LAUREL COUNTY, Ky. (LEX 18) — From Friday at 11:30 p.m. to Saturday at 9 a.m., the London-Laurel 911 center received over 600 calls for help as a tornado barreled through the area.
The volume of calls, combined with radio transmissions, resulted in more than 5,000 recordings—a staggering amount of communication between dispatchers, law enforcement, and locals throughout the night.
A spokesperson from the 911 center reported that the number of calls was so overwhelming and with too many disturbing details to share in their entirety, but they were able to provide a snippet of the audio from that night.
One caller described their home, saying, “Our roof is gone. The wall, the walls are gone. Half of our house is gone.”
Another caller frantically told the dispatcher, "We've been hit by a tornado. Our house has been hit,” while another said, “I can hear screaming."
The 911 center processed call after call from Friday night into Saturday morning. One person pleaded, "Please help me, please, ma'am, are you sending help?" Another caller reported severe injuries: “Both my legs are completely broken. My wife's hurting and we're in the basement.”
In the end, St. Joseph Hospital treated more than 100 patients for tornado-related injuries. Meanwhile, emergency responders focused on search and rescue efforts well into the morning.
One officer urgently requested assistance for a toddler and her mother injured in the tornado, saying, “I need an ambulance at the entrance to Sunshine Hill.”
Each call reflected the chaos playing out across Laurel County. One caller told 911, “I'm trapped. We're trapped in the hallway under a mattress, me and my girls, and my husband, I can't find him,” while another desperately searched for his wife, saying, “I was on the phone with her and I don't know what happened.”
