Gopher to blame for Centurylink Outage [telecom]

open original image

A CenturyLink fiber cable was severed early Saturday morning in Sedgwick County, CO after a gopher chewed through the cable. This caused disruptions to voice and Internet service in Ovid and Julesburg. CenturyLink crews began searching for the severed cable Saturday morning and eventually found the cut in a field about four miles from Ovid. Crews had to cut through several feet of frozen ground to locate the severed cables before they could begin to splice the eight-strand cable and restore the services.

Services effected included the county's 911 system, business credit/debit machines including those at the gas pumps, and ATM.

Service was restored around 8:45 Sunday evening.