Jul 2 2012 U.S. During Massive Heatwave the U.S. Electrical Grid System Suffers Catastrophic Storm Damage

Relentless heat forecast for much of the eastern United States for a fourth straight day on Monday, with about 2.2 million customers without power after violent storms and soaring temperatures killed at least 15 people.

Power companies warned it could take several days to restore electricity completely in some areas as much of the United States sweltered in a record-breaking heat wave.

"Hot and hotter will continue to be the story from the plains to the Atlantic Coast for the next few days," the National Weather Service said.

Emergencies were declared in Maryland, Ohio, Virginia, West Virginia and Washington because of damage from a rare "super derecho" storm packing hurricane-force winds across a 700-mile (1,100 kilometre) stretch from the Midwest to the Atlantic Ocean.

About 2.2 million homes and businesses from Illinois to New Jersey were still without power Monday morning, with the biggest concentration of outages in the Washington area.

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