Web Staff WDBJ7

10:34 a.m. EDT, July 11, 2012

He passed away Monday morning.

Echternach was 54.

At least 17 deaths across the country have been blamed on Friday's severe weather. Most of the deaths are from trees falling on homes and cars.

Governor Bob McDonnell declared a state of emergency Saturday.

Cooling shelters have been opened up throughout the region to help people beat the heat. To see a list of cooling shelters, click here. One of the larger cooling centers in the region is at the Roanoke Civic Center. An official tells WDBJ7 that 137 people spent the night Sunday night.

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Also, the cooling center there will stay open until at least Thursday.

Meanwhile, power crews continue to repair downed trees and power lines across the region.

One badly hit area is the Panorama Hills neighborhood in Lynchburg. Sedgewick Drive is completely blocked by downed trees.

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The National Weather Service has confirmed that a tornado touched down Saturday in Hanover County.

In other news, Speedwell residents in Wythe County are being asked not to use water until further notice. The water supply is limited. Power is expected to be back on within 48-72 hours.

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As of 10:30 p.m. Sunday evening, 192,705 Appalachian Power customers are without power in Virginia.

Here is the latest restoration schedule from Appalachian Power:

"Because of new storms from today, additional outages occurred in the Wytheville and Woodlawn areas; therefore, restoration times for Carroll, Grayson, Wythe and Bland counties have changed to Friday night, July 6.Tuesday night, July 3 - Floyd County; Wednesday night, July 4 - Giles, Montgomery, Pulaski counties; Thursday night, July 5 - portions of Bedford, Franklin, Henry and Pittsylvania counties; Friday night, July 6 - Albemarle, Nelson and Patrick counties; Saturday night, July 7 - Amherst County, as well as portions of Bedford, Botetourt, Campbell Craig and Roanoke counties"

According to Virginia Dominion Power, there are 322,605 customers in the dark within the commonwealth. Additionally, there are 5,000 Central Virginia Electric Cooperative customers without power.

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We're getting mixed information about a fatality that the Governor's office had reported out of Franklin County.

Franklin County authorities tell Your Hometown News Leader the County has not had any fatalities as a result of Friday night's storm. However, one firefighter was severely injured and remains in the hospital after a tree fell on his vehicle while he was responding to a crash that night.

During a conference call Sunday afternoon, Governor McDonnell originally announced that there was a seventh fatality in the state from Friday's storms that happened in Montgomery County. At the end of the call, a state official said the death was actually in Franklin County.

However, a a Franklin County official told WDBJ7 that there has not been a death in the county as a result of Friday's storm.