Summer storm death toll rises to 26

An example of damage from last weekend's storms - a Toyota Corolla crushed by a downed tree in Harrisonburg, Va., July 2, 2012. / AP/The Daily News-Record, Michael Reilly

Updated 8:50 PM ET

(AP) BALTIMORE - The Mid-Atlantic region is struggling to get back to normal after deadly, power-cutting storms and sweltering heat.

And the death toll blamed on storms and the ensuing blackout across the eastern U.S. is now at 26 after two accidents in Virginia.

5 days after storms, outages, heat wave persist
Anger festers in sweltering mid-Atlantic
Storm-felled trees block Md. elderly from leaving their homes

Utility and municipal crews worked through the July 4 holiday to restore power and remove downed tree limbs.

Pepco said it had restored power to 90 percent of those affected by last week's storms in D.C. and two Maryland suburbs, beating its own estimate for getting the lights and more importantly, the air conditioning back on. BGE said about 78,000 customers in central Maryland remained without power.

More than 146,000 Virginia homes and businesses remained without power after, down from a peak of about 1.2 million after the storms.

In New Jersey, Atlantic City Electric said nearly 30,000 homes and businesses were still without service. That's down from about 206,000.

Maryland issued a heat advisory for the entire state for Thursday, after issuing one for parts of the state for Wednesday. Sweaty patrons were enjoying the Capitol Fourth Concert in D.C. Wednesday evening.