Late Wednesday, city officials urged residents to stop using water as heavy demand had lowered the pressure through the system and forced a restart of the city’s water plant.

Now, as the sun rises on another icy and treacherous day in Vicksburg, city crews are searching for waterline breaks that have continued to disrupt service and keep water pressure levels low.

“Crews are out right now looking for the breaks,” Mayor George Flaggs Jr. said. “If people do not have water, please know that we are working on it, and for those who may still have water, please be very conservative in using it.”

Widespread rumors of a citywide water shutdown on Wednesday led residents to overreact and pull water from the system in large amounts, filling bottles and bathtubs. The surge of usage dropped levels in storage tanks and lowered water pressures in the system, forcing city officials to plead with residents to stop using the water for a few hours as the water plant was restarted and primed.

“We are getting there,” Flaggs said. “The breaks are now our biggest issue and we are hunting for them right now.”