a big storm out there. rain, wind and snow. we're getting hammered and it's not over yet. our lead story tonight is the rain and we have already broken a record. >> as the temperature drops, the conditions are taking a turn for the worse. let's begin with chief meteorologist doug kammerer. >> hi and your mentioned the storm as we looked at it. you talk about records the most rain we have seen in the months of december, january or february on a single day. over 3 inches of rain. you get that in the summer but not in the winter months. this is a monster storm. there is a lot going out there in the form of flooding and trees down and power outages too. as we were talking about is it wrapping up around 11:00 but it is changing to snow in montgomery and fairfax county reporting light snow there and the storm is moving out.

we are not seeing the accumulation back to the west. we have seen a couple of inches in the mountains but most of the area is lucky. we have not seen the accumulations. here is where the rain is still in anne arundel county and portions south in maryland and back to the west this is the last band that has snow in it around leesburg and frederick, maryland area. we will see all of that continue to move out. here's what i'm talking about with that rain/snow line making its way east in portions of howard and frederick county, some trace amounts of snow but it was so warm during the day we were not expecting problems on the roadways. you mention the rainfall. look how much rain at national airport. 3.04 inches. a record that may never be broken in our area. and andrews air force base 4

inches of rain. because of that rain we have flooding. most counties in the area especially in southern maryland are under flood warnings. northern virginia and culpepper and down to charlottesville these are flooding where flooding is currently occurring across the area. i will be back with the rush hour forecast coming up and the temperature drop we have seen is amazing. i'll talk more about that coming up. the heavy rains are causing problems on the roads right now. marlboro racetrack road was shut down after high waters trapped a driver in her car. jane watrel joins us from beltsville with more on conditions there. >> is it a rotten rainy night, the kind that set motorists on edge. it makes the commute treacherous and long. all night long, motorists have

been turned away because the roads are flooded. we'll look at video that was shot earlier today. you can see this truck is having to turn around as we talk here. a motorist was stranded down this road a couple hours ago and had to be rescued. that person was okay. but the high waters have risen. the saturation that doug talked about has happened here. that is causing all kinds of headaches. this road is shut down has about 5 or 6 inches of water is over the road. one motorist got stuck. it is not good to try something like that on a night like this. you mentioned upper marlboro where roads are closed there. i want to go over others for those of you with the morning computer. water street in upper marlboro -- and we are told that the university of maryland -- >> we lost jane watrel's picture out there.

>> our coverage continues now in northern virginia. shomari stone is out in leesburg where v.d.o.t. crews are on stand by but might not need them tonight? >> reporter: my father said practice makes perfect. these guys have been waiting to put salt on the roadways. but here's the problem. it has been raining all day long. the concern is that salt would wash away. v.d.o.t. crews are on stand by to see if snow will fall in northern virginia. they will send out 525 trucks in arlington, fairfax and prince william county and loudoun if necessary. officials told me bridges, highway ramps and trouble spots are the first priority. most drivers' top priority is preparing for tomorrow morning. >> i'm not looking forward to it. my husband drives into d.c. and has to do the early morning rush

hour. that's something that i'm not looking forward for him to do. >> that's right. a lot of drivers are not looking forward to the morning commute when there is potential snow. but it doesn't look like that might happen. the d.c. snow team could send out 45 trucks. they would also focus on the bridges and the ramps leading to the highways. right now they're on stand by mode. i think that is a good way to describe it in which they are looking up, seeing if it is going to snow. also they plan on talking to the officials to decide their next move. live in leesburg, i'm shomari stone. back to you in the studio. the wind and rain have been blamed for power outages. dominion power is reporting 4,400 people without electricity in arlington and fairfax county. nearly 300 pepco customers are in the dark. 91 in d.c., 6 in prince george's

county. we invite you to stay with news4 for the latest on the storm. we are on the air tomorrow morning at 4:30 for updates any time of the day we invite you to our website at www.nbcwashington.com. rockville pike at alpine road is back open after a deadly accident. a montgomery ride ones but struck and killed a person at 6:00. an accident reconstruction team is trying to figure out what went wrong and who is at fault. the police have not released the identity of the victim. the search is on for the predator who sexually assaulted a woman in a laundry room. police say the 28-year-old woman was attacked at an apartment complex in gaithersburg at 10:00 this morning. a man followed the woman into the laundry room, pulled out a knife and assaulted her. police only have a vague description of the suspect. a gathering outside the

white house marked the end to the day of action by occupy d.c. thousands of protesters took part in the demonstrations today. there was demonstrations against corporate greed and the influence of money in politics. police arrested 62 people when they blocked an intersection and refused orders to move. 61 of those arrested were charged with obstructing a public highway. another person was charged with assaulting a police officer. the former penn state football coach at the center of the child sex abuse scandal is facing new charges. new allegations that he sexually abused two additional children. he was unable to post bail and remains behind bars tonight. the number of sandusky's accusers is now at ten. a hearing in the case is scheduled for next tuesday. will the will be no criminal charges against former syracuse

university basketball coach bernie fine. two when who accused him are credible but the statute of limitations has run out. allegations from a third man fall within federal statutes of limitations and are under investigation. fine denies any wrong doing. rod blagojevich will be going to prison in the new year. a judge sentenced him to 14 years behind bars after being found guilty of corruption. he was caught by federal investigators trying to sell the u.s. senate seat that once was held by now president obama. >> and this is also a time for patty and me to get home to explain to our kids, our babies amy and annie what this means and where we go from here. we will fight on through this adversity and see you soon. >> blagojevich will likely have to serve 12 years of the

sentence. he is the fourth illinois governor to be convicted of criminal charges. an animal shelter euthanizes a beloved pet. we are staying on top of the storm out there. [ female announcer ] more people are using wireless devices...

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we're keeping an eye on the weather radar tonight. some areas are under flood warnings. doug kammerer is tracking conditions. stay tuned for an update on what

to expect. the washington humane society is taking action after a tragic mistake at an area animal shelter. we found a series of problems that led to the accident. >> reporter: the washington humane society runs two animal shelters in d.c. it's the only congressionally chartered animal welfare agency in the country. tonight one employee is no longer working there after a mistake that left a family heart broken. >> when pets go missing in d.c. they end up here at the new york avenue shelter run by the humane society. more than 8500 pets impounded here including zoe. this dog ran off one day with a collar and leash stimattached. >> we put an ad on craigslist and got a phone call.

i took her to the shelter. >> reporter: when brandy called they said they didn't have zoe but there she was. >> i petted zoe and told her it was going to be okay. and she was coming home. >> reporter: but she didn't come home. the shelter worker says that only brandy could claim zoe. >> they told him there would be an rto on her and it was fine as long as he would pay for boarding. >> reporter: brandy could not get down to pick up zey for four days. >> the supervisor told me i have horrible news. what he said next was we euthanized her this morning. >> this was our mistake that resulted in this tragedy. >> reporter: stephanie shane is the chief operating officer with the humane society. >> we take full responsibility for what happened.

we have apologized to the family and suppressed our regret and sympathies and taken steps to make sure it will never happen again. >> reporter: brandy's boyfriend should have been able to take zoe home and the return to owner notice was not placed in the file. since zoe's death some workers have been disciplined after every employee should sufficient new training. >> this was an isolated incident. >> reporter: records show that 7% of impounded pets were reunited with families last year but more than half of all pets were euthanized. it's a tough statistic for any owner hoping for a happy reunion. >> i don't want zoe to think that we left her. that's the hardest part that she was alone when that all happened. >> the shelter says it would like to buy software to match up

lost pets with owners more efficiently but it is about $50,000. while the shelter takes responsibility for the accident there was another issue. zoe did have a micro chip and her owner thought that would protect her. tomorrow night we'll show you why micro chipping does not guarantee a happy homecoming. >> you assume that it would. >> you do. you do. and the shelter wants folks to know they shouldn't be afraid if the dog or cat ends up there. they will try as best they can to match up these pets and they are calling this an unusual and isolated accident. >> thank you. doug is back with more about our record-breaking rainy weather and windy and cold and nasty. >> we were talking about a roller coaster ride earlier. this is a roller coaster. the temperatures started at 60

degrees at 6:00 a.m. in the morning. right now the wind chill is 30 degrees at 11:00 at night. the temperatures are going way down and we have light rain and snow mixture at the airport. this will go down as the wettest day in winter and we talk about that as being december, january or february. that is meteorological center. this system is moving out of here. but look at the reds and oranges here with thunderstorms down to the south and in west virginia and northern virginia and maryland reporting thunderstorms. some areas asking if there was an earthquake earlier because of the thunder that was out there with these storms. but now it's the cold air moving in here. we'll look at the rain. you can see the last of it right here. some snow mixing in from washington right up through the baltimore area and howard county. this is the last area of rain and snow in leesburg and

frederick. it is continuing to move off to the east. you can also see the rain/snow line making its way to the east. and behind this there is nothing left. we are looking good over the next couple hours as far as the rain is concerned. but what the rain left behind is flooding. and we are talking about flood warnings in southern maryland and northern virginia. we have rivers that have the potential to exceed their banks and small streams too. give yourself extra time driving anywhere tonight or tomorrow morning. the other big story, the temperatures. 38 degrees right now with winds gusting up to 25 to 30 miles per hour. that will continue throughout much of the rest of the night. 39 the current temperature in lees burg. 41 in fredericksburg. the current wind gusts 31 miles per hour in annapolis. the winds are going to give us a

wind chill. most areas in the lower 30s or upper 20s. 29 in winchester. 26 is the way it feels in gaithersburg and 30 in washington. we saw 17, 18 days above average but no more of those as the cold air races in behind the storm system. the storm will be out of the country by this time tomorrow and in behind it we are talking about sunshine but very cold temperatures. the temperatures will be five to ten degrees below average and be a lot colder than the temperatures for the last couple days. a bit of a shock to the system when you walk out tomorrow morning. mostly clear and breezy. 29 to 34 degrees. if we see a 15-mile-per-hour wind we are talking about a wind chill in the upper teens to lower 20s as you step out the door on thursday. tomorrow afternoon we will see plenty of sunshine but it won't warm us up. the winds diminishing and the

high temperatures in the lower 40s. 41 to 45 degrees. look at friday. the high temperature, 48. friday afternoon is nice for a winter month. 42 on saturday. 44 on sunday. starting off on sunday, sunday will be the coldest morning we have seen so far this season, some areas in the upper teens and lower 20s and temperatures moderate somewhat closer to average by the end of the seven-day forecast but one thing we do see here is the temperatures remain in the 40s. if we have gotten used to the 50s and 60s even some 70s those are long gone by now. tomorrow morning's rush shower should not have problems on the roadways for the most part. and school. we kept getting that question tonight. >> hope springs eternal. >> it does. we have sports up next. the [ baby coughing ]

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caps needed a win. so? >> so they got it. they got it. >> with the new changed up line-up. >> the line-up shake up took a while to take effect. but the capitals lit the lamp four times highlighted by a vintage ovechkin goal. the caps come back with a much-needed win north of the border. alex ovechkin hadn't scored in five straight games. tied at 1, senators on offense. watch this goal. this is just pretty. wraps around everybody on the ice. i don't know how he did it. but he managed to poke it in there. ottawa with the 2-1 lead.

third period caps on the power play. backstrom puts it in there. they are feeling good. game tied at 2. later still tied at 2. four-on-four, ovechkin with the puck and this is what he does. one-on-two, one-on-four. loses the defender, pump fake and then shot. the goal was wide open. he faked out everybody. look how easy this is. it's like a layup. the capitals win 5-3. that's his ninth goal of the year. they host toronto on friday. everybody happy there. nba news. free agents not allowed to sign yet but roger mason jr. close to agreeing to coming back to the wizards. college hoops, the terps with their hands full with mount

st. marys in a game that went down to the wire. this was -- this was close. the terps looking sharp early. watch closely here. a spin move around the defender. look at this. you can't guard that. he had 13 points. the terps up at the halftime. all right. less than two minutes to play. one point lead. double teamed and knocked down the jumper. the terps up by 3. 73-27 maryland. check out faust. get that stuff out of here. blocks him off the window and maryland avoids the upset. they win 77-74. it was a close one. in foggy bottom, gary williams watching two of his former assistants.

taking on each other's teams. first half off the loyola miss. a bounce pass to pelham for the dunk. he had a team high 19 points. col colonials down at the break. finish the work there. la jolla beats george washington 65-55. two old friends shaking hands there. does glare request williams sit still as a spectate summer. >> he looked re

we have an update on a crash involving a pedestrian and ride ones but. the pedestrian was said to have been killed but the woman suffered life threatening injuries but has not died. the biggest concern in the weather is for rush hour. the storm will continue to move out. the rain is just about over and that will move out. over tomorrow morning, mostly clear, breezy and much colder. 29 to 34 degrees. wind chills around 20 to 25 tomorrow. a shock to the system as you step out tomorrow morning.

tomorrow afternoon mostly sunny and much colder. 41 to 45 degrees. that is about five degrees below average for most of us. as we move through the next couple days. a nice afternoon on friday. 32 at the airport could be the first official freeze at the airport so far. but will the be colder this weekend. 42 on saturday and many areas in the upper 30s all day. on sunday starting out between 20 and 27 degrees. the coldest weekend we have seen since last february and looks to stay on the chilly side. >>

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