Palm Coast City Hall and 3 Schools Lost Internet and Phone Service Thursday and Friday in Accidental Cable Cut

Last Updated: March 39, 12:01 p.m.

Through no fault of their own, Palm Coast City Hall, Matanzas High School, Indian Trails Middle School and Belle Terre Elementary School lost their internet connections Thursday and will not regain them until Saturday, upending workflows, testing, access to online textbooks, lesson plans, records and other critical data and requiring many city employees to work from home. 

The service cut also affected phone service at the city and in the schools, forcing employees to rely on cell phones and hot spots and preventing parents from reaching schools if they needed to, though the schools provided other options. 

The cut did not affect Palm Coast’s customer service phone lines, which operate independently of the internet. 

“Crews worked all night and are continuing today until the project is complete and service is restored,” Palm Coast Communications Director Brittany Kershaw said, meaning Saturday morning. Some city employees work on weekends.  “We are anticipating a complete repair by tomorrow morning.”

The city and schools lost their Fibernet connections after a subcontractor severed the city’s Fibernet line along U.S. 1. by mistake during digging operations,  Kershaw said. Fibernet is the City of Palm Coast’s high-speed internet service, which serves the city and the school district, among other customers. 

There was uncertainty as to which contractor was responsible for the cut, which occurred on the west side of U.S. 1, just south of Wellfield Grade and the weigh station. The city initially thought it was a Florida Department of Transportation subcontractor.

Cindi Lane, the DOT’s communications director for  DOT’s District Five, which includes Flagler County, said on Friday that DOT did not appear to be involved, attributing the cut to DBI, a subcontractor for Florida Power and Light that was doing directional bore work to install a light pole in the same area–precisely across from the northbound weigh station, where repair work was ongoing this afternoon. By Monday (March 30), however, Lane said that in fact, the work was part of a DOT project–the resurfacing of U.S. 1 from Palm Coast Parkway to Pellicer Creek–and that a DOT subcontractor, P & P, was digging a hole to install a sign, and cut the fiber. Kershaw and the city had attributed the cut to a DOT contractor initially. 

Meanwhile work has been ongoing to fix the cable. “We had to call in a contractor to come in and repair the line,” Kershaw said. The contractor, Corona, Calif.-based HP Communications, has been working at the site to restore service. 

In the three affected schools, which serve more than 3,500 students between them, instruction continued Thursday and today, but with significant changes, including the rescheduling of all testing requiring internet access, Don Foley, the district’s communications director, said. 

“Many of our classrooms regularly incorporate textbook and paper-based learning, allowing teaching and learning to proceed with minimal interruption,” a district statement issued in response to FlaglerLive’s questions said. “In place of internet-based activities, teachers have adapted lessons to include offline strategies, including independent reading and other engaging, non-digital work. All critical operational areas of the schools, including the front office, clinic, and guidance services, remain functional and are utilizing individual hotspots to maintain essential services.”

The statement credited the “flexibility and professionalism of our faculty and staff, who have quickly adjusted to ensure students remain engaged in meaningful learning to round out the week.” 

The severing of utility, internet or other underground lines is rare but has been occurring in this county every few months, notably with two contractors’ accidental severing of water mains in Flagler Beach last year, and the more frequent severing of neighborhood internet lines by builders or other contractors, including at times the very contractors hired to install or maintain the lines. When it happens to local governments, the governments typically seek reimbursements, as Palm Coast intends to do. 

“In the instance where it is found to be warranted to seek reimbursement from responsible parties for damages to City property, the City will do so and will do so vigorously in order to best protect the financial interests of the taxpayer,” City Manager Mike McGlothlin said.  

The cost has not yet been determined as repairs are ongoing. “We are working towards adding more redundancy so that this situation would not have such a sweeping impact in the future,” Kershaw said.