CHICAGO, Feb 1 (NNN- AGENCIES) — Brutally cold temperatures have gripped the US Midwest, causing a freeze on water supplies, power outages, cancelled flights and straining natural gas supplies.
US, Chicago: A general view of the city skyline of Chicago amid frigid temperatures caused by the polar vortex, a stream of air that spins around over the North Pole. Photo Courtesy of Karen I. Hirsch/Zuma Wire/dpa
Tens of millions of Americans shivered for a second day in the week Thursday as temperatures dipped to record lows in several states.
Ten deaths have been attributed to the sub-zero weather and a weekend snowstorm that deluged the same region. Many of the cold-related fatalities were in Michigan, where the governor said the death toll was still being confirmed.
Schools and businesses remained closed in several midwestern states, people were encouraged to stay home, and travelers were stranded by grounded flights and halted trains.
Water mains froze in several parts, while power supply were disrupted as well.
By Thursday afternoon, some 1,700 flights had been cancelled in Chicago.
Train services were also brought to a standstill on Wednesday but workers were restoring some of the services by Thursday.
The deadly, sub-zero temperatures were expected to lift on Friday, but the misery would not end quickly in the roughly dozen states most affected.
“We are not done yet. We’ve got another 24 hours where the weather will be at dangerous levels,” Michigan Governor Gretchen Whitmer told a news conference.
The National Weather Service (NWS) said temperatures would slowly moderate, but the agency forecast wind chills Thursday would remain between -29 to -46 degrees Celsius over parts of the Upper Midwest.
The cold has frozen sections of Niagara Falls and sent blocks of ice floating down the river winding through Chicago’s downtown.
The Arctic air mass that descended from its usual northern rotation on Wednesday caused the second coldest day ever recorded in the Windy City, where residents reported hearing “frost quakes”.
Local television station WGN said booms heard by residents were likely frozen, water-saturated ground cracking under their feet.
The NWS said a low temperature of -29 degrees Celsius was recorded in Chicago on Thursday morning. The record low of -33 degrees Celsius was on Jan 20, 1985.
It said a historic low temperature for Illinois of -39 degrees Celsius had been reported in the town of Mt Carroll and was being reviewed before being declared a state record.
Record low temperatures were also reported in some towns in Iowa and Wisconsin.
–NNN-AGENCIES
