>> from lightning to flash floods tonight, severe storms hammer the washington region. right now, thousands are without

power. we just got this picture flooded in the district. this is from a viewer at an overpass in the northeast. >> this line of storms packing a heavy punch. here's the scene earlier today at a hotel near the airport in louisville, kentucky. fierce winds ripped off the roof, covered cars with debris. no injuries. but this is the same system that is moving through our area right now. let's get the latest from veronica in the storm 4 weather center. >> reporter: e. >> our winds gusting up to 25 and 40 miles per hour when those storms came through. but, for us, as we said, when we showed you, flooding, the big story with the heavy rain. right now, we've got some flash flood warnings that remain throughout the area for the district of montgomery county and for western prince george's county. we open it up. you can see that whole line of storms still extending down

towards fredericksburg to get a lot of lightning. rainfall amounts between one and two inches at times. wait until you see some of the rainfall amounts that i've got to show you coming up. a lot of amazing pictures behind me. this is a cloud around redwood, virginia. this is sent in from matt ray. see if you can guess what this is? think about it. i'll tell you coming up. >> veronica, thanks. so far, the storm has knocked out thousands. pepco is reporting more than 15,000 out right now. dominion has more than 1600 outages. virginia has 8800 outages. tonight's storm didn't cause nearly as much damage, but pepco is still under fire from last month. today, the montgomery koun till council railed against the utility for its liability after

tens of thousands lost power for up to a week. they also blamed the public safety commission for lacking oversight. >> if you don't turn them around, and i speak to all of the commissioners, the governor needs to replace you with people who will. the lack of reliable electric power has become the number one quality of life issue in our county. >> pepco's president says he understands the frustration, but he adds the company is making strides with fewer outages and shorter recovery time since 2010. >> the storms are also to blame for a close call outside of virginia. a woman was walking to her car when a giant tree fell crushing her vehicle. >> like i just know that there's a god. >> reporter: cynthia says it's a miracle she's alive after this big oak tree slammed on her mercedes crushing it like a tin

can in this exclusive interview. she was walking on this trail with her dog back to her parked car in virginia. >> my faith has kept me going. >> reporter: the four-time breast cancer survivor had ju c paint faces at home. a therapeutic way to deal with her pain. suddenly, a loud snap. she was seconds away from sitting inside luxury to misery. >> praising god and just so happy. i wasn't even concerned about the car, really. >> now, this drew tree is aroun inches in dime ter. nearly three feet. she's glad it didn't fall on little nep tune here. >> and i'm glad neptune was alive with me. >> reporter: police closed the road and reopened it after crews cut the tree. cynthia is relieved her life wasn't cut short. she says she lives to see another day, thanks to divine intervention.

>> i know god has a plan for my life. and i think he wants me to let everybody know that we all have value and a purpose, no matter what we're going through. >> in fredericksburg, virginia, news 4. >> a deadly dispute involving the manager of a taxi cab company. police tell us tonight someone stabbed him after hours. it happened on "q" street in southwest. >> reporter: investigators are still on the scene here of the gold star cab company in southwest d.c. it is the scene of a stabbing. that manager has now died. police say it happened around 7:00 p.m. the manager here was stabbed at least once in the chest by an unknown assailant. the victim was rushed to the hospital. now, we're told that the business usually closes around

6:00 p.m., however, often, mechanics and other employees will be here later. it's not known if robbery was a motive or if there was something else behind the attack. and we're told that the suspect was con fronted by the manager here at the company headquarters. there was some sort of confrontation in the stabbing with the victim pronounced dead in a nearby hospital. police don't have much of a description of the assailant. they say he was last seen headed northbound. southwest d.c., news 4. >> a man accused of stabbing a local x-ray tech will make his first court appearance. he allegedly stopped on his way home and saw arguing. when he checked to see if the other person was okay, investigators say dawkins stabbed him. he had just recently gotten a promotion. >> a virginia couple is facing

child abuse charges after their 8-year-old son showed up at a stranger's house covered in bruises. the 8-year-old is adopted. he ran away from the sweeny's home early yesterday morning ant a few blocks away. ron cramer was there to open the door. >> i opened the door and i asked him, i says can i help you, son? he said i'm lost. and i said well where did you come from? and he said i don't know. >> cramer says he called the police to report that the boy is lost. the police interviewed the child, discovered the bruises and found the sweeny's after they called to report the child missing. the boy is in the care of child productive services. >> it was a site that had metro riders doing a double take. tonight, we've learned of a woman who made a dangerous move on the tracks won't be fine. surveillance video shows the woman as she hopped down on to the rails of metro center. metro says the woman is from france and unfamiliar with our

system. she apparently wanted to catch the train on the opposite platform. but she decided not to continue once she was between the tracks. transit personnel had to rescue her. metro says the incident could have been deadly. >> thanks to some video tape, a man who brazenly tried to abduct a little girl is now in jail. police took figaro into custody this morning. they credit the quick arrest to yesterday's release of surveillance video. you can see the suspect grabbing the girl and then letting her go after a struggle. the girl's parents say she learned how to get away by watching "law&order svu." she's always been this is going to be my way or no way. >> ecstatic he's off the streets. somebody like this isn't going to stop. we know this through history. >> figaro fago turned himself in saying that video made it impossible for him to walk the streets of philadelphia. >> a penn state board member is stepping down in the wake of the

jerry sandusky scandal. he was the target of criticism for his handling of joe pater paterno's resignation. many board members admit they were not informed enough about these charges against sandusky and some are called for the entire board to resign. so far, there's no indication that's going to happen. >> now, to politics in virginia. the presidential race in a dead heat tonight. president obama has lost the advantage he had over challenger, mitt romney. the candidates tied at 44% each in the commonwealth. six weeks ago, that same poll, the president held a five-point lead, 47-42%. a president move for the u.s. military for the first time this weekend, service members will be allowed to march in uniform in a gay pride parade. this is when the military first

allowed gay and lesbian service members to march as long as they wore civilian clothing. the department of defense says the order only applies to the sanld yeah g san diego event. >> a commuter tax is once again up for dedate. a member of congress thinks d.c. should be taxing people who commute to work from virginia and maryland. house republican wants to hold a hearing on this issue. he says d.c. is the only place in the country that cannot levy such a tax. isa is the chairman that regulates the d.c. government. he isn't necessarily supporting a tax but says it's worth looking at. his committee held a hearing this afternoon on the height restrictions that have kept most buildings in the district under 130 feet for the last century. no specific or dramatic high increase was on this table. but city planners are proposing some incremental changes that would allow rooftops to be used for office space, rec rooms or

even restaurants! when we come right back, a little boy stuck in a sewer. the lucky break that helped lead to his safety. >> crossing the line? a texas woman says tsa agents put her life in jeopardy. >> controversy after a 4-year-old cancer patient is denied a trip to disney world. >> the lines have already started. they've been camping out since noon to get a seat for this summ summer's block buster. [ male announcer ] where did all the obama stimulus money go?

friends, donors, campaign supporters, special interest groups where did the obama stimulus money go? solyndra: 500 million taxpayer dollars. bankrupt. so where did the obama stimulus money go? windmills from china. electric cars from finland 79% of the 2.1 billion in stimulus grants awarded through it went to overseas companies. [ romney ] i'm mitt romney and i approve this message.

a three-year-old boy in columbia, south america is alive after he spent almost a day trapped in a sewer draft. he disappeared on tuesday with his two brothers and crews didn't find him when they initially swept that area. just as they were about to leave, they checked one more time and they found the boy, they quickly removed him. there he is. took him to the hospital to get treated. >> a 4-year-old cancer patient had a chance for her dream trip to disney world. but her father won't let her go because she's not sick enough. make a wish offered to send mckenna may to disney for free. but her father won't let her go because she's in remission and says the trip should go to children who have a short time left to live. the charity requires both parents to say yes. her mother and grandmother are collecting donations to pay for the trip on their own.

>> a man has filed a formal complai complaint. john deaton's wife trals for her treatment. she wears a medical bracelet and has an electronic doctor's note attached to it. on her recent trip, agents touched her tube, swabbed it for bomb-making materials. the tsa says agents followed protocol. >> first, there was the ralph lauren uniform flap. now michael phelps isn't happy with his swimming attire. he's annoyed with just how many flags can be worn on the swimmer's cap. the international olympic committee says the flag can only be worn on one side of the cap. the ioc introduced the new rule this year. phelps wore a double-flag swim cap in beijing. >> "madmen" could make history

at the emmies. >> today's nomination means this amc series could be the first to win five emmys for best drama. for the first time, no major broadcast networks have been nominated in that category. other shows include "doubt and abbey," "boardwalk empire" beating out "american idol" which was left out for the first time in a decade. and parks and rec star picked up an emmy nod today for comedy riding on her series. and the star shows some scenes on capitol hill today. she told us she was a little ar struck. >> we're getting to work with some really special guests. that's really excited. everybody is welcoming us. much like my character, i am

very excited to meet them and be here. >> the show was set to wrap its d.c. scenes tomorrow. you can catch all the stars starting on september 20th. >> thunder, lightning and heavy rain could make batman fans risk their spots in line. people started lining up at noon for the midnight premier put up their umbrellas and waited out the storm outside the uptown theater. the management took some pity on a couple of hundred people waiting and opening their doors. just as the worst of the weather arrived, the midnight showing is sold out. in case you're wondering, uptown added a 3:45 a.m. screening to meet all of the demands. ladies, we've got 4.5 hours to get down there. >> it was a three-trash bag kind of night if you're waiting in line. >> they can change the name of the movie for a night. the stormy night. >> this was a real rain-maker, huh? >> this was a big ranl-maker for some folks.

a lot of folks wish that we could get some ranl, but we said it earlier. it wasn't going to be a storm coming through with a whole bunch of wind. you probably heard the thunder and i showed you this picture earlier. i said guess what this is, jim. did you figure it out? >> a puddle of water? >> not a puddle, but you're close. this is j.s. kelly heading over the bridge. those are the taillights as he was -- well, he pretty much had to stop. he could not see where he was going. that's how hard it was raining out there. low visibleties throughout the area. take a look at some of the rainfall totals. gaithersburg, maryland,.66. baltimore, maryland up there around that key bridge, ocean city maryland, over 4 inches of rain today. and just looking at some of the radar rates based on radar? there could have been some spots just south of there that had around 6 inches of rain today. here's what's left.

a tremendous amount of lightning. you can see it just west of annapolis, maryland. it's approaching you folks, so you're going to have a lot of lightning and get that heavy rain south of clinton maryland and then movie ining east. all of this will finally be making its way through and off the coast. that will be heading towards charles county at around waldorf. that extends right up to the north by baltimore. by tomorrow morning, it is looking quiet. our temperature has dropped 20 degrees from our high temperature of 95 today. 750 here. still in the 80s south. that rain not yet to you folks. at least not the heavy, cooling rain. here's our day planner forecast. 78-83, some sunshine early. we're back to storms for tomorrow afternoon and tomorrow evening. high temperature about 87-88 degrees. around 2:00, 3:00. those storms, unlike today,

could bring some hail and high winds. slowly making its way through our area and down to the south. at least saturday, look, a lot better, too. after the morning showers, maybe a storm or two around the northern neck or southern maryland. a risk area back over us tomorrow. for the same sort of thing but with hail included and probably some high winds as that system kicks through here. sunrise tomorrow, 5:59. some breaks in the cloud cover, showers ended. it may linger tomorrow afternoon, thunderstorms could be heavy at times with thunder, lightni lightning, heavy rain and a bit cooler than today. 88 for a high temperature tomorrow. but showers and storms are likely. and, as far as the storms go this evening, i'll continue to watch those. we've got a severe thunderstorm warning out now for prince george's county until 11:45. probably seeing some more flood washings, too. it's not out of the question.

and there's a lot of flooding that's going on now in westminister. >> we are going to be done with this in about another hour or two, hour and a half, as the heaviest stuff moves to our east and south. still could, again, see more flooding out there. >> and through the night, of course, news 4 today will be staying on top of this. 4:30 a.m., they'll have the very latest on outages, flooding and other damages, too. >> still ahead, outside the national academy of sciences, what happened to big al? >> whoa! >> we'll tell you "whoa." >> we'll tell you "whoa." >> coming up in sports, a

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the roll they've been on, we're allowed an off-day every now and then. >> you can have an off day and there was some good news sprinkled in there. drew storn made his season debut. the national's formal closer looked good. storen went to see batman tonight with roommate and current closer tyler clifford. they were late for the show. storen tweelted out i will trade tickets. he did get a couple. geo gonzalez giving him some batitude. david wright got things started for new york, and geo just knew things felt wrong. his 13th of the year, the nets

on top 2-0. geo went two and a third giving up six earned runs. in the fourth, david right doing it again. this time, roger bernadina running out of real estate there. his second home run. this of the three-run variety. he had five r.b.i.s in the game. mets' lead down to four. bobby says uh-uh. shuts the door, game set matched. nats fall 9-5. they still have a three-game lead over the braves and the braves coming to town tomorrow. the os wrapping up their series on the road against the twins. top of the second, twins up 2-0. chris davis getting the os on the board. this is a solo home run. davis' 15th homer of the year. so it closes the gap just a little bit. that one went a long ways. top of the 8th, twins clinging to a 3-2 lead. two on, two out for mark

reynolds. and ren olds gets just nuf. two reasons come in to score and the orioles take a 4-3 lead. jim johnson, closer extraordinary. in to close this one out and that's exactly what he does. he picks up his 28th save of the year. tied for the major league lead. adam scott in unchartered waters for the first time in his career. scott tied a course record at the open championship. and tiger, not too far behind. tiger fans showing the support you've got to like that. tiger came out of the box in a hurry. the par 3 first hole from 205 yashds out. sets it up. tiger very solid. shoots a three under 67. the par 4 13. we find steve in his second shot. this might have been the best shot of the day. one bounce and in.

stricker one of three players 8 and under. his second shot on the par 4 16th. very close and just a few feet away from the pin. scott shot a 6 under 64 tieing a record. >> it miegts be different. >> thank you. >> we'll see your reports. [ male announcer ] where did all the obama stimulus money go?

friends, donors, campaign supporters, special interest groups where did the obama stimulus money go? solyndra: 500 million taxpayer dollars. bankrupt. so where did the obama stimulus money go? windmills from china. electric cars from finland 79% of the 2.1 billion in stimulus grants awarded through it went to overseas companies. [ romney ] i'm mitt romney and i approve this message.

take a look at this. this is a yarn bomb outside the academy of national siepss. this morning, the statue was colored in a colorful, knitted creation from head to toe. according to d.c.ists, it was the work of an artist named olich who was known for yarn bombing. the yarn has since been removed and big al is

>> announcer: it's "the tonight show with jay leno," featuring rickey minor and "the tonight show" band. tonight, jay welcomes -- from "the bourne legacy," rachel weisz, from "breaking bad," emmy winner aaron pa,