Heat Wave Kills at Least 25 as Storms Threaten East Coast

A weeklong heat wave continued Sunday, with officials reporting at least 25 deaths linked to the high temperatures. Forty million people remained under heat alerts across the East Coast, Southeast and Southwest. At least 18 record highs were set on the Fourth of July in cities including Washington, D.C.; Baltimore; Raleigh, North Carolina; Norfolk, Virginia; and Atlantic City, New Jersey.

Heat index values reached 100 to 105 Sunday evening in Philadelphia, Washington, Baltimore, Raleigh, Charleston, South Carolina, and Jacksonville, Florida.

Most of the suspected deaths occurred in New Jersey, where 22 people died across 10 counties, according to the state’s Department of Health. Two deaths were reported in Hinds County, Mississippi, and one in Cook County, Illinois. In New York City, more than 378 people visited emergency rooms for heat-related illnesses, the city’s Health Department said.

Saturday storms produced more than 540 damaging wind gust reports across the central and eastern United States. The strongest gusts reached 92 mph in Norman, Oklahoma, and 87 mph in Suffolk County, New York, according to the National Weather Service’s Storm Prediction Center.

Sunday brought widely scattered showers and thunderstorms across parts of the Plains, Southeast and mid-Atlantic, where 25 million people are under storm alerts. Conditions favor damaging wind gusts over 70 mph and quarter-sized hail in Philadelphia, Washington, Baltimore and Arlington, Virginia.

Through Monday, 34 million people from Delaware to Connecticut remain under flood alerts. Slow-moving storms could produce rainfall rates of 2 inches per hour and 2 to 8 inches total, raising the risk of urban flash flooding in Philadelphia, New York and Hartford, Connecticut.