Violent storms that swept the eastern US left at least nine people dead while more than two million people were without power overnight on one of the hottest days on record.

Six people were reported killed in Virginia, including a 90-year-old woman asleep in bed when a tree slammed into her home. Two young cousins in New Jersey were killed when a tree fell on their tent while camping.

Police in Maryland said a man was killed when a tree fell onto his car. Hundreds of thousands in Washington DC and other areas were still largely without power – and without air-conditioning – yesterday as temperatures were expected to reach above 40 degrees Celsius across the region. Electricity service provider Pepco was reporting 406,000 power outages in the District of Columbia and Montgomery and Prince George’s counties in Maryland.

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