Residents in the path of the upcoming total solar eclipse are unnerved as State officials are made apparent “over the top” preparations for the event by signing a disaster emergency declaration.
It’s just a solar eclipse, right?
Why would such effort be put into preparing for an event that will only last a few minutes?
Republican Gov. Eric Holcomb of Indiana signed Executive Order 24-05, a statewide disaster emergency declaration ahead of the total solar eclipse, which is due to happen on Monday.
Sections of Indiana are in the eclipse’s path of totality, as Holcomb predicted “several hundred thousand visitors” to the state.
Parts of Indiana lay in the eclipse’s path of totality. For that reason, Holcomb predicted “several hundred thousand visitors” to the state.
The Governor predicts the massive influx of people “may well stress and/or interfere with first responder and public safety communications and emergency response systems such that a technological or other emergency may occur.”
According to WLS, Indiana’s membership in the Emergency Management Assistance Compact allows it to call for additional resources from other states.
The last time Indiana saw such an event was in 1869 and will not see another until 2099.
Now, officials in The Hoosier have begun preparations for a once-in-a-lifetime event.
For instance, Chairman Shaun Gilliant of the Essex County, New York Board of Supervisors declared a state of emergency in anticipation of heavy traffic and cellular service disruptions.
The city council in nearby Riverside will decide on Thursday whether to declare a temporary emergency.
“The City of Riverside is expected to more than double its population for this event,” the city said last month.
This means that state and local officials across the eclipse path expect their normal resources to be under enormous strain.
Meanwhile, Travis County, Kendall County, Hill County, Kerr County, and Bell County have also issued disaster declarations.
The former’s declaration said:
“Effective Friday, March 8, 2024, Travis County Judge Andy Brown issued a Declaration of Local Disaster in anticipation of extremely large crowds, increased traffic, and enormous strains on first responders, hospitals, and roads on the days leading up to, on, and after the day of the upcoming total solar eclipse.”
The declaration added:
“The large crowd may create a public safety hazard and impede or delay first responders answering calls for service.”
Kerr County Judge Rob Kelly issued a disaster declaration on March 4:
“We expect that kind of visiting traffic here to cause extreme traffic congestion on our roadways, place an enormous strain on our first responders and hospital systems, drain our food and fuel supplies, and strain our city and county infrastructure to, quite possibly, over capacity,” Kelly said according to a webpage about the declaration.
The Washington Times reported social media had lit up with “sensational conspiracy theories,” some of which “draw spurious connections between scriptural verses and the upcoming eclipse.”
Predictably, it went on to dismiss the theories as “unsupported by empirical evidence and stem[ming] from a misinterpretation of astronomical events.”
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