Update: 911 Phone Service Restored In Sioux Falls, Minnehaha County

Published on April 17, 2024

Update (10:45 a.m., Thursday, April 18): The cause of the outage remains under investigation. Any updates will be provided in future news releases and news conferences.

Update (11 p.m.): Metro Communications 911 services have been restored. In case of an emergency, call or text 911.  

The City of Sioux Falls will host a press conference detailing the 911 call outages in Minnehaha County and the City of Sioux Falls at 10:00 AM tomorrow. The public can tune in at https://www.facebook.com/CityofSiouxFalls.

Previous News Release

911 Phone Service Down In Sioux Falls, Minnehaha County

Update (9:50 p.m.): Metro Communications remains unable to receive 911 calls in Minnehaha County and Sioux Falls as of 9:50 PM on Wednesday, April 17, 2024. In the event of an emergency, call 605-367-7000 or text 911. 

911 call outages appear to have impacted additional cities and counties across the United States this evening. The cause of the outages is currently unknown, and there is not an estimated time for restoration. 

Do not call 911 to check for updates. Please keep our system available for life-threatening emergencies. An update will be shared when 911 services are operational.

Wireless Emergency Alerts

The City of Sioux Falls Emergency Management notified residents in Minnehaha County via the WEA system at 9:02 p.m. Wednesday, April 17. FEMA has provided the following information about WEA and why some may not have received the alert:

If someone near you received a WEA and you did not, it may be due to inadequate cell reception, or because when on a call, some mobile phones will not show an alert — this varies by make and model.

Not receiving an alert may also be because your mobile phone is:

  • Set to “off” or “airplane mode”
  • Not connected to a cell site broadcasting the alert
  • Connected to a cell site that is not broadcasting the alert, undergoing maintenance or is out-of-service
  • Connected to a Virtual Private Network (VPN)
  • The device is opted out of receiving alerts. The location of the alerts opt-in/opt-out menu typically is in the notification settings menu.
  • If your mobile phone continues to receive the same WEA over and over it is most likely an issue with the device. Mobile phones should ignore subsequent re-broadcasts of a WEA but sometimes a device gets stuck in a loop repeatedly alerting for the same WEA. Powering off the device and turning it back on may help.

For more information about WEA, visit the Federal Communications Commission website.

Tagged as:
Back to top