this is wjz tv, wjz hd and wjz.com baltimore. >> from the city to the counties to your neighborhood. now it's complete coverage, it's wjz maryland's news station. >> in the dark storms strike leaving maryland a mess. tonight the clock is ticking on restoration efforts as summer sizzles. >> we have complete coverage of the aftermath. thanks for joining us. dozens of schools will be closed tomorrow. we're running a list of them. friday night's storms swirled in fast killing two unsuspected marylanders. a woman was killed when this huge oak tree slammed right into her bedroom. a man also died as a tree crashed on top of his car.

massive trees are down all across the mid-atlantic. this is a huge oak that tumbled on a car. huge oak that tumbled golf fans were allowed back at the country club today but yesterday the spectators were banned. wjz is live with extensive coverage and our meteorologist is tracking another storm moving in now. let's check with eric and he's live with the latest on widespread power outages. >> are they making headway tonight? >> reporter: they are. we're in a neighborhood now still in the dark. you can see this big tree back here and power lines down because of it. this storm packed the punch of a hurricane without any of the warnings that come with a

hurricane. with no electricity many across maryland are running out of patience. repair crews have worked long hours ever since friday night's power house of a storm that crushed cars and homes and left nearly a million marylands in the dark with no air conditioning in the strongest heat snap. >> that's the biggest danger over the next few days is as a rule unusual populations and senior citizens. >> reporter: hundreds of workers are being brought in. in some cases the power company can't make repairs because massive trees are down on the pow -- power lines. they've already restored more than half of the customers but say some may be waiting a while. >> there's no question this

restoration effort will extend into this weekend. we're being careful not to set any false expectations. plan for the worst and hope for the best. >> reporter: free ice brought long lines of city residents. many still shocked by the power of the storm. >> you can't question. it's mother nature doing what she does. >> reporter: tomorrow morning's commute expected to be a dozen city because trees are blocking a -- doozy because the roads are blocked and many traffic signals don't have the power to operate them. >> thanks very much. here's the numbers. 72,000 people without electricity and in the city it's around 69,000 and in the county that number has reduced

quiet a bit today. a total of 255,000, 330 customers without power tonight. our complete coverage continues with our meteorologist. i understand there's new storms headed our way now. >> there are. this is nothing like friday. this is the line of storms as it made its way across the entire state. we're going to show you all the intense colors. we had wind gust over 75 miles per hour. that equates to a category one hurricane. this continued over to the east and really left this mark and we're also dealing with not just that but with all the power outages, huge issues with the heat. it's incredibly hot outside. this is the fifth straight day with temperatures 90 or above. the dew points are very high.

we still have a heat index to talk about making it feel like 88 degrees here in baltimore at 11:00 at flight. in addition, severe thunderstorm watch has been issued. what we're going to do is switch this over and show you here are the storms moving our direction. now, the northern edge has broken up and virginia is really going to get battered with this one. on the northern print hanging on for western maryland we're going to see some version of the thunderstorm across the state tonight. >> i think we're all tired of them, thanks so much. it's lights out and lots of damage to clean up. our team coverage continues with meghan reporting. >> reporter: from high above to down below, a massive clean up effort as neighbors try to beat

the heat. friday a storm left baltimore county battered. >> the winds were so strong and like something we've never felt before. >> reporter: he and his wife ran to the basement. when the storm passed they found this tree in their house. >> it was leaning on our edition in the back. >> reporter: this tree took out a fence landing on the roof of a car. one tree service company tells us they got more calls for this storm than all of hurricane irene. >> a lot of trees on houses and cars and across driveways. >> reporter: gary is waiting for a tree service to come out as this branch held just by a wire hangs over his house. >> hoping no other storms come in. >> reporter: another concern is keeping cool. >> my neighbor john has ms and is in a wheelchair.

i just came back down the check and see if he needed power. >> reporter: with wires down all over, the ac may not be coming on any time soon. >> thousands are still waiting for crews to reach their streets. many worry they're going to be celebrating the 4th of july in the dark. >> reporter: the weight of downed trees and snapped power lines, residents are waiting for bge to take action. these neighbors have been in the dark since winds rolled through the area friday night. >> they're trying to get through the heat. >> well, we've been leaving the doors open, the windows open. >> reporter: they're shaded by a century old oak tree hoping for a breeze and waiting for electricity. >> we're still blessed because we still have our homes.

some limbs came down out of one of these trees and went the opposite direction. >> reporter: for some neighbors this weekend storm put a damper on their holiday but others say they'll find a way to celebrate. i'm gee gee barnett, wjz eyewitness news. >> these things just keep repeating themselves up and down the east coast and blistering temperatures. we have an overview from new york. >> reporter: crews in virginia worked around the clock untangling and reconnecting downed power lines. friday's storms knocked out power to more than 3 million people from the midwest to the east coast. officials say it could take up to a week to get everyone back on line. in atlantic county new jersey utility trucks rolled in to

start restoring power. triple digit temperatures -- >> ice is the main thing. >> reporter: the heat stretches from the middle of the country to the east coast including here in new york city. people exercising outside are trying to take the heat in stride. >> every now and then i take a bottle 06 water -- of water and pour it over my head. >> reporter: cooling centers are open and many trying to stay cool. for cbs news, new york. >> here's a break down of the storms so far, two people killed in maryland. more than 519,000 marylanders are still without power tonight and for a list of the school closings, you can log on to

wjz.com. we are updating that information as soon as new closings come into us. stay with wjz for the latest conditions and updates at any time. you can track the storm as it moves into maryland. you can do it all there at wjz.com. in other news, police shoot and kill a man. they saw a man assaulting a woman in a car last night. an officer approached and the man fled and an officer chased him down and a fight ensued. firefighters pull a missing workers body from the rumble of a warehouse. on thursday the forklift operator bumped into a shift full of boxed documents that caused the roof to collapse. the coast guard suspending

the search for a missing boater. four were rescued by a fishing vessel and coast guard but after hours of searching, that fifth man has not been found. a smoking ban goes underway today. school officials say they wanted to create a healthy campus for students. stay with us. we have a lot more still to come on wjz's eyewitness news tonight. >> you don't know if you're going to have smoke damage or this. those are issues with a home still standing. >> a look at what's left for people returning home for the first time since fires chased

them out. it's a bizarre hold up. they're dressed in garbage bags. we'll tell you how this robbery ended. >> i'm meteorologist -- we'll have all of that coming up in your forecast on eyewitness news. ,,,,,,,,,,,,

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partly cloudy and 84 degrees in central maryland right now. people evacuated from their homes in colorado get a brief chance to take a tour of their neighborhoods for the first time. tonight we report on what's left behind. >> reporter: thousands of people live not guilty some of the hardest hit areas of the canyon fire lined up early sunday at check point. these residents got a chance to see their property for the first time since the raging wild fires drove them out a week ago. for some their homes are still standing but for others they return to see the charred remains of where they once lived. red cross mental health counselors were with them. >> what we do is listen and give them reassurances but some of the things that they tell you are things that they need to repeat over and over again. that's part of the only process they can talk to someone. >> reporter: by sunday night

most of the 30,000 had gotten cleared to go home. that included tonya who spent eight nights sleeping on a cot. >> i've had a couple of crappy days but they past. >> reporter: it's scorched more than 17,000 acres. they're working day and night to bring it under control. their efforts have not gone unnoticed. every day the locals cheer on the firefighters as they head up into the mountains to battle the blazes. >> i can't imagine how hard they're working and how tired they must be. >> reporter: they're battle could go through the month. in colorado springs, wjz news. >> the fire is about 55% contained and destroyed about 355 homes. police are investigating a deadly accident down in miami.

a mini van jumped the curb after a marlins game. four members of a georgia family were killed. the driver of the van died. officials say they must have suffered a medical emergency prior to the accident. the governor is defending maryland's health care law. >> it's the free loader penalty which would effect it most of 1- 2% of people who could afford health care and want to be free loaders. we decided early on to be an early implementer of health care reform because we know it's good for businesses. >> today on face the nation the governor went on to say the republicans are creating a false hood saying the health care bill is a massive increase and say they need to tie the

bill to the economy 6789. a cup of robbers are breaking a sweat tonight in mexico and not because they're nervous, they're probably just really uncomfortable. surveillance tape shows these suspects wearing trash bags during an attempt for a stick up. they demanded money but the cashier chased them out and both of the people here they escaped in a cab and apparently took off their disguise. so far, no arrest made. what did they do? stand around outside and smoke a cigarette afterwards? not the smartest bulb in the chandelier. some wish they had bulbs burning in their hand -- chandeliers. >> there's no real relief coming our way with the heat so this is what we're going to start out with, the next round of thunderstorms coming. now, this is the huge plusser

over parts of ohio and it has broken up significant -- that moved our way. for most of maryland we're seeing that severe thunderstorm watch into effect from the western parts of the state to washington county. there's still a chance for thunderstorms but we want to refrain this. it is not going to be like friday night. a lot of people got nervous about that but it is not going to be. still strong thunderstorms for western parts of the state. there's a severe thunderstorm watch in effect till 2 a.m. when the line dies down it will fire up again some time later in the day and there will be a chance for severe weather in our area. we have on going chances throughout the week because we're really locked in this pattern not only with the storms coming along the line but also with that heat around.

it's not going anywhere. it's still 92 degrees in salt lake and almost 90 degrees in minneapolis. it's 84 degrees and nearly 90 in d. c. when you factor in the humidity, 88 is what it looked like in baltimore. not quiet the record and we'll be at least 90 degrees or higher for the rest of this forecast making it around 100 on wednesday. we have one storm watching and another one coming in from the west all the while keeping chances for scattered thunderstorms in the forecast and the actual front is going to come through on the 4th giving us the best chance for storms. out on the waters other than thunderstorms going on we have the chance if you're heading out because this is a holiday week just keep that in mind and be careful. tonight we're going down into

the 70s. tomorrow we go up to 94 degrees. we take a look at the entire five day forecast. we're in the 90s getting close to 100 degrees. >> coming up in sports tonight, not even a brand new oil could not even a brand new oil could ,,,, the birds tonight. you ready buddy?

you're probably not getting called up to the majors. but your fence? that's pro. finish like a pro with cabot wood stains. cabot...that's pro.

stan is here with the sports report. e with the >> brian is down today. immediately following a poor performance he was denoted to triple a. nonetheless, jim made it for the first time in uniform today. top five now, indians in cruise control on what should have,

could have, would have been an easy out for chris davis. on this pop fly not. cleveland leads 5-0. several factors in some comedies of error that were no laughing matter. you saw ryan with a single there but the birds wound up losing 6-2. they're now headed to lead the yankees. several o's will be participating in the 83rd al star game. adam jones for the second time. reliever jim johnson first appearance and jason needs your help. all star game july 10th in kansas city. michael phelps tonight in a show down with rival ryan who was beat last night.

tonight phelps floating like a men's 100-meter butterfly stinging the third place like a bee. tyler finished second. all three guys london bound for the 2012 summer olympics. now 1500-meter runner may be the best ever. down the stretch losing the lead finishing second. both will represent good old american red, white and blue, one of the nicest athletes i've met. also golf, final round. tiger woods needs a 20-foot birdie to break a tie. let it be says tiger. he's at 900. he both tied at nine under and back and forth all weekend.

tiger won it in the end and becomes the first three time winner. 74 for tiger woods. >> not too bad. ,,,,,,,,

you know what's exciting? graduation. when i look up into my students faces, i see pride. you know, i have done something worthwhile. when i earned my doctorate, that pride, that was on my face. i am jocelyn taylor. i'm committed to making a difference in people's lives, and i am a phoenix. visit phoenix.edu/maryland to find our 4 locations in your area.

an unexpected man drops by a a -- a 200-pound black bear walked up and rang his doorbell. he grabbed his camera, snapped a few pictures and took video and after that the bear ran

into the woods. there he is checking out the ,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,