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Warmer Temperatures Bring No Relief From Frozen Pipes

Dennis Amith/Flickr

Despite daytime temperatures rising into the 40s in northern Michigan, underground water pipes continue to freeze.

The Benzie County Village of Beulah is trying to thaw out lines to several homes that froze in one day Saturday. It also stepped up its water run advisory to a mandatory order this weekend.

Temporary Village President Dan Hook says people think warmer temperatures mean less danger of pipes freezing – but the opposite is true. Snow melt drips into the ground and freezes further down, “which is even more of a danger for the water line,” he says. “So it could be several weeks before these thaw out.”

Hook says – where lines are frozen under roadways – pipes could stay frozen until spring. The village is using hoses to share water between neighbors in those cases.

Some businesses are having water trucked in.

Many northern Michigan municipalities are asking residents to run a small stream of water in a faucet all the time in order to avoid freezing pipes.