While the path of totality may not lead to a wild and crazy affair, it should — and can be — a fun and safe event for everyone as long as they keep in mind some basic rules of behavior, Genesee County Emergency Management Coordinator Tim Yaeger says.
“It’s not a rock concert, but we can make sure it’s a safe and enjoyable time. We sometimes border on making it seem like bad things are gonna happen,” Yaeger said Thursday. “We’re prepared to respond to anything. We want everybody to take their time and have a good time.”
Yaeger’s department and other sectors of law enforcement and transportation, including the county sheriff, Batavia, Le Roy and New York State police, Department of Transportation and state Thruway officials, plus emergency responders, began to have eclipse-related meetings a year ago.
How many people are expected to arrive here?
“It's difficult to tell. I mean, there's estimates all over and we kind of look at not only our county but the region because what happens in the region is going to affect us. We've been planning and in public safety planning for about a year. So our biggest concern is traffic. It's just the amount of truck traffic congestion that can occur with that many people coming to our region in a short term or time frame because I just actually got an update from the Chamber of Commerce, and they're getting so many phone calls that so many of these people are coming in the day of,” he said. “So they're not coming in over the weekend, although there are many people coming in already. I know in the state, there's already many airports that are receiving small aircraft coming in already. So traffic is the biggest issue. We're working with, obviously, the state partners in New York State Thruway Authority, the state police, York State emergency management, New York State DOT. And they're part of our planning program along with all the public safety partners in Genesee County, as well as the state agencies and probably our biggest concern right now is the New York State Thruway.”
The plan is to make sure there are no stranded motorists on the Thruway, he said. Extra tow trucks and the means to respond to vehicles in need of fuel or an electric charge will be available.
“I think they've learned by talking to other state agencies that have experienced these eclipses from 2017 and what their deficiencies were and how they can plan better. So I'm very confident that we have a good plan in place,” he said. “And working with the state partners, our county Emergency Operations Center will be open. It will have a representative from New York State emergency management there, along with our Sheriff's Office. And then we will call in if we need near state DOT, New York State Police representatives, they're all in the area, if they need to come in to support, they will come in, it's just a matter of they want to be where they need to be. So we don't want to tie up personnel that need to be somewhere else because we know the Niagara Erie region is going to be very busy. So the exodus is back, both coming through our county and then leaving through our county. So we're going to be watching that and monitoring that.”
What can spectators do to help alleviate the traffic congestion?
“We don't want people pulling over to the side of the road to watch this. We want them to go to the county park, to the steam show grounds in Alexander, to Genesee Community College (refer to the eclipse list below). So we're working with them to try to get people into safe locations to watch it and make it a great, enjoyable event instead of being on the roadway where it can be dangerous. We expect the state roads to be busy. We expect a lot of traffic in the city of Batavia,” he said. “So people need to be patient and basically plan for those things. There is going to be a lot of traffic congestion, so plan for it. That's really even talking about making sure that if you're planning to get medications or you need to run to a store for food, you may want to be doing that on Saturday or Sunday and not wait to the last minute and then get frustrated because there's so much traffic on the roads which there will be.
“There will be a lot of people; that's why we ramped up our EMS capability and our departments to be staffed. Our concern is if the amount of traffic, if it's that heavy, and if we have to transport the patients to Buffalo or Rochester, Erie County or Monroe County, they all have lights and sirens, so they're gonna get there, it's just there may be a lot of traffic for them, it's going to be a little bit slower than normal. So we put on extra ambulances,” he said. “There is a lot of public safety entities, the state, county and city throughout the region, throughout the state that are prepared to respond to pretty much anything, but they're also the reminder out there that this is an event that should be enjoyable. So everybody just takes their time, be patient, and we'll be fine.”
