Tornadoes in Tennessee impacted TDS services in Wayne, Perry counties
Massive debris, along with ensuing rains and flooding, led to an extended service outage for some customers in Lutts, Tenn.
Tornadoes struck southern middle Tennessee on Dec. 23. Ensuing rains and flooding — along with massive amounts of debris from the tornadoes — slowed efforts to restore phone and Internet services for about 20 of TDS Telecom’s 2,500 business and residential customers throughout Wayne and Perry counties.
According to Bobby Montgomery, TDS’ local Field Services Manager, “Our technicians were on-site almost immediately. They worked around-the-clock to restore services to Lutts and all parts of Wayne and Perry counties affected by these Tornados until all customers throughout the region had service restored.”
In the Lutts area, the tornado/flooding combination wiped out the power poles, which TDS connects to in order to provide services to some homes. The storm also severely damaged the building which houses TDS’ communications equipment for the area. In addition, the building was without commercial power, but all equipment remained in-service via generator, which meant services were up-and-running for most customers in the area.”
“We made every effort to make sure as many customers had service as possible,” Montgomery stated. “However, the main cable route in Lutts is aerial and it goes through the middle of the community, along the power lines. With the broken power poles, flooding and debris clean-up efforts, the power company’s attempts to repair the poles were thwarted. Our restoration efforts were dependent on their progress.”
On Dec. 30, the power company was able to complete their pole restoration efforts at which time, TDS technicians and contractors could begin the final phases of their restoration efforts. This included rebuilding the main cable through Lutts in order to restore the remaining customers’ phone and Internet service.
“Before the New Year, all customers had their services back up and running,” Montgomery stated. “We appreciate the patience of the community during this extended-outage.”
