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County call centers staying busy with overflowing questions from residents

Posted at 10:45 PM, Sep 10, 2017
and last updated 2017-09-10 22:45:04-04

CHARLOTTE COUNTY, Fla. -- Emergency officials in counties up and down the state are tirelessly staying on call to answer questions for residents dealing with Hurricane Irma.  We take a look inside the Charlotte County facility, where call takers are fielding thousands of calls.

Those callers have had questions about flood zones, evacuations, open shelters, and more.

Officials say the call volume did decrease Sunday as the storm moved through, thanks to the large number of evacuations.  But nearly 5,000 call were taken on Saturday, bringing the total up to about 17,000 calls.

The all-volunteer staff of 12 people have been rotating shifts to keep the phones manned at all times.