District of Columbia, Maryland, Ohio and the two Virginias declare States of Emergency amid rising storms toll
Deadly storms across Eastern U.S. have claimed at least 13 lives and left many injured, hundreds homeless and about 6 million utility customers, or an estimated 20 million people, without power amid sweltering heat wave.
Widespread damage and power losses have been reported across a vast region ravaged by deadly storms since Friday.
The storms have left a trail of destruction from Indiana to New Jersey, with the worst-hit areas being in Washington Metropolitan area, Maryland, West Virginia, and suburban Virginia.
Virginia Gov. Bob McDonnell called the widespread power losses as “the largest non-hurricane power outage in Virginia history,” as more storms threatened. “This is a very dangerous situation,” the governor said, “the next few days in Virginia are going to be very, very difficult.”
- The deadly storms claimed at least 6 lives across Virginia (pop: ~ 8.1 million), and left about 2.5 million customers, or an estimated 7.5 million people, without power. [Includes about 120,000 customers in Richmond area and 680,000 in northern Virginia.]
- More than 3.5 million homes and businesses supplied by Dominion Virginia Power in Indiana, Ohio and Virginia have been affected.
In Ohio, excessive heat, widespread power losses and utility damages prompted Gov. Kasich to declare a state of emergency. As of Saturday morning, about 1 million homes and businesses, or an estimated total of 3 million people, still faced power outages.
“I’m very concerned with the problems created by the combination of power outages and severe heat, and so I’ve declared an emergency for all of Ohio so that state resources and personnel can help local governments meet the needs and challenges that they face.” Kasich said.
- The Disaster President [Barrack Obama] has since declared Ohio a Federal Disaster Area.
In Maryland, at least 800 people were left homeless after storms tore off the roofs of two apartment buildings in Riverdale Park, said Mayor Vernon Archer.
- Governor O’Malley declared a State of Emergency following the devastation.
- About 1 million utility customers in Maryland, an estimated 3 million people, were still without power early Saturday morning, “similar to the number that lost power in 2003 when Tropical Storm Isabel hit the state,” said a report.
Across West Virginia (pop: ~1.9 million), where Gov. Earl Ray had already declared a state of emergency, some 700,000 customers, or an estimated 1.7 million people, were without power in 53 of the state’s 55 counties.
- “Those winds were so strong and over such a wide area,” the governor told reporters. “It’s going to take several days to get power back on.”
- The Disaster President declared West Virginia a Federal Disaster Area on Saturday.
In Washington, the utility company Pepco reported more than 440,000 outages in the Capital.
In Indiana, at least 135,000 customers, or an estimated half a million people, lost power.
Atlantic County, New Jersey, declared a state of emergency due to the violent storms which left more than 200,000 customers, or an estimated 750,000 people, without power.
- In Salem County NJ, officials declared a state of emergency after storms left at least 2 people dead, causing widespread damage and cutting power to at least 10,000 homes and businesses.
- The Mayor of Vineland (Pop: 65,000), a city in Cumberland County, New Jersey, also declared a disaster emergency.
Pennsylvania: about 40,000 customers lost power.
Kentucky and North Carolina: at least 2,500 homes and businesses lost power.
Illinois: Commonwealth Edison power utility reported more than 210,000 outages.
FirstEnergy, AEP Ohio and BGE (Maryland) had reported a total of about 1.6 million power outages.
See links for details of heat wave and the new record high temperatures set in the U.S.
Risk of Severe Thunderstorms Continues Tonight As Heat Continues Across South: NWS
Scattered thunderstorms expected tonight and Sunday over the Central Plains, Midwest and East Central States. Some thunderstorms will be severe with damaging winds, large hail, and isolated tornadoes.
US Weather Hazards Map, July 1, 2012
Mega Heat Wave
Dangerous heat is forecast to continue throughout the South. Excessive Heat Warnings and Heat Advisories remain in effect in parts of more than 2 dozen states across the southeast and lower half of the Mississippi Valley with triple-digit temperatures forecast across the southern third of the U.S., said NWS.
About 150 all-time high temperature records have been broken in recent days.
Millions of people have been urged to seek out shelter amid triple-digit heat and large-scale power outages.
High Temperature Forecast for July 1, 2012.
Fire Earth 