Posted on

Charles City residents deal with extreme cold

Fareway employee Joe Monroe helps a customer with her groceries Wednesday afternoon when the temperature was about minus 17 degrees. "This isn't bad," he laughed. "I've been in worse. This just tones up the complexion."
Fareway employee Joe Monroe helps a customer with her groceries Wednesday afternoon when the temperature was about minus 17 degrees. “This isn’t bad,” he laughed. “I’ve been in worse. This just tones up the complexion.”
By Kelly Terpstra and James Grob, Charles City Press

Mother Nature packed a serious punch on Wednesday as temperatures dropped to dangerous levels and Charles City businesses, organizations and individuals did their best to deal with the cold.

Many decided the answer was to just avoid it, as all schools and several businesses closed their doors for the day and others shortened their hours.

For the Charles City School District, Wednesday was the third day this week that classes has been canceled because of weather, and the district announced Wednesday afternoon that classes were off again for Thursday.

“Canceling school is not the ideal situation, but days like we’ve experienced this week are times when the district puts safety first,” said district Communications and Community Engagement Specialist Justin DeVore.

“We know our families embrace learning at school, a daily routine and the opportunities the Charles City Community School District provides,” he said, so school officials take the decision to cancel classes seriously.

DeVore said the district is also aware of food-insecure families in the community, who often rely on the school for two meals a day for their children.

“It weighs on our hearts to know families … are going without food when school is not in session,” he said.

“These missed days at the end of the athletic seasons make it difficult to reschedule events, and we work with neighboring schools to do our best to reschedule,” DeVore said. “Not being able to make up competitions is a lost opportunity for students.”

In addition to athletics, fine arts and other programs at the school are impaired by the numerous school cancellations.

“Concerts in February rely on rehearsals in January to deliver the high-quality fine arts programming our community expects,” DeVore said.

Charles City dipped to minus 27 degrees on Wednesday — shiveringly cold, but shy of the record low of minus 30 that had been set on Jan. 30, 1951.

The near-record cold caused havoc with some automobiles and water pipes, and did the last thing anyone would want in this type of weather — caused natural gas to stop flowing to some furnaces.

Kelvin Keifer, owner of Mills Inc. in Charles City, said service calls doubled Wednesday from what they normally are in the winter months. Mills Inc. specializes in plumbing and heating, as well as HVAC needs.

The temperature got so brutally cold it was freezing gas meters — something Keifer said he hadn’t seen in decades.

The meters regulate the flow of gas to the furnace and once those mechanisms freeze up and stop working it can cause a whole host of problems, Keifer said. His technicians use forced hot air to thaw them.

Even when they have fuel, some furnaces buckle under and stop working after constant use, he said.

“Some furnaces just fail. The older furnaces are stressed because they’re running a lot more,” said Keifer. It may just be a single part in them wearing out that causes them to quit.

Keifer said PVC vents for the furnace can get plugged up with snow or covered in ice, situations that could also cause them to stop running.

A plugged vent or furnace flue can create a carbon monoxide danger, as well.

Freezing water burst some pipes and caused other problems like a sink that wouldn’t drain and a toilet that wouldn’t flush, Keifer said, adding that most of the problems have been in the city.

“We haven’t had too many calls from rural customers yet,” Keifer said Wednesday afternoon.

Keifer said some frozen pipes that have burst may have not leaked while the water is frozen, but could spell trouble once they start to thaw. He urged people to check their pipes before that occurs.

“If they broke when they froze and then when they thaw out we’ll have water spray,” said Keifer. “Then when it thawed out, they’ve got water running in their basement.”

Keifer urged anybody who feels they are in danger because of possible carbon monoxide or a gas leak, or who can’t keep warm because it’s gotten so cold in the house, to call 911.

“We try to prioritize with customers that have more serious issues,” Keifer said, “but sometimes the guys are all tied up and we can only respond so fast.”

Steve Litterer, who owns and manages several rental properties in Charles City and the surrounding area, said that as of Wednesday afternoon he hadn’t needed to handle any tenant emergencies.

Litterer said he received one call from a tenant Wednesday morning, regarding a frozen water line to the bathtub.

“They said it was running just a little bit, and I told them to leave it on and see if it comes through. They called a half-hour later and told me everything was looking good,” he said

“I’m very happy to say that I haven’t been called for anything major,” Litterer said. “I was expecting my phone to blow up this morning, but I looked at it and I had no calls. All of my furnaces were working, and I just had that one plumbing issue.”

Litterer said he has had furnaces go down and pipes freeze during past cold spells, but he thinks preventative measures helped this time.

“I have a few places where I take small fan heaters, and I have them running in places that might be prone to freeze up,” Litterer said. “I also tell people that if they have a sink where the plumbing goes to the outside wall, they should leave the cupboard doors open. I think things like that save a lot of calls.”

Litterer said off-season maintenance is also essential.

“I try to make sure the furnaces are in good shape before we get to this point,” he said.

Charles City Police Chief Hugh Anderson said there were no major calls for service or accidents that his department had to help out with because of the cold weather.

“We thank the citizenry for not going out too much unless necessary,” said Anderson.

He said there was a man in his mid-30s who was reported missing just after midnight on Wednesday by a family member in the 800 block of Clinton Street, but he was located around 10:30 that morning and was deemed to not be in danger.

“We did find him safe, so we were glad he wasn’t out in the cold weather,” Anderson said.

There were noticeably fewer cars driving around Charles City on Wednesday, and some that were out had problems. Others never made it out.

A person at one area towing company said he was too busy with calls to take time to talk with a reporter.

Anderson said the Police Department helped with several stranded cars on the road.

“We’ve had quite a few stalled vehicles we’ve pushed out, but not an exorbitant number,” he said.

It’s been awhile since Anderson and his officers worked in this type of cold, but he does recall dealing with similar less-than pleasant conditions before.

“In the 90s I do remember we had a cold snap of quite a few days in a row. I remember actually being out on some accidents and stuff during those times. Fortunately we haven’t had a lot of that going on this time,” said Anderson.

Part of the response to the cold included warming centers on standby throughout Floyd County.

“So far there have been no requests, but the cold is still going to be going on for a while,” said Lezlie Weber, director of the Floyd County Emergency Management Agency.

A warming center is a heated facility where residents can go to find refuge from the extreme cold.

“Maybe someone’s furnace shuts off, or maybe for another reason,” Weber said. “Typically, it’s for the elderly or people with young children, but there are no limits. It’s for anyone who needs to get warm.”

Individuals or families unable to keep warm for any reason are asked to notify the Floyd County Emergency Operations Center at 641-257-6144 to get a warming center opened up in their community.

Weber said the locations of the warming centers vary from town to town.

“We look for someplace in the area that has a larger space that can be opened quickly.” she said, “places like libraries and city halls.”

She has not put out a list of where they are, as she’d rather have people go through the EOC, rather than just stop by a location. She said the EOC is ready to have a facility opened on a moment’s notice.

Schueth Ace Hardware on Gilbert Street in Charles City was short-staffed on Wednesday but big on help for anybody who needed items to fight the cold.

Ace employee Tiffany Bengtson said they were staffed at about half-strength, but the three who were able to come in were lifesavers for many in the area.

“This is a very family-orientated business, so our manager called off people who had to drive from out of town. She didn’t want them driving,” Bengtson said. “Our manager is actually helping in the New Hampton store because they did the same thing over there.”

The big sellers at Ace were heaters, fans and insulation and heat tape for pipes, Bengtson said.

“Almost all of our customers have thanked us for being open. That’s what our business is about here, too – is being there. Days like this is when people rely on us to be open,” said Bengtson.

The high for Friday is forecast for near 20 degrees, with a high near 38 on Saturday and near 46 on Sunday, then still at or above freezing on Monday.

That will likely feel balmy compared to current conditions.

“It’s dangerous right now,” Bengtson said, but the forecast for this weekend “is going to feel like a heatwave.”

 

Social Share

LATEST NEWS