I'm glad they're OK.

Emergency and Urgent Calling Information
(Hopefully useful trivia from a 33-year phoneman)

On those rare occasions when your long distance call fails due to "all
circuits are busy" or a "reorder" (a FAST busy signal ~120cpm), simply trying
the call again in five minutes isn't going to get you through.

You must HAMMER-dial the call.  That's where you repeatedly dial the call, one
attempt IMMEDIATELY after the last.  It's sorta like you're trying to get
through to be the million-dollar winner.

The big difference is that, in a disaster, the overwhelming traffic on the
network is going to continue for hours, days or (God forbid) weeks.  The only
way you'll get through without waiting hours or days is to hammer-dial your
call.  By hammer-dialing your call, you may very likely get through after only
a minute or two of such work.

Now here is where a little common sense and consideration for one's fellow man
must be used:  If your call is to ascertain the physical condition of a loved
one or good friend, by all means hammer away at your earliest opportunity.  If
your call is of lesser urgency (Is my neighbor's dog OK? Is the shopping mall
intact?), you might let the "fire" die down a bit before hammer-dialing your
way through.

"Hammer-dialing" a call physically hurts NOTHING.  Modern switching equipment
can easily shed excess traffic.  Another thing to realize is that a telco
switch can ALSO be programmed to give switching priority to OUTGOING calls.  
This is often done during the first hours and days following a disaster so
that outgoing calls for help will complete on the first try more often than
inbound calls.

Slow Dialtone - Get in line.  First come, first served.

If you pick up a phone after a bad storm or emergency, but there is NO
dialtone, and you have checked all the other phones in the house and they're
all OK and hung-up properly, STAY on the line.  Dialtone will be doled-out to
your line much in the same manner as standing in line, waiting for theater
tickets.  Hanging up and trying again a few minutes later, if the emergency is
bad enough, may still present you with slow dialtone (no dialtone when first
picking-up the receiver):  You will have gone "to the back of the line".

Wireless (cell) phone?  All bets are off.  I don't own one.  I do, however,
use one a lot:  The company pays for it while I fix and otherwise work on that
OLD network:  Copper pair.  I am of the opinion that the wireless network is
rather flimsy with regard to its level of durability during the aftermath of a
severe storm or disaster.  It takes a LOT for the "stuff" buried in the ground
to be damaged.