Freezing temps hits US, nine dead

Freezing weather across the US has claimed nine lives and seen school closed and records smashed for lowest temperatures.

The dangerously cold temperatures have been blamed for at least nine deaths have wreaked havoc across a wide swath of the US, freezing a water tower in Iowa, leading officials to open warming centres even in the South.

The National Weather Service issued wind chill advisories and freeze warnings Tuesday covering a vast area from South Texas to Canada and from Montana through New England.

Indianapolis early Tuesday tied a record low of minus 24 degrees Celsius for January 2 set in 1887, leading Indianapolis Public Schools to cancel classes. And the northwest Indiana city of Lafayette got down to minus 28 degrees Celsius, shattering the previous record of minus 21 degrees Celsius for the date, set in 1979, the National Weather Service said.

The temperatures are certainly extreme, but we've seen colder," said Joseph Nield, a meteorologist in Indianapolis, noting that the all-time low temperature in Indiana was minus 38 degrees Celsius in 1994.

Nevertheless, the cold is nothing to trifle with, forecasters warned.

With Chicago-area wind chills expected between minus 37 and minus 29 degrees Celsius, forecasters warned of frost bite and hypothermia risks and urged residents to take precautions, including dressing in layers, wearing a hat and gloves, covering exposed skin and bringing pets indoors.

Atlanta hospitals were seeing a surge in emergency room visits for hypothermia and other ailments as temperatures plunge well below freezing.

We have a group of patients who are coming in off the street who are looking to escape the cold - we have dozens and dozens of those every day," said Dr Brooks Moore, associate medical director in the emergency department of Grady Health System, which operates Georgia's largest hospital in Atlanta.

The cold is blamed in at least nine deaths in the past week.

Police in St. Louis said a homeless man found dead inside a rubbish bin Monday evening apparently froze to death as the temperature dropped to minus 21 degrees Celsius. Sheriff's officials in Fond du Lac County, Wisconsin, said a 27-year-old woman whose body was found Monday evening on the shore of Lake Winnebago likely died of exposure.

The Milwaukee County Medical Examiner's Office said two men whose bodies were found Sunday showed signs of hypothermia. Police believe the cold weather also may have been a factor in the death of a man in Bismarck, North Dakota, whose body was found near a river.

Warming shelters were opened across the South as freeze watches and warnings blanketed the region, including hard freeze warnings for much of Louisiana, Mississippi and Alabama.

Plunging overnight temperatures in Texas brought rare snow flurries as far south as Austin, and accidents racked up on icy roads across the state. In the central Texas city of Abilene, the local police chief said more than three dozen vehicle crashes were reported in 24 hours.