US braces for scorcher, blackouts ahead of Fourth of July holiday
Source: Agencies |
July 4, 2012, Wednesday
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THE eastern third of the United States braced for more scorching temperatures yesterday as nearly 1.4 million homes and businesses from Illinois to Virginia remained without power heading into the Independence Day holiday.
Violent weekend storms and days of oppressive heat have killed at least 18 people in the US. Some died when trees fell on their homes and cars, while heat stroke killed others.
Utilities warned that some people could be without power - and unable to run their air conditioners - for the rest of the week. In all, more than 1.4 million homes and businesses from Illinois to Virginia remained without electricity yesterday morning.
In hard-hit Washington, DC, Mayor Vincent Gray expressed frustration with the slow pace of repairs. He said the local power company, Pepco, had told him that 90 percent of those without power in the US capital would have it restored by Friday.
"We have had power outage after power outage in the District of Columbia. Frankly, the people are just fed up with it. I don't have any power in my own home," Gray told CNN.
Residents and businesses were also struggling with outages in Virginia, West Virginia, Ohio, Tennessee, Pennsylvania, Maryland, New Jersey, North Carolina, Indiana and Kentucky.
Baltimore Gas and Electric, an Exelon Corp unit, said it had 165,000 customers still without power and restoration would run into the weekend.
"This is an act of God, and this is the way that all utilities around the country work. This is not something that is unique to any part of the country," spokesman Robert Gould said.
Temperatures from 32 degrees Celsius to more than 37.7 degrees Celsius were forecast from the plains to the Atlantic Coast yesterday and today, the Fourth of July holiday.
"Over the next few days much of the eastern third of the country will see a resurgence of the heat experienced last weekend," US weather forecasters said.
The record books got a brief respite. On Sunday, 288 temperature records were set nationwide. On Monday, Mechanicsville, Maryland, tied a record high temperature of 34.4 degrees Celsius, set in 1983, but no heat records were broken, the National Weather Service said.
The upper Midwest could see more severe thunderstorms like the one that ripped down trees and power lines in northern Minnesota and knocked out the phone system in the city of Bemidji and soaking Duluth.
Much of the devastation to the power grid was blamed on last weekend's rare "super derecho," a storm packing hurricane-force winds across a 1,100-kilometer stretch from the Midwest to the Atlantic Ocean.
Violent weekend storms and days of oppressive heat have killed at least 18 people in the US. Some died when trees fell on their homes and cars, while heat stroke killed others.
Utilities warned that some people could be without power - and unable to run their air conditioners - for the rest of the week. In all, more than 1.4 million homes and businesses from Illinois to Virginia remained without electricity yesterday morning.
In hard-hit Washington, DC, Mayor Vincent Gray expressed frustration with the slow pace of repairs. He said the local power company, Pepco, had told him that 90 percent of those without power in the US capital would have it restored by Friday.
"We have had power outage after power outage in the District of Columbia. Frankly, the people are just fed up with it. I don't have any power in my own home," Gray told CNN.
Residents and businesses were also struggling with outages in Virginia, West Virginia, Ohio, Tennessee, Pennsylvania, Maryland, New Jersey, North Carolina, Indiana and Kentucky.
Baltimore Gas and Electric, an Exelon Corp unit, said it had 165,000 customers still without power and restoration would run into the weekend.
"This is an act of God, and this is the way that all utilities around the country work. This is not something that is unique to any part of the country," spokesman Robert Gould said.
Temperatures from 32 degrees Celsius to more than 37.7 degrees Celsius were forecast from the plains to the Atlantic Coast yesterday and today, the Fourth of July holiday.
"Over the next few days much of the eastern third of the country will see a resurgence of the heat experienced last weekend," US weather forecasters said.
The record books got a brief respite. On Sunday, 288 temperature records were set nationwide. On Monday, Mechanicsville, Maryland, tied a record high temperature of 34.4 degrees Celsius, set in 1983, but no heat records were broken, the National Weather Service said.
The upper Midwest could see more severe thunderstorms like the one that ripped down trees and power lines in northern Minnesota and knocked out the phone system in the city of Bemidji and soaking Duluth.
Much of the devastation to the power grid was blamed on last weekend's rare "super derecho," a storm packing hurricane-force winds across a 1,100-kilometer stretch from the Midwest to the Atlantic Ocean.
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