it has been a stormy saturday here in washington. in fact, the entire area is under a flood watch. good saturday. i'm craig melvin. many of us have already seen heavy rain. some of us are seeing it right now. parts of our area under a flash flood warning right now. meteorologist, chuck bell standing by. tracking the severe weather for us in storm center 4. chuck, what are we seeing now? >> craig, heaviest rain now is coming down in anne arundel county, 1 to 2 inches per hour.

you need to be on the lookout if you live in a low-lying, flood-prone area. may need to be on the lookout over the next couple hours. flash flood watch up for east of the blue ridge. until midnight. several flash flood warnings. charles county, maryland. flash flood warning until 8:45. prince george's county, maryland. flash flood warning, 10:45. calvert, anne arundel, flash flood warnings for you until 11:30 tonight. rainfall amounts have been fredericbu today. alexandria, inch and a half. culpeper, 2 inches. southern maryland. 1.5 inches. andrew air force base, prince george's county, over 2 inches of rain. under the gun. lots of lightning. show you a great picture of lightning in a bit. complete check of the forecast. raining hard. we'll detail all the rest of the fine points coming up in a little bit. craig. >> chuck bell, thank you so much. before the newscast started hurricane bill downgraded to cat

1. passed bermuda with a glancing blow. though the storm is not expected to make a u.s. landfall, many along the east coast are still feeling the effects. the latest on that. [ no audio ] >> reporter: from massachusetts to florida, this weekend the swells are high and potentially deadly. >> in this particular storm we are worried about high seas. we don't think the wind will exceed, 30, 35 miles an hour. >> parts of the new england coast could see trocal storm force wind from bill, officials say the biggester to is likely to be rip currents. rushing surf that can quickly pull swimmers away from shore. >> more water coming to beach. stronger rip currents going out from the beach into deeper water. >> so many beaches in the

northeast closed to swimmers today. >> see the red flag on many of the beaches. don't swim there. advising people to stay sought until the weekend is over. >> while lifeguard couldn't keep everyone out of the water, they tried hard to get the warnings out. one of summer's last weekends, one many are now forced to spend out of the water. and just over an hour, 7:30, the redskins take on the pittsburgh steelers. game two of the preseason tonight. redskins hoping to put some points on the board at least. dan healy joining us from fed-ex field and preview. healy, who is playing tonight? >> tell you what. you hit it right on the head. jim zorn offensive guru. he wants everybody playing, everybody is healthy. he wants to see some production. as an offensive g of turu they t

score against the ravens. i will leave the starters out. the game plan before all this rain. until they do something. he told me that only takes about a quarter. that would be nice. in this weather they don't want to leave the starters out there too long. the guys wrapped up training camp for the most part. everybody healthy. was not the case last year. tonight should be a very stiff test for zorn's offense. steelers, super bowl champs they had the west defense in the league last year. it showed when they played the redskins. the other thing that showed uppen fuup in full force, a pittsburgh fan. >> preseason game. you know what? we have great fans. i think -- dan, you know wants to continue to show his support and his enthusiasm for this team. for this community. and, you know so i think it is all in good, you know, in good fun. you know? it is -- just, he is competitive. we're competitive. i don't know if it is, if there

is going to be battles of the towels or whatever. it will be fun. you know? it's good. probably a lot more fun kidding there has been, i don't want to call it a downpour. very steady rain out there on the field tonight. lindsay will join me in a few minutes. we'll tell you who to watch and some of the keys to the game. craig. >> we'll come back to you. >> fans are packing into fed-ex field for the game as well. derek ward has more on that part of the story. >> it took more than rain to extinguish the burning fire for the game among the tailgaters. >> we're ready. ready. we're ready for the game. >> lots of steelers fans the that leads to mixed marriages. like this family. >> well my wife is originally from this area. so as you can see my son, for the steelers. my daughter is half and half. >> we bribed them. >> i am a die-hard steelers'

fan. >> on an evening when the nats are scheduled to play. d.c. united is scheduled to play. metro is putting longer trains on their cyst temperature syste loads. the benefits are coming early to tailgate were twofold. there was the party then the light traffic. >> wasn't bad. more than i expected. couple spots. for the most part pretty good. >> while the trip to the stayed jump may have been care-free. some fans weren't too happy. new rules for the season. put all the tailgaters together regardless of how soon they arrived. now this is as close as they can get. regardless of the team spirit, they don't seem to support the new rules. >> i don't like it. we got to wait getting in here. >> i don't think it is right. not right. >> getting here may have been easy. getting out that could be a different story. but not enough of a concern, the fans to leave early. >> we're going to wait till the very end. we will wait the whole thing out. >> let's see. you have the redskins.

you have the nats and d.c. united. all playing on the same day. lots of fans taking the subway. a night that will test the local transportation, infrastructure, fan loyalty and likely nerves. in landover, derek ward. news 4. coming up a small plane drops from the sky. it crashes just short of a crowded high school football field. we'll tell you all about that. us, summer comes to an end. kidd a kids are getting ready to go back to school. last minute preparations under way. michael phelps out and about after he was involved in the car wreck last week. but what he was wearing on his leg has some people concerned. on "nbc nightly news," hurricane bill turns up dangerous surf. growing outrage over freedom foc the l

two people are dead after a plane crashed near a crowded high school football scrimmage in ohio last night. the pilot and the passenger were pronounced dead at the scene in harrison, ohio. witnesses say it appeared the pilot intentionally took a nose-dive to avoid about 1,000 people at the football stadium. that plane took off from cincinnati, both victims were from indiana. authorities have declared a state of emergency in greece tonight. another major wildfire erupted northeast of athens. scores of residents have been ordered to evacuate their homes. just last week a wildfire erupted west of athens and grew

because of high wind. that blaze destroyed at least one warehouse and threatened several more. people living in the area actually used buckets to try to put out some of the flames. police in arlington are looking for a man whoin den a tafisiinnrlonin aor gte.st ake.look a o you recognizehat n?malo b ro t rob a check sasngtonreto on ialuikik pe p yesterday.he t police say he walked tohe store, showed a handgun, then demanded money. one shot was fired during the exchange. fortunately no one was hurt. police believe the same man went to a bank in fairfax county shortly later. walked to the counter started writing a note and ran away. witnesses say the man spoke with a heavy accent. still to come on news 4 at 6:00 -- almost time for kidd tad he -- kids to head to school. lesson preparations under way. soggy, soggy saturday. will we dry out foraynd

michael michael phelps wearing a n hel t iur eltpsur h in the car accidentur a week ago. the boot covers the right foot and goes, up almost to his knee. phelps was hit by another driver who ran a red light. at a public appearance. phelps says he has been training in the pool despite the hurt ankle.

the first day of school less than 48 hours away for many metro area students. in d.c. hundreds of volunteers are helping out by sprucing up many schools. >> dozens of volunteers dig in outside hair yet tubmrriet tubm elementary. >> you are doing something good for the community. >> many here intent on one thing, creating a welcoming environment for returning students. >> i think it is important for the community to come together to show the children and the citizens of this city that we all care about our children's education and we want them to have a beautiful place to learn. >> d.c. school chancellor, michelle reese stopped by to check out the last minute prep. 114 city schools will open monday. each spruced up by a team of volunteers. >> when i talk to kids about

coming to school one of the things they often say ishe environment that we create for them, the facility itself makes a big difference in their lives and perception of their schooling. >> four d.c. sools were open today for free vaccinations. several new ones added to the list required for.c. students this year. in nearby montgomery county school leaders there are also working on plans for any swine flu outbreaks. >> we know we need to get shots ready for everybody on the regular flu. the regular flu has always been a problem. we don't know just exactly how the swine flu is going to mutate. whether we will get the shots, who gets the shots. so we'll be dealing with that. >> back at tubman elementary school. volunteers say it is not just about the flowers. they plan to be back throughout the year. the school has been adopted by the d.c. for obama organization. >> we have 150 volunteers we signed up for the project. 2/3 signed up to tutor kidd here on an ongoing basis. >> making a difference one

student at a time. jane watrell, news 4. district students have until the first week of school to get proper immunization shots. hopefully the weather monday a lot better than today? >> we need an improvement from today. no doubt. a lot of bad weather yesterday. lightning in montgomery county check that out. >> man, good-look ing pick sch iing picture right there. anytime you want few send weather picture send it to mene- a good one o there. thank you foren sngdi it, charles. high day.to 84 degrees. after 72 dret.e star ovover an inch ofl or aiert. airpor more rain in a single day since june 18. last time we had more than an inch. live doppler shows heaviest of the rains now over the eastern parts of the viewing area. anne arundel county. c

calverton. annapolis. londontown. birdsville. shadyside. al. this is all more than an inch per hour in rainfall. some of the places northwest of annapolis. nearly 2 inches of rain per hour, is how fast and furious that is coming down. heavy rain extended down into portions of calvert county. good news is that the heaviest of the rainshowers now is starting to pull out of the area. you can see here, the back end of the rain now moving into the county. already starting to dry out in culpeper, madison. green county. back end of the rain moving through the metro area here. probably about the xt, three, four hours. headed out to the baseball game, well, which is probably going to get reigned out. fed-ex field. in all likelihood. you are going to be wet at the first of it. tell you one thing it will be done with the rain before the game is through. at fed-ex field. 75 here in town. flash-flood watches are up. area wide. until midnight tonight. flash flood warnings continue for prince george's, anne

arundel, calvert. charles county. under a flash flood warning. means flash flooding is occurring or is imminent. so if you live in a flood prone area in any counties. be ready to move to higher ground at any time. see water covered roads. never drive over that. hurricane bill, making an approach to the coastline. 300 miles to the south of nantucket. here is nantucket here. moving to the north at 21 miles per hour. it is on an accelerating path up to the north. eventually out to the northeast. not going to strike the u.s. it is going to make a landfall in canada and the canadian mare times where the worst of it will be. and for us. heaviest of rains will be out of the annapolis area. heaviest rains done in the next hour, two hours. though lighter moderate showers out of the metro area by 11:00 tonight most heaviest of the rains will be gone. flash flood watch remains. heaviest remans to east of washington.

1 to 2 inches is a possibility. all coming to an end. midnight at the latest. by the time you wake up tomorrow morning. partly cloudy. fog. plenty of humidity. wakeup. 65 to 73. during the day, mix of clouds. .ns nehi a chance for a shower during the course of e modanetoy rrow.to noth like what we have seen outside today. tomorrow's high temperatures generally in the mid 80s once again. 40% chance of rain tomorrow. craig that is not goingo b te the industrial strength flash flooding rains we have got going on to daft if you are headed out to fed-ex. wet start, soggy, sloppy finish. >> up next in sports -- redskins' fans and players. as chuck mentioned are in for a really, really wet game. we will be joined rorom

all right, dan. lindsay at fed-ex for us. despite the rain do you think we will see a lot of starters for the redskins or no? >> yeah, craig. i don't think there is any doubt. third preseason game where they play the most. probably going to play three quarters. talking to one of the assistant coaches, asked him that question. he said we have to play. we haven't been in the rhythm yet. >> you look at guys like albert hayn haynesworth they're expecting to play ten plays a game. interesting to be out there. carlos rogers, the cornerback making his first apeer apearanc. he finished his season hot. trying to make it all come together. >> they are going to play, craig. the question is how long before

the rain we thought, quarter, quarter and a half for the starting unit. offensive, defensive side of the ball. let's show you what it looks like out on the field right now. we were supposed to be doing this shot from the field. it has been a steady downpour since we got here at 4:30. just has not let up. matter of fact the players took as long as possible. until they had to go on the field and warm up. >> funny. because you see the players walking off the field. it all looks like they were jumping in swimming pools. they're all soaking. it will be fun. only question, lightning. if lightning comes there is an issue and they will wait. have to see if we get it in on time. >> lightning the only issue. last year steelers, in fedex field. ben roethlisberger, led the steelers, 26-3 victory.

they know nothing will come easy against the steelers, a team that moss knows as well. >> i played them so many years. throughout my career. this tomb of year. to where it really don't matter. you look forward to playing. you know you are going to get a good outage. they're going to bring their best. regardless, if they want people or not. they are going to play like the team that should be there. i look forward going against them. always get their best every game you come out you want to compete and win. that is just the competitor inside of you. a very important game. so we are trying to build for the regular season against thei. come out. great game. smart, physical, environment. go out and have some fun. >> we have to get a win. preseason. we have got to score points. get the ritp goihythm going. tried to do it against the best in the league last year and the world champ. >> randy thomas. talking about the key word for

the redskins in preseason. they haven't found him yet. they have said there is going to be a shaup. >> law -- shake-up. >> malcolm kelly will start in the place of antoiwaan randle e. you know the position has been a hot topic. between kelly and thomas. you have to think they want few see him for a reason. antoi antoiwaan randle el. not willing to concede the starter spot. like everything else he approaches he has a positive attitude about it. >> baby! >> last two-a-days. >> antwaan randle el worked out a lot harder this year in the work yuts to get himself geared up for the competition. jim zorn, jason campbell said he is going to get plenty of balls if he is not a starter because of the system. and he isn't ready to give into

the second round draft pick. kelly and thomas. he intends to fight. >> when it comes to the boys, i tell them. i say you can come if you want. i am not going to stop. they know who i am. they know what they're up against. that's why i leave it up to the head coach. he has to make the decision. end of the day. i feel like i will be on top. >> interesting. antwaan randle el did have his most productive season last year. four touchdowns. been with the team three years. before that he was with the steelers. kind of special for him tonight. he will be playing. malcolm kelly will get the start. >> look hearing randle el hearing that he b will have the job at the end. >> he hasn't said that. glad you asked it. he was very direct about wit. >> the game right here on nbc 4 at 7:30. comes right after the coaches show which starts at 7:00. a really big game for the redskins in terms of playing

well. they need to do that. we haven't really seen that yet in any facet of the game. >> obviously they want to put points on the board. an this is also a big game about rebounding. for those. also the second year guys struggle. and this is about them proving that they belong on the team. >> all right. lindsay on the sideline during the game the i will see you afterwards. good luck that will be fun. craig back few you. >> look forward to you after the game. of course, a complete wrap-up on news 4 tonight at 11:00. and "nbc nightly news" is back next. we'll be back at halftime to let you know what is going on with the weather. until then, that's the news. good night.