Ohio’s Lorain County Emergency Management has advised people to stock up on food, water, and fuel, and avoid unnecessary travelling as a high influx of people to watch the total eclipse can cause traffic congestion and block access to necessities.

The total eclipse is on April 8, with an influx of visitors to the area expected.

“During the 2024 eclipse, the Sun will be in or near solar maximum, when the magnetic field is more like a tangled hairball. Streamers will likely be visible throughout the corona. In addition to that, viewers will have a better chance to see prominences – which appear as bright, pink curls or loops coming off the Sun,” according to the National Aeronautics and Space Administration.

The path of totality – the area where people will see a total solar eclipse – is wider than in 2017 too, as the Moon is closer to Earth due to where it is in its orbit.

“With lucky timing, there could even be a chance to see a coronal mass ejection – a large eruption of solar material – during the eclipse,” NASA added.

The county has warned the residents of logistical problems, saying that there could be increased traffic, increased wait time for services such as hospitals and gas stations, as well as difficulty accessing food and other supplies.

“What we could have is crowds here that we’re not used to,” said Dave Freeman, Lorain County EMA director, in a statement seen by USA Today. “We’re not set up infrastructure-wise for that, we don’t have the roads.”

“A lot of the roads here are two lanes,” Freeman said and added that the traffic could be “pretty extreme here” if they get crowds more than expected.

The country also warned that cell phone signals could be lost due to the increase in cell phone activity in the area overloading the system.