Cell phone service, Internet service and most long distance telephone service was knocked out for hours after an alder tree fell into a high-capacity fiber optic line Monday afternoon near Port Ludlow.
Tens of thousands of users across the North Olympic Peninsula were unable to contact the outside world.
Calls to 9-1-1 in both Clallam and Jefferson counties had to be rerouted, but continued to get through.
Service was being restored by Qwest telephone workers and Puget Sound Energy workers Monday night.
The tree also downed power lines, causing a power outage in the Port Ludlow area.
Internet service that could be rerouted was operational for some users by 9:30 p.m., about five hours after the tree fell.
But for others, including many high-speed DSL users across the Peninsula, service was still down Monday night.
Most cell phone service was still down through the evening, or, in the case of Verizon, calls were being rerouted — with the extra expense of roaming charges — through Victoria.
The outage affected Verizon and at least three other cellular telephone service providers — Cingular, Sprint and T-Mobile.
Land-line long distance service between Port Angeles and Port Townsend was available, although it was hit and miss.
A check by a Peninsula Daily News reporter showed that automated teller machines at some banks were dead.
Washington Mutual, Bank of America and Safeway ATM Network machines were working.
But those at American Marine Bank and US Bank weren’t, the check showed.
Some private-brand ATMs in retail stores weren’t operating.
Hit and miss
“It’s affecting long distance, but it’s sporadic,” said Qwest spokeswoman Shasha Richardson in Seattle, reached by the company’s customer service center in Colorado.
“It’s a diverse line, so we can reroute traffic, but some calls may not be able to get through because of the volume.”
Customers at Albertsons and Safeway still could use their credit and debit cards — but not their electronic Quest stamp food cards.
Chevron Food Mart customers also could use credit and debit cards to buy gasoline and food, but their Quest cards wouldn’t work to buy food.
Saar’s Marketplace Foods customers in Port Angeles could use only their credit cards.
The cash registers and electronic payment systems at the Blockbuster Video store and AM/PM service station in Port Angeles were working, as was the Automated Postal Center at the Post Angeles post office on First Street.
Tree fell at 3:45 p.m.
The alder tree, estimated by a bystander at 12 inches in diameter, fell into the line at Paradise Bay Road and Andy Cooper Road south of Port Ludlow about 3:45 p.m. Monday, Richardson said.
It was not immediately known what caused the tree to fall.
Richardson said the severed line knocked out cellular telephone service as well as long distance telephone service because cellular calls is only only good from the cell phone to the nearest tower.
Once the cell call gets to the satellite tower, signals are transfered via land lines, she said.
Qwest technicians had to wait for Puget Sound Energy workers to shut down the adjacent power line before work could begin on the fiber optic line, Richardson said.
