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Dispatchers in TN, MO & KY are Freezing!
Send them a little 911 CARES warmth!

From Missouri: My name is Mashelle Novak I am a Communication Officer for Sikeston Dept. of Public Safety- Sikeston, MO. We are currently under a state of emergency due to a major ice storm in Southeast Missouri. We are a town of apprx. 19,000 with our own power plant. We have been without power since Tuesday night. Until yesterday there were no grocery stores, gas stations or restaurants available. We have 10 dispatchers and have been moved to a 12 hour rotation with no days off in sight. Half of us working 6am-6pm and visa versa. At this time they can not estimate when the city will be restored to full power or when we will return to our regular schedule and get any days off. We have had limited showers when we couldfit in at a fire station and have so far not been able to do any laundry. Some of us have been sleeping at the station on army cots or at other dispatchers houses on couches who have generators. Most of us are young dispatchers and have never experienced anything like this. Myself and one other co-worker have small children which we have not seen in days. I went to an active shooter class you put on in St. Charles, MO last spring and this seemed like a situation that merited an email to you guys.

Thank you so much for your time,
Mashelle Novak
Sikeston Dept. of Public Safety
Communications Division

From Tennesse: I left a voicemail for you regarding a much needed 911 Cares activation for Northwest Tennessee and Western Kentucky. We are in a disaster area due to an ice storm which began Monday night and lasted until Wednesday evening. Two of the small towns in our county reportedly look like war zones, and as of yesterday morning 8,400 people were without power in the rural areas of Obion County alone. Lake County Tennessee had NO POWER. West Kentucky has NO PHONE SERVICE. We can radio our neighbors at the dispatch center in Fulton Kentucky, but they have no contact with any of their neighboring counties. There is no gasoline, no kerosene, no propane. People from Kentucky are now in our county, and some of our gas stations are running out of fuel. Electricity may not be restored for weeks in some cases.

The hardest hit counties include:

TENNESSEE: Lake Obion

KENTUCKY: Ballard, Calloway, Carlisle, Fulton, Graves, Hickman, Marshall, McCracken

Some of our responders have had little rest in the last 72 hours. Please remember all of these folks in your prayers and thoughts.

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