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Cold Waves: Social and Economic Impact
- Costs and losses to livestock producers
- Loss of livestock due to exposure
- Greater mortality due to Increased vulnerability to disease
- Increased feed costs
- Reduced milk production
- Cost of supplemental water for livestock if onsite ponds and streams are frozen
- Machinery and farm vehicles that will not operate in cold weather
- Urban, residential, and commercial impacts
- Availability of water for municipal use due to frozen and burst water lines
- Homes with alternative energy sources
- House fires from overburdened chimneys
- Carbon monoxide poisoning from exhaust produced by heaters and generators
- Vehicles that will not operate in cold weather
- Cost of keeping transportation lines clear of ice and snow
- Health
- Mental and physical stress in the form of "cabin fever"
- Frostbite and hypothermia
- Disruption of services
- Government offices and schools closed
- Garbage collection halted
- General economic effects
- Revenue loss from lost production in business and industry
- Negative impact of economic multipliers
- Higher energy costs
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