US marks its 250th birthday with fireworks, flyovers and extreme weather

Americans tried to keep cool during celebrations during a sweltering heat wave on the US East Coast that cancelled festivities earlier this week. On Friday, organisers of the National Park Service's Independence Day Parade in Washington DC cancelled the annual event over ​safety concerns. Some celebrations also were shut down in New Jersey, Pennsylvania and Maryland - and as far west as Colorado. The highest temperatures were expected in Maryland, Delaware and New Jersey, where the mercury could reach 108F (42C). On the National Mall in Washington volunteers handed out bottles of water from buckets of ice before sunshine gave way to thunderstorms. Nearly 750,000 went without power in the east due to extreme weather with another 150,000 in New Jersey, according to tracker Power Outage. Energy company DTE said that severe weather, including winds over 60mph (97kmph) on Friday evening in Michigan, left more than 350,000 homes in the state without power. Other states affected include Pennsylvania, Illinois, Ohio, New York and Wisconsin. All four living former US presidents also shared messages to celebrate the milestone. President Joe Biden, Trump's predecessor, recalled the Declaration's edict that Independence that all people are created equal. "We chose that path 250 years ago but that's where the work began, not where it ended," he said before warning that the nation's promise of equality for all was still a work in progress. The country's first black president, Barack Obama, reshared excerpts of a recent speech he made at his presidential museum's opening. "There's more to do to fulfil the nation's founding ideals," he said. "Every generation must take up the unfinished work of the last and carry it further - protecting what's right, fixing what's wrong, and making our union a little more perfect." The 43rd president George W Bush said "the next 250 years require Americans to be citizens, not spectators". Americans need to "take an active interest in the health and welfare of our country and the communities in which they live", he said. His predecessor Bill Clinton took a moment to comment on US politics today. "Today, we celebrate this milestone amid another period of deep division, renewed questions about America's future and role in the world, and serious threats to our own institutions and to our democracy itself," the 42nd president said.