Seven Deaths Due To Heat

Violent storms hit around the Washington D.C. area on Friday and caused the deaths of two people. Authorities also said that five people, including three children, might have died from severe heat that has affected the majority of the nation.

Weather forecasters warned that more dangerous high temperatures would hit the nation on Saturday with many reaching into the 100s. Across a large area of the country, violent thunderstorms could appear during the afternoon hours.

Storms on Friday knocked out power to over 2 million people in the eastern part of the country. Widespread outages in power were reported from New Jersey to Indiana, with much of that concentrated in the area of Washington D.C.

In Springfield, Virginia, two deaths were blamed on fallen trees. An elderly woman died when a tree fell on her home and a man died when the car he was driving was hit by a falling tree. In addition, a police officer was injured by an uprooted tree and a man was hit by a falling power line. The man was listed in stable condition after needing CPR.

Amtrak had to suspend all services between Philadelphia and Washington until sometime Saturday morning due to a number of problems related to the severe weather.

On Friday afternoon, the temperature in Washington D.C. had reached 104 degrees topping a previous record of 101 that was set back in 1934. Two brothers in Tennessee reportedly died due to the heat. The boys, 3 and 5, had been outside playing on Thursday. The youngest died Thursday afternoon and the older boy on Friday. Three residents in Kansas City died and their deaths are being investigated as possibly being related to the heat. One of the deaths was a baby.