JACKSON, Miss. (AP) — 911 systems across Mississippi and Louisiana were down Thursday afternoon, authorities said.
The Mississippi Emergency Management Agency said AT&T was reporting damage to some of its fiber optic lines and that was affecting 911 services across the state. Across Louisiana, 911 phone lines are also down. The state’s most populous cities, including Baton Rouge and New Orleans, reported emergency system outages Thursday afternoon.
“We are assessing now as crews for AT&T are on the ground making repairs,” agency spokesperson Scott Simmons said.
“Our teams have dispatched and are working as quickly as possible to repair multiple fiber cuts, affecting 911 service for some customers in Louisiana and Mississippi. We understand how important these services are and appreciate the patience of our customers,” an AT&T spokesperson said in an email.
By 4 p.m. local time, some parishes in Louisiana were reporting that 911 service had been restored, and Simmons said parts of Mississippi were slowly coming back online but some problems remained.
By a little after 5 p.m. Eastern Time, Karl Fasold, executive director of Orleans Communication District, told The AP that New Orleans’ 911 system is “back to fully functional.”
He said he was hearing that other parishes’ systems were also being restored following what he described as an “accidental fiber cut.”
Law enforcement agencies across both states took to social media, urging people to call local phone numbers if they were experiencing an emergency.
Mike Steele, spokesperson for the Louisiana Governor’s Office of Homeland Security and Emergency Preparedness, said the agency “is standing by if there are any requests for and there have been no requests for local support from our parishes at this time.”
“Nothing I’ve seen indicates a cyberattack,” Steele said.
St. Tammany Parish Sheriff’s Office also reported its 911 and non-emergency lines “are down” according to an X post.
The Emergency Communications Center for New Orleans said on their social media page that the outage was due to the cutting of a 911 “fiber line.”
Baton Rouge Mayor Sid Edwards said most parishes in the state are being affected by the outage.
St. Tammany Parish Sheriff’s Office also reported its 911 and non-emergency lines “are down” according to an X post.
In southwest Louisiana, the Cameron Parish Office of Homeland Security and Emergency Preparedness urged people using “cellular devices” to contact a local number for emergencies due to a “massive phone outage.” But the agency said that calls to 911 via a landline “will still go through.”
Livingston Parish Sheriff’s Office is one agency where their 911 line is still operation. The department said in a statement that they use the “Next Generation 911” system – which is a “complete overhaul” of the current system, replacing “legacy copper wire technology.”
In the meantime, residents in impacted areas are urged to call alternative emergency service numbers, posted by law enforcement on social media, as needed.
