. and now from washington's leading news station, this is "news 4 midday." >> good morning. welcome to "news 4 midday." i'm aaron gilcrest in for barbara harrison today. right now, there are thousands of people headed to the national mall to celebrate the fourth of july. festivities will go on there as scheduled. that's despite last friday's storms. news 4's melissa mollet is live there. >> reporter: things are starting to get ramped up. gates here, most of them opened at 10:00. some opened at 10:30. take a look behind me. already some families out on the lawn here. they have their coolers, their chairs, their blankets.

they have their spot for tonight's fireworks. last-minute preps well under way early this morning for a capitol fourth. cruise assembling cardboard trash cans, portapotties. security at the tent entrance is tight with many areas canceling fireworks this fourth of july. they are gearing up for hundreds of thousands of people here. this celebration on the national mall could be their biggest yet. plus carlos and her family are from the philippines. they planned their first trip to the u.s. around the holiday. >> really exciting because i don't know what to expect really. >> reporter: they'll be back on the mall after a day of sightseeing. >> i would like to experience that event because this is very -- i know this is very spectacular, and very exciting. >> reporter: tuesday night's rehearsal was cut short as bad weather started rolling through. the 31st annual concert starts at 8:00 and will be on the west

lawn of the capitol. then the fireworks. >> my father was in the navy and passed away. so i'm trying to honor him, and what better place to do that than washington, d.c., on the fourth of july. >> a slew of stars will take the concert stage from megan hilte of nbc smash to philip phillips and matthew broderick. they flew in from iowa and will be spending their evening somewhere on the mall. >> not sure. depends how crowded. we may go down by the capitol. we may stay up here. >> getting around tonight could be tough. between a lack of parking and multiple street closures, public transportation may be the way to go. something else to try. a new communication system put out by u.s. park police. it can send weather advisories, security information, even info on a missing child to your phone. >> the public would sign up for this. it's as simple as texting july 4 d.c. to 888777. at that point, you are enrolled

and you will see all the fourth of july event notifications. >> those hundreds of thousands are expected here. millions are expected to watch from home. and troops around the world will be listening. >> so i know it's going to be bittersweet for them to hear the music and see the sights and sounds and yet know they are far, far from their family and loved ones. but hopefully it will bring a little bit of comfort to them. >> reporter: of course, it's been a rough week for a lot of people in the d.c. area. why not come out here and have a good time. it is pretty warm and it's obviously going to get a little hotter as we go on throughout the day. coming up at 11:30 right here on "news 4," the no-nos. what you do not want to bring if you are going to head down to the mall. melace mollet, news 4. >> that's important information, too. we'll see you in a little bit. and we have all the information you need to navigate the events on the national mall tonight. plus the latest list of which celebrations are on and which

have been canceled. go to nbcwashington.com and search fireworks. not a happy fourth for everybody. five days after the storm now and still more than 100,000 customers around here are without electricity. right now, pepco is reporting about 51,000 customers without power. dominion says 35,000 are without electricity. bge reporting about 28,000 people in our area don't have power. novek reporting almost 200 and smeco down to about 29. the heat and storms could be a problem again today. storm 4 meteorologist veronica johnson is here with the first forecast. >> we had some showers this morning. no storms. but it's this afternoon where i've got my eye on the radar where we could see more storms. the other thing, of course, the heat. the humidity. that's what's going to help to prime the atmosphere for those storms. right now your heat index values, what it actually feels like outside, 88 degrees currently in bening and berry

farms. down south around waldorf. 87 to 93 in culpeper. in fairfax around annandale. your heat index already up in mt. erie and frederick, maryland. later today could top out over 100 degrees. that's the reason we're under a heat advisory until 9:00 p.m. all these counties shaded around our area. howard county, loudoun county down to the south, culpeper andical vert couand ic calvert counties. it's going to get worse gfr gets better. as we top out in the 90s, this weekend, we could be topping out over 100 degrees. the radar is quiet right now. it's storms later. we'll talk about the timing of those storms later and the percentages coming up in a couple of minutes. >> thank you. right now fallen trees are still tangled in power lines. other trees are on top of cars

and across roadways. but neighbors are helping neighbors dealing with the heat and no power. news 4's tracee wilkins has more. >> this is the kind of cleanup utility crews are still dealing with. trees that have toppled over bringing down power lines. in some areas it looks like the storm just hit yesterday. and there are still tens of thousands of people living in the dark. on a normal day all of this noise may be a little annoying. but today -- >> music to our ears. it's wonderful. >> folks living near warren and sixth streets are going on day five without power. and it's been -- >> hot. and no tv and no internet. >> reporter: they have this large fallen tree to thank for crushing two cars and causing a lot of damage as well as outages. those who were lucky enough to have power are doing what they can to help out. >> my neighbor on the other side

of the alley just kind of ran an extension cord so at least their refrigerator could kind of stay open. >> speaking of refrigerators and preserving food -- >> we've lost everything. we've lost everything that required refrigeration. anything that required any sort of electricity. >> jason and kevin kirsch moved into their family owned grocery store after friday's storm to try and save their food. but their rescue mission has turned into a disposal mission. >> so it's really funny when you are a grocery store and people are bringing you food because you have no food at the grocery. it's kind of ironic. >> a large portion of chevy chase is still without power, including the lights on connecticut avenue. at the chevy chase supermarket, 60 employees have been out of work for the past week. and what will be their third major power outage in 15 months. >> our family has been here for 58 years. we will bounce back. this is what we do. we're part of the neighborhood. the neighborhood is here for us.

we're here for the neighborhood. but this is devastating. it really is. >> reporter: at this point if you have a downed tree or downed power lines in your neighborhood and you have not seen a crew there to take care of any of this, it's a good idea to go ahead and report it again. just in case it somehow has been overlooked. in northwest, i'm tracee wilkins, news 4. >> let's check on the midday holiday traffic right now. danella sealock is here. >> if you are traveling today down to the national mall, i do got to tell you a lot of street closures around the mall. your best bet today is to take metro but you can expect a large volume on metro today. just be aware of that and be patient. let's head down i-95. nice and clear. do you have any family members driving up? they have a smooth ride as they make their way to the beltway from triangle. here's a look at the occoquan. nice and quiet.

a lot of people are up barbecuing already. let's take a look at 50 thinking of heading out to the beach? no issues on 50 between annapolis and the beltway. >> looks good. thank you, danella. police in maryland investigating a deadly accident on the bw parkway. it shut down that road for nearly three hours today. a car pulled on to the shoulder near greenbelt road so the driver and passenger could switch positions. that's when another car rammed into that car and the two passengers. one man was killed. the woman was hurt. the driver of the second car did stay on the scene. the parkway has since reopened. police in arlington are looking for a man that they say sexually assaulted a woman on the 4-mile run bike trail. the 23-year-old victim was attacked at knifepoint near mile marker 44. she got a vague description. he was a hispanic man with a small head and a high-pitched voice. investigators looking into what caused a deadly fire overnight, it broke out just before 2:00 this morning near 17th and r streets in southeast

d.c. firefighters tell news 4 an elderly woman died inside her apartment. no one else was hurt. that fire did force many families that were sleeping out of their beds and into the street. time now 11:10. coming up this morning, a look at how our troops are celebrating this fourth of july. plus, today is not just about fireworks. it also means the return of a local legend. the black widow. st

right now on news 4 midday, investigators looking into what caused a fire that killed an elderly woman in the district. it broke out just before 2:00 near 17 and r streets in southeast. five days after the storm nvd mo and more than 100,000 power customers don't have power. pepco says they expect to restore power by the end of the day to at least 90% of their customers. this is two days ahead of schedule that they first reported. dominion says 35,000 customers are still without electricity this morning. bge reporting about 28,000 people in our area don't have power. novek has their number below 200 and smeco reporting about 29 outages. the storm has not put a damper on fourth of july festivities here in washington. the city's independence day

parade will begin in just a few minutes. the parade route is on constitution. hey, melissa? >> reporter: good morning. in the past half hour it's gotten a heck of a lot hotter. they are handing out these fans which are going to come in handy today. so i'll definitely be using mine. take a look behind me. people that showed up around 9:00 this morning. they were let in around 10:00. look at them. they are ready to go. have the best spot in the house here with these chairs and blankets and coolers. now there are some no-nos if you come out here today. no alcohol. no weapons, no fireworks of your own. they are expecting hundreds of thousands of people mainly because a lot of displays have been canceled around the area this year. this could be the biggest fourth of july on the national mall yet. security at all the entrances very, very tight. the 31st annual concert and fireworks spectacular stars at

8:00 tonight. matthew broderick and megan hilty will be here. it will be on the west lawn of the capitol. >> we're just going to sit here all day to save a spot for the fireworks. >> is it worth it? >> uh-huh. >> you think they're going to be good, huh? >> yeah. >> he wants to see orange fireworks he said. getting around downtown could be tough. between a lack of parking and multiple street closures. public transportation may be the way to do things if you are going to come down here. something else to think about if you are coming down. u.s. park police sending out text notifications to folks. sign up by dialing 888777 and all you have to do is text them july 4 dc. 888777, july 4 dc. they'll notify you about missing children here. hopefully we don't have any of that to weather advisories to whether or not certain gates are open at certain times of the day. melissa mollet. >> staying informed even on a

holiday. well if you don't want to fight traffic tonight, metro is going to be a good option for you. but it will be crowded. the system will close at midnight today. but trains will run at rush hour levels between 6:00 and midnight tonight to get everybody home. metro also suggesting that you avoid the smithsonian and federal triangle stations which are likely to be overcrowded all night long. now if you do decide to drive tonight, know that police will be watching. state troopers in maryland stepping up patrols tonight looking for speeders and aggressive drivers. there will also be dui checkpoints. police are also warning both drivers and pedestrians you have to watch out for each other as you come and go on your -- to your fourth of july celebrations. >> so let's get another look at things outside in terms of the weather conditions. veronica is here with another peek at the forecast. >> a lot of folks wanting to have a ball today. but the heat might get the best of you. make sure you really take those precautions. stay hydrated.

look at that. sunshine. doesn't it look beautiful? but it is going to be sticky and pretty oppressive later on today. and for several hours, too. we're talking about some scattered showers and storms later on as we get more cloud cover in here. on the radar, storm 4 radar, we are quiet. was early this morning we had some showers that came through dropping from out of areas -- frederick maryland around hag s hagerstown. 92 down around warrenton. 85 in annapolis. 84 over in sterling. today's high temperature range, 93 to 97. some spots like fredericksburg, stafford, around waldorf may hit 98 degrees later on today. again, that with some scattered showers and even some thunderstorms around the area. so we've been hot lately. but relief is on the way. next week our temperatures get back to near average. we'll talk about how low they will go coming up in a couple of minutes. >> average will never look so good as when we get back into the 80s next week.

thank you, veronica. prince william county leaders are looking for -- want to know how the county's 911 service went down after friday night's storm. and they want to know why it took so long for service to be restored. took about two days for 911 to get back to normal. now the board of supervisors is demanding an investigation into what went wrong and what verizon plans to do to keep things from happening again. the power outages aren't only frustrating for residents with no lights and no ac. they are also taking a toll it on one of the area's biggest shopping districts. most of the stores at the wildwood shopping center are closed now. cvs rung on a generator and so is balducci's. blue mercury spa is open despite not having power. they're having to post credit card purchases by hand. >> we came in saturday morning and have had no power but we've been open every day since. we're plugging along and trying to make the business work without power. >> the chevy chase supermarket

is also closed. it lost all of its frozen food, and dairy products. the grocery store donated a large generate tor the lockwood house. it's a senior citizens complex that's been without power since friday. the generator will stay there until the building has its power restored. the d.c. fire department looking into claims that firefighters filled a private swimming pool while other crews scrambled with weather-related emergencies. the pool is behind a town house on 55th street northeast. firefighters said an engine had to make two trips on saturday to deliver 1,000 gallons of water for a pool that's big enough for at least ten adults. news 4 obtained an internal d.c. fire department document that shows the pool was filled by a truck from engine company 30. >> it's