Mayor Sharon Weston Broome joined AccuWeather to discuss how Baton Rouge residents should get ready for the impacts of Tropical Storm Francine.
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00:00Joining us now is Baton Rouge Mayor President Sharon Weston-Broom,
00:05CEO of both the city and the parish.
00:09Thank you so much for joining us here.
00:11Thank you for having me.
00:13Now, can we ask you,
00:15how are your teams preparing ahead of the storm?
00:20Well, we have been very proactive here.
00:24Our theme is to be red stick ready here in Baton Rouge.
00:29So we have prepared by getting information out to our people,
00:33having sandbags available for individuals,
00:38focusing on our drainage maintenance,
00:42making sure that people know about information.
00:48We've put barricades out.
00:51So we have been very proactive in preparing for this major weather event.
00:57Now, with that red stick mentality,
01:03what are you most concerned about with this storm's potential?
01:08Well, we want people to stay inside and that's our message.
01:13We know that the impact is scheduled to be tomorrow on Wednesday.
01:18So we're encouraging people to be prepared with all the things that you need,
01:23food, water, make sure you're looking out for your neighbor,
01:27but please stay off the roads and stay inside.
01:31Great advice there.
01:34As we get closer,
01:36is there anything else that you are looking to be concerned about here as we do head closer towards landfall?
01:43Well, of course, we want to make sure that we immediately address
01:51any power outages that may exist in collaboration with our energy services here in the city of Baton Rouge.
02:03We want to make sure that people are safe.
02:05That's our main priority.
02:07So they need to understand how generators can impact them.
02:13They need to look out for their neighbors and be prepared.
02:18We had a major weather event in 2016,
02:21a flood that really shifted our mindset in terms of being prepared
02:27because we were not prepared in a large way in that time
02:32because many people were flooded who weren't in a flood zone.
02:36But now everyone has shifted since 2016 to a mindset of preparation and proactiveness.
02:44And that's what we want here in the weather world,
02:47learning from the past and being prepared for the present.
02:51And it sounds like Baton Rouge is ready.
02:54Thank you so much, Mayor Sharon Westenbroom, for joining us.
02:59Thank you for having me.