Page 2 - Rescue Portion News Today : Breaking News, Live Updates & Top Stories | Vimarsana

Specifically talk about 911 in a few minutes but i want to focus on the rescue portion. chief. >> thank you, mayor. the houston police department since remains in a tactical alert posture with all of our officers a minimum of 12-hour shifts. we've handled 56,000 calls for 911 services since our operational period that began at 6:00 p.m. on friday. to date we've completed the rescue of 2,000 houstonians and members of our community. and as of this moment, as of this press conference we have approximately 185 critical rescue requests that are still pending. our goal today with our partners at th...

Assistance, okay? 311 is another avenue if you can't get through. what we recommend is that when you call 911, stay on the line. don't hang up because that just creates more calls, it creates more work because our dispatchers are now calling back these numbers. so if you call 911, stay on the line and we will address your issue. thanks. >> so from midnight to where we are today, the fire department has rescued 290 and we fully recognize there are many other people that are out there in distress situations and we intend to get to every one of them. i'll have someone specifically talk about 911 ...

Rescue mission with fog. did that contribute at all to what occurred last night? >> that's part of the investigation that's ongoing. >> we heard -- you did mention up top, debris was spotted. we know -- at least we have a trail. in terms of the rescue portion of this operation the term used by andrew borlan last hour is extremely challenging. how would you characterize it? >> i would say the same right now because the sun is not up yet. our beach is several miles of coastline. we don't go what it looks like out there. >> are there black boxes in these choppers? >> i don't have that information...

Do not hang up. if you hang up, you go back to the bottom. don't hang up. we will get to you. the calls are coming in through 911. the staff need to make sure they are operating at full capacity and once they come in, they are in the queue and they are forwarded into the fire department, police department, whatever the department is to deal with them and then we'll work through that. again, on the rescue portion, the emphasis, rescue people, especially seniors, those with disabilities, those with life threatening situations. that is the focus and the goal is to get to them before the day is ou...

75,000 calls this morning, processed and served. >> so big emphasis on 911. we want to assure people we will respond to them. do not hang up. if you hang up, you go back to the bottom. so don't hang up. we will get to you. so the calls are coming in through 911. whatever staffing we need to do to make sure we're operating at full capacity, we want to make sure we do that. once they come in, they are in the queue. they are forwarded then to houston fire department or police department or whatever the department is to deal with them, then we'll work through that. again, on the rescue portion. es...