Fiber Damage Vexes Verizon After Hurricane Michael

Hurricane Michael has caused such extensive damage to the fiber that underpins Verizon's wireless network that it has stymied the carrier’s efforts to restore service to parts of the hardest-hit areas of the Florida Panhandle. Verizon’s network suffered “an unprecedented amount of fiber damage” in those areas during Hurricane Michael, said spokeswoman Karen Schulz. Wireless service problems have persisted for the carrier in parts of Panama City, Panama City Beach and Mexico Beach. Fiber is a crucial part of modern wireless networks, but it can be damaged by heavy winds and flying tree limbs and other debris. Verizon, the largest US wireless carrier by subscribers, had aerial and underground fiber in the area damaged by Michael. “Our overwhelming problem is fiber,” said Schulz. Even as the carrier repairs some fiber, recovery and cleanup efforts can cause trees and debris to create new cuts, she said. A number of mobile cell sites the carrier deployed to help restore service are also reliant on fiber, which has further delayed service restoration.