“Please help I’m stranded with my kids I need help fast,” a user wrote to the Houston Police’s account on Twitter.
“Our apartments are surrounded with water like an island we need rescue,” a woman pleaded.
“Please help us she a new born,” a woman wrote above photo of a sleeping baby.
Dozens of pleas like this spread across Twitter and other social-media networks on Sunday as Harvey continued its assault in southeastern Texas. Users included their street addresses, mostly in Houston, which received 25 inches of rain in the last two days. Some took to Twitter because they said they couldn’t get through to 911 and other helplines. Officials in Houston said 911 operators received more than 56,000 calls between Saturday and Sunday nights, a span of time that usually gets 8,000 calls. Emergency services received nearly 6,000 calls for high-water rescues, and more than 1,000 people have been rescued, officials said. In a tweet on Sunday, Houston Police asked anyone with a boat who can help to call the department, providing a phone number that was immediately swarmed with calls.
https://www.theatlantic.com/technology/archive/2017/08/harvey-rescue-twitter/538191/
Social Plugin