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Law enforcement agencies in at least four states reported 911 service interruptions Wednesday evening, and service was later restored in some areas.
Authorities in South Dakota, Texas, Nebraska, and Nevada announced outages in multiple cities, but details about what was causing the outages were not immediately available.
The South Dakota Department of Public Safety said it “is aware of a 911 service interruption throughout the state,” the agency said in a statement. Later, the department said service had been restored for the South Dakota 911 system.
“Our emergency system is fully operational and ready to respond promptly to any situation,” the department said on Facebook. “Your safety is our top priority, and we are here to ensure help is just a call away whenever you need it.”
During the outage, the department had said: “Texting to 911 is operating in most locations. If these methods are not working in your location, citizens can still reach their local police and county sheriff offices emergency services using their non-emergency line,” the department said.
“Efforts are underway to resolve the issue,” the department added
Officials in Sioux Falls and Rapid City reported their 911 services started working again, they said on their Facebook pages. The Rapid City Police Department urged residents to “utilize 911 services only if an emergency exists.” The City of Sioux Falls said residents could again call or text 911 in case of emergencies.
In Texas, the City of Del Rio Police Department said it was aware of an outage with a “major cellular carrier” affecting residents’ ability to reach 911, emphasizing that “the issue is with the carrier, and not the City of Del Rio systems.”
“Our emergency services remain operational,” the police department said. “If you cannot reach 911 via your mobile, please use a landline or another carrier. We are actively monitoring the situation and will provide further updates as they become available.”
Portions of Nebraska, including Chase County, reported outages as well. Officials in the state’s capital city of Lincoln, however, told CNN their 911 system is operational and not affected.
“911 is down across the State of Nebraska again for all cellular carriers except T-Mobile,” Chase County said in a Facebook post. “Landlines can still get through to 911.”
The Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department earlier reported the same outage issue and said there was no timeline for resolving the matter, but about two hours later said that 911 service had been restored, without immediately detailing the reason for the outage and how the restoration came about.
“Dial 911 on a mobile device, and we will be able to see your number and will call you back right away. 911 calls from landlines are NOT working at the moment,” the department initially wrote on Facebook. “There is no estimate for service restoration.”
During the outage, the department said residents could text 911 instead and urged people to keep the 911 system available for life-threatening emergencies.
“911 phone service has been restored,” the department said later Wednesday night. “All of the individuals who called during the outage have been called back and assisted. Non-emergency calls are also working. As always, please do not call 9-1-1 unless you have an emergency.”
All who called during the outage have been called back and provided assistance, the police department said.
