Severe weather that included thunderstorms, tornadoes and heavy winds plunged 300,000 homes and businesses into darkness in the south and east of the U.S.

States hit the hardest included Pennsylvania, South Carolina, Maryland, Tennessee and Georgia.

Drivers were stranded in Westminster, Maryland when electrical poles fell on to cars. Dozens of people were trapped in their cars for up to five and a half-hours on Monday on Route 140, according to Maryland State Police. Utility crews worked to de-energize the power lines so that the trapped could be saved. Thirty-three adults and 14 children were rescued and there were no injuries, police reported.

Homes in Harford County, Maryland, which is northeast of Baltimore, were damaged due to falling trees.

Storms hammered the country from Philadelphia south to Atlanta. Forty million people were still at risk for more storms in the Plains, the Southeast and New England today (Tuesday, August 8). Hail, strong winds and tornadoes are possible in the High Plain states. States not affected on Monday will be experiencing damaging winds. These states include Mississippi, Alabama and Georgia.

Nearly 10 million people in New England are under flood watches. Boston was already being pummeled with rain Tuesday morning.

Sections of Maine and northern New Hampshire are under a level 3 of 4 risk of extreme rain and flash floods.

As of the middle of Tuesday morning, more than 300,000 homes and businesses were still without power in five states, according to PowerOutage.us. They included 96,070 in Pennsylvania, 92,608 in North Carolina, 64,332 in Maryland, 26,863 in Georgia and 23,236 in Tennessee.

In Knoxville, Tennessee, storms ripped off roofs from homes and large size hail pounded parts of Virginia. Hail half the size of a grapefruit, which was the largest hail reported in the state since 2002, fell on Caroline County, according to the National Weather Service in Wakefield, Virginia.

Knoxville, Tennessee utilities warned that it could take days before power is fully restored. Nearly 40,000 utility customers were without power.

Severe storms also struck the Midwest on Monday. There was an EF-1 tornado that damaged property in Dubois and Orange counties in Indiana. The National Weather Service wasn’t sure whether the damage was caused by one tornado or multiple tornadoes. Vicious winds ripped the roofs off of buildings in Paoli, Indiana on Monday.

Tornado watches were reported from eastern Tennessee and North Carolina and north into New York. Severe thunderstorm watches have been issued through the southeast, including Georgia.

More than 900,000 homes and businesses were without power late Monday after storms beat up much of the South and the East. North Carolina had 255,000 utility customers without power, 148,000 customers were without power in Georgia, and 170,000 customers were without power in Pennsylvania.

There were reports from Philadelphia and New Jersey of 70 mph wind gusts. A severe thunderstorm warning was in effect in Philadelphia; Trenton, New Jersey; and Levittown and Pottstown in Pennsylvania.

Baltimore and Washington, D.C. weather service issued warnings of damaging storms. D.C. federal workers were told to leave for home early in response to the threatening weather.

Meanwhile, a heat wave continued to be a problem in much of the south. The heat wave is affecting western Texas to the eastern Gulf Coast. Temperatures are reaching the upper 90s to the middle 100s. The heat index could reach 115 degrees in the area on Monday and Tuesday.

There is nowhere in the United States that is not affected by severe weather. However, relief is at hand in the form of a standby generator. APElectric has an extensive inventory of in stock generators made by some of the most popular manufacturers in the country. 

Visit the company’s website for more information at www.apelectric.com or call 847-516-8882 M-F from 8 to 5 PM Central.