PORTLAND, OR (KPTV) -
City officials say about two-thirds of emergency calls failed during Portland's water-boil alert.
An overloaded phone system and busy signals on some lines were said to be the reason for the call failures.
The alerts went out last Saturday for people living on Portland's west side because of E. coli concerns.
Officials say Portland's alert system is only designed to reach people in Multnomah County.
Calls went out to those who registered for emergency alerts through the public alerts website, and land lines from the phone company records.
The public is encouraged to sign their cell phones and emails up to receive alerts at http://PublicAlerts.org.
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