Large eclipse-watching crowds could effectively shut down Ennis: Officials
ENNIS – Eclipse over Ennis is the name of the marketing campaign created to lure sky watchers for a once-in-a-lifetime celestial event.
But Thursday night at the Ennis Welcome Center, City Manager Marty Nelson warned those attending a town hall meeting that a large enough crowd of eclipse watchers and vehicles on April 8 could effectively shut down the city.
The city about 30 minutes south of Dallas will experience a longer total solar eclipse than just about anywhere else.
"I'm concerned about our ability to provide emergency medical services," Nelson said.
Nelson made the comments as city leaders met with residents and business owners to discuss plans to handle the staggering number of visitors expected to come.
During a presentation, each city department laid out their plans to handle visitors coming into town to view the eclipse on the ground, on the lakes and in the air.
Every police officer and firefighter will be on duty April 8. A local radio station will be used to relay importation information.
City leaders warn streets will likely be gridlocked for hours, making it difficult to get to local businesses and also hard for emergency vehicles to respond to calls.
"So there's a lot of debate about traffic control," Nelson said. "And so I think the lessons that other cities have learned is that this is just going to happen."
Schools have already planned to close while Ennis has designated a number of viewing areas to keep people spread out.
Despite the possible challenges, most people in Ennis are treating the celestial event as a festival where visitors are welcome.
"I think it's going to go fine," Ennis resident Mike Williamson said. "This isn't the first city to do this, right?"
"This is a very welcoming town," Ennis resident Joe West said. "I mean… we put on a lot of festivals here because they want to bring people to our town."
Ennis is preparing to see its population of 22,000 increase by as much as 500% percent on the weekend leading up to the Monday eclipse.
Its leaders were blunt when they told citizens and business owners here to expect to be overwhelmed.
Even though the city is bringing in extra cell phone towers, it's possible getting service will be a major problem, so public safety will rely on two-way radios.
Being right in the path of totality comes with perks but also a price – and the city manager urged the community to exhibit patience and grace to outsiders.
"As a community, we will never collectively have an experience like this ever again in our lifetimes, so we can rise to the occasion," Nelson said. "And I'm confident that that's what the City of Ennis is going to do."