Emergency management director speaks about eclipse

A solar eclipse described as rare will happen April 8 and it’s expected to cause a large increase in traffic in southeastern Oklahoma.

Richard Ezell, director of Durant Emergency Management, spoke during a Durant Area Chamber of Commerce board meeting March 20 and he also spoke at the Donald W. Reynolds Community Center & Library later that evening.

“In case you haven’t heard, the City of Durant, Bryan County, Choctaw County, McCurtain County, Push County, Leflore County, will be affected by a little thing coming up April 8 called the solar eclipse,” Ezell said. “This eclipse is going to be pretty rare.

“So in 2017, the last total eclipse that traversed the United States, there was over 20 million people that traveled from their location to wherever to view the solar eclipse, and they’re expecting more this year.”

He said the eclipse will enter Bryan County in Liberty at the Liberty Bottom at approximately 12:30 p.m.

“The City of Durant will be 99.7 percent total darkness, so we’re just on the cusp of being in the total eclipse,” Ezell said. “So, we are not safe here to look at the eclipse without eclipse glasses. Now, where it is a total eclipse, you can look at the eclipse with the naked eye and it will not hurt you. But that’s only during the total eclipse in those areas.”

According to Ezell, the time from when the eclipse begins and ends will be approximately three hours before it exits Oklahoma near Poteau.

“What it’s all about is duration,” Ezell said. “In 2017, the average maximum offering was two minutes and 40 seconds. This year’s eclipse is four minutes and 27 seconds, so a lot longer. It’s going to look as dusk. It’s not going to be total total dark, but it’s going to be pretty close to dark. Things happen: Wildlife changes, street lights come on, car lights come on.

Ezell spoke to the tourism board several months ago and he was asked why people from the Dallas-Fort Worth area will be coming to Oklahoma to view the eclipse.

“If you live in a metropolitan area, the lights come on so you’re not going to get to see the full effect,” Ezell said.

According to Ezell, approximately 250,000 people are expected to visit Mc-Curtain County.

“If you’ve ever been to Hochatown on a holiday weekend, it is crazy,” he said.

Ezell is a part of the coordination center for the eclipse in southeast Oklahoma and he visited Choctaw and McCurtain counties recently.

“We drove all of our phases of operations where we’re setting up emergency personnel and on last Tuesday (March 5), it took us 30 minutes to drive through Hochatown because of spring break in Texas,” Ezell said. “It was bumper to bumper through Hochatown.”

He said that in Broken Bow, all of the cabins have stays of four or five nights minimum.

“So, we’re expecting this to be a long weekend,” Ezell said.

He said the influx of eclipse tourists could deplete grocery store supplies and gasoline.

“We are trying to push our residents, our local people, to make sure you’re cars are full of gas,” Ezell said. “Make sure you’ve got several days’ worth of food, water and provisions for you and your family because if you’re not going anywhere, you’re staying here, we want you all to be taken care of. We’re trying to push markets, whatever, to up stock for this. They’ve been trying that in McCurtain County for months. It is what it is. So basically, they create a Super Bowl-like affect, big parties.”

Ezell said that McCurtain County mostly has two-lane roads that don’t have shoulders, and that April is the beginning of storm season.

“That is in the heart of our severe storm season, our wet season, so that is our problem trying to get emergency responders positioned so we have four different staging areas for emergency personnel all through McCurtain County just to help alleviate the problems of traversing places,” he said.