Weather Forecast: Heat Waves Hitting East Coast, Causing Power Outages for Fourth of July

Workers try to clear trees and restore power lines in Virginia(Photo : Reuters)

By Zanub Saeed

States on the eastern side of the country are suffering with electrical outages due to the scorching summer weather this July, and almost 1.4 homes and businesses from Virginia all the way to Illinois are without power heading into this Fourth of July weekend. Temperatures are predicted to climb up to more than 100 degrees by holiday mid-week.

Due to the violent winds and rainstorms during the heat wave this past week, at least 18 people were killed in the United States, said Reuters in a new report. Some apparently died when trees feel on their homes and cars, while heat strokes claimed the lives of others.

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The capital city is among those areas suffering through the electrical outage, as Washington, D.C., power company Pepco told the city's mayor that 90 percent of those without power in the area would hopefully have it restored by this Friday, said Reuters.

"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," Washington, D.C. Mayor Vincent Grey told CNN.

Other states throughout the country with power outages include Ohio, Tennessee, Pennsylvania, New Jersey, North Carolina, Maryland, Indiana, Kentucky, Virginia, and West Virginia, listed Reuters. Baltimore's Gas and Electric company said that they hope the 165,000 customers in the area without power will have it restored by this 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 on CNN.

A storm with hurricane-force winds hitting the Midwest all the way to the Atlantic Ocean, called the "super derecho" was being blamed for the temperature spikes and subsequent bad weather and power outages, said Reuters. The long-lasting wind storms that accompany fast-moving thunderstorms or showers are called derecho, and the more powerful derechos are "super," also called "land hurricanes," said AccuWeather via Reuters.