at least 12 people are dead after a rare and unusual storm packing explosive power ripped a part from the midwest to the region. virginia, maryland, and the district of columbia have declared states of emergency. buildings are destroyed, cars crushed and power is on the for hundreds of thousands of people and sweltering temperatures are adding to this disaster. if you were fortunate to have power, count yourself among the lucky. thank you very much for joining us tonight. i'm maureen umeh. >> and i'm sarah simons. let's go to the numbers now. this is what we know at this point. more than a half million people in the region are without power. we will, of course, get the latest numbers for you here in

just a moment. of course, there is still, as you may have heard about earlier today, the possibility of more storms as the night goes on and, in fact, we're dealing with a severe storm in the area now. >> you mentioned culpeper is where the storm is approaching in. >> not the same intensity as last night or same range, but let's go to the radar. the last half hour or so, we popped up a new thunderstorm and this is severe. south and west of the city, you mentioned culpeper and this is under a severe thunderstorm warning until 6:30 this evening and this is to 29. the storm has a history of producing 60 miles an hour winds and it's racing here to the east. next up, looking for fredericksburg and across 95 and into southern maryland here over the next couple of hours and we'll see what else pops up

on the radar in the short-term and we're under the unseasonably warm and humid ac temperatures are 95 degrees in washington and that is better than yesterday when we were 104. 93 in frederick and dulles and ocean city, 85 degrees and that heat index approaching 100 here and that is until 9:00 and we'll do this again tomorrow as the temperatures are expected to get to 100 degrees and that is the forecast. i'll come back with more details. evening storms likely across the area, warm and muggy tonight, 75 degrees is the overnight low and more details on the weather in just a moment. >> thank you, tucker. see you in a bit. the storm was deadly leaving at least 12 people dead in the region and one was in northwest d.c. the damage in the victim's neighbor is -- neighborhood is astonishing. paul, bring us up to date.

>> reporter: this is the source of all of the trouble here and this is that huge tree that came down and hit power lines across the street and knocked them down on the tot ground and impacted a car in front of a house across the street and that car caught fire and then the fatality. after 11:00 p.m. as the storm's powerful winds were terrifying residents throughout the washington area, two very large trees came down dragging power lines into this yard ultimately electrocuting a man who came out to check on the car. according to police, the man's wife was critically injured as show tried to come to his aid. the car caught fire as police and firefighters rushed to the scene. peter lived across the street. >> tree limbs flying, branches flying and a short time later, we began to see flames.

flames in front of this house and in front of the house down the street. >> reporter: another large tree, one neighbors say they have been complaining to the city about for years, came down on the house next door. >> they have a long and written record about telling the city that this tree was trouble. last night we saw it. the trouble came last night and there is more to come. there that is a half a tree. there. >> reporter: the man killed was found outside of the car steps from his front door. >> very, very unfortunate. our thoughts and prayers are with the family. there was's wire and the tree came down across the road, as i understand it and tox a wire down and -- took a wire down and came out to deal with the fire in his car and made contact. >> reporter: pepco said trees and branches knocked out power to thousands throughout the city. it could be as long as a week before it's all restored.

>> we requested over 1,000 views -- crews from across the country and that doesn't mean we're not going keep asking. >> reporter: the mayor's declared a state of emergency in the district, which lasts for 15 days. authorizes the city administrator to apply for federal funds. >> at least 11 trees and damaged houses. and we have no reports of trees fallling on schools or any significant damage to schools. traffic is generally flowing normally on our major arteries. >> reporter: however, the side streets are a different story. if you venture out, you may find yourself in somewhat of a maze. one of the trees that came down and fell this house just up the street, the-to-the-tudor-style -- the tudor-style house is in pieces. the tree crew came in here and took it a part and have been working on it all day long. we should mention that we

understand the woman who is trying to help her husband here at this house on 31st street remains in critical condition at a nearby hospital. we just got word from d.c. police about some cooling centers we want to mention. five are open and will be until 8:00. emory recreation center, guy recreation center, kennedy recreation center, north michigan park rec center, southeast tennis learning center and the benning park community center and they'll be open until 8 tonight and they will reopen tomorrow, we understand, and stay open until 8:00. back to you in the studio. >> paul wagner reporting live. thank you. >> and mean while, district officials were working since the storm hit to take care of the essential services and to assess the damage. we're joined by paul quanderk. you hear me? i can. thanks for having me. >> thanks for coming on with us. first off, what is your biggest challenge that you're dealing

with now in the district? >> we still have a number of trees down. we have power outage that is still having an adverse impact on a number of the communities and we are working with pepco to make sure we get the power back up. we're concerned about the heat. it's not as bad as yesterday, but it's a great concern. we want to make sure our citizens are well-protected and given the power outage, the heat, the trees down, we're facing a number of challenges as we try to make sure that our citizens and residents are well- protected. >> deputy mayor, i understand that pepco is reporting, too, that they could be still getting power back on to some folks out there. this could be going on for a week. how does the city plan to deal with the hurdle there? >> we're working with pepco. our information is different. we believe that we should have most of the homes back in the

district within a couple of days and so we're working, pepco is making progress and we think we'll be in good shape in a couple of days and there are 42 traffic signals out, eight on flash and we think we'll have all of them up and operational by monday morning and in time for rush hour. >> thank you very much for talking with us. good luck out there. >> thank you very much. >> there are water limiting as in parts of the area tonight as well due to the storms that passed through. customers of wssc are on water restrictions due to the power outages. they're making it hard to pump water. joining us now on the phone is lynn rigins with wssc. first off, i understand that tap water, that is okay to drink. that is not the problem. it's the other water uses that

you're concerned about? >> good evening. yes. the tap water is safe to drink but we're focused on mandatory water restrictions for all wssc customers in montgomery and prince georges counties. we really need everyone to conserve. no outside watering, don't water your lawns and do not wash cars inside. take a short shower, don't leave the faucet running, limit toilet flushing. we need to conserve will water in our distribution system while we work to fill it back up. with the storms last night, our two water filtration plants lost power. overnight is when we spent a lot of time making water and filling the system. when everyone wakes up in the morning, it was there and we were not able to dona last night. power has been restored to our plants and all of our pumping stations are not back online yet. while we can make water, we can't move it around to get it to your homes as quickly as we would like to and we're asking everyone to continue abiding by

the mandatory water restricts. >> and -- restrictions. >> this will depend on when the power comes on. any idea how long the restrictions could be in place for customers? >> i don't have a good estimate right now, but i can tell you that we're constantly watching the system. the crews are working at our pumping stations now as we speak from pepco and bge to get them back online and we're not going to keep folks on the restrictions any longer than we have to. right now, it's imperative because in addition to providing the drinking water, we also provide the water to fight fires and if there is a fire at your house, you want to make sure we have water to put it out. >> uh-huh. >> and that is crucial to what we're looking at right now. as soon as the system is full and the pumping stations are back online, we'll get the word out but not now. >> all right. a lot of things for folks to think about before turning the water o. thank you very much, we'll check in with you later

on and 911 service is out in several areas and this is what emergency responders want to you do. write this number down. it's on the screen. if you have an emergency, they want to you call 703-792-6500. they say you can try dialing 911 but you might get through. keep that number handy in case you do not. you know the storm damage in maryland was severe and deadly. >> and lauren has the latest on this. what can you tell us? >> reporter: this storm moved quickly and violently and left its mark. right here in bethesda and we're outside in this restaurant where can you see the damage there on the storefront and talking about the widespread power outages, dangerous conditions on the road, and unfortunately, here in montgomery county, one death is reported. >> and that is a horrific storm and that came up out of the

blue. >> reporter: as the stormer to across silver spring, a large tree came crashing through the roof and police believe it struck a 21-year-old woman taking her life. >> it's quick. for a minute, you're alive and the next minute, poof. >> the damage in montgomery county is widespread and we spotted a home in kensington devastated by two trees. there were reports of injuries there and the wins toe the roof off of a barn. the power lines and trees stopped traffic on this ramp to the beltway and along many secondary roads including river roads. frustrations are running high and many people realize it's times like this where you have an opportunity to step up and pitch in. >> some neighbors are out here helping one another. offering space to the refrigerators, freezers and that is my neighbor.

he offered me -- i have electric power now to run my refrigerator. a neighbor offered me to, i can run a extension chord from their house. >> reporter: i got off of the phone with the assistant fire chief with montgomery county. he said while it's great neighbors are helping each other out and they encourage that, they want to make note and warn people about using chainsaws and trying to remove the downed trees yourself. you want to be careful about doing that, particularly in areas where there are downed power lines and could be very dangerous. if you want to report something to the county, downed trees, also downed power lines, there is a non-emergency. 311 is operational and reach them online and if you so live powerlines, call 911. the other story because of the outages are the gas stations and here in bethesda. several were without

electricity and we saw folks lining up. earlier, they were at sunoco and open all day. at one point, they temporarily ran out of gas and received a shipment. now, there is only regular unleaded available at that station and if you have to head out, can you expect a line and one person ran out whole in line. several good samaritan his to burn them in. there are long lines at supermarkets and hardway stores and anticipate lines if you're going out there and there is some closures, businesses dealing with power outages and not able to open and we're across the street here and talking with those in the restaurant in the next half hour. that is the latest here. back to you in the studio. >> thank you. we're going to stay in montgomery county where, as you said, the storm was deadly. one person died and we're also hearing that there are a lot of problems widespread problems in montgomery county. half of the traffic lights were out at some point this afternoon and joining us now is

isaiah leg the by phone. are you there? >> yes, i am. >> and thanks for joining us this evening. >> thank you for having me. >> and all of maryland declared a state of emergency. how are you doing? >> we have difficult challenges to you. 500 sig untiles are out and create large problems for us. continued power outages and close to 200,000 customers without power. you couple that with the hot we're experiencing and that is a challenge for us. we're going to continue to work aggressively to remove as much as we can from the roadways and get the signals back in operation. we provided a number of coolant centers. our 311 system is working. i want to make a correction here. those non-emergency calls. sometimes you're not able to go directly by dialing 311. you may have to dial 240-777- 0311. that is 240-777-0311. and you will certainly get

through. >> you mentioned some of the problems you're seeing there. am i hearing correctly that it's the signals, the power outage that is the biggest problem you're seeing in montgomery county? >> it's not the biggest but one of the biggest. we have a number of -- number of people without power overall. >> okay. >> seniors and a number of people who have some challenges that we need to make certain we respond to those as quickly as possible and there are a number of cooling stations open and go to those. four of our libraries are open as well. >> and thank you so much. i want to give that number he gave us a moment ago for non- emergency calls. can you call the number 240-777- 0311. again, that is 240-777-0311 for non-emergency calls in montgomery county. >>. moving o the coast guard rescued two people and crews are searching for a third after a boat capsized near breezy

point, maryland, this morning. the call came in at 3:30 this morning from someone on a fishing boat and that boat crew pulled two other people on board and it's not clear, though, if the weather conditions played a role in that incident. there are other things going on as well. weight until you see the how long haul the coast guard made. you will never believe how much cocaine they found. stay with us, we'll be right back. 

. the storms were incredibly deadly. 12 people dieing and two in virginia. it happened as the storm barreled through last night leaving behind devastating damage. john henrehan is back from springfield, i guess, john, it was one of the worst scenes out there today and you're in the newsroom with an update. >> reporter: let me ask something to where what isaiah leggett said. we drove back. we had technical difficulties with our live truck. i want to emphasize how few traffic lights are working in much of montgomery county. there are 15 traffic signals between the beltway and river road and friendship heights, the d.c.-maryland line. two of faint -- two of the 15 traffic lights were work. there are still wires down and trees down and there were wires down on river road and traffic is very slow and in the last

half hour, we witnessed a four- car accident where the signals were out in montgomery county. people were not stopping as a four-way stop. 99% of the time people are doing it and be very careful and back to springfield, virginia. do we have an edited package ready? and the news report with minimal edits and it's been a long tom since i have tried this technique and to give you a quick survey of the damage, take a look in west springfield. the callaghan residence on greeley boulevard in virginia got off fairly light. you see the trees in the back? two of them came down clipping a corner of the house. there is damage to the attic and, of course, there is no power and, overall, they got off lightly. from mr. greeley was in the backyard with the dogs around

11:00 before the rain, started walking them and said these three trees here started swirling in an amazing fashion and he got scared enough to bring them in. luckily they missed the house and there is a much closer mess across the street. an 84-year-old lives in this house and she was in the back bedroom moments before the tree came dune and said for some reason she decided to leave the bedroom. seconds later, the enormous tree crashed through crushing the entire room. it just missed her. she was uninjured. on car place around the corner, the storm claimed a life. a 90-year-old lady walked into the bedroom when this enormous tree came down flattening the

room show walked into and, according to one of the first responders on the scene, the woman had just bid good night to her adult daughter and walked into the bedroom and seconds later, the tree came down killing the 90-year-old instantly that happened on old keen mill road west of bower drive. a huge tree came down on that major artery. the only person in the car, the man driving it was on the spot and there were no other passengers in the car. two dead in west springfield. now, i have to touch on a lot of other things. the 911 system, which is almost intime down is coming back up to -- entirely down is coming back up to some degree. the chairman of the board of supervisors suggests if you have an emergency, figure out

why where the nearest fire station is, or police station, and go to the facility and tell them what the problem is. the two-way radios are working. 911 is partially back up right now in fairfax county, virginia and that is the latest. >> thank you, a lot of work needing to be done and cleanup. >> a coast guard makes not one but three big busts. this has nothing to do with the storms, obviously. they getting almost $50 million worth of cocaine off of the street. the coast guard cutter valiant moved nearly 4,000 pounds of cocaine on to a dock in miami. the drugs were obtained through three different stings off of the coast of nicaragua and columbia. the bust was part of the ongoing operation martillo, when which brought together various agencies and caribbean countries to intercept illegal drugs and weapons. and back to the weather. it's affected almost everything in this area today. >> and that includes this. the congressional golf tournament. no fans at the golf course today, but dave ross was there

and he's live next.

. last night's storm wreaked havoc at congressional golf course. >> how did it affect today's third of round? dave ross is live with the latest there and what -- that looks quiet behind you there. >> reporter: it's very quiet.

there is a professional tournament going 50 yards away from us. you would not know that because there are no spectators or volunteers here at the at&t national, that was the call made by the pga tour, and i think that is a good one and safe one. they had to make the call early this morning. one of the gentlemen who helped to make the call is greg lamb, the vice president of congressional and the tournament chairman. thank you so much for joining us. >> absolutely. >> we saw each other on media day. you have ever seen anything like this? >> we have never seen anything like this and that was the right call to make today. the players are playing and we're happy about that and we'll get the round in today and tomorrow, we'll have a full day of activities. >> reporter: tell bus this morning's call. i know about 7:45, we got an e- mail saying no spectators or volunteers would be here. at that time, golf was in jeopardy, correct? >> about 7:00 a.m. this morning, there was a real concern about the condition of the golf course. i would say between 50 and 70 trees went down around the golf

course and some important, some not important and the debris was massive. first and foremost, could we get the golf course clean? >> right. >> in order to play. two for the safety of the patrons, the members and volunteers, was it appropriate to have them out here. step one, we had tiger woods staff, food and beverage staff clearing the golf course of debris and doing an outstanding job getting it ready. the call was made at 9:00 to play golf. >> right. >> and we're out there now and still playing groups of threes. can you recall this where you have a tournament going and no one is watching? >> no, i can not. it's quiet out there and peaceful. almost like they're taking a practice round. >> and real quickly, tomorrow's events, can you tell the people what they can expect tomorrow? >> first of all, please come out. the shuttles start running at 8:30 tomorrow morning. the gates open at 9:00. >> uh-huh. >> the tee times are from 11:00

to 1:00. >> okay. >> and they will be teeing off at 1 and number 10 to get the round in tomorrow. ahead of what we hope will be a clear afternoon. >> hopefully weather permitting everything will go off without a hitch. >> that would be great. love to so people tomorrow. >> we appreciate your time. thank you very much. >> thank you very much. >> and back to the studio. the plagues are out there and making a charge. we'll talk about that later in this hour. >> you had, dave ross. and, in the meantime, let's check in with tucker barnes and the latest on the weather. we have severe storms in the area. >> we do. you talked about culpeper, the storms are overhead now. >> right, the severe thunderstorm warning continues until 6:45 for portions of green county, orange county and spotsylvania county and looks like moments ago, they extended the severe thunderstorm warning and let's go to the maps. this is the latest here and we'll start with the life shot. here in the immediate washington area, another hot day. the temperatures in the mid-90s at this hour. >> looks hot. >> and the heat index pushing

about 100. i know for people without electricity, there is not much relief and there won't be. we're in the midst of a good heat wave that is going to last the next several days. all right, there is a look at your radar. notice the thunderstorm complex and that is bubbling up here in that past hour to the south and west. 29 to culpeper, fredericksburg and you can see that we have a good thunderstorm complex. this is all pushing off to the east and to the south at about 35 miles an hour. all right, let's zoom in a bit and go to the next radar and take a look. hg radar, we'll show you the activity. there you go, can you see all of the flashing out there indicating a lot of cloud-to- ground lightning. the winds are clocked at 60 miles an hour here and will continue to watch the storm track off to the south and east. let me let you know, 95 here. fredericksburg, if you're watching colonial beach across the potomac into southern maryland, we'll have to watch the track of eastlands carefully and they have a potential to cause problems