POTOMAC, Md. — Hundreds of thousands of people from Illinois to New Jersey are still without power after a line of deadly storms struck last Friday. A week of more unpredictable weather and sweltering temperatures has followed.
In West Virginia, the leader of the National Guard said he hadn’t seen a more widespread power outage in the state in decades. In Ohio, the chief of a major utility company said the damage was worse than what was caused by the remnants of Hurricane Ike in 2008.
At least 27 people have been killed in the storms or their aftermath since last Friday, not including deaths from heat-related causes.
Emma Kelly and her extended family in Fayette County, W.Va., didn’t expect their power and water service back until Sunday, after being knocked out June 29.
But you won’t hear this resourceful West Virginian complain.
“I’m a holler girl,” she said. “We were raised in the hollers, in the ridges and the hills of West Virginia. We hunt, we fish, we grow gardens, and we take care of ourselves.”
Since the power went out, her family has hauled water up from a creek to flush toilets and taken the grandchildren down to the cool water for relief from the 90-degree heat. They made a cooking pit in the yard.
