Atlanta Daily World

Biting Cold, Deep Snow Hamper Ohio

(United Press International)

Biting cold and snows up to a half foot deep slowed the monumental task of recovery in Pennsylvania and Ohio flood disaster areas Monday.

Refugees returned to their homes by the thousands and states of emergency had been lifted in most flood-stricken cities.

But northwest Pennsylvania, the state's worst hit area, had snows one to six inches deep and temperatures at a shivery 11 degrees above zero. A three-inch snow hit Fremont, Ohio, where 1,500 persons were still homeless and a state of emergency remained in effect.

The new snow storms and cold wave boosted the toll of dead since the worst storm of the winter started its sweep of the mid-continent last Tuesday.

A United Press International count showed 126 deaths blamed on weather-caused traffic accidents, exposure, exhaustion, tornadoes and floods. There were 19 in both Ohio and Wisconsin, 14 in Michigan, 13 in Illinois, 10 in both Indiana and New York State, 8 in Pennsylvania, 5 in both Kentucky and Kansas, 4 in Iowa, 3 in both Missouri and Oklahoma, 2 each in Massachusetts, Minnesota, New Mexico, Rhode Island, Texas and Washington, and 1 in North Dakota.

FLOODS HIT NORTHWEST

The Pacific Northwest shared the East's flood woes. Flood waters fell in eastern and western Washington, leaving one woman dead, another missing and feared dead, two homes destroyed by slides at Hoquiam, and three families evacuated from threatened homes in Seattle.

Across the midlands, a hard freeze stretched from Oklahoma to the mid-Atlantic states and a band of freezing drizzle moved from Oklahoma and Kansas all the way to Cincinnati.

Temperatures stayed near zero all day in northeast Montana and hit bone-chilling lows in upstate New York. Unofficial readings included 45 degrees below zero at Owls Head, N. Y., and 30 below at Wankena. It was officially 24 below at Massena, N. Y., 17 below at Lone Rock, Wis., and 15 below at Wausau, Wis.

The warmest spot in Michigan was Detroit, where it was 3 above. It was 24 below at Pellston, 16 below at both Flint and Ionia, and so cold at Plymouth that a water main burst, draining 400,000 gallons from the reservoirs and leaving the entire area without water.

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left the city dry for two hours.

SNOWS APPROACH RECORDS

Fresh snows added to the Midwest's miseries and approached record depths.

The 18 inches of snow which have fallen on Chicago this January were the deepest since 1943. A new three-inch fall choked traffic with drifts and illegally parked cars and slowed rush hour speed to 5 and 10 miles per hour.

In Milwaukee, where two men died of heart attacks shovelling snow, the January depth was 24.3 inches the most since 1951.

The same snow storm passed over Meadville, Pa. where French Creek floodwaters still kept 2,000 persons out of their homes. The accompanying cold built up a two-mile ice gorge on the creek, although the flood run-off was apparently flowing under the ice.

Residents feared that a further freeze would block the under-the-ice runoff and send the creek over its banks again. Meanwhile, Meadville damage was estimated at 5 million dollars.

Elsewhere in Pennsylvania, the snow closed some Philadelphia area schools and coated most highways. Highway police cut the speed limit from 65 to 35 miles per hour on the east-west Pennsylvania Turnpike.

In Ohio the Scioto River fell back within its banks from Columbus to flood-ravaged Chillicothe, but a new threat was posed by an ice jam below Prospect, Ohio.

The state waited for an area meeting in Cincinnati Tuesday for a full estimate of its flood damage, although Gov. Michael V. Di Salle had placed the total at least at 33 million dollars.

Preliminary estimates included 3 and a half million dollars' damage to state highways close to 7 million dollars in Fremont alone.