BATON ROUGE – Mayor-President Sharon Weston Broome released a request to develop a parish storm water master plan as a part of an ongoing effort to address drainage issues in East Baton Rouge Parish. 

The plan is also to help prevent the effects of natural disasters such as the August 2016 flood. Officials say the plan calls for a review of existing drainage systems within the parish, along with an evaluation of drainage on a regional basis by working with representatives from Ascension, Iberville, Livingston and St. James parishes. 

"Recent widespread flooding has exposed the need to look at addressing water drainage in East Baton Rouge Parish to determine the deficiencies of our systems, but also look at this from a regional basis with our neighboring parishes. We know that drainage and the flow of our waterways do not stop at our parish boundaries," Broome released in a statement on Friday. 

The City-Parish Selection Board will review qualifications next month submitted by firms interested in supporting the effort. Officials say a list of three firms will be selected by August 17 and oral presentations to follow on August 30.