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Last updated on Tuesday, July 3, 2012
(UNDATED) - Blistering temperatures will continue in many states Tuesday, as hundreds of thousands were still sweating and stuck without power from deadly heat-driven storms.
CNN reports that extreme heat warnings were issued for parts of Illinois, Indiana, Missouri, Kentucky, Ohio and Michigan Tuesday with the National Weather Service saying that those areas would be scorched with near and above triple-digit temperatures for days.
Heat advisory warnings were also in place Tuesday for different parts of Missouri, Kentucky, Ohio, as well as parts of Nebraska, South Dakota, Wisconsin, Minnesota and Iowa.
Cities and towns in the Midwest, Mid-Atlantic and Southeast have already endured temperatures in the high 90s and above 100 degrees since, in some cases, the middle of last week. It's all part of a system tied to the breaking or tying of more than 2,238 hot weather records nationwide between June 25 and July 1, according to the National Climatic Data Center.
All this comes as about 1.8 million people scattered from the District of Columbia through 11 states -- from Indiana to Delaware -- had no electricity Monday night.
That was more than half those initially left in the dark Friday night and early Saturday. The total included about 410,000 in West Virginia, 400,000 in Ohio and 340,000 in Virginia. Power and government authorities said some may not get power back until week's end.
At least 16 people were killed from Ohio to New Jersey in the derecho -- or massive storm usually with straight-line wind damage -- while another three in North Carolina died in fresh storms Sunday.
"It was the scariest thing I've ever been through," CNN iReporter Mark Cohen said from Mays Landing, New Jersey, where the storms damaged his property and knocked out power. "Just to give you an idea, it was somewhere between a movie and a disaster ride at a park."
Traffic lights remain out in many hard-hit locales, including around the nation's capital, causing yet another reason for headaches.
"A lot of detours, a lot of lights that are out (and) some that are spotty," said Larry Simmons, a frustrated commuter in southern Maryland. "A lot of congestion, a lot of discourteous drivers."
For one driver in Wisconsin the extreme heat caused a dangerous situation that was captured on video.
The heat buckled a stretch of highway in Chippewa County creating a ramp on the road Sunday. Several cars were able to slow down before hitting the buckled portion of roadway but then a SUV hit the roadway and went airborne for what seemed like some 15 feet before landing roughly back on the highway, CNN affiliate WQOW reported.
The driver and passenger were taken to a hospital complaining of neck and back injuries and the highway was repaired, the affiliate said.
"I was kind of shocked, you don't normally see that stuff in real life," said Theresa Reich, who videotaped the incident on her phone.
CNN's Dominique Debucquoy-Dodley, Brian Todd, Barbara Hall, Christina Zdanowicz and Devon Sayers contributed to this report.
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