Cable Bahamas Deploys Team to Assess Network post Hurricane Irma
“Restorations efforts underway on all impacted islands”
NASSAU, THE BAHAMAS (Wednesday, September 13th) — Cable Bahamas executive and COO, John Gomez asserts that the communications giant was pleased to see the rapid restoration of REV services for customers that experienced disruptions in their services over the weekend due to the effects of Hurricane Irma on the islands of Eleuthera and New Providence. Gomez confirmed that ten percent of the nodes were impacted in New Providence and forty seven percent impacted in Eleuthera. The executive continued that, “within twelve hours of the ‘All-Clear’ being issued, all impacted nodes were restored.”
He advised REV customers on all islands that the continued gusting winds could bring down cable lines and loosen connections that lead to their homes. However, the executive assures customers that “our teams are on the ground and resolving any issues that they come across. We understand that this can be an extremely anxious time and customers want and in fact need their REV Internet, television and phone services so they can be connected to their loved ones and keep up to date with what’s happening. Our teams know our mandate and are prepared to do what it takes to ensure our customers have service.”
According to Gomez, “while we are pleased with the progress so far in Eleuthera and New Providence, we anticipate a longer process on some of the other impacted islands. In many instances we will have to wait until downed poles and power lines are restored before we can even initiate connection.” Further, “ We know that our network was impacted on the islands of Bimini, Inagua, Grand Bahama, Mayaguana, Moore’s Island, Ragged Island, and Rum Cay but it is still too soon to provide a comprehensive report.” The CBL executive continued, “We had technical teams scheduled to visit Long Island and Inagua early Sunday morning to begin an initial assessment of the damages but weather conditions delayed the journey. This just demonstrates the fluidity of the situation.” The technical team was deployed to Inagua and Long Island on Monday morning once flight conditions improved to begin assessment and then restoration of the network.
The Company confirmed that they “have node outages in Grand Bahama due to widespread commercial power outages and observed some downed lines resulting from Sunday’s tornadic activity.” Gomez indicated that his teams were in constant communication during that time and were relieved that staff had taken all precautionary methods to maintain their well-being. “Safety is of top priority,” the COO stated, “Once NEMA issued the All-Clear though, our technical crews were deployed and began ground assessments and restoration in tandem with the local utility company. ”
Gomez apologized for any issues impacting the network that are as a result of severe weather systems like these and encouraged REV customers to reach out to the company and report any issues they are experiencing.