>> live and in hd. this is a storm watch seven special report.

>> welcome back to our special stormwater coverage of the superstar known as sandy. the storm is responsible for a massive power outage and so much more. >> there are a lot of worried residents and business owners tonight in alexandria. >> whenever there is a storm this is always a problem spot, old town alexandria. take a look, it is still within its banks and we are told it is about 2 feet below flood stage right now. the potomac river reached high tide this evening and despite several instances of rain throughout the day it remained well within its banks. so many alexandria residents and owners were worried about the

impact. >> it seemed pretty scary with all the storms combining. >> several residents braved the wind, cold, and rain to see if the river would begin to flood as it did during hurricane isabel. >> we don't know what is going to happen later on. >> tonight they are fairly confident they have dodged a bullet. >> from late monday afternoon and through the night, the storm pounded this area with relentless show worse. elsewhere the wind knocked down trees and knocked out power to hundreds of alexandria residents. even if the water does not flood

the streets, sandy has left its mark. i should point out that things are far from over. even though the river did not move all that much today, there still could be some flooding problems within the next couple of days. residents around here are well aware of that. the other major problem around here tonight, power outages. tens of thousands of people are without power tonight in the alexandria area. a spokesman said alexandria is the biggest problem spot in all of virginia right now when it comes to power. >> let's move now to the district where we have seen a number of trees come down, leading to thousands of power outages as well. more on the problems people are dealing with in the northwest from jay gray. >> we have been all over the

region to night and here in the district and virginia, lots of extraordinary things. some tremendous wind, a lot of flooding, but the worst of the trees coming down. this 100 year-old tree that toppled just a few hours ago barely missed these rows of homes over here, so folks are really grateful for that. when it did come around and let on cathedral avenue here in northwest washington, it did clip one little car over there in the quarter, but that is nothing compared to some of the issues we have seen around this region. we were out in prince george's county and a tree fell onto a house out there. an elderly woman in a wheelchair was out there and officials and the fire department timely picked her up in her wheelchair and took her over to a neighbor's house where she is going to spend the night. the other situation happened in

northwest washington where there was a huge tree that we thought at first fell between two homes but it actually it to come along with some minor damage and somewhat major damage. >> we heard it fall. it was pretty intense when it fell. >> we are following some public officials on twitter and communicating with them. the crews are out there trying to help people in the washington d.c. area. >> let's get back to fairfax county where thousands of people were evacuated tonight. steven is live in huntington tonight. >> it is still miserable out

here, the wind is still blowing the rain is still coming down. camera one behind me continues to run. a lot of fear and not here during the day and into tonight and into tomorrow morning as well. we have some video of what went on earlier. there are orders to evacuate firefighters and police telling residents door to door that had to clear out. this waterway has jumped its banks repeatedly in the past few years. a lot of fear and concern. a shelter set up for those people who did not have family or friends or the means to get to a hotel. they are hoping this does not love again, that their homes and possessions survive this storm. again, the concern will continue throughout the rest of this evening and threw out tomorrow as well. not just here but in other areas other parts of alexandria

as well. lingering threat of flooding throughout the day tomorrow. right now, a lot of power outages. you can see behind me the street light is working but that is because of the generator. most of the homes in this area are in the dark right now and the rain continues to fall and the river back there continues to climb. >> a quick reminder that we are not just here on tv, we are on line at wjla.com. >> you can download our abc 7 app to your iphone or android. keep your cellphone charged up. >> in addition to all of the damage, coming up we will talk about the track of sandy.

>> what a day we have had. we are keeping track of the rain and also the temperatures around the area. more cold air, look at pittsburg, 39 degrees. here is this monster this was 24 hours ago. watch as it makes that exact forecast of a left turn.

everybody was so afraid of it and there is the circulation right over us. the moderate to heavy rains continued. that is an area of rain continuing to move into southern maryland. look at what is happening, this is where it is still snowing. 10-20 inches of snow, power outages not only from the wind but from the snow that is continuing. 6-10 inches of rain and another 3-4 tonight. my colleague doug has been here throughout the day and throughout the morning. >> look at some of these numbers, first up a list more rain to come, 7.5 tomorrow, all

because of the proximity to sandy. the storm now northeast of baltimore by several miles. more strong winds and rain. we are at the height of the storm right now, robert. >> as we dug for the main it -- the remainder of the night there is that moderate rain. even tomorrow morning, we have circulation and strong, southerly winds coming in. unfortunately the flood risk for you folks in annapolis will be tomorrow. as we get into late tomorrow wednesday, and thursday, some of the flooding rains continue to come down and there could be serious flooding along the potomac even then to washington by thursday. lighter rain tomorrow but still some lingering showers. sunshine coming back as we head later into the week and into the

weekend. >> the light at the end of the tunnel. still to come, an update on some breaking news damage and prince george's county. >> what has happened at this apartment complex has not been kind to these cars.

>> we continue our special extended coverage of the super storm known as sandy. >> an update on a story we brought you at the top of the 11:00 newscast. tom, what is the latest customer >> fortunately no one was hurt but it is a real mess out here. this car had is front windshield smashed by this tree. over here we have some more damage for you.

we talked to the owner of one of these cars and his friend a short time ago and here is what he had to say. >> it sounded like the dumpster had moved. we looked outside and saw the tree lying across the car. >> i heard the sound and we came down here to check it out. >> yet another car was damaged about six or seven cars in all. initial reports said up to nine cars that were damaged. a lot of folks here checking their insurance but fortunately, no one was hurt. the good news, the storm is dying down here in prince george's county, not nearly as bad as it was earlier in the evening.

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>> of big problem in arlington neighborhood after a tree comes crashing down. the good news is that no one was hurt. >> more on the emergency efforts in arlington. >> arlington 911, where is your emergency? >> what is going on there? >> the arlington emergency communications center is doubling its staffing. >> you pretty much just try to get the information as quickly as possible. >> wild weather can sometimes put a hurdle in that information gathering. think back to the june derecho.

911 service was disrupted across northern virginia four days and backup power sources failed. john crawford is the commanding officer here and he says in his 40 years as commanding officer that was the first. >> we have been in contact with the horizon. at this stage of the game, there is not another thing that we could do to prepare ourselves. >> we have been working on those issues we went through in june. >> she will tell you mother nature loves throwing curveballs. >> we have never had anything like this. >> in the worst-case scenario, if the power goes out and the backup generators do not work, most emergency nine months

centers have a similar back up plan. >> we will be back for an update of the