who is in hamilton. >> reporter: kelly, as we speak you can see behind me squad cars the same seen is playing itself out over a four block square area surrounding two major apartment complexes where most of the damage occurred. we understand bidding inspectors have found 50 units they have condemned. at this point we can't tell you when people will be able to get back into their homes. it may be sometime. >> all my trees, my gorgeous old trees are gone. >> reporter: it is difficult to imagine that she is one of the lucky victims of this storm. >> no power. power's gone, trees gone, everything's gone. at the nearby dutch village apartments emergency workers evacuated people from their homes. >> we had to leave. >> how come? >> because it was a tornado. >> the house started shaking we went in the hallway while

the house was shaking something came through my back window. >> reporter: governor martin o'malley and mayor stephanie rawlins-blake toured the complex remarking on the destructive force of the wind estimated at more than 80 miles per hour. >> the projectiles we saw that were stuck into the sides of buildings like you know spears into the sides of these apartment buildings, the roofs that were torn off down the hill and then deposited further up the hill, the cars that were thrown together as if they were toys. >> reporter: meteorologist with the national weather service also viewed the damage trying to ascertain if this is the work of a tornado. >> everything kind of going this way everything splattered on the cars this way. roofs ripped off this way. the storm is moving so fast, you know, you expect more damage in one direction. so have to see a bit more. >> reporter: whether it was a tornado or not the destruction

it left behind is extensive. the city leaders say it may take days if not weeksvictims can return to their homes. >> we're making sure people can get back home as soon as possible we'll be able to do that with the support we're getting from the state and also from the calls we're already getting from concerned citizens that want to provide thanksgiving dinners, blankets, nonperishable food items. >> reporter: a number of the springs out here we spoke with are starting to express some frustration. they were hoping to get back in their homes for a short time to get some essential things they could carry with them. police are saying no way. in essence right now this whole area is locked down. they said they are concerned not only for their safety because of the electrical gas issues going on here, the roof structures, but also the potential for looting tonight. we've seen whole vans of entire units from the police department forming this perimeter. this morning they saw a couple

of people with crow bars heading into the dutch villages apartments here. they turned them around with a warning but they are not going to put up with any of that looting here tonight. jeff hager abc 2 news. >> all right jeff, thanks a lot for that live report. our live team coverage continues with the storm clean up. let's get out to roosevelt leftwich who is live in parksville. rosie looking at pictures it was amazing nobody was hurt. >> reporter: little pieces of woods like this come from big trees and those big trees unfortunately go into houses like that. this crew has been out here working for quite a while trying to get part of the roof back on as they try to get the homeowner back inside. it has been a busy day of clean up as large trees fell on houses and blocked roads what looked like a tornado tore through this part of park vim. it started at 1:30 in the morning. wind started howling. a large maple tree smashed into

a house. a 2it only lasted seconds. >> my whole family was awoken by the treatment bl. they said treatment bl. by the time i jumped up it was over in a matter of 20 seconds. >> tree came down two yards up. two trees cross the road. a path between two houses. >> wow. >> can't explain it. >> reporter: the thing about it is too is that one thing you can tell the lights are back on in the area. power was out, hundreds of homes in the parkville area for a good part of the day. bge crews have been out working cutting down trees and restoring power to this neighborhood and also neighborhoods on the other side of joppa road. they hope to have a lot of the

homes restored later tonight and some may take until tomorrow. we'll have more on the story coming up at 11:00. roosevelt leftwich abc2 news. remember we have an entire section dedicated to the storm damage. you can log on to abc2news.com on our home page you can see pictures toppled trees and downed power lines all of that on abc2news.com. we were tracking the storms last night here in the abc2 storm center. we had multiple severe thunderstorm warnings. it turns outs mainly baltimore itselfnd specially the northeast side of town ended up getting most of the storm damage in the entire state. but it was a wild night. take a look. this is 1:30 a.m. early this morning. you can see that definite squall line where you see that reds bow shape just north and east of town. that was the nastiest line of storms right now we know it was either straight line winds sorts of a downburst effect or

perhaps a brief tornado spun up as the front pushed in. it was a storm squall line out of the south. technically a warm front. interesting. check out our weather blog. we're talking about the parameters that would make this storm a tornado. if you haven't been there yet tonight we have a slide show on our home page and some of these photos just stunning. the way these trees were toppled over, large old trees well into last night we saw again just tremendous storm damage. we want your photos if you have them e-mail to our newsroom here at abc2news.com. hey, maryland's most powerful radar clear tonight. we've been dealing with winds today. winds around 20 to 25 miles per hour still, but we peak gusted through the day 40 and 45. we will tree limbs coming down through the day. tomorrow light breezees it will be chilly and clouding up again.

we'll talk about the outlook for your weekend and even peek ahead toward thanksgiving coming right up. >> thanks a lot, wyatt. many anne arundel county residents had a rude awakening. high winds came through causing trees to fall. some homeowners found themselves without power. >> reporter: baltimore gas and electric trucks were out in anne arundel county. 19,000 homes lost power because of the storm. about 12,000 have their power back now. anne arundel fire department made about 18 calls since midnight related to the storm. most of them were to handle downed lines and trees in- housees. the neighbors say it seemed like a normal storm then all of a sudden out of nowhere the winds picked up it got pretty scary. >> my wife and i heard crash, boom, bang. we were saying holy cow what's going on. >> like a tornado came through. >> reporter: tracey sands and

her husband came over to help her mother-in-law after a tree fell into the neighbor's house. then sands' mother says the ordeal was frightening. >> she basically corraled everybody she heard the winds got them in into a closet and made sure everybody was safe heard the tree fall and came outside and said wow. >> i'm from california. >> reporter: paul mcguinness was at home when the tree came into th house. >> we got snow and then now this. it's nature at its best. you can never estimate what's going to happen. >> reporter: paul would rather take the earthquakes back in california. >> earthquakes are a piece of cake. we sleep through them. they are nothing like as damaging as this. >> reporter: in anne arundel counties don harrison abc2 news. right now in anne arundel

county less than 240 customers are without power. when mother nature throws a jab the american red cross is always right there taking the impact of a punch. it's not always easy. right now are taking donations to help people in dutch village parkville and anne arundel county who may be without power. we have all the information you need to help make this day a little more bear able for people without a home tonight. you can donate $10 by texting react to 50555 or call 410-624-2000 to help make a difference. nearly half a billion dollars is coming to maryland to help first responsibleers and officials in a proposal that was a proved 2-1. peter franco opposed the deal pause

the entire cost hasn't been appropriated yet but governor 0 mal hi approved the contract. a 20-year-old man has been sentenced to 12 years in prison for an attack on a baltimore police detective that left him legally blind. detective jermaine cook lost his left eye after he was hit in the face by a glass beer mug thrown by james kimball. what authorities describe as a racially motivated attack. prosecutors say cooke will never work as a police officer again. during sentencing the judge told kimball his actions were intolerable in our society. sometimes doctors take a wait and see approach for children who have ear infections. tonight's new statistics reveal that approach could make the difference in your child's recovery time. after weeks of setbacks and changes tonight teachers are voting on the new salary contract that could determine their own future in education.

. just about 15 minutes ago members of baltimore city teachers union wrapped up voting on the new teacher contract. this is the second time they have cast their battle in what some are calling one of the most controversial pay incentives in recent memory. under the new contract teachers would no longer be paid based on step increases, which are those automatic raises based on tenure. instead they would climb a four tier career ladder which would be an elite core of teachers making possibly 6 figure salaries. >> it's part of the process. the first time around it didn't go through some revisions were made. now we have a better idea what we're voting for. >> whether you vote yes or no

it's important to be a part of it so we're all onboard we're all heading in the same direction. >> we expect the results later this evening. you can expect to see those results on abc2 news at 11:00 and also on abc2news.com. for the first time in nearly 30 years the baltimore branch of this aac p has elected a woman. she has been a long time advocate for residents of public housing and other disadvantage groups. she'll be sworn in on january 1st. rain kept me up last night nothing compared to t(what some folks are dealing with. >> it fádepend on where you were. this was a wide scattered

storms that came in. parkville area northeast of town dutch village. some spots got at the minimum some very powerful straight line winds of was a brief tornado, national weather will report their findings in a day or two. chilly night out there kelly but quiet on the rain. nothing going on at the moment. what a change from late last night. 53 degrees right now at the airport. we've got humidity 46%. earlier today you know some cloud cover early on but then the sunshine breaking through. skies clearing off pretty nicely as we work towards sunset this evening. i want to take you to a beautiful view over the chesapeake today. great looking weather in that direction as well. but it was windy out there. no doubt about that. look at some of the peak wind gusts. 42 edge mere. we gusted to 40 in bowie. 45 in westminster. that was something that will blow off the ball cap so to

speak. we're seeing wind gusts 20 to 25. no more wind advisory through the day but still breezy night out there. some tree limbs could potentially come down. you have to watch out if you're near some of the old trees. 53 right now bwi hagers town 49. not particularly sharp at the moment but we expect things to get much chiller tomorrow night and early friday. high temperatures low 60s. not pad above average we almost hit 65 in d. c. tomorrow cooler by 10 to 12 depress. parkville 53. mid 50s out there cloud cover at time. clear overnight but into the day tomorrow expecting some clouds to blow in from yet

another system swirling out into missouri and also through even northern mississippi some clouds rolling in. that system headed our way. the storm from last night blowing well off the new england, even northern canada coast. that's out of here. but chilly winds continuing to feed in behind unsettled weather in the great lakes. our future cast brings in the clouds from that system. not a lot of rain we could see patchy drizzle tomorrow afternoon. western maryland could see a passing flurry or two out toward frostburg tomorrow. but tomorrow into friday we clear out again and it looks awfully nice as we start up the weekend. overnight 38, clear, chilly, still breezy tomorrow. 55. patchy drizzle late in the day. tomorrow night clouds shut begin to break up a little bit as we go to 33 cold degrees. for the weekend not much of a temperature rebound friday. if anything cooler warmer for the weekend upper 50s and early next week a surge of warmth'

the hammer drops. i think right now the busiest travel day of the year wednesday is going to feature rain and wind very cold weather after thanksgiving. kelly. >> all right thanks, wyatt. coming up tonight at 11:00. some would call it the holy grail of shopping for the holidays. wal-mart's black friday ad is out. we're going to run down their best deals for bargain hunters. plus you've heard of representative stress injuries caused by lots of typing. what about texting. we're going to hear from the experts those stories and much more coming up tonight at 11:00. in tonight's health alert. the maryland beverage industry announced a voluntary ban on the sale of caffeinated alcoholic beverages like "four loko". it comes on the same day that the maker of "four loko" announced it will remove caffeine and two other end degreed ingredients from its

products. the food and drug administration plan to ban it. antibiotics are typically prescribed but a new steady says treating these drugs is often unnecessary. >> reporter: if your child is suffering from an ear infection your doctor may decide to watch and wait instead of giving them antibiotics. research presented in the journal of the american medical association says if one hundred otherwise healthy children got ear infections 80 would likely get better in about 3 days without antibiotics. if antibiotics were administered, 92 of the 100 children will recover after a few days. doctors say this is because many ear infections are caused by viruses which don't respond or require antibiotics. your child may need pain medication, but will otherwise fight off the bug on her own. since 2004 the american academy

of pediatrics has suggested that observation and not prescribing antibiotics is an option for treating ear infections for children between the ages of 2-12. only if it's suspected to be bacterial will be antibiotics be prescribed. many in the medical community are concerned over use of antibiotic contracts to problem of antibiotic resistant bacteria. this new steady was designed to research for the aap in the process of updating its guidelines for treating ear infections. for the first time in 30 years the rate of premature birth in the u. s. is down. march of times says 12.3% births in 2008 were premature compared to 12.8 in 2006. the march of times credits the

drop doctors and hospitals having selected delivers and first time c sections. we're going to have your closing numbers right after the break. so keep it right here.

. stocks spent the afternoon stuck in a tight range. take a look at the numbers. the dow is down 15, the nasdaq up 6 and the s & p 500 is less than a point. just want to let you know we just received word that the baltimore city teachers contract has been approved, we'll have much more coming up at 11:00. one last look at the weather. >> just a recap one more time. here's what it looked like 1:30 a.m. last night nasty storm coming through. contrast that to now when the radar is crystal clear. rough storms overnight now we're crystal clear. still breezy out there but the current winds have died off quite a bit. tomorrow a decent day but the clouds are going to come back breezy maybe a slight chance of a shower in the afternoon. >> all right. much better than last night. that's it for the news at 6:00.

we are back tonight at 11:00. have a great evening.