With frigid temperatures, violent winds and driving snowstorms gripping parts of the East and Midwest, many Americans are doing all they can to stay warm and keep the cold weather from damaging their homes.

The Associated Press reported Jan. 15 that Maine Gov. John Baldacci declared a civil emergency throughout the state as temperatures plummeted well below zero, dipping to 31 below in some areas.

Blizzard-like conditions ravaged parts of Minnesota and Michigan near the Great Lakes area with up to 11 inches of snow falling in Wisconsin late last week.

In Whitefield, N.H., the mercury plunged to 35 degrees below zero. And in Watertown, N.Y., the temperature with wind chill dipped to minus 46.

Earlier this month, Oregon and Washington were hit by freezing rain and snowstorms, blamed for three deaths, halting traffic on major roadways, and power loss to more than 130,000 residents, the American Red Cross reports.

Homes are also taking their fair share of the weather-related damage, primarily frozen pipes and flooding.

"We're pretty much working around the clock," Paul Ehrlich, owner of A&L Plumbing, told the Metrowest, Massachusetts-based Daily News Tribune in a Jan. 14 article. "We have had a couple houses frozen solid and I just got a call on a house that will be a complete loss."

Another plumbing service manager, Roger Moore, told the Tribune he had received more than 350 pages from customers desperate for help.

Meanwhile, the Insurance Information Institute (III) says the severe cold weather with snowfalls interspersed with periods of melting and freezing, can inflict considerable damage on your home.

The III offers the following tips for keeping cold weather-related damage -- and potential insurance claims -- to a minimum:

Published: January 19, 2004

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