911 emergency lines down across Mississippi and Louisiana, authorities say

911 systems across Mississippi and Louisiana were down Thursday afternoon, authorities said.

The Mississippi Emergency Management Agency said AT&T was reporting damage to some of its fiber optic lines and that was affecting 911 services across the state. Across Louisiana, 911 phone lines are also down. The state's most populous cities, including Baton Rouge and New Orleans, reported emergency system outages Thursday afternoon.

"We are assessing now as crews for AT&T are on the ground making repairs," agency spokesperson Scott Simmons told The Associated Press.

Officials were notified a little after 1 p.m. local time Thursday afternoon that there were problems with the 911 calls, authorities said at a news conference. Officials said after 1:35 p.m., there was a major fiber cut that resul