Emergency crews and 911 operators planned for the worst ahead of Tuesday’s dangerous storms.
The severe weather caused devastation and communication issues. Now, officials are reminding people when it’s the right time to call 911 when severe weather hits.
Allegheny County 911 operators were flooded with calls for help as violent storms tore through the Pittsburgh area on Tuesday night.
“Five thousand six hundred calls to 911 were received between 5 p.m. and 6 p.m. yesterday, 5,600. This is five times greater than the same hour without a storm. Nine thousand three hundred 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,” Chief Matt Brown of Allegheny County Emergency Services said on Wednesday.
He said that almost all 130 municipalities in the county are dealing with damages or impacts like outages.
Ferocious winds brought down countless trees and power lines. Many people told KDKA that they dialed 911 but couldn’t get through.
“It came down and took our electric lines, our telephone lines and our cable lines. I tried for over a half-hour and I couldn’t get 911, and then finally our police came by because some of the wires were across the road,” said Robert Karish, who discovered a large tree had fallen in his yard in Forest Hills.
“We couldn’t dial 911 for like a half-hour. We couldn’t get them,” said Zehavit Kirshenboim, who saw a large tree blocking a road in Squirrel Hill.
“I saw the flames, 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 trying to get on the line … couldn’t get through,” said Tina Bryan, who called 911 after a man was fatally electrocuted in Pittsburgh.
Chief Brown said in a press conference on Wednesday that part of the problem was that phone networks were likely overwhelmed.
“If you look at the major carriers of the phone systems, Verizon’s, AT&T’s, T-Mobile’s, if they only have a certain size pipe to move that data or that voice through and it only accepts 500 but you jam 5,000 at a time, guess what, those systems fail or pause even before it gets to us at 911,” Brown said.
“Was 911 bogged down at times? Absolutely,” he added.
He said his staff took alternative actions, and their systems operated and functioned.
“Our fantastic people worked through those challenges, working with our regional partners and our PEMA partners. We found other ways to be able to transfer that information data and process those 911 calls,” Brown said.
“Our systems operated, phones were overloaded here and region-wide,” he said. “High activity, lots of volume, delays, absolutely, but our systems did function. 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 to remember to 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 back on. We got a lot of that overnight. I was here late, and we were being overwhelmed by that. And don’t call to report that your power is out, unless there is a related emergency to not having power,” he said.
He also said if you need to call 911 for an emergency and receive a message saying that operators are busy, do not hang up and stay on the line.
If you do have difficulty reaching county 911, call 412-473-3370.
Jessica Guay joined KDKA as a reporter in February 2021. Before joining KDKA, Jessica was a morning anchor and reporter at WJAC in Johnstown, Pennsylvania. She was also an anchor and reporter at WCHS in Charleston, West Virginia, and at WTOV in Steubenville, Ohio.
