CenturyLink customers in Jemison and Thorsby currently have no telephone access to anyone outside their area, so residents should make arrangements other than calling 911 in the case of an emergency.

Chilton County 911 Director Dan Wright said a fiber optic cable was cut.

Some customers in the area have no dial tone and cannot make any calls, but most customers in the area can make local calls. For example, people whose home telephone numbers begin with “688” can only call other 688 numbers. People whose CenturyLink home telephone number begins with “646” can only call other 646 numbers.

The situation is only affecting CenturyLink customers in Jemison and Thorsby.

CenturyLink spokeswoman Carmen Butler said the company expects service to be restored by 6 p.m.

“Crews are on site working as diligently as possible to get that back up,” Butler said.

Because of the limited telephone access to numbers outside their areas, Jemison and Thorsby residents should call their respective police departments in the case of an emergency.

The phone number for the Jemison Police Department is 688-4491 extension 312, and the phone number for the Thorsby Police Department is 646-3575.

“As of right now, CenturyLink customers have no 911 access,” Wright said. “We are working to get that resolved but do not have a timeline right now.”

Wright said officials are unsure how the cable was cut but that it happened shortly after 8 a.m.