Severed Phone Line, 911 Outage

EMERGENCY PHONE AND LONG DISTANCE SERVICES IN OELWEIN AND OTHER NORTHEAST IOWA COMMUNITIES ARE BACK ONLINE, AFTER SEVERAL HOURS WITHOUT THE SERVICE.

ACCORDING TO THE OELWEIN POLICE DEPARTMENT, CENTURYLINK ADVISED THEM OF PHONE ISSUES WITHIN THE CITY OF OELWEIN, STARTING LATE MONDAY MORNING OR EARLY AFTERNOON.

THOSE RESIDENTS WITH EMERGENCY SITUATIONS WERE ASKED TO FIRST CALL 911, AND IF THE CALLER GETS A BUSY SIGNAL, THEY SHOULD HANG-UP AND CALL THE OELWEIN POLICE DEPARTMENT'S NON-EMERGENCY TELEPHONE, AT 319-283-4311.

IT WAS LEARNED THAT A FIBER OPTIC CABLE WAS SEVERED, IN THE INDEPENDENCE AREA. CALLS WITHIN CITIES WERE GOING THROUGH, AS WELL AS CELL PHONE CALLS, BUT NOT LONG DISTANCE AND 911.

A CENTURYLINK SPOKESPERSON SAID THE CUT AFFECTED CUSTOMERS FROM OELWEIN TO CALMAR; SOME IN THE DECORAH AREA ALSO REPORTED AN OUTAGE.

SOMETIME LATE LAST (MONDAY) NIGHT OR EARLY THIS (TUESDAY) MORNING, THE SEVERED LINE WAS REPAIRED, AND REGULAR PHONE SERVICE, INCLUDING EMERGENCY NUMBERS, ARE NOW WORKING.

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