The widespread damage caused by Wednesday's wind storm turned into the first real test of a fairly new system of dispatching emergency workers.

While it's hoped the system isn't used often, it was deemed a success.

Instituted about a year ago, the Service Call Overload Plan codesigned by Cherokee County's E- 911 and Emergency Preparedness departments goes into effect when major events like Wednesday's wind storm result in increased call volumes to the county's E-911 dispatchers.

In Wednesday's case, it lead to the opening of the county's Emergency Operations Center and the transfer of non-emergency 911 calls from the E-911 dispatchers to the staff at the Emergency Preparedness Department.

"They've got a full-time job when things are normal," Emergency Preparedness Director Rick Peterson said of the E-911 dispatchers.

By routing non-emergency calls for things like downed trees to the Emergency Operations Center, that frees up the E-911 dispatchers to handle real emergency situations like fires, medical calls and urgent police matters.

Peterson said the Service Call Overload Plan also helps free up the emergency radio frequencies used by police, firefighters and medical personnel, since the Emergency Operations Center can communicate with personnel in other ways, even by cell phone.

The Service Call Overload Plan has been used in several other instances in the past year, most notably during lighting storms. But this was the first time it was used during a prolonged event.

Call volumes were heavy from Wednesday morning until Wednesday evening, when winds finally started to dissipate.

"This has been the best test of the plan since we put it in place," Peterson said.

He said he saw some areas that needed improvement, primarily in the handling of paperwork during the day, but overall thought it went smoothly.

"It really helped us out a lot," said Delisa Coggins, director of Cherokee County E-911.

While she hasn't yet had time to compile a report on the day's activity, Coggins said, "I can assure you it was one of the busiest days we've had in a while."

While there were some minor "bugs" that will be worked out, she agreed the plan operated well.

"Everything went smoothly as far as I know and everything got handled perfectly," she said.