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Welcome to the Portage County Safety Council podcast. We hope you enjoy today's community spotlight.

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Hi, it's Mike with the Portage County Safety Council. I'm here with my friend

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Mackenzie from the Portage County EMA. Mackenzie, welcome to the podcast.

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Hi, Mike. Thanks for having me. I'm so happy to be here.

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So Mackenzie, before we get started talking about the solar eclipse,

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Just tell our listeners a little bit about yourself and what you do at the Portage County EMA.

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Sure. So my position is the emergency management specialist.

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So I serve as, you know, a liaison between our directors and several different

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partners that we work with, like the fire departments, police departments,

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and I'm the fiscal officer for some of the specialty teams in the county.

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So mainly my duties are the clerical side and some of the planning efforts that we do.

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And that's kind of how I got roped into the solar eclipse being one of them.

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So the solar eclipse is this extravagant event.

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And depending where you're at in your worldview, it could be the end of the

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world. It could be a sign of the second coming.

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People from everywhere are talking about this thing. And we just happen to be

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in Portage County and the giant slicer sliver across the US where you can see

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this thing in its full measure. So for people that are like, Like, I've heard this thing, but I haven't really paid attention.

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You know, what's the big deal about it? What's going on with the solar eclipse

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that's coming here in a couple of weeks? Yeah. So in Ohio, the history of solar eclipses, well, total solar eclipses is pretty slim.

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The last one prior to 2024 was in 1806. And I know I wasn't around for that.

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Yeah, I wasn't around either. I may look old with the gray hair and a beard, but it's not me anymore. I'm not. Right.

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So this is definitely a once in a lifetime opportunity. And so the span of the

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totality of the path starts in Texas, makes its way through Ohio,

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and exits the United States around the New England area.

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And this path specifically, it's much larger than the 2017 path,

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and it's also a lot wider. And because of this, we'll actually see about a minute longer of the totality itself.

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So actually when the shadow is cast, you'll see the complete darkness in Portage County.

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That's going to get spooky, the complete darkness. So how long is this actually going to last?

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I remember from being a kid in elementary school, we had different types of

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occlusives. Is it going to be like a minute long, 15?

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What are they thinking for this time around? So for Portage County,

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we're actually going to see about three and a half minutes of darkness.

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But places up near Avon Lake and towards the actual center of the path,

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they'll probably see upwards of about four and a half minutes dark.

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And that's significantly longer than, you know, some of the past eclipses that

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we've had throughout the world, not even just the United States.

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That's awesome. That's good information. Now, because there's only a certain

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sliver, I keep calling it across the U.S. It looks like a big sword slash through our map.

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If you look at the eclipse maps, it's awesome. But because we're in that little

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sliver across a viewing area, there's some issues we need to worry about,

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in particular with safety, right? Right. I mean, there's potentially hundreds of thousands, if not millions,

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not necessarily in Portage County, but coming across the country and traveling to see this thing.

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So what kind of traffic and population concerns do you have at the Portage EMA? Oh, for sure.

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So for Portage County, our population currently, because of our colleges being

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in session right now, we're looking at about 200,000 people on any given day within Portage County.

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Wow. So with the eclipse happening, we're probably going to see upwards of about

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350,000 throughout the entire county, just because people are either traveling

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through Portage County. We have some people camping at our state parks, as well as other campgrounds

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that are offering camping or just, you know, visiting because they have family in town.

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So generally, we'll see a pretty large population increase.

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But throughout the state of Ohio, we're actually our biggest concern is the

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traffic inundation. So our road infrastructure is only built to maintain so many people.

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And if we have all of these people traveling through Ohio, we're likely going

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to see some congestion throughout the day for the eclipse.

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And to just give you a little bit of a perspective on the traffic that we're

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talking about, keep in mind that the state of Ohio is actually within a one

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day's driving distance from about 70% of the United States population.

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Population. And so that's within. Wow.

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Say that again. I didn't realize that. Say that again. Yeah.

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I'm on the back. Say it again. Right, right. So the state of Ohio is within

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a one day's driving distance from 70% of the United States population.

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And that's what Ohio is such a good or big epicenter for the solar eclipse.

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Even if it's going to be cloudy, we're still going to see some of the effects of the eclipse.

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So that's why our planning efforts have been so significant around here.

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And just to give people perspective from last time I looked up population data,

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I think we're around 180,000 Portage County population.

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163,000. Okay. So we're talking double the amount of people that you normally

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see at Walmart, your restaurants.

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It may be a good week, just a few days just to hunker down and not plan to go

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too far out. I mean, that's pretty impressive. So with that amount of traffic, there is some safety concerns about,

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you know, we have some municipalities that you guys have set up and kind of encouraged to do this.

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But we have people like in Streetsboro City, say Streetsboro is having a thing in their city park.

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And I know, I think the city of Kent's doing the same thing.

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And there's municipalities throughout the county having special events so they

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can kind of steer that traffic logistically and keep everyone in order.

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And so what are some of those other traffic safety concerns about people viewing?

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You mentioned some beforehand about encouraging people not to get out of their

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car in the middle of this, if they haven't reached their destination. Right.

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So like Mike said, some of our municipalities throughout Portage County are

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offering different events for safe viewing.

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And when we're talking about safe viewing, we're talking about making sure that

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you're at a destination with everything that you would need,

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restroom facilities, waste receptacles, as well as a secure location for you to view the eclipse.

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Because like Mike said, the last thing that we want is for you to be driving

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on some of our main roadways, like 76, for instance, driving down there because

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you're not at your destination yet. But oh, no, the eclipse is happening.

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So let's park the car in the median, get out, view the eclipse.

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And then we're probably going to see a couple cars pass by, if not hit you while

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you're viewing it that way. Hopefully not. Hopefully not.

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Right. And that's the last thing that we want. So we're really encouraging that

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for the eclipse, if you choose to view it with your family and your friends,

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to make sure you're doing it in a safe manner.

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And aside from, you know, being at these locations, also do safe viewing practices.

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Make sure you're wearing your solar filters and even through a camera,

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make sure your camera lens or your telescope has that specific solar filter for the eclipse.

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Because there are some health concerns that may come with non-safe viewing.

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So just make sure you are wearing your solar filters.

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Yeah, that's a good point. And also, the one thing that was really interesting

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as we talked before we started recording was there's rumors that there could

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be potential cell phone disruptions.

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Explain that a little bit to our listeners. Why is that and what are some things

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we should do to be prepared in case that happens?

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Right. So think about, you know, an event that happens in Portage County every

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year in August called the Portage County Randolph Fair.

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Typically, if you're attending there, you see that there is some disruptions

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in cell signal. I know for our office, we have a booth set up every year,

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and we're lucky to get one, maybe two bars in cell phone coverage.

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And so think of that event, but it's mimicked throughout the nation.

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So it's not even just the state of Ohio, it's throughout the country.

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And so if all of these people are congregating in one area, they're going to

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take up a lot of the of the cell signal that's available in those areas.

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So what we've seen throughout the nation is our, you know, cell service providers

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are going to be deploying some of their additional towers to alleviate some of these concerns.

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But just know that, you know, this is impacting 31.5 million people,

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not just Portage County. So you're likely going to see some of those communication disruptions,

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but they should be, you know, not anything too crazy.

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We hope not, at least, but definitely anticipate some of those disruptions.

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You said something great. Anticipate it. So if you're out there and you're going to watch the solar eclipse,

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don't freak out if your cell tower goes down.

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It's not the apocalypse probably that you've seen on YouTube because I have seen some videos.

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Come across my fire stick. And I was like, oh, geez, here we go again.

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The end of the world is nice. So it's not the end of the world.

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It's just our systems are probably being overloaded with the amount of people there. So don't panic.

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Don't freak out. But also, at the same time, be proactive.

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If you have kids going there or you have some elderly folks at home that may

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not be able to get in contact with you, or if some people use apps for health,

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different programs, in case there can be disruptions to different things,

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whatever, however those systems and those devices work for you.

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Just have that in the forefront of your mind and take some action right now.

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Maybe you set up like a time to meet family afterwards in case you can't contact

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them. So no one's scared or worry. You haven't called me all day. It can be as simple as having that conversation.

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Hey, the cell phone towers could go out. So if you try to call me, it's the eclipse.

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Don't freak out. I'll get ahold of you. I'll see you at the other side.

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Right, right. The only other recommendation that I can think off the top of

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my head is make sure you have your gas tank filled maybe a day or two in advance because,

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you know, our gas stations, they're not equipped to sustain 350,000 people.

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So, I mean, we may see some disruptions in service at our local gas stations.

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So I would just say, make sure you top it off before the eclipse,

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because if you are stuck in some of those traffic congestions that we were talking

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about, I don't want to see you run out of gas either.

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So really the only other recommendation that I would have.

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Yeah. And just just some basic ideas. You don't have to do this,

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but it would be a good safety tip to do is have your first aid kit in your car.

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Maybe take a few extra bottle waters and that kind of stuff that you would normally

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in some kind of emergency preparation kit there that way, just in case something

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does happen, not yet to be afraid of that.

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You're, you know, and every little thing you do, but, but keep that,

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keep that in there just in case something does happen.

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Just because if we are expecting twice as many people, there's probably going to be some accidents.

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Unfortunately, I hope not God forbid, but the likelihood, the probability is

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significantly increased. And so just be prepared for that. So Mackenzie, last question.

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Is there any tips that you could give employers out there?

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I'm sure there's going to be a lot of call-offs on April 8th.

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People are going to be coming in and saying, oh yeah, I'm sick.

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And a lot of people are going to get sick and allegedly, or employees are going

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to want to walk off the job or do anything. What are some employers out there that you've heard are doing to kind of like

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just give their employees an opportunity to see this and get right back to work

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or take the day off? Or what are you seeing out there?

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What kind of tips do So like we said earlier, I would classify the total solar

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eclipse as a once in a lifetime opportunity.

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And following the 2024 eclipse, the next one's 2099.

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So I mean, we're probably not going to be around for that one either. Right, right.

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So if you do have the means to allow your employees to telework,

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that would be, you know, the preferred method.

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I know for our county, our county commissioners are considering closing our

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office buildings for the day, just to, you know, alleviate the anticipation

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for, you know, several hundreds of the workers calling off for that day,

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because it is, you know, the solar phenomena that everybody wants to watch. Right.

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But if you don't have the means to do the telework or offer those kind of adjustments

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to your schedule, maybe consider adjusting your shifts because totality is happening around 3.15.

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So really think about what time your shift change is.

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So is your shift change at 3 p.m.? Is it at 4 p.m.? Because we're likely to

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see a lot of those traffic congestions probably roughly an hour after the eclipse happens.

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And that's taking into consideration everyone from the Cleveland area traveling

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through Portage County and other areas.

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So I think our 5 to 6 p.m. window is going to be the most significant in traffic.

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So really just sit down and think about your shift change. Is this going to

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be impacted during that time frame? And if so, how can you rearrange your schedule to kind of get that concern out and then go from there?

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I'm thinking that's especially important for all those in that

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streetsboro aurora corridor right they have easy access

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to 480 and the ohio turnpike and also

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the city of kent and brimfield area because the connection

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to 76 and akron on that traffic and so

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if you're in kent streetsboro aurora that's something to think about especially

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around your shift change a lot of these factors i know they have seven to three

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three to eleven shifts so that's something to think about maybe let them out

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early bring back the second shift I know it's hard because some people are 24

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hours, but just some things to think about.

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So Mackenzie, thank you so much for joining us today.

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If someone would like to reach out to you or the Portage EMA for more information,

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how can they get a hold of you? So if you are interested in reaching out or if you have any questions or concerns.

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Feel free to call our office line. It's 330-297-3607.

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And I'll repeat that again, just in case you didn't jot it down the first time.

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The number is 330-297-3607. And then also be sure to reach out or to watch Portage

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Prepares on Facebook and Twitter because we'll be posting some messaging as

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it gets closer to the eclipse day.

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So just make sure to give us a follow and we'll definitely be in touch.

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All right. So if you're listening, I'll go ahead and put a link to the Portage

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Prepares Facebook page and their page on X, formerly known as Twitter.

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We'll put that out there so you could just do a quick link. Click show notes

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right back. If you're listening on Apple or Spotify, usually those are hot links.

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You can click right through there. Not every app makes those live, but most of them do.

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So you can click right through and grow right to check it out.

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So Mackenzie, thank you so much for all the information.

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I can't wait to experience this once in a lifetime event. Everyone out there

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listening, thank you so much and be safe.

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