after the storm. the clouds have cleared. the sun is shining, and we're getting our first look now at the damage. across the washington area, trees are down, roads are flooded, and there are widespread power outages. the damage worsens closer to the coast. to the north, the scope the storm remains to be seen. but so far it appears the east coast has a lot. oh, it's the day after. lots of forkes are breathing a

big sigh of relief tonight. good evening, everybody. i'm jim adlai. >> and i'm wendy uighur what a distinction a day makes. millions lost pow whir hurricane irene barreled up the coast. the death to stands at 18. >> here in our area, d.c. area, the big problem appears to be downed trees. some localized flooding and, yes, those power outages. >> we do have school systems that already cancelled classes for tomorrow including st. mary's county and other county. around 350,000 people remain without power. more than 168,000 pepco customers, dominion has 43,000 current outages in northern virginia. bg & e 130,000 outages. our team coverage continues tonight. we have reporters across the area. they've never gone home. we begin with veronica johnson still in ocean city. now we can see what you look like. >> reporter: exactly. now i've gotten rid of the goggles and all the gear, and as

i came out here feeling kind of weird, i was like, ah, i think i'm forgetting something. i'm not forgetting anything, because it's really nice out here. as you said, sunny and bright. awfully pretty. take a look around. all the surfers out here trying to catch some major waves. it really is hard to believe that a little more than 16 hours ago irene made its pass just off the coast. here's a look back at how irene made its mark on ocean city. the big headline here in ocean city is flooding and street flooding as 10 to 12 inches of rain fell here. streets flooded quickly. drains were blocked. hurricane irene made its pass by ocean city at about 2:30 this morning. then the attention quickly turned to the bay side. between 3:00 and 4:00 this morning, there was this eerie shift in rain and wind. we went from having a very heavy rain to a very light rain. on the coastal side.

and our wind shifted from out of the east to the northwest. it is right here on the bay side. at the height of the storm, winds gusted to 80 miles per hour ripping away at some of the vegetation, dunes and buildings for a short time. not too far up the coast, conditions were worsening. and just like several spots down the coast south of us lewes bell ware saw their own tornado. irene brushed by leaving a few homes damaged. the ocean settled down from yesterday's surge of four to six feet leaving decent waves for the more experienced surfers. and while irene has moved away pretty far off the coast right now it's effects will be felt here. really in some ways over the next day, maybe two days, because the threat of rip tides were very strong undertow will remain high, leave that to the very experienced surfers, as you can see. >> that's dangerous, though.

people shouldn't fool around with those rip tides. >> reporter: that is true. >> yeah. good to see you, finally. out of the rained and in the sunlight. talk to you later. >> at of backdrop there. there are still thousands of residents without power tonight. most of the pepco customers in the dark are in prince george's county. the problem, all of those trees that came crashing down through the night. news 4's darcy spencer shows some of the damage now in upper marlboro. >> reporter: we're on water street and judges drive leer in upper marl bore pope right here is the county courthouse. this area has flooded before. it is a flood-prone area. one person i spoke to has lived in this area for many, many years says this is the worst he has ever seen it. when this area has flooded in the past, this is disrupted business here at the county courthouse. it has also caused inveerngs for residents and commuters who come to this area to get to work in upper marlboro. we saw a lot of damage in bellsville, one university crashed down into a tree.

neighbors in that area say they expect to be without power for days. >> you hear a big crack. then you hear the thing -- boom -- hit the ground. i could feeled house move a little bit. i didn't come out and check. too dark, too reiny. no lights. no time to be looking for electric. >> reporter: upper marlboro isn't the only place to have problems with flooding. my colleague tracy williams was in other parts of prince george's county today assessing the damage. >> reporter: when these trees came falling down in this yard on center drive in temple hills, they went everywhere. even crushed this shed. but luckily, missed this house. >> i prayed to god. i say, thank you, god, for being good to me. i say, take it outside. yeah. >> reporter: away from the house. >> yeah, yeah. >> reporter: crews are already working to get power back up, but it's going to be a slow

process. as it stands, a large portion of prince george's is without power after last night's storm. intersections are dark. stores that never closed are closed, and gas stations have no way to get gas. >> i've been to four stations now. this will be my fourth station and i have not found a gas station dwla station that is open. i have to get to work. >> reporter: how's your tank looking? >> everity. >> reporter: there's no power here. this after the earthquake caused one of the four buildings in this complex to be condemned by the county. the residents who were lucky enough to stay at home now have no power, plus additional damage left by the earthquake. still one building condemned, and then you get poured on from a hurricane. >> yes. but we're making it through. we can say survivors of irene. that's to be sure. >> reporter: of course, we've

been talking about the massive power outage it's throughout the county. plenty of work ahead for pepco andality of waiting for feeks who live in prince george's conti. tracee wilkins, news 4. it is a beautiful day out there today, but, boy, last night the wind, the rain, it was something to be in it. chuck bell has done the tallying and has the storms stat for us. chuck? >> yes, indeed. wendy, an amazing rain and wind event we had. the latest on tropical storm irene racing off to the northeast at 26 miles per hour. it will be up over the canadian maritimes and eventually rolling harmlessly way out over the north atlantic. next stop for irene will be ireland. around here, the peak gusts, 73 miles an hour in cobb island. 60 in quantico, and totals for the rainfall almost 13 inches in plum point. more than 11 in leonardtown and

4 1/2 almost in places like springfield. what about the week ahead? i promise you lots of sunshine in the forecast coming up. >> all right. thank you, chuck. the bay bridge is open again and everyone is now allowed to return to ocean city. evacuation ordered have been lifted at the delaware beaches. in the outer banks, flooding and breaches are causing road closures and in atlantic city, the casinos will reopen tomorrow. this is only the third time those casinos have shut down since gambling was legalized 33 years ago. interesting to see if 3 comes up a lot on the roulette tables tomorrow. >> well, irene sure left the mark tearing through northern virginia last night. showing us what she and other residents woke up to this morning. >> reporter: gentleman regard 's arrington home, irene came calling not once but twice noev overnight around 1:00 a.m. >> a big explosion, which was

actually the tree in the front which fell and must have taken out a transformer, and it blue it out. >> reporter: but that wasn't the end of the storm drama. a few minutes later another crash. this time in the backyard. and this time the huge oak fell on to the neighbor' house. just look at the size of the root ball. next door, general jack merit didn't realize what happened until this morning. >> my wife got up, went downstairs. we have a tree in our house. oh, well. >> reporter: now, they have a few major repairs ahead of them. down the street, another casualty. >> at 1:30, we heard this loud thump. and the tree was down. >> reporter: on your cars? >> yes. on two cars. >> reporter: in spite of their crumplealed cars, this couple tried to look on the bright side. >> it didn't fall on the house or our neighbor's house. >> and no one was hurt. >> no one hurt. >> reporter: also cleanup to do. this enormous tup gyp poplar

tore up a deck and fell on two homes ripping into jim dennison's roof. >> several holes in the attic. you go up and you can see daylight coming through. >> reporter: here is where irene and i came together. fell on my window. damage up on the roof, too. like everyone else, i'm glad the damage wasn't any worse. in alexandria, news 4. >> she just came from dropping her daughter off at college to come them to that. our coverage of irene's aftermath continues after the break. coming up we check in with st. mayor's. one of the hardest-hit areas in our state. >> and still to come, a closer look at how the rest of the east coast fared. and cleaning up. pat collins goes into the neighborhoods wher

millions tonight are reeling from the effects of hurricane irene. steve handelsman shows us the big storm spared the east coast from the devastation many had feared. >> reporter: start the cleanup. this was central park. new york is draining tonight. rhode island is taking stock. >> it's not as bad as we expected. it's much better. >> reporter: irene was a full-fledged cat 1 hurricane. this was long island this morning. >> pandemonium pretty much. it's kind of crazy. >> reporter: at least 15 people were reported killed from florida to new england.

many by falling trees last night and today. flooding extended far inland. this was near philadelphia. and some rivers are still reported rising. now many of the millions who evacuated want to see if there's damage. this man in new york city. >> they said there was limited damage. they said there were power outages, but i don't know what to believe. >> reporter: charlie jones in north carolina. >> they won't let us back in. you've got to have a re-entry pass. >> reporter: with power out to more than half a million in north carolina and pennsylvania, many people are not being allowed home. the feds expect second guessing. >> and, yes, there's a lot of times people say why did i have to evacuate. >> reporter: the 300,000-plus evacuated new york city were allowed back, and the mayor defended the city's first-ever forced evacuations. >> all in all, we are in pretty good shape, because of the exhaustive steps i think we took that, to prepare for whatever came our way. >> reporter: president obama tonight praised the coordinated

storm response. >> as i've told governors and mayors from across the affected area, they need something, i want to know about it. we're going to make sure that we respond as quickly and effectively as possible. >> reporter: but the whole east coast is in pretty good shape after a three-day assault by hurricane irene. steve handelsman, news 4. still to come tonight, just how d.c. is faring after hurricane irene. what do you got? >> reporter: in northwest d.c. right over there you can see that tree. it's shocking. not going over there because we could possibly get shocked. those are

we have major cleanup under way in northwest d.c. where hurricane irene left uprooted treesship crashed on to cars. some crashed on to homes. we're where the damage speaks for itself. there it is. >> reporter: certainly is behind me. look at that tree. believe it or not, a house under it. we're not going over there because those are live wires. the homeowner gone, and the neighbor concerned about his own safety. >> amazingly disturbing. >> reporter: he says he's vulnerable. a fallen tree rests on live wires outside his house in northwest d.c. the tree's weight could snap the wires in half and spark an inferno. >> these lines are all live. nobody's stopped by. most concerns about, should this stuff come down. >> reporter: drive around d.c., people are concerned about what

hurricane irene left behind. toppled trees blocking effort is streets, drivers doing u-turns to get away. this crashed on a car in upton street. yellow tape warns of the danger. at 49th and rodman a tree slammed into this hour. fortunately no one hurt here or at this other place where ire e irene snapped this tree. >> 1:30 in the morning my husband and i woke up and discovered this tree on our house. >> we were lucky. it didn't penetrate the house. >> reporter: but it did break into these plans. cancelling the dedication. locals and tourists snapped photos of the spectacular display. the mayor says city crews are doing their best to remove the snapped trees. >> we'll get around the city as quickly as we can to take care of these other situations. especially where the big trees have come down. in some instances we need pepco working with us to be able to deal with the wires before we start cutting up these trees and

getting them out of here. >> reporter: now, we talked to pepco officials. they tell us they're doing the guest they were the first 24 hours after the storm. an assessment period. tomorrow they hit the ground running. back to you in the studio. >> thanks. well, it's like a war zone. that's how viewer burton rogers described the damage he saw near his home in st. mary's county this morning. take a look. st. mary's was one of the hardest hit areas in our region, as you know. hundreds of fallen trees turned roads into obstacle courses today. there's also flooding in several spots across that county. chuck, flooding region-wide, though, faring a little better than folks throughout? >> pretty well, yes. southern maryland, that's a long, slow climb to get everything back to normal and out on the eastern shore they really took it on the chin as well. by comparison, the immediate metropolitan area got away with something around here by the relative amount of low damage and flooding. nonetheless, still a pretty high impact event across the region.

outside an 0 beautiful sunday evening, you would hardly get 24 hours ago we hanging on four dear life add irene made a rush up the eastern seaboard. wow, 24 hours made all the difference and a beautiful blue sky out there and a warm day as well. 85 now in national airport. those winds now out of the northwest, 13, gusting to 18 miles per hour. those winds sethtsing down over the next few hours and a beautiful start tomorrow morning. most everybody now in the low to mid-80s with almost full sunshine out there. nothing on doppler right around town. a few lonesome showers out across far western maryland and the mountains. soon as the sun goes down they'll go away. the last of the rain bands on west side of irene drifting into parts of southern new york. not bothering them too much more after this. our evening, beautiful. clear skies. temperatures back down into the mid-70s by 11:00 p.m. a weak coal front's just up to the north drifting through overnight tonight. high pressure is settling in. delightfully low humidity around here for the next couple of days

as high pressure is in charge and with the clear skies and the light winds, some pleasantly cool nights tonight and tomorrow night. so be ready for great post-hurricane weather. for this evening, clearing skies, breezy and mild. temperatures low 80 to mid-70s by 11:00. get your monday start back to work and school for some. clear skies and cooler. wake-up temperatures 55 in western suburbs to low 60s in town anday side. tomorrow, morning sunshine, a few cumulus clouds this afternoon. not enough to bother anybody. tomorrow's highs upper 70s near 80 degrees. the extended forecast in the post-hurricane world, absolutely gorgeous. the wrong -- pay no attention to the first day. the rest of correct. monday through friday, everything looks great. sunshine, temperatures in the low 80s for the daytime highs and overnight low, 50s and low 60s. i know a lot of people know these addresses now. you can always follow the forecast online, nbcwashington.com/weather or or

twitter @chuckbell. from 400 to -- 9,200. >> and nbc and jimhandiley, one word. >> flushed it out of here. thank you. thank you. after the break, a final

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out on the bay, the town of annapolis had trees down but the city managed to escape what it hates. flooding. happens all too often. >> all too often. the talk of the town on twitter last night called up with annapolis residents this morning as they surveyed the damage. >> reporter: normalcy is starting to break out at annapolis. but they're not out of the woods yet. did i say woods? that's the problem. chainsaws -- and generators. wires down in war dorff, but

that's not all that's down here. this tree, into that house. be still my heart. >> i'm in shock. >> quite a sight. >> yeah. >> reporter: anybody hurt? >> no. i stayed at her house. >> reporter: look at these trees. they fell this way and that way, and way down there, like gigantic pickup sticks. you have no electricity? >> no electricity. i'm just waiting it out. >> reporter: at the stafford house on edgewood road, they got a skylight they really didn't bargain for. first you expected this? >> oh, yeah. >> reporter: then you lost a big tree? >> yeah. >> reporter: it came crashing into your house? >> moo my house. into my daughter's bedroom. >> reporter: did it make a big boom? >> yeah. >> reporter: so do you remember

andrew and the guy who surrounded his house with these gigantic sacks of sand to keep the water from coming in? so how do you think that worked out? >> high and dry. >> reporter: so good job, rick andrew. good job annapolis. good-bye irene. and on to the next town and storm. >> soon that hat will be in the smithsonian. >> it will. that's the news for now. thanks for joining us. >> right back here after the game tonight. thanks for sending in pictures of hurricane irene.