US storms: 13 dead and millions left without power On Saturday night, the train passengers stranded near rural Prince, West Virginia, were loaded into buses after they got stuck at 11 p.m. the previous evening, said Amtrak spokesman Steve Kulm. Kulm said the train bound from New York to Chicago had power, so lights and air conditioning were working. He said that since it's a long-distance train, it was stocked with food and crew members were able to get to town to buy more. About 170 miles (274 kilometers) to the northeast in Morgantown, West Virginia, Jeff and Alice Haney loaded their cart at Lowe's with cases of water, extra flashlights and batteries, and wiring for the generator they hoped would be enough to kick-start their air conditioner. Even if they had to live without cool air, the family had a backup plan. "We have a pool," Jeff Haney said, "so we'll be OK." The storm did damage from Indiana to New Jersey, although the bulk of it was in West Virginia, Washington and suburban Virginia and Maryland. At least six of the dead were killed in Virginia, including a 90-year-old woman asleep in bed when a tree slammed into her home. Two young cousins in New Jersey were killed when a tree fell on their tent while camping. Two were killed in Maryland, one in Ohio, one in Kentucky and one in Washington. Illinois corrections officials transferred 78 inmates from a prison in Dixon to the Pontiac Correctional Center after storms Friday night caused significant damage, Department of Corrections spokeswoman Stacey Solano said. No one was injured, Solano said. Generators are providing power to the prison, which is locked down, confining remaining inmates to their cells. Utility officials said it could take at least several days to restore power to all customers because of the sheer magnitude of the outages and the destruction. Winds and toppled trees brought down entire power lines, and debris has to be cleared from power stations and other structures. All of that takes time and can't be accomplished with the flip of a switch. "This is very unfortunate timing," said Myra Oppel, a spokeswoman for Pepco, which reported over 400,000 outages in Washington and its suburbs. We do understand the hardship that this brings, especially with the heat as intense at is. We will be working around the clock until we get the last customer on. Especially at risk were children, the sick and the elderly. In Charleston, West Virginia, firefighters helped several people using walkers and wheelchairs get to emergency shelters The storm that whipped through the region Friday night was called a derecho (duh-RAY'-choh), a straight line wind storm that sweeps over a large area at high speed. It can produce tornado-like damage. The storm, which can pack wind gusts of up to 90 mph (145 kph), began in the Midwest, passed over the Appalachian Mountains and then drew new strength from a high pressure system as it hit the southeastern U.S., said Bryan Jackson, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service. "It's one of those storms," Jackson said. It just plows through. Source: AP