Contractor cuts Haha'ione Valley phone lines

By Curtis Lum
Advertiser Staff Writer

Telephone service to thousands of residents in Haha'ione Valley was cut off yesterday afternoon, and a Verizon Hawaii official said she didn't know if service would be restored in time for Mother's Day, one of the busiest days of the year for long-distance calls.

Verizon spokeswoman Ann Nishida said a contractor doing underground work damaged a telephone cable on Hawaii Kai Drive fronting the post office at about 3 p.m. That affected about 3,500 phone lines, mostly to residential customers, she said.

Nishida said crews will be working round the clock to repair the cable. But she said phone service will be out for at least a couple of days.

The failure couldn't have come at a worst time, with the busy Mother's Day weekend coming up. Nishida said Verizon hopes to have service restored by then.

"With Mother's Day being on Sunday, our guys will be out there 24-7 until service is restored. We're just kind of leaving it open at this point, but it probably will take several days," she said.

Verizon will allow customers to forward calls to their cellular telephones until service is restored and has provided cell phones at several of the condominiums in the valley for emergency use.

Nishida said a pay phone at the Oahu Club on Hawaii Kai Drive will be available free.

Residents wishing to take advantage of the forwarding service should call 611; businesses can call 643-6633; and cellular users can call 1-800-483-1000.