Emergency 911 phone services resumed normal operations for Indio police Thursday, but other portions of Riverside County, including Palm Springs and Cathedral City, continue experiencing 911 emergency service disruptions that apparently affected multiple cellular service providers, and it was unclear when it would be restored.
The emergency phone lines were reported down about 3:30 a.m. Thursday in Indio, according to the Indio Police Department.
The lines went back up as of 4:11 p.m., but there was no reason provided to explain the cause of the outage.
In Palm Springs, the 911 issue was reported shortly after 2 a.m. Thursday, according to the Palm Springs Police Department.
“We are aware of an issue affecting T-Mobile customers attempting to call 911,” police said.
Residents unable to reach 911 were urged to call the non-emergency dispatcher number at 760-327-1441, or T-Mobile customers can also text 911 in an emergency as texting to 911 is operational.
The Cathedral City Police Department advised residents to dial the non-emergency dispatch number at 760-770-0300 for assistance if unable to connect 911.
In Desert Hot Springs, police stated they were aware of “reports of wireless service disruptions affecting AT&T and T-Mobile customers.”
As of Thursday evening, the Desert Hot Springs Police Department’s 911 system remained operational, and they will continue to monitor the situation, police said.
“We are aware of an outage affecting some cellular users’ ability to call 911. If you have an emergency and cannot get through to 911, please call 951-776-1078,” a statement from the Riverside County Sheriff’s Department said.
The cause of the issue was not immediately known.