COLUMBUS, Ohio – As the mercury begins to rise, central Ohio can begin to deal with the aftermath of a cold snap that may have left as many as a half-dozen people dead, put a strain on the area’s blood supply, burst water pipes and closed schools.
The state says at least three deaths are linked to dangerously cold weather and three more are under investigation.
American Red Cross officials say there’s a critical need for all blood types after blood drives were canceled this week because of the region’s deep freeze.
Most schools returned to their normal schedule by Thursday but the Richard Avenue Elementary School and the Great Western Academy were closed because of broken water pipes.
The main headquarters for the Columbus Division of Police suffered major water damage as a result of multiple waterline breaks throughout Wednesday morning, spokesman Sgt. Rich Weiner said. The flooding that resulted from three water line breaks hindered some public services, such as background checks and report copying but those services resumed as the cleanup continued Wednesday night.
Police Chief Kim Jacob’s office was among the areas that sustained heavy water damage. Some personnel were initially routed to the county sheriff’s office.
Weiner says a ruptured sprinkler head on the building’s ninth floor was contained and repaired at about 10:30 Tuesday night, but another sprinkler line broke on the eighth floor, damaging Jacobs’s office and others on the west side of the building.
That waterline was shut down and repairs were underway when another waterline within an interior wall ruptured and, a leak that Weiner says went undetected for several hours and “caused extensive damage throughout the building,” most of it on the sixth and seventh floors.
Weiner says the flooding did not disrupt 911 emergency phone service or patrols.
It was the second public water issue in Columbus this week. Frigid weather hampered efforts to repair a water main break Monday that flooded some downtown streets.
In northern Ohio, below-zero temperatures had caused ice to block the intake valves pulling water from Lake Erie, leading officials in Lorain County to declare a state of emergency and issue water restrictions Wednesday.
The call is going out in for blood donations. American Red Cross officials say 20 blood drives were called off this week because of the weather and, though a blood drive Wednesday at the Aladdin Shrine Center helped replenish some supplies, the organization is pushing for more donations to help stock more than 40 central Ohio hospitals’ blood needs.
The state has confirmed that three deaths can be attributed to the severe cold and the toll may rise.
Two of the confirmed deaths were in northwest Ohio. A 75-year-old man died of hypothermia in an Allen County home that reportedly lacked heat. His wife was in critical condition, being treated for hypothermia. In Wauseon, a 90-year-old woman died after her car got stuck in snow and she tried to walk home.
The death of a 58-year-old man found near an abandoned Cleveland home also was attributed to exposure.
Causes hadn’t been confirmed in at least three more deaths: an Akron man found in his driveway, a man found on a frozen lake in Guernsey County and a woman at a trailer park near Athens.