When the rains came down and the flooded roads and dangerous conditions increased on Wednesday afternoon due to historic rainfall, Broward County Public Safety Answering Points were inundated with emergency calls.
Broward Sheriff’s Office 911 call takers in its Regional Communications Division calmly and professionally responded to the crisis.
On Wednesday, April 12, nearly 8,900 911 calls were made in the jurisdictions that Regional Communications serves (all areas of Broward County except for Coral Springs, Plantation and Coconut Creek). More than 4,000 of the calls came in during the hours of 8 p.m. – 11 p.m., a significant increase over the average call volume. During the heaviest hour of 9 p.m., 1,730 emergency calls were made. The typical call volume for that hour is 173 calls. That is ten times higher than normal.
According to Regional Communications command staff, the call volume surpassed activity typically seen even during direct hurricane impacts to Broward County. Overall, fire rescue had more than 2,200 calls for service, which is two-and-a-half times more calls for service than on a normal day. The majority of all calls for both law enforcement and fire rescue services on Wednesday came from Fort Lauderdale.
No matter the emergency, please remember that 911 is only to be used for true emergencies. In non-emergencies, please utilize the non-emergency number, (954) 764-HELP (4357).
THIS REPORT BY:
Carey Codd/Sr. PIO
