Fallen tree blamed for knocking out phone, Internet on Hawaii island

Phones and Internet service were knocked out for nearly 20 hours on the Big Island’s west side when a tree damaged a Hawaiian Telcom fiber-optic cable.

The outage began at 5 p.m. Sunday. Service was restored late Monday morning.

Hawaii County Civil Defense administrator Darryl Oliveira tells West Hawaii Today (http://bit.ly/19wCqxF) that the cable near Waikoloa was damaged 1.5 miles off Highway 190.

Hawaiian Telcom spokeswoman Su Shin says a road to the cable was partially washed out and a crew had to hike the last half mile carrying repair equipment.

County fire officials asked volunteers to patrol roads to assist motorists who had problems but could not make calls.

Police on Monday stationed officers at Kau schools so officials could contact emergency services if a student needed help.

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