A Storm Hits! The Winds Blow! Lights Go Out! The Streets Flood! Who Do You Call?

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In Maine there's a saying that if you don't like the weather, wait a minute. Mother Nature proved her fickle ways Thursday when a mild, wind-driven rain storm soaked the region. This on the heels of frigid cold temperatures that would have created blizzard-like conditions the week before.

When winds are gusting at over 50 miles-per-hour and rains are pouring down, trees start cracking, power lines start snapping, and roads start flooding. Communicating all that chaos so the appropriate people can respond with help is the responsibility of your regional dispatchers. When you call 9-1-1 for an emergency you expect that information to be relayed in an accurate and timely manner. When it's a busy day because of a storm or other emergency, dispatchers have a tremendous amount of things to focus on and juggle.

Thursday, the Penobscot Regional Communications Center easily doubled their capacity of calls according to Executive Director James Ryan. He says the dispatchers came in early for their shifts and left late so they could support one another as the calls for help kept rolling in. He says they worked as smoothly as a "Swiss clock."