Total solar eclipse will draw tens of thousands to region in 2024
Tens of thousands of people are expected to flock to North Central Ohio to watch the afternoon sky go dim during a total solar eclipse on April 8, 2024.
The event may be two years away, but emergency responders are already planning ahead to ensure everyone stays safe during the event.
That’s because solar eclipses are so popular that people will travel across the country for a few minutes of viewing, according to Dan Everly, president of the Richland Astronomical Society.
“We went to South Carolina when we had the last big one (in 2017),” Everly said. “There was a little town like Crestline and it was just jam packed with people. It was incredible.”
That eclipse was visible from Ashland, Richland and Crawford counties – but only as a partial, not total, eclipse. In 2024, the region will be in the totality viewing area.
Planning started three years in advance
Planning for the event began last year, according to Jette Cander, Crawford County’s EMA director.
She is part of a state task force that’s working out a six-stage plan to address public safety throughout the event.
“We’re working toward some functional and table-top exercises in 2023,” Cander said.
Emergency planners are estimating that visitors will spend the entire weekend in the area, then leave Monday evening after the eclipse.
“They’re telling us we’re going to double our population,” Cander said.
Those people could fill motel rooms, buy up all the region’s food supplies, overload sewage systems and even take valuable hospital beds.
Cell towers likely to be overwhelmed
The first Richland County meeting with emergency personnel, school administrators and elected officials took place in the past week, according to Joe Petrycki, the county’s EMA director.
“Most people didn’t even know there is going to be a total solar eclipse in Ohio in 2024,” he said.
He described the expected influx of spectators as “gridlock” on the local infrastructure.
Not only will those visitors be using the region’s emergency rooms and driving on its roads, but they all will be using their cellphones as well.
“It’s going to overwhelm the cell towers themselves,” Petrycki said. “That’s one of the primary issues.”
He said ensuring communication doesn’t break down was just one of “a whole host of issues” that his office plans to work out ahead of the event.
“The state EMA office is anticipating this will be the largest emergency response ever for the history of the state
EMA,” Petrycki said.
First total eclipse in Ohio in 218 years
Ohio’s emergency management agency has created a special website, www.eclipse.ohio.gov, dedicated to the event.
“The last total solar eclipse visible in Ohio was in 1806,” the website explains. “The next total solar eclipse in Ohio will be in the year 2444.”
Since the United States became a country, only 21 total solar eclipses have been visible in the lower 48 states.
The centerline of the eclipse – the middle of the shadow’s path – will stretch from Texas to Maine.
The apex of the centerline will be in Forest, a village 35 miles east of Bucyrus in Wyandot County.
The totality viewing area will be a 124-mile wide strip angling from the southwest to northeast corners of the state.
“NASA will actually be sitting there,” Cander said. “It really is a large deal.”
Having a total solar eclipse above someone’s home is a once-in-a-lifetime event, but eclipses are much more common.
“They happen somewhere in the world every year and a half,” Everly said.
Special solar glasses should be used
The region’s top astronomer plans to visit libraries, schools and other civic meetings over the next two years to educate residents on the event before it happens.
Some things he will teach are exciting, like how the first 60 miles on each side of the eclipse’s centerline will be in the 100% blackout zone, and how every 60-mile gap on each side equates to a 1% loss in totality.
“You have different degrees,” Everly said. “You want totality if you can.”
Other lessons, though, will be much more dire, like how to avoid blindness by not looking directly at the sun.
“You should use solar glass because they’re designed to specifically black out certain wave lengths of light,” Everly said.
Even welding glasses are not strong enough to block out the sun’s rays – permanent eye damage could result from their use.
His organization already has purchased 2,000 Nasa-approved glasses for the event, and the astronomical society plans to buy 3,000 more to give away over the next two years.
He is still in the process of scheduling locations across the region for astronomers to guide public audiences as they watch the eclipse.
“That will all be determined later,” Everly said. “It’s still two years away.” ztuggle@gannett.com 419-564-3508
Twitter: @zachtuggle