City, police discuss plans for 2024 total solar eclipse

While the total solar eclipse of April 2024 still is over half a year away, many cities that are in the spectacle’s direct path already are preparing for the mass influx of people.

Amherst is one of the cities sitting in the point known as the “total point of totality” or epicenter for the eclipse.

“What this means is that we are gonna have the period of total darkness for the lengthiest point of time which is several minutes,” said Amherst police Chief Mark Cawthon during a City Council meeting July 6. “Our main concern is that there are folks that are astronomy buffs and they travel the world tracking these types of events which will bring a huge influx of people.”

Amherst police, alongside Mayor Mark Costilow and leaders from other Lorain County cities affected have been in talks about the 2024 event since May.

Avon, Avon Lake and Lorain already have made preparations for the large crowds.

All Lorain County schools will be closed April 8.

“We anticipate a lot of people coming to Lorain County where our concerns are to be able to care for the people that are here including traffic, food, shelter, sanitation, that sort of thing,” Cawthon said.

Avon has been in discussion of setting up triage centers at local high schools in case roadways to hospitals are blocked.

Major highways are expected to be blocked for hours following the event as a mass exit of people occurs.

“We don’t want our highways blocked, so we are currently exploring ways to keep people in the city for now to slowly syphon people out following the eclipse,” said Teresa Gilles, executive director of Main Street Amherst.

The Amherst Historical Society has been in talks of plans during and after the event as well as many local shops are looking at expanding their hours.

“Our other main concern is people setting up tents wherever once they get here due to our hotels being tapped out,” Cawthon said. “We have a couple of nice properties that people from out of town might see as viable options, when in fact they are not.”

Amherst is preparing to plan for the worst, and is expected to have several officers on standby to help with crowd control, he said.

Due to the event happening in April, the city will consider the possibility of total cloud cover and snow in the area, deterring guests, the chief said.

“We have planned for the worse and hoped for the best,” Cawthon said. “Our weather will definitely play a factor, but we will see how it turns out.”