Sunday, May 5, 2024
With the total solar eclipse only days away, the City of Gatesville held a final public meeting on Monday, March 25 to share what residents can expect and how they can start preparing before April 8.
With Gatesville and parts of Central Texas on the path of totality, the city is expecting thousands of visitors, leading to concerns about major traffic jams, shortages at gas stations and grocery stores, and impacts on cellular and internet service.
While no one knows the exact number of people Gatesville will receive, Eclipse Coordinator Cheri Shepherd and Gatesville Police Chief Brad Hunt expect that the majority of traffic will occur on the day of the eclipse.
“We're preparing for that, and it's still really difficult for us to even guess the amount of traffic or the number of people who are actually going to be here through the weekend, but I'd say we're preparing for the worse,” Shepherd said.
Hunt said the Gatesville Police Department is working with other first response and law enforcement agencies across the county and the state to plan for the influx of people, including adding extra officers to patrol the weekend of eclipse.
“We're tweaking something every day, of course we are, but we have been planning for a year. We feel prepared,” Hunt said.
The city also plans to create an emergency lane so that EMS and first response vehicles can access the hospital in midst of traffic, Hunt adds.
Since Gatesville contains two major highways – U.S. Highway 84 and State Highway 36 – Hunt said he has received confirmation that the Texas Department of Transportation will avoid lane closures due to construction on Highway 36 from Friday, April 5 until Tuesday, April10.
Tips to prepare
With the expected strain on local resources and businesses, Shepherd and Hunt recommend residents start preparing earlier in the week before the busy weekend. Tips for individuals include:
“It would really help our banks, gas stations, and our grocery stores if you didn't wait until Friday afternoon to do that,” Shepherd said. “You can stock up on those things that we're suggesting that you take care of ahead of time on Wednesday or Thursday. Then it gives our businesses a chance to kind of resupply so that when the people do come to visit, they’ll hopefully still have merchandise on shelves.”
With traffic expected to be less severe on Saturday and Sunday, Shepherd and Hunt encourage residents to come out and enjoy the various events happening in the Gatesville area the weekend before the eclipse.
“Mainly, we're trying to encourage folks to not panic, not panic buy things at the store, and not panic about the crowds coming to town, and not just to stay home from now until April 10 because we do have some interesting things going on in town,” Hunt said. “It's really a once in a lifetime historical event for Gatesville.”
Emergency response
Due to the population increase, local law enforcement is asking residents to submit any large events so they can properly stage first responders and EMS teams in case of potential emergencies.
Hunt asks residents who are hosting more than 50 people to submit their event to Shepherd by email at cshepherd@gatesvilletx.com
The Coryell County Sheriff’s Office also asked residents via Facebook to submit large gatherings of 25 people or more by calling 254-865-5911 ext. 530 or 531 or emailing CCSOdispatch@coryellsheriff.com.
If there is an emergency, Hunt reminds the public that they can text 911 if they lose cellular service and a landline is not available.
Residents can sign up for Code Red emergency notifications at www.gatesvilletx.com
For a full list of FAQs for residents and visitors, visit: https://www.gatesvilletxeclipse.com/residents
