Pensacola 911

Florida state emergency officials have begun airing public service radio and TV ads that replay "frantic 911 calls from residents who were trapped in Pensacola-area homes during Hurricane Ivan in 2004." The ads are part of the state's "Get A Plan" hurricane preparedness campaign.

Among the audible calls are some of these, as transcribed by Southwest Florida's Herald-Tribune:

"Water is all over the house, our roof is completely caved in," one panicked woman says. Another says all her neighbors had evacuated and pleads, "Please, tell me what to do."

Typically, the 911 operators respond that there's nothing to be done until the storm passes.

The ads supposedly are being run by Florida commercial broadcasters as a public service. That generally means they'll be sandwiched in between infomercials around 3 to 4 a.m.

Apparently, the ads are running most frequently in central and south Florida. No one we know is keeping track of all the airings.

If anybody hears the ad, please let us know, would you? We'd like to know how far our recorded voice has carried.