Nearly 500,000 electric customers, most of them in Pennsylvania and New Jersey, were without power this morning after powerful thunderstorms slammed the northeastern United States. About 196,000 customers of PECO in Philadelphia were left in the dark at 2 a.m., while more than 170,000 Atlantic City Electric customers were without power.

Thousands of affected customers were also reported in Washington, D.C., New York and Connecticut.

During Tuesday’s storm, wind speeds topped 70 miles per hour in some areas.

Storms moving into Philadelphia blackened the sky and temporarily halted commuter trains beginning at rush hour. Amtrak suspended its Northeast Corridor and Keystone services from Washington through Philadelphia and on to Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, but restored service about two hours later.Hail rained down, damaging property.

Lightning strikes were also reported.

The heat also was a problem. Dozens of people were treated, and five were hospitalized, for heat-related issues at a high school graduation in Egg Harbor Township, New Jersey Tuesday, according to the Press of Atlantic City.

In the tornadoes.htm” id=”ramplink_Midwest_” target=”_blank”>Midwest, strong storms that swept across northern Illinois spawned at least nine tornadoes, severely damaged homes and forced first responders to pull survivors from basements, officials said Tuesday.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

Source: ABC News – Top Stories Thunderstorms Cause Outages, Travel Delays in Northeast