Poplar Bluff preparing for 40,000 visitors during Monday’s solar eclipse
COLUMBIA, Mo. (KMIZ)
The city of Poplar Bluff is expecting 40,000 extra people to gather in the city to view Monday's solar eclipse, according to the president of the Poplar Bluff Chamber of Commerce.
Poplar Bluff -- with a population of around 16,000 people -- is one of the southeastern Missouri cities that will be in the path of totality. Darkness is expected to last an estimated 4 minutes, 8 seconds.
President and CEO of the Greater Poplar Bluff Chamber of Commerce Steve Halter said the city was originally expecting about 20,000 people. Storms are expected to be in the state on Sunday, and some areas of the state could have some cloudy skies on Monday. However, Halter said he believes because Popular Bluff will not be one of the areas experiencing cloud cover, that has driven up numbers.
"We've had people as far away as Japan, Brazil, Italy contacting us," Halter said. "Some of the folks from Japan are already here...there's just been people from every city in the country either call us or already come in today."
Halter said the city will have 20 viewing stations where people can watch the eclipse, but are working on steering people towards watching from the Poplar Bluff High School -- located at 3209 Oak Grove Road, Poplar Bluff, MO 63901.
He said those who choose to watch from there should expect a performance from a live band, food tucks, merchandise and an appearance from the Kansas City Chiefs mascot.
The large influx of people coming to the area is something Halter said the city expects will cause delays in traffic.
He said he recommends people get to the area they plan to view the eclipse as early as possible, and to not try and leave as soon as the eclipse ends.
Halter said the city has been encouraging residents who live there to get their errands out of the way prior to Monday, and to use back streets the day of the eclipse.
However, he said the city is coordinating with local law enforcement to mitigate back-ups.
"We've got all of our police department, our sheriffs department, our highway patrol all working on overtime to make sure we've adjusted the stoplights in town," Halter said.
Halter also said police, deputies and the highway patrol will be patrolling the high school on Monday.
Sergeant Clark Parrott with the Missouri State Highway Patrol said the department has been working with local law enforcement since the last partial eclipse in 2017. Parrot said the department's main priorities will be helping direct traffic flow and providing directions to visitors.
"We want to make sure that people are not parking on the shoulders of the highways, whether it's U.S. safety or even on the interstate because people still have to use that for commerce, big trucks that sort of thing," Parrott said.
ABC 17 News will begin three hours of live team coverage on the 2024 total solar eclipse at noon on Monday.
