WASHINGTON (AP) — A wave of violent storms swept through the Washington area on Friday evening, knocking out power to hundreds of thousands of homes and businesses after a day of record-setting heat.
The storms converged on Washington, D.C., Maryland and Virginia after 10 p.m. Friday.
As of 11:40 p.m., Pepco was reporting 203,000 outages in Montgomery County, Md., 115,000 in Prince George’s County and 61,000 in Washington.
Dominion Power was reporting 457,000 outages in northern Virginia, 130,000 in the Shenandoah Valley and about 143,000 in the Richmond area.
BGE said about 65,000 customers were without power, mostly in the counties of Howard, Prince George’s and Anne Arundel.
WRC-TV in Washington is reporting (http://bit.ly/MDIk7q) downed trees in Frederick, Md.
Montgomery County officials said winds in excess of 75 mph had been reported.
Metrorail trains were being returned to their endpoints due to the storms and related damage, Metro officials tweeted.
WTOP Radio was reporting downed and damaged trees around the Washington area, as well as toppled portable toilets that had been set up for a weekend event on the National Mall.
Earlier Friday, the Washington area broke a record high temperature set almost 80 years ago.
The National Weather Service said that just before 3 p.m., it was 104 degrees at Washington Reagan National Airport. That beats the record of 101 set in 1934.
Baltimore was also experiencing temperatures in the 100s. It was 102 at Baltimore Washington International Thurgood Marshall Airport around 3 p.m. That was shy of the record of 105 set in 1934.
Officials are urging residents to drink plenty of fluids, stay indoors when possible and wear light colored and loose-fitting clothing. In Baltimore, the mayor extended the hours of city pools by an hour to help residents keep cool.
Temperatures in the Mid-Atlantic region are expected to be around 100 at least through the weekend.
