WASHINGTON, N.C. — A power outage caused local, mobile and long-distance phone service in parts of eastern North Carolina to go down, including 911 service in some areas.

A spokeswoman for Sprint, based in Overland Park, Kansas, said the problem was a «power-related issue» affecting the 252 area code between Raleigh and Nags Head, Spokeswoman Kristin Wallace said she wasn’t sure how many customers were affected.

The emergency management director in Tyrrell County said phones, including 911 service, stopped working around 3 a.m. in all of Tyrrell and Washington counties. Williamston in Martin County was affected as well, officials said.

And emergency 911 service was out for about six hours, beginning at 3:30 a.m., in Chowan, Perquimans and Pasquotank counties.

Law enforcement officers in those area patrolled the streets and are looking out white flags and pillow cases as a sign of an emergency.

Much of the area was back up and running by late morning, Wallace said, but she didn’t have details. «It has to be a gradual restoration of service,» she said.

Mobile phone service was out as well because the signal from those phones bounces off towers that have fibers that are run by power. If the power is shut off, then the fibers and the tower don’t relay the signal.