No Power For More Than A Million Americans On Fourth Of July

Hundreds of thousands of people from the Midwest to the Mid-Atlantic region of the U.S. will spend the Fourth of July without power, as utilities still struggle to restore power after violent storms last Friday.

Many Independence Day celebrations were canceled because of dangerous conditions while many residents were in no mood for revelry.

Celebrations were canceled in Rockville, Md., because trees and wires were blocking two of the three entrances to the college campus where fireworks were planned, reports said.

The storm affected about 3 million homes and businesses from Illinois to the East Coast and left 24 people dead. Mere than a million homes and businesses scattered across 11 states, from Indiana to Delaware, remained without power as of late Tuesday, reports said.

Baltimore Gas and Electric, Dominion Power and Pepco, three big utilities in the Washington, D.C, area, put out a call to other companies for 1,000 added workers for restoration efforts. Additional crew and equipment have been brought in from as far away as Canada and Texas to help restore the supply lines.

District of Columbia authorities have set up six sites to distribute packaged food for more than 10,000 residents still without power Wednesday.

Frankly, the people are just fed up with it. I don't have any power in my own home, District of Columbia Mayor Vincent Gray told CNN.

This has been quite an ordeal. We need a game change. We need to speak not so much about how quickly we restore power, but how do we reduce the likelihood of this happening again in the future, he said.

Heat wave warnings were issued Wednesday for parts of Minnesota, Wisconsin, Indiana, Missouri Illinois and Kentucky with the National Weather Service saying that mercury levels were likely to rise near or above triple digits.

Authorities urged people to cool off with water and ice, check on their neighbors and take refuge in community centers if necessary.