LaHouse Resource Center, located on Gourrier Ave. Photo courtesy LaHouse.

Holding down your home during hurricane season

With the 2019 hurricane season officially underway–as the unwelcome advance of “Barry” proves–many of us are double checking to make sure our supplies and homes are storm-ready. And although googling hurricane home tips or how to keep your home safe during a storm can seem easy, readers can quickly find themselves falling into the rabbit hole of search engines, trying to sort through thousands of results.

To make storm prep a little easier, LaHouse Home and Landscape Resource Center will be highlighting Resilient Home Solutions at its Summer Saturday open house Saturday, July 27. Visitors will see first hand everything the LSU AgCenter recommends homeowners install and implement in order to have a resilient home all year long–and especially during hurricane season.

“A resilient home allows you to bounce back quickly after a storm or flood to resume your normal life, avoiding the massive expense and ordeal of making repairs,” says Claudette Reichel, director of LaHouse.

LSU AgCenter extension associate Shandy Heil explains the different flood maps to New Orleans residents Ginger and Greg Rigamer, while Chad Ross, FEMA floodplain management specialist looks on, at the LaHouse Resource Center. Photo courtesy LaHouse.

Hurricanes can bring on some serious flood and wind damage. And with how easily Baton Rouge floods, it’s best to take every precaution going into this rainy season. During the open house, Reichel and her team will be around to discuss the importance of making sure your home is ready to combat the storms, as well as the benefits of a resilient home if it does take a hit.

Instead of being displaced for months or years and waiting in line with thousands of others for good contractors and materials, a highly resilient home could enable a household to safely handle restoration at minimal cost and move back home in a short time,” explains Reichel.

The Summer Saturday open house will be taking place Saturday, July 27, from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. at the LaHouse Resource Center on Gourrier Ave., across from the LSU Alex Box Stadium. The event is free to the public; however, a suggested donation of $5 per adult is requested to help support its educational program.


LaHouse is a research-based showcase of solutions for sustainable, high performance housing designed for the Southern region’s climate and conditions. The mission of LaHouse is to shape the future with homes that offer more comfort, durability, value, convenience, environmental quality, safety and better health with less energy, water, pollution, waste, damage and loss.