RICHMOND, Va. (WTVR) - Governor Bob McDonnell said the death toll from powerful storms that moved through Virginia Friday and Saturday has risen to ten.
That number is up from seven deaths that were reported Sunday. McDonnell also said there have been six heat-related deaths since June 20.
The National Weather Service confirmed an EF-0 tornado touched down near Mechanicsville Saturday. [RELATED: Mechanicsville tornado with 7.4 mile path confirmed]
The deadly storms also knocked power out to millions across the Commonwealth.
McDonnell said Monday that power company officials think it will take the rest of the week to get everyone's power restored. That is especially true for southwestern and northern Virginia, which were particularly hard hit by the storms.
However, McDonnell said crews are making progress. In fact, around 500,000 customers are still without power across the state. That's down from a high of around 1.2 million customers.
Power companies told the governor these types of outages are only usually seen after hurricanes.
“This has been a difficult weekend through Virginia, as extremely dangerous storms and historic heat have impacted much of the Commonwealth," said McDonnell in a news release. “Please check on your neighbors, family members and friends to make sure they have a cool place to go if their power is out… I continue to ask Virginians to work together and help one another as we recover from the largest non-hurricane related power outage in Virginia history.”
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