Houma, Louisiana and its surrounding communities are immersed in Cajun tradition and culture. The area is renowned for its food, fishing, music, and especially its hospitality. Houma is also known, although not as well as New Orleans, for its Mardi Gras festivals. Although Houma is quickly changing and developing, many of the residents in the surrounding small communities continue to make their living as their ancestors did. Because of this, there are many historic homes in the area, and because of the increasing development and influx into the area, there are a lot of new homes being built. Houma only has an elevation of ten feet, which makes it extremely vulnerable to the flooding and wind damage of hurricanes, tropical storms, and the tornadoes that are spawned by both.
The Houma area took the brunt of Hurricane Gustav in September of 2008. Houma was mentioned many times on the national news, and it was cited as the worst place to be during the storm. The city of Houma and all of Terrebonne Parish lost electricity for several days, and there was extensive damage to homes and property.
If you are building a new home in Houma, the best thing that you can do protect your home in this hurricane-prone area is to install hurricane shutters right from the start. Roll-down shutters are the most popular type of shutters added to new homes, because of several factors. They are convenient (one push of a button, and they roll down and cover your windows, and they contain a manual crank as well, in case of power failure), they stay on your windows year-round and your don’t have to go through the inconvenience of putting them up and taking them down, and they blend beautifully with most architecture.
Colonial shutters are also a popular model, as they are very like the traditional Louisiana shutter seen around Louisiana for hundreds of years. This type goes well with historic or older homes, and mixes well with the local culture.
Bahama shutters are wonderful shutters that provide shade as well as protection from storms. When in the out position, they keep the sun’s rays out and help to keep your house cool, and when in the closed position they are a great protection for your home.
Accordion shutters and storm panels are also good choices to help protect your home, and can be fitted to any size window or door.
Hurricane shutters are the most effective way to protect your home from the wind, debris, and pressure changes of hurricanes and tropical storms. If you live in Houma, install hurricane shutters to protect your home today.
