Updated at 3:36 p.m.
By Sharyn L. Decker
Lewis County Sirens news reporter
A road construction crew working near the freeway exit ramp by the Outlet Mall cut CenturyLink’s communications cables, causing a loss of service to more than 1,000 customers in Centralia.
The issue came to light yesterday morning and there is no estimated time of repair yet.
The outage is affecting landline phone service and Internet service, but not cell phones, according to company spokesperson Brian Dalessi.
Dalessi said technicians are working on the problem, but it’s a very involved and complex fix.
“Unfortunately, it’s pretty large copper trunks and two fiberoptic cables,” he said this morning.
Lewis County 911 Manager Craig Larsen said their system based in Chehalis is not affected, except that any person in Centralia without phone service can’t call them, unless they use a cell phone.
One large customer, the Centralia School District, is working to create alternate ways for parents and others to contact the schools if they need to.
District spokesperson Ed Petersen indicated he learned of it about 10 a.m. yesterday, and the best estimate he’s heard so far is it could continue at least until Sunday.
People trying to call them get just a busy signal, Petersen said.
Dalessi said he notified the news media yesterday evening to try to get the word out, to reassure the public technicians are working to isolate the problem and restore services as quickly as possible.
He said he understood the damage was related to the Interstate 5 construction project, and the outage is mostly west of the freeway.
Eleven hundred and seventy two residential and business customers are affected, he said.
Dispatchers at the Lewis County 911 center suggest anyone who is unable to contact them to report an emergency ought to use a cell phone to dial 911 or contact their local fire or police department.
They ask also that members of the public take a moment to check on neighbors, friends or relatives who could be affected by the outage to make sure they are safe and secure.
And further, they ask anyone who sees, hears, or becomes aware of any alarm or emergency or other need for police, fire or medical aid, to please call 911 immediately if they can.
Tags: By Sharyn L. Decker, news reporter
I looked up Wave and they said, “We do not currently provide service to zip code 98531 [Centralia].”
Century link is not the cause of this outage. It was caused by not knowing where the cables are and digging there anyway. It is the fault of either the contractor or the locating company. Glad I’m not getting the bill.
Centurylink is the worst cable / internet provider so I switched to WAVE BROADBAND
Do We the Peeps get to pay for an easily avoided catastrophe?
‘Call Before You Dig’ means ALL existing utilities w/in the right of way are verified w/ documentation, and drawn to scale as part of the Contract Plans.
If the contractors did not read the Utility Plans, they’re full blown, lazy idiots.
If the plans were not checked, ditto for the Engineers.
But. If Century Link provided bad location data, they better pay for the damage.
Wilbur I agree. I hate Century link so much I created a user name with shithead in it and their name. Now when my account pops up it says welcome shithead. It is funny but it reminds how lousy their customer service is. I bet Century link hits the municipality with a bill for repairs.
That’s pretty funny, “No phones, Internet for 1,172 Centralia customers”. If they have CenturyLink service to begin with they get ripped off in the first place, and don’t get good service anyway. Want to watch a 10-minute video? Go make a sammich during those three 5-minute interruptions. Are you late on a payment? CenturyLink disconnects service immediately even if you are a business, and have called them. Try getting through their phone system and gauntlet of operators to try to get service or place a complaint. They will hang up on you all day long. CenturyLink sets a high standard for other evil corporations to follow. Unfortunately I’m forced to use chitty CenturyLink, but as soon as I can find another Internet provider I’m gone.
well its a small price to pay for that wonderful freeway project which is going to do littler to ease any traffic in the vicinity of the project-I thought maybe their would atleast be 3 lanes, but doesn’t really look like that is going to happen, but at least there is better off freeway access to wallmart from Centralia, and that wonderful trail which hardly has anyone on it