GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. — The Kent County Sheriff's 911 center says they got about 500 calls in the first two and half hours of the storms.
For context, dispatchers generally take 500 calls in a full day.
Eric Hutchinson, assistant manager of the center, says around 25% of those calls were about things they can't help you with: power outages, how long it will take to fix them, and stoplights that aren't working.
However, there are several storm-related issues they absolutely want you to call them about.
Assistant Manager Eric Hutchinson says, "Typically we want to know about the wires down, fires, gas leaks, building collapses, trees down that are completely blocking the roadway. Especially at night. We want to make sure that the motoring public doesn't run into them. Any life-threatening emergency, we want to know about."
Hutchinson said they usually bring in extra staff to take those extra calls, and that Tuesday night's call volume was not unusual.
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