Pre-Summer Sizzle Heads Into Third Day

Thousands Still Lack Power After Storms

A second day of oppressive weather blanketed the Washington region yesterday, pushing the heat index to 103 degrees in some areas as thousands of households remained without power from last week's storms and residents hungered for ice, air conditioning or a dip in the pool.

The National Weather Service said the extreme heat would continue today, giving way to severe thunderstorms as a cool front moves in tomorrow. The peak temperature yesterday, recorded at Reagan National Airport at 3:42 p.m., was 96 degrees.

Across the nation, severe storms that included tornadoes and heavy rains caused at least three deaths in the Midwest and forced hundreds of people to flee their homes amid rising floodwaters, officials reported.

In the Washington area, the biggest battle was figuring out how to escape the heat or cope with it if necessary. In the District, officials stocked cooling centers with bottled water and residents packed public swimming pools.

At Waverly House, a senior housing facility in Bethesda that lost its air conditioning, 73 residents voluntarily moved out over the weekend, finding refuge with relatives and friends. One resident complained of heat-related stress Saturday night and was examined by rescue workers, said Tedi Osias, a spokeswoman for the agency that manages the facility.

Portable air conditioners were set up in the facility's lunchroom, where residents who hadn't left sipped lemonade, sweating but in good spirits.

"I miss it very, very much," Bessie Evans, 65, said of the air conditioning, which broke down Tuesday. "I'll be glad when it's back on."

Pepco said it repaired more than 200,000 outages since violent storms first struck the area Wednesday. About 16,000 customers, most of them in Prince George's County, lost power as a result of storms Saturday.

Power was restored to most of those customers Saturday night or yesterday, and repairs were expected to be completed by today, Pepco spokeswoman Mary-Beth Hutchinson said. The utility's Web site warned customers who were still without electricity today to "consider alternate arrangements" because of the intense heat and humidity.

"With this weather, it's just critical that we get everybody back on," Hutchinson said.

Several hundred Dominion Virginia Power customers, mostly in Fairfax County and Fredericksburg, were still without power yesterday afternoon.

Earl and Eileen Cherry of Warrenton said they were spending as much time as they could in their basement, the coolest part of their house, but were getting edgy after four days without power. They said they have been eating out, mostly at McDonald's, and have delayed leaving for vacation because they can't wash their travel clothes and don't want to leave the house empty without power.