Heat wave had already canceled DC parade
Thousands of spectators who had filed onto the National Mall for a show featuring a speech by President Donald Trump and an extensive fireworks display were evacuated Saturday evening as a severe thunderstorm approached Washington, according to officials. Many attendees opted to remain on the Mall despite the worsening weather, as clouds grew darker overhead.
The evacuation disrupted Trump’s plans to mark the US’s 250th birthday with what he had described as “the greatest show of all” in the heart of the capital. The president was expected to address the nation from the Mall later that evening as part of the semiquincentennial celebrations.
The event was already contending with an extreme heatwave that had pushed temperatures above 100 degrees Fahrenheit (37.8 degrees Celsius) in Washington. The city’s Independence Day parade was abruptly canceled Saturday, a day after a parade was also canceled in Philadelphia — the birthplace of the nation’s Declaration of Independence in 1776.
The weather began to turn after the first attendees arrived at the Mall earlier in the day. Empty chairs dotted the expanse as the evacuation unfolded, with authorities instructing those who had gathered to seek shelter. The storm threat came on top of sweltering conditions that had already forced the closure or cancellation of several planned festivities.