Still chilly: Pipes freeze as temps again dip into 20s

<p>The cold spell is expected to ease today after below-freezing temperatures Wednesday painted Wine Country white with frost and shattered water pipes at a grocery store, a Catholic church and a bakery.</p><p>No major damage was reported in about half a dozen pipe breaks as temperatures around the North Coast dipped into the low 20s, including 23 in Santa Rosa and 20 in Petaluma, Ukiah and Lakeport. In Middletown and Cazadero, temperatures fell to 18.</p><p>Today's forecast calls for a chance of light rain and temperatures in the low 30s, but heavier rains are expected in the South Bay and Southern California.</p><p>The storm should move out by Friday, with another one behind it bringing heavier rains to the North Bay over the weekend.</p><p>A holiday fundraiser tonight at Star of the Valley Catholic Church in Oakmont was in jeopardy after its sprinkler system was shut off pending repairs to a fractured pipe, Monsignor Thomas Keys said.</p><p>"It's a big concern," he said, advising parishioners to call the church today to find out if the "Soup Supper" event will be held.</p><p>Water spilled into a small meeting room, offices, a restroom and hallway at the church on White Oak Drive at about 12:45 p.m. Wednesday.</p><p>A computer was ruined, but Keys said he hopes the soaked carpeting and ceiling will dry out and not need to be replaced. But the sprinkler system can't be activated and no public events can be held until the pipe is repaired, Keys said.</p><p>Franco American Bakery's bread making was uninterrupted by a sprinkler pipe break at about 2:15 p.m. in the ceiling of a storage area at the plant on West Seventh Street in Santa Rosa.</p><p>Firefighters mopped up the area, which gets busy at night when 10,000 loaves of sourdough and French bread are loaded onto delivery trucks, owner Kristin Bastoni-Frazee said.</p><p>About $10,000 worth of packaging material was ruined, she said.</p><p>Fire Capt. Don Ricci said his crew responded to four other broken-pipe calls Wednesday.</p><p>"We know it's coming when it gets this cold," he said.</p><p>Water pipes typically freeze and rupture overnight, as temperatures hit their low point, then begin leaking hours later as ice melts in the lines, Ricci said.</p><p>A broken sprinkler pipe in the attic soaked a storage area behind Molsberry's Larkfield Super Market at about noon Wednesday, Rincon Valley Fire Capt. Robert Bisordi said.</p><p>No merchandise was damaged and the store remained open, bookkeeper Deb Salfen said. Beverages stored in the area were on pallets, she said, and there was a "mad scramble" to prevent damage to boxes of paperwork.</p><p>The CHP reported no major accidents from the cold, but several vehicles spun out on the Shiloh Road on-ramp of Highway 101 in Windsor when water being used to cool a concrete cutting blade sprayed onto the road.</p><p>"The overspray was spewing into the roadway, freezing, and caused five vehicles to spin out," CHP Officer Jon Sloat said. "The Caltrans safety officer was alerted, and the ramp was closed for two hours for the ice to clear up."</p><p>You can reach Staff Writers Guy Kovner at 521-5457 or guy.kovner@pressdemocrat.com and Randi Rossmann at 521-5412 or randi.rossmann@</p><p>pressdemocrat.com.</p>