An arctic front on the morning of December 22nd quickly swept through the central Midwest into northeast Kentucky and southeast Ohio by that evening. Temperature drops in excess of 40 degrees over the course of six hours were recorded across portions of the region, leading to a flash freeze of roadways. These bitter cold temperatures and gusty winds resulted in dangerous wind chills by December 23rd into the morning of December 24th. The lowest observed reading was a bitterly cold -51 degrees Fahrenheit at Snowshoe on the morning of December 24th.
Residents across the state of West Virginia found themselves at the loss of water due to water line breaks due to the freezing temperatures. This predicament lasted only for a few hours for some counties, but in other cases persisted well beyond the time that the bitter cold hung around. Some counties found themselves without water into the new year. The hardest hit counties were Raleigh and Wayne Counties, where millions of gallons of water were lost to frozen pipes and resulting water main breaks.

Extreme Cold/Wind Chill in BOONE, WEST VIRGINIA
From 23-DEC-22 06:00:00 to 24-DEC-22 09:00:00 (EST-5)
Property damage: 15.00K
Crop damage: 0.00K
Reported by: Emergency Manager

Multiple water line and meter breaks resulted in a multi-day water outage of over 600 customers.

Extreme Cold/Wind Chill in NORTHWEST RALEIGH, WEST VIRGINIA
From 23-DEC-22 06:00:00 to 24-DEC-22 12:00:00 (EST-5)
Property damage: 1.00M
Crop damage: 0.00K
Reported by: Emergency Manager

Local businesses and schools closed from the Christmas holiday remained closed through the end of the calendar year due to over 6,000 customers were without water, taking over a week for restoration. Residential homes and businesses within this section of Raleigh County observed water line and meter breaks that resulted in the loss of thousands to millions of gallons of water.

Extreme Cold/Wind Chill in SOUTHEAST RALEIGH, WEST VIRGINIA
From 23-DEC-22 06:00:00 to 25-DEC-22 07:47:00 (EST-5)
Property damage: 1.50M
Crop damage: 0.00K
Reported by: Emergency Manager

Over 75% of the county was without water for a prolonged period of time. Most of the water tanks in Beckley were drained over the Christmas holiday due to customer water line breaks and fire suppression systems freezing and busting from the extreme cold. Several businesses reported losing over 2 million gallons of water and residential lines leaked over 300,000 gallons of water in the Beckley area.

Extreme Cold/Wind Chill in WAYNE, WEST VIRGINIA
From 23-DEC-22 06:00:00 to 24-DEC-22 09:00:00 (EST-5)
Property damage: 1.00M
Crop damage: 0.00K
Reported by: Emergency Manager

Water issues began on the evening of Christmas as extreme cold temperatures froze the water lines in the county. The Public Service District (PSD) that provides for Wayne County observed their entire water system go dry due to a chain reaction of issues. The Public Service Districts nearby, Kermit PSD and Mingo PSD in Mingo County, which is typically how Wayne County receives their water supply, failed due to ice jams along the local rivers. Once the water plants were restored, multiple leaks were discovered in their lines, which once again cut off water from reaching Wayne County. Most of these leaks were from main line shifts and breaks and burst water lines underneath private residences.
Until lines could be restored after the Christmas holiday, county residents were under a boil water advisory. Residents in the county remained within a boil water advisory well into the new year as the restoration process continued.

Extreme Cold/Wind Chill in KANAWHA, WEST VIRGINIA
From 23-DEC-22 06:00:00 to 24-DEC-22 09:00:00 (EST-5)
Property damage: 10.00K
Crop damage: 0.00K
Reported by: Emergency Manager

Localized outages from water main breaks were observed throughout the county.

Extreme Cold/Wind Chill in CLAY, WEST VIRGINIA
From 23-DEC-22 06:00:00 to 24-DEC-22 09:00:00 (EST-5)
Property damage: 25.00K
Crop damage: 0.00K
Reported by: Emergency Manager

Residential water outages were observed throughout the county. The Clay Municipal Water plant was shut down for a brief time due to frozen water mains.

Extreme Cold/Wind Chill in ROANE, WEST VIRGINIA
From 23-DEC-22 06:00:00 to 24-DEC-22 09:00:00 (EST-5)
Property damage: 25.00K
Crop damage: 0.00K
Reported by: Emergency Manager

Several residential water outages were observed in the county due to frozen pipes and water main breaks.

Extreme Cold/Wind Chill in CABELL, WEST VIRGINIA
From 23-DEC-22 06:00:00 to 24-DEC-22 09:00:00 (EST-5)
Property damage: 25.00K
Crop damage: 0.00K
Reported by: Emergency Manager

Nursing home residents in the county were temporarily moved due to broken water lines. Freezing fire hydrants and fire hoses on the engines led to several challenges in regards to structure fires during the time that temperatures were extremely cold.

Extreme Cold/Wind Chill in PUTNAM, WEST VIRGINIA
From 23-DEC-22 06:00:00 to 24-DEC-22 09:00:00 (EST-5)
Property damage: 10.00K
Crop damage: 0.00K
Reported by: Emergency Manager

Localized water outages were observed in the county for a brief period of time due to main breaks.

Extreme Cold/Wind Chill in UPSHUR, WEST VIRGINIA
From 23-DEC-22 06:00:00 to 24-DEC-22 12:00:00 (EST-5)
Property damage: 5.00K
Crop damage: 0.00K
Reported by: Emergency Manager

Several families in an apartment complex in Cambridge Heights were temporarily moved to hotels in the midst of water line problems in the building.

Extreme Cold/Wind Chill in BARBOUR, WEST VIRGINIA
From 23-DEC-22 06:00:00 to 24-DEC-22 12:00:00 (EST-5)
Property damage: 3.00K
Crop damage: 0.00K
Reported by: Emergency Manager

A few individual homes were impacted by the freezing temperatures with problems to their water lines.

Extreme Cold/Wind Chill in MINGO, WEST VIRGINIA
From 23-DEC-22 06:00:00 to 24-DEC-22 09:00:00 (EST-5)
Property damage: 15.00K
Crop damage: 0.00K
Reported by: Emergency Manager

The city of Williamson and several smaller communities experienced water main breaks and were without water for several days after the cold spell ended. Community water shelters were staged at local fire departments that were distributed to residents.