Nation in brief: Record cold keeps South in its grip
MIAMI – Freakish cold weather continued across the South, with snow flurries spotted around Orlando and a record low set for Miami, and forecasters said Sunday that more of the same was expected.
About 100,000 tropical fish being raised on a fish farm in South Florida couldn’t bear the cold. Michael Breen, 43, who owns Breen Acres Aquatics in the small town of Loxahatchee Groves just north of Miami, said temperatures dropped below 30 degrees overnight, leaving ice on his 76 ponds.
He estimated he lost $535,000 in business.
The National Weather Service issued a hard freeze warning for South Florida through this morning. Northern Florida residents will feel temperatures drop to the lower 20s and mid-teens.
On Saturday night, a temperature of 35 degrees set a record that had stood since 1970, said Joel Rothfuss with the National Weather Service in Miami.
For the first time in at least 30 years, Miami Metrozoo shut its doors because it was too cold. The start of the Walt Disney World Marathon in Orlando was 28 degrees. In a suburb north of Atlanta, two teens died Saturday after falling through the ice on a partially frozen pond.
Little damage seen from earthquake
EUREKA, Calif. – Residents of a Northern California county gingerly cleaned up Sunday after the area dodged a catastrophe, escaping a 6.5-magnitude earthquake with little more than bumps, cuts and broken glass.
The Saturday afternoon temblor – centered in the Pacific about 22 miles west of Ferndale – caused only limited structural damage, a few hours of power outage and no major injuries.
A preliminary estimate of damage in Eureka came to $12.5 million, said city fire Chief Eric Smith.