literally in 17 seconds. this is part of a larger area under esevere thunderstorm watch north of washington. roundhill to middleburg pounded with heavy rain and thunderstorms. the leading edge approaching leesburg. we have the river and maryland to come thereafter. pull back the shot to put it all in perspective for you. all the areas in pink north are understood -- are under severe thunderstorm watches. the area across north and west around pennsylvania are dropped. looking good. we have storms. we have a new more south and west of fredericksburg. but those in the evening hours should begin to diminish a bit. that is good news. let's switch gears to talk about the tropics. irma, category five. top sustained winds at 185 miles per hour. gusting to 225 earn many. this is moving west at 15 miles per hour. it w

oil will weaken to a category four but that is still a huge storm. we'll cover the impact and the motion coming up in a little bit. michelle: thank you. we are tracking irma as the millions in the storm's path prepare for the worst. this is a scene where people are scrambling to stock up, boarding up the windows, filling up the sand bag and trying to get gas for cars and generators. florida's leaders are not mincing words. >> unlike other hurricanes where we do a wait and see attitude, take a wait and see and see what the hurricane is going to do, this is far too powerful. this is far too much of a threat to delay action longer. >> anybody in the keys or monroe county,

officials now and start evacuating now. michelle: a state of emergency is in effect for puerto rico and florida. fema and the national guard are staging emergency supplies throughout the state. stay connected with the stormwatch7 weather team as we track irma and the tropical storm jose, the next one brewing. the most up to date forecast available on the stormwatch7 weather app and the facebook and the twitter pages. jonathan: in the meantime, texas governor urging congress not to forget about their needs as we watch hurricane irma. there is still major flooding now in five counties. that is expected to continue through the end of the week. at least 60 people confirmed dead in the storm's aftermath. talk about harvey. a massive benefit concert planned for one week from today. >> right now, two groups are heading home. for the past week that team and the maryland task force one have been pulling people from the flood waters in

texas. michelle: the other big story is the trump administration decision to end daca. protests broke out from coast to coast when the decision was announced. sam sweeney is monitoring the developing story at the abc7 live desk. sam: it's been a busy day. president trump this afternoon says he has great love for dreamers. but earlier today he sent shockwaves through the immigrant community and a warning to congress. act on immigration soon because the dream act as we know it is over. president trump: i have a love for these people. hopefully congress will do it properly. congress wants to do something and do it right. >> the president sedging praise for dreamers hours after he threatened their future. 800,000 people live under daca protection. now there is a chance they may be sent back to the countries they don't remember or languages are spoken they don't understand. >> we cannot admit everyone who would like to come here. it's just t

status for undocumented immigrants who entered as children. all have gone through background checks and are working or have been through school and some are veterans. >> we are not here to rob you or push you to give us money or food. all we are asking is to give us one chance to work and do it legally. >> protesters took the streets across the country today. some arrested outside trump tower in new york. here in d.c., demonstrators shut down pennsylvania avenue. but blocks away at the capitol. a message of compassion, republican lindsey graham. >> the good news for america. you should want them to stay. they are great kids. they are working and productive. this is a win-win. >> as former president barack obama dilled release a statement after the announcement. he called it in part wrong, self-defeating and cruel. for what is next, republican lindsey graham and the democrat dick durbin held a joint press conference. both demanded im

to keep dreamers in the country legally. if country doesn't act, deportation could begin this march. live in the newsroom, i'm sam sweeney, abc7 news. michelle: we are gathering reaction from all sides to the president's decision on daca. check that out online at wjla.com. jonathan: a 12-year-old girl accused of stabbing a 13-year-old boy at their school. but she has not been arrested because of her diplomatic status. the stabbing happened this afternoon at the british international school. the young girl accused of stabbing the boy in the back. he is in the hospital. police have not said what prompted this stabbing. michelle: in less than an hour, charlottesville leaders will debate removing another statue to a confederate icon. this time the statue in question honors general stonewall jackson. the monumented is covered by a tarp. the city's decision to remove the statue sparked protest by

into a deadly confrontation last month. descendant of lee resigned as the pastor of the church. he said that the parishioners were not happy with the comments he made like these in the m.t .v. music awards. >> today i call on all of us with privilege and power to answer god's call to confront racism and white supremacy head on. michelle: those are the remarks that were controversial to his parishioners. he is the great grand nephew of the confederate general. he delivered the remarks while introducing the mother of charlottesville victim heather heyer. jonathan: the virginia state police helicopter that crashed near last month's clash in charlottesville was not brought down by a collision. the crash killed two state

cause but it was not hit by other object or animal. michelle: incredible video now of a devastating fire. the new risk as hundreds flee the path of the growing wildfire. jonathan: plus, major step to reopening the washington monument. the next step and the time line to get it back open next

born and raised incian, dr. rrural virginia went to vmi. trained at johns hopkins. an army doctor who treated soldiers seriously wounded in the gulf war. eighteen years as volunteer medical director of a children's hospice. as lt. governor, he's fighting to expand healthcare in virginia. he'll get it done as governor. ralph northam: i'm ralph northam, and we need to provide access to affordable healthcare for all virginians, not take it away.

announcer: you're watching "abc7 news at 6:00". on your side. jonathan: developing right now major intersection in south alexandria. that is a mess. a lot of water, too. this is slowly reopening after a water main break. the roadway sustained significant damage here as as fault is breaking apart. this is happening at the intersection of van dorn and south picket street. the road was shut down at 10:30 this morning. in the past 90 minneapolis one lane reopened in each direction. this is a mess and an area to avoid. michelle: a step forward to reopen the national monument. the national park service awarded $10.8 million contract to replace the aging elevator system. it's been shut down for the past year after problems with the elevator. >> incredible video coming in showing intensity of the wildlife that exploded

this is covering 10,000 acre east of portland. that is not a lot but what made it huge is it happened shortly. the latest information is hundreds of people in a half dozen communities have been ordered to flee the homes. it blew up in hours. in utah a fast-moving wildfire has forced people to evacuate north of salt lake city. it broke out hours ago. you can see the conditions. the wind blowing. it's very dry. record heat. look of rain. wind. fueling the fires. michelle: today south korea warships conducted the line fire exercises and as the united s

sanction -- united nations consider new sanctions on the north, russian president vladimir putin said stronger sanctions will not stop nuclear threat. diplomacy is the only answer. jonathan: it has winds up to 185 miles per hour. hurricane irma is a monster. chief meteorologist doug hill is back with the latest on the track. michelle: first, though, making history at 38,000 miles per hour. what we are learning 40 years after voyager began the trek

michelle: caught on video, midair emergency as it happens. the fire ball shoots out of the boeing 777 engine. this happened in tokyo. the plane was able to turn around and safely make emergency landing. they suspect a bird strike is to blame. jonathan: that is scary. an achievement in unlike any other in human history. 40 years ago today nasa launched the voyager mission. this thing here. probe flying out there. only made the object to ever leave the solar system.

the only one that has gone there. as cheryl conner reports there is still mump to be learned from the probes -- much to be learned from the probes now billions of miles from home. >> it's about exploring the unknown. cheryl: it will take the voyager a day and a half to receive this message. cheering fans on the 40th anniversary. >> we are celebrating today 40 years of discovery and exploration, history eclipsing everybody expectations. >> september 5, 1977. that is when the second of two spacecraft was launched in the solar system. this replica is at the air and space museum. today, nasa scientists who communicate with the voyager celebrated history and the future. >> the voyagers are healthy as senior citizens can be. that's the way i like to think of them. cheryl: some of the first pictures of the outer planet from the voyager. taken over 100,000 images. >> the best thing we have done since we arrived. >> g

visiting from australia. >> it's about going beyond our own comfort zone. >> voyager holds the golden record. collection of the sights and sound of earth. this is set out to explore jupiter and saturn and now beyond the planet of the solar system. >> some of the parts on display at the air and the space museum are used as a prelaunch tells for the voyager 40 years -- prelaunch test for the voyager 40 years ago. scientists hope to get data until 2025. in south west washington, cheryl cheryl, abc7 news -- chel conner, abc7 news. michelle: on earth we are looking for new kinds of stars. abc7 is coming to -- "american idol" is coming to abc7. hundreds of people lined up outside the annapolis mall for a shot at fame. auditions are taking place across the country. it will premier next year on abc7. jonathan: good luck to all of

to hurricane irma for good reason. volunteers spent the day making sure victims of hurricane harvey are not forgotten. donations the church spent the last week collecting loaded on to a truck. now bound for texas. pastor clark just returned from rescue efforts in houston area. now according to the church's, the folks that did collecting here, they went to facebook and said that the truck left for texas about an hour ago. so we wish that trucker good luck on the road. abc7 team compiled a list of the charities working to get help affected by hurricane harvey. you will find that on the website. wjla.com. turn the attention now to what is happening here and down in the atlantic. >> you are tracking a lot. doug: a lot of things to watch. first off, a little good news locally. the severe thunderstorm warning is gone. there is still heavy storms. let's get to it and tell you about the temperatures. this is going to give you a clue of whre

look at the numbers. 66 in hagerstown, martinsburg. 64 in winchester. 70's in the washington area. but still 85 in the annapolis. we have been in the 80's most of the day. the front comes through and the includes a change of the wind direction to the north. temperatures will fall. we are still dealing with the areas of the storms and the potential storms. the areas in pink are still under severe thunderstorm watch until 9:00. the actual storms right now, none of them are severe. garden variety heavy thunderstorms in the area near gaithersburg and stretches westward across the potomac river to loudoun county. they are continuing to move east. still a fair amount of lightning and heavy rain and farther south we have areas we are watching as well. we will go to eldersburg and the areas of carroll county, maryland. east-up to, laurel. and prince george's county. showers and the storms. fingers crossed nothing more severe and it will make its way east and that is that. tomorrow is unsettled day here but cool and

now the latest on irma. top sustained winds with u.s.es up to 225 miles per hour. never seen that. it's huge. getting bigger in width and depth as well. it heads across the northern leeward islands and becoming close to puerto rico, hispaniola and go across the northern coast of cuba for the next few days. the reason it's heeded west is an area of high pressure from the atlantic. that is common for the mid-to-late summer. what we expect and have expected is the storm to weaken. but still to a high hend four by the weekend. by the time to cold front makes farther south. the trough of the low pressure that the cold front resides in will have a tendency to turn the storm north. there is no indications it will make a u-turn to the ocean. it will turn north and move through florida. what is not certain is whether it will come into florida or west of florida or east of florida. we follow the american model and t

they are together until they hit the weekend. then we see the center of the g.s.f. southeast of west palm beach and then over the florida straits for the euro. the hurricane center says four to five days out they average 200 miles per hour error in placement. so anything is possible. but certainly south florida has to be ready for some big, big changes here weather wise coming up toward the weekend. here the official track now. still category four as we get through the day on sunday. no idea who will have any effect here. if there are any. ints possible it won't be until -- it is possible it won't be until tuesday. until then it's beautiful. not tomorrow. it's lousy. damp and cool. sunshine returns through the weekend. if anything happens irma wise it's tuesday and wednesday morning. back to beautiful september weather by the end of next week. that is the latest. jonathan: all right, doug. thank you very much. michelle: erin is here. what is shaking in the sports world? erin: quite a bit when it comes to the redskins. theys talked safety cravens out of retiring for now but

teammates want him back? what coach jay gruden said today when we come back.

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erin: redskins safety cravens told the team he

retire a week before the season begins but he has been talked out of it for now with they putting him on the team list to give him time to resolve the personal matters. earlier jay gruden was ask how he'd be welcomed back if he plays again. coach gruden: i think he wants to play. i have watched him in practice and play in games and i know he loves the game of football. i don't think that is the issue. there are things on his mind. if he gets it cleared up he is one of our guys. erin: the nfl bracing for the impact of hurricane irma announcing a few hours ago that sunday's game between the dolphins and the bucks will not be played in miami as scheduled. the injury bug has hit week one of the college football season. the quarterback

is out with an a.c.l. tear. this happened over the epic win over texas on saturday. the freshman hill will finish the game will start in his place. the nationals renew their series that starts around 7:00. >> the storms still around. look at the graphic. part of this is shaved away to the west. we still have the showers and the thunderstorms there. nothing severe. most of it should be over the by a to the east. steve is tracking that and the latest update on hurricane irma and he will share them tonight at 11:00. michelle: "world news tonight" with david muir coming up next. jonathan: thank you for watching. see you at 11:00. have a good night.

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trained at johns hopkins. an army doctor who treated soldiers seriously wounded in the gulf war. eighteen years as volunteer medical director of a children's hospice. as lt. governor, he's fighting to expand healthcare in virginia. he'll get it done as governor. ralph northam: i'm ralph northam, and we need to provide access to affordable healthcare for all virginians, not take it away.

tonight, breaking news as we come on the air. authorities now warning hurricane irma could be catastrophic. the category 5 hurricane now barrelling toward the u.s., kbr growing in strength. winds now 185 miles per hour. florida and puerto rico declaring states of emergency, mandatory evacuations already in the keys. several states could be in the path, and ginger zee is standing by with the new track just out. also tonight, president trump ending daca. the program protecting 800,000 young, undocumented immigrants, brought here by their parents. the president saying today he has a great love for them. north korea showdown. kim jong-un's response tonight