Submitted Photo Springs of water arise from a pipeline break at 16th Street and Fourth Avenue Northwest as a motorist splashes through the intersection Monday, as shown in this City of Minot photo.

The Minot area has been working through the challenges of frigid weather.

Crews with Verendrye Electric braved the cold Sunday night to respond to a power outage that impacted about 1,200 Verendrye Electric Cooperative accounts. The outage resulted from a wire going down after a crossarm failed on a pole between Foxholm and Lonetree, Verendrye spokesman Tom Rafferty said.

Verendrye reported the downed wire happened about 7:54 p.m., resulting in loss of power for its members around Berthold, Des Lacs, Burlington, Carpio, Donnybrook, Foxholm, Ryder and Makoti.

Power was restored in most cases within two hours. However, some members in the area experienced additional outages overnight, including some for up to two hours, because of other minor issues in restoring the system, Rafferty said.

The City of Minot experienced a watermain break at 16th Street and Fourth Avenue Northwest Monday morning. Subzero temperatures were creating icy conditions and motorists were urged to avoid the area. Detours were set up on the 1600 block of Fourth Avenue during the repair. Only two buildings were affected by the outage, according to information from the city.

Also on Monday, Gov. Kelly Armstrong signed an executive order waiving hours of service requirements for drivers of commercial vehicles transporting propane and other petroleum products to address the heightened heating fuel demands.

North Dakota faces extremely low inventories of propane supplies and other petroleum products as a result of market conditions impacted by severe seasonal weather, and “the lack of adequate heating fuel poses an immediate risk to public health, safety and welfare,” the governor’s order stated. The 30-day waiver became effective Monday.

Today’s temperatures are expected to remain below zero during the day, with wind chill potentially creating the feel of -50. Temperatures could remain subzero on Wednesday before warming up into the single digits on Thursday. Balmy weather is on the way, though. The National Weather Service’s long-range forecast for the weekend indicates the possibility of 40 degrees by Sunday.