
                         Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: THURSDAY, January 20, 1994                   TAG: 9401200200
SECTION: NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL                    PAGE: A-1   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: Associated Press
DATELINE:                                 LENGTH: Short

CHUNK OF COUNTRY ON ICE

Demand for electricity soared Wednesday as the Midwest and East shivered through some of the coldest cold on record. Interlaced utilities serving 21 million people from Washington, D.C., to New Jersey instituted "rolling blackouts," periodically cutting power to certain areas, and asked customers to sharply cut back their use of electricity.

Temperatures broke records in Indiana, Ohio, Kentucky, West Virginia and Pennsylvania. Whiteland, Ind., bottomed out at 36 below zero, the coldest reading ever in the state.

In Washington, D.C., the federal government shut down Wednesday and intended to remain closed today because of the rolling blackouts.

Ford Motor Co. ceased production at two plants in Louisville, Ky., and cut back at 11 others in five other states and Canada. Honda Motor Co. closed four plants in Ohio, and Chrysler Corp. closed one each in Missouri and Ohio and cut production at another in Illinois. Nissan and Toyota closed their plants as well.

Wednesday's low at Hell, Mich., was 25 below. "It's colder than hell in Hell," said resident Jim Ley, 62.

Single-digit temperatures put a quarter-inch layer of ice on the alligator pond at the Birmingham, Ala., zoo.

At least 87 deaths have been blamed on the cold and snow since Friday. Most were killed on icy roads or had heart attacks shoveling snow. Some froze to death.

by CNB