Questions about the Hammond area - Please Help! (New Orleans, Baton Rouge: apartments, rental)

[Raven1984]

Hello,

I'm considering moving to the Hammond area in a few months and I have a few questions. Please help with any information that you can.

1. How much damage does the Hammond area usually get from Hurricanes?

2. How long does it usually take to get to Baton Rouge and New Orleans from Hammond - Under normal driving conditions and during rush hour?

3. What fun places are there in the Hammond area? Any good parks? Any good hiking trails?

4. What fun events are there in the Hammond area? I already know about the Renaissance Festival; is there anything else?

5. What are the bad areas of Hammond that need to be avoided? Also, below is a list I found of all the apartments in Hammond and Ponchatoula; if you can tell me which ones are near bad areas or should be avoided for any other reason, it would be much appreciated.

C C Apartments - 43155 Remington Dr
Camelot Apartments - 1312 N Oak St
Camelot Apartments - 800 Pecan St
College Town Apartments - 2200 N Morrison Blvd
Contempo Apartments - 13054 Quick Blvd
Cypress Cove Apartments - 17477 E Park Ave
Drude Rental - 42291 Perricone Dr
Greg's View Apartments - 100 Burton St
Hammond Eastside Apartments - 107 S Orange St
Hammond Place Apartments - 304 S Mooney Ave
Hammond Square Apartments - 15510 W Club Deluxe Rd
Happywoods Apartments South - 14027 Louise Dr # 44
Lions Way Apartments - 15043 Woodstone Dr
Louisiana One Holding LLC - 109 S Cate St
Pin Oak Apartments - 44135 Simpson Pl # 12
Pine Creek University Apts - 1203 Martin Luther King Ave
Tangi Village Apartments - 13080 Quick Blvd
University Apartments - 1002 W University Ave
Westminster Gardens - 501 W Hanson Ave
Willow Villas Apartments - 43542 Willow Villa Rd
Windrush Trace Apartments - 310 Windrush Dr
Little Flowers Estates - 180 Theresa Dr
Live Oak Apartments - 41037 S Range Rd
Mac Re LLC - 41037 S Range Rd
Ponchatoula Meadows Apartments - 3200 Oak Meadow Ln
Westminster Place Apartments - 250 S 1st St

Thanks for any information that you can provide!

[BRMan]

I'm not from Hammond, but can help you with some of these questions:

Originally Posted by Raven1984

1. How much damage does the Hammond area usually get from Hurricanes?

Depends on the hurricane. There was downed tree limbs/lengthy power outages from Katrina (Hammond was fairly close to the eye), but Gustav didn't have much impact. The short answer is you're not at risk as you'd be if you lived in Terrebonne Parish

Originally Posted by Raven1984

2. How long does it usually take to get to Baton Rouge and New Orleans from Hammond - Under normal driving conditions and during rush hour?

Normally, you're about 30 miles from the outskirts of BR. So I'd say 30 miles in normal traffic. In rush hour, I'd say 45-60 minutes, although you won't get the worst of it unless you LIVE in BR and WORK in Hammind. Another thing to consider too is that they are doing I-12 widening outside of BR, so that will make interstate traffic in that part of I-12 a joy.

Originally Posted by Raven1984

3. What fun places are there in the Hammond area? Any good parks? Any good hiking trails?

I highly recommend the Tammany Trace - it's a bike/walking/rollerblading path that goes from Covington to Slidell (about 55 miles round trip). And along the trail in Abita Springs is the Abita Brew Pub, which has a good restaurant.