BATON ROUGE - Along with emergency responders, many people with the Louisiana Red Cross are heading to the East Coast and other places to assist with relief ahead of Hurricane Florence.

According to a release, 17 people from across the state have been deployed or are preparing to deploy to Virginia, North Carolina, George, Puerto Rico, and the US Virgin Islands.

Additional preparations are being made for emergency responses vehicles to head to the hardest hit areas as soon as the request comes from officials in those affected areas.