NY1 VIDEO: On March 31, 2006, following a long court battle, New York City officials released 911 telephone recordings from the September 11th terror attacks. Cheryl Wills' report explains how the tapes provided a glimpse into the chaos and confusion that overwhelmed the city's emergency response system.

NY1 FOLLOW-UP: By the time the tapes were released, the city had already embarked on a major overhaul of the 911 emergency response system, largely in response to failures that occurred during the city's 2003 blackout. The project ended up years behind schedule and a billion dollars over budget – but today police, fire and EMS operators are in one location and on the same computer system. City officials say the new system is designed to handle calls at a rate of 50,000 per hour, which is nine times more than were received at any time during the September 11th attacks.