Sorrel’s biggest natural hazard is hurricanes
Most of the natural-hazard damage FEMA expects in Sorrel comes from hurricanes, and overall the risk is very high for a U.S. community. 1 federal disaster brought FEMA money into town.
What stands out about Sorrel’s weather risks
Read from FEMA’s records below. The page puts what stands out first.
Does Sorrel flood? No paid flood claims on record
FEMA’s records show no paid flood insurance claims in Sorrel. That’s not a promise: most homes don’t carry flood insurance, so small floods go unrecorded.
Sorrel isn’t in FEMA’s Community Rating System, which cuts flood insurance up to 45% in towns that do extra flood-proofing.
Insurance rates: St. Mary Parish.How exposed is Sorrel?
FEMA expects yearly storm and flood damage to homes and buildings here to be higher than in 93% of U.S. communities, mostly from hurricanes.
Rated higher than 379 of the 483 Louisiana towns we cover.
Sorrel is smaller than a census tract, so it shares the figures of the tract around its center.
What Sorrel faces
Each hazard’s share of the damage FEMA expects here, and how it compares with the rest of the country.
Hurricanes
Inland flooding
Drought
Coastal flooding
Tornadoes
1 federal disaster brought FEMA money to Sorrel
Disasters that paid out in Sorrel itself (aid to households or repair grants to Sorrel) and its biggest flood years.
- 2024Hurricane Francine1 household applied for aid
St. Mary Parish has had 34 natural disasters declared since 1953, most often hurricanes and floods.
Old photos of Sorrel after a storm or flood belong in the town’s history. Add one, or share what you remember below.
Add to the Sorrel archive →Get ready for what Sorrel actually faces
A short kit for its top hazards, what to check before you buy, and where neighbors get alerts.
- 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.
- 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.
- On a well? Know how deep it is and watch for sputtering.
- Follow the town’s watering limits.
- Fix drips: they add up.
- 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.
Most disasters here begin in August–October
The month each of St. Mary Parish’s 34 declared disasters began, since 1953.
What these numbers can and can’t tell you
- An average, not a forecast. FEMA’s National Risk Index estimates the damage 18 kinds of natural hazards cause in a typical year, from decades of records and models. A quiet decade can follow a bad year.
- Compared by rate. “Higher than N%” compares yearly damage as a share of what’s there, so a big city isn’t rated riskier just for having more buildings.
- Money that reached town. Flood claims are matched to Sorrel’s own flood-insurance community; household aid to the registrant’s city; repair grants to Sorrel.
- It follows property value. FEMA’s model weighs damage to buildings, so a place that recently lost many homes can rate lower than it feels.
Storm stories
Memories, warnings and help from neighbors in Sorrel.
Your answer becomes a post in Town Square.
Sources: FEMA National Risk Index (December 2025); 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. Census tracts: U.S. Census Bureau. Preparedness tips: Ready.gov. An average of past damage, not a forecast.