Highways buckled across the country, the waters of Lake Michigan were
unusually warm for this time of year and even a minor train derailment
outside Washington was blamed on heat as the hot weather gripping much
of the country only worsened Saturday.
Temperatures of more than
100 degrees were forecast in Philadelphia and excessive heat warnings
were issued for several states in the Midwest as the days of smothering
heat piled on, accompanied by severe storms that have knocked out power
in spots from Michigan to the East Coast.
Most notable was last
weekend's sudden and severe storm that drenched the mid-Atlantic region,
where thousands remained without electricity a week later. At least 24
deaths have been blamed on the heat and several others on the weather or
a combination of the two. Hundreds of thousands remained without power
Saturday, mostly in West Virginia, Ohio and Michigan.
One man figured out a way to beat the heat: stay in the car.
That
was the plan for 60-year-old Roger Sinclair of Batavia, Ill., who was
headed home Saturday from Detroit, where he'd spent a few days visiting
an old friend and catching Friday night's Tigers game.
While he enjoyed the game, a 4-2 Tigers win, the conditions were less than ideal.