Texas Suburb Inundated With 911 Calls From Residents With Homes Flooded by Burst Pipes

There have been so many calls in the suburb of Wylie, Texas, that 911 operator Julia Maschmann has started to sleep in the call center.

A torrent of urgent 911 calls are overwhelming police in Texas, where a historic winter storm pushed the state’s power grid to its limit, resulting in massive power outages. As pipes froze in the frigid temperatures, many of them burst and flooded residents out of their homes.

“The pipe has broke in my ceiling and it's flooding my house,” one caller said.

“I need help turning the water off at the street. I can't do that, and I've got pipes that have broken,” another caller said.

There have been so many calls in the suburb of Wylie, Texas, that 911 operator Julia Maschmann has started to sleep in the call center. 

“As far as our call volume goes, last Monday it was about 220 calls. This Monday it was over 1,000,” said Maschmann, whose own home is without power or water as well.

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