WACO, Texas — Thousands of people from all over the world came to visit Waco, Texas for the total solar eclipse. More than 50 McLennan County Sheriff’s deputies were in the community, monitoring local and visitors safety.
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“It’s not cloudy at all right now, it’s kind of crazy," one student said.
Baylor students Lucas Bell and Emma Clemmons were pleasantly surprised to find semi clear skies watching the eclipse.
“It’s cool to see it slowly take over,” Clemmons said.
Viewers chose to Kayak on the Brazos to experience the eclipse a little bit differently.
“Mostly we wanted to avoid the crowds,” Emma Clemmons said.
There were crowds that the City of Waco’s law enforcement prepared months for.
“We were prepared for masses, we were prepared to double our population,” said McLennan County Sheriff’s Captain, Shawn Nixon.
McLennan County Sheriff’s deputies fully staffed their patrol division, a bomb squad, special operations, and aviation.
25 News also got to be a part of marine division ensuring the safety of locals and visitors.
“Since there aren’t too many boats on the water, we’re mainly just watching the shores just too make sure, none of the children get to close to fall in, or anyone gets hurt,” he said.
This is a situation Sheriff's Deputies did not expect to encounter after months of planning, preparation, and massive expectations that never became reality.
‘We haven’t seen the influx of people we thought we would see and I believe a lot of that was due to the forecast cloudy weather,” Captain Nixon said.
