Interesting account in tonight's Washington Post on the collapse of the 911 system in northern Virginia following the storm (72 hours later and its still not back to normal).

Includes info on the cell outage which is still occurring (couldn't even get a two word text message to go through on Saturday in Arlington).

http://www.washingtonpost.com/local/afte...JW_story_2.html

After storm, 911, phone service remains spotty

Fairfax County’s 911 emergency center operated at just half capacity Monday as Verizon struggled to figure out why both its primary and backup power systems failed after Friday night’s storm and left much of Northern Virginia without 911 service through the weekend.

Callers with medical and safety emergencies caused by soaring temperatures, power outages and downed electric cables received either rapid busy signals, recorded messages saying the line was inoperative or dead silence, even after Verizon’s service was restored, local officials said.
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