A total solar eclipse will cross the country and the state August 21 and Grundy County Emergency Management Director Glen Briggs shares that one of the biggest concerns is traffic coming to and from eclipse viewing sites in Chillicothe, Marshall, and Saint Joseph.
He says there is expected to be between 25,000 and 40,000 cars traveling on Highway 65 that weekend. Briggs notes that there are generally about 1,500 cars a day on Highway 65.
Cell phone outages are also likely due to the increased load and Briggs says cell phone companies are bringing in cell sites on wheels to alleviate predicted problems in some of the more popular viewing areas.
Eye injuries are also a big concern and some locations in the area are selling eclipse glasses and some are giving them away. Briggs also says some individuals may experience mental health problems with unknown and unexplained events.
Grundy County can expect to see the eclipse begin a little after 11:40 that morning and peak around 1:09 that afternoon. Trenton will see approximately a 99.6% blackout of the sun, and the eclipse will end around 2:52.
Briggs says more information on the eclipse can be found online at the Great American Eclipse website, at NASA’s eclipse website, or on the Grundy County Emergency Management’s Facebook page.
