County prepared to treat eclipse event like a busy summer weekend

The County of Prince Edward will not be hosting any official viewing events for the total solar eclipse on April 8, however, it does intend to be ready to manage crowds should they converge.

PEC Fire Chief Chad Brown told council Tuesday night “the County may be an attractive destination to view the eclipse based on our location in the path of totality. Emergency planning for the event aims to ensure the municipality is equipped to address the impacts of the high volume of tourist traffic, which may be similar to a summer long weekend – as this event will occur during an off-season tourism period when some services are unavailable.”

Whether the event brings great numbers of people or not, Mayor Steve Ferguson agrees the plans are in good shape “and the only thing we can’t control is the weather.”

Several local businesses are taking the opportunity to promote visits to the County especially for the weekend before and the Monday, April 8 event as this location is one of few places directly in the path of totality – a narrow corridor of approximately 100 to 115km wide in which the moon will be perfectly aligned between the earth and the sun for a short period.

The rare event sees the moon pass before the sun and temporarily blocks its rays entirely, turning the day into darkness. (The partial eclipse begins at 14:08:25 and will start to darken the sky. Complete darkness from the totality starts at 15:21:21 and ends at 15:24:25. The eclipse ends at 16:33:52 and daylight will continue until sunset at 19:45.)

Staff will be deployed to support increased attendance or crowds at municipal buildings and properties. Ontario Parks has confirmed that both Sandbanks and North Beach provincial parks will remain officially closed and will not have staff supervision, but the gates will be open as they have been all winter this year. Quinte Conservation will also not host events and its gated sites will remain closed.

The local school boards have moved their PA Day to April 8, from April 12 for safety reasons related to students and buses travelling during the peak eclipse totality.

Brown noted the County’s Emergency Management Program Committee has been meeting periodically for several months to discuss possible impacts April 8 and has a plan that allows the municipality and partners to act as if it were the height of the tourism season despite being off-season.

The meetings included emergency management partners locally and regionally (including OPP, Hastings Prince Edward Public Health, Quinte Health, Quinte Conservation Authority, Ontario Parks, Hastings-Quinte Paramedic Service, and neighbouring municipalities to ensure the coordination of information and planning details.

In early February the committee members held an emergency management exercise focused on preparation for a mass gathering on April 8. It included the County, Hastings County, Belleville, Quinte West, Tyendinaga and Northumberland County, as well as conservation authorities, school boards, public health, Quinte Health, amateur radio operators and staff from various departments of the provincial government.

“This exercise also included a brainstorming session to identify and discuss expected threats and hazards, identify critical communications, and strengthen the partnerships and interoperability between the region’s various levels of government and agencies,” said Brown.

Some County parks will have a portable washroom installed for April 8th and other washrooms not typically open will be opened and garbage will be monitored.

Electronic road signs are being rented at a cost of about $3,000. Traffic and illegal parking are to be monitored during the weekend preceding and the Monday of the event. Staffing levels are to be like summer weekend enforcement especially in the urban areas of Picton, Bloomfield and Wellington as well as Bakker Road, County Rd 27, Sandbanks, Long Point and Point Petre.

County residents ‘totality’ interested in coming solar eclipse