Temperatures in the low to mid-teens early Wednesday, but warmer weather - and rain - is on the horizon

Metro Atlanta’s deep freeze of 2014 continued to cause problems Wednesday, particularly in Dunwoody, where a frozen water main burst, sending a geyser of water some 80 to 100 feet into the 13-degree air, icing nearby power lines and roads and forcing the evacuation of a nearby elementary school.

The main burst near the intersection of Tilly Mill and Womack roads, in front of Georgia Perimeter College’s Dunwoody campus. The college’s students aren’t scheduled to return to classes from the holiday break until Monday.

Tilly Mill Road was also closed in both directions early Wednesday.

Dunwoody police told Channel 2 Action News that construction in the area on Tuesday left the pipe exposed to the elements, and the pipe froze and ruptured around 1:45 a.m. Wednesday.

About 7:30 a.m., repair crews positioned a piece of heavy equipment over the burst main, stopping the geyser from spewing high into the air, but the water was still flowing from the pipe.

The water main break left nearby Dunwoody Elementary School without water, according to DeKalb County Schools spokesman Quinn Hudson.

“Plans are being implemented to transport approximately 940 students to Dunwoody High School,” Hudson said. “Students will be returned to Dunwoody Elementary School for normal afternoon dismissal.”

The elementary school students will use the ground floor and the high school students will be on the second and third floors, said Noel Maloof, principal of Dunwoody High.

“We’ve cleared out our bottom floor, and that will be Dunwoody Elementary so that they can run classes all day,” Maloof said. “We’ve got lunch set up for them, I think they’re going to have pizza and corn as usual.”

Lisa Higdon lives in the 5200 block of Tilly Mill, which she said is a “pretty heavily-traveled road.”

“My dog woke me up to the flashing blue lights, thinking it was lightning and she was freaking out,” Higdon told The Atlanta Journal-Constitution.

“At first, I thought there had been an accident or something, so I had to come downstairs and look out the front door and I saw the big geyser down the road and I couldn’t believe it,” she said, adding that the ruptured main hadn’t affected her water supply.

“No change in water pressure or anything,” she said. Of bigger concern to Higdon was the ice building up on the utility lines.

“Those power lines are a little scary looking right now,” she said. “I work from a home office, so I’m hoping that I don’t lose power this morning.”

The problems caused by the abnormally cold temperatures weren’t limited to Dunwoody.

South of Atlanta, in Henry County, Ola Elementary School was closed Wednesday after a water line burst, flooding the school building.

Most other metro schools that were shut down by Tuesday’s single-digit morning temperatures reopened Wednesday, although schools in a few mountain counties delayed opening for a couple of hours.

The state Department of Transportation continued to report isolated icy patches on metro roads early Wednesday. One trouble spot was on Ga. 92 at Robin Road in Cherokee County.

Other icing was reported on Metropolitan Parkway south of I-20 near downtown and in the 2200 block of Browns Mill Road in southwest Atlanta, where firefighters were battling a predawn house fire.

Temperatures at 7 a.m. Wednesday ranged from 11 in Dallas, 12 in Alpharetta, Cartersville and Peachtree City and 13 in Dunwoody to 14 in Chamblee, 15 in Marietta and 17 at Hartsfield-Jackson International Airport, where Tuesday’s low of 6 shattered the old record for the date of 10 degrees, set in 1970.

Channel 2 meteorologist Karen Minton said temperatures Wednesday afternoon will finally climb above freezing for the first time this week, topping out in the low 40s before dropping into the upper 20s early Thursday.

The National Weather Service is warning of a chance for freezing drizzle Wednesday night across parts of middle and south Georgia, but no precipitation is expected in metro Atlanta. The freezing drizzle is possible south of a line from Columbus to Forsyth to Washington.