SHELBY – Preparedness will be critical in anticipation of the total solar eclipse, which will occur at approximately 3:12 p.m. April 8, 2024.
That was the message delivered by Richland County Emergency Management Agency (EMA) Director Rebecca Owens to Shelby City Council on Monday.
Owens presents eclipse preparedness plan
Owens was at the meeting to brief those in attendance on what to expect, where to watch, what to bring, and how to prepare for the event which only occurs approximately every 400 years.
The last time a total solar eclipse took place in Ohio was in 1806 and will not occur again until the year 2444, according to educational information provided by the Richland County EMA.
Owens said momentum is starting to build for the event, which she expects will bring a large amount of outside traffic to the county.
“We are very close to the line of totality,” Owens said. “So it will be totally dark at that time (3:12 p.m.) for just about three minutes.”
EMA expects ‘roughly 250,000’ outside visitors
The Richland County EMA has been rigorously working on a preparedness plan to help prepare and handle an influx of visitors, along with those already residing in the county.
Owens said although the event will not occur until Monday (April 8), she expects people to begin arriving as early as Friday (April 5).
“The state is even promoting it as a come-early, stay-late event,” she said. “We are expecting roughly around 250,000 people to come into Richland County.”
Anticipated areas of significant demand
During her presentation, Owens referenced the 2017 total solar eclipse, which ran through Kentucky and Tennessee.
She said a lot of lessons have been learned and information has been shared from those events, which have helped the EMA in their planning.
“Based on what other states have experienced, we’re looking for cellphone usage to be extremely overloaded,” Owens said. “Radio communications could be problematic for any of our safety services.”
Other areas of anticipated significant demand being monitored by the EMA include hotels, campgrounds, roadways, businesses and delays in emergency services response times.
Owens said the EMA has been communicating with local school superintendents throughout the county to plan ahead for April 8.
“The public schools are canceled,” she said. “We are working to prod the other schools to do so, simply because of the fact that we don’t want buses sitting on the road.”
How Richland County residents can prepare
For Richland County residents, the EMA recommends stocking up on food and medications, filling-up any gasoline-powered machine, refilling propane for generators and rescheduling medical appointments to days before or after the event.
Other suggestions include avoiding areas of large crowds and if traveling, expect significant delays on all roadways.
Local informational resources regarding the upcoming total solar eclipse can be found on the Destination Mansfield website, Richland Area Chamber website, and Richland County website.
The Richland County EMA can be contacted by phone (419)-774-5686 or email (ema@richlandcountyoh.gov).
Also on City Council’s agenda:
In other actions on Monday, City Council:
– proclaimed Nov. 8 as Chuck Ridenour Day in the City of Shelby.
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– confirmed the appointment of Trevor Reed to the Shelby Historic Preservation Commission to fill an unexpired term ending Dec. 31, 2023.
– elected Derrin Roberts and Eric Cutlip to the Volunteer Firefighters Dependents Fund and Volunteer Peace Officers Dependents Fund Boards for 2024.