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Storms cause phone, internet outages across city, county
By Laura Bacon
NT Staff Writer
The flooding caused problems with telecommunications across the area on Thursday.
Businesses around Atlantic were resorting to using cell phone numbers for customer calls when regular telephone lines failed, and officials at the Atlantic Area Chamber of Commerce said their phone lines went from not working at all to intermittent working in the morning.
Area residents calling 911 in emergencies found themselves reaching Montgomery County - or even other areas - as local 911 calls were rerouted after phone issues popped up. Thompson said 911 services were being rerouted, and other phone traffic was interrupted when flooding damaged a fiber optics line. “We’re not sure where,” he said, but noted that the company was working on finding the problem so calls could be rerouted.
Sarah Nelson of the Cass County Memorial Hospital said emergency calls for the hospital would still get through, thanks to cooperation between different emergency agencies.
She said residents needed to keep in mind that during Thursday’s phone problems, another county might answer their emergency call, and they should make it clear that they are located in Cass County.
Nelson said emergency calls were being coordinated through with the Emergency Management Center, so that there would be no gap in service.
“The Comm Center can talk to the hospital via radio,” she said, but noted that other phone traffic had been very inconsistent. Some local phone lines were working on Thursday, but cell phone service varied.
She said planning and cooperation of Cass County agencies was great.
“We just had a disaster drill in mid-May,” she said, and noted while the situations were different, “you learn what works.”
The important part is that “the different services all work well together,” she said.
She said that while situations might be difficult, frustrating and even annoying now, local agencies were working well together to keep all areas covered.
In times like this businesses and agencies had to “rethink their resources,” and she said pre-planning is important.
“What’s most important is how well our county agencies all work together,” she said.
“The cooperation and coordination in Cass County is excellent, it serves us all very well.”
Businesses around Atlantic were resorting to using cell phone numbers for customer calls when regular telephone lines failed, and officials at the Atlantic Area Chamber of Commerce said their phone lines went from not working at all to intermittent working in the morning.
Area residents calling 911 in emergencies found themselves reaching Montgomery County - or even other areas - as local 911 calls were rerouted after phone issues popped up. Thompson said 911 services were being rerouted, and other phone traffic was interrupted when flooding damaged a fiber optics line. “We’re not sure where,” he said, but noted that the company was working on finding the problem so calls could be rerouted.
Sarah Nelson of the Cass County Memorial Hospital said emergency calls for the hospital would still get through, thanks to cooperation between different emergency agencies.
She said residents needed to keep in mind that during Thursday’s phone problems, another county might answer their emergency call, and they should make it clear that they are located in Cass County.
Nelson said emergency calls were being coordinated through with the Emergency Management Center, so that there would be no gap in service.
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She said planning and cooperation of Cass County agencies was great.
“We just had a disaster drill in mid-May,” she said, and noted while the situations were different, “you learn what works.”
The important part is that “the different services all work well together,” she said.
She said that while situations might be difficult, frustrating and even annoying now, local agencies were working well together to keep all areas covered.
In times like this businesses and agencies had to “rethink their resources,” and she said pre-planning is important.
“What’s most important is how well our county agencies all work together,” she said.
“The cooperation and coordination in Cass County is excellent, it serves us all very well.”
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