Hurricane Isabel Takes Its Toll On Virginia Cable Systems

Cable World, Sept 29, 2003

Byline: K. C. NEEL

Hurricane Isabel may have only been a Category 1 storm, but it cut a swath of damage that took experienced cable executives by surprise.

"The damage is the worst I've ever seen, and I've lived through hurricanes and earthquakes," says Thom Prevette, VP, governmental affairs, for Cox Communications in Hampton Roads, Va.

Most operators began preparing for the storm at least a week before Isabel's arrival. Adelphia's VP, operations, Dell Hanley and his team secured equipment that could withstand the wind and rain and lined up contractors to repair any resultant damage.

Cox had 3,000 standby generators at the ready to keep its own plant going, Prevette says. However, downed power lines were commonplace, which left most people without service; 95% of Cox's 420,000 customers in Hampton Roads lost service. One week later, Cox had restored service to 80% of its customers. Prevette figures that number will jump to 90% by the first week of October.

Cox's Northern Virginia system wasn't hit as badly as its neighbor to the south. At the height of the hurricane, 54% of Cox's 250,000 customers in Northern Virginia were without service, according to Alex Horwitz, Cox's director of public affairs. Service has been restored to 99% of its customers.

About 80% of Comcast's customers in Richmond, Va., were without service in the storm's aftermath. A tornado tore through the city four days after Isabel's departure, says Jaye Gamble, SVP-Washington Metro/Virginia region. Even so, about 85% of those customers have service now, he says. Comcast has repaired 4,100 drops so far and has replaced 56 miles of plant in Richmond alone.

About 10% - or 100 miles - of Adelphia's plant was damaged in the storm, Hanley says. Hanley figures it'll cost more than $1 million to rebuild the plant. Some 250,000 Adelphia customers were initially affected by outages. As of Sept. 23, only 23,000 were still without service, he says.

Most operators brought in reserves to help repair the damage. Cox tech crews from around the country headed to Hampton Roads before the storm hit the shores of the Outer Banks. Many are still working to put the system back together, Prevette says.

Moreover, all non-front-line personnel are answering the phones at Cox's local call centers. The Hampton Roads center received 55,000 calls in the first 72 hours - several times the normal load - following Isabel's knock at the front door, Prevette says. Cox's Fairfax system also received double its normal call volume, Horwitz says.

Comcast handled the call center volume, which was two to three times the normal number of calls, a bit differently, Gamble says. Non-storm-related calls were rerouted to other Comcast call centers around the country. All storm-related calls were handled locally. Even so, he says, 90% of the calls the system received were answered in 30 seconds or less.

The MSO has 300 crews from as far away as Chicago working to repair the damage in Richmond. While things are back to normal in the Washington metropolitan area, it'll probably take another two weeks before things are back to normal in Richmond, Gamble says.

Adelphia also has extra hands on duty - both internal and hired contractors - to rebuild damaged plant, Hanley says. "We have total support from our regional and corporate offices," he says. "Everything I've asked for I've gotten to get the system back up and running properly."