WASHINGTON — Severe thunderstorms disrupted July Fourth celebrations across large parts of the United States, knocking out power to hundreds of thousands of homes and businesses, forcing evacuations at public events and complicating recovery efforts as utility crews worked through the holiday weekend.
Nearly 1 million utility customers across the Midwest and Northeast lost electricity at various points as powerful storms, fueled by an intense heat wave, swept across multiple states, according to utility outage data and local authorities. While service had been restored to many customers by Sunday, hundreds of thousands remained without power in several states.
In the New York metropolitan area, severe thunderstorms brought wind gusts strong enough to topple trees and power lines, leaving more than 140,000 customers without electricity on Sunday morning, according to regional utilities. Officials reported that Bergen County, New Jersey, and Suffolk County on New York's Long Island were among the hardest-hit areas, with widespread tree damage and blocked roads.
Connecticut also sustained extensive damage after thunderstorms produced winds exceeding 65 mph (105 kph), causing outages that peaked at roughly 100,000 customers. By Sunday afternoon, about 64,000 customers were still without service, with utility company Eversource deploying additional crews from neighboring states and Canada to accelerate repairs.
"This storm was significantly more powerful and widespread than was forecasted," Don Scacco, president of Connecticut Electric Operations at Eversource, said in a statement, adding that crews would continue restoration efforts around the clock.
The storms also interrupted Independence Day events in several cities. In Philadelphia, organizers temporarily evacuated thousands gathered along the Benjamin Franklin Parkway for the One Philly: Unity Concert for America after severe weather approached Saturday evening. Utility company PECO reported approximately 17,000 customers without power Sunday morning in southeastern Pennsylvania.
In Washington, thunderstorms forced the temporary evacuation of crowds attending Fourth of July celebrations on the National Mall before festivities later resumed. Across parts of the Midwest, severe weather damaged infrastructure, delayed sporting events and prompted cancellations of some community celebrations.
The storms followed several days of record-breaking heat across much of the eastern United States. Meteorologists said the combination of extreme temperatures, high humidity and unstable atmospheric conditions helped fuel powerful thunderstorms capable of producing destructive winds and heavy rainfall. Forecasters warned that additional storms and localized flash flooding remained possible in parts of the Northeast as cleanup and power restoration continued.
