Internet, telephone, cable, cellular and 911 emergency service was restored to the Watson/Hamburg area late Friday.

Atchison County Emergency Management Deputy Director Mark Manchester says a fiber optics line recently exposed by rapidly moving floodwater “washed away” sometime Friday morning.

Emergency management officials turned to the only means of communication left to them: text messages.  Spotty cell phone service made that prospect a dodgy one.

A text at 9:54 a.m. read:  “911, cable, internet, telephones, cellphones out in Watson and South Hamburg.  Cell phones have spotty service.”

That was followed very soon by this “…Fiber optic cable washed away and Rock Port Telephone working diligently on repairs.”

The incident appears to have had little effect except in that specific area of Northwest Missouri and Southwest Iowa.

Manchester says the telephone company anticipated the line would eventually give way, so they’ve been working on a new line, along a drier route. That installation was nearly complete when the existing line washed away, Manchester said.

He says repairs will take several hours, and estimated service would be restored sometime Friday evening or Saturday morning.

Return here for additional details as they become available.