Gnawing beaver knocks out phones, services in Ark.

[June 14, 2008]  HOPE, Ark. (AP) -- A beaver took a nibble out of a fiber optic cable northeast of Hope and knocked out telephones and other services to part of southwest Arkansas. Rain washed away soil that had covered the line about 10 miles from Hope and the beaver bit through it early Wednesday.

AT&T spokeswoman Natasha Collins said the beaver-caused outage affected Ashdown, Bodcaw, Hope and Nashville.

Emergency officials say 911 calls had to be rerouted. A manager at a Hope Wal-Mart says customers could not pay with debit cards and that credit cards could be used for only small amounts.

A bill paying center was knocked out, and area gas stations were only able to accept cash.

Service went out at about 6:30 a.m. and was restored a little before 5 p.m.

[Associated Press]

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