HAWAII ISLAND: Hawaiian Telcom says all services were restored to impacted customers at 11 p.m. Saturday night.

The company’s fiber cable on Mamalahoa Highway near Hualalai Ranch was cut during Saturday’s severe weather event. The break was discovered at 3:30 p.m. “Technicians located the damaged cable in a remote wooded area that is full of trees,” reported Hawaiian Telcom at 6:25 p.m. “High winds are believed to have snapped the 36-pair fiber cable.”

About 20,000 customers between Waikoloa and Pahala were without landline phone service for several hours. Internet was down for about 5,000.

“Hawaiian Telcom technicians must first clear the trees before pulling in about 350 feet of cable,” wrote Hawaiian Telcom in a media release. “Once the cable is placed, each end must be painstakingly spliced. Technicians will work through the night to ensure service is restored by tomorrow.”

This was the second outage for Hawaiian Telcom customers in less than one week. On Feb. 11 a fiber cable break was discovered on Mamalahoa Highway near the intersection to the Daniel K. Inouye Highway. A contractor transporting a grader snagged and severed a 36-strand fiber cable.