Telephone service has been restored in most of the north country, after problems Wednesday affected village police agencies and hospitals in Potsdam and Massena.

Emergency dispatchers in Jefferson and Lewis counties told 7 News overnight that phone service was mostly back, and Canton-Potsdam Hospital reported phone service came back about 3:30 a.m.

Our story from Wednesday...
 
St.  Lawrence County Emergency Services Director Marty Hassett tells 7 News an unknown number of customers have been affected by the disruption.

Hassett says a malfunctioning fiber optic line near Parish is believed to be behind the problem.

Because Gouverneur's EJ Noble Hospital and the village police department have no phone service, people in that community are asked to call 911 from their cell phones in the event of an emergency.

Hassett says it is unclear whether the fiber line was cut or was damaged by an electrical storm that passed through the area Wednesday afternoon.

John Bonomo, Verizon's director of media relations, said he believes this cut is between Parish and Pulaski. 

He said the effect is some customers receive a "fast busy" when they try to dial out. 

Others are able to make a call, but then it is blocked from completing.
 
He said Verison has crews of technicians assigned to find the cut. 

Bonomo did not have a number of customers affected.