good morning and welcome to "news 4 midday" i'm eun yang in for barbara harrison. breaking news from the entertainment world that reports that andy griffith has died. a close family friend tells a at the television station that he passed away this morning. he went on to star on the popular courtroom show, "matlock." also breaking this mid-day, word that metro will run through

loudun county. they voted to hop on board of phase two of the silver line project. the board had until tomorrow to decide to be part of the project. voters finally securied the vots needed to get approval. what it means for the silver line project on new s 4 at 4:00 5:00, 6:00 and 11:00. even though the storm is over, the danger is not. take a look at this video from chopper 4. power lines and tries fell on a car on silver springs sparking a fire that spread to at least one other car. happened in the 2900 block of woodstock avenue. at one point, firefighters were concerned that the fire would spread to the building you see there, but they are not saying if any damage was done. there are also no reports of any injuries right now. nearly four days after the storm close to 300,000 people in the d.c. area are still without power. since this time yesterday

morning, pepco has restored power to more than 110,000 people. the utility company reports more than 21,000 customers are without power right now and we'll talk to pepco's president in just a few minutes. dominion reports more than 114,000 outages this morning down from 60,000 yesterday morning. novac reporting more than 2,400 outages. well, uprooted trees tangled in power lines caused many of the power lines in the district. the cleanup is under way but the power can't come on soon enough for many families and businesses left in the dark and in this heat. megan mcgrath has the latest. how is it looking where you are? >> unfortunately, it's not looking really great. a lot of neighborhoods where it's been there success, power is back on. not in this northwest neighborhood. look at this mess behind me. a downed power pole and a large tree up the street. all kind of power lines dangling

in front of this house and the next block the lines are lying across the street. we have been here all morning long and we have not seen any crews begin the work of cutting up the tree or restoring the power. as you can imagine, folks who were in this heat without air conditioning, they're very frustrated. two workers wearing pepco hard hats take information off a utility pole. if they had an estimate of when the power would come back on, they wouldn't say. for hundreds of thousands of people, this is day four without electricity, day four without air conditioning. >> really, it's extremely, extremely uncomfortable. we are fortunate because we have friends in the area that have power. we were able to stay with them. we live on the third floor. it's just unbearably hot. >> reporter: on warren street northwest, a huge tree still lays in the street. the power lines all tangled up in the branches. just down the block, a utility

pole leans at a precarious angle. damage is so widespread that work crews are spread thin. residents here don't know when the street will be cleared or the power restored, but as frustrating as it is, some are sympathetic. >> these guys are heroes. what they have to deal with out there, we need to remember. >> reporter: but others say the power companies need to do more. >> i have been out periodically walking the dog and i have been looking for pepco truck and tree repair truck and absolutely nothing. >> reporter: also waiting for electricity, the furry residents at the animal rescue league. older animals have been moved into foster homes and those who renane are drinking ice water and being cooled by generator powered fans. >> a lot of our friends and supporters come out and they have donated ice and still need more ice and they've donated blankets and towels because we

can't do laundry. >> we managed to keep the animals as comfortable as possible with fans, we have some generators that are powering those fans, but at the moment, we're still waiting for the air conditioning to come on. >> and the washington animal rescue league has about 150 dogs and cats at their facility. they're holding their own, but as you would imagine, not a great situation. of course, as the day wears on it gets hotter and hotter inside. so, they're doing their best. the animals are fine, we're told. they are not in danger, but certainly, not a terrific situation. in addition to the donations of ice and towels, also looking for donations of gasoline so they can keep the generators going and use those fans. >> megan, thank you. turning to the weather now at 11:05 and what will be another hot day for those still without power those who have to work outside. storm 4 meteorologist veronica johnson is here with the first forecast. veronica, good morning. >> good morning. unfortunately, still trapped

under this massive bubble of heat and humidity, wish that things could at least be a little cooler for us but so many people without power that bubble extends from here in d.c. down south to atlanta and new orleans hit 96 and you're looking at the current heat index values. the temperature and humidity factored together and that extends north to chicago, illinois, and minneapolis, minnesota at 82 and 89 kansas city to 86 in dallas and going to stick around for quite some time. in fact, we're going to get even more heat and humidity coming our way tomorrow. we're already at 90 degrees. a light wind, it's out of the northeast, the dew point temperature at 65 degrees. and that, you can see some of the temperatures there, leesburg 86 to 88 in manassas and 88 in pax river. a lot of locations, many a neighborhoods already rising very quickly with the heat index values sitting at 95 in

culpepper. maybe some bigger storms coming up tomorrow. eun. >> veronica, thank you. metro is helping people beat the heat and they set a metro bus to southeast d.c. so people without power and air conditioning could cool off in the buses. those who cooled off yesterday tell news 4 they appreciated the ac. they say it's been too hot in their homes. a few people woke up this morning in a diner that turned into a cooling center in the district. the cooling center diner near the chevy chase circle stayed open overnight so people could cool off. managers let people spend the night and charge their electronics. getting around parts of northern virginia remains extremely difficult today. trees still block several major roadways and that includes north fill more street near 1st street in arlington. that's where we find tracee wilkins. >> some streets in this arlington neighborhood that have not been touched at all since the storm hit friday and then others like this one, where it

appears that maybe the neighborhood hasn't been touched, but that's not the case. the power company was here and they did some work, but there's still more work that needs to be done before these folks are going to get electricity. people love their trees and this arlington neighborhood nestled near washington boulevard and route 50. but this wooded nook turned on them during last friday's storm. now, on day four, much hasn't changed. one tree still rests on two crushed cars. another tree was completely uprooted and tore a hole in this roof. another tree still rests on power lines and its weight is cracking this utility pole that has yet to come completely down. >> it's a safety issue that at least i would have expected that would have been shored up or something, four days later. >> reporter: peter hogan is one of many neighbors wondering, when will their homes, cars, streets and power lines be rescued from fallen trees? >> my concern is more for the

conditions, the length of time that certain things like a tree on a secondary road and a pole that i think is in danger of doing further damage. >> virginia spokesman says their utility crews are equipped to cut up and remove trees and if the county beats it to them, that's fine, too. at the height of the storm, dominion experienced half a million outages and now nearly 85% of those afecked have been restored. now, dominion crews say they're going to be focusing in smaller neighborhoods like this one and doing some of the more tedious and meticulous work that is necessary to get power back up for folks. now that they're done with the larger scale work, they can really focus on the neighborhoods. meantime, tens of thousands of people are still functioning in the dark and living with this record heat. some like peter are staying. >> we have a basement that's finished and it's cooler. so, we've all been sleeping in the basement.

>> reporter: others couldn't take it any more. >> the first couple days weren't too bad, but we've been making a lot of trips to 7-eleven and giant buying ice. we're staying with friends in shurlingten. >> reporter: spokesman are saying if you reported your outage at the beginning of the storm and have yet to see a crew in your neighborhood, go ahead and call back in. just in case that call was missed the first time. in arlington, i'm tracee wilkins, news 4. pepco still has about 121,000 outages this morning. the company expects to have power restored to 90% of customers affected by 11:00 p.m. friday. joining us now is pepco president, thomas graham. thanks for joining us. 90% by friday. what about the other 10%, how long will they have to wait? >> we're still working on that. thus far we have actually restored service to three out of every four customers. about 75% of those outages have been addressed. we have additional crews coming

in, they're on the system now, about 2,700 personnel are working on this, appreciate the frustration of our customers, but they should know that we're working around the clock, 24/7 to make sure we get power back. >> you can't say how long the other 10% will have to wait? >> difficult to say. wednesday evening we're going to update the estimated times of restoration for all customers who don't have power at that time. >> we've been getting a lot of commrapts about robo calls. someone got a robo call saying the power was restored and it was not and a couple people complained they got them at 2:00 in the morning, 4:00 in the morning and asking about their power situation. is it on? is it flickering? why is this happening in the middle of the night? >> there were a couple calls that have gone out. the outbound calls goes to special need customers and those on life support and we do that at an early stage and another set of calls went out to let customers know to set the expectation that service was going to extend into friday.

other calls customerers request call back to know when their service is restored. if a customer received a call saying their service was restored and has not been restored, we encourage them to call back because that indicates there's another outage further down stream that we still need to address. so, they need to call back in to address that. >> we also took a phone call for somebody who has a loved one at the home crest house in silver spring, which is a seniors community. how does pepco decide which areas receive power first and how do you treat these areas that are affected, especially those in need like the seniors home? >> i can really appreciate the need for service at those facilities, but, remember, we have 443,000 customers out of service. we try to restore service, you didn't see us initially because we were working on our major facilities and then we started to look at hospitals and public safety and water treatment plants. our priority for us right now are those senior centers and those nursing homes. we have an extensive list and

we've been working in cooperation with the government to work through that list to restore service to those customers as quickly as possible. >> the past year, you run a huge ad campaign promising you're ready for everything. customers say you were not ready this time. how do you respond to frustrated customers and the complaints about unreliability? >> i can understand their frustrations. ever since 2010, we made a real commitment to improve service reliability. over the next five years, investing 9d $10 million in reliability projects. let them know that these projects are ongoing. now, when you have a catastrophic event like this and our infrastructure is devastated just like all the utilities in ohio and west virginia, there are going to be outages and there is nothing we can do on the reliability side that will prevent that, but each and every day we're working on reliability. >> thomas graham, pepco's

president, thank you for joining us this day. let's check in with danella sealock to get an update on the traffic and on the roads. >> this was the scene earlier, 395 northbound. we had an earlier crash tied up traffic and the hov lanes shot earlier and this is one of the multi-vehicle crash in this area and shut 395 northbound down for some time, but, let's take a live look at how things are traveling nice and smoothly. a live look at 395northbound. no issues to report at this time. that's good. now, also, if you're traveling seminary road, it's closed still because of the earlier water main break yesterday and closes between eecos avenue. mun montgomery county investigators are looking at what caused a fire on a ride-on bus last night. there were no passengers on the bus and firefighters quickly got the fire under control. it did cause some traffic delays

while firefighters put out the fire. the maryland department of transportation is now investigating the cause of the fire. this is at least the sixth ride-on bus fire in the past three years. it is now 11:15. coming up, we'll continue our coverage of the storm cleanup. we'll talk to a montgomery county man who has had some bad luck with storms just weeks after finishing repairs on his home from hurricane irene. he has to clean up all over again. plus, the national mall could be extra crowded this year because several fourth of july celebrations have been canceled celebra[ male announcer ]nceled are you paying more

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rvelsh welcome back. right now firefighters say they're making progress fighting colorado colorado's. the fire is 70% contained. firefighters hope to have it fully contained by july 16th. most of the people that have been evacuated have been allowed to return. so far the fire has destroyed nearly 350 homes. the cause of the fire is under investigation. hang around after the fireworks tomorrow night and you may get another show. check this out. a huge solar flare could put more lights in the sky on july 4th. a cloud of charged particals is expected to hit the earth's

atmosphere tomorrow night which means right after the fireworks some brighter than normal auroras are expected. very cool. hope to see some of that. >> that is very cool. we're talking just a second ago. we showed that video of those areas that are so dry and still burning. there are 16, 16 states right now that are looking at a severe to an extreme drought and the state, complete states have banned fireworks displayed. we are lucky to still have the one taking place at the capital tomorrow. >> any glitches? >> little bit of a hiccup and that could come from up above. mother nature may say, hey, wait a minute. i want to get my fireworks in. heat safety here, too. dress in that lightweight, light color clothing and drink lots of water. even if you're like, i'm really not thirsty use four cups an hour, not caffeinated.

take those breaks in the shade and make sure not to leave, even your dogs, in the car. check on the elderly, too. all right, talking about higher humidity for today and tomorrow. dew point in temperatures for today will be around 65 degrees. that is humid. tomorrow the higher humidity. very humid as our dew point temperature runs up to around 70 degrees. as to where it is right now, 65 degrees that dew point temperature and 90 the actual air temperature. we're rising very quickly. other locations lusby, maryland, 86 degrees and germantown, maryland 88 and andrews air force base also at 89 degrees currently. take a look at the nation. temperatures down to the south, 88 in atlanta, georgia. come around here to areas west. jackson, memphis, 88 degrees in st. louis. this is one huge bubble of high heat and humidity.

that's not only going to stay with us, but as it shifts a little to the east, we're going to see slightly higher temperatures and humidity coming our way for tomorrow. the heat index here at 92 and 95 a little higher now down to the south. tomorrow will feel uncomfortable. rain, not any rain right now, but earlier part of today, we did have a few showers making their way just down to the south and east around charles county, around areas of st. mary's county. later today, there's the possibility late, i think, i think this is a little early of some showers maybe even a thunderstorm coming into our area and moving through. about maybe 9:00, 10:00, 11:00 p.m. and then shift down to the south and east and tomorrow morning a few clouds and some folks may see mainly areas i-95 and some folks see a lingering shower for tomorrow but a better chance in here during the afternoon and evening hours. there's 8:30 around fireworks

time. still maybe a shower or two right around d.c., so, that puts us then at the national mall, with hot and humid conditions. the temperature 89 degrees with possible storms being 20% to 30% chance. so, only a very slight chance and the beach, too, a chance there. we'll see a high ocean city rahoveth. we keep the threat of showers and storms in the forecast and friday the high 97 and we'll take a look at that saturday and sunday forecast coming up in just a couple of minutes. >> thank you, veronica. let's check the med-day traffic with danella sealock. >> if you're traveling in laurel, fire activity is slowing you down. at pineway drive. also, debris still blocking enterprise road, and closing the road down completely between glendale road to belvedere road. no issues in maryland at route

50 nice and clear inbound and outbound to annapolis, no issues. back over to you. 11:22. a bouquet toss from a wedding that you will not want to miss. before you pick up that storm debris in your yard, we have some advice on avoiding poison ivy. first, here's a look at what's hot on nbcwashington.com. [ male announcer ] are you paying more and more and more for cable -- and enjoying it less? upgrade to verizon fios internet, tv and phone for just $99.99 a month, guaranteed for a year with no annual contract. or choose a two-year contract and get $200 back and a two-year price guarantee. fios is a 100% fiber-optic network that delivers america's fastest, most consistent, most reliable internet. and now, it's faster than ever.

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many montgomery county residents will have to go else where for their fireworks fix this fourth of july. several displays canceled because of storm damage that includes gathertburg. the big celebration on the national will go on. a capital fourth will include a concert with performances by cool and the gang and the season one winner of "the voice." the wedding tradition is getting some big laughs online. posted this video from a wedding in niagara falls, canada, this weekend. bride throws the bouquet and one woman is so excited. there she goes. she dives to try to catch it and trips over her feet halfway through crashing to the floor. she was not hurt. she also agreed to posting the

video online. yikes. 11:26. a tough break for a montgomery county man whose house was damaged during hurricane irene. we'll tell you what happened during friday's storm. veronica johnson will have your firework forecast. the search for amelia

right now on news 4 midday. we're following some breaking news from the entertainment world. there are reports that actor and comedian andy griffith has died. a close family friend tells a north carolina television station that he passed away this morning. andy griffith was 86. also breaking this midday, word that metro will run through loudoun county. the board of supervisors voted on the silver line project. the board had until tomorrow to decide to be part of the project and much more on today's vote and what it means for the silver line at news 44:00, 5:00, 6:00 and 11:00. here's where we stand after the storm right now. federal government offices are

open, but at least 22 people have died from friday's storm nationwide. at least five of them in the d.c. metro area. traffic signals in our area are still dark today. 140 traffic lights are out in montgomery county alone. police are asking drivers to be cautious when approaching dark signals and treat them as four-way stops if other traffic is approaching. millions are still cleaning up after friday's storm and, unfortunately, one montgomery woman has experience in picking up the pieces. a giant tree fell on to john's home this pastwalk. it is the exact same spot where a tree fell on to his house during hurricane irene last august. >> nobody's hurt, so, we'll start over, again. what is your reaction to the fact that you finished repairs two weeks ago? >> well, it's part of life. the challenges. you play the hand you're dealt. >> he certainly has a good

attitude about his bad luck with trees. downs trees and no power. prince george's county suffered plenty of damage in friday's storm and first 911 calls made to emergency officials as people witnessed the storm's aftermath. >> hello. >> hi, you called 911. >> yes. >> the tree has fell on my house. >> the gas station roof. >> the cover over the pumps. >> neither one of the callers was hurt during the storm. county officials say between friday night and sunday emergency crews received more than 19,000 calls. in addition to storm damage and power outages all over our area, complaints of price gouging by hotels and gas stations. news 4 reported over the weekend that one website was traveling hundreds of dollars above normal

value for a hotel room. also reports of higher prices at gas stations, but haven't seen any proof of that. maryland does not have a law prohibiting price gouging no and no reports in d.c. and virginia. let's check, once again, with veronica johnson to see the latest on our forecast. any relief in sight for these people without power? unfortunately not. today is day six of this really intense heat. we've seen temperatures over the last six days. there have been 90 degrees or higher and could be looking at an 11-day stretch. 104 degrees on friday. 97 on saturday and 99 where we were on sunday and yesterday we hit 95 and that's exactly where we could be, again today. around 95, 96 degrees. temperatures throughout the area right now, college park, maryland, and green belt and camp springs at 89 and annapolis at 88 and little cooler near the water and 88 degrees currently

in leesburg, virginia. satellite and radar had a few showers passing through southern maryland this morning. those are gone. later today, we have the chance for a few showers and storms. that is not until 8:00, 9:00, 10:00 p.m. or so. until then, we're hot and humid 93 to 96 degrees today. but some humidity and then 80 to 86 for your evening forecast and by tomorrow morning, warm and muggy with a chance for some showers and storms. we'll talk more about that and our better chance coming tomorrow with the seven-day. let's check on the mid-day traffic, once again, danella sealock with the latest. >> i had my eye on an accident, this is southbound i-97. please be aware of the crash there. heading over to fire activity still taking place. this is at pineway drive. use caution if that's your commute and traveling route 97 at carsmills road. traffic lights still out in that

area. approach any traffic signal that is dark as a four-way stop sign and use caution. eun, back over to you. >> thank you. this morning d.c. police are asking for your help to solve a burglary at a library. police are searching for these five people. take a look, detectives say the suspects broke into the francis a. gregory neighborhood library last month. they say the suspects took several pieces of computer equipment. if you know anyone in this video, contact police immediately. a former astronaut with ties to our area has been killed in a freak jet ski accident. alan poindexter died when he the water scooter he was riding collided with a jet ski his son was riding. he commanded space shuttle "discovery's" second to last mission. two navy pilots will not face any disciplinary action for a jet crash into a virginia beach apartment complex.

navy officials say a rare dual engine malfunction caused the jet to lose power and dive into that complex. the jet had just taken off from naval air station in sh. the two pilots were able to eject just before impact and were not hurt. it injured seven people, but no one was killed in that crash. well, don't bet on it, but a plan to expand gambling in maryland may not be off the table just yet. according to multiple reports, house leaders met behind closed doors in annapolis yesterday. lawmakers are still trying to decide to add a sixth casino in prince georgia's county. the house speaker michael bush said the group did not reach any conclusion. governor matt o'malley said he will consider calling a special session on this issue later this month or early august. well, crabs may be harder to find for your july fourth feast than you thought. the department of natural resources said crabbing in the

upper chesapeake bay is slowing because the crabbing season started early because of the warm spring. they reached record levels in the bay this year. more than 750,000 this year, up more than 75% from last year, but most are still juveniles and can't be caught until late summer or early fall. have to wait until then. we now know who will be the third american women to run the. that means felix will get the final spot on the olympic team. the sprinters were supposed to race last night, more than a week after they finished in a dead heat during the olympic trials. >> i pretty much told her, allison, i'm not in the right place to run this race. i don't want to do a run off 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.

we wish both women the best. well, today a team of researchers will begin an expedition to try, once again, to solve one of this country's great histories. kristen dahlgren has more on the expedition. >> reporter: she was a pioneer of flight whose feat made imaginations soar. >> i hope it will increase women. >> reporter: in 1937 amelia h r earhart and her navigators set out. >> a course that covers 27,000 miles. >> reporter: she almost made it. an astonishing piece of flying from california to new guinea over the remote south pacific. amelia earhart disappeared, triggering a major search and invoking one of the major mysteries of our time. her plane went down near a group of tiny, uninhabited islands.

they believe she landed safely. you think she was a cast away? >> oh, yes. there is quite good evidence that she was a cast away. >> reporter: excavations on the island have turned up products that appear to be manufactured in the u.s. in the 1930s. a woman's compact, a flight jacket zipper and a jar that may have once held freckle cream. >> earhart had freckles and she didn't like her freckles. >> reporter: add that to a newly discovered photoy taken three months after her disappearance that seems to show something. >> it does appear that we have a picture of a piece of debris from her airplane on the reef of this island. >> reporter: armed with new deep water submersibles gillespie and his team will test his theory that the airplane was washed off the reef where it landed into the depths below. if they find anything on sonar, this goes in the water. it could give us our first clear

pictures of earhart's plane in 75 years. skeptics say earhart crashed into the ocean else where or that 75 years in churning seas would have broken up the plane. but researchers are confident. if there is something out there -- >> we'll see it. >> reporter: a new team of explorers on the hunt for one of history's greatest adventurers and the answers that could finally put a mystery and a heroin to rest. kristen dahlgren, nbc news, honolulu. 11:49. still ahead, a case of fraud. the emission from one of the world's largest drugmakers. poison ivy, how to avoid it and whether those

there is encouraging news out of georgia this morning. aimee copeland, the 24-year-old who lost a foot, leg and both hands to a deadly flesh eating bacteria is out of the hospital. she will now spend six to eight weeks in rehabilitation. her parents joined natalie morales on "today" show and said her progress is unbelievable, but still has a long road ahead. >> amazing the things we take

for granted in our life. the ability to get up and go fix a cup of coffee and go sit back down, again. she has to basically relearn that ability just to get up and go get whatever she needs to satisfy her needs. you know, whether it's to go to the bathroom, to fix her something to eat, so, she just has to learn to be able to have some mobility in her life, again. >> copeland is also receiving a lot of support from her community and has held a race in her honor to raise money for her prosthetics and contractors have off aered to build an addition to her parents' home where she can recover. now, that the damage is done, people want to know who is supposed to pay for the downed trees that damaged hundreds of homes and cars. the answers are pretty straight forward. if a tree falls on your house, your home owner's insurance will pay for the damage and may possibly pay for tree removal. if your neighbor's tree fell on your house, it is your insurance that will pay. if a tree fell on your car, comprehensive auto insurance pays for the damage.

if a tree fell and it did not damage any property, it will likely have, you will likely to have to pay to have it removed. a warning this morning for folks who have been relying on generators for power. takes only minutes before generators emit deadly carbon monoxide. keep generators far away from windows and vents and always keep a working carbon monoxide detector in your home. never burn charcoal grills in your home. small gains on wall street. let's check in with kayla. she joins us live with more on that and the rest of the morning headlines. good morning. >> good morning. markets are slightly positive ahead of july fourth. the s&p, nasdaq and the dow all holding steady gains. the dow up by about 62 points and nasdaq gaining by roughly 20 and then s&p up by roughly 7. bar clay's capital is in the spotlight, yet again.

manipulating key interest rates and now bob dimon is resigning early today as well as newly minted chief operating officer. the inquiry is ongoing. drug giant glaxosmithkline reaches a settlement with the department of justice over charges that it packaged for uses not approved by regulators. glaxo will spend a record $3 billion to settle the charges. u.s. auto charges for the month of june soaring past expectations. ford sales rose nearly 7%, based on demand for suvs. a lot of those new cars hitting the road for the fourth of july holiday and according to aaa, gas prices will fall below that $4 average mark for the first time this week in several months. today, averaging about $3.96. back to you. >> kayla, thanks so much. have a great holiday. >> you, too. a lot of people have spent the last three days cleaning up lawn debris and now some of the

people are dealing with an itchy problem. to prevent poison ivy and poison oak and knowing the difference. good morning to you, always good to see you. >> good morning. >> is poison ivy the most common of the three? many people don't know when is the most common. >> it depends on which area of the country you live in. we have predominant all three. ivy, circumstance sumac and oak. the ivy that grows on the fence or the house and ilths it's totally different. it's like an english ivy. leaves of three, let them be. that's only poison ivy and poison oak. it could have up to 11, 15 leaves on the branch and it grows from the ground. it doesn't usually grow on the fence or on the house like, you know, your english ivy does. >> so, what is the best way to figure out what you're looking at and to avoid it altogether?

>> well, it's recognizing what the plants look like. that's the first thing. some hikers will actually take a stick or a device and kind of cut the leaf and it turns almost black on the leaf at the injury site. so, that's another way. the other way people know they've been in it is when they start breaking out. >> what happens when you first see poison ivy on your skin? is it severe itching? what comes next? >> basically a reaction where you swipe the plant and it's normally on the legs or if you've been carrying brush, it can be on the arms. but it's usually, it looks like someone whipped you, in a sense. and it blisters in that site and then your whole body starts reacting. a hypersensitivity reaction because you can react under your clothing and everywhere you know the plant didn't touch that area. your whole body starts to go through this itchy reaction and blisters are probably the primary lesion that you're going to see. >> it sounds so painful and

awful. how do you stop the itching and prevent it from spreading? >> clothing and protective clothing that you're going to not expose yourself to the plant if you happen to be in that environment. two, if you are in that environment, within 30 minutes, you should wash your skin with soap and water. that gets the resin off the skin. and then if the reaction has already started, you weren't able to do any of the above, you want to see a dermatologist because you have to sometimes have systemic steroids to counteract the reaction. using over the counter preparations will help with the blisters, but, at that point, you have a hypersensitivity reaction going on. >> that calamine lotion, the pink lotion you swab all over is not going to be enough? >> not really. >> what about the rashes and the blisters. if it goes untreated, it sounds pretty painful. how do you make sure? do you do cold compresses? >> there are soaps that actually, one that i just mentioned or salts you can get in a salt bath.

it tends to dry the blisters. the main thing is to get on treatment first. like i was saying, systemic steroids is what we have to do and sometimes we can treat minor cases with topical steroids. one thing about it is the blisters aren't contagious to anyone else. you don't have to worry about that. what the contagious part is say if you have a pet who is wandering into the brush and then the resin gets on their fur, then you pet the animal and then you can get poison ivy that way. but from person to person, you generally don't get it. >> okay, even after you blistered or have a rash and you touch anybody -- >> it's not contagious. >> what about any other worries about exposure once you have the poison ivy to other sorts of illnesses or other rashes? >> no, other than itching to death. >> and how long will it last once you start the itching? >> it can last weeks on end. i've seen it last weeks on end and then, finally, the patient comes to get something done. but that's the hypersensitivity

reaction of it. the resin reaction and the blisters, that's kind of over with, but the whole body is reacting at that point. >> if you can't help yourself when you're scratching, will that cause to spread? >> no, you're not spreading it even on yourself. it's not contagious in that way. correct. >> very good to know. that's a little bit consulation. >> be careful when you're out there cleaning the yard because it's all around us. like i said, poison oak, poison ivy and we're cleaning the brush and we're all waddling through it and i've seen a few reactions already. >> so, wear the long sleeve, even though it's hot. try to wear the long pants. >> i know it's really hot, but you have to cover yourself. >> always nice to see you, thank you so much for that great advice. it is now 11:51. find out what movie is opening in time for the july fourth holiday. veronica johnson will be back

[ mom ] to me, chex is not just a little bowl of cereal, it's kind of a big deal. to find nutritious and gluten-free cereals my whole family actually loves? well, the word "wow" comes to mind. and then a friend told me chex has five flavors that are gluten-free. even a cinnamon one the kids love. a nutritious cereal that makes everybody happy? like i said, wow. [ male announcer ] chex cereal. five flavors. good and gluten free.

welcome back two thieves get caught red handed in colorado or red pawed. a woman was shocked to see two bear cubs around her car looking for food. there is a car seat, so there should be food somewhere in there. she called wildlife experts to remove the cubs, but not before

taking a picture of them. both of them seem to have looks that say, we know we got caught. very cute. there is a legal dog fight between ex-lovers. a new york man is suing his ex-girlfriend accusing her of blocking him from a social networking page about his popular dog. this morning on "today" show scott smith talked about the web page in dispute. sammy and the city. >> she locked me out of the website, somewhere in the week of the second week of april, she locked me out of the website and instagram which was our main driver to the traffic to the int internet. she said you signed a notarized document that gave her co-ownership of sammy and that you, in fact, were the ones that changed the passwords and not her. how do you respond to her? >> if that's the case, how come i can't get into the website or use instagram.

>> he is suing her for $500,000. they say the site did not generate any money but since she blocked him from posting on the site, she is jeopardizing a company from buying the site and making a profit for him. >> hey, watch out, i'm swinging here. everyone's favorite web slinger is back in action. the amazing "spider-man" this reboot is a darker version of the comicbook super hero and delves into the story of his parents' disappearance. peter parker discovers his life isn't what it seems. "the amazing spider-man" is out today and it's rated pg-13. i'm excited to see that one. let's look at some of the stories we're following this afternoon. pat lawson muse joins us. >> you're a spider-man fan. >> i am.

it looks fun. >> i bet your kids will like it, too. the latest on storm damage, of course, and the cleanup and the ongoing power outages. ♪ this is my moment my once in a lifetime ♪ plus a special guest will be in our studio, ben barine stops by. he's here in town and he'll be performing in d.c. we'll tell you about that. tonight, we'll give you a sneak peek at preparations for the capital fourth celebration. also an exclusive interview with one of the stars of nbc's hit show "smash." all that and more starting on news 4 at 4:00. eun. >> we'll see you then, pat, thank you. time for a final check of our forecast. veronica johnson joins us to talk about the heat and humidity and holidays. >> that heat and humidity, going right on up and it's going to be pretty impressive 86 in lusby, maryland. and close to 90 in montgomery

county. high temperatures today topping out 96. so, it's going to be hot and hot, more humid tomorrow. we're talking about some storms during the afternoon for tomorrow. so, we'll keep an eye on that. >> all right, veronica, thanks so much. that does it for news 4 midday. thanks for joining us. be sure to tune in for news 4 at 4:00, 5:00, 6:00 and i'llby back tomorrow at 4:28. hope you'll join us then and until then, hope you have a great day. we'll see you tomorrow.