Deadly Heat Blankets Eastern U.S.

Millions swelter following ‘catastrophic damage’ to power grids caused by derecho

At least 18 people are dead since Friday as a result of severe weather and millions are still without power, while more than 160 locations across 12 states tied or set all-time record high temperatures.

Electric utilities in Maryland, Ohio and Virginia said the weekend derecho caused ‘catastrophic damage’ to their power grids.

It may take a week or more before power is restored to millions of people in the Mid-Atlantic region amid blistering heat.

Excessive Heat Warnings and Heat Advisories were in effect in parts of at least 26 states, as of posting.

US Weather Hazards Map

Relentless Heat to Remain in Place

A surface boundary separating excessive heat (temperatures above 100 degrees) in the southern United States with a milder airmass to its north will continue to be the focus for severe thunderstorms today. There are three main areas of concern, including the northern Rockies, the Mid-Mississippi River to Ohio Valleys and portions of the Mid-Atlantic into the Southeast, particularly the eastern Carolinas. The primary threats will be large hail and damaging winds, however an isolated tornado can not be ruled out across southern Minnesota and Wisconsin as well as northern Iowa and Illinois. -NWS

Excessive heat warnings and advisories are forecast to continue into the beginning of the week over much of the mid-Mississippi valley and southern state, NWS said.

Hundreds of daily high temperature records were broken this weekend; dozens of all-time high temperature records were set.

High Temperature Forecast for July 2, 2012.

Links to Recent Related Entries

• States of Emergency Declared in 4 States and DC as Storm Death Toll Rises
• Deadly Heat Wave Affects Third of U.S. Population
• The record-setting heat wave continues to expand

Other Global Disasters/ Significant Events

• Valencia, Spain.  Two mega forest fires about 30 kilometers west of Valencia on Spain’s eastern coast have consumed at least 50,000 hectares (~124,000 acres), forcing more than 2,500 people to evacuate the area.
  • The Spanish authorities raised the forest fire warning to the highest level in Valencia region as temperatures topped  104 degrees (40ºC).

• China. Torrential rain continues to batter large swaths  of  SW China causing major widespread damage and mass evacuations, Xinhuanet reported.
  • Ludian County in Yunnan Province is among the worst hit areas, the report said.
  • Since late June, extreme rain events and flooding throughout China have left hundreds of people dead or injured, displaced or affected at least a million others, destroyed thousands of homes, inundated hundreds of thousands of hectares of farmland and caused hundreds of million of dollars in crop damage.
  • The worst-hit areas are east China’s Zhejiang province, its neighboring Jiangxi province, central China’s Hunan province, China’s Guangxi Zhuang autonomous region and the entire southwest.
  • “More rain and storms are expected to hit Zhejiang, Fujian and Anhui provinces in south China, as well as Yunnan, Sichuan and Guizhou provinces in the southwest, over the next three days. Precipitation in some areas may total as much as 160 mm, according to the National Meteorological Center,” the report said.

• Assam, India.   Mega Floods caused by unusually intense monsoon rains across eastern India’s Assam state have left about 100 people dead, and displaced at least two million people.

• Bangladesh.  Intense monsoon rains in Bangladesh have claimed at least 120 lives, with many more injured,  an unknown number missing and at least 1.5 million people displaced.
  • The majority of victims were children, who were drowned in flash floods, buried by landslides or house collapses, or struck by lightning, reports said.
  • Flooding and landslides have destroyed thousands of homes and businesses , submerged entire villages and left at least 100,000 without work.
  • Many of the displaced are without food and water.
  • Chittagong port, the largest seaport in Bangladesh, received nearly 16 inches of rain in a single 12-hour period last week.

Global Disasters: Links, Forecasts and Background

• The First Wave of World’s Collapsing Cities
• Back to the Primordial Future
• The Fate of Energy Dinosaurs

• Mega Disasters
• 2010 Disasters [Links to 2010 Disaster Calendar]
• 2011 Disaster Calendar
• 2012 Disaster Calendar
• Mass Die-offs