Severe weather, including damaging winds, rain, and tornadic activity, passed through the southwest Georgia area on Thursday, April 23rd. The severe weather caused damage to power and telecommunication networks throughout the area, affecting many CNSNext customers. As soon as the weather passed and it was deemed safe to do so, CNSNext staff immediately deployed to assess the damage and begin repairs to bring customers back online.
“CNSNext staff always work as quickly as possible to restore service to customers when outages occur,” said Don Atkinson, Chief Executive Officer of CNSNext. “During severe weather events, our team is in constant communication to determine action plans and solutions for our customers, with the goal to make sure all customers are restored as soon as possible.”
Preliminary reports showed large scale outages in all service areas, many due to downed lines and tornadic activity. “Crews were on the ground assessing plant damages almost immediately,” said Atkinson. “They continued to work around the clock until all services were restored to all customers. Oftentimes, we find that telecommunications outages are a result of electrical outages and, in those cases, our teams are on-site and ready to work as soon as power teams deem it safe to do so.” While major damages were avoided in many areas, significant damage was experienced on the plant level in some communities. “Several nodes in the Pelham and Moultrie areas were impacted by the weather, which caused modem outages for many customers, as well as limited fiber outages. Despite the damage, the majority of our customers were reconnected quickly and safely.”
Repairs and restorations continued throughout the night and into the weekend. “Our staff did an amazing job of working quickly and safely to get the majority of our customers restored within 24 hours,” said Atkinson. “Due to the extent of the damage in some areas, many of these restorations were very complex operations. This weekend, a few areas were still being worked on as we awaited the replacement of broken poles and other infrastructure by various electric providers. As soon as it was possible, we restored services in these areas as well. Our customers are our number one priority, and we strive to be the timeliest and most responsive telecommunications company in the business. We are proud to offer our customers the very best in service, no matter the weather.”