News from Hughes: Revisiting the Cable Break

by Margie Doyle

Council Member Rick Hughes

Orcas Council Member Rick Hughes looked surprisingly relaxed for a week in which he admitted to getting little sleep – last week, when the breakage of a CenturyLink marine cable resulted in multiple outages in telephone and internet services throughout the county. On Friday, county government decided to declare a state of emergency in order to start the process of federal assistance in our communications “disaster.”

Hughes took the time, amidst trips to Friday Harbor to meet with regional media, conference calls patched together among county police, Fire and Rescue, Department of Emergency Management personnel and County staff, to meet with Orcas Issues to recap how events played out from his perspective, beginning Tuesday morning, Nov. 5.  That day started “just” as an Election Day, the deadline for local district, county and Washington State elections.

Many people had trouble getting online, and strangely enough, telephones also seemed to be down. At 10 a.m. Orcas Fire and Rescue sent out a message notifying people that CenturyLink was experiencing outages; 911 service was down and people experiencing emergencies should call its local number. By mid-afternoon, it became clear that the communications problems were widespread and severe.  Ham radio operators on Orcas and Lopez Islands were staffing emergency headquarters to provide communications.

By mid-afternoon, it was announced that a marine cable between Lopez and San Juan Island had broken, disrupting all technologies that rely on CenturyLink’s connections.

People publicly and privately worked together, Hughes said. He credits the work of the local fire departments and the county Sheriff’s office even above county efforts. “It showed how reliant we are on each other first to solve problems, before we look for help from ‘big’ government,” said Hughes.

Emergency 911 service was set up with mobile dispatch units and the Sheriff’s office sent dispatch officers to all the islands. Orcas Fire and Rescue posted emergency phone numbers at local businesses, schools and the Senior Center; Fire and Rescue Chief O’Brien sent communiqués to island media to post on their websites.

All businesses that were hooked up to OPALCO’s  fiber optic Island Network are fine, Hughes said. “I understand the pickle CenturyLink is in – we’re remote and it’s expensive to do business here.

“But they have to be able to provide consistent and guaranteed service here.”

“We on Orcas didn’t feel the pinch they way they did on San Juan Island – they didn’t have internet at all, it affected their banks, their pharmacy banks, etc.”

“While it might be inconvenient, we’re a pretty hardy group here. People figure out how to adopt. That’s what I love about living here: the resourcefulness of neighbor helping neighbor.”

On last Wednesday night, November 6, Hughes joined about three dozen other islanders to go door-to-door to make sure people knew their neighbors were okay. Hughes picked one of the most remote areas – out past Olga to Doe Bay to Shorewood, where his family has had property for generations. Hughes said, “If I can direct traffic, or put up signs, or go door-to-door so that I can relieve a trained person to do their job – well, someone’s got to do it. Why not me?”

On Thursday, Hughes traveled to San Juan Island for county business. On Friday, he attended the public school’s Veterans Commemorative Service before meeting via teleconference to pass the emergency ordinance that starts the process of bringing federal and insurance assistance to the county.

Immediately ahead are plans to debrief, “to discuss what we learned, and what we must do better.”

Also ahead are annual budget decisions, shoreline master plans, and continued work on Hughes’ pledge to simplify, localize and streamline county government. “News from Hughes” will run each Monday on Orcas Issues.  Comments from the public are always welcome.