Lake Charles Hurricane Wind Data and Shutter Code Requirements

Last reviewed 2026-07-25. Journalists, researchers, and community groups are welcome to cite any figure on this page with attribution and a link.

Every figure on this page comes from a published government source, each one linked at the bottom, and nothing here is estimated or recalled from memory. The subject is deliberately narrow: what wind was actually measured in Calcasieu and Cameron Parish during the 2020 hurricanes, what design wind speed a Lake Charles home is built to, and what Louisiana's adopted building code requires of a shutter or an impact-rated window. Those three things together are the honest basis for deciding what belongs on your openings, and they are the three questions a quote should be able to answer.

Two storms sit behind all of it. Hurricane Laura came ashore at Cameron early on August 27, 2020, described by the National Weather Service as the strongest hurricane to strike Southwest Louisiana in a record beginning in 1851, and Hurricane Delta landed near Creole forty-four days later, roughly ten nautical miles away. The National Hurricane Center attributes about $19 billion in United States damage to Laura and $2.9 billion to Delta. Under the federal disaster declaration for Laura, FEMA has obligated more than $1.28 billion in public assistance for Louisiana and approved over $242 million in individual assistance.

What wind was actually measured here during Laura?

The National Weather Service office in Lake Charles published a station-by-station account of Hurricane Laura, and every reading in the table below is taken from it. Laura made landfall at Cameron around 1 AM CDT on August 27, 2020, with sustained winds of 150 mph, or 130 knots, and the peak gusts logged across Calcasieu Parish over the following hour trace the storm moving inland. The same office describes Laura as the strongest hurricane to strike Southwest Louisiana in a period of record that begins in 1851.

One more measurement belongs here because it is not on that list. The National Hurricane Center's tropical cyclone report on Laura includes a Florida Coastal Monitoring Program tower at Sulphur that recorded 90 knots sustained, about 104 mph, with a gust of 115 knots, roughly 132 mph. Sulphur sits west of Lake Charles and a good distance inland of the coast, which makes it a useful marker for how far the damaging wind reached. The same report notes that the Governor of Louisiana stated 10,000 homes were demolished.

How close together did Laura and Delta really land?

Forty-four days separated the two landfalls. The National Hurricane Center measured the distance between the two landfall points at about ten nautical miles, and the Lake Charles weather office described it as twelve miles. Either way, the same stretch of Cameron Parish coastline took two hurricane eyewalls in one season, and Calcasieu Parish took both sets of inland winds. The table below compares them on the measures that matter to a homeowner working out what a shutter actually has to withstand, with the storm data from the Hurricane Center and the local measurements from the weather service.

Delta's storm surge ran 8 to 10 feet above ground level across the eastern half of Cameron Parish, on ground Laura had crossed six weeks earlier. For anyone weighing whether 2020 was an outlier or a preview, the federal record gives some scale to the aftermath: FEMA's disaster declaration for Laura covers an incident period of August 22 to 27, 2020, and has approved more than $242 million in individual assistance across over 76,000 approved applications, with more than $1.28 billion obligated in public assistance for the state.

What does Louisiana's code require on a glazed opening?

Louisiana does not leave this to individual parishes. The Louisiana State Uniform Construction Code adopted the 2021 International Building Code and the 2021 International Residential Code effective January 1, 2023. The controlling sentence for shutters is in Section 1609.2 of the adopted IBC: in wind-borne debris regions, glazing in buildings shall be impact resistant or protected with an impact-resistant covering meeting the requirements of an approved impact-resistant standard or ASTM E1996 and ASTM E1886. Two paths, one requirement. Either the glass takes the hit, or something mounted over it does.

Height decides which missile test applies. Glazed openings within 30 feet of grade must meet the large missile test of ASTM E1996, while glazing more than 30 feet above grade is held to the small missile test. Essentially every window and glazed door on a one- or two-story house in Calcasieu Parish falls under 30 feet, so large missile is the standard that matters in this market. The adopted code also allows a specific alternative: wood structural panels at least 7/16 inch thick with a maximum panel span of 8 feet, on one- and two-story Risk Category II buildings, where the nominal design wind speed does not exceed 140 mph.

What design wind speed is a Lake Charles house built to?

The design wind speed is a code input, not a forecast, and for Lake Charles it sits below what Laura delivered. LSU AgCenter, walking homeowners through the Applied Technology Council's Hazards by Location tool, published a worked example: for Lake Charles, Louisiana, the wind design speed for homes in Risk Category II is 131 mph under ASCE 7-10, the standard tied to the International Residential Code edition Louisiana had adopted at the time that article was written. The peak wind actually measured in Lake Charles during Laura was 137 mph.

The thresholds deciding whether an address sits in a wind-borne debris region come from the wind standard itself. FEMA's summary of significant changes in ASCE 7-22 states that areas within hurricane-prone regions where the basic wind speed is 140 mph or greater are included in the wind-borne debris region unconditionally, while areas between 130 and 140 mph are included only where they meet coastal proximity criteria, meaning within a mile of a body of water with an Exposure D condition upwind. FEMA also notes that Gulf Coast wind speeds generally decreased for most areas of Louisiana, Mississippi and Alabama between ASCE 7-16 and ASCE 7-22.

For scale on what these numbers describe, the National Hurricane Center's Saffir-Simpson scale places Category 4 at 130 to 156 mph and Category 5 at 157 mph and above. Laura's 150 mph landfall sits near the top of Category 4, which the Hurricane Center characterizes as producing catastrophic damage, with well-built framed homes sustaining severe damage including loss of most of the roof structure or some exterior walls. The 131 mph design figure and the 153 mph measured at Holly Beach are twenty-two miles per hour apart, both inside Category 4 on that scale but at opposite ends of it.

What has the state actually put behind wind mitigation?

Louisiana law requires insurers to offer wind mitigation discounts. R.S. 22:1483, as quoted in the Department of Insurance's own material, requires insurers to offer actuarially justified wind mitigation discounts and directs the Commissioner of Insurance to promulgate rules and regulations to facilitate the implementation of those discounts. The department publishes a listing of the credits companies have filed, and the table below reproduces the opening protection entries from the September 2025 edition of that listing. These are filed figures as published, not predictions. Eligibility rules, inspection requirements and what applies to any individual policy are set by the insurer and the policy form.

The state's direct grant program is narrower than most people assume. Under the Louisiana Fortify Homes Program rules, a grant award is equivalent to the actual cost of retrofitting the roof to comply with the IBHS FORTIFIED roof standard, not to exceed $10,000. The program requires a homestead exemption on the property, active wind coverage plus flood coverage if the home sits in a special flood hazard area, three bids from program-approved contractors, and completion within 90 days. Read the scope closely: it is a roof program. Opening protection is not covered by that grant, and this is the one gap worth naming plainly on a page about shutters.

Sources & Methodology

Every figure above was taken from the primary sources below (accessed 2026-07-25). Where a number is derived (arithmetic on published figures) or covers a broader period or area, the text says so.

1. NWS Lake Charles - Hurricane Laura Summary — Landfall time and 150 mph sustained winds at Cameron; peak winds at Holly Beach, Cameron, the Calcasieu Parish Police Jury site, Lake Charles Regional Airport and the Chennault area; peak rainfall near Starks; the 1851 period-of-record statement.
2. NWS Lake Charles - Hurricane Delta Summary — Delta's 6 PM CDT October 9 landfall near Creole as a Category 2 with 100 mph winds; the 96 mph gust in Calcasieu Parish; 8 to 10 foot surge in eastern Cameron Parish; 17.57 inches of rain near LeBleu Settlement.
3. NHC Tropical Cyclone Report - Hurricane Laura (AL132020) — 130 knots and 939 mb at landfall; roughly 55 knots of intensification in 24 hours; $19 billion in United States damage; the FCMP tower reading at Sulphur; the statement that 10,000 homes were demolished.
4. NHC Tropical Cyclone Report - Hurricane Delta (AL262020) — 85 knots and 970 mb at the Louisiana landfall near Creole; $2.9 billion in United States damage; the landfall point about ten nautical miles east of Laura's.
5. Louisiana State Uniform Construction Code - Codes and Amendments effective 01-01-23 — Adoption of the 2021 IBC and 2021 IRC effective January 1, 2023; Section 1609.2 impact-resistance language; the large and small missile thresholds at 30 feet; the 7/16 inch wood structural panel exception.
6. FEMA - Highlights of Significant Changes to the ASCE 7-22 Wind Load Provisions — The 140 mph unconditional wind-borne debris region threshold, the 130 to 140 mph coastal proximity criteria, and the note that Gulf wind speeds generally decreased between ASCE 7-16 and 7-22.
7. LSU AgCenter - Find Your Home's Wind Speed Zone — The worked ATC Hazards by Location example returning a 131 mph Risk Category II design wind speed for Lake Charles under ASCE 7-10.
8. Louisiana Department of Insurance - Wind Mitigation Discounts, September 2025 — The opening protection credit percentages listed by company, and the R.S. 22:1483 requirement that insurers offer actuarially justified wind mitigation discounts.
9. Louisiana Fortify Homes Program - Homeowner Rules and Requirements — The grant equal to the actual cost of a FORTIFIED roof retrofit not to exceed $10,000, the homestead exemption and insurance requirements, three approved contractor bids, and the 90-day completion window.
10. NHC - Saffir-Simpson Hurricane Wind Scale — Category 4 defined as 130 to 156 mph and Category 5 as 157 mph and above, with the catastrophic damage description for Category 4.
11. FEMA - Louisiana Hurricane Laura, DR-4559-LA — The August 22 to 27, 2020 incident period, more than $242 million in approved individual assistance across over 76,000 applications, and more than $1.28 billion obligated in public assistance.
12. Calcasieu Parish Police Jury - Building Permits — The list of work requiring a parish permit, including any type of construction or remodeling and renovation project, electrical, mechanical, plumbing and gas installation, re-roofing and demolitions.