'We want people to stay inside:' Baton Rouge mayor urges preparedness ahead of Francine

Mayor Sharon Weston Broome joined AccuWeather to discuss how Baton Rouge residents should get ready for the impacts of Tropical Storm Francine.

Transcript

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.