BATON ROUGE — The Mayor's Office of Homeland Security and Emergency Preparedness on Monday advised residents to prepare for heavy rain, winds, and flooding ahead of Francine's landfall Wednesday. 

Impacts of the storm will begin across southern Louisiana as early as Wednesday night and into early Thursday. The entire capital region has been placed under a Flood Watch ahead of Francine's landfall.

"It's crucial we all take this storm seriously," Mayor-President Sharon Weston Broome said, adding that residents should begin preparing for the storm immediately.

Preparations include stocking up on supplies and like water and food, as well as making sure you are in a sturdy structure when the storm makes landfall, Broome added. 

The city-parish is also taking precautions to ensure public safety during the storm, including clearing storm drains to facilitate stormwater drainage and replenishing the parish's supply of sandbags. Broome added that sandbags will be available at eight BREC facilities and all residents need to bring for the bags are their own shovels. 

Broome was joined by representatives of multiple parish agencies who also outlined their plans for the storm. Baton Rouge Fire, Baton Rouge Police and Baton Rouge EMS are all beefing up the number of units that will be ready during the storm in the event of emergencies, including Baton Rouge Fire's boat and structural collapse teams.

BRPD Chief TJ Morse advised residents to use the 311 line for all non-emergency storm calls like flooding and downed trees. He also advised people to stay off the roads. 

East Baton Rouge Parish Transportation and Drainage Director Fred Raiford said that the city-parish has been working diligently on clearing multiple waterways prone to flooding as part of a widespread flood reduction project, including clearing Bayou Fountain and Claycut Bayou. 

Raiford also said there was "more tonnage than expected" cleared from Bayou Manchac, which is where many major channels in the area drain. 

Raiford's department is expected to provide another update to the project on Saturday. 

"There's a lot of plus from a drainage aspect when you look at the outfalls," he said.

Broome said that she is also prepared to open shelters in the event of widespread outages.

"We are Baton Rouge Strong," Broome said. "By working together, we can ensure that our community is Red Stick Ready and resilient in the face of this storm."