Why 911 calls weren’t working in Sumter Wednesday

Calls made on cell phones to Sumter’s 911 Wednesday night were temporarily unavailable.

Around 9:30 p.m., the Sumter Police Department reported that the emergency number appears to be operating normally.

During the height of traffic issues related to the winter storm, some cell phone users were unable to get through, the police department said. The issue appears to have been related to the volume of calls coming in to area cell phone towers.

Services provided by the 911 Center weren’t interrupted as it continued to receive emergency and non-emergency calls from landlines and some cell phone users, according to the police.

Should 911 fail to work, emergencies can be reported to the Sumter Police Department by calling 803-436-2700.

This story was originally published January 3, 2018 at 10:03 PM with the headline "Why 911 calls weren’t working in Sumter Wednesday."