New Orleans Mayor Helena Moreno said Monday that the city is ready for Mardi Gras.
"We do have, of course, very enhanced security for this upcoming Mardi Gras," said Moreno. "We are thankful to have the support of our federal partners where we will have an additional 500 federal personnel coming in."
Moreno said the extra help does not end there.
"I'm grateful to the State Police and the Department of Public Safety on the state level. They're bringing in an additional 230 personnel coming in for Mardi Gras."
New Orleans Mayor Helena Moreno says like last year, Mardi Gras this year will get the top-level security status from the U.S. Department of Homeland Security. She said the first weekend of parades -- which starts this Friday -- is a Special Event Assessment Rating (SEAR) 2 homeland security event, meaning it gets the second-highest level, and then weekend leading up to Fat Tuesday is a SEAR 1 -- the highest level of importance.