MEMPHIS, Tenn. (AP) — Arctic weather brought more misery to much of the U.S. on Saturday, especially for people unaccustomed to such bitter cold in places like Memphis, Tennessee, where residents were urged to boil water and some had no water. Not at all after freezing temperatures caused water pipes to break across the city. Temperatures are not expected to rise until after the weekend.
The weekend's breezy weather comes after a series of storms over the past week that killed at least 55 people across the country, many from hypothermia or road accidents.
So many water pipes broke in Memphis that water pressure dropped throughout the city and the water supply appeared to be contaminated. On Friday, Memphis Light, Gas & Water urged all of its more than 400,000 customers to boil water for drinking or brushing teeth, and while about 50 ruptures were repaired, utility chief Doug McGuinn showed up. Utilities have asked people to report leaks in homes and unoccupied buildings to help them restore pressure.
A large area of the United States was under a wind chill warning, from parts of Montana down to central Florida. It was especially harsh in the Midwest. Winds brought the temperature to 16 degrees below zero (minus 26 degrees Celsius) in Iowa City on Saturday, and overnight wind chills ranged around zero in Oklahoma City, where David Overholser took shelter with the nonprofit Homeless Alliance.
“Being 63 years old and originally from Florida, I don't like the cold. I can't handle it,” Overholser told The Oklahoman. “It's been very difficult and painful, and I'm just, you know, trying to make it through the day.” “One, for one hour at a time…it's definitely scary.”
Wind chills dropped to minus 20 degrees Fahrenheit (minus 28 degrees Celsius) early Saturday in Vermont, where Stowe Mountain Resort urged skiers to be careful.
“Remove all items you need to safely hang on the mountain, take frequent warm-up breaks indoors, and monitor each other closely for signs of frostbite,” the resort warned on its website.
In West Virginia, the weather service said some areas could see up to 4 inches (10 centimeters) of additional snow on Saturday, with wind gusts of up to 40 mph (64 kph) and cold winds bringing… Temperatures drop to 20 below zero (minus 29). c).
In upstate New York, snow plow workers responded to another call from the Buffalo Bills to evacuate Highmark Stadium in preparation for Sunday's round-robin game against the Kansas City Chiefs after the city was covered in five feet of snow in five days.
Snow was diminishing in other parts of the Northeast after covering a large area including Washington and New York City. Since Friday, the National Weather Service has reported 7 inches of snow in Dover, Delaware, 6 inches in Atlantic City, New Jersey, and about 4 or 5 inches across much of eastern Pennsylvania.
“It may seem strange after the warm winter we had a week ago, but in fact we have reached nearly normal snowfall levels up to this point in the season in most parts of our region,” a Met Office statement said.
Bob Johnson, chief deputy for the Marshall County Sheriff's Office, said Tennessee alone recorded 19 deaths, including a 25-year-old man who was found dead on the floor of a mobile home in Lewisburg after the heater overturned and stopped working.
“There was ice on the walls there,” Johnson said.
On the West Coast, more freezing rain is expected Saturday in the Columbia River Gorge, and the area is expected to remain near or below freezing through at least Sunday night. The National Weather Service warned that trees and power lines already covered in ice could collapse if more falls.
“Stay safe out there over the next few days as our area tries to thaw,” the weather service said. “Falling ice chunks will still pose a hazard as well.”
Thousands have been without power since last weekend in parts of Oregon's Willamette Valley due to storm damage. Despite the work of repair crews, more than 41,000 customers in the state were without power early Saturday, according to poweroutage.us.
The potential thaw isn't expected until next week, when forecasts call for above-average temperatures across much of the country, according to the National Weather Service.
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Associated Press journalists Jonathan Mathis, Christine M. Hall, Claire Rush, Carolyn Thompson, Jeffrey Collins and Colleen Long contributed.
