we have had and we're just beginning, right? >> that's the thing about this. we'll continue to see this problem right through the rest of the night tonight. a very dangerous situation setting up, not just for what's happening right now, but what's going to be happening later this afternoon. you see where the warnings are right now. everything in orange, those are severe thunderstorm warnings. we have those up towards baltimore and prince jornlgeorg county and then another one down through fairfax county and prince william county. we'll continue to watch those storms moving off to the north and east. st. mary's county, mary's county, you are under a severe thunderstorm warning. tornado warning right now, the strongest storm by far. this one has a history of a ton of lightning and hail in this area and, of course, that tornado warning in effect for southeastern portions of the district and prince george's county. this includes the area right around oxon hill and right along 495 as we zoom on in here and a further view of where this is.

right along 495 here. here is silver hill and here is route 4 and then route 5. you see exactly where this storm is. very heavy storm and, veronica, let's put this back on sensitive mode and show you exactly where this storm is right now. if there is any rotation and there is still showing some signs of rotation. we'll put this on our sweeping radar mode to show you the enhance view here, but notice the purples. we could see some hail right around the capital heights location and here is where you see the very heavy rain and let's widen out. you see kettering and this is just south and east right around the oxon hill region and moving on this through walker hill and then 37 minutes around the seabrook area and also over towards buoy. you may see some rain right now and you say, hey, we shouldn't be too worried about this. that storm is moving your way and should be there in the next 45 minutes or so and over towards croften in about an

hour. we will widen back out here and one thing we want to talk about, not just what is happening right now. we know those are some severe storms but what is happening later. we've been talking with ems and talking with some of the firemen around the counties around prince george's county and fairfax county and not a lot of reports of damage just yet. i don't expect a lot of damage unless a tornado hits the ground. what is coming from this next line of storms that does have me concerned. you see this line. this is a distinct line here and any time you see a line like that, there are winds that could be gusting upwards of 40, 50, 60 miles per hour. again, this line is what we're looking at and make its way our way. from winchester and the i-80 corridor over towards the metro area probably around 9:00 to 10:00 this evening. so, right now we're under the gun with round one. this is round one. you know what's happening with

round one. extremely heavy rain and we're seeing flash flooding in many areas and a ton of lightning and we do have potential for some tornadoes out there. but, it's round two that has me concerned with those damaging winds. with trees down and with power outages. so, once again, make sure you stay with us throughout the rest of the night. we'll continue to watch this for you as this continues to move on to the north and east. veronica johnson still in storm center 4 with the latest on our warnings. >> down to the south of our area, we continue to see more warnings come up, severe thunderstorm warnings here. not tornado warnings right now, but this would be just down to the south and east of charlot charlottesville area. of course, we know this whole area, i-95, likely to see some severe storms here for the evening rush. not a good thing, but more warnings down around and we'll probably see more warnings, too, for the northern neck. these right now severe thunderstorm warnings. but, again, still the

possibility of a lot of raitation with that tornado watch that goes until 9:00 p.m. that means the possibility of tornadoes that we could see up until that time. take a look at what's down through the northern neck. here's why i'm thinking we're going to see more warnings into areas of southern maryland. williamsburg, around wakeville, we're seeing more of these very, very strong storms that could be producing some hail, as well as some high winds. that's what is going to be headed our way over the next couple of hours. one of the other things, too. we mention the airports possibly lifted their delays, but we're hearing they're back on ground stop with no departing flights, guys, until after 5:00 p.m. and they deem it safe after that time. back on ground stop at all the airports from what we're hearing here, reagan national airport, dulles, bwi, back on ground stop until, well after 5:00. they're going to reevaluate. >> thanks, veronica.

traveling now at any point. look at this behind us. this is washington, d.c. this is from one of our cameras looking outside. looks like we're looking into an aquarium, we're under water. traveling is a mess out there. >> no visibility back here, you could imagine on the road that people aren't going to be able to really see. you have to have your headlights on and plenty of space for the vehicles in front of you. we want to get out to the news 4 team that is out in the elements. we're going to get started with derek ward. what do you see there? >> i can tell you when we came out here, we hit a heavy ban of rain, but by the time we got here to tyson's corner, we had some sunlight. that subsided quickly. we had some rain just a few minutes ago, moderate rain but that let up. you can see people don't even have their umbrellas up. the skies are a bit threatening, especially to the south. a little bit darker. i'm watching the cars that are coming from the southerly direction and just starting to

have their windshield wipers on. that says maybe we have something to the south. but if i look to the east of me, i can actually see sunlight. so, i imagine that's the area between some of those cells that you have been showing us on radar. we're sort of on the edge of things and quickly changing set of conditions and as of now, it doesn't look like it's hazardous and, of course, road conditions are wet and always needs to be caution when you're driving on that. what you said, we're in round one of what promises to be a pretty dynamic event tonight. i don't think this is any indication that you should let your guard up. take precautions and make sure you are ready because high winds could take your power out and we have something heavy coming on the horizon. as of now here at the intersection of 123 and international drive, just some light rain, possibly something else coming later on. back to you. >> hey, derek, when you were driving out there. these cells have been moving through all afternoon where it gets just really nasty and then

kind of clears and gets really nasty. did you encounter any of that as you were heading out from our station? >> as i said, about the time we crossed chambridge it got really heavy and not to the point a significant diminishing of visibility, but caution. heavy rain. by the time we got up here to this intersection, we had bright sunshine and that lasted for maybe 10, 15, 20 minutes at the most and then at about the top of the hour, it started to cloud up to the rainy conditions you can see now. as you can see, the rain gear here is a little bit wet and we are getting more than when we got here, certainly nothing as threatening as we may expect later on. >> all right, we'll check back with you later. let's get back to, are we going to doug? doug is over at the wall. what have you got now? >> a new severe thunderstorm warning this one for fauquier county and, again, for prince william county. this until 5:45 tonight.

it includes manassas and we'll continue to watch this storm here. we've been talking about this area all night long around the citymanassas. it is a very dangerous situation and this includes kuculpeper county. if we can go to graphic 29, we'll show you where that is. a new tornado warning. this is a new tornado warning now for fairfax county and prince william county. a brand-new tornado warning and let's zoom right on in here, veronica. this is right around burke and through burke center and over there through the lakewood estates, lake ridge and chapel acres. this tornado warning most likely in effect until 5:30, 5:45. we'll widen out just a little bit. you can see newingten also in this, but the point of origin is down to our south and west.

let's go back down to prince william county and show you where that storm is. just south and east of manassas making its way right up this path and, again, the tornado warning here and another tornado warning for washington, d.c., and that including until the 5:15 hour. but this is what we're looking at and areas inside this path. ten minutes in manassas just south and east and 18 minutes and yorkshire, the city of fairfax and 39 minutes and vienna and about 50 minutes this storm moving at 30 miles per hour. wuch once again, let's take the radar off and this area right in here. this is where that storm is, where that possible tornado warning is until 5:45 tonight for prince william county and fairfax county and we'll zoom in and show you exactly what we're talking about in this area. right along the border. lake ridge over and back down to the south and west. if you're in this area, you want to make sure you're taking

precautions and get in an interior room and get in the basement of your house. you want to get to the lowest floor of your house and get inside an interior room. we're talking about a bathroom or small closet. if you don't have that, get underneath a mattress in your house, if you can. we still have tornado warnings. this other tornado warning in effect for district of columbia and northwestern portions of prince george's county. so, right now, two potential tornadic storms as they're making their way towards the north and west. storm center 4 with veronica johnson because you have information on these storms. >> yes, i do, doug. the latest warning that you talked about that goes until 5:45 includes fairfax county and prince william county and just north of woodbridge but it will be affecting folks who travel, again, once again, this i-95 route 1 corridor and even come to areas around 495. right around the beltway.

the southwest side of the beltway there around burke. let's go ahead and we'll zoom back in a little bit and i'll put tracking on for you and show you exactly where this system is expected to make its way northeast at about 20 miles per hour or so on towards burke in the next 26 minutes and alexandria and right into d.c. area in the next 58 minutes. something we certainly don't see very often with severe weather that comes into this area but we are seeing it today. not just one, not just two tornado warnings, but several tornado warnings that have been issued today alone. you're looking right now at the two latest ones that are right around d.c. one that's prince william to fa fairfax that is moving towards d.c. and another paralleling areas right around d.c. headed towards kettering area on the other side of the beltway. so, traveling has been no where

near great this afternoon or this evening. all the counties there that are shaded in orange and yellow, that's where severe thunderstorm warnings and those are for fauquier county and towards orange county and stafford county and spotsylvania county and around lexington, virginia. that county in red, that is where there is, in fact, another tornado warning. so, we are going to be seeing more of this for the next couple of hours. we want you folks to stay safe. one reason why we have been on throughout the afternoon for you. you can see that other intense line, hopefully, showing at least some signs of weakening as it makes its way over the mountains. doug? >> right now taking a look at that radar. i really just want to show you where everything is right now because not only the areas around washington and the metro areas seeing these storms and around frederick county and

leesburg but two areas right now. the first one right now making its way to the north and east. most of this tornado warning is no longer in effect. and then up towards the north of this. we are still seeing this. this is until 5:15. will we see this extended in the next couple of hours? will we see this extended? we'll continue to watch out for that. down to the south and west, we're looking at this one right here. prince william county and fairfax county right along i-95. brand-new tornado warning until 5:45 for this storm right here. we're looking at manassas down to the south and east. that's where this storm is and we'll continue to watch that and look at this one here, around quantico and along i-95. this was an area hit earlier by this storm. another storm coming over the same area and then back down to the south and east around k culpeper. it does include spotsylvania and

includes parts of fau xwrx uier county and culpeper county. still very heavy rain over areas that have already seen that rain. we've seen flash flooding in this area and a flash flood warning including frederick county and northwestern montgomery county and then over towards damascus and now heavy rain, again. never drive through flooded roadways. we've already seen this a couple times tonight. an area last week near prince william where we saw a guy drive through and then we saw him coming out in a raft. you do not want to do that in this area. you want to make sure you stay cautious as we continue through the rest of the night tonight. we'll continue to watch these for you, once again, this is simply round one. we have round two to go through. that's the one, if that line holds through, that we are really worried about for widespread damage. that's the one that could have winds upwards of 50 to 60 miles an hour. we'll continue to watch that for you right here at nbc 4.

we'll send it back to you guys. >> we have some great pictures that a lot of the viewers have been showing. the storm has been coming through since 2:30 this afternoon. some of the pictures that you have been sending in. >> we already know the areas that have been hit and now, of course, we're preparing for the next round but the baltimore area has already gotten its taste. >> we had our chopper up the whole time and we've been wondering how he has been able to survive. okay, this is from ashburn, virginia. that shows how earlier today that was just starting to form. this is gathersburg. the black clouds were starting to come in, as you saw. >> the peeks of sunshine which veronica johnson was telling us, that's not a good sign. >> it just fuels it. >> we're getting a mix. sometimes dark clouds and then you'll have the bright sun. just the two contrasting points of view. but, certainly, when you look at these clouds, it just kind of

reminds you of when you do see those videos of tornadoes. this is what it looks like in the background. >> richard, did you see this earl i earlier? th this. this picture from sterling, virginia. we don't know if that one touched the ground, but it looks like the early formation -- >> that is called a wall cloud. >> doug is yelling at us this is called a wall cloud. could that be the beginning of a tornado. >> that is normally the beginning of a tornado. if you see a storm system such as that. we have the potential of a tornado to drop down from the sky. the first inkling something is dropping down. and then a tornado will actually move through the wall cloud and come out of the wall cloud. when you see a wall cloud, we're talking about the formation of a possible tornado. this is something we're looking at through the afternoon. one good news, guys. a little bit of good news the tornado warning in effect from washington, d.c., and prince

george's county is no longer in effect. we are no longer seeing that rotation with that storm. still some rotation there. you can see on storm 4 radar. there is still some rotation there but no longer have a torfwhado warning. national weather service still watching this one very, very closely and we, of course, will continue to watch that one for you as we move through the rest of the evening. >> all right, keep those pictures coming because, as you saw, it helps us describe what is going on. >> that one from sterling was excellent. >> severe weather is knocking out power to customers throughout the area. more than 3,800 dominion customers are out and in the dark in northern virginia and baltimore gas and electric says most of their affected customers are in anne arundel county and that is 33 customers out there. >> p gg& e reporting 200 alleghy county customers are out and pepco reporting more than 1,700

customers affected. so, again, this is also just starting. >> let's go out to damascus right now. that is where we know the storm has already been. already a lot of rain out there. erica gonzalez is there for us now. erica, can you hear us? >> she's on a nine-second delay. she should be hearing us shortly. >> hi, richard, yes, i can hear you. we are in damascus and we're on clarksburg road and, so, let me kind of show you what's going on here. this creek that we are on or that we are near in damascus on clarksburg road looks like it's overflowing. it hasn't gone up into the roadway quite yet. but lots of heavy water coming through here. i don't know if you can walk a little bit further with me this way so you can kind of see a few more feet that way and there's a big dip back over there.

probably only walk a couple more feet without getting pretty, pretty deep into it. but i think you all had video from earlier today of what this looked like. the aerial views and some folks trying to drive through. a very dangerous situation because you can't really tell how deep it is, but check out how fast the water is just rushing through here. just kind of ripping through these branches and these trees. really impressive sight. the water just flowing and flowing here. we are in damascus. this is right off of clarksburg road. so very close to the roadway. this is so you can still see a few cars coming down this way. as we said before, water hasn't crossed over into the roadway, but if any folks are trying to come through this particular road right here, you can still see there's a couple mailboxes here. if you're trying to come through this road and we saw some people trying to drive through it earlier. very dangerous situation because

you don't know how high or how deep the water is. wendy, richard? >> all right, erica gonzalez, thank you, erica. >> when you see that surge, you can only imagine a car trying to go through there, it will just glide you off the road. >> the problem is because everyone has an suv and they think they're invincible, but, no, even suvs, as we've seen a lot of rescue pictures, we saw people in suvs getting stuck. don't get overconfident with your car, just don't even do it. right, doug? >> we saw last week. we were down there in monanassa where now another flash flood warning. a guy in an suv. he had a pretty big size truck and went right into the waters as our cameras were rolling and he came back out in a raft. they did have to rescue that gentleman. he did make it out a-okay, but don't even attempt it. out there severe thunderstorm warning for northeastern sections of washington and also the northeastern portion of the beltway and also towards buoy and this is right now into

prince george's county and then down to the south. you're looking at that tornado warning in prince william county and into fairfax county. very strong storm here with some rotation and also incredibly heavy rainfall. we're seeing so much rain out of these storms and that's why we have numerous flash flooding going on across the area and flash flood warnings. let's take a look at some video out of alexandria earlier. you saw the rain falling into that area as we do see the windshield wipers going. one thing you notice here, a lot of cars don't have their lights on. if you are out and about in this, you want to make sure you not only have the windshield wipers on, but the lights. not so you can see, others can see you and if you walked out today without an umbrella, you might have foubd yourself like these people right here. making their way out and about. taking a right turn. look back towards the radar and go back towards graphics 29. what is happening here. the entire area here under the yellow and that is, again, the tornado watch until 9:00 tonight and you can see what i'm talking

about all the way over towards the del marva and the individual storms you're looking at. this is one of the strongest storms and a severe thunderstorm warning still associated with this one right along 50. this is exit 19 right here as you make your way from 495 to 50. this is exit 19. i know that because as a kid you go over this and then you hit exit 19 to go to ocean city. down to the south, you're back here towards fauquier county and fairfax county and that's where you have that tornado warning and does include some portions of 95 and right along route 23. right across this tornado warning area. watch out for that area, too. this is a big storm cluster, so you may not see the tornado. don't expect to see the tornadoes. we don't live in the midwest. we don't live towards tornado alley. we simply do not do that. any tornadoes we have here, you're most likely not going to see. in and amongst the trees and rain wrapped tornadoes. don't expect to see them when

they're coming towards your area. if we tell you a tornado warning, make sure, trust us and make sure you stay inside your house and stay thinnein the low part of the building that you're in. this one a severe thunderstorm warning. this storm just to the south and west of fredericksburg and directly west making its way to safered county and a ton of lightning with this. as we move to the north and west, up towards frederick and mt. aire an area that has been hit hard during the afternoon today, we'll continue to get hit with flooding in this location. right around where we saw erica gonzalez a little bit earlier. i want to show you this, this is round one. we've talked about round one and round two. this is round one. this is round two. but what's happening out of front of round two right now is actually more formation of showers and thunderstorms and, veronica, if you're listening to me in storm center 4, i want to move on down to this area right here. we have that line going around i-95 and this line down here

towards the roanoke area and this is making its way up around i-81 and this is the boundary associated with those 40, 50, even 60-mile-per-hour winds. i was just looking back to the west here and i don't think we're seeing anything in regards to severe thunderstorm warnings here, but what we are seeing are these storms here around lexington and just south of charlottesville forming ahead of this line. these are storms to watch out for. any time you see a line like this moving our way and then you see storms moving in an opposite direction, you get this. more tornadoes. there is another tornado warning down around lexington right along i-81 and all of those storms will make their way, our way, too. we talked about round number one and could be round number two and then round number three. you talk about the lightning, well, we're definitely seeing lightning out there. these thunderstorms really mean business. stay inside tonight. don't try, i haven't heard anything about the nationals guys, we need to make a call

down there. a lot of facebook and twitter recalls about that. don't even try to go to the game. don't even try. >> doug, when is round two expected to hit? >> round two is going to come. round one will stay with us through the 7:00 hour. if we get any kind of a break at all, i doubt we'll get much of a break at all, round two will come through us probably around 8:00, 9:00 through the metro area but in areas to the west around winchester, you're looking at this maybe an hour and a half, 7:00. 7:00 at i-81 and i-95 9:00, 10:00. that one we could see widespread wind damage here, if it's able to hold together. >> all right, doug. we've got bernie fitzgerald on the phone now. tell us what you guys are experiencing out there, the 5:00 hour -- >> i have to come back. come back real fast. >> we're going to run just to doug for a second. >> new tornado warning right now. new tornado warning for prince

george's county around buoy and 14 minutes around buoy. if you live in buoy, if you live just north and west of crofton and route 3 and around 97, this is an area under the gun right now for a tornado. a new tornado warning. this is the same storm that we saw down through portions of the district and same storm that was down around oxon hill and andrews air force base and, again, buoy and anne arundel county and going until 6:00 or 6:15 this evening. please, watch out for this one. we'll continue to watch this one as well as all the other storm warnings we have for you. guys, i believe you were about to talk to somebody on the phone. >> things keep popping up. all right, let's go to fairfax county government on the phone. i was about to say a lot of people trying to get home the 5:00 hour, friday, what's going on out there? >> well, it is rush hour out here, but we have a tornado

warning here in fairfax county until 5:45 in the burke, springfield, 395, 495 interchange and franconia areas. of course, our safety messages, seek shelter now but we do realize that a lot of people are trying to get home, it is the beginning of the weekend. in addition to the tornado, we have a flash flood warning in effect until midnight and a lot of areas that are low lying and flash flooding could result from the rainfall amounts. we heard talk about round one and round two will bring even more rain. right now in fairfax county it is very, very wet. big storm and the safety messages are, do not drive on flooded roads. turn around, don't drown. and watch out for the tornadoes think about where you might be during round two because you may only have a few seconds to react and it could be possible you're sleeping. so, be very, very aware. >> we just found out that the tornado warning in your area was just lifted.

so, you guys can exhale. but what challenges are you preparing for for the coming hours? he's already now talking about a round three out there, as well. >> well, our emergency operation center is activated right now. we are monitoring the storm. we're monitoring for possible flooding in different areas. we don't actually anticipate any structural flooding, even in the huntington area that is prone to flooding. however, local street flooding in various areas through fairfax county. people have to be very, very careful. stay inside, if possible. but if there is a lot of rain, don't drive through it. that's one of our big safety messages. >> all right. >> all right, thank you so much for your time, we appreciate it out there. they say that they haven't really experienced any significant flooding, at least at this point. but you can imagine with all this rain, there will be at least a little ponding and wet roads and as you make it home, just be careful. take your time. go ahead, doug. >> another tornado warning right

now for frederick county and this includes the county of frederick. let's look at 29. veronica is on 22. let's zoom in to frederick, maryland. and a new tornado warning issued by the national weather service. this one unfill 6:15 for frederick. and this includes right around the 6:15 area. this will come through your area and we're talking about 11 minutes from braddock and 18 minutes from frederick and down towards walkersville you're looking at 33 minutes there. heads up for this storm. let's show it to you on the radar. put the radaron here and take the warnings off and you see exactly where this storm is around our region and we'll zoom on out. veronica, if you can move graphic 29 and that's where this storm is. one tornado warning in prince george's county and southeastern portions of howard county and then another one up here to the north. veronica on 29, i want 29 up

here. move frederick county to frederick county, maryland. that storm system right here. go over to 22, guys. so we can get in on that. there it is right there. here's that storm with that tornado warning in effect here for frederick county. it is right over the area of frederick. so, right around downtown frederick. be on the lookout for this storm. this is an area that is already seeing a ton of rain and i would not be surprised in those same areas that have seen potential flash flooding to see more flash flooding and rainfall rates upwards of half an inch to an inch and they really do mean business. one thing i'm not seeing with this storm, there is rotation here, but i'm not seeing those deep purples like i am with the storm that's heading over towards the east. we're look at that storm just north of baltimore. with that one we're talking about hail and down to the south, right along i-95 in buoy. any time you see the purple on our radar map, you know you could be seeing some hail there

and seeing that just to the east of college park and right around buoy. buoy, this is also your tornado warning. so, this one really make sure you are taking precautions here. really make sure. stay inside. obviously, you're not going to go out when it's raining and get away from the windows. get away from the windows and lowest portion of your house and make sure you're not anywhere near the exterior of that house and don't take now to say, hey, i left my bike outside. i have to go get it. don't even think about that. three minutes around seabrook and this is from that section of the storm down here. making its way to the north and east. buoy, you're seeing the very heavy rain and the lightning, but the possible tornado is down to the south and east and then we had that other very strong storm just south and west of the washington, d.c., area. veronica, back inside to you back towards storm center 4 with the latest on what's happening around our region. >> we've been getting photos in from our viewers. i believe we have those to show and one of our slide shows

throughout the area earlier today around the sterling damascus aa and even north and west of d.c. you folks have been sending in your pictures which definitely show not just ominous conditions but some of the wall clouds and some of the tornadoes that we have been talking about sterling. we have cascades and the potomac falls area of virginia. so, we want to thank everyone who was able to send in pictures from earlier today from, of course, as you can see, a safe location. ashburn, virginia, too, as well as areas even in and around d.c. some of the reports, too, that we've seen in here are wind gusts around 60 miles per hour. arlington, virginia, east and northeast of falls church area. out of carroll county, maryland, reports of some trees down. that was in the thinksburg, maryland, area and, of course,

flooding, too, around the area. montgomery county and with these storms, the other line that is still yet to come through and the other storms occurring around the area, the potential for strong winds, as well as some hail. let me take the radar off before i toss back and you can see all those areas shaded in red. prince george's county and also areas of anne arundel county and those are the areas right now that show the strongest winds and the potential of tornadoes around our area currently. back to you folks in the studio. >> all right, thanks, veronica. we don't marc trains. loss of signal power. no marc trains. >> let's find out about metro. dan, what is going on with you guys. >> hey, richard and wendy. messy afternoon as you would expect for metro bus, in particular, with delays pretty much system wide as a result of the traffic conditions caused by the severe weather.

those vary depending on the route, but if you look at your radar, that's pretty much where you see that bright red is where those delays are the most significant. the other problem we have this afternoon is on the orange line. we have a downed tree outside of sheverly on the orange line and that is affecting service between stadium armory and actually temporarily suspended while we deal with that. all orange line train s are turning back to proceed west back towards vienna and also causing congestion delays because the orange line overlaps with the blue line through downtown. those blue line trains are caught up in congestion. either blue or orange, you want to give yourself extra time if you're traveling this evening. >> we just heard that marc trains are not able to leave union station because there is a tree on the tracks. is there anything that people who need to do that, can metro help them out at all? >> depends on where they're

going. you know, if you're in new carrollton bound on marc, metro may have been a good option except for this downed tree. looks like a messy evening all around. but if you have the ability to have someone pick you up at green belt and pick the green line-up, that is a good option if that works for you. >> dan, what about bus service? >> yeah, bus services bearing the brunt of these delays, largely the result of traffic conditions in the region. you know, as we saw that tornado watch and severe storm move into prince george's county about half hour, i guess about an hour ago now. that's when those delays were really bad as cells move through various parts of the region, it is affecting bus delays and buses are, bus operators are going to slow down and put on their hazard lights and if the conditions are especially bad, they're going to pull over for safety reasons. >> all right. all right, dan, you know, good luck for the remainder of the evening. it's going to be tough.

eventually get there from here, but it will be a while. thanks so much. >> just be really patient out there. we're also hearing for just drivers, there are new flash flood warnings for montgomery, prince george's, fairfax and d.c. new flash flood warnings. so, again, it is going to be a rough night. doug? >> yeah, that's exactly what i'm looking at here, wendy. until 8:30 those flash flood warnings in effect including the district and the bethesda area and here is that tornado warning up there towards the buoy area and watch out. if you live in buoy, please, make sure you're inside your house. also, this area, extremely heavy rainfall from fairfax, the city of fairfax and falls church and very, very heavy rain. so far we've seen upwards of one to two inches of rain and you could see those accumulation totals 1.7 around the district and 1.5 around bethesda and one to two inches of rain so far and we could see another one to two

inches of rain as we move on through the rest of this area because there's still a lot more rain in this general vicinity. watch out around the intersection of 395. that's where we're seeing heaviest rain. about to come through alexandria and over towards the, over towards the washington area and then down towards boston. watch out in those locations as you make your way across the river in from maryland across the river and right along 495 here and then out 123. around vienna you're seeing that storm and the city of fairfax and down towards burke. 123 getting hit very hard out there right now. we just had a wind gust down at the airport last hour of 50 miles per hour. once again, these storms really do mean business. as we widen out, the strongest storms. this one towards buoy where we have that tornado warning. this one a spawn of this other

storm. watch how this storm develops over the last hour across columbia and this is along 32 and back to the west. we're looking at that storm along 270. more heavy rain making its way towards 270 and that tornado warning going until 6:00 tonight. two tornado warnings prince george's and anne arundel county and including the city of frederick right on through 6:00 tonight and the wider view showing all of this rain continuing to move on through the area. i really think we're going to see flash flooding throughout the rest of the evening. so, please, just give yourself extra time out there. there's a lot more rain to come, once again, we're talking about round one and then potentially round two coming ahead of what could be round three here, if this line does, in fact, stay together. i wouldn't be surprised to see it stay together. once it makes its way over the mountains, it will encounter warm and humid air. we could see 40, 50, 60-mile-per-hour winds and that's what we'll have the potential for widespread power outages and widespread tree

damage throughout the rest of the evening. >> okay, doug. new video just in out of nats park a game tonight against the braves but doug was telling us earlier, probably shouldn't try it although the game is still officially on. >> it hasn't been canceled yet. emphasis on the word yet. but you can see, a lot of rain falling there and just the danger of just getting people there and getting them home. so, it may be you could play baseball in this, but it's not good for the fans. let's go out back to tyson's corner and derek ward, oh, it looks bad out there, derek. >> what a difference a half an hour makes. this just started. we had some pretty intense lightning and thunder here. as you can, obviously, see, the rain has picked up. let you take a look at the traffic northbound 123 is blocked. now, i don't know if that's just regular traffic slowing or if we have some incident down there. but we used to be able to see

the horizon from here and completely obscured now and looks like we are pretty close to flash flooding conditions. now, we are on a downgrade. so, we're fought going to get any ponding water or pooling water here. i'm sure at the bottom of this hill, they have some issues. be aware of that if you're in the tyson's corner area where they have one of the heaviest cells moving through here and now the winds have picked up and picking up as we speak and, of course, as we said, we have brilliant lightning and pretty loud thunder coming through and wind-driven rain. no telling how long this will last but we're definitely in the thick of what we call round one i guess what you call right now. most people, as you can see, traffic northbound, again on 123 is at a complete standsill and some of that ask the usual traffic. again, there could, indeed, be some sort of incident down the hill from us. if you're in this area, we definitely are experiencing heavy rain, lightning and thunder. be aware and prudence, i think, is the wisest thing.

if this gets any worse, you could have some trouble on your hands. right now, definitely a very heavy rain incident. >> derek y know you are a veteran of many hurricanes. how does this compare? >> well, you know, it's heavy rain. we don't have the strong winds that we have had that i have experienced in hurricane conditions or close to it. the rain is, indeed, heavy, but it is falling vertically. it's not horizontal yet and, you know, there's not a lot of wind. that's a good thing here. this construction site right across the way, they just shut down about an hour ago. they had that crane up and operating and with lightning and things like that on the way, the last thing you want to do is have a big piece of metal being the highest piece on the ground and the shortest path to the ground for any lightning. that, obviously, that construction site is shut down and the end of the day, too. they were working up until the last minute. the challenge for folks out here now is just navigating this traffic and put your lights on.

obviously, you have your windshield wipers on. take your time, be prudent and be cautious and be courteous to the other drivers. i think everybody will be able to get where they are going if they follow those rules. >> good advice. >> derek, when we saw you at the top of the hour, it was so nice and now you've got this mess on top of you. how did it come about? was it all of a sudden or a gradual rain? >> it was gradual. at first the skies really got dark and we heard some thunder off into the distance and then we started to see some rather brilliant flashes over off into the west. it hassant been as much lightning now, but, certainly, some thunder. you know what they say, where there's lightning, there's thunder. we experienced both of those, but heavy rain falling here now. >> because there is lightning, we're going to let you get backe to risk getting hit.

there are taller structures than you, but we'll let you get back inside. >> thanks, we'll check back with you later, sweetie. >> tracee wilkins is on the phone in the northeast. flash flooding there. tracee? >> i'm hoping you guys can see the pictures of the flash flooding we've seen in the northeast. this is right near benning road at blain street and 42nd street. you will see some police cars in those pictures because this is right near the sixth district police station and, so, we had some police cars that were flooded in this area and the water came very quickly. it was very high. ucou you probably could hear off in the distance we have fire trucks moving through this corridor and traffic on benning road is backed up. this is all the way down to benning road and minnesota avenue where we're seeing traffic backed up and that is one of the busiest, if not one of the busiest intersections in washington, d.c. so, this is going to be a nightmare of a commute for a lot

of folks. now, when that water started to rise on blain street, it happened so quickly, a number of sixth district police officers ran out to try and move their personal vehicles and, also, police cars to try to just protect them from that high water. but it came quickly and then went away quickly, which is what happens with flash flooding. and i watched a couple of cars try to drive through it, which we always recommend you shouldn't do because, you know, that water comes and then it goes, but you don't want it to be the car stuck in it as it's beginning to recede. so, it's just a mess out here today. i can tell you right now, we're seeing some light rain, it stopped for just a second. i think we're entering into the next phase of all of this. what derek ward is experiencing right now in tyson corner is a good example of what it looked like in northeast washington. doug was talking about the possibility of some tornados coming this way or the

possibility of some at least some stuff happening above us with some circulation. the rain was unbelievable. and really pouring in the section of the city and cause some of that flash flooding that you're seeing pictures of off of benning road and blain street and 42nd. the good news is now that the water has gone ahead and gone down the drains and things are looking better. but, now, we're getting another batch of rain now, some more heavy waters. so, there's a possibility of that flooding to come back, again. >> well, so, it's not as bad right now as these pictures we're looking at? >> no, absolutely not. i tell you, wendy, it took probably all of about 15 minutes for that water to rise and, you know, go. so, it happened that quickly. but just imagine the damage that's been done to the cars that were parked on the street when it happened. i mean, in just minutes and then

for it to be gone so quickly and now live with the effects of that and then have some city cars also affected by that, as well. it's just an amazing storm. it speaks to folks out there who are driving for just how quickly this can all happen. >> especially if you're stuck in traffic. you're stuck and all of a sudon the waters rise around you. it's not like you did it to yourself. it's just nature's way, sometimes. >> absolutely. where do you go? this is why the city and all jurisdictions in our area keeping these drains clear so when this happens the drains can do what they're supposed to do. >> all right, thanks so much for your time. we really appreciate it. we heard the sirens there in the background so, it's been busy for emergency vehicles. some of them getting stuck, like we saw in that photo. that police car. let's check in with doug now for the latest on what's happening out there. >> guys, i'm going from graphics 29 here in the control room. i want to show one thing. you guys were showing those pictures just a moment ago. we can take those pictures, once again. i want to show you a couple

things that i noticed as we were looking at the pictures. you noticed the trees that had fallen here, but you see that tree right there. kind of snapped in half, that's what you get from possible tornadoes. you see a straight line wind event like we may see later tonight and those trees are going to most likely come out of the ground. if it's a whole tree, it will most likely come out of the ground and you'll see roots come up and things like that. if it's a tornado, most of the time you'll see the trees snapped off at 10 to 15 feet high. similar to this right here. if this was a straight line wind event. that is a tree that comes out of the ground. like this, perfect example of what could be a possible tornado in that area. this is another perfect example of that. one, two, three trees in a row where you have potential damage. not sure if this was a tornado and not sure where these pictures were taken from. that's just what i'm seeing right now. maybe a few tornadoes touching down today with those severe thunderstorm warnings. we do have those warnings out there right now. once again, the biggest storm now coming through portions of

fairfax county and montgomery county and also around northwest washington. we can hear the thunder right here from our studios. let's take a look and show you. graphics 29. if we can go to graphics 29. show you where the strongest storms are. this line right here and then still this warning. the tornado warng in effect for areas like buoy. that storm is now to your north, you're out of the woods, for now. you're out of the woods for now. in through anne arundel county. flash flood warning in effect for the district and arlington county and fairfax county. we have seen flash flooding and as tracee wilkins just said, it comes up in a flash and it leaves in a flash. that is why we call it flash flooding. so, much different than a flood warning, which takes a long time to develop. this is not going to be something where you see the potomac rising out of its banks or anything like that. these would be the small streams. rock creek like we knew flood so many times and numerous streets

continuing to flood. around the lewistown area and frederick and that's the other tornado warning, also, in effect until 6:00 here and you also notice the green. the green is the flash flood warning for damascus and frederick. that is an area that has seen, one, two, even three inches of rain and more rain is falling right now. this is also the tornado warning includes walkersville and out towards johnsonville. right along 26 here, you'll continue to watch as that storm makes its way your way. then we look down to the south, this is fairfax county and the city of fairfax, washington, d.c., bethesda and really just getting hammered right now. you are really getting hammered and you'll continue to do so. manassas which has been hit so hard by rain, upwards of three to six inches of rain and it looks like you'll see that during the day today and farther down to the south, more storms continue to develop around the

fredericksburg area and we could see flash flooding in this region, too. just give yourself a lot of extra time. we talked about round one. there it is. we talked about round two, here it is. and we're really watching this make its way towards the east very, very quickly, so, watch out and looks like we've got more storms, even biggertorms coming around the fredericksburg area. more warnings coming out over the next half hour to an hour for sure. earlier today, let's look clarksburg road in damascus. it was something to see earlier today. that was around 2:30, 3:00 this afternoon. and cars were actually driving through it and there they go, cue the cars and something you don't want to do, even in an suv, you don't want to do it. >> erica gonzalez out there for us and she's there with more. erica? >> we are in damascus and we are right off clarksburg road. there is still just a couple of cars passing by here. over in the roadway, you can see the debris from what was about

2:30, 3:00 this afternoon when the water levels were rising and rapidly. still, lots of debris in the roadway. the water still flowing very, very quickly through here. but, it looks like it has receded. we are near somebody's driveway where you couldn't see anything before. how deep the water was. looks like that water is receding very quickly. when we spoke to you a few minutes earlier, it was dry. we got a great burst of rain just about a couple minutes ago and now it's starting to drizzle, again, but, again, what you're seeing there in the roadway was the remnants of what was 2:30, 3:00 this afternoon when the water levels were rising and it quickly moved into clarksburg road. wendy, richard. >> all right. thank you, erica. >> it sure is a mess out there. and it's going to be tough as doug was saying because of all of this, the second round that is coming pup how does that look? that is moving pretty quickly, doug. >> you see yet another severe

thunderstorm warning now. this one in effect for areas just off to the north and west. this includes out towards west virginia and parts of frederick county in virginia. this is for that line that second round is now starting to move into our area and this is for that line coming right around the pawpaw region and you can see the tornado warning around frederick. this is the line making its way to the north and east and this is moving at 40 to 50 miles per hour right now off to the east. you're looking around north branch, old town, flintstone and about the next 40 to 45 minutes. you really want to watch out in this area and widen this area out here and what we're going to see is that continuous line from pennsylvania and look at all the severe thunderstorm warnings. back up to pennsylvania, veronica, if you can. look at all the thunderstorms warnings for altoona and hopewell and large area of severe thunderstorm warning and possible embedded tornado here.

that is the kind of system we'll see come through our area in the next few hours. go right back down this line. let's go to the south of this line and show you what we're talking about. i-81. this line taking a little bit of a different look. here's the line here. okay, this was the line. it is starting to break up, but, what's happening is you're seeing storm s form out ahead o this and this line will catch up to these storms here and then this will become the new line, so, it's actually going to jump about 30 miles very, very quickly. so, we were talking about maybe 7:00 around winchester and now we're talking more about 6:30 coming through that area with those 40 to 50-mile-per-hour winds. no warnings just yet, but once this gets started back here, once this gets started and this line hits this line, i expect to see a lot of warnings coming across our area as we move through the evening hours and right now under the gun is that

i-95 area right around washington, d.c., and then look at this area down to the south. just south and west of fredericksburg. severe thunderstorm warnings in effect here. a ton of lightning and big-time storm making its way towards the north and east and also more storms down towards the southeast of st. mary's county. guys, we have a couple more hours to go here. once again, stay indoors. no need to go out tonight. you can stay here and watch nbc 4 the entire night. as long as your power is on. >> many more warnings to come with another round that is just west of our area. tornado watch continues for the entire viewing area until 9:00 p.m. let's switch on over to the other system right now. i want to show you the tremendous amount of lightning that is still firing with some of these lines and clusters of storms. we've got some lightning and the system that is intensifying and cluster of storms just down to the south here. it's north of fork union area and making its way northeastward

towards frederickberiurg, maryl. probably intensifying, as well. then we have more storms still sitting right around d.c. and fairfax and headed towards montgomery county. these storm systems or this cluster of storms also showing signs of quite a bit of wind, as well as the possibility of hail. we've put some of our storm skits on for you. let me just show you which way this storm system will be moving. northeast at about 20 miles per hour. so, it will be coming across maryfield around tyson's corner and around mcclain area and bethes duand north bethesda area. we have been showing footage around the area the very heavy rain and lightning in the distance and have gotten reports of actual tornadoes. you have been sending in your pictures to weather@nbcwashington.com. go ahead and widen out a little bit and take off the radar and

show you where the latest warnings are right now. we have several areas. the flash flood warnings for prince william county, eastern fauquier county and right into the district, montgomery and northern anne arundel county. rainfall rates at four inches per hour and producing about three inches of rain in some isolated areas. there's your tornado warning, northern areas of prince george's county and anne arundel county. we have another tornado warning that is up north and right now around craigers town area and that area north earlier today at about 5:30. we had multiple reports of a funnel cloud just about 500 to 1,000 feet off the ground near u.s. 340 and u.s. 15 west. but notice the new, severe thunderstorm warnings that are out now. frostburg and right there outside of hancock area along

i-68. frostburg, springville area all showing signs that there could be hail and wind damage. let me real quick show you some of the rainfall amounts. columbia, maryland, over half an inch of rain and, again, coming down hard and we've seen flash flooding in the area. let's talk about some of those pictures now that you sent into us. brendan, this is out of the sterling area. brendan sending in some areas of, you can see in his rear view mirror and his side view mirror there what looks like, clearly, a tornado. you can see some of the damage there. damascus, maryland, which will likely be of a tornado. this one out of the sterling area. sent in from jessica and we've even seen images like this real close to d.c., northwest d.c. this one sent in from rick and ashburn, virginia, as well. so, all around the area, images of wall clouds, images of tornadoes that have been hitting

our area and quite a bit of heavy rain and flooding, also. so, we've got this line that is right on top of us training over some of the same areas from richmond to fredericksburg to d.c. on up into howard county, frederick and baltimore. i think we're likely to see more flash flooding throughout the area. not much of a break here because there will be more powerful line with winds, more widespread high winds coming through with that second line and that's what you're seeing right now. frostburg, maryland, where they issued some severe thunderstorm warnings and down towards pet s petersbu petersburg. meteorologist kim what time do the new warnings go? that line extends right down towards roanoke, maryland. there's been some severe thunderstorm warnings there for hail and high winds and probably are going to be seeing more of that. so, several things that we're under the gun for, folks.

flash flooding, high winds, hail and the possibility of tornadoes throughout the area. go ahead and take the radar off momentarily so that you can see all the warnings that we're under right now with quite bit of lightning. storms still intensifying and we have yet to even see the whole weather system move through here, which isn't going to happen until later this evening, maybe a little faster, though, maybe between about 7:00 and about 9:00 p.m. but that new tornado warning that's out, that is for baltimore county, maryland. and, of course, you can see, too, there in harford county, that area shaded in red where there is a tornado warning. all these areas shaded in red where we currently have tornado warnings up. i'll go ahead and put the radaron, once again, for you and loop it so that you can see exactly how much of our viewing area is covered with these violent storms. we knew this was going to be the case earlier today. let's goea