BATON ROUGE- Mayor-President Sharon Weston Broome's message was clear as hurricane season starts tomorrow. 

"I am proud today that East Baton Rouge is ready to fully respond," Broome said Tuesday. 

Last year, major devastation swept across Southeast Louisiana after Hurricane Ida made landfall. 

Broome says the state received federal grant money and much of that has gone to hurricane preparedness. First responders have new tools such as life vests designed for fast-moving water to help rescue people in danger. 

Other equipment includes throw ropes and equipment to use if structures collapse. 

Baton Rouge Fire Chief Michael Kimble says more first responders have these tools and they are ready to respond. 

"We have these people spread out across the parish evenly with the training and the equipment to be able to provide the service very quickly in a time of need," Kimble said. 

Broome says work has been done to improve drainage in Baton Rouge ahead of what could be soaking storms. She says nearly 15 million pounds of debris have been removed from drainage systems. 

Almost a half a million people across the state lost power after Ida and it was slow to return. 

Broome says she has not spoken to Entergy recently, but thinks they will be more prepared than last year. 

"When you experience a challenging season or a challenging time where perhaps they recognized during the last situation with Hurricane Ida some things they could improve on, I would not be surprised if their working on that right now," Broome said.

Broome says she has a plan in place for things such as cooling centers if people lose power for an extended period of time.

She says they will share details soon. 

There will also be the annual Red Stick Ready event Saturday at the Raising Cane's Center. She says that event will help people who are nervous about hurricane season approaching. 

"My encouragement to diffuse the post traumatic stress syndrome is to come out Saturday, talk to the first responders see what you can do to be better equipped."