BURST PIPES CLOSE
ASHEVILLE CITY HALL, NC FOR REMAINDER OF WEEK
CHARLOTTE, N.C. —
A burst pipe believed to have been caused by freezing
weather led to an evacuation of Asheville City Hall and is expected to keep
municipal offices closed for another day.
The Asheville Citizen-Times reports (http://avlne.ws/17nHkCs)
the pipe burst on the seventh floor in the middle of the day Thursday.
City spokeswoman Dawa Hitch said customer service calls
can still be made Friday and will be transferred to an answering service. All
city facilities, with the exception of City Hall, will operate normally on
Friday. Public safety and water service will not be affected by the closure.
All city board and commission meetings scheduled for
Friday are canceled.
Across the state, school systems either delayed the
start of classes or canceled classes entirely on Thursday because of the cold
temperatures.
The National Weather Service issued a series of warnings
and advisories across the state.
Portions of eastern and coastal North Carolina were
warned of the threat of patchy freezing drizzle early Friday morning, although
significant accumulations were not expected.
In the mountains, forecasters warned of cold weather
that would stretch into the weekend with wind chills into the single digits.
The weather service also said there was a threat of
wildfires for the piedmont and just east of the mountains because of wind
conditions and low humidity. The conditions are expected to persist into
Saturday.
Duke Energy reiterated its call for customers in the
Carolinas to conserve electricity by cutting back on nighttime usage to help
ease the load on its grid.