When Hurricane Katrina landed in southern Louisiana 20 years ago, the region was ready for 125 miles per hour and a devastating flood, which will be followed by.
Louisiana, like the rest of the United States, was still adopting modern international building codes, which was only a few years ago.
“The good safety of the air, which we now take all kinds of money in building codes, cannot come by 2002,” said Michael Newman, general councilor of the International Institute for Building and Home Safety (IBHS). “It’s not so surprising that Louisiana was not the latest at the time.”
Louisiana’s lawmakers held a special meeting in December 2005 and immediately addressed the building codes. According to the International Code Council (ICC), legislators approved a move to establish a mandatory building code across the state.The then Governor of the Pelicon State, Kathleen Blanco and various insurance groups, supported the attempt to establish a uniform building code, while opponents claimed that it would increase construction costs and would be difficult to implement locally.
Former Louisiana Insurance Commissioner Jim Donilone has given Blanco a political desire to advance the codes of state -of -the -art buildings through the legislature.
“It was a heavy lift, because half of our 64 parishs didn’t have a building code,” Donilin said. “They did not have the offices allowed. They did not have an inspector on the payroll. It would be expensive for them to stand.”
Although Louisiana had rush to pass the building code across the state after Katrina, the state did not update its code in the coming years to maintain the international building code. For example, the ICC updates its model code every three years to calculate new concerns about technical and material improvement and safety.
This was not the only when Louisiana experienced another hurricane attack in 2020-21 that the state responded by bringing its code to the latest. The 2020 hurricane season was the most active in the record, causing $ 10.6 billion in insured loss with Hurricane Laura, Delta and Zeta.
The following year, Louisiana was once again hit by a hurricane, which is the most devastating storm after Katrina. The damage to the IDA was about $ 14 billion.
“After this bad hurricane wire, a group of stakeholders gathered together and said,” We need to update our code, “said Newman.
Louisiana updated her state -of -the -art building code in 2021, bringing the state to the modern international code.
The devastation of Hurricane Laura, Delta, Zeta and Eda put pressure on politicians to find other ways to expand the state’s flexibility against future storms.
Donilone, as an insurance commissioner, urged lawmakers to set up a program that will give residents a grant to re -build their roofs on the standards set by IBHS.
Strong roofs are strong edges, sealed ceiling decks, impact resistant shingles and are better connected. The roofs are designed to counter winds at a speed of 130-150 miles per hour, thus protecting the home in the event of a category 3 or 4 hurricanes.
Louisiana’s move was to be verbally modeled from Alabama, where in 2011, legislators set up a program to reduce the residential air at the single family homes. The Strongly Alabama Holmes Program was the first of its kind that gave home owners a grant up to $ 10,000 to make their roofs stronger standard. The state began giving grants in 2016.
Alabama now has more than 50,000 fortified posts, and more than 80 % of them do not support public funds.
“What affects me the most is that he was so brave to become a mover,” said Newman, “Alabama said,” Hurricanes are displaceing our families, they are destabilizing our communities and they are making our insurance market unhealthy. ” They decided to do something about it.
In Louisiana, legislators were slow to work. It took a period of time after the 2020-21 storms for the legislature in the Louisiana Forty Home Program fund.
“As it is common, the wolf was not at the door when we first passed the bill,” said Donilin. “But as a result of Laura, Delta, Zeta and Ada, we needed insurance companies to do business.
Since launching in 2023, the Louisiana Fortefi Homes Program has issued more than 3,700 grants of up to $ 10,000. During this period, the number of strong houses without a grant has reduced from 1,000 to more than 5,500.
The cost of buying a fortified ceiling can be a barrier for homeowners who are already struggling to maintain a growing insurance premium.
Louisiana’s lawmakers tried to meet the cost that requires an activist justification for insurance companies to meet the strengthened standards. Another law passed this year will receive a personal income tax credit for up to $ 10,000.
Insurance Commissioner Tim Temple said, “This program is very important to protect our state from severe weather and make Louisiana a more attractive place in order to protect our state from severe weather and business for insurance companies.”
Picture: Hurricane Katrina’s airstrikes on August 30, 2005, after the hurricane.
Titles
Louisiana Wind Stormm
