Welcome back. Yesterday's dangerous storm slammed southwestern Pennsylvania. And here in Alageney County, almost all 130 municipalities are dealing with damages or outages.
Emergency crews and dispatchers planned for the worst. And it was up there causing devastation and communication issues. Now officials are reminding people when it's the right time to call 911 when severe weather hits.
Violent storms tore through the Pittsburgh area Tuesday night and Alageney County 911 operators were flooded with calls for help. 5600 calls to 911 were received between 5:00 p. m.
and 6:00 p. m. yesterday.
5600. This is five times greater than the same hour without a storm. 9,300 calls were received for the entire day, which is over two times greater than what we would see during a normal day without a storm.
Ferocious winds brought down countless trees and power lines. Many people told KDKA they dialed 911 but couldn't get through. It came down and took our our electric lines, uh, telephone lines and our cable lines.
And I tried for over probably a half hour and I couldn't get 911. And then finally our police come by and and cut cuz some of the wires were across the road. She screamed, "The tree fell.
" So, we all went to the window and saw it. Um, and I must say that we couldn't dial 911 for like half hour that we couldn't get them. So, um, we just waited until the cop, someone eventually got a hold of them and they came.
I saw the flames, the the wires on fire and I heard it and I was trying to call 911 and a cop came down the street as I was online trying to get online. And you said you couldn't get through to 911? No.
Chief Matt Brown of Alageney County Emergency Services says part of the problem was phone networks were overwhelmed. Those systems uh fail or pause even before it gets to us at 911. But he says their staff took alternative actions and their systems operated and functioned.
Was 911 bogged down at times? Absolutely. Absolutely.
High activity, lots of volume delays. Absolutely. But our systems did function.
Um we did not go down. Chief Brown called the devastating storms a natural disaster that should serve as a reminder to prepare for the next storm and limit 911 calls for true emergencies. Example, a tree down in the backyard with one injured can wait until after the storm passes.
Do not call 911 to ask when the power is coming on. We got a lot of that overnight. Um I was here very late and we were being overwhelmed by that.
uh or to report that your power is out unless there is a related emergency to not having power. Chief Brown also said if you need to call 911 for an emergency and you receive a message saying that operators are busy, do not hang up. Stay on the line.
And if you have difficulty reaching county 911, call them at 412-473370.
