Frigid weather rupturing water mains

Atlanta's frigid weather -- the coldest in nearly a year -- was playing havoc with the city's water lines Tuesday morning as numerous mains were ruptured by the 18-degree temperatures.

Janet Ward, spokeswoman for the city's Department of Watershed Management, said there had been about 10 water main breaks overnight and Tuesday morning, with repair crews unable to keep up with the pace of the breaks.

One of the breaks was at the heavily-traveled intersection of Memorial Drive and Boulevard. That pipe ruptured before 7 a.m. Shortly after 10 a.m., Ward said, "We don't have a crew on that one yet, because they're still all around at other main breaks. The police are there, and they've got traffic under control."

Supervisor Tommy Jenkins and his crew arrived shortly after 11 a.m. to begin repairing the Memorial Drive break.

Jenkins said it was the third rupture he and his crew had worked on since coming on duty overnight.

"As soon as we leave this one, we'll be going to another one," Jenkins said.

He said that even though crews were working overtime, "right now it's more than we can handle."

Other breaks Tuesday morning were "all over the place," Ward said. "And it's not going to stop, because the weather's not any better."

"You've got a double-whammy here," she said. "As much rain as we've had, the ground gets saturated, then it gets really cold and the ground expands. Also, the water coming in from the river is much, much colder so [the pipes] are expanding from the inside. Plus, the pipes are old."

Ward said that the pipes began rupturing on Friday when the mercury began its downward spiral, and by Tuesday, the breaks were so frequent that the department was in "siege mode."

Ice was also reported early Tuesday at the intersection of Ponce de Leon Avenue and Scott Boulevard in Decatur, and on Chattahoochee Avenue near Ellsworth Industrial Boulevard on the west side.

The problems continued into the afternoon, with Atlanta police dispatchers reporting a large water main break and icing in the 2300 block of Peachtree Road just after 12:30 p.m.

Forecasters said more cold is coming, and there's a chance of snow by Thursday.

The chance of snow is 40 percent Thursday and Thursday night, with accumulations of 1 to 2 inches expected across metro Atlanta, the National Weather Service said early Tuesday.

A few flurries were also possible on Tuesday, north of a Dawsonville to Gainesville line, forecasters said.

Temperature readings at 6 a.m. included 17 degrees in Marietta and 18 at Hartsfield-Jackson International Airport. Brisk northwesterly winds sent the wind chill plummeting into the single digits.

Overnight lows are expected to plunge into the teens and 20s nightly at least through Sunday, the Weather Service said, while afternoon highs will barely crack the freezing mark some days late in the week. The warmest day of the week will be Wednesday, when a high of 42 is predicted.

Temperatures Monday and Tuesday were in the upper teens across metro Atlanta, with wind chills as low as 4 degrees. That's the coldest weather the city has seen since, well, last winter, when the mercury bottomed out at 12 degrees on Jan. 16.

Monday's frigid weather caused some problems for firefighters and road crews.

In northern Cherokee County, a vehicle caught fire on I-575 near Howell Bridge Road before 5 a.m. Monday, and the water used to douse the flames froze on the road, forcing authorities to shut down southbound lanes. The state Department of Transportation sent sand trucks to the area and the lanes reopened about 9 a.m.

Just before 8 a.m., the DOT shut down all northbound lanes of the Downtown Connector past 14th Street to work on a couple of icy patches. The lanes reopened at 8:05, but the DOT reported that northbound traffic backed up for about seven miles, to Ga. 166. The DOT said the water on the connector came from groundwater that is at high levels due to the near-record rainfall of last year.

In southwest Atlanta, icing was reported by firefighters battling a house fire on Cedar Island Drive off Benjamin E. Mays Drive. No injuries were reported in the blaze.