Schools and facilities across North Texas are returning to normal operations after freezing temperatures and icy conditions led to closures and shutdowns.
As of Tuesday afternoon, the Dallas, Arlington and Richardson independent school districts announced their campuses will reopen Wednesday after cancelling classes Tuesday due to the hazardous weather. All Fort Worth ISD schools will also reopen except for Polytechnic High School, which the district said will remain closed because the building‘s heating system doesn’t work.
Temperatures dipped below freezing over the weekend and stayed that way throughout Martin Luther King Jr. Day as ice and sleet coated North Texas.
The freezing conditions also put operations on hold at the Dallas County Medical Examiner’s Office. Chief Death Investigator Steven Kurtz said frozen pipes and leaks were reported to the building’s maintenance staff on Sunday.
Kurtz could not confirm whether that was why the building’s water supply got shut off Monday morning before autopsies were set to begin, but he said cases were put on hold as water is essential to the autopsy process.
“Once trace evidence collection and initial photography’s been done, they’ve got to clean the person,” he said. “And then as they’re doing the anatomical dissection, water is used constantly to clean instruments and clean the organs that are being brought out."
Autopsies have now resumed, Kurtz said, with no further delays expected. The medical examiner’s office handles roughly 20 cases a day, and Kurtz said he expects staff to be caught up by Wednesday afternoon.
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