Cold Wave Bears Down on U.S.A.

Chronicle (Levin), 31 January 1948, Page 8

Cold Wave Bears Down on U.S.A.

— -NEW YOEK, Jan. 29. Sub-zero weather is liearing dovvn "rom Canada on to the LTnited -States ;oday, threateniag more shut-downs m ndustries which hhve already iaid oft 252,000 workers because of iuel shortiges. The cold weather is expeeted to hit ;omorrow the great iiidustrial are 3Xtending from Michigau through Penns'ylvania to New Yorlc and New England. A blizzard preceded the cold. lt swept into West and Central Kew York from the >St. Lawrence Yalley, elosmg highways and stalling freight trains. Serious shutLdowns occurred in the Day troit motor plants and the Pittsburgtt steel and coalmining industries. Detroit is. expeeted to have ldit the production of 15,000 ears and trucks in the week ending tomorrow. In Chieago, where the temperatures rose yesterday from zero levels, an ice jamb in Lake kliehigan disrupted the water supplv fcr 1,500,000 people for four hours. Thic.k ice jambed the intake mains thrce miles oft' the shore and had to be blasted loose with dynamite. Ice on the Ohio River caused the river level to fali to a dangerously low point, threatening hydro-eleetrie poWer production for E'astern Ohio cities. Fdeven coalmines in Pennsylvania shut down because ice choeked the rivers and prevented barges taking _ away coal. The production loss is estimatea at 40,000 tons a day. Xn New York the school oil supplxes are running low, but it is hoped to keep the schools open by eonserving f uel. The Coastguard icebreaker East Wind, which smashed .its way up the Hudson River to Albanv to clear 8 path for the oil-tankers, reported that the river was coated with 16 to 21 inches of ice, and that conditions were the worst for 29 years. Normallv warm Texas is at presen! flghting a cold wave, with temperatures r'lnging from four degrees below zert at E1 Paao.to 32 at Galveston.