Read "A Town is Drowning" by C.M. Kornbluth online for free on Textopian. Full text with search, annotations, highlights, and AI-powered reading aids.
The burgess of Hebertown wasn't having any luck with his call to the weather bureau. Because he was the burgess, he had got his own line to the central office back in service; but the central office was having a hell of a time getting through to any point outside.
If he had got through, he wouldn't have had much luck either, because there were plenty of lines down, but practically all the ones that were left were trying to get onto the same three instruments in the bureau's outer office.