Emergency 911 lines across Louisiana and Mississippi went dark for hours after multiple AT&T fiber cables were severed, leaving millions without direct access to life-saving services. From Baton Rouge to Jackson, calls were rerouted, lines crashed under heavy strain, and residents were forced to rely on backup numbers. Though service has now been restored, the outage exposes how fragile America’s emergency infrastructure remains and how quickly chaos unfolds when critical communications fail.
Service has been restored after widespread 911 outages disrupted emergency calling systems across Louisiana and Mississippi on Friday afternoon. The outages, which lasted several hours, were caused by multiple AT&T fiber optic cables being severed. Officials said the disruptions affected several Mississippi counties, including the capital Jackson, and multiple Louisiana parishes, reaching the state’s largest cities Baton Rouge, Shreveport, and New Orleans. AT&T confirmed late in the day that services were back online and apologized for the disruption, emphasizing how critical emergency communications are.
Emergency officials had warned of a “regional impact” earlier in the day, with residents advised to call alternate numbers or non-emergency lines while 911 service remained unavailable. In Forrest County, Mississippi, calls were rerouted through the National 911 Call Center before being transferred back to local non-emergency lines, some of which crashed under the increased strain. In Shreveport, police reported a surge in calls to their non-emergency dispatch lines. Other affected areas included Jefferson and Tangipahoa parishes in Louisiana, where authorities reassured residents that even if they encountered busy signals, their calls would still be logged and returned.
Mississippi Gov. Tate Reeves and Louisiana officials later confirmed full restoration of 911 service, while AT&T said teams had worked “as quickly as possible” to repair the cuts. Officials in both states said there is no evidence to suggest the fiber damage was intentional or malicious. Outages were also reported outside the region, including in Fulton County, Illinois, though local officials confirmed those, too, were resolved. Verizon noted its landline customers were unaffected, and other providers have yet to comment. The incident highlights the vulnerability of critical infrastructure and the challenges emergency services face when communication systems unexpectedly go down.
