Officials: Stock up now on supplies, gas and medicines before eclipse

The total solar eclipse is a week away and local officials are urging you to prepare now for the big day.

Columbus police suggest you treat the day as you would a blizzard including stocking up on groceries, picking up medicine and filling your gas tank.

Lt. Matt Harris with the police department explains:

Harris explains that this will be comparable to other large events, but community wide and lasting all weekend.

A swath of Indiana will be in the path of totality, meaning the sun will be completely obscured while the moon passes in front of it. In Bartholomew County, that is going to happen at 3:06 p.m. Monday afternoon. Visitors are expected to flock to our area, temporarily doubling or tripling the size of area communities and clogging local highways and streets.

In anticipation of the chaos, Columbus and Bartholomew County government offices will be closed on April 8th. Schools will also be closed including Bartholomew Consolidated, Flat Rock-Hawcreek, IUPUC, Ivy Tech Columbus, Purdue Polytechnic and the Columbus Learning Center.

You can get more information on local preparations and eclipse events at https://columbus.in.us/eclipse/