e day buildup and too much added stress on the body. 

But even as the heat moved to the east, lowering temperatures a bit, severe storms blew in with heavy winds that toppled utility poles and split trees, causing their boles and branches to fall onto power lines.

About 900,000 utility customers in parts of the central, eastern and southern United States were without electricity early Sunday afternoon, according to PowerOutage.com.

More than 223,000 customers in Michigan and close to 170,000 in Pennsylvania had lost power.

PPL Electric reported 121,417 without power Sunday morning, including about 47,000 in the Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, area.

Central Hudson in New York State reported that it had more than 430 reported downed wires on Sunday. The utility said about 50,000 customers were affected by the storm and that about 650 still were without power Sunday.

Amanda Vesper was putting her children to bed Friday evening when the first storm rolled through the Detroit area, knocking out her power.

 It didn't seem that awful. It got quite windy,  said Vesper, 40, of Commerce Township.

As of late Sunday morning, the electricity still was out.

 We've been going back and forth between a hotel and our home because we have dogs there,  she said.  We really can't stay there. I have a small child with autism. Our well runs on an electric pump. 

The outage also ruined the family's July 4 celebration.

 We had planned on having company over at the house, but had to cancel,  Vesper said.  I went grocery shopping. I'm hoping my freezer holds. 

Jackson, with the Weather Prediction Center, said Sunday will see heavy thunderstorms in and around the Cleveland area. Those storms then will shift eastward and move into Pennsylvania, New Jersey and New York - where chances exist for flash flooding, he added.