Residents in the greater Petersburg area are being warned of issues in reaching 911 related to a cellular service outage.
According to an announcement by the Menard County Sheriff’s Office this morning, AT&T is experiencing a widespread outage in the county. Officials say the outage appears to be affecting cell service, internet, and digital/VOIP phone service.
The issue appears to be the worst in the Petersburg area, and 911 testing has revealed that many cell phone 911 calls are rolling over to other counties. Initial reports indicate that AT&T is aware of the issue but anticipates it may not be completely corrected until sometime Friday afternoon.
The Menard County Sheriff’s Office is advising that in the event of an emergency, residents in the area who are affected by the outage should still dial 911 and if they are unable to reach Menard County, call the dispatch center at 217-632-2273.
Residents are asked to check the Menard County Sheriff’s Office Facebook page for updates which will be posted as more information becomes available.