WASHINGTON -- Authorities said record heat on Monday continued to scorch the eastern section of the U.S., while an estimated 2 million people in the region remain without power because of the fierce storms on Friday night. On Monday, the National Weather Service reported that the heat is poised to prevail over large areas from the plains to the Atlantic Coast over the next couple of days. In Washington, D.C. temperatures were expected to break all-time records, exceeding 38 degrees Celsius. Over the past weekend, more than two dozen cities throughout the region broke their high temperature records, including Charlotte of North Carolina, Columbia of South Carolina and Knoxville of Tennessee. To complicate matters, the weekend storms rendered 2 million people without power. Authorities said the extensive damage to power grids could take days to repair. The affected states range from North Carolina to New Jersey and then as far west as Illinois. Government units have declared emergencies in Washington, D.C., Ohio, Maryland, Virginia and West Virginia. A total of 18 people perished in the storms.