Owensboro Dispatch Handles 911 Calls

One week ago today, that E-F 3 tornado ripped through western Kentucky. The enormity of the storm can be measured in many ways. Homes destroyed ... trees down ... power lost. But tonight we hear the emergency calls that came into the Owensboro Dispatch Center. They took more 9-1-1-calls that night than any day since the tornado of 2000. As Fox 7s Julie Dolan reports, a lesson learned then could be one reason why no lives were lost. This is just a normal day in the Owensboros dispatchers office....a steady flow of routine calls and maybe a few emergencies. But last Thursday, the Owensboro police department received nearly three times the average amount of calls-- all of which were emergencies. And the dispatchers were ready... "We have some protocols and some procedures we put into place whenever we have inclement weather reported that its on the way so we were prepared to handle the high volume of calls." Calls, that dispatchers then had to decide- which were immediate emergencies and which could be tended to later. Nearly 1500 calls went through the dispatchers last Thursday. "911, john, whats your emergency? Im sitting down here by the railroad tracks at 9th and the train is going by and a light post just came down on my car. What came down on your car? A light post! a light post on top of your car? Yes. Are you okay? Yeah, i think so." "Ive got a baby in the car and were by the police station and we dont know where to go. Come on in here. Come into the police station. Thank you." Five dispatchers were on duty the night of the tornadoes, and two more came in when the storm passed. People dialed 9-1-1 to report anything from power lines down, to entire buildings down. Officials say each call was handled efficiently. "They did an excellent job" She also says that experience gained from handling 2000s tornado helped dispatchers work through this disaster even better. four other tornadoes ripped through daviess county that same night.