MOSCOW, January 18 (RIA Novosti) - Extremely low temperatures hit the Russian capital and most of the country's regions Wednesday, leaving authorities to scramble to keep the population warm amidst a bone-chilling frost that could prove to be a record.
Moscow international airports Vnukovo, Sheremetyevo and Domodedovo have been operating according to schedule, though the temperature in Moscow nearly broke the minus 32°C (-25.6°F) record.
"All regular flights departed and arrived without delays or restrictions," a spokesman for Moscow's air-traffic control center said.
Authorities in Russia's regions have taken emergency measures to avoid fatalities and health problems with the onset of the chill, including recessing schools. To the chagrin of locals in the Khanty-Manisiisk Autonomous Region, authorities called off Epiphany bathing, a centuries-old religious ceremony in which the faithful dip into the river on the eve of the Feast of the Epiphany.
Russia's public utility services were put on alert to address current and possible disasters brought on by a cold frigid enough to freeze the tears and mucous membranes of those who rely on public transport to get to and from work and must walk a portion of the way.
In the western Siberian city of Kamensk-Uralsky, located 100 km southeast of Yekaterinburg in the Ural Mountains, about 7,000 people, including 1,500 children, were left freezing for several hours in their apartments late Tuesday after a main water pipe burst, affecting 37 residential buildings, with the temperature dipping to nearly minus 30°C (-22°F), according to the Emergency Situations Ministry.
A ministry spokesman said the heating had been restored early Wednesday, at 2a.m. local time.
Meteorologists said they expected temperatures in Moscow and the Moscow Region to hit a record low of -35°F (-31°F).
