Cable One suffers hurricane-related losses

Cable One, which has the cable franchise for Joplin, took a beating during the third quarter, thanks to Hurricane Katrina, according to the quarterly report filed earlier this month with the Securities and Exchange Commission by its parent company, the Washington Post. According to the report:
"The Company’s cable division was significantly impacted by Hurricane Katrina in the third quarter of 2005. About 94,000 of the cable division’s pre-hurricane subscribers were located on the Gulf Coast of Mississippi, including Gulfport, Biloxi, Pascagoula and other neighboring communities where storm damage was significant. Through the end of the third quarter of 2005, the Company recorded an estimated $9.9 million loss of property, plant and equipment, incurred an estimated $4.2 million in incremental clean-up, repair and other expenses in connection with the hurricane, and experienced an estimated $4.4 million reduction in operating income from granting a 30-day service credit to all its 94,000 pre-hurricane Gulf Coast subscribers; additional costs related to the hurricane recovery will continue to be incurred in the fourth quarter of 2005.
"The Company has property and business interruption insurance that is expected to cover some of these losses. The Company has not recorded any estimated insurance recovery amount as of the end of the third quarter of 2005 as the Company is in the early stages of preparing its insurance claim."