The Nation - News from May 23, 1988

A mysterious power surge that went undetected for six hours knocked out telephone service to about one-fifth of North Carolina, forcing hospitals and police to rely on radio communications. About 130,000 Southern Bell customers were without service at the peak of the outage, which began at about 5:30 p.m. Saturday, but most lines were restored by early Sunday, Southern Bell District Manager Bob Freedman said. The outage affected phone traffic in a 120-mile stretch of the state--from Boone in the mountainous northwestern corner of the state to around Rockingham in the south-central region--including Charlotte, North Carolina’s largest city. Local calls as well as long-distance service were disrupted. Authorities said ham radio operators set up their equipment in hospital emergency rooms to direct doctors and ambulances to people in need of help. Radio stations announced special phone numbers set up for emergency calls.