Karen Mahabir / AP

A tree sitting atop a vehicle offers free firewood in Falls Church, Va., Monday, July, 2, as cleanup continued after Friday's storm, Around 2 million utility customers are without electricity across a swath of states along the East Coast and as far west as Illinois as the area recovers from a round of summer storms that has also caused at least 17 deaths.

Slideshow: Storm knocks out power to millions in DC area

Mark Wilson / Getty Images

With more triple-digit heat in the forecast, millions of people in the Mid-Atlantic area were without power over the weekend after violent storms with 80-mph gusts toppled trees, cut power lines and killed six people in Virginia alone.

Launch slideshow

From NBC, msnbc.com and news services - A weekend without electricity was already trying for millions in the sweltering, storm-swept mid-Atlantic region. But Monday morning brings another grim challenge when many embark on a difficult commute over roads with darkened stoplights and likely mass-transit delays.

To alleviate congestion around Baltimore and Washington, federal and state officials gave many workers the option of staying home Monday. Federal agencies will be open in Washington, but non-emergency employees have the option of taking leave or working from home. Maryland's governor also gave state workers wide leeway for staying out of the office. For more on the storm damage click here.

Uriel Sinai / Getty Images

Knesset honor guards carry the coffin of former Israeli Prime Minister Yitzhak Shamir before his burial on July 2, 2012 in Jerusalem, Israel.

Uriel Sinai / Getty Images

A man carries a portrait of Yitzhak Shamir as Israelis pay their final respects next to the former Israeli Prime Minister's coffin before his burial at the Knesset on July 2, 2012.

Jim Hollander / EPA

An elderly Israeli man holds the hand of a woman as they view and pass by the coffin of Yitzhak Shamir as he lies-in-state in the Chagall Hall in the Knesset on July 2, 2012, before his state funeral in Mt. Herzl Cemetery.

"Yitzhak Shamir was a brave warrior for Israel, before and after its inception. He was a great patriot and his enormous contribution will be forever etched in our chronicles," Israeli President Shimon Peres said after it was announced Saturday that the former Prime Minister had died at the age of 96.

Gilada Diamant, Shamir's daughter, said that her father "belonged to a different generation of leaders, people with values and beliefs. I hope that we have more people like him in the future. His political doing has undoubtedly left its mark on the State of Israel."

Read more about the life of Yitzhak Shamir.

Follow @msnbc_pictures

Sign up for the msnbc.com photography newsletter

Alexandre Meneghini / AP

Enrique Pena Nieto, presidential candidate for the Revolutionary Institutional Party (PRI), greets supporters at his party's headquarters in Mexico City as exit poll results begin to come in for general elections in Mexico early Monday, July 2, 2012.

Alexandre Meneghini / AP

Supporters of Enrique Pena Nieto gather at PRI headquarters in Mexico City as exit poll results begin to come in on July 1, 2012.

Reuters reports from MEXICO CITY — The party that ruled Mexico for most of the 20th century claimed victory in a presidential election on Sunday as a senior election official said the party's candidate, Enrique Pena Nieto, held an irreversible lead over his rivals. President Felipe Calderon congratulated him on his win.

NBC Latino: Meet Mexico's new president

Pena Nieto, on track to return his once long-dominant opposition Institutional Revolutionary Party (PRI) to power, had between 37.9 and 38.55 percent of the vote, ahead of second-placed leftist challenger Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador, who had between 30.9 and 31.86 percent of the vote. Read the full story.

Follow @msnbc_pictures

Sign up for the msnbc.com photography newsletter

Alexandre Meneghini / AP

Supporters of Enrique Pena Nieto hold newspapers with his picture on the front page, at the party's headquarters in Mexico City on July 1, 2012.

Henry Romero / Reuters

Supporters of Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador, presidential candidate for the Party of the Democratic Revolution (PRD) react after exit polls showed him to be in second place, in Mexico City on July 1, 2012.

Mikhail Metzel / Pool / EPA

Russian space agency rescue team members carry U.S. astronaut Donald Pettit shortly after the landing of the Russian Soyuz TMA-03M space capsule at the southeast of the Kazakh town of Dzhezkazgan, Kazakhstan, July 1.

Sergey Remezov / AFP - Getty Images

The Soyuz TMA-03M capsule, carrying International Space Station (ISS) crew members lands.

In a blog post describing his final day in space, Pettit reflected on the impact of his months-long mission, and encouraged humanity to keep pushing the boundaries of space exploration.

"On Earth, the frontiers opened slowly," Pettit wrote. "The technology of sailing was known and advanced for over a thousand years before the Earth was circumnavigated. Such bold acts require the technology, the will, and the audacity to explore. Sometimes you have one, but not the others. I only hope that my small efforts here, perhaps adding one grain of sand to the beach of knowledge, will help enable a generation of people in the future to call space 'home.'" [Landing Photos: Soyuz Capsule Returns 3 Astronauts Home]

-- Reported by Denise Chow, space.com

Read the full story.

Follow @msnbc_pictures