City of Memphis Public Works crews were beginning to get to secondary streets Tuesday, Jan. 27, as temperatures are expected to go above freezing.

As of 7 a.m. Tuesday, the city had been below freezing for 87 consecutive hours. While temperatures are expected to rise above freezing for the next several days, they are predicted to stay below that line Friday and throughout the weekend. 

Memphis Public Works Director Scott Morgan told City Council members at a morning briefing his work crews would begin using salt and moving to clear those smaller thoroughfares after focusing exclusively on major routes. State road crews are responsible for the interstate system.

“Right now on the primary routes we still have crews out there plowing,” he said. “With it warming up, we want to make sure we start on secondary routes.”

Some of that work involves large mounds of ice and snow from the first plowing.

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If city work crews start seeing salt on the side streets turn to slush that would refreeze at night, they will move toward plowing those streets, Morgan said.

“Those are pretty dangerous still even though we did not get the freezing rain. We got sleet,” Morgan said about secondary roads.

‘Give us more snow’

With calls for service down, police patrol units are ferrying those who need shelter to the city’s network of shelters, Memphis Police Department Chief C.J. Davis said.

Davis said overall crime in Memphis is down 75% from normal in the last five days.

“Give us more snow,” she told the council.

Police have also been coordinating with Tennessee National Guard troops who are providing rides for essential hospital workers to get to and from St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital and three Methodist Healthcare hospitals.

Meanwhile, the Memphis Safe Task Force has been suspended since Friday.

The city increased the number of 24-hour shelters for homeless people to four Tuesday with Greenlaw Community Center being used to handle overflow from Hospitality Hub. Memphis Parks Director Justice Bolden said a fifth facility is on standby if needed.

So far the system of shelters has been used by 209 residents with 123 of them staying overnight.

Davis and Memphis Fire Department Chief Colin Burress said their personnel have also been actively looking for anyone who might be homeless. Police are also checking vehicles abandoned during the storm to ensure no one is inside.

Burress said his department’s calls include many vacant-house fires where it appears the fires may have started when someone took shelter there, set a fire to keep warm and then that fire got out of control.

MLGW on lookout for water main breaks

Memphis Light, Gas and Water CEO Doug McGowen said the utility has dealt with three water main breaks without any drop in the city’s water pressure.

But watching for more with the daytime thaw will be a priority.

“That remains the principal threat,” McGowen told the council.

MLGW has released out-of-town crews it had pre-positioned before the storm to help in North Mississippi and Nashville, which got a lot more of the ice Memphis dodged at the outset. That ice has played a significant role in downed power lines and widespread power outages in both areas.