Editing Houma, Louisiana (section)

===Reconstruction to present===
Sugar cane continued to be important after the war and into the 20th century.

On January 24, 1970, an accidental gas explosion killed three people and caused extensive damage downtown. Latour's Jewelry Store was destroyed.<ref>{{cite news |title=Three men killed in gas explosion |url=http://www.gendisasters.com/louisiana/22944/houma-la-gas-explosion-jan-1970 |access-date=21 November 2020 |publisher=Oshkosh Daily Northwestern Wisconsin |date=26 January 1970}}</ref><ref>{{cite news |title=Survivors recall 1970 blast that rocked Houma |url=https://www.houmatoday.com/article/DA/20100124/News/608074617/HC |publisher=Houma Daily Courier |date=24 January 2010}}</ref>

In 1984, the city and parish consolidated their governments.<ref name=":0" /> In 2008, Bill Ellzey, a columnist at ''[[Houma Today]]'', wrote that area residents were often unaware of the Houma city boundaries as the city and parish governments had consolidated.<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.houmatoday.com/news/20080622/where-do-city-limits-start-stop|title=Where do city limits start, stop?|newspaper=[[Houma Today]]|date=2008-06-22|access-date=2019-05-14|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190514031535/https://www.houmatoday.com/news/20080622/where-do-city-limits-start-stop|archive-date=2019-05-14|url-status=live}}</ref>

In late August 2021, Houma was struck by the intense eye wall of category 4 [[Hurricane Ida]], causing widespread damage.<ref>{{Cite web|date=2021-08-29|title=WATCH: Houma littered with damage after Ida|url=https://www.klfy.com/louisiana/watch-idas-impact-arrives-in-houma/|access-date=2021-10-07|website=KLFY|language=en-US}}</ref>