Government officials expect disaster during eclipse
We’re all gonna die! According to this trashy Newsweek article, government officials are expecting disaster and societal collapse because a lot of people are going to travel to see the August 21 eclipse.
Here’s why many folks are planning for a disaster: Oregon has a population of 4 million people, and the eclipse is expected to draw 1 million visitors to the state for a few days. In Missouri, preparations resemble that for a blizzard or “everything from St. Patrick’s Day parade to a World Series celebration,” says Chris Hernandez, city spokesman for Kansas City, Missouri, one of the larger metro areas in the path of the eclipse.
All of those visitors are expected to clog interstates, along with state and local roads, for days before and after the eclipse, much like the rush during emergency evacuations, says Brad Kieserman, vice president of disaster operations and logistics for the American Red Cross. “Some of these places are never going to see traffic like this,” he says. In some areas, “the population will be double or triple.”
Once visitors arrive, they’ll need bottles of water, lodging and restrooms. And, of course, solar glasses.
This fear-mongering reminds me of the Y2K bug. Somehow it was going to shut down society, something I thought was a load of hooey, and turned out to be exactly that, hooey. This Newsweek junk article is just more of the same.
Be prepared, exercise personal responsibility, and all will be well. The only ones who will have a problem will be people who take these articles too seriously.
Readers!
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We’re all gonna die! According to this trashy Newsweek article, government officials are expecting disaster and societal collapse because a lot of people are going to travel to see the August 21 eclipse.
Here’s why many folks are planning for a disaster: Oregon has a population of 4 million people, and the eclipse is expected to draw 1 million visitors to the state for a few days. In Missouri, preparations resemble that for a blizzard or “everything from St. Patrick’s Day parade to a World Series celebration,” says Chris Hernandez, city spokesman for Kansas City, Missouri, one of the larger metro areas in the path of the eclipse.
All of those visitors are expected to clog interstates, along with state and local roads, for days before and after the eclipse, much like the rush during emergency evacuations, says Brad Kieserman, vice president of disaster operations and logistics for the American Red Cross. “Some of these places are never going to see traffic like this,” he says. In some areas, “the population will be double or triple.”
Once visitors arrive, they’ll need bottles of water, lodging and restrooms. And, of course, solar glasses.
This fear-mongering reminds me of the Y2K bug. Somehow it was going to shut down society, something I thought was a load of hooey, and turned out to be exactly that, hooey. This Newsweek junk article is just more of the same.
Be prepared, exercise personal responsibility, and all will be well. The only ones who will have a problem will be people who take these articles too seriously.
Readers!
Every February I run a fund-raising drive during my birthday month. This year I celebrate my 72nd birthday, and hope and plan to continue writing and posting on Behind the Black for as long as I am able.
I hope my readers will support this effort. As I did in my November fund-raising drive, I am offering autographed copies of my books for large donations. Donate $250 and you can have a choice of the hardback of either Genesis: the Story of Apollo 8 or Conscious Choice: The origins of slavery in America and why it matters today and for our future in outer space. Donate $200 and you can get an autographed paperback copy of either. IMPORTANT! If you donate enough to get a book, please email me separately to tell me which book you want and the address to mail it to.
Please consider supporting my work here at Behind the Black. My analysis of space, politics, and culture, taken from the perspective of an historian, is almost always on the money and ahead of the game. For example, in 2020 I correctly predicted that the COVID panic was unnecessary, that the virus was apparently simply a variation of the flu, that masks were not simply pointless but if worn incorrectly were a health threat, that the lockdowns were a disaster and did nothing to stop the spread of COVID. Every one of those 2020 conclusions has turned out right.
Your help allows me to do this kind of intelligent analysis. I take no advertising or sponsors, so my reporting isn't influenced by donations by established space or drug companies. Instead, I rely entirely on donations and subscriptions from my readers, which gives me the freedom to write what I think, unencumbered by outside influences.
You can support me either by giving a one-time contribution or a regular subscription. There are four ways of doing so:
1. Zelle: This is the only internet method that charges no fees. All you have to do is use the Zelle link at your internet bank and give my name and email address (zimmerman at nasw dot org). What you donate is what I get.
2. Patreon: Go to my website there and pick one of five monthly subscription amounts, or by making a one-time donation.
3. A Paypal Donation or subscription:
4. Donate by check, payable to Robert Zimmerman and mailed to
Behind The Black
c/o Robert Zimmerman
P.O.Box 1262
Cortaro, AZ 85652
You can also support me by buying one of my books, as noted in the boxes interspersed throughout the webpage or shown in the menu above.
We’ve had full eclipses before, yet I don’t recall any disasters resulting from them. This is like the “1 in 8 millenials has never seen a live cow” story – faux concern to enhance clickbait.
IIRC, one of the major reasons that Y2K was not a disaster is that everyone freaked about it early enough and loud enough that it got fixed. I was involved in many software projects in the 90s to do just that.
Calvin-
Good stuff.
It occurs to me, my father & mother travelled to the Baja peninsula in July of 1991, for the eclipse. (one of those scientific-expedition tours. I’m looking at a nice 2 x 3 color print on my wall right now.)
– If a rather small town in Mexico could handle the influx of tourists, we’ll be OK. (san Jose Del Cabo)
Unfortunately, it’s more than just click-bait, I hear anecdotally in Oregon, the mastermind’s are working themselves up into a panic over this. (and that always involves spending money)
Market adjustments have already been made, it’s not like a natural disaster out of the blue. I’m sure Walmart has ordered extra snacks & the Pancake House will be fully staffed up.
I would tie this into the It’s A Wonderful Loaf video, big time. Nobody in the government needs to “Make Plans.”
And toss this in:
Total Solar Eclipse – July 11, 1991
https://youtu.be/XtSLZFItx5o
It reads as if they don’t think states like Oregon are used to having people around. But Oregon gets a ton of tourists every year. They have paved roads, highways, and freeways. They have stores and restaurants. They have hotels and campgrounds. All of these things get used regularly. Same with all of the other states.
All of the residents have travelled to other states too. It not like they have never seen traffic before.
It is like there is a tinge of ethnocentrism from the author.
Sure, at the moment of the eclipse, there will be a lot of people out but other than that, it isn’t going to be that bad.
Might rain.
wodun-
Good stuff.
D.K.–
Ditto.
“Historical average cloud cover along the eclipse path”
http://www.eclipse2017.org/2017/weather/2017_clouds.htm
Might rain.
The most rain I ever saw I was on a beach at Hilton Head Island (way before it’s development) waiting for the eclipse of March 7, 1970.
I live only about 60 miles from totality this time. My whole plan is to get up and drive up I-85 until traffic stops me.
I hope the area around Anderson, South Carolina is clear that day.
As I understand Y2k. COBOL business programs tended to have lots of dates. 4 digit years thousands of them ate up memory which in those days was not so available as now. 1999 became 99. OK what happens at 2000? 00 in the subsequent instructions. A valid question, a valid concern. Almost all large companies rewrote/upgraded their software. A power plant and a warehouse chain in the UK had problems when the 21st century arrived. Y2k was a good thing. Predictions made, respected and cheers alround. On the otherhand the AGW computer rubbish muddys the water for us all.