Authorities have disclosed widespread 911 service disruptions affecting residents across several regions, including segments of South Dakota, Nebraska, Texas, and Nevada, as well as Las Vegas.
On Wednesday night, a significant outage impeded residents’ ability to contact the 911 emergency number in Las Vegas, southern Nevada, certain areas of Nebraska and Texas, and the entirety of South Dakota, as stated by local authorities.
In Las Vegas, both landline and mobile calls to 911 were unsuccessful, as indicated by the Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department via social media around 7:30 p.m. However, dispatchers were able to observe attempted calls from mobile phones and would initiate callbacks to affected residents. The department noted that text messages to 911 remained functional.
The outage extended to southern Nevada, as confirmed by the Nevada State Police.
Local police departments in various locations, including Dundy County, Kearney County, Howard County, and Fremont in Nebraska, along with Del Rio in Texas, also reported similar outages.
The South Dakota Department of Public Safety addressed the situation via social media, stating that the outage had statewide implications. Despite the disruption, residents in most parts of the state could still utilize text messaging to contact 911, in addition to reaching out to their local police and county sheriff offices via nonemergency phone lines, according to the department’s announcement.
