Washington, July 3 (IANS) Almost two million people scattered through 11 states, from Indiana to Delaware and the American capital, were still without electricity Tuesday for the fourth day, putting a damper on Wednesday’s Independence Day holiday.
The weatherman too offered no respite to sweating citizens, forecasting blistering temperatures and issuing extreme heat warnings for parts of Illinois, Indiana, Missouri, Kentucky, Ohio and Michigan.
Heat advisory warnings were also in place for different parts of Missouri, Kentucky and Ohio as well as parts of Nebraska, South Dakota, Wisconsin, Minnesota and Iowa, according to CNN.
Many cities and towns in the Midwest, Mid-Atlantic and Southeast have already endured temperatures in the high 90s and above 100 degrees Fahrenheit (around 38 degrees Celsius) since the middle of last week.
According to CNN, 410,000 households in West Virginia, 400,000 in Ohio and 340,000 in Virginia are still without power. Traffic lights remain out in many hard-hit locales, including around the nation’s capital where some 200,000 are still without electricity.
Making matters worse, utility authorities said many affected residents may not get power back until the week’s end leading to cancellation of several Independence Day public celebrations.
However, the National Park Service said all of its Fourth of July programmes on the Mall overlooking the Capitol are scheduled to go forward with 75 percent of the storm damage to tents and fencing that had been erected for the festivities repaired.
“Everything that was planned is still planned,” spokesperson Carol Bradley Johnson was quoted as saying by the Washington Post.
As power company crews struggled to repair damage inflicted by the Friday storm in the capital city, Washington city Mayor Vincent Gray asked President Barack Obama to declare a disaster so the city can qualify for federal funding.
(Arun Kumar can be contacted at arun.kumar@ians.in)
