>> 30,000 pepco customers without power. more than 8,200 bge customers in the dark as well. smeco trying to restore power to more than 6,100 customers. >> residents assess sandy's peak. >> that includes the federal government which is closed today to all nonessential personnel. a number of students have the day off of school in virginia, arlington, fair tax, falls church city. also manassas city, manassas park, spotsylvania and stafford county schools. >> in maryland, prince george's and howard county schools as are anne arundel, charles, and frederick counties. d.c. public schools also closed. you can find a complete list of closures at the bottom of your screen and nbcwashington.com. you won't be able to take metro trains or buses again this morning. service is suspended at least until this afternoon. crews will use the morning to

inspect theridges and tracks for any damage and make sure there's enough power to run the system. then metro will decide when to reopen. marc, vre and amtrak service also suspended today. and flights out of dulles and reagan national airports are cancelled until further notice. >> time for weather and traffic on the ones this morning. storm team 4 meteorologist tom kierein is here keeping an eye on what we're dealing with this morning. not crazy like it was yesterday, tom. no, but it is still raining from a wide area from northern new england all the way down to the carolinas, all coming from this great circulation from what was sandy. now it's a post-tropical powerful low spinning over the center of circulation around harrisburg, pennsylvania. we're on the southern side. we are getting rain here. snow in the mountains still. we're getting passing moderate showers, these areas of yellow and orange across northern virginia from around the beltway near tyson's corner to near springfield and then down 95 toward fredericksburg. got a pocket of moderate rain there. another pocket of moderate rain

from frederick to just west of leesburg down to front royal. this is going to be with us off and on through the day. big chill in the air. it's only in the low 40s to mid-40s around the metro area. 30s shenandoah valley, up in the high ridges. there is snow accumulating there now. and wind gusts are around 20 to 30 miles an hour around the metro area, higher gusts on the ridges. those will be with us all throughout the day. hour by hour, diminishing winds, but still passing showers, a wet day. i'm back in ten minutes with another weather update. a look at your first 4 traffic with danella on this tuesday morning. good morning. >> good morning. again, local roads just looking a bit sketchy. you're seeing trees down, wires down. if you're traveling in the laurel area, college park as well, please use caution. several roads in that area experiencing trees that are downed. let's head over to md-109 closed at thursdton road.

i-270, wet to very wet. but from germantown to rockville, you're clear. connecting to the beltway inner loop and outer loop as you head towards i-95 and loop around the wilson bridge, you're incident free. >> news 4's angie goff at the live desk with breaking news. >> good morning, aaron. massive fire in queens, new york. more than 50 homes completely destroyed by this six-alarm blaze. look at this video. firefighters are just battling these widespread flames at this point. this is in the breezy point section of the rockaway peninsula in queens. it's also in a flood zone area. so the u.s. army has moved in to help escort almost 200 firefighters to the scene using seven-ton trucks. pretty unbelievable. so far two people have suffered minor injuries. the cause of the fire is still unknown. if you're still trying to fly anywhere any time soon, you

will expect delays. air travel at reagan and dulles has come to a standstill. thousands of flights all across the world, quite frankly, have been cancelled until further notice. adding on top of the huge number of delays, there are really no planes at any of the major d.c. airports right now. they were flown elsewhere, which means it could be days before airports are up and running again. residents in laurel are dealing with a huge mess this morning. it was hit particularly hard by sandy. news 4's tony tull is live with more. tony, good morning. what are you seeing out there? >> reporter: a lot of people in the area dealing with branches and trees down. now everybody starting to make plans on what to do to clean up once some of this rain goes away. a little while ago, you saw megan mcgrath, that tree that fell between those houses. this family not so lucky, 7000 block of conte and royal. this massive, massive tree fell on the house early this morning. good news to report, no

injuries. the family is okay. they're staying with friends in the area. guys, i just want to show you how massive this tree is. i'm about 6'3", and you can actually see that this stump actually is higher than i am. this tree very large, weighs a lot. surprisingly, did not do that much damage to the house. you would think a tree this size would split a house like this, but i took a look inside, and it didn't seem too bad. they're going to come out and assess the damage once sandy kind of clears up. another thing we're seeing this morning, guys, power lines. you take a look here. this is just a cable line, but it goes up to the power pole. a lot of that going on this morning. so if you do have to head out on the streets this morning, just be aware that on the side streets, there are a lot, a lot, a lot of downed and low hanging power lines. just keep an eye on that as you head out. we're live on that, tony tull, news 4. still no word on when people living in one fairfax community will get back into their homes

after waters rose to high levels. that is expected to happen in the alexandria community of huntington. it saw flooding issues. that area became known for being flood prone. when high tide started coming in, the fairfax county fire department told families on fenwick drive and arlington terrace to leave. some decided to stay. >> they said we had a mandatory evacuation, but it was up to you whether you wanted to leave or not. i chose to stay because i stayed through all the ones before. i'm a veteran. i know what happens at my end of the street. i wanted to stay. >> many of the people who left went to the nearby lee district rec center where a temporary shelter was set up. take a look at the dramatic video of a power substation explosion in new york city. two blasts at the con ed substation in lower manhattan. this knocked out power for 20 blocks in both directions. in all, 230,000 people in

manhattan have no electricity. con ed says this is one of the five largest blackouts ever in new york and the largest ever caused by a storm. >> sandy really leaving her mark on new york city. in battery park, the water surge reached a record level, more than 13 feet, almost 14 feet,ed flooing streets, tunnels, and some subway tracks. forecasters say the storm surge is beginning to recede, down to 8 feet or so, and that high tide has passed. it is 4:38 now. 42 degrees out there. coming up, a live damage report from the coast after the hurricane slammed the jersey shore. and an

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take a look at some of the pictures sent into us by viewers. there is flooding in the sandbridge section of virginia beach. a flooded creek in sunshine, maryland, as well, and even snow in west virginia. reports of about 18 inches of snow at the most extreme points in west virginia. these photos, you can also e-mail your photos of storm damage to ic@nbcwashington.com. also, on nbcwashington.com, you can report damage on our interactive map.

>> weather and traffic on the ones. meteorologist tom kierein has been following sandy, watched sandy move through the east coast. what's it doing now? it has weakened, i'm happy to say. still giving us rain, snow out of the mountains, pockets of moderate showers rotating and moving through the metro area of northern virginia and maryland. they'll be with us through the rest of the day. very chilly. we're in the 40s maryland and virginia. chilly in the mountains, especially the higher elevations are near freezing with that snow. these are the latest gusts around 25, 30 miles an hour. a few gusts higher than that, farther west on the ridges. hour by hour today, we'll have passing showers, gusts to around 40 miles an hour through noontime, and lighter winds this afternoon, and still passing showers but not as heavy and in the 40s throughout the day. i'm back with a look at your seven day outlook in ten minutes. look at the traffic with danella. >> good morning. thinking of taking the rails today, they are still closed. marc, vre, and metro, those services not open for you today.

taking the local roads, look out for high standing water, trees on the road, just debris. use caution. let's head over starting in potomac. bradley boulevard seeing high standing water at river road. in virginia, cedar lane. it's closed at hill top road. this is because of downed wires on the road in that area. however, as i mentioned earlier, here's a live look at glebe. 66 inside and outside the beltway, you're issue free. >> 4:42. 43 degrees. the dangerous debris that came flying right toward a reporter when he was on the air. [ earnest ] out of the blue one day,

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emergency crews rescued people from michael jacksnew je. the shelter never should have opened. the mayor of atlantic city disregarded evacuation orders. for a closer look at damage along the jersey shore.

let's go live to danielle lee in cape may. >> danielle, good morning. what's the situation there? >> reporter: good morning. right now we're getting hit by these heavy winds. sometimes it's hard to stand. and just light, light rain. sandy is nowhere near done dishing out on cape may and parts of new jersey. if you take a look back here, just a couple of hours ago, i was standing right here with puddles of water at my feet. all of that is starting to subside, which is a good sign for cape may. some of that water sitting on the ground with nowhere to go is beginning to subside. that said, there is serious damage throughout the city. parts of the city flooded that don't normally flood. the mayor did mention that here where i am it was protected in some ways because it was pointing south. nothing like the storm surges that we saw in new york that left the subways flooded, that forced people to evacuate for higher ground, or even in atlantic city like you mentioned where there were evacuations at shelters because people were losing power, people needed

help. the early estimates put the damage at somewhere between $10 billion to $20 billion, and that could put the storm at one of the costliest in u.s. history. in the morning, more than 7 million people across the northeast are going to be waking up without power. we've already heard of a dozen deaths. this is a very serious storm that is still not done and has wreaked serious havoc across the northeast. reporting live in cape may, new jersey, i'm danielle leigh, back to you. >> take a look at this pier in north carolina's outer banks. strong winds and waves took out a chunk of the fishing pier in killdevil hills. there is it is now. severe flooding a problem in low lying areas of the coast. >> ocean city, maryland, hit especially hard by wind and rain from sandy, and it made for a close call from one reporter. wbal-tv's reporter and his cameraman were walking down 42nd street reporting on conditions there when the wind gave him a little bit of a scare.

take a look at this. looks like we're having trouble with that video. >> they've been doing a good job about it. showed you out on coastal highway. whoa! mac, you all right? holy cow. there it goes. all right. we'll send it back to you guys in the studio. >> the best way to handle that. i was sitting, having dinner last night in the hotel, and the guy at the bar was like, i don't understand why these tv stations send these reporters out in the storm. it's a dangerous type of work you could end up doing if you're not safe. most of the time we make sure we're covered by buildings the best we can be, that we've looked around to see if there's debris that could come loose. >> but in every situation you just can't tell what danger

might come to you. this is a particular case where it's such a close call. you can laugh about it afterwards, but if that piece of metal had hit one of those crew members, it could have been a very disastrous situation. so we're glad the reporter is okay. my goodness. if you're able to watch us this morning, you're probably one of the lucky ones who have power. thousands in our area, though, do not have power this morning, and many have downed trees to blame. earlier this morning, nearly 150,000 people in northern virginia were in the dark. news 4's julie carey has more. >> reporter: when a lot of northern virginiians turned in for the night, they did so without any power in their homes, and it's likely a lot of folks are going to wake up without electricity too. this is the reason why. all the trees knocked down, and this one came right down on the power lines. at about midnight, dominion

virginia reporting 145,000 customers without power, and many in alexandria, virginia. dominion virginia had called in backup crews. there are about 5,500 crews ready to go when the brunt of sandy has passed, and they're going to have a lot of trees that have to be cut up and removed and a lot of power lines to repair before electricity can be restored. reporting from alexandria, i'm julie carey, "news 4 today." i wonder now that the storm looks like it died down in our area if crews are going out to assess the situation now, and you might see crews on the road today. >> i did see a tweet from pepco they've got crews on the street right now. they've got to assess everything before they get the power back on. they're doing that work. i would imagine dominion is doing the same. storm team 4 meteorologist tom kierein is here with us as well. we're sort of taking a little

bit of a breath trying to get back into normal space after the storms that rolled through yesterday. >> we have so many facets to the storm. so many ways we've been affected by it. power outages, tree limbs down, high winds, coastal flooding, snow in the mountains. i'm exhausted just thinking about it. >> the wind aspect of this. the power companies can't get out there with high winds. how are we doing on that front. >> that's the best news. crews should be able to get out because winds are diminished. we're still following rain and snow. all these areas in white on storm team 4 radar in eastern kentucky and much of ohio and up into northeastern indiana and southern michigan. it's raining from maine down to north carolina. we've got passing moderate showers right across northern virginia, the district, and maryland right now in the nearby suburbs. these are yellow and orange, moderate showers in southern

prince george's county into western charles. and then across the potomac river into prince william county, center fauquier. farther north and west in loudoun and frederick counties. these are lighter showers farther east. we're going to have these over us off and on through the rest of the day with a chill in the air. only low to mid-40s. it's a damp, penetrating, chilly start to the day. we have temperatures just near 40 in the lower elevations, shenandoah valley and the mountains. the winds out there are gusting over 40 miles an hour. thankfully, the winds have gratefully diminished. the peak gusts in the metro area, 20 to 30 miles an hour. that's still enough to get the trees swaying a bit and maybe other branches that are weak coming down. we still have a flood warning in effect until 10:30. creeks and streams. all theese counties all of thei

banks. and we've got a blizzard warning. all these counties in orange, western maryland, the highs of west virginia, and the high spots along the blue ridge. skyline drive and perhaps the peaks of the mountains and into the eastern part of the alleghenys and the appalachians. that snow is going to continue in many locations, just incredible. it's going to be a windy and chilly morning, still around low 40s by 6:00 a.m. by noontime, winds up and still around 30, 40 miles an hour. temperatures in the mid-40s. holding steady mid and upper 40s in the afternoon. diminished gusts by midafternoon. thankfully, improving news. here's the storm team 4 forecast. a little sun yesterday afternoon. near 40 in the afternoon. afternoon highs mid-40s. chilly start on thursday. partly sunny thursday.

partly sunny friday. and the weekend, lo and behold, beautiful day on saturday. looks like sunday too with high 50s. but cold start both mornings, down into the mid to upper 30s over the weekend. then back to work and school hopefully on monday. get the power back throughout much of the region. hopefully by then we'll be up around 60 by monday afternoon. might have a passing shower on monday morning. and i'm back in ten minutes. another update comin up, and that will be at 5:01. now a look at your first 4 traffic with danella. good morning. >> good morning. still assessing the damaged roads in our area. even on the drive in, the streets are littered, local roads littered with just leave ds and falling branches. you've got to use caution. if you're thinking of driving out today. and also looking out for flooding. high standing water along gal owes road, closed at route 50 along arlington boulevard. and seeing high standing water along prosperity avenue.

and if you're traveling in maryland, route 50 defense highway, you're closed at oak court because of high standing water. the interesting part is i'm checking roads like route 50 here in maryland at 202, nice and clear. again, the beltway, i-66, i-95. they look pretty good, accident free. again, the local roads getting out of your house, that's where you're going to have the problem. i need you to just be careful and definitely wait until the sun's up so you can see a little bit better. as you're driving, it may look like a puddle, and then it's high standing water. aaron and eun, back over to you. >> thank you, danella. >> let's travel to brian thompson in seaside heights, new jersey. brian, good morning. how's the damage there? >> reporter: good morning. it was not good at all. about 13 homes on fire in the next couple of towns up from here. i can tell you about how the back bay flooded the streets just a couple blocks this way. most of seaside heights was under water.

as a matter of fact, we did an interview with a gentleman last night. he left us. he started driving down the street two blocks away from us, an ocean surge hit his pickup truck, blew it three blocks over toward varnegut bay. it ended up on the edge of the bay. he almost died, he texted me afterward. we had debris in the streets. all of it dangerous. i was talking to the police chief. he said, oh, gosh, i've got a nail in my tire. he had a flat tire, the police chief. so do i. i've got a flat tire right there. it's my second flat tire in 24 hours. it's too dangerous to go out on these streets, not to mention the fact there are no lights, power lines down, although the power has been cut off to probably a good quarter of new jersey, if not more. the situation here is indeed very grim. back to you two. >> it certainly looks like it. brian thompson, live in seaside,

new jersey, for us. brian, thank you. and new overnight, a 42-year-old woman rescued from the atlantic ocean died after she and her crew mates were forced to abandon ship. this morning crews are searching for the captain of the hms bounty who also vanished during the evacuation. yesterday crews rescued 14 other crew members near north carolina's outer banks. the captain called for help sunday night when the ship lost power and was taking on water. that ship left connecticut on thursday en route to florida. the crew was trying to avoid sandy but got caught in the storm anyway. the flooding, the damage, more of sandy's impact across our region straight ahead. anncr: it's said that character is what we do...

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