mississippi, Red, Atchafalaya, Pearl, Amite, and Sabine corridors; the Morganza Floodway diverts high water into the Atchafalaya Basin | High-water periods, which have prompted spillway openings in winter and spring | Days to weeks, through river stage forecasts | Backwater flooding, closed roads and ferries, long access disruptions | Is your home or route near a river gauge you can watch, or inside a floodway? | Flood guide → |
| Extreme heat | Statewide; most dangerous when it follows a storm outage | Late spring through early fall | Heat advisories and extreme heat warnings, usually a day or more ahead | Heat illness, especially for older adults and people living alone; food and medicine spoilage | Where does each household member cool off if the grid is down? | Extreme heat guide → |
| Tornadoes | Statewide | Spring peak from March through May; a secondary peak in November and December | Minutes. Night and cool-season tornadoes are common in southeast Louisiana | Structural damage, injury, outages along the path | Where do you shelter, and will a nighttime warning wake you? | Tornado guide → |
| Winter storms and hard freezes | Statewide; bridges and elevated interstates close quickly | December through February | Winter storm watches one to two days ahead | Interstate and bridge closures, burst pipes, water system pressure loss and boil advisories, outages without heat | Can you keep pipes and people warm through a two-day freeze if the power fails? | Winter storm guide → |
| Drought, wildfire, and saltwater intrusion | Wildfire in western and central pine parishes; saltwater intrusion along the lower Mississippi from Plaquemines toward New Orleans area intakes | Late summer and fall in dry years | Slow onset; weekly drought maps, burn bans, and Corps of Engineers river updates | Burn bans, smoke, fire evacuations near the burn, drinking water advisories | Do you have water for two weeks if your system issues an advisory? | Drought guide → |
| Chemical or industrial release | Localized near chemical plants, refineries, pipelines, and rail and barge routes | No seasonal pattern | Often none in advance; instructions come from parish officials | Shelter-in-place orders or short-notice evacuation | Do you know whether a facility or rail line is near your home, school, or work? | Chemical spill guide → |
Operational risk regions
What you prepare for depends on where in Louisiana you live.
These six operational regions group parishes by shared hazards, evacuation timing, and household planning needs. They are different from the land-search regions in the main state guide, which are organized around soil, water, and property. Parish lists are representative, not boundaries.
Greater New Orleans
Orleans, Jefferson, St. Bernard, and the east and west banks inside the metro levee system
Inside the levee system, the hazard that most often reaches households is the week after the storm: heat, no power, and drainage that depends on pumps. Hurricane Ida’s heat deaths in the state health department’s September 2021 count were all in Orleans Parish. The east bank evacuates on Phase III, about 30 hours before tropical storm force winds. Heavy rain can also flood streets and underpasses.
Three things to verify locally:
- Whether your home is east bank (Phase III) or in an earlier phase
- Your sign-up for NOLA Ready alerts or your parish system
- A cooling plan for a week without power, including a place to go
Coastal parishes outside levee protection
Cameron, Vermilion, lower Terrebonne, lower Lafourche, lower Plaquemines, coastal St. Mary and Iberia
Areas south of the Intracoastal Waterway evacuate first, on Phase I, about 50 hours before tropical storm force winds, because they sit outside levee protection. Hurricane Laura’s surge reached up to 18 feet above ground in 2020. Reentry after a strong storm can be delayed while roads and utilities are cleared. Lower Plaquemines drinking water was affected by saltwater intrusion starting in June 2023.
Three things to verify locally:
- Your Phase I departure plan and a destination with room for the household
- Which parish channel announces reentry
- Two weeks of stored water for advisories that follow storms or drought
Southwest Louisiana
Calcasieu, Jefferson Davis, Beauregard, Allen, and inland Cameron
Laura in August and Delta in October 2020 made landfall about 10 nautical miles apart, so many households faced a second storm before repairs were finished. The 2023 Tiger Island Fire in Beauregard Parish burned more than 31,000 acres during a drought. In January 2025, NWS Lake Charles issued its first blizzard warning. Sabine River forecasts come from the West Gulf River Forecast Center.
Three things to verify locally:
- Whether a second storm in one season would find your roof and supplies ready
- Burn ban status and a smoke plan in dry falls
- Industrial facilities near home, school, or work
Baton Rouge and the Florida Parishes
East Baton Rouge, Livingston, Ascension, Tangipahoa, St. Helena, Washington, and St. Tammany
The August 2016 storm dropped 20 to 30 inches of rain here in three days, and the Amite, Comite, Tickfaw, Natalbany, and Tangipahoa basins reached record flood levels. Sections of I-10 and I-12 closed for several days. Tornadoes are possible year-round, including at night. Residents along the river corridor should know their nearest industrial sites.
Three things to verify locally:
- The river gauge upstream of your home on water.noaa.gov
- Whether your routes cross low roads that flood before the main river crests
- Your parish shelter-in-place instructions for chemical releases
Acadiana and the Atchafalaya Basin
Lafayette, St. Martin, St. Landry, Iberia, Iberville, Pointe Coupee, Avoyelles, and Assumption
Heavy rain flooding and hurricane wind are the main concerns, with long outages after strong storms. The Morganza Floodway diverts Mississippi River high water into the Atchafalaya Basin when flows at Red River Landing reach about 1.5 million cubic feet per second, raising water across the basin. I-10 between I-49 and Baton Rouge closed for winter weather in January 2025.
Three things to verify locally:
- Whether your home, camp, or route sits in the floodway or basin
- An alternate route if I-10 across the basin closes
- Backup power and cooling plans for multi-day outages
North and Central Louisiana
Caddo, Bossier, Ouachita, Lincoln, Rapides, Natchitoches, and the northeast Delta parishes
Tornadoes peak from March through May, with a secondary peak from mid-November to mid-December. Winter storms bring the greatest freeze disruption here; in February 2021, about 400 Louisiana water systems were affected and more than 300 were under boil advisories or other impaired service at the peak. River flooding along the Red and other rivers, and the remnants of tropical storms, also reach this region. Nine northeast parishes get warnings from NWS Jackson, Mississippi.
Three things to verify locally:
- Which NWS office serves your parish (SHV, LCH, or JAN)
- How to shut off and drain your water lines before a hard freeze
- A safe backup heat plan and battery-backed carbon monoxide alarms
Seasonal readiness
A Louisiana household readiness calendar.
Louisiana hazards follow rough seasonal patterns, but none is impossible outside its usual window. Tornadoes can occur outside spring, and heavy rain floods can come at any time of year. This calendar marks the higher-attention periods and the household tasks that go with them.
| Period | Higher-attention hazards | Household task |
|---|---|---|
| January – February | Hard freezes and winter storms; high river levels in some years | Learn where your main water shutoff is and how to drain lines. Insulate exposed pipes. Test carbon monoxide alarms and confirm any backup heat is vented and safe to use indoors. |
| March – May | Spring tornado peak; heavy rain and river flooding | Program your weather radio for your parish and put it where it will wake you. Practice your tornado shelter plan with everyone. Check which of your routes flooded in past storms. |
| Late May – July | Hurricane season opens June 1; heat builds | Before June 1, confirm your evacuation phase and routes, refresh stored water, service the generator and mark its outdoor spot, install the Get A Game Plan app, and confirm flood coverage is in force. |
| August – October | Peak hurricane activity, centered on September 10; heat; drought, burn bans, and saltwater intrusion in dry years | Keep vehicle fuel above half and some cash on hand when a storm is in the Gulf. Watch National Hurricane Center outlooks. Check burn bans before outdoor burning. Check on neighbors who live alone during heat. |
| November – December | Hurricane season ends November 30; secondary tornado peak; first freezes | Restock supplies used during the season. Keep the weather radio on overnight during storm outbreaks. Winterize outdoor faucets and well equipment before the first hard freeze. |
Cascading disruptions
How one failure leads to the next.
In Louisiana, the triggering event is often not what causes the most harm. These four sequences show which systems tend to fail together, so a household can prepare for the disruption it will actually live through.
Hurricane outage chain (the week after the storm)
Hurricane wind damages transmission lines and towers → regional outage lasting days to more than a week → air conditioning, refrigeration, and powered medical equipment stop in late-summer heat → households turn to generators, sometimes too close to the house → heat illness and carbon monoxide poisoning. After Ida, Entergy reported all eight transmission lines into the New Orleans area out of service, and most of Louisiana’s Ida deaths were classified as indirect.
Preparation that reduces the consequence: A cooling plan that does not depend on the grid, a generator spot at least 20 feet from the house, battery-backed carbon monoxide alarms, and a relocation option for anyone who cannot tolerate heat.
Slow rain flood chain
A slow-moving storm drops 20 inches or more → small rivers and bayous reach record levels and spread into neighborhoods outside mapped flood zones → interstates and local roads close, in 2016 including I-10 and I-12 for several days → households who waited find their routes cut → long displacement and repairs.
Preparation that reduces the consequence: Knowing the river gauge upstream of you, a decision point for leaving before roads close, documents in waterproof storage, and confirmed flood coverage.
Freeze water chain
A hard freeze bursts pipes in homes and water mains → water systems lose pressure → boil water advisories spread → households without stored water lose drinking, cooking, and toilet water at the same time roads are iced. In February 2021, the state health department reported about 400 water systems affected, with more than 300 under impaired service at the peak.
Preparation that reduces the consequence: Two weeks of stored water, knowledge of your main shutoff, insulated pipes, and a way to boil water safely.
Drought and saltwater chain
Extended drought lowers the Mississippi River → denser saltwater moves upriver along the bottom → intakes for drinking water systems downriver are threatened → advisories and bottled water distribution. In 2023, Plaquemines Parish water was affected starting in June, and the Corps of Engineers built and raised an underwater sill near river mile 64 to slow the saltwater. The same dry year brought the Tiger Island Fire in Beauregard Parish, which burned more than 31,000 acres.
Preparation that reduces the consequence: Stored water, attention to parish water advisories in dry years, and a smoke and fire plan for households in pine country.
Household situations
What changes for your household.
Louisiana hazards land differently depending on how a household lives. Each overlay answers three questions: what changes, what to verify locally, and what the first practical improvement is. Fuller guides are linked where they exist.
Households without a vehicle
What changes: Leaving on time depends on a ride you arrange before the storm. Louisiana’s phases give the earliest areas about 50 hours of lead time before tropical storm force winds, and much of that can pass while waiting.
Verify locally: In New Orleans, how City-Assisted Evacuation works and its text sign-up (EVACNOLA to 77295). In other parishes, what assisted evacuation your parish office offers and how to register.
First improvement: Register or confirm a ride with family, a neighbor, or the parish program before June 1.
Medically dependent households
What changes: Powered equipment such as oxygen concentrators and CPAP machines stops in an outage, and refrigerated medicines warm up. Pharmacies and clinics may close for days after landfall.
Verify locally: Whether your parish keeps a registry for residents with medical needs during evacuations, and which shelters serve people whose needs a general shelter cannot meet. New Orleans residents can add medical details to a Smart911 profile.
First improvement: Get on your parish registry, keep a written medication list, and set up backup power for essential devices. See medical devices in a power outage.
Older adults and people living alone
What changes: Heat is the main danger after a storm, not the storm itself. Louisiana’s health department documented 91 heat-related deaths in 2023, the highest it has recorded.
Verify locally: Cooling centers your parish opens during heat and outages, and who will check on you.
First improvement: Arrange a daily check-in with a nearby person for every heat wave and outage.
Manufactured-home residents
What changes: A mobile or manufactured home is not safe in a tornado or a strong hurricane, and tornado warnings give only minutes. Nighttime warnings shorten the time to act.
Verify locally: The closest sturdy building you can reach in a few minutes, and whether your park or parish has a community shelter.
First improvement: Time the trip to your shelter building, and plan to evacuate for hurricanes your parish identifies as a threat to manufactured homes.
Renters and apartment residents
What changes: Renters usually cannot add shutters, generators, or shelters, and flood damage is usually a separate coverage question. More than 45 percent of renter households affected by the 2016 floods were outside the mapped flood zone.
Verify locally: What your lease allows for generators and storage, whether your building has an interior shelter area, and whether your renter policy covers flood.
First improvement: Get renter’s coverage, ask about separate flood coverage, and store water and documents where you can grab them. See preparing in an apartment.
Rural private-well households
What changes: The well pump stops when the power does, and floodwater can contaminate a well. CDC advises not drinking well water after flooding until it is tested or disinfected; until tested, boil it at a rolling boil for one minute.
Verify locally: Where your parish health unit offers well water testing, and whether your pump can run on a generator.
First improvement: Store water for people and animals, and plan a test after any flood. See preparing in a rural area.
People separated by work, school, or caregiving
What changes: Plant, hospital, offshore, and utility workers may be required to stay or report during a storm while family evacuates. Schools may close early or dismiss ahead of an evacuation.
Verify locally: Your employer’s hurricane policy, school dismissal and reunification procedures, and who has authority to pick up each child.
First improvement: Write down who evacuates with whom, the out-of-state contact, and the meeting place, and give a copy to each adult.
Warning systems
How warnings reach your household.
Louisiana’s warning chain runs from federal forecasters through four NWS offices and the state and parish emergency offices to your phone, radio, and door. Knowing the chain lets you build redundancy into your own reception.
Federal detection and forecast
The National Hurricane Center issues tropical outlooks, advisories, and storm surge products. The Storm Prediction Center issues severe weather outlooks and tornado watches. River forecast centers in Slidell and Fort Worth forecast river stages for Louisiana gauges.
Your NWS office
Four offices issue warnings for Louisiana parishes: New Orleans/Baton Rouge, Lake Charles, Shreveport, and Jackson, Mississippi for nine northeast parishes. Their warnings feed every channel below.
Wireless Emergency Alerts
Tornado, flash flood, storm surge, and other urgent warnings go automatically to capable phones in the warned area, with no sign-up. They depend on cellular service, which can be overloaded or lost after a storm.
NOAA Weather Radio
Seventeen transmitters serve Louisiana parishes, and six of them stand in Mississippi, Arkansas, and Texas. Program your receiver with the code for your parish so it sounds only for your area. A battery-backed radio works without cell service or internet.
State and parish alerts
GOHSEP’s Get A Game Plan app sends real-time notifications and evacuation information, and the GOHSEP site links to a statewide alert sign-up. Many parishes run their own systems as well, such as NOLA Ready in New Orleans. Sign up for both where offered.
Outdoor warning sirens
Where they exist, sirens are designed to alert people who are outside. They are not meant to be heard indoors, so do not count on them at home or while sleeping.
What each message asks of you
Prepare, endure, recover
The three phases of household readiness.
Prepare
Actions you can finish before June 1, before the first freeze, or within the next month.
- Install the Get A Game Plan app, sign up for your parish alerts, and program a NOAA Weather Radio for your parish.
- Confirm your evacuation phase, two routes, a destination, and transportation, including help for anyone who cannot drive.
- Store at least two weeks of water and a supply of food that needs no refrigeration.
- Choose a generator spot at least 20 feet from the house and install battery-backed carbon monoxide alarms on each level.
- Decide where each household member will cool off during a long outage in heat.
- Put documents, a medication list, and prescription copies in a waterproof container, and confirm flood coverage is in force.
- Before winter, learn your water shutoff, insulate exposed pipes, and plan safe backup heat.
Endure
Household continuity decisions during the disruption. Official instructions from your NWS office and parish OHSEP come first. These Louisiana notes supplement the detailed steps in each hazard guide.
- Evacuation called for your phase: Leave on your phase, by the routes you chose. The phases are timed so each area can travel before tropical storm force winds arrive.
- Long outage in heat: Use fans only while indoor temperatures are below 90°F, move to a cooled place if you cannot keep cool, and check on neighbors who live alone. Heat stroke is a medical emergency; call 911.
- Running a generator: Outside only, at least 20 feet from the house, exhaust away from openings, never in a garage even with the door up. If a carbon monoxide alarm sounds, get everyone outside and call 911.
- Food and medicine: Keep the refrigerator and freezer closed. Discard perishable food above 40°F for two hours or more. Insulin in its original vial or pen may stay unrefrigerated between 59°F and 86°F for up to 28 days.
- Flooded roads: Turn around. Twelve inches of rushing water can carry away most cars, and two feet can carry away SUVs and trucks.
- Tornado warning, day or night: Go to an interior room on the lowest floor without windows. If you are in a mobile home, go to the nearest sturdy building.
- Boil water advisory: Bring water to a full rolling boil for one minute and let it cool, or use stored water, until the advisory is lifted.
Recover
First steps after the event.
- Wait for your parish to announce reentry before returning to a flooded or damaged area.
- Photograph and video damage before moving or cleaning anything, and contact your insurer as soon as it is safe.
- If a federal disaster is declared, apply for FEMA Individual Assistance at DisasterAssistance.gov.
- Dial 211 or text your ZIP code to 898-211 for shelter, food, housing, and other recovery referrals.
- Throw out food that touched floodwater. Only undamaged commercial cans and retort pouches can be kept, after cleaning and disinfecting them.
- Do not drink private well water after flooding until it is tested or disinfected.
- Get more than one written estimate, check contractor licenses, and do not pay the full price up front.
- For the longer path, see recovery and displacement.
Ten-action checklist
Ten high-value actions for Louisiana households.
Each action is specific, can be finished in an afternoon or a weekend, covers more than one Louisiana hazard, and is free or low-cost where a reasonable option exists. Work through them in order.
- Install the Get A Game Plan app and sign up for your parish alert system. Together with Wireless Emergency Alerts, that gives you three channels.
- Program a battery-backed NOAA Weather Radio with your parish code and keep it where it will wake you. Night and cool-season tornadoes are common in southeast Louisiana.
- Write down your evacuation phase, two routes, a destination, and who drives. If no one in the household drives, register with your parish or the New Orleans City-Assisted Evacuation program.
- Check your home and your two most-used routes on the FEMA flood map and with your parish. Note which roads flooded in past storms.
- Store two weeks of drinking water for every person and pet. Hurricanes, freezes, and saltwater intrusion have all interrupted Louisiana tap water.
- Mark an outdoor generator spot at least 20 feet from the house and install battery-backed carbon monoxide alarms on every level. If you do not own a generator, the alarms still matter for any fuel-burning appliance.
- Choose where each household member will cool off during a week-long outage in summer. Include a relative, a cooling center, or a one-room backup power setup.
- Put documents, a medication list, and prescription copies in a waterproof container. Add copies stored online or with someone out of state.
- Confirm whether your home or renter policy includes flood coverage, and note the decision in writing. FEMA notes that most homeowners insurance does not cover flood damage.
- Before winter, find your main water shutoff and insulate exposed pipes. Knowing where it is lets you stop a burst pipe quickly.
Official resources
Louisiana state and local resources by task.
Organized by what you need to get done, not by agency name.
Receive warnings and alerts
- National Weather Service: Find your office, active warnings, and forecasts for your address.
- National Hurricane Center: Tropical outlooks, advisories, and storm surge watches and warnings.
- Get A Game Plan app: GOHSEP’s app for real-time notifications, evacuation information, and household plans.
- NOAA Weather Radio stations for Louisiana: Find the transmitter and frequency that serve your parish.
Plan an evacuation and check roads
- Louisiana Emergency Preparedness Guide (2025, PDF): Evacuation phases, contraflow maps, and household planning pages.
- NOLA Ready hurricane planning: New Orleans evacuation information, including City-Assisted Evacuation.
- 511LA: DOTD’s road conditions, closures, cameras, and ferry and movable bridge status. Also by phone at 511.
Check rivers and flood conditions
- National Water Prediction Service: Current stage and forecast for the river gauge nearest your home.
- Lower Mississippi River Forecast Center: River forecasts for most Louisiana rivers, including the Mississippi, Red, and Atchafalaya.
- West Gulf River Forecast Center: Forecasts for the Sabine River along the Texas line.
- FEMA Flood Map Service Center: Mapped flood zone for any address.
Find parish emergency management
- Parish OHSEP contacts: Directors and contact details for all 64 parish emergency offices.
- GOHSEP: State emergency management, declarations, and the statewide alert sign-up.
Report or monitor a power outage
- Public Service Commission utility outage links: Outage maps and contacts for Cleco, Entergy Louisiana, SWEPCO, and electric cooperatives.
Check drinking water, drought, and fire conditions
- LDH boil water advisories: How to find advisories for your water system and what to do during one.
- U.S. Drought Monitor: Louisiana: Weekly drought map for the state.
Report a chemical release
- Louisiana State Police hazardous materials hotline: Report a hazardous materials incident at 1-877-925-6595. For immediate danger, call 911.
Find shelter, food, housing, or recovery help
- Louisiana 211: Dial 211 or text your ZIP code to 898-211, 24 hours a day, including during disasters.
- DisasterAssistance.gov: Apply for FEMA Individual Assistance after a federal declaration.
Review the state hazard mitigation plan
- State of Louisiana 2024 Hazard Mitigation Plan: The state’s hazard analysis and mitigation strategy, approved by FEMA in March 2024 and in effect through March 2029.
What Louisiana has learned
The Ida lesson: plan for the week after the storm.
Hurricane Ida made landfall near Port Fourchon on August 29, 2021, as a Category 4 hurricane. Entergy reported all eight transmission lines into the New Orleans area out of service, and the greater New Orleans area was restored on day 10.
The National Hurricane Center’s report counted 4 direct deaths in Louisiana and 26 indirect deaths. Thirteen of the indirect deaths were from heat during the outages that followed, and six were from carbon monoxide poisoning. Most of the loss of life came after the wind had passed, from conditions households could plan for.
The decision that mattered most was made in each home: where to stay cool without air conditioning, where to put a generator, and whether to leave for a place with power. Households that settled those questions before the season had more choices once the grid was down.
What you can do now: pick your cooling option, mark your generator spot, install carbon monoxide alarms, and arrange a check-in for anyone who lives alone. For the 2005 storm that shaped Louisiana’s levee and evacuation systems, see the Hurricane Katrina case study.
Limits and methodology
What this page can and cannot tell you.
Statewide information cannot determine property-level risk. Whether your address floods, how surge would reach your street, and how long your power would stay out are property-specific questions that need local investigation.
Historical frequency is not a forecast. Past storms show patterns. They do not predict when the next event will come or how strong it will be.
Maps and designations change. Flood maps, evacuation phases, coastal projections, and drought designations are revised. Check the current version before any decision that depends on them.
Official instructions during an event come first. This page is preparation and awareness information. During a warning, evacuation, or other emergency, follow your NWS office, your parish OHSEP, and law enforcement.
Methodology and sources
Hazard selection starts from the State of Louisiana 2024 Hazard Mitigation Plan (FEMA approved March 21, 2024; in effect through March 20, 2029). The plan profiles extreme heat, drought, wildfire, winter storms, high wind, hail, lightning, tornadoes, flooding, dam failure, earthquake, sinkholes, and expansive soil, with extreme cold and levee failure in its risk summary. It does not assess hurricanes as a separate hazard; their wind, flood, and tornado losses are counted within those hazards. By the plan’s projected 2050 average annual losses, flooding and high wind are far larger than any other hazard (this ordering is ours, drawn from the plan’s figures). Earthquake, sinkholes, and expansive soil are not emphasized here because their household consequences are modest or property-specific.
Operational regions group parishes by shared hazards and by the state’s evacuation phase geography. They are distinct from the land-search regions in the main Louisiana guide.
NWS office coverage: National Weather Service public zone list, October 2026. NOAA Weather Radio transmitters: NWS station listing, October 2026. Evacuation phases: Louisiana Emergency Preparedness Guide, updated April 2025.
Hurricane Ida: NHC Tropical Cyclone Report (April 2022) for landfall and the 4 direct and 26 indirect Louisiana deaths; Entergy for transmission line status and its September 2021 presentation to the Public Service Commission for the 902,000-customer peak and restoration days. The Louisiana Department of Health count of September 8, 2021 (26 deaths, 10 heat-related, all in Orleans Parish) was interim and differs from the NHC totals.
Hurricane Laura and Delta: NHC Tropical Cyclone Reports. Laura carbon monoxide deaths: Louisiana Department of Health count of September 8, 2020 (nine, eight linked to generators).
August 2016 flood: NWS New Orleans event summary (20 to 30 inches, August 11 to 13; record flooding in the Amite/Comite, Tickfaw, Natalbany, and Tangipahoa basins). Renter households outside the Special Flood Hazard Area: Louisiana Office of Community Development report to HUD. Published counts of damaged homes vary widely by definition, so this page does not use one.
Tornado timing: NWS New Orleans fall severe weather summary (39 percent of November through February tornadoes in its area occur in the evening and overnight) and NWS Shreveport (secondary peak mid-November to mid-December). This page does not give a statewide annual tornado average because published figures disagree by period and source.
February 2021 freeze: Louisiana Department of Health emergency response presentation (about 400 water systems affected; 313 with impaired service at peak). 2023 saltwater intrusion: U.S. Army Corps of Engineers and GOHSEP releases. 2023 heat deaths: Louisiana Department of Health, Heat-Related Mortality in Louisiana 2023 (91 deaths).
Safety guidance: CPSC and CDC (generators and carbon monoxide), FDA (food and insulin during outages), CDC (heat, fans, and private wells), FEMA FloodSmart (flood coverage), NWS (flood water and tornado sheltering), Ready.gov and the American Red Cross (water storage). External links verified October 27, 2026.
Common questions
Louisiana local risk, answered.
Which National Weather Service office covers my Louisiana parish?
Four offices issue warnings for Louisiana. New Orleans/Baton Rouge covers 22 southeast parishes, Lake Charles covers 16 southwest and central parishes, and Shreveport covers 17 northwest and north central parishes. Nine northeast parishes, including Morehouse, Richland, Madison, Tensas, and Concordia, are covered by the Jackson, Mississippi office, so households there should follow that office for their forecasts and warnings.
What causes the longest power outages in Louisiana?
Hurricanes that damage transmission lines cause the longest and widest outages. After Hurricane Ida in 2021, Entergy reported a peak of 902,000 of its Louisiana customers without power, and the greater New Orleans area was restored on day 10. Winter storms can also cause multi-day outages in north and central Louisiana, when homes are least able to hold heat.
How do Louisiana hurricane evacuation phases work?
The state guide describes three phases timed before tropical storm force winds arrive. Phase I, about 50 hours out, covers areas south of the Intracoastal Waterway that sit outside levee protection. Phase II, about 40 hours out, covers areas south of I-10 that are levee protected but still vulnerable. Phase III, about 30 hours out, covers the east bank of the Mississippi River in the New Orleans metro area. Your parish announces the actual orders.
I do not have a car. How do I evacuate in Louisiana?
In New Orleans, the City-Assisted Evacuation program provides free transportation during a mandatory evacuation, and residents can sign up for updates by texting EVACNOLA to 77295. Outside New Orleans, contact your parish office of homeland security and emergency preparedness before hurricane season to ask about assisted evacuation and to be added to the parish registry if anyone in the household has medical needs.
Is my home safe from flooding if it is outside a mapped flood zone?
Not necessarily. A flood map shows where a specific level of flooding is expected, not every place that can flood. After the August 2016 flood, the state recovery report found that more than 45 percent of affected renter households were outside the mapped Special Flood Hazard Area. Check your address on the FEMA map, then ask your parish floodplain manager and neighbors where water has gone before.
Start now
Ready to build your household plan?
The first 72 hours guide walks you through the core preparations that matter whichever Louisiana hazard comes first.
Start with your first 72 hours