Atlanta Weather | Cold temps to blame for one death in Atlanta

ATLANTA — Temperatures will finally rise above freezing on Wednesday after the Atlanta metro hit a record-breaking low Tuesday.

The Atlanta metro set a new record low of 6 degrees Tuesday morning. Some areas in north Georgia dipped below zero in the morning with temperatures struggling to reach the 20s throughout the day.

A 70-year-old man found dead in northwest Atlanta froze to death, the Fulton County Medical Examiner’s Office said Tuesday night.

Charlie Perkins, believed to be homeless, was found Tuesday morning outside a business in the 900 block of Donald Lee Hollowell Parkway, Atlanta police said. His death was determined to be accidental, police said.

An autopsy determined Perkins died from hypothermia, an investigator with the M.E.’s office said.

Crews worked to repair several water main breaks all over metro Atlanta, and hundreds of people had to deal with busted pipes because of the extreme cold.

"This is the highest call volume we have seen. We broke some records today," said Matt Byrne with Coolray Heating and Air and Mr. Plumber.

Byrne says every employee is in the office and more than 30 plumbers are on the road making repairs.

"This is the worst I have seen it," said Byrne.

Coolray is responding to several types of problems.

"It's mostly freeze breaks and people with no heat. If you haven't preplanned and insulated and covered anything up, all you can do is hope for the best and wait for the thaw," explained Byrne.

At Five Seasons Brewing Company in Atlanta, they are cleaning up a big mess.

"We are just trying to clean up all the flooded water from upstairs. They think what happened, the sprinkler head froze up and therefore water backed up (and) the line busted itself," said Corey Peake who is the general manager at Five Seasons.

Water came pouring down the walls and from the sprinkler heads flooding the entire restaurant with more than an inch of water.

The brutally cold temperatures are also causing burst city pipes.

It was below 18 degrees when Channel 2's Craig Lucie found a water main break on Bolton Road between Hollywood Road and Main Street.

Atlanta Watershed worked to repair at least seven active water main breaks Tuesday. All of them are affecting traffic, and the business owner who delivered hot coffee to cold crews.

"You see the streets. Nobody has come out. We can't make any business in this place. The weather is so cold," explained Vincent Santana who owns Acapulco Mexican Taqueria on Bolton Road.

Temperatures will reach the 40s Wednesday and Thursday and climb to the 60s by Saturday.

WSBTV