Break in water line disrupts university's telephone service

Work will continue through the night Wednesday in an effort to restore telephone service on the Southeast Missouri State University campus.

Southeast officials said three of the four cabinets housing the university's telephone switching equipment were damaged after a water line break on the first floor of Serena Hall early Wednesday morning flooded the telecommunications switch room.

With only one of the cabinets housing the switching equipment remaining operable, only sporadic and intermittent telephone service was available Wednesday for some lines on the south part of campus, officials said.

A shipment of replacement cabinets that house the telephone electrical equipment was expected to arrive Wednesday evening, with a second shipment expected to arrive early Thursday morning. Installation will begin immediately.

Officials anticipated telephone service will be restored by late Thursday afternoon or Friday.

Until telephone service is restored, students, parents and visitors should continue to check the university's Web site, www.semo.edu, for updates. Students, faculty, and staff are asked to check e-mails frequently for information about the outage.

The university switchboard is operating and can be reached at 651-2000. In the event of an emergency, people should call the university's Department of Public Safety at 651-2215 or 911. However, these numbers may be out of service sporadically due to the disabled equipment.

Callers who are unable to connect to the Department of Public Safety are asked to call the Cape Girardeau Police Department at 335-6621. The Cape Girardeau Police Department can redirect calls to the Department of Public Safety.

Since the water line break may have disrupted fire alarm alerts to the Department of Public Safety, callers should telephone the department or the Cape Girardeau Police Department to notify them if a fire alarm sounds in a campus building.