FREAK STORMS RIP THROUGH EASTERN US, KILLING 13

A series of violent thunderstorms with winds of up to 80 mph ripped through the eastern US late Friday, killing at least 13, downing trees and power lines, and leaving millions of people without electricity on a weekend that featured temperatures of 100 degrees. Forecasters deemed the winds a derecho – Spanish for "straight ahead" – a bow-shaped continuous band of storms that can cover hundreds of miles in a few hours. Friday's derecho tore through Ohio, Kentucky, West Virginia, Virginia, Maryland, New Jersey and Washington, prompting the suspension of train service between the US capital and Philadelphia and stranding thousands of commuters. The deaths included six in Virginia, two each in New Jersey and Maryland, and one each in Washington, Kentucky and Ohio. Three of the deaths were caused by falling trees. States of emergencies were declared by the governors of West Virginia, Virginia, Maryland and Ohio, as well as by officials in Washington, making those areas eligible to seek financial aid from the Federal Emergency Management Agency. The extreme temperatures seen in the eastern US over the weekend covered an area of almost 600,000 square miles and affected around 100m people.