Cold weather has resulted in 13 hypothermia-related deaths statewide this winter, including eight in the Baltimore region.
“I think it?s possible with this current cold spell that it will produce additional deaths,” said John Hammond, spokesman for the state Department of Health and Mental Hygiene.
At this time last year, 20 hypothermia-related deaths were reported, and 49 by the end of March, he said.
The first reported death this season was Nov. 10.
The last report the department received came Monday when a Worcester County man, 55, died from hypothermia, which had been complicated by a heart condition.
In Baltimore, a 57-year-old man died Thursday, also from hypothermia complicated by a heart condition, he said.
This year, complications included alcoholism and dementia, Hammond said.
A winter weather advisory had been issued for the region Monday but was canceled by Tuesday afternoon. Temperatures still are expected to be below freezing at night.
“We were all holding our breaths because [the weather] really affects our attendance,” said Genie Wessel, a Howard resident who volunteers at the National Aquarium in Baltimore City. “People just see the reports and get scared.”
Despite the warning for snow and ice, she said school groups still came but not many others.
Area school systems were open Tuesday, but two schools were closed because of flooding.
Flooding at Seven Oaks Elementary School in Odenton was reported late Monday night and was caused by a coil burst on the rooftop heating unit, said Anne Arundel school system spokesman Bob Mosier.
The flooding affected 11 classrooms from second through fifth grades, he said.
Meanwhile, flooding at the School of the Incarnation, a parochial school in Gambrills in Anne Arundel, was due to a water-pipe break, according to the school?s Web site.
Seven Oaks Elementary is expected to reopen today, and it?s uncertain whether the private school will open.
By the numbers
Hypothermia-related deaths so far this 2007-08 winter:
» Anne Arundel: 2 (Dec. 4 and 16)
» Baltimore City: 4 (Nov. 18, Dec. 19, and Jan. 3 and 17)
» Baltimore County: 2 (Nov. 10 and Dec. 3)
» Carroll, Harford and Howard: 0
Source: Maryland Department of Health and Mental Hygiene
