Fierce storms and high winds swept across the mid-Atlantic on Friday night, leaving at least six people dead and knocking out power to around 2 million homes and businesses.


The violent weather came as temperatures across much of the nation continued to soar into the triple digits, leaving those without power exposed to the sweltering conditions.


Two people were killed after being struck by falling trees in Virginia, including a 90-year old woman who died when a tree fell on her house as she slept, The Associated Press reported.


There were also reports of heat-related deaths in New York, New Jersey and Tennessee.


In addition to the dead, at least 20 people were injured, according to reports received by the National Weather Service.


The power failures affected people in states from Indiana to the Eastern Seaboard, and utility officials said it could be several days before power was restored to many areas because of the severity of the damage.


“As soon as the storm passed, we had crews starting to assess the damage,” said Thomas H. Graham, the president of Pepco, the utility that serves the area around Washington. The utility reported that nearly half of its 788,000 costumers lost power and, in a statement, said “the power-restoration effort is expected to take several days.”


Meanwhile, weather forecasts predicted that the severe heat would continue.


The hottest weather in the mid-Atlantic is expected around the Washington area, where temperatures on Friday reached 104, topping the record of 101 set in 1934.


The National Weather Service issued a heat warning on Saturday for Maryland, Delaware, Pennsylvania, Washington, Virginia, North and South Carolina, Georgia, Indiana, Ohio, Illinois, Missouri, Kansas, Kentucky, Alabama, Tennessee and Arizona.


The hot weather contributed to the ferocity of the storms, said Valerie Meola, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service. “The heat primed the atmosphere,” she said. “There was plenty of instability in the atmosphere to tap into, and these thunderstorms certainly tapped into it.”


The winds ranged from 60 to 80 miles an hour, with the Weather Service tracking a top wind speed of 81 miles per hour in Tuckerton in southern New Jersey.


As the storms gathered in intensity, witnesses watched as lightning strike after lightning strike bolted. In addition to the wind, heavy rains combined with hail in some places causing further damage.


Officials at Baltimore Gas and Electric reported whole trees falling on power lines and electrical distribution equipment. While it had restored power to around 100,000 people, there were still nearly a half million customers affected. In Virginia, the power company reported a similar struggle, with 780,000 customers affected by the storm.


Even as utility workers scrambled to get the power back on, emergency workers fanned out in cities and towns across the East Coast, assisting those most vulnerable to the heat — the elderly and the young.


Those who rode out the storms in their living rooms also felt the effects when popular Web sites, including Netflix, Instagram and Pinterest, went down.


The storm also forced the delay of the third round of the AT&T National golf tournament because of fallen trees on the grounds at Congressional Country Club in Bethesda, Md. And officials said that even as play resumed, fans and volunteers would not be allowed on Saturday. Among the problems was a 75-foot tree that crashed across the 14th fairway.


And some commuters on Amtrak trains were also left stranded. The railroad suspended service between Washington and Philadelphia overnight and, as of noon on Saturday, had it yet to resume.