Millions without power as heat wave hits eastern US

The eastern U.S. on Monday was hammered by the fourth consecutive day of stifling heat after a weekend of violent storms that killed 15 people and knocked out power to millions.

More than 2 million people were still without power Monday morning, with the biggest concentration of outages in the Washington, D.C. area.

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"Hot and hotter will continue to be the story from the plains to the Atlantic Coast for the next few days," the National Weather Service said.

Monday morning brought another grim challenge when many embarked on a difficult commute over roads with darkened stoplights.

Video: Heat adds misery to mid-Atlantic power outage (on this page)

To alleviate congestion around Baltimore and Washington, federal and state officials gave many workers the option of staying home Monday. Federal agencies will be open in Washington, but non-emergency employees have the option of taking leave or working from home. Maryland's governor also gave state workers wide leeway for staying out of the office.

There were more than 500 signal outages in Maryland on Sunday afternoon, including more than 400 in hard-hit Montgomery County outside the nation's capital, according to the State Highway Administration. There were 100 signal outages in northern Virginia late Sunday afternoon, and 65 roads were closed, although most were secondary roads.

"If you have to drive or need to drive, leave yourself a lot of extra time," Maryland State Highway Administration spokesman Charlie Gischlar said. "There's going to be delays."

All 86 Metro subway stations in the Washington area were open, but delays were possible Monday because power was being routed through the system to serve some areas where power was not being supplied by commercial utilities, spokesman Dan Stessel said. Some stations in Montgomery County were running on backup power, he said, meaning escalators may not work ? bad news for commuters braving the stifling heat. Metro bus riders were expected to experience significant delays.

'Sultry week'
And it was set to remain unseasonably sweltering, with heat warnings continuing into Monday after hundreds of daily high temperature records were broken throughout the region over the weekend, the National Weather Service said.

Temperatures approached or exceeded 100 degrees in many storm-stricken areas, and utility officials said the power will likely be out for several more days.

The heat was set to linger over the East Coast for a few days at least, Weather.com reported.

"High pressure in the upper atmosphere will shift back to the central states, focusing the core of above-average temperatures over that region of the country eastward into mid-Atlantic,? it reported. "Minneapolis, Minn., St. Louis, Mo., Chicago, Ill. and Washington, D.C. are just a few of the cities that should prepare for a sultry week ahead."

Emergencies were declared in Maryland, Ohio, Virginia, West Virginia and Washington, D.C., on Saturday because of damage from storms that unleashed hurricane-force winds across and a 500-mile stretch of the mid-Atlantic region.

Storm-hit East could face power outages for days

The storms' rampage came as sweltering temperatures topped 100 Fahrenheit in several southern cities, including Atlanta, where the mercury hit an all-time record of 106 degrees on Saturday and reached 105 on Sunday.

Over two dozen cities across 10 states set or tied all-time record high temperatures on Friday and Saturday, including Columbia, South Carolina; Knoxville, Tennessee; and Raleigh, North Carolina.

Severe weather was blamed for 17 deaths since Friday, The Associated Press reported, most from trees falling on homes and cars. Meanwhile, Coast Guard officials say they have suspended the search for a man who disappeared early Saturday while boating during the storm off Maryland.

On Sunday night in North Carolina, a 77-year-old man was killed when strong winds collapsed a Pitt County barn where he was parking an all-terrain vehicle, authorities said. In neighboring Beaufort County, a couple was killed when a tree fell on the golf cart they were driving. Officials said trees fell onto dozens of houses, and two hangars were destroyed at an airport in Beaufort County. The damage was mostly blamed on straight-line winds.

Elsewhere, at least six of the dead were killed in Virginia, including a 90-year-old woman asleep in her bed when a tree slammed into her home. Two young cousins in New Jersey were killed when a tree fell on their tent while camping. Two were killed in Maryland, one in Ohio, one in Kentucky and one in Washington.

For survivors, it was a challenge to stay cool over the weekend.

The temperature hit 99 at Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport just outside the nation's capital. With no air conditioning, officials urged residents to check on their elderly relatives and neighbors. It was tough to find a free pump at gas stations that did have power, and lines of cars snaked around fast-food drive-thrus.

"If we don't get power tonight, we'll have to throw everything away," Susan Fritz, a mother of three, said grimly of her refrigerator and freezer. Fritz came to a library in Bethesda, Md., so her son could do school work. She charged her phone and iPad at her local gym.

Power crews from as far away as Florida and Oklahoma were on their way to the mid-Atlantic region to help get the power back on and the air conditioners running again. Even if people have generators, the gas-run devices often don't have enough power to operate an air conditioner.

Free ice
And power restoration was spotty: Several people interviewed by The Associated Press said they remained without power even though the lights were on at neighbors' homes across the street. In Maryland, Gov. O'Malley promised he would push utility companies to get electricity restored as quickly as possible.

"No one will have his boot further up Pepco's and BGE's backsides than I will," O'Malley said Sunday afternoon, referring to the two main utilities serving Maryland.

In Waldorf, Md., Charles County emergency officials handed out free 40-pound bags of ice to anyone who needed them. Among the takers was Ann Brown, 47, of Accokeek, Md., who had stayed in a hotel Saturday night because her house was without power.

She went to a cookout in Upper Marlboro, Md., on Saturday after family members decided to cook all the food in the freezer rather than let it go bad.

"Whatever they had, that's what we ate, and it was great," Brown said.

Whether she makes the commute to work Monday will depend entirely on how comfortable the office is.

"If they don't have power, I'm not going. But if they have power, yeah, I'm going in, to be in the air conditioning all day," she said.

The Associated Press, Reuters, NBC News, msnbc.com staff and weather.com contributed to this story.

Source: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/48039856/ns/weather/

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