At approximately 5:45 p.m. on the evening of Monday, Sept. 8, Arrowhead Electric customers up the Gunflint Trail lost internet and phone services after lightning struck an underground fiber.
The lightning strike damaged approximately 2,000 feet of fiber, causing an outage for phone and internet subscribers from Soderberg Lane towards the end of the Gunflint Trail. Soderberg Lane is immediately north of Birch Lake near the Laurentian Divide sign.
Following the lightning strike, Arrowhead Electric dispatched fiber crews up the Gunflint Trail to locate the damaged fiber and build a temporary repair to restore services.
The fiber crews worked over 12 hours to resolve the issue and restore services, said Sara McManus, the Arrowhead Electric member services manager.
As of 7:30 a.m. on Tuesday, Arrowhead Electric was able to restore power to all impacted internet and phone subscribers.
McManus said that the lightning strike was isolated to internet and phone services, and power was not impacted, to Arrowhead Electric’s knowledge. Anyone without broadband or power should call the Arrowhead Electric office at 218-663-7239 and report the outage.