In just one hour after Friday’s storm passed, Allen County’s dispatchers handled nearly twice as many calls compared to the total of an average day.
Between 6 and 7 p.m. on Friday, the dispatch center handled 235 calls, not including responding to radio traffic for law enforcement, fire and ambulance crews. An average day in June brought a total of 134 calls.
To illustrate just how many calls that is, 911 Director Chelsie Angleton compiled a list of statistics about calls in June, the day of the storm and the days preceding and following.
She presented the information to commissioners on Tuesday as part of a post-storm analysis with other county leaders. Each reviewed their department’s response, current status on cleanup and how they might improve in future events.
Friday’s storm brought winds as high as 85 mph and 1.41 inches of rain in a short period of time, causing widespread power outages and damage throughout the county. The southern part of the county appeared to suffer the most damage.
Emergency Management Director Jason Trego said the damage seemed contained to a narrow swath that moved through Woodson County before hitting Allen. Minimal damage was reported north of Rhode Island Road and south of the county line.
Angleton said five communications staff handled calls, including herself and Trego. The communications center handles a variety of calls, including emergency calls to 911 and first-responder radio traffic, as well as after-hours calls for the city. Anyone who called the city to report power outages were routed to the communications center.
In addition to trying to route utility crews to downed power lines, dispatchers directed first responders to numerous emergencies, many caused by the storm. For example, a semi-trailer was blown off the road and a law enforcement officer responding to the scene hydroplaned and wrecked. Callers reported a variety of injuries as tree limbs fell onto houses and cars.
Staff made a list of names and addresses of those who called to report power outages. It was 28 pages long.
“Trying to keep up with everything was overwhelming,” Angleton said.
“It was chaos.”
Angleton’s figures show dispatchers handled 857 calls the day of the storm. She broke that down by hour, with just 17 calls from 4 to 5 p.m., then 145 calls between 5 and 6. The storm hit at about 5:30 and lasted less than 20 minutes. Between 6 and 7, they had 235 calls followed by 89 calls the next hour.
Compare that to the day before the storm, when dispatchers handled a total of 157 calls. On the busiest day in June, they had a total of 222 calls.
Most of the callers were understanding and kind, but as the power outages continued through Saturday and Sunday many became rude and abusive, Angleton said.
“The amount of verbal abuse my staff has taken over the last four days is insane,” Angleton said. “We had people threatening our jobs. There were some really awful conversations. My staff was already overwhelmed while they too didn’t have power at their homes.”
Commissioners asked Angleton for suggestions to improve the process. Perhaps it would help to have a dedicated phone line for the city’s after-hours calls, she suggested.
Eventually, staff posted information on social media to ask people not to call 911 to report power outages, and offered alternative phone numbers for texts and calls.
