WTF? Officials Along Path of Eclipse Quietly Declaring States of Emergency

They have good reasons for doing it. And we have good reasons for not trusting them.

Sometimes, two seemingly contradictory statements each contain essential truths.

Last week, Republican Gov. Eric Holcomb, of Indiana, signed Executive Order 24-05, a statewide disaster emergency declaration in advance of Monday’s expected total solar eclipse.

Parts of Indiana lay in the eclipse’s path of totality. For that reason, Holcomb predicted “several hundred thousand visitors” to the state.

If that happens, then the massive influx of people “may well stress and/or interfere with first responder and public safety communications and emergency response systems such that a technological or other emergency may occur,” Holcomb’s order read.

That might sound reasonable, but the Indianapolis 500 brings in 250,000 or so people every year. So, what's the big deal here?

... officials in The Hoosier State and elsewhere have begun preparations for a once-in-a-lifetime event.

Chairman Shaun Gilliant, of the Essex County New York Board of Supervisors, for instance, explained that he and other county officials declared a state of emergency in anticipation of heavy traffic and even cellular service disruptions, according to NBC 5 in New York.

According to WHIO in Dayton, Ohio, the city council in nearby Riverside will decide at Thursday night’s meeting whether to declare a temporary emergency.

“The City of Riverside is expected to more than double its population for this event,” the city said last month.

In other words, state and local officials across the path of totality expect an event that will tax their normal resources.

Richard Fienberg, of the American Astronomical Society’s Solar Eclipse Task Force, put that event in an understandable context.

“Having a total solar eclipse pass through the U.S. is kind of like having 20 or 30 Super Bowls happening all at once,” Fienberg said according to Time.

Yeah, I GUARANTEE you, it's won't be like that.

Only fucking weirdoes care about a Solar Eclipse. I will be working through the whole thing. I won't even fucking notice it.