Record hurricanes can change our understanding of flood and wind risks. To shorten the time it takes to combine what we learn from the event with what we already know, FEMA mobilizes its scientists and Mitigation Assessment Teams immediately after a disaster. These groups collect information on wind speeds, surge, and flood depths and determine how buildings performed under the conditions they experience. This information is used to produce recovery maps, fact sheets, and building perfomance reports, so homeowners have the tools they need to Build Safer Stronger Smarter—preventing damage and speeding up the recovery process from future hurricanes.

Your new home must be built to comply with the code requirements for your area. The building requirements change as you move inland from the coast, because they are based on an area’s exposure to wind and flood. Homes closer to the coast must be built to resist stronger winds; those subject to surge and deeper flooding must be built higher. As our coastline recedes and flooding worsens due to coastal erosion, subsidence and sea-level rise, hurricane risks across South Louisiana are increasing.

How safe do you want to be, and for how long? Will today’s standards protect you from the risks you’ll face 10 or 20 years from now? You can make the choice to learn about the building code requirements that provide for greater safety and security. You can choose the level of protection you want your home to provide. Choosing to build a little higher and a little stronger now is smart. While no construction method can entirely eliminate risk, building to proven wind and flood standards can significantly reduce your home’s vulnerability to hurricane forces. And using construction dollars wisely can buy you benefits you may not realize.

Think about this… Would you rather cope with major rebuilding after a disaster, or avoid much of the destruction in the first place? If you don’t build stronger, in some ways you are choosing to raise your risk of sustaining damage. Choices you make now can help avoid the struggle of restoring or rebuilding your home after the next hurricane.
When you make the choice to build to higher standards, even when not required by the building code for your area, you are choosing to spare your family hurricane-related heartache in the future. By elevating a little more, using impact windows or shutters, or installing high-wind roofing, you will benefit down the road.