Flooding at an AT&T communications hub in San Rafael on Sunday evening temporarily knocked out cellphone, landline and 911 service in multiple cities and communities in Marin County, in what authorities called an "unprecedented event."

The San Rafael Police Department said the outage began at approximately 8:30 p.m. and lasted for several hours. The Novato Police Department, which was not impacted by the outage, began receiving San Rafael's emergency landline 911 calls at around 10 p.m. and wireless 911 calls about 45 minutes later, police said.

By 11 p.m., Verizon was able to reroute all 911 calls to the San Rafael Police Department's emergency dispatch center, and by 1 a.m., AT&T reported the outage had been resolved, with 911 calls operating normally.  

The outage affected the Police Department and community members' landlines, wireless service, and intercom systems, police said. Some cellular calls were able to connect to the California Highway Patrol networks, but many residents were unable to make any calls, police said. The Petaluma Police Department also reported a potential 911 outage at around midnight, which was also resolved by 1:15 a.m.

During the outage, two San Rafael residents came directly to the Police Department to report that their cellphones were not functioning, and one person arrived to report that their relative was in an accident on the freeway, police said. 

There were no major fires or police incidents reported during the outage. 

"Some customers in the San Rafael area may have experienced a service disruption earlier today due to water damage in one of our facilities," said an AT&T spokesman in a statement to CBS News Bay Area.

"The San Rafael Police Department extends its appreciation to its Communications staff, Support Services personnel, partner agencies, and the community for their patience and cooperation during this unprecedented event," the department said in a press release.  

Neither AT&T nor the Police Department identified the location of the AT&T facility that flooded. Police told CBS News Bay Area it declined to identify the location because of the sensitive nature of the equipment involved.

Police spokesperson Lt. Scott Eberle told CBS News Bay Area that the department was working with AT&T to address any residual effects from the outage, and so far, none have been found. Eberle also said the department was still determining if there were any missed emergency phone calls during the outage, and as of Monday afternoon, none have been discovered. 

The flooded AT&T facility happened during a weekend of rainy weather combined with king tides in the region, which led to flooded streets, homes, and low-lying areas across the North Bay, forcing road closures and business shutdowns.