Millions lose power as heat wave continues

With more triple-digit heat in the forecast, millions of people in the Mid-Atlantic area were without power on Saturday after violent storms with 80-mph gusts toppled trees, cut power lines and killed four people.

Ohio also saw up to 1 million homes and businesses without power Saturday morning due to the storm front overnight, and at least one person died there.

Forecasters warned of more dangerously high temperatures Saturday. It should top 100 degrees in areas across 25 states, a heat scenario impacting 47 million people, the Weather Channel's Julie Martin said on NBC's TODAY show.

The storms cut power more than 2 million homes and businesses across the Mid-Atlantic area -- including 1.5 million in the Washington, D.C., area, NBCWashington.com reported.

"We have more than half our system down," said Myra Oppel, a spokeswoman for Pepco, a utility serving the D.C. area that had 400,000 customers without power after 80 mph gusts knocked down trees and power lines.

"This is definitely going to be a multi-day outage," Oppel added -- not good news for those relying on air-conditioning to deal with the muggy, triple-digit temperatures this weekend.

Repairing damage "is a monumental task," added Ed McDonough, a spokesman for the Maryland Department of Emergency Management. "This is something that is going to take days, not hours."

Water restrictions were? ordered in Montgomery and Prince George's counties because the storms had knocked out power to its filtration plants and other facilities.

And the high heat prompted the AT&T National golf tournament at the Congressional Country Club in Bethesda, Md., to close the competition to spectators and volunteers on Saturday.

4 deaths in D.C. area
Fallen trees were blamed for two deaths in Springfield, Va. ? a 90-year-old woman in her home and a man driving a car.

Two others died in Virginia as well, but details were not available, NBCWashington.com reported.

In addition, a park police officer was injured by an uprooted tree in northern Virginia, and an 18-year-old man was struck by a power line. He was in stable condition after receiving CPR.

Damage in the D.C. area included a rooftop blown off a 7-story apartment building, and dozens of damaged homes.

Widespread power outages were reported from Indiana to New Jersey.

On Friday, the nation's capital reached 104 degrees ? its hottest June day on record.

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The heat is also suspected to have been the cause of the deaths of two young brothers in eastern Tennessee, Reuters reported. The boys, aged 3 and 5, had been playing outside Thursday. The younger boy died Thursday, and the older boy on Friday afternoon, according to Eric Blach, administrator for the Bradley County Medical Examiner's Office.

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In Kansas City, Mo., city health officials said Friday they were investigating the deaths of three area residents, including a baby boy, to determine if they were heat-related, according to Reuters.

Early Saturday, the National Weather Service issued excessive heat warnings for parts of Maryland, Delaware, Pennsylvania, Washington, D.C., Virginia, North and South Carolina, Georgia, Indiana, Ohio, Illinois, Missouri, Kansas, Kentucky, Alabama, Tennessee and Arizona.

It said the temperatures could get "dangerously hot."

Weather.com published a map of the U.S. showing areas at risk of severe thunderstorms Saturday, with an area from Iowa to the Mid-Atlantic at risk.

"Another round of widespread damaging winds may materialize in these hard-hit areas," it warned. "A second area of severe weather is possible for the central and northern Plains, but those storms may be more isolated in nature."

It said severe thunderstorms typically form at the northern edge of areas of excessive heat.

"A powerful derecho developed Friday over Indiana and marched eastward across Ohio, the Virginias and into Maryland and Delaware, causing widespread wind damage with gusts over 90 miles per hour in some cases," it added.

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West Virginia Gov. Earl Ray Tomblin declared a state of emergency after more than 500,000 customers in 27 counties were left without electricity because of the storm.

More than 20 elderly residents at an apartment home in Indianapolis were displaced when the facility lost power due to a downed tree.

The storms also toppled three tractor trailers on Interstate 75 near Findlay, Ohio.

At least four utility poles fell on a road in Columbus, Ohio, making it too dangerous for people in four cars to get out, police said. One person was taken to a hospital.

Washington's Metrorail subway trains were returned to their endpoints due to the storms and related damage late Friday.

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"It has had a widespread effect on the region," Metro spokesman Dan Stessel said early Saturday.

He said about 17 train stations were operating on backup power due to local power outages, but that he didn't anticipate service being disrupted on Saturday.

The Associated Press and Reuters contributed to this report.

Source: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/48024138/ns/weather/

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