MONROE, Wash. — An icy blast is making its way southward from Canada, bringing frigid temperatures to the northern United States. Meanwhile, the Pacific Northwest is on high alert for potential mudslides and levee breaches due to floodwaters, which are anticipated to recede slowly.

The severe flooding has triggered mass evacuations, including Eddie Wicks and his spouse, who reside on a picturesque farm in Washington state, nestled beside the Snoqualmie River among sunflowers and Christmas trees. As they hurried to relocate their two donkeys to higher terrain and their eight goats to an open-air kitchen, the water level rose alarmingly faster than they had ever witnessed.

When the floodwaters swallowed their home on Thursday afternoon, the King County Sheriff’s Office marine rescue dive unit intervened, rescuing them and their dog. They were ferried approximately half a mile (800 meters) across what was once their field, now submerged under water, and the dramatic rescue was captured on video.

Big cities like Chicago, Minneapolis brace for Arctic air

As the Pacific Northwest begins its recovery from the flooding, another weather front is ushering in perilously low wind-chill temperatures to the Upper Midwest.

By midday Saturday, temperatures had plummeted to minus 12 degrees Fahrenheit (minus 24 degrees Celsius) in Grand Forks, North Dakota. The wind chill made it feel even colder, at a biting minus 33 F (minus 36 C), according to the National Weather Service.

For big cities like Minneapolis and Chicago, the coldest temperatures were expected late Saturday night into Sunday morning. In the Minneapolis area, low temperatures were expected to drop to around minus 15 F (minus 26 C), by early Sunday morning. Lows in the Chicago area are projected to be around 1 F(minus 17 C) by early Sunday, the weather service said.

The Arctic air mass was expected to continue pushing south and east over the weekend, expanding into Southern states by Sunday.

The National Weather Service on Saturday issued cold weather advisories that stretched as far south as the Alabama state capital city of Montgomery, where temperatures late Sunday night into Monday morning were expected to plummet to around 22 F (minus 6 C). To the east, lows in Savannah, Georgia, were expected to drop to around 24 F (minus 4 C) during the same time period.

Danger of mudslides, levee failures continues in Pacific Northwest

The cold weather freezing much of the country comes as residents in the Pacific Northwest endure more misery after several days of flooding. Thousands of people have been forced to evacuate towns in the region as an unusually strong atmospheric river dumped a foot (30 centimeters) or more of rain in parts of western and central Washington over several days and swelled rivers, inundating communities and prompting dramatic rescues from rooftops and vehicles.

The record floodwaters were expected to continue to slowly recede Saturday, but authorities warn that waters will remain high for days, and that there is still danger from potential levee failures or mudslides. There is also the threat of more rain forecast for Sunday. Officials have conducted dozens of water rescues as debris and mudslides have closed highways and raging torrents have washed out roads and bridges.

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Associated Press writers Hallie Golden in Seattle and Jeff Martin in Atlanta contributed.