CHESAPEAKE
About 3,000 South Norfolk homes have been without phone service for almost a week, after the nor'easter flooded one of Verizon's cable vaults.
About 6,300 people in the South Norfolk area lost phone service when the vault got soaked, said Verizon spokesman Harry Mitchell. The company dried off some of the wires, but those that got too saturated must be repaired - a "very labor-intensive" process, Mitchell said.
The company has restored service to about half of those who lost it in South Norfolk and hopes to complete the task by the end of this weekend, Mitchell said. Overall, about 11,000 customers in Hampton Roads lost service during the storm; Verizon has restored service to about 7,000, Mitchell said.
Verizon set up phone banks at 1414 Guerriere St. that affected customers can use for local and long-distance calls at no charge. A sign at the phone banks Wednesday said there was a five-minute limit on calls.
Norfolk Highlands resident Paul Shaw, 84, has been without phone service since late last Thursday afternoon, leaving him unable to call about his medicine. He lives a good 10-minute drive away from the call center and said Wednesday that he didn't know it existed.
Shaw said he was told Verizon would have the problem fixed by Monday.
"I stayed home all day Monday waiting for them," he said.
Jimmy Norton, who lives a block away from the call center, was happy to have his service restored Monday.
"I have a 72-year-old sister in Los Angeles who was petrified because she couldn't reach me," he said. "I call her every night. She was getting ready to call the Chesapeake police to see if I was still alive."
Shaw conceded one perk of being without a phone.
"At least I don't get the nuisance calls," he said.
Pilot writer Vicki Friedman contributed to this report.
Alicia Wittmeyer, (757) 222-5216, alicia.wittmeyer@pilotonline.com
Delicious
Digg
Reddit
Facebook
Google
Yahoo
