As Hurricane Irene moved up the east coast, 311 customer service technologies and social media helped citizens stay in contact with their city governments for important messages about storm preparation. The District of Columbia received a spike in 311 calls for sandbags. Philadelphia Mayor Michael Nutter actively encouraged people to use 311 for storm information, and said the 311 call center would stay open 24 hours a day through the duration of the storm. New York City called for a mandatory evacuation for low lying areas and citizens could call the city’s 311 center for location of evacuation centers.
Virginia Beach was expecting a category 2 storm. The call volume to the city’s 311 system before the storm was extremely high. During the storm on Saturday, August 27, the volume was much lower than anticipated but it was still higher than normal. On Sunday, the volume was up again starting in the morning but by mid-afternoon the volume was leveling out.
The city’s online chat volume was up significantly. City officials think one of the reasons that the call volume was lower than expected is due to posting updates through the city's Facebook and Twitter accounts. These social media sites had a lot of followers during this event.
The city of Hampton, Virginia, had also had higher than normal call volume to its 311 center during the storm and significantly higher volume in the two days prior to the storm. Once an automated message about storm information was recorded on the 311 system—only 15 seconds before they get to 311 operators— calls starting dropping off as citizens got the information they needed and hung up.
With the help of their 311 system, Hampton was better prepared for Irene than they were for Hurricane Isabelle in 2003, which brought lots of devastation to the area. City officials knew what to expect and could stay ahead of calls and issues, and residents were better prepared and knew what the city could and would do.
In Virginia Beach, the intensity of the storm was lower than expected, but the community still had to deal with flooding and down trees and power lines. The city’s 311 system allowed residents to report issues and stay informed.
Non-emergency 311 service is a local telephone exchange communications service that allows telephone customers to reach non-emergency local government services by dialing an abbreviated telephone number, 311. 311 traffic is routed over the public switched network to a call center designed by the local government. The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) has reserved 311 for non-emergency access to public services.
311 service is optional and may be purchased by a municipality, a council of governments, a communication district, another state or local governmental unit, or an authorized agent of one or more municipalities or other state or local governmental unit to whom authority has been lawfully delegated. The customer must be legally authorized to subscribe to the service. 311 is offered subject to the availability of facilities.
New Toolkit Helps Local Governments Plan How to Use 311 in Emergency Response and Recovery
During a crisis when residents want information and want it fast, 311 systems can help deliver it and take the burden off of 911 in the process. This toolkit features articles, interviews, webinars, and other tools and resources for communities wanting to make the best use of their 311 system before, during, and after an emergency or disaster.
Produced by ICMA and the 311 Synergy Group with technical assistance and support provided by the U.S. Department of Justice, Office of Community Oriented Policing Services (COPS Office). Financial support provided by the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation.
The toolkit is available for download on our website here. To order a free DVD of the new toolkit from the ICMA Bookstore, click here.