Subzero Weather Grips Eastern Half of Nation; 76 Deaths Linked to Cold

Subzero temperatures and icy winds froze the eastern half of the nation from Texas to New England Monday.

Authorities blamed the weather for at least 79 deaths.

More than 80 records were set in the Southeast and East for the coldest temperature for the date. Twenty of those records were for the coldest temperatures ever recorded, including 4 below zero in Athens, Ga., and 16 below zero in Asheville, N.C. Two other cities equalled their coldest reading ever.

The cold was blamed for the crash of two commuter trains in Gary, Ind., injuring at least 90 people, none seriously. The trains had been routed onto the same track because the freeze had damaged overhead electrical lines.

Below zero readings were common. Akron, Ohio, and Knoxville, Tenn., each reported the coldest temperature in the nation with 24 below zero, but there were unofficial reports of 25 below zero at Hysham, Mont., and 29 below zero in Kingston, Pa.

Utility officials reported record use of gas and electricity as residents tried to beat the cold wave.

The overwhelming demand for electricity caused a systemwide blackout to 30,000 homes in southeast Texas. Another 30,000 were without electricity across parts of Alabama, Kentucky and South Carolina.

Jacksonville, Fla., recorded an all-time low of 7 degrees, breaking the old mark set in 1899. About 44,000 people were without power in Tampa and Pensacola because increased power consumption overwhelmed transformers.

A record low for the date of 14 degrees froze instrument panels at four of the 10 power generating plants in the New Orleans area, forcing officials to impose a series of “rolling blackouts” to spread the available electricity around. About 70,000 customers were affected. New Orleans was just one degree warmer than Fairbanks, Alaska.

The cold snap froze oranges “as hard as baseballs” and may have destroyed thousands of trees in the northern section of Florida’s citrus belt.

“It looks like the damage will be extensive in both citrus and vegetables,” said Agriculture Commissioner Doyle Conner. (Details in Business.)

The cold closed hundreds of schools as record lows for the date were broken throughout the South.

“We’re easily the coldest we’ve ever been in recorded weather history,” said forecaster Mike Sabones in Raleigh, N.C. “Just about every city had all-time record lows, and most of these weather records start in (the) 1870s.”

Buffalo Battered

A blizzard battered Buffalo, N.Y., with up to 27 inches of snow. Blowing snow and strong winds reduced visibility to less than a quarter of a mile, and the wind chill fell to 45 degrees below zero, the National Weather Service said.

The city’s airport was shut down as crews gave up trying to keep runways cleared, an Amtrak train got stuck in snowdrifts, the Buffalo News suspended publication of some editions and authorities restricted travel to emergency vehicles.

Buffalo had a record low temperature for the date of 9 below zero.

Among the cities recording the lowest temperatures in their history were Youngstown, Ohio, 20 below; Norfolk, Va., 3 below; Savannah, Ga., 3 above; Charleston, S.C., 6 above; Daytona Beach, Fla., 15 above; Augusta, Ga., 1 below; Raleigh, N.C., 9 below, and Asheville, 16 below.

“It’s like a thousand pins being swept into your face,” said Harris Prevost of North Carolina’s Grandfather Mountain, where the wind chill dropped temperatures to 100 below zero Monday.

“About 15 seconds after you get into it, you feel the stinging and then you go numb,” Prevost said. “It’s definitely something to respect.”

Some were lucky enough to stay inside as the cold settled in, but many jobs forced workers to brave the outdoors despite the dangerous chill.

“It’s cold,” said Tim Ivory, a service station attendant in Virginia Beach, Va., where the wind chill got as low as 16 below zero. “You get people coming in for full service, and you’ve got to pump their gas.”

Weather-related deaths--including those from traffic accidents on icy roads, exposure and fires blamed on makeshift heaters--were reported in 16 states since Friday, when the storms began.

The death toll rose Monday, as two men were found frozen to death outdoors in Buffalo, N.Y. Two people were found dead in an unheated building on New York City’s Lower East Side. Other deaths reported Monday included two people dead of hypothermia in the Tulsa, Okla., area; an elderly Jacksonville, Fla., couple who died in a fire started by an electric heater placed too close to their beds, and two people discovered dead of apparent hypothermia in their Milton, Fla., homes.

The 1,500 residents of Hatteras Island awoke Monday to no power, icy homes and a wind chill of 15 below.

“The whole island is without power,” said Denise Jones of the Dare County Sheriff’s Department. “People are waking up and calling here and going crazy. It’s real dangerous.”

N.Y. Thruway Closed

In the North, a 134-mile section of the New York State Thruway was closed from near Rochester to the Pennsylvania state line by snow and ice.

“The Automobile Club reported its heaviest volume of calls for emergency road service in three years,” said the club’s New York City-area spokesman, Bob Lavner.

New York had a record low for the date of zero.

Some 716 motorists called the Auto Club for help, a majority complaining of frozen batteries.

“Not since Jan. 11, 1982, have so many drivers been stranded,” Lavner said.

The situation on commuter and subway trains was no better. Transit Authority spokeswoman Sybil Morgan said “a number” of subway trains never made it out of the train yards because of frozen train switches.