Total solar eclipse on 8 April will be first to touch province since 1979, and Niagara Falls is declared one of the best places to view

The region of Canada surrounding the city that contains a side of – and shares a name with – Niagara Falls has declared a state of emergency as it prepares to welcome up to a million visitors for the solar eclipse in early April.

The total solar eclipse on 8 April will be the first to touch the province since 1979, and Niagara Falls was declared by National Geographic to be one of the best places to see it.

The Ontario city – which also shares a name with an upstate New York municipality on the other side of Canada’s border with the US – is in the path of totality, where the moon will entirely block the sun’s rays for a few minutes.