tonight, 72 hours in, several hundred thousands still sweating in the dark and with

traffic lights out there is danger on the roads. good evening i'm doreen gentzler. >> and i'm jim vance. crews as far away as canada are helping the utility companies who are working to clean up from the storm on friday night. there has been some progress. but you can't tell that to the quarter million people still suffering through another night without air-conditioning, tv and phone service. some people still have three or four more nights to go before they get relief. >> we have life team coverage of the recovery after the storm. we'll get to shomari stone and doug kammerer with the prolonged high heat. but first to jackie bensen in montgomery county. >> reporter: we're in silver spring and you can see it's become a matter of blocks at this point. this darkened intersection here at columbia boulevard and georgia avenue but they have power over there and take a look down georgia avenue.

those lights are tree trimming crews trying to remove the limbs that are entangled in power lines. this happens every time there is a major storm here. the homemade sign says it all. pepco, no power. since late friday, illumination has been provided only by moonlight and candle light. lou and his wife host a warm but festive freezer cleanout dinner for a neighbor. it was a welcome break from two days of hauling downed tree limbs to the curb. perishables are dwindling. >> i was calling to explain about the tree across they said call back when we're open. >> reporter: the buzz of generators powering electric fans filled the courtyard at this senior and assisted living residence.

outside, tree trimmers paid by the county free up wires so power crews can work more quickly when they get here. two residents had to be hospitalized due to the heat and lack of air-conditioning. but the rest are dignified and resolute. >> it is an inconvenience. >> reporter: the montgomery county councilman was frustrated. >> it is not enough given the number of aged people we have in the community. you simply need to bring in more crews in order to help. >> reporter: back out live now in silver spring you can see that the fire stations remain busy because so many people don't have power at this point. they are constantly coming and going as the calls come up for help. and again, what i can tell you is we have received a great number of viewer complaints tonight, concerns about seniors and elderly, grandparents,

grandmothers, grandfathers in seniors homes. a lot of people would rather give up air-conditioning for themselves and see the senior citizens be it it. jackie bensen, news4. >> thanks, jackie. fairfax, arlington and alexandria took the worst blows in northern virginia. dominion crews working late into the night but the work is not good enough for some people. shomari stone is in arlington now. >> reporter: i'm here on highland street in arlington. let me bring you closer to the scene. neighbors say that the wind snapped this utility pole bringing it right here on top of this car and pulling down the power lines. the entire community is in darkness. >> i'm hot. i'm wet. i'm sweaty. >> reporter: the only way you are seeing christine is because of the light on the camera. >> it's nice to have the light. we have nothing. >> reporter: she is one of thousands of people in northern virginia without power after the storm pounded the region.

she desperately demand dominion turn the lights on. >> so i don't fall and break my other ankle. it's all -- it's just terrible. it's so dark. >> reporter: help is here. 200 crews from canada arrived this evening. there are 16,000 reports of damaged poles or wires. and around 7,000 still need to be repaired. >> it's kind of the hard work. they will be in the neighborhoods. the houses are close together. the roads are tight. >> reporter: dominion power say that a lot of the poles snapped like toothpicks. so what did they do? they brought these in. trucks delivered thousands of poles. these guys clear roads in fairfax county. county officials take a look at the damage and say it's too early to put a dollar amount on it. >> i'm seeing a lot of downed trees. some came down over roads and

houses and cars. >> often hundreds of traffic lights are off. >> what is it like driving without traffic lights? >> it's been a big struggle. >> i'm struggling because i don't have any power. >> reporter: i know how you feel christine. you can see the crews will have to clean up this mess, the debris. 85% of the customers should have power by tuesday at least 100 or rather 100 by this weekend. live in arlington, i'm shomari stone, news4. fire crews have their work cut out for them. because some of the power lines are in wooded areas. dominion doesn't run lines through areas like that any more. but it will take a while to get to and fix those that fell. the power is off for people in the district tonight. crews are trying to make repairs and remove trees on the roads. metro sent a bus to an area so

folks would have a place to cool off. >> nobody told me until this morning. i went up the street. i have been in this bus ever since. it's very cool. >> reporter: the d.c. mayor said that people are fed up and he says the city needs a game changer. the mayor suggests looking at burying the power lines. here's a live look at the american city diner in northwest d.c. it's been duringed into a cooling center. it seats 09 people. it will be open until 6:00 a.m. if you know someone who needs a cool place to spend the evening. one of the areas hit hardest is on route 1 near laurel. major power lines are down along the corridor and it forced a number of businesses to close. police are directing traffic at the major intersections as well. we are hearing some of the 911 calls after the storm.

>> you called 911? >> yes, the tree has fall on my house there is water coming to the house. >> the gas station roof, you know that cover over the pumps. the roof is gone now and one car is on the gas station and i think it's saw damage. >> no one from the calls was hurt. the 911 center got more than 19,000 calls between friday night and sunday the largest concentration between 11:00 and midnight on friday right after the storm hit. the call volume returned to normal today. >> the storm that brought the winds and rain is called a dorecco. >> this was straight line winds. a lot of people say it was a

tornado but it was straight line winds. and you can see the bow echo making its way from chicago to washington, d.c. in ten hours. it was flying at 60 to 70 miles an hour and that brought 60, 70, even 80-mile-an-hour winds with an incredible amount of lightning. it was the winds that took down the trees. coming through the washington, d.c. metro area right around 10:30, 10:45 in the evening notice all the purples here. that is intense thunderstorm activity and winds. derechos are rare but ham here. we get one every four years or so. the last big one was all the way back in 1980. this, however is very infrequent. good news. the damage and recovery efforts will not impractice the

biggest fourth of july celebration, the capital fourth celebration on the national mall will proceed as planned. but several smaller displays are cancelled including gathers burg, rockville, kensington and germantown. all resources are focused on the recovery right now. there are gas stations because they don't have power yet. this one in silver spring is among them. but drivers didn't have to go far to find an open station. some people waited in line for three hours on saturday just to fill up their tanks. since that storm we heard from viewers about the increase in gas prices and the cost of hotel rooms. we told you about a hotel room in college park going for $500. we reached out to the maryland attorney general's office today and a spokesman said they had a few complaints but maryland does not have a law on the books to deal with price gouging.

the office supported legislation in the past to curb price go gouging. one homeowner feels like he is trapped in a bad tree. a tree fell on the house in the bad storm in the same spot where another tree crashed into his house during hurricane irene last year. >> what is your reaction to the fact you just finished repairs two weeks ago? >> it's part of life. one of the challenges. you just -- play the hand you're dealt. >> he's got a lot of company too. several homes in his neighborhood had trees downed and no power. authorities in northern virginia say the failure of 911 call centers this weekend did not lead to any deaths. for two days now people who live in manassas, manassas park and print william counties had to use alternate numbers. all of the their 911 services

are supported by verizon. a spokesman for verizon says that the company had a failure in the central office in arlington. they had an impact on the primary and backup power supplies for the 911 call centers. they promise that failure will be the focus of discussions in the future. still ahead tonight, another issue on the roads. but this had nothing to do with the storms. a secret meeting in annapolis to keep the hope alive. the private vehicles of a former d.c. councilman are about to go public. a medical mystery

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. glaks co smithkline will pay $3 billion to settle a fraud case. they promoted two drugs for unapproved uses and failed to disclose safety info about avandia. >> we are determined to stop practices that violate the public trust. >> the company agreed to be closely monitored by u.s. government officials for five years.

investigators are trying to figure out what sparked a fire on a bus on new hampshire avenue in silver spring. we're told the bus did not have any passengers at the time. no one injured. that accident did cause traffic delays, though. two pilots who escaped a naval jet just seconds before it hit an apartment complex will -- crash into an apartment complex in virginia beach back in april. that jet had just taken off from the naval air station oceania. the two man crew ejected from 50 feet in the air. the impact and the fire destroyed 27 apartments. seven people were injured but no one was killed. the second phase of the silver line could be sealed tomorrow. the loudoun county board of

supervisors is set to vote on whether to fund the project. the cost is $270 million and $10 million in annual operating costs has been criticized by some board members. business groups say it would lead to billions of dollars in economic development. the deadline to opt in to the project is wednesday. gambling in maryland might not be dead after all. leaders in the house met behind closed doors in annapolis this afternoon, adding a sixth casino in prince george's county and allowing table games are the two ideas being considered. house speaker michael bush says they will decide in the next few weeks whether to hold a special session. two vehicles owned by harry thomas jr. are in the possession of the federal government. the feds plan to sell the chevy tahoe and victory motorcycle in an effort to recoup money he took from the addict.

he is serving a three-year prison sentence. he admitted he used the funds to purchase the suv and motorcycle. the woman in georgia who nearly died from a flesh eating bacteria has left the hospital and moved into a rehabilitation clinic. amy copeland was moved to atlanta today. two months ago she contracted a rare flesh eating bacteria after cutting her leg in a river in georgia. doctor removed her left leg, right foot and both hands in order to save her. she will have to learn how to use prosthetic limbs. >> she has come a long way. doug is here with a look at the weather forecast. all quiet tonight? >> yeah. all quiet. a bit on the cooler side tonight. that is good news for all who are without power. you might be open up the window to get cooler and less humid air

in there. i think the heat moves back in tomorrow. out there right now we have seen temperatures into the 80s across the area. but some areas into the 70s after a high today of 95 degrees today. the heat just continues. we hit 104, a record high temperature in the month of june on friday. 97 on saturday, 99 on sunday and today's high was 95 degrees. we have seen hot weather the last couple days. but today the humidity was down but it is starting to creep up. 83 degrees with a heat index of 84. not much of a difference there. right now cooler to the west. 72 in martens burg. 73 in culpepper. so out to the west you might be able to open up the windows. but in the district it will be hard to get relief from the heat. things are all clear right now. that's the way they will stay all night tonight and probably

just about all day tomorrow in most locations. you can see what we've got going on out there. not a lot. we are looking at clear skies. but there are storms just off to the west. that will try to move in during the day tomorrow. we stand to see a better chance of storms during the day tomorrow as a warm front moves up to the north. we will see a slight chance of storms i-81 to the west. western maryland and western virginia, everybody will be warm and it will be more humid tomorrow. then comes the fourth of july and i think we see more humidity. a heat index around 100 to 102 on wednesday. the fourth of july holiday is going to be a warm one. we have a better chance of showers in the metro area on wednesday. hopefully they will not affect the fireworks displays going on. it will be warm. overnight mostly clear and not too muggy. 64 to 76 degrees. tomorrow afternoon we're going to see the numbers into the 90s.

90 to 96. it will be hot and humid with isolated storms. the humidity works in tomorrow night and into the day on wednesday. you see the fireworks for fourth of july. it looks like we'll have temperatures around 89 degrees. a warm and humid night. possible storms out there but don't cancel plans out there. most of us will be dry. 40% of the storms on wednesday. 30% on thursday. and then i think we get the heat back in here. 97 on friday, 98 on saturday. the heat index looks like it will be in the low 100s, maybe 105 on saturday. the heat is back later this weekend maybe with a vengeance again. >> we got to get the power back on. >> let's do it. >> thank you, doug. sports next.

we have a really interesting story. i like this. >> it's the match race that wasn't. >> yeah, right. >> the big story. not often does women's track and field take center stage in the sports world. in the olympic trials, no less. one of the runners got a case of cold feet. the beginning of the story, top right of the screen, the 100

meters trials. felix was in a dead heat for third. just two close to call. who is going to london? a runoff was scheduled for tonight. but tarmo called it off, describing why and how to louis johnson. >> i told her i'm not in the right place to run this race. my decision is where it was before. i don't want to do a runoff or a coin toss and you can run this and i wish you the best of luck in the 100 and 200 in the relays. physically i don't think i would be there either. i was drained after the 200. >> disappointing but she will be an alternate. >> she is in already anyhow? >> she is in a relay. >> but she is going to london.

>> she's going to london anyway. it was classy. the baltimore orioles have three all-star going to kansas city and one is a maybe. that man is on the hound tonight. jason hammel gave up eight runs on wednesday against l.a. bottom two peer no score one out, dustin ackley there strikes him out and nabs are runner to end the inning. o's down 0-1. davis takes it all the way downtown and jacks that deep. i was practicing his name before the sports. the orioles lead 3-1 in the fifth inning. the washington capitals have holes on the roster that needs to be filled and they have $20 million in cap space but it louisiana been an uneventful two days of free agency and that's the way it's go inning to stay.

no news either for alexander semin. he made it clear he wants to spread his wings elsewhere and has been in his agents office waiting for the calls to come in. some have called him out. they called him a loser and a coach killer. maybe it scared off the masses. that is how mcphee feels about what is going on out there. >> there is a time to get in and a time to stay away. you know, you can survive the loss of a player but it's hard to survive bad contracts. and sometimes you can do something at this time of year that handcuffs you for years. and we haven't done that

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that's our broadcast for now. news 4 today gipping at 4:30. >> see you tomorrow. good night.

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