Residents of at least three states were unable to place an emergency 911 call Wednesday evening after states and cities reported they were experiencing 911 call outages.
Local law enforcement took to social media Wednesday evening to inform residents that 911 emergency calls were not working in South Dakota, Nevada and Texas.
Social media reports initially indicated that eight states were affected by 911 outages. Other states mentioned were Florida, Kentucky, Nebraska, Iowa and Wisconsin. This led many followers on social media to discuss a possible “purge.”
It got to the point that the Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department tweeted that they were aware of outages across the country and that their 911 system was working well but would continue to monitor its availability.
Here are reports from the three states that, in fact, lost 911 coverage overnight Wednesday into Thursday morning in parts, if not all, of their borders.
South Dakota:
South Dakota's entire statewide emergency call system experienced an outage Wednesday evening, Rapid City police said.
“911 SERVICES OUT STATEWIDE: South Dakota State Radio has informed us that 911 services are currently down statewide,” the department announced on X.
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A person dials 911 from a cell phone. (iStock)
Nevada:
Cities as large as Las Vegas, Nevada, also experienced widespread outages.
“Dial 911 on a mobile device, we will be able to see your number and will call you back immediately,” Las Vegas Police (LVMPD) said. “Calls to 911 from landlines are NOT working at this time. There is no estimate for restoration.”
Las Vegas Metropolitan Police announced the 911 outage Wednesday evening. (Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department)
At 12:15 a.m. Thursday, LVMPD announced that 911 phone service had been restored.
The city said it called everyone who tried to call during the outage.
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Dundy County, Nebraska and surrounding areas experienced outages, the sheriff's office said in a Facebook post.
A 911 call center responds to an emergency call. (Tony Giberson/[email protected] / USA TODAY)
Texas:
Several Texas cities also experienced outages, including Del Rio and Kilgore.
The Del Rio Police Department said the outage was an issue with the “transporter” and the city's systems.
“We are aware of an outage at a major wireless carrier affecting the ability to reach 911,” the department announced. “This issue is with the carrier and not with the City of Del Rio’s systems.”
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The Kilgore Police Department posted on Facebook that it was experiencing intermittent outages and urged residents to call 903-983-1559, extension 1, to report any emergencies.