Talbert-Pierson Grave Shelters · Photo: Z28scrambler · CC BY-SA 3.0Storms, floods and disasters in Sugartown
Sugartown isn’t graded for hazard risk: FEMA’s tract figures aren’t matched to Sugartown yet.
What Sugartown faces
Each hazard’s share of the building damage FEMA expects here, and how its rate compares with the rest of the country.
River and rain flooding
Hurricanes
Wildfire
Shares are of FEMA’s expected building damage, the measure the grade uses; ranks compare each hazard’s building-damage rate with all 85,154 U.S. census tracts. In FEMA’s terms, river and rain flooding is FEMA’s “Inland Flooding” (rivers and streams overflowing their banks, or rain overwhelming drainage). FEMA defines coastal flooding as high or rising tides and storm surge, so surge damage is counted there. Drought isn’t listed: FEMA counts its losses in crops only.
Does Sugartown flood? No paid flood claims on record
FEMA’s records show no paid flood insurance claims in Sugartown. That’s not a promise: most homes don’t carry flood insurance, so small floods go unrecorded.
Sugartown isn’t in FEMA’s Community Rating System, which cuts flood insurance up to 45% in towns that do extra flood-proofing.
Insurance rates: Beauregard Parish.5 federal disasters brought FEMA money to Sugartown
Disasters that paid out in Sugartown itself (aid to households or repair grants to Sugartown), newest first, with that year’s flood claims.
- 2020Hurricane Delta9 households applied for aid$19K aid approved
- 2020Hurricane Laura152 households applied for aid$267K aid approved
- 2008Hurricane Ike7 households applied for aid$633 aid approved
- 2008Hurricane Gustav15 households applied for aid$3K aid approved
- 2005Hurricane Rita158 households applied for aid$207K aid approved
Beauregard Parish has had 30 natural disasters declared by the President since 1953, most often hurricanes and tropical storms, then floods.
Also 2 FEMA wildfire suppression grants (Fire Management Assistance, not a disaster declaration) for fires in Beauregard Parish, 2000–2023.
Old photos of Sugartown after a storm or flood belong in the town’s history. Add one, or share what you remember below.
Add to the Sugartown archive →Get ready for what Sugartown faces
A short kit for the hazards that drive the building damage here, what to check before you buy, and where neighbors get alerts.
- Turn around at flooded roads: a foot of moving water can carry off a car.
- Flood insurance usually takes 30 days to start, so buy it before the forecast.
- Keep papers and medicines up high, in a grab-and-go bag.
- The season runs June through November and peaks from mid-August to mid-October.
- Bring in porch furniture and anything the wind can throw.
- Fill the gas tank and charge phones before the storm arrives.
- Clear dead leaves and brush within 5 feet of the house.
- Sign up for local alerts and know two ways out.
- Keep N95 masks for smoky days.
- Look up the address on FEMA’s flood map.
- Ask the seller or landlord whether it has ever flooded, and what flood insurance costs there.
- Get a flood insurance quote early: policies usually start 30 days after you buy.
Know where neighbors sign up for alerts? Add it to the Handbook so everyone has it.
Questions about natural hazards in Sugartown
Is Sugartown in a flood zone?
Flood zones are drawn street by street, so the answer depends on the address: look it up on FEMA’s flood map. In Beauregard Parish, 24% of homes in mapped flood zones carry federal flood insurance, and 1.9% of all homes do.
How much is flood insurance in Sugartown?
FEMA’s Community Rating System list shows no discount for Sugartown’s flood program. Premiums depend on the building; policies usually start 30 days after you buy, so get a quote early.
What was the biggest storm in Sugartown?
By FEMA money that reached Sugartown, Hurricane Laura (2020): 152 households applied for aid, $267K approved.
Storm stories
Memories, warnings and help from neighbors in Sugartown.
Sources: FEMA National Risk Index v1.20 (December 2025), census-tract table, combined by where Sugartown’s residents lived in the 2020 census; OpenFEMA: NFIP redacted claims, multiple-loss properties, community status book and residential penetration rates, housing assistance (owners and renters), public assistance funded projects, hazard mitigation properties and disaster declarations. Homes: Census ACS 2020–24. Preparedness tips: Ready.gov. FEMA’s model is an average of expected damage, not a forecast. How hazard risk is graded.