lives of customers. power crews from florida have arrived along with crews from other states and late this afternoon some crews from canada came to help with the power restoration effort. meanwhile, frustration is growing tonight among some residents still waiting on crews to help clean up the fallen trees and snapped power lines. they say they're not sure pepco even knows there's a problem. chris gordon is live in silver spring with more. chris? >> reporter: good evening. behind me you see a transformer dead, power lines down, and look at the sign in front of me. it says do not enter, wires down on the street. now yao think pepco made that sign. this 9-year-old neighbor did. what's your name? >> vieira. >> reporter: why did you do that sign? >> it's dangerous over there. >> reporter: because as you see behind me the trees down, the power lines down into the street. ironically, the neighbors here say that they received a call, some of them, at 3:00 a.m. from pepco saying the power's back on. and they returned to the

neighborhood and you know what they found out, power's not on. inside homes here the daytime temperature is 89 degrees or higher. there are 1,500 homes in this neighborhood. they say pepco told them the power's back on. >> sunday when i looked at the interactive map, it said that there were no wires down and no crew was assigned. >> it's out. what can we say. the power is out. there's nothing they can do about it fast enough. >> reporter: in bethesda, this huge tree with roots taller than a basketball player blocks lincoln. it pulled down electrical wires and neighbors wonder whether pepco or montgomery county will fix it. >> pepco was out here yesterday taking a look at it but they couldn't do anything because the tree was in the way. so that makes me think, well, is the county coming out next? and if so, when? >> reporter: homeowners with fallen trees in their yards are paying the price to clear the

debris. >> it can range anywhere from smaller things, just a few hundred dollars to several thousand dollars. the you're talking smaller tree, if it's a large tree and very dangerous, then of course it's going to be, you know, more. >> reporter: larry birch has power but showed me why he's still worried. a live wire in the street running across his cedar shake roof. >> pepco came by and said it was a problem and they'd get a crew back here. >> reporter: they defined this as a problem and that was when? >> sunday. >> reporter: you've seen a crew as of when? >> we have not seen the crew yet, but i hope they come by soon. >> reporter: well, we're back looich in the neighborhood now with a transformer down in the street here on high temperature street. and we want to tell you that montgomery county council wants to hold a special debriefing thursday, july 19th, to find out why four days after this severe storm 100,000 customers are

still without power and 100 of the 800 traffic signals at intersections are still dark. that's the latest live in montgomery county. i'm chris gordon, news 4. back to you. >> all right. thank you, chris. this is a problem in other neighborhood where things are still dangerous, power lines and trees falling on a car in silver spring this morning sparking a fire that spread to at least one other car. this happened in the 2900 block of woodstock avenue. at one point, firefighters were concerned that the blaze would spread to a nearby building, but there were no reports of injuries. and there is sheer frustration in this takoma park neighborhood that has been throughout without power since friday night. a huge tree on boston avenue came down on the power lines knocking out service to that area. most of the homes lost power friday, they got it back, and then lost it again yesterday. one woman says she's called pepco every day and each time they tell her it's the first they've heard of the situation. pepco's president says the utility company is doing its best. >> we do take responsibility. we know there are somethings

that had to be change and we're making that effort and we're making the investment in the system to do that. but i also say what's taking place right now is really outside the norm. we're just working through it as best we can, 24/7. they work -- our crews work in 16-hour shifts and we'll do that until the very last customer is restored. >> pepco says most customers should get their power back on by 11:00 friday night. uprooted trees, downed power lines causing big problems across arlington, this neighborhood off washington and route 50 still dealing with the damage four days later. thousands have no a. dplvmt this sweltering heat. the power company who urges any customer who has not seen a crew in their area to contact them again. this is no time to go days without air conditioning and it doesn't seem like we'll gate break from the heat. doug has a look at the conditions at this hour. doug? we won't get a break. it will get worse before it gets better in the next couple days as temperatures will go up, humidity will go up.

look at the humidity out there right now, currently 96 degrees. that humidity only 24%, so that's not adding to the heat. it will be, however, adding to the heat as we move on through the night tonight and into tomorrow. temperatures right now 93 in frederick, 93 in manassas, 93 in culpepper. look at the radar picture. it is lighting up now. we have a lot of showers and a lot of thunderstorms off to the west. nothing severe arnold our area, but we are watching these very closely around i-81, warren county, shenandoah county, numerous showers and storms there. i'll keep you updated and let you know what else is moving in behind these storms. and power companies, they are now getting reinforcements from out of state. but they still have a lot of work ahead of them. darcy spencer sent the day in arlington where some people finally got their power restored today. i'm sure it's happy days, darcy. >> it sure is. we're live along aberdeen street. unfortunately, this is one of the areas that they don't have

power just yet. you can see the power lines are down, trees have toppled onto homes, and the people are waiting to get their power on. but some people are fortunate enough to get their power restored including one lovely woman we met here this afternoon. she was so grateful that she hugged the utility workers. >> yes. whooo! great! the power's on! >> reporter: nora and her dog have power in their arlington home for the first time since friday night. it was a canadian contract crew working in her neighborhood for hours that got it going. that deserved some hugs. >> miserable. very bad. but it's very difficult to go to a hotel when you have a pet. >> reporter: it's been slow going, but dominion power and its force of contractors have been focusing on getting the lights and air conditioning back on for tens of thousands of people in northern virginia. for some, it's a welcomed wake-up call. you got your power back when? >> last night at midnight.

we're very grateful. >> reporter: were you up when it happened? >> no. it woke me up, but i was glad to wake up to it. >> reporter: still, more than 70,000 dominion customers are still sweating it out. a 100-year-old oak toppled onto garage and roof of rick's home. lit likely take months to make all the repairs. >> heard the bang and actually the tree hit our house and put a big hole in it. and our car is right over there, actually. got totalled as well. >> our next big goal is thursday where we hope to have about 90% to 95% back, and after that, that's when the work gets really hard. there are going to be people who go into the weekend. >> reporter: many are preparing to spend what could be the fifth night in their hot homes. >> the sun goes down, and you go to bed and the sun comes up and you get up. so it's a different kind of life. >> reading, trying my best to keep cool, staying in the shade. it's not much fun. >> reporter: now, i mentioned

that we're live along aberdeen street. there's a couple who lives on this street, they had their 50th wedding anniversary on saturday. friday night a huge tree fell on their home. they had dozens of people here in town for the celebration that was to happen on saturday. they were going to renew their vows and have a big party. unfortunately, all of that got canceled. we're going to have their story on news 4 at 6:00. darcy spencer, news 4. >> for the latest on the forecast and power outages, we invite you to stay with news 4 and nbcwashington.com. now to a story reported first on news 4 during last week weekend's storm. two d.c. firefighting crews were dispatched with fire trucks to fill up a private swimming pool. the firefighters union is calling it a gross misuse of resources. the d.c. fire chief says he's now investigating. tom sherwood's in our newsroom working the story for us. >> jim, it was a big storm,

thousands of public safety calls, but only one to fill up a swimming pool. utd's just a modest row of duplex houses in northeast washington. and 324 55th street skwit zits quietly among them. but the backyard is filled with four outdoor tables and lots of chairs and this, a 1,000-gallon swimming and wading pool big enough for at least ten adults. now news 4 has obtained an internal d.c. fire department document that shows the private pool was filled last saturday just hours after the big storm hit the region. [ sirens ] crews from engine company 30 about a half-mile away. firefighters said an engine had to make two trips to deliver 500 gallons each. all while public safety crews were scrambling to respond to emergency calls in the wake of the storm that has prompted thousands of calls for emergency and other help. >> it's a highly unusual request, and a highly unusual on a normal day much less given a

state of emergency such as we had on saturday. on average we do about 450 runs in a 24-hour period, and i would say our run volume was triple that day. >> reporter: ed smith is president of local 36, the firefighters union. >> our engines only hold 500 gallons so they had to dump one tank and go back to a hydrant and fill up another 500 and dunn the second tank. we can't lose sight of what we're here about, and that's to respond to emergencies. >> reporter: news 4 attempted to contact the owner of the home, but no one came to the door. and someone inside ordered news 4 off the property. the fire chief says he's now investigating the incident. you'll hear from him coming up on news 4 at 6:00. jim? >> see you then. tom sherwooding thank you. we have developing news. former commerce secretary john bryson will not face criminal charges in connection with two hit-and-run traffic accidents in southern california last month. bryson said he had suffered a seizure before the accident.

on june 21st, he resigned from president obama's cabinet and today prosecutors in california announce they do not plan to file charges. they had no immediate comment. when we come right back on news 4 at 5:00, many animals are also suffering in the aftermath of the storm. we'll show you sow howe some rescue animals are coping without power. america's obesity problem continues to spread to our children. >> and doctors struggling to treat kids with type two diabetes. ♪ keep your eye on that grand old flag ♪ >> recognize that smashing face?

a hearty thank you to firefighters in colorado from the people of colorado springs. every night when exhausted crews return from battling the blaze in waldo canyon, they're greeted with cheers and signs. some parents bring their kids to teach them lessons of sacrifice and appreciation. more than 300 homes have been destroyed in the wildfires. more than 70% of the blaze is now contained. >> meanwhile, just a day after a military grounded the c-130

transport planes used to battle the fires, they are back in the air tonight. the grounding followed a deadly crash over the weekend. every year doctors are diagnosing more than 3,600 new cases of type two diabetes -- in children. that's 20 times more than it was back in the 1980s. we have more on this troubling trend. >> this is a troubling story. type two diabetes has always been thought of as an dull disease, but with the nation's obesity epidemic causing a skyrocketing number of children to be diagnosed, doctors are finding it is much harder to treat the disease in kids than it is in adults. and that's putting them at higher risk for serious and even deadly complications. >> he told me that i had diabet diabetes, and that's -- was a big shake-up. >> reporter: emmanuel is only 13 years old but he's been living

with type two diabetes for two years now. doctors say the condition is a result of his weight and poor eating habits. >> my favorite food is pizza. i eat a lot of pizza. i usually eat like a hamburger and some fries and i drink a lot of soda. >> reporter: while jerry is now working to eat healthier and lose some weight, doctors worry he's part of a growing number of children with type two diabetes who have trouble getting the disease under control. >> it really does seem that type two diabetes is different in children than in adults. >> johns hopkins children center pediatric endocrinologist dr. david cook says they don't know why the disease acts differently in children. some believe it's the result of adolescent hormones that react differently to insulin. problem is left uncontrolled, diabetes can have def stating complications like blindness and kidney, heart, and nerve diseases. >> those things happened in adults that were getting diabetes in their 50s and 60s. so when we think about children getting diabetes when they're 10

or 15, they've got many, many years of life to put them at risk of these complications. so i think that's the really scary thing. >> emmanuel jerry has been struggling to get his diabetes under control since he was diagnosed at age 11. it's caused hospitalizations, emergency room visits, and it's sparked his mother's greatest fear. >> that he was going to die, that they told him if he loses weight and exercises and takes care of himself. >> reporter: but doctors say the best medicine is prevention. >> it's much easier to avoid gaining weight than to lose weight, and so finding some way of preventing obesity in childhood clearly is going to be a big key. >> reporter: that's just one example. many of the studies about this issue are pretty grim. they're finding that even with lifestyle changes and medication it is really tough to get type two diabetes under control when it happens to children. so prevention is really key

here. wendy, jim? >> thank you, dorian. all right. doug's here now. how's the rest of this week looking? saturday has got the blinking red light all over it. >> 101 is the forecast temperature for sad. we could be near 105 with a heat index, so i think we'll see some heat advisories coming in. i don't think we'll reach the excessive heat warning threshold we did the other day, but we could be close to that. out there right now, it is on the warm side, but the good news is dew points have been down, which means that humidity has been down, which means that we haven't been talking about that heat index very much. out there right now, current temperature sitting at 96 degrees. you notice right there in that live picture we've got some clouds that are streaming in. that from some upstream storms that are making their way our way. right now, 96 degrees at the airport, humidity only 24%. as i said, the heat index not a factor. still the same as the actual temperature so it's not feeling any warmer out there. here's what's going on. 89 in martinsburg, 88 in

winchester, but here's where the heat is. 95 in la plata, 95 in baltimore, 90 in annapolis. cooler numbers to the west as we have thunderstorm activity towards clark county, shenandoah, warren, and luray seeing showers. they have yet to move across the blue ridge so, we'll see if they do that. here's where one of those showers is. it was over berryville earlier, now towards blue mon, starting to die down moving east towards the mountains. back to the west, strassburg, front royal, some pretty big thunderstorms there. no lightning associated with these as of yet. i haven't seen lightning strikes. but there has been heightening to the north and west and this is into pennsylvania. this whole line is making its way our way. once again very dry atmosphere around washington. as they do come in, they'll continue to moisten the atmosphere up a little bit, and that may allow for some of these to move on throughout the evening hours. that would be a good thing, would help to cool things down a little bit, but it would raise

dew points. high temperatures across the region. we hit 97 today, 99 in raleigh, 99 in atlanta, 100 in st. louis, and 100 in wichita. so this heat wave is really encompassing a very large part of the country, an that is only going to continue. for us, we've got a frontal boundary, that warm front will move up. that warm front will bring in higher dew points, more humidity, so tomorrow, a very hot and humid day with a better chance of thunderstorms all across the area. so, yes, it stays hot, yes, it's humid. but we have to watch out for some thunderstorms during the day tomorrow. i think less of a chance of storms on our thursday. but even hotter as temperatures approach that 100 death grooe mark thursday afternoon. partly cloudy, a slight chance of showers and storms, best chance to the west. 84 to 90 degrees as you move on through the evening. tomorrow morning, partly cloudy, warm and muggy, 69 to about 78, so a warm and muggy star to your day. tomorrow afternoon we'll get into the 90s or get up into the 90s. 93 to 97 degrees. a pretty good chance of showers and storms, any storms that do develop tomorrow could be

strong, maybe severe. once again we're talking about that heat index about 100 tomorrow evening on the mall, temperature around 89 degrees, warm and humid, possible storms for the fireworks all around the area. i think most of us should be dry. but keep a watchful eye to the sky. the next four day, 99 on your thursday. 101 on sad. we get into the 80s, hooray, as we start next week. we really need a cooldown. >> we do. thank you. coming up on news 4 at 5:00, another bus fire has caused new concern as an investigation continues into what's sparking these fires. the funding feud in loudoun county is over. looks like metro to dulles is back on track. we'll meet a golf pro playing an endurngs game fueled by memories of a friendship.

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no matter how much you love golf, this is enough this heat. a local golfer has decided to stay on the green round the clock. >> he's made of tough stuff. he frese haymarket, virginia, playing golf 24 hours. >> some people think about golf for 24 hours a day, but one pro is taking it a couple of swings further. starting this morning, hunter

wood will play for 24 hours in a row putting the fun back in fund-raising. his endurance fueled by memories of a friendship. for more, we'll head to hay mark, virginia. >> we're at 6:59. on the nose. i think it's been three years now that in december i lost my best friend and my oldest friend, as well, my friend steve. we grew up next door to each other in a very small town in pennsylvania. we were best friends ever since -- you know, ever since the first day we met. we always played golf together. every day, sometimes 54 holes. probably four years ago when he found out he was diagnosed with rectal cancer. didn't take too long. it was early december, about three years ago that it took him. our clubs every year do something to raise money for american cancer society. first year i did it so eight hours, and it was so well received that when it came time to do it again the next year, i

thought how can i top this and we did 14 hours. we raised $7,000. i'm thinking what am i going to do for my fund-raiser this year. i need something bigger or different than last year. i'm going to go over 14 hours, let's swing for a home run and go for 24 hours. we're assuming about ten holes an hour so, 24 hours we're hoping for 240 holes. that's, you know, a lofty goal, but we'll see what happens. so many people have asked me, how are you going do this for 24 hours or why would you do it for 24 hours? and i think about it, it's nothing compared to what a lot of these people are going through or have gone through. that's kind of what keeps me going. there are some times where i wonder what the heck am i doing for 24 hours, but, you know, i just honestly i look around, there are so many members following us and supporting it, makes it kind of easy to keep going. steve played for fun. he was one of these kind of natural athletes kind of people,

and it was frustrating because i would practice and he would still play as well as i did. but i just competed more than he did, but he had -- he probably had more fun doing it just because it was his personality to have more fun doing anything. the one thing i remember about him the most, no matter what was going on he was always smiling and laughing. it could have been the most competitive things or serious things, he was always smiling and laughing and that's what's helped me keep my advantage of doing it for such a long period, just do it the way he did it. >> hunter is being sponsored by a number of family and friends. he raised $7,000 as you heard him say last year, 14 hours. he isn't guessing yet what he'll raise this year. depends on how long he'll go. he's 10 1/2 hours in on the nose as we speak. we're still out there following. he's determined to top that number this year. if you would like to help, you can logon to his website, hwood @toll brothers.

>> can we put this on our website? >> let's do it. right now. >> good. just tell jim. he'll put it right on. we should. >> the only time in the world i would ever give my husband a pass for golf. >> yeah. >> lususually it's, like, it's dark. get back here. >> thank you, carol. still ahead, there's an investigation into price gouging in maryland tonight. we'll tell you how some storm victims can take action. andy griffith has died. tonight ron howard is speaking out about losing a close friend. >> reporter: dress rehearsals are under way.

fast forward through the headlines. the d.c. fire chief says the city is investigating whether two firefighting crews were dispatched with fire trucks to fill up a private swimming pool. news 4 has obtained an internal fire department document. it shows the pool was filled on saturday afternoon just hours after our big storm. the firefighters union is calling this a gross misuse of resources. some people are preparing to spend their fifth night without power. the power companies now have lots of help from out of state but still have a lot of work ahead of them. some residents could be in the dark through the weekend. >> residents in silver springs are waiting in frustration for the crews to come in.

they say pepco is reporting that their power has been restored. but they still have no electricity. large trees and power lines are still down in their area. the washington animal rescue league sheller in northwest also lost power during friday's storm. and they need the public's help as they try to keep the animals comfortable. >> you and i love this place. our hearts are there. some of the older animals have been moved into foster home, but about 150 dogs and cats are still at the shelter, which is on generator power now. news 4's megan mcgrath has more on the restoration efforts in washington. >> reporter: two workers wearing pepco hardhats take information off a utility pole. asked if they had an estimate about 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. like, we're fortunate because we

have friends in the area who have pow sore we've been able to go stay with them, but, i mean, we live on the third floor so, it's just unbearably hot. >> reporter: on warren street in northwest, a huge tree still lays in the street, the power lines 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. i mean, 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 keep looking for a pepco truck and a tree repair truck. and nothing. absolutely nothing. >> reporter: also waiting for electricity, the furry residents at the washington animal rescue

league. older animals have been moved into foster homes. those who remain are drinking ice water and are being cooled by generator-powered fans. >> a lot of our friends and supporters to come out and they've donated, come through strong donating ice. we still need more ice. they've donated blankets and towels because we can't do laundry. >> we've managed to kaep 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. >> reporter: so when will the power come back on? that's anybody's guess. pepco says that some of their customers will unfortunately be without electricity until friday perhaps into saturday. in northwest, megan mcgrath, news 4. >> and the heat is not going away, right, doug? it's just going to get even worse in the coming days. >> ill really is, guys. temperatures will be near 100 degrees again, but if we don't hit 100, the heat index will put us over 100. our temperature currently at 96

degrees but we're watching thunderstorm ak tich off to the west. we'll show you where those storms are right now. severe weather to western maryland, garrett county but not around the immediate area. these are the only storms in our viewing area, towards front royal, back towards the woodstock area, back towards wardensville, west virginia, and also just to the west of luray, around i-81. we'll continue to watch those storms. there are more on the way. they'll try to move in. i'll show you those and what to expect for your 4th of july holiday coming up. prince george's county is investigating a horrific act of animal cruelty. someone set a dog on fire in ft. washington on june 20th in the 12500 block of proxmire drive. a small male dog was found dead near the curb with duck tape on its ear and body. the animal welfare officials say it may have been a miniature chihuahua or mix. there is a reward.

if anyone has information, call crime solvers. montgomery county investigators are looking into what caused another fire on a ride-on bus that happened along new hampshire avenue near adelphi road in silver spring last night. no passengers on the bus. firefighters quickly got the fire under control, but it caused traffic delays. the maryland department of transportation is now investigating the cause of this. this is at least the sixth, the sixth ride-on bus that has caught fire in just the past three years. a close vote today on bringing metro rail out to dulles airport and beyond. loudoun county's board of supervisors gained a green light today to sharing in the cost of the project. news 4's jim rosenfield was at today's meeting and joins us in the studio with more on strong reaction to this vote. jim? >> one county supervisor called this the vote of the century. proponents promising to rail extension will boost development, ease traffic congestion and add flexibility for loudoun county resident who is want to find work in d.c.

but there are also big concerns voiced today about the cost and who will pay for it. >> the day has finally come for this board to make a decision about the future of the county. >> reporter: and the future would look like this -- new metra rail stations, 11 miles of additional track. the impact of today's vote certainly not lost on loudoun county supervisors. >> this is a vote of a decade, maybe a generation, maybe a century, and it hangs on your back to decide, are you that albatross or are you that visionary? >> reporter: and, yes -- >> it's a scam and flawed. >> reporter: some dramatic rhetoric preceded the decision to go forward. a $270 million-plus commitment from the county not taken lightly. >> to wave the white flag and yield, yield to the wisdom of this board, i will not yield to you. >> reporter: a vote yes extend metro into the eastern part of the country, adding six stations out to dulles and beyond.

billed as also easing traffic congestion and boosting development all the way to ashburn. the county's share of the project supported by its newly devised tax district shown in circles, taxes they say coming primarily from commercial concerns and undeveloped land, not home owners. >> we're trying to hold our fingers up and doing this, hoping that everything works out. >> reporter: opponents fear the true financial burden and benefit res main unclear. >> i am absolutely in support of rail but not in the context of the way that has been packaged and presented to this county. >> reporter: but with new support from a once-skeptical supervie so, kenneth reed, the project passed 5-4. >> we're pleased with the vote today. it gives us that ability. we're anxious to move the project forward. >> you have to weigh the pros and cons. i think it's not a bad idea at all. >> i think it's awesome. i think we need more mass transit thought way. >> i think it's a good idea. i don't think we have a full

solution on how to raise the money for it. >> transportation secretary rairay lahood weighed in on today's vote calling it, quote, critical to the area's future economic growth. so phase two of the silver line, check, but not done yet. that's more fan five years away. wendy and jim. >> a long road out there. thank you, jim. coming up, the recovery of the young woman with that flesh-eating disease. plus the news 4 i-team takes a close look at price gouging after the storm. ♪ ♪ ♪ [ male announcer ] everyone likes a bit of order in their life. virtual wallet helps you get it. keep track of spending, move money with a slide, and use the calendar. all to see your money how you want. ♪

after the storm, consumers started complaining about potential price gouging. >> this happens, and it's disturbing and -- >> always happens. >> -- on so many levels. we have to wave that red flag. complaints abgasoline and hotel prices are drastically going up. tisha thompson is here with details. >> we've been getting phone calls and e-mails askinging about possible price gouging. the d.c. attorney general's office tells us it's investigating hotels that may have charged unusually high prices. maryland and virginia say they've received more than a dozen complaints for sudden spikes in gas and hotel prices.

all tell us there's a fine line between price gouging and simple supply and demand. when demand goes up for gas or hotel rooms, they say you should expect prices to go up. but if a business is really trying to take advantage and dramatically up charges, that could be price gouging, and the ags in each state want to know about it. one issue, maryland does not have a law against price gouging even though the a.g. there has supported legislation for it in the past. in virginia, a law against price gounling only takes effect when the governor declares a state of emergency. that's happened in virginia so, the law is in effect right now. there's a similar law in d.c. the mayor declared a state of emergency, which means businesses cannot charge more than 10% of what the average price had been before the storm. otherwise a business faces a $1,000 fine per violation.

if you think you've been a victim of price gouging, contact your attorney general's office or local consumer affairs office. you can find lynns at our website, nbcwashington.com. search price gouging. and if there's something you want us to investigate, call our tip line at 202-885-4444. wendy? >> all right. tisha thompson, thanks. still ahead, a look back fondly at our beloved actor andy griffith from the people who knew him best. and concerns about a grab shortage on this 4th of july holiday.

well, few actors have created a carc tear as beloved and admired as mayberry's sheriff, andy taylor. and now generations of fans are remembering the life of actor andy griffith. he was 86 years old. his family says he died this morning at his home and he was buried on north carolina's outer banks, a place where that me he made his home for decades. os scar-winning director ron howard played his son opie on "the andy griffith show." he said griffith created a set that was both playful and disciplined. >> he approached everything with such a commitment to excellence and a desire to earn people's respect. >> jim nabors played gomer pyle on the show. he said he just talked to graift few weeks ago and said that this is a very personal loss for him and for all of us who grew up on

that show. it's been many days of our childhood in mayberry. after the storm now, montgomery county residents will have to go elsewhere for their fireworks fix this 4th of july. several displays in the county have been canceled for tomorrow night because of storm damage. that includes gaithersburg, rockville, kensington, and germantown. ♪ i'll take a yankee doodle >> she's warming up the town. one of the stars of the nbc hit "smash" is warming up for the capitol 4th concert. the concert includes performances from kool & the gang, country singer josh turner and javier colon from season one of "the voice." >> and last-minute preps are being made tonight for the 4th of july celebration on the national mall. news 4's erika gonzalez is live with a preview. having a good time, huh? >> reporter: i am having a good time. happy birthday, america!

236. you know, that is a very big number. and this year's show promises to be just as big. >> i have the lucky job of opening the entire ceremony. >> reporter: no pressure, right? nbc's "smash" star megan hilty tells me what it's like to be part of pbs' 32nd annual capitol 4th production. >> i always prefer performing in front of a live audience, and this is the biggest one i'll ever perform in front of. ♪ god bless america >> reporter: if practice makes perfect, hilty's performance should score big with fans. she's been rehearsing for days now. the 90-minute show produced by michael holbert will be on the west lawn of the capitol for thousands of people and millions more watching from home. dress rehearsals begin tonight at 8:00 and are open to the public. doors opened since 3:00 this afternoon. the same type of procedure will go on tomorrow for the big show. doors will open at 3:00, and the excitement begins at 8:00.

but you better get here early. >> i had no clue this was going to be in the way. >> reporter: construction on the mall between third and seventh street where is there's typically audience overflow is taking up a huge chunk of space and could pose problematic. ♪ meanwhile, the band is warming up. >> we've got 13 olympians from team usa. >> reporter: and with the london games just 24 days away, there will also be some special guests. and what's the 4th of july without paying tribute to our servicemen and women? voice winnerier colon will be honoring them in song. with the mid-atlantic recently hit by such a devastating storm, hilty says this 4th of july will prove one of the many things america is best known for -- pulling together in time of crisis. >> i think tonight will be a nice departure for everybody to just, you know, kind of, i don't know, leave everything behind for a couple hours and have a

good time. >> reporter: so right about now country singer and legend and one of my personal favorites josh turner is wrapping up his practice set. and we've had -- we've seen lots to-people come through here but nothing in comparison to what is going to be here tomorrow. so if i were you, i would avoid the crowds, make it out here, the full dress rehearsal starts at 8:30 and will go till about 10:00 tonight. so we are live tonight at the u.s. capitol. erika gonzalez, news 4. >> erika, could you sayer colon's name one more time? >> reporter: javier colon. >> see? i could never get that. say it soft and it's almost like praying. okay. thanks, err cika. crabs may be harder to find for your 4th of july feast. crabbing in the upper chesapeake is slowing. it's likely because the crabbing season began early due to our warm spring. crabs have reached record levels in the bay this year. an annual survey this winter

found there are more than 750,000 this year, um more than 75% than last year. but most are still juveniles and can't be caught until late summer or early fall. >> it is still hot out there. a waterman in my neighborhood had a bunch of crabs and his electricity was out so he was desperate to try to keep them cold for the 4th of july. hopefully his power's back on. and we have more hot weather on the way. more hot weather on the way and i am one man that is not excited about a crab shortage. that is for sure. i can eat my share. 96 right now. on the hot side, but we have seen some clouds that have moved on in as a result of some storms just off to the west. we'll talk about the temperatures first, 95 in rockville, 95 in canton springs, 94 in college park. everybody on the warm side. 87 reported in reston. here's where the storms are, back to the west, and these are fairly strong storms moving our way. this the closest one around our region towards portions of warren county, shenandoah county, making its way south of

front royal along 340, then just to the west of washington. it's going to make its way south and east trying to get over the mountains. a little lightning associated with this, maybe a downpour or two. here's the line of storms making its way. this is not a severe area of thunderstorms. we have a couple of individual severe thunderstorms but we're not talking about dangerous storms moving in here. what we are talking about is the potential for some rain, some lightning, some thunder, maybe strong winds, but i don't expect too much in the way of severe weather to move in, and i expect as most move into our region, most may begin to die out a little bit and that would be some good news. overnight low temperatures down to 78, washington, 68 in winchester, cooler to the west. tomorrow everybody on the warm side, high temperatures around 96 in washington, 96 in culpepper. take a look at the next couple days. we're not going to be just in the mid-90s, in the upper 90s on thursday with a high of 99, 101 coming up on saturday. heat indices could be over 105. >> all right. thanks for the warning.

still ahead, a first look at a georgia woman finally out of hospital as she recovers from th

the georgia woman who's fighting that rare flesh-eating bacteria is out of the hospital tonight and in rehab. >> here's nbc's dave gutierrez.

>> reporter: by most accounts, these pictures should have never been possible. >> everything about this is just amazing to me. >> amy copeland having her mom put on her makeup, then smiling, clutching a stuffed animal, and rolling out of an augusta hospital into rehab. by most accounts, the 24-year-old grad student should have never survived the aggressive flesh-eating bacteria that took her limbs, but she did. >> amy's recovery is remarkable for three reasons. number one, it's god's will. number two is her will. and number three, i believe is the wonderful care that she had there at the hospital. >> reporter: in virtually all of these new pictures amy is smiling. you'd almost never know the agony she endured. the ordeal chronicled in her father's blog. andy copeland wrote his daughter occasionally cries from the pain but she stops because crying hurts her stomach. yet somehow she managed to wish him a happy father's day.

>> get set, go! >> reporter: it's easy to see why her story has inspire sod many. in awe gus the ta, hundreds honored her over the weekend, raising money for her long road ahead. >> our goal was to be able to help with her prosthetics. we found out one of her legs was going to be $85,000. >> reporter: other supporters picked and sold sunflowers near atlanta. >> it's a bad thing what happened to her. it's good to feel that we can help her out. >> reporter: aimee's family expects her inpatient rehab to last six to eight weeks. during that time, they'll build an extra wing this their house. then she wants to finish her thesis. >> her main goal is to be able to graduate and walk literally in december to complete her degree. i'm amazed that she would set such an ambitious and lofty goal, but i would not be surprised in the least to see her achieve it. >> reporter: by most accounts, ambitious. by all accounts, extraordinary.

tonight at 6:00, power is slowly being restored in the aftermath of the storm. >> and our team coverage continues right now. the damage is still happening even four days after friday night's storm. today, a pole crashed down on a car, and that caught fire. >> storm damage has forced a virginia cup toll call off their 50th wedding anniversary. >> plus the first-ever over-the-counter hiv take-home test will soon hit the mark. good evening. i'm doreen gets ler. we have the latest on the effort to get the power back on. power companies have made some progress in the last 24 hours. pepco reporting there are 96,000 people without power. in virginia, dominion virginia has more than 67,000 still in the dark. and bg&e reports nearly 39,000 outages. >> we start tonight in northern virginia. news 4's darcy spencer is in