Widespread 911 outages hit four states

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At least four states experienced 911 service outages on Wednesday evening before service was restored later for some areas, yet it remains unclear as to what caused the interruptions.

Law enforcement agencies from South Dakota, Texas, Nebraska and Nevada announced that outages had occurred in multiple cities, but it was not immediately clear what exactly caused these interruptions.

Police departments in the states all reiterated similar issues, that 911 calls appeared to be down on cellular carriers, but that landlines could still reach the service, along with texting the emergency number still operating in many areas.

Del Rio Police Department in Texas reported that an outage with a “major cellular carrier” was affecting residents who were trying to call 911, and stated 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.”

The South Dakota Department of Public Safety said in a statement that it was “aware of a 911 service interruption throughout the state,” but later added in an update that the service had been restored.

While the outage was ongoing, the department clarified that texting 911 was operating in most locations, but if someone discovered an outage in their area, they said citizens can still reach their local police and county sheriff offices emergency services using their non-emergency lines.

Authorities in Sioux Falls and Rapid City announced on their Facebook pages their 911 services started working again, after it appeared that they were experience a “state wide” 911 outage.

Chase County in Nebraska also reported similar 911 outages to the other states as well.

“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 until they updated citizens two hours later to say that the 911 service had been restored, but did not add a reason as to why the outage occurred or how the service was able to be restored.

“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 said on Facebook before the service resumed.

However, similar to South Dakota, the department said that 911 was still operational via text.

“All of the individuals who called during the outage have been called back and provided assistance, the police said once the service appeared to be functioning again. “Non-emergency calls are also working. As always, please do not call 9-1-1 unless you have an emergency.”

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