Greater Baton Rouge · West Feliciana Parish
West Feliciana Parish FORTIFIED Roofs and Insurance Discounts
West Feliciana Parish is bluff country, which makes it strange ground for Louisiana. The Mississippi runs the length of its western side, and instead of the flat delta the river leaves nearly everywhere else in this state, the land here climbs into hills, ridges, and steep wooded ravines. The Tunica Hills northwest of St. Francisville are the roughest of it, the southern end of the loess blufflands escarpment that follows the east bank of the river. What stands on those slopes is hardwood, beech and oak and hickory and yellow poplar, big trees on tilted ground. There is one town in the whole parish, and it is St. Francisville.
Why a FORTIFIED roof matters in West Feliciana Parish
Being uphill and inland does not keep a hurricane off a roof. Surge has never reached West Feliciana and never will, and that is exactly why wind is the entire conversation here. A tropical system moving north out of the Gulf still carries a wide field of damaging gusts by the time it clears Baton Rouge, and what it finds in this parish is mature hardwood standing over houses on broken ground. A tree that size coming down settles the question of whether the roof under it was strong enough. Even where nothing falls, hours of gusting will lift an old covering at the edge and work inward from there. A FORTIFIED roof answers both cases the same way. The deck is re-nailed with ring-shank nails and sealed, so a section of covering torn off by a limb does not put water in the rooms below, and the edges where wind gets started are detailed instead of left at the minimum. That counts for more out here than it would in a city, because when the parish is rural and the trees are down across the roads, the crew that would tarp your roof is a long time coming.
Hurricane Ida (2021) reached West Feliciana Parish, which the federal major disaster declaration that followed listed among the Louisiana parishes eligible for individual assistance.
Communities in West Feliciana Parish
St. Francisville is the only incorporated town in West Feliciana and the parish seat besides, sitting on the ridge above the river where U.S. 61 comes through. Everything else here is unincorporated: Bains just north of town, Wakefield further up the highway, Tunica out toward the hills, and Angola at the end of the road in the bend of the river. Louisiana Highway 10 leaves town heading west and crosses to Pointe Coupee and New Roads on the John James Audubon Bridge, which replaced the ferry in 2011. Between those few places the parish is farm and forest, and the roads through it are narrow and shaded.
- St. Francisville (parish seat)
Some of those places have a page of their own: FORTIFIED roofs in St. Francisville.
Everything on this page applies across the parish. For the other parishes, see FORTIFIED roofs by Louisiana parish.
A FORTIFIED roof still pays off in West Feliciana Parish
The grant is not the only reason to build to the standard. A FORTIFIED roof earns a required cut on the wind portion of your home insurance in Louisiana, and that discount applies regardless of the grant, anywhere in the state. The Louisiana FORTIFIED roof tax credit works the same way: it is available to homeowners who retrofit to the standard whether or not they ever touch the grant program.
See how the mandated discount works in the insurance savings guide, and the state credit in the FORTIFIED roof tax credit guide. For what the standard actually requires, see the FORTIFIED Roof guide.
Is the Fortify Homes grant available in West Feliciana Parish
West Feliciana Parish is not currently in the Louisiana Fortify Homes grant area, so the up-to-$10,000 grant is not available here. The eligible-parish list changes every round, so it is worth checking the official map from time to time in case the parish is added later. Check the live LDI Fortify Homes map for the current grant area.
By Louisiana Fortified HomesUpdated
See what a FORTIFIED roof is worth in West Feliciana Parish.
Get connected with a FORTIFIED-certified contractor near St. Francisville. No cost, no obligation.