State of Emergency Declared in Niagara Falls Over Total Solar Eclipse

A graphic visualization with no text of the path of totality and partial contours crossing the U.S. for the 2024 total solar eclipse occurring on April 8, 2024.(Courtesy of NASA's Scientific Visualization Studio)

A state of emergency has been declared near Niagara Falls to prepare for this month’s total solar eclipse amid expectations that hundreds of thousands of tourists will visit the area.

The Ontario, Canada, region of Niagara Falls declared the emergency ahead of the April 8 eclipse, which will be the first to touch the province since 1979. National Geographic has said that Niagara Falls is one of the best places to see it.

The Ontario city has the same name as Niagara Falls, New York, which is on the other side of Canada’s border with the United States.

The city is in the path of totality, which will receive no solar rays for a few minutes on April 8 as the moon blocks the sun. Niagara Falls Mayor Jim Diodati said in March that he expects the most visitors his city has ever seen in a single day.

Mr. Diodati told media outlets that up to 1 million people may travel to the city to see the eclipse. “Clear weather is the cherry on top,” he added. “I’m just keeping fingers crossed and hoping.”

The regional municipality of Niagara is proactively invoking a state of emergency to prepare for the event. The declaration announced last week sets in motion some additional planning tools to prepare for the day, which could involve major traffic jams, heavier demands on emergency services, and cellphone network overloads.

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In New York, Gov. Kathy Hochul warned travelers in the state to expect high amounts of traffic as a number of eclipse-viewing events will be held. She said that lane closures and construction will be halted ahead of the astronomical event.

“New York is ready to welcome millions of visitors, and my administration has been working hard to ensure everyone in the path of the eclipse can safely enjoy this rare event,” Ms. Hochul said last week. “I encourage anyone traveling for this experience to plan on arriving early to their destination and staying late to enjoy all of what our state has to offer.”

New York’s director of state operations, Kathryn Garcia, said in the statement, “We love that so many people are planning to come here to experience the eclipse, but we also don’t want everyone to spend most of their trip stuck in traffic.”

On March 27, the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) stated that travel delays may occur ahead of and during the eclipse.

“While most travelers are heading to their favorite vacation destinations, a significant number of travelers are heading to various states to witness ‘The Great North American Eclipse’ on Monday, April 8,” the FAA said.

It added that “there may be a higher traffic volume than normal anticipated at airports along the path of the eclipse” and added that travelers “should anticipate delays during peak traffic periods.”

“Parking may be limited—particularly at the smaller, uncontrolled airports,” it warned.

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

“The further south you are, the better the long-term weather prospects are probably going to be,” Fred Espenak, a former astrophysicist from NASA, told ABC News on March 31. “But we really can’t tell on eclipse day because I’ve seen satellite maps over the past 20 years of data taken during April 8. And every place along the eclipse path is clear on some days and cloudy on others. More frequently, it’s clear in the southern states versus the northern.”

The last total solar eclipse that was visible in the United States occurred in 2017.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.