Phone Service Back in Eastern Kanawha

Telephone service to Verizon customers who use the 595- exchange was restored just before midnight Monday, company spokesman Harry Mitchell said.

Service to customers in the East Bank area was disrupted Monday when a section of fiber-optic cable in the area was cut.

Before repairs were made, customers who use the 595- exchange could not dial out or receive calls from outside their exchange, emergency officials said. But customers with that exchange could still call each other, Verizon spokesman Lee Gierczynski said.

Several thousand customers were affected.

During the service outage, calls to 911 for emergency help were being routed to the Kanawha County Emergency Ambulance medic station in East Bank. Personnel there were in contact with Metro 911.

Kanawha County Commission President Kent Carper requested the county’s Emergency Operations Center be activated.

He also asked for extra staffing in the area by the Kanawha County Sheriff’s Department, West Virginia State Police, and Kanawha County Emergency Ambulance Authority due to the potential for a delay in response due to the service outage.

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