GEORGETOWN, S.C.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--

Hurricane Matthew’s powerful winds and torrential rains caused a wide variety of issues in South Carolina and North Carolina. Commercial power outages are widespread and high water remains a concern.

As of 8:00 a.m. today, of the 22,000 Frontier customers impacted by the loss of commercial power, roughly 18,000 are in service using the company’s backup generator plan. In North Carolina, approximately 600 customers are on generator power due to the loss of commercial power.

“Matthew was a significant hurricane, with winds ranging up to 105 miles per hour in South Carolina and strong winds, rain and flooding in North Carolina,” said Mike Flynn, Frontier’s Southeast region president. “I am proud of how our network and emergency response teams performed for our customers.”

Frontier’s call forwarding program for customers in South Carolina is continuing. Residential and business customers can maintain their connection to their home or business phone using the call forwarding feature – if it’s not part of their Frontier phone services, Frontier will provide those South Carolina customers the call forwarding feature free for 30 days. Customers may call 800-921-8101 to request the call forwarding service. Many customers with bundled services may already have the feature. Normally the monthly charge for variable call forwarding for residential customers is $3.55 and $6.85 for business customers.

Operations teams in South and North Carolina are assessing the condition of the network and determining where repairs may be needed due to downed poles or other storm damage. Beginning today, about 40 reinforcement technicians from Frontier’s Florida operations will assist with recovery, bringing additional generators to use in locations that need power while waiting for the main power source to be restored.

Overall, Frontier’s network performed exceptionally well. Storm management provisions implemented by the company’s Emergency Response Center, including the installation of flood gates in vulnerable central offices and other storm contingencies, protected key elements of the network and helped maintain service for many customers. Frontier worked with state Emergency Response team to ensure key governmental officials had up-to-date information about the storm’s impacts to its network.

Commercial power losses are still being experienced in the Carolinas, with hundreds of thousands without power, according to state safety officials. This impacts Frontier as well, although Frontier’s central office and network redundancy plans, using backup generator power, are allowing customers to utilize their telecommunications voice services as usual. Generally Frontier maintains a three-day supply of fuel for generators in emergency situations, with plans in place to supplement that as needed.

Frontier will continue to coordinate with state agencies and the power companies and address service issues as conditions allow.

About Frontier Communications

Frontier Communications Corporation, a Fortune 500 and S&P 500 company, is a leader in providing communications services to urban, suburban and rural communities in 29 states. Frontier offers a variety of services to residential customers over its fiber-optic and copper networks, including video, high-speed internet, advanced voice and Frontier Secure digital protection solutions. Frontier Business Edge offers communications solutions to small, medium and enterprise businesses. More information about Frontier is available at www.frontier.com.

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