Canada’s Niagara declares state of emergency as record influx of solar eclipse viewers arrives

The Niagara Region of Ontario has declared a state of emergency as it prepares for up to a million visitors to view the solar eclipse in early April.

The total solar eclipse on April 8 will be the first to occur in the province since 1979, and Niagara Falls has been named one of the best places to view a total solar eclipse by National Geographic.

The city is in the path of a total solar eclipse, where the moon will completely block the sun’s rays for several minutes. Niagara Falls Mayor Jim Diodati said in early March that he expected the city to see an all-time high number of visitors in a single day.

Niagara Regional Municipality is actively activating a state of emergency to prepare for this event. Thursday’s announcement kicks off a number of additional planning tools to prepare for the day, which could lead to severe traffic jams, higher demands on emergency services and overloaded mobile phone networks.

The eclipse will reach Mexico’s Pacific coast in the morning, slant across the United States from Texas to Maine, and exit eastern Canada in the late afternoon. Much of the rest of the continent will see a partial solar eclipse.