Photo courtesy of HI CERT
As of Monday afternoon, Dec. 18, a communications outage is affecting internet, cell phone service and landline phone service on southern Hatteras Island and Ocracoke Island.
According to an update from Hyde County, the outage was caused by a downed cable, and technicians were unable to immediately access the site Monday due to flooding in the area. Repairs are expected to continue through Tuesday, December 19.
Meanwhile, the Hatteras Island Community Emergency Response Team (HI CERT) has installed a mobile communications trailer equipped with the Starlink satellite system at the Hatteras Fire Station in the Village of Hatteras.
The nonprofit HI CERT has been working for much of 2023 on a new initiative to provide communication stations at strategic points across the island for the public to use in the event that phone or internet service goes down.
The station, which was installed Monday in Hatteras Village, is the first mobile station to operate on Hatteras Island, and residents and visitors can drive up to the mobile trailer location to access the internet.
“HI CERT due to Brightspeed line cut and phone outage [has our] “Free Starlink Wi-Fi access has been installed at the Hatteras Fire Station,” the organization said in an update Monday afternoon. “Please feel free to use it for browsing the web or making Wi-Fi calls.”
“We would like to extend a special thank you to Hatteras Fire Chief Jeremy Hicks for his accommodations and assistance. [in] Boot the system.
To learn more about the new communications station and HI CERT, click here
