sandy's impact. trees and wires mangled roads impassable. more than 100,000 people without power in our area alone. >> meanwhile, the most extensive damage is in the big apple. the biggest city left under water. >> welcome. i'm barbara harrison. i'm keith russell. montgomery county schools announced they will be open on time tomorrow. once again, montgomery county

schools will be open for business tomorrow. >> right now, we are going to lieutenant governor of maryland who is speaking right now. there's a press conference under way for the state of maryland. take a listen. >> hats off to everyone with mention to the work being done by the national guard as well as the maryland state police. >> governor, thank you. let me update you on a couple situations. we are experiencing -- the things we are looking for right now as this storm moves off and up into the susquehanna, the flooding issues will be with us for quite a few days. we are monitoring the flow. as you know, from these events, that will be a concern of ours for several days. there is some flooding of rivers we are anticipating. we have been on the phone with the elected officials of

frederick. there's been evacuations door-to-door. the water came up high there. it's going to stay high there and be another high tide later on tonight at 11:00 p.m. many of you recall the event we have been working. we just got off the phone with officials. they are going door-to-door in the summer's cove area checking on people that had shelter in place overnight oftentimes on the second floor while four feet of water was on the first floor. it's going to be a long haul operation. many people will not be able to return to their homes. we are going to be down there working with neighbors there helping with relocation and helping people get back on their foot for awhile to come. in howard county, we are informed they have identified the source of the outage to the waste water treatment plant whose by pass had to kick in. you have seen that reported

widely. they hope to have positive news on restoration of power to that howard county plant. we have been on the phone with county executives there and with the officials from bge. 90% of what that plant is discharging into the little river is storm water from my understanding. 10% of it, however is sewage. hopefully, if people can hold off for a couple hours down there, we'll have power restored and things will start getting back to normal there. i think those are the updates that i have for right now. again, publicly, when you are out there on the roads -- oh, i have one other announcement. when you are out on the roads, if you come to a traffic light that is out, that means four-way stop. don't blow through it. four-way stop at any traffic lights that are out. if you are using a generator at home, keep it ventilated and outside, not inside the garage.

keep it outdoors so we don't have anybody dying from carbon monoxide poison. >> the governor is talking about the situation following hurricane sandy. >> people can't return to their homes and talking about the outages in howard county as we speak. that was maryland governor, martin o'malley with the update. sandy is to blame for 18 deaths. more than 7.5 million homes and businesses up and down the east coast are in the dark. this morning, president obama declared a major disaster in the new york city area. at least seven subway tunnels under the river are flooded as we speak. there was an explosion at a con-ed substation. that left a quarter million people in manhattan without power. as if power outages aren't bad

enough, a 13-foot surge of sea water flooded. sandy is also being blamed for a burst of snow in west virginia. >> meanwhile, right here in the area, metro says it will resume bus and train service at 2:00 this afternoon. the system will be on a sunday schedule for the rest of the day. some bus routes may be impacted because of debris or damage. there could be delays out there. metro suspects they will be back on a normal service tomorrow morning. meanwhile, we monitor the number of people in the area without power this morning. northern virginia has the most outages. almost 98,000. many virginia customers are in the dark right now. they are working to restore power to 15,000 people. in maryland, pepco is reporting more than 19,000 outages. bg & e says more than 15,000 people have no electricity.

>> just like yesterday, we have complete team coverage. the live team coverage stretched from rhode island to virginia. we have more on the trees down, the lights out, the roads closed. that unprecedented damage in new york city. >> we begin with storm 4 meteorologist tom kierein with a look at the weather now. tom, good morning, again. >> oh, what a storm this has been. came ashore. it seems like days ago, but it was yesterday afternoon around 5:00, 6:00 south of atlantic city. it barrelled inland and stopped. it's been pretty much just slowing down. now, it's been pretty much anchored in one place, spinning away here in southern pennsylvania. it's been drawing in cold air coming in from canada bringing it all the way down from upper michigan where it's snowing in ohio. look at this snow. this is up in the highlands in

west virginia where some locations have had neardavis, west virginia, 16 inches of snow. this is wise county, virginia. this is in southwestern virginia. this is from this morning, predawn. it's still snowing there. they have a couple inches on the ground there. incredible, going from a hurricane to snow the next day. this storm system is affecting the weather here throughout much of the region all the way into tonight and tomorrow. we'll have the lingering effects. thankfully, sandy is winding down. it's snowing hard out of the mountains. areas of snow south and east of washington. you can see the areas in pink, gray and white. frederick county along the river, persistent snow there. much of it is melting the ground temperatures are so warm. the green and yellow, that's rain. light to moderate rain comes down. with all the run off from

yesterday, four to eight inches of rain, many streams and creeks are flooding. tidal flooding at times of high tide. high water coming up two to four feet above average high tide for the next couple days. i'll be back with the forecast. improving news for the weekend in just a few minutes. keith? >> you have been very busy. to northern virginia now. take a look at this. video of old town alexandria, king street covered in water. dozens of roads are closed. people in flood prone areas are simply trying to figure out what exactly to do. news 4s melissa mollet is light along the potomac. how are you hanging and how are the folks out there hanging? >> reporter: i'm doing fine. it's cold right now. i think people are doing okay. people in alexandria are used to this. yes, this is a street, believe it or not.

i'm at the conger of king and union. you can see the potomac behind me. awhile ago, we had a couple feet of water in here. maybe six to eight inches right now at the edge of the street. lots of folks saying this is not as bad as it's been, at least not yet. after the worst of sandy ripped through, roads here look more like lakes. they are shut down and the water expected to rise a bit tonight. windows in old town covered with tape and tarps. doorways stacked with sandbags. residents coming down for a look at what sandy did. >> it's not as bad as i thought it would be. a few feet of water. >> reporter: before the storm hit, folks were nervous. they dressed in matching yellow slickers. they are keeping an eye on the potomac. she's lived here 40 years and no stronger to the flooding. >> lots of canoes going up and down union street.

>> reporter: this tree came crashing down. take a look here thanks to the winds and the ground. it completely tipped over. the homeowners are lucky it didn't come the other way. >> the winds were strong. everything seems to be okay. we lost a big tree here. we are okay. >> reporter: like mini-neighborhoods across the region, most homes out of power. >> it was very windy and tense. the next limb or the tree was going to come crashing down. >> reporter: residents surveying damage, starting to clean up. >> picking up debris and taking it to the trash. >> reporter: take a look at this. the camera on top of our truck with bird's eye view of damage to an apartment building. the wind tore the roof off. a gaping hole and enough damage it had been condemned. 20 people now staying somewhere else. there's an adorable little boy out here. he's excited. he thinks this is a pool or

something. hopefully he stays on the sidewalk. it can be dangerous if the water gets too high, especially for a little one like that. they are saying it could get a tad worse. a little bit higher than it was at the peak earlier today, that was two to four feet over the normal level. that would happen tonight at high tide. live in old town alexandria, melissa mollet, news 4. back to you. >> keep us posted. major hazards for drivers. tisha thompson continues coverage from montgomery county now. >> reporter: i'm on the steps of beach drive near connecticut avenue. this section of the road you can see rock creek is getting high. it's very close to breaking over this bay. it's way over the normal course. then there's, of course, the added difficulty of you don't have just water, you have trees that have come down.

that means they have shut this entire stretch of road down. officials want people to stay off the roads because even though it is starting to let up with the rain, dragging is still a tricky business. here's a tip. when you see police tape across the roads, stop. state highway crews say this driver plowed through the police tape cutting off access to the onramp at new hampshire avenue and 495. he abandoned the vehicle. the water is crashing over the northwest bridge and dumping heavy logs and debris along the route 29 bridge in white oak prompting police to shut down the road in front of this gas station. >> i'm glad to see it shut down for safety reasons. it's bad for me and everybody in the trader joe's parking lot, but i think they made the right decision. >> reporter: there are roughly two dozen roads shut down because of flooding, another dozen blocked by downed trees

and power lines. stay home and avoid traveling by car today if possible. not a problem for this family who admitted they would rather be walking anyway. >> we are burning off energy. ibd who's got children knows that's what we are not doing today. we are not keeping anybody inside. >> if you decide to walk, you need to be very, very careful. the floodwaters can rise quickly. frankly, you have to watch for cars. they are hydroplaning and throwing water everywhere. it's not safe to be on the road if you can avoid it. if you can and if your kids are not driving you crazy, stay inside. tisha thompson, news 4. we have been keeping an eye on the roads as we speak. let's see what she has to tell us about how traffic is moving. >> normally, you focus on one area, today, you are around the entire dmv.

>> if you can stay in, i would. over 40 roads closed. let's head over now as you make the trip in fairfax county there. 80 roads are closed. these are local roads. the interstates look good. on i-95 in both directions, nice and clear in virginia. no issues there. 66 as well inside and outside of the beltway. no problems. i can tell you, local roads are just a mess on some of them. like tisha said, if your kids aren't driving you crazy, stay in. back to you both. >> thank you. sandy left a massive mess in new york city. it's one of the hardest hit areas. a angie is covering it for us. >> it's a huge mess. new york city is waking up to fires, flooding after sandy ripped through the area. first, devastating video of the monster six-alarm fire that completely destroyed 80 to 1000

homes in queens. close to 200 firefighters with the help of the army national guard helped battle the blaze. many standing in water chest high. hydrants have little to no water pressure causing bigger problems. in the end, three people were hurt. lower manhattan remains under water. this is not a river. that was fdr drive. the floodwater is blamed for a big explosion at a con-ed substation. this left 250,000 people left in the dark. it could be a week before the power is on. very scary moments at nyu hospital after the back-up generator failed. more than 200 patients including 20 babies in a neonatal unit had to be evacuated. doctors and nurses got the sickest and youngest out first. they were seen carrying cancer patients down the stairs. a surge of sea water that poured

into the tunnels and subway stations crippling the biggest mass transit system in the nation. it could be days before the floodwater is pumped out. in the end, new york had five storm related deaths. the president declared a mess. cleaned up federal aid for victims of the storm. >> they really did get hit up there, didn't they? we'll continue to follow what's happening in new york city throughout this newscast. >> right now, in the big apple with problems. the time is 11:16. we continue coverage in the nation's capital. >> reporter: here in northwest washington, sandy left her calling card in the form of falling trees. i'm megan mcgrath. a live report coming up. we are also fanning out all over the area. dozens of roads left under water. >> take a look at this. the damage is more to the north

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in northwest d.c., as in much of our area, the big concern seems to be the toppled trees out there, look at that. the rain soaked ground is unstable forcing many of them to come crashing down, roots and all. megan mcgrath is live in northwest with a look at how some neighborhoods are dealing with this. folks out there right now trying to get rid of some of those trees, i hope. >> reporter: have not seen a whole lot of action, actually, to be honest with you. more curiousty. folks have been coming out and taking a look at some of the trees that came tumbling down.

we are on cathedral avenue. this large tree appears to have uprooted this tree. it came snapping down parallel to the houses here. it didn't cause major damage. a close call to folks. in northwest washington, we had a number of large trees come down. there's a lot of clean up to be done. the clean up began as soon as the high winds died down. on 16th street in northwest, public works crews made quick work of several trees that toppled across the road. as the sun came up, people ventured out to take a look for themselves. this large tree completely blocked cathedral avenue. >> it was wild. all the trees were being whipped over the road. i was out walking a dog and the dog was not happy to be there. i wasn't happy to be there. gusts would come through that were very, very strong.

it made me nervous that a tree would pop down. >> reporter: traffic was light. many people stayed home from work. for those who did go to the office, there were some tours. rock creek looked like a fierce river. beach drive was closed due to high water. also high, the potomac river. concerns about major flooding did not come to pass. >> this was milder. the rain wasn't hard. i didn't hear of much flooding, yet. >> a lot of rain, wind. it wasn't too bad. >> some of these trees that came down brought down power lines with them. we have some power outages in d.c. pepco brought in crews from other areas. they were working on the situation. they hope to have everybody up and running as soon as possible. reporting live, megan mcgrath, news 4. >> thank you. that potomac is really high out

there. we haven't gotten to high tide. >> we have not gotten to the crest, yet. it's going to happen on thursday. we'll see the potomac, about five feet above flood stages. we have to keep an eye on those. there's been a lot of run off. ift's going to continue to ride. we have creeks and streams along the region. we have photos coming in. this is my favorite of the morning. a trampoline caught in power lines. >> whoa! look at that. >> this is in lexington park in southern maryland. yeah, if you had anything in your backyard like that, it became a flying projectile. we have a lot of those. send your photos to www.nbcwashington.com or weather@nbcwashington.com. how much rain did sandy give us? a lot. we had three to eight to nearly nine inches of rain. all these different locations. new jersey, look at that, almost

nine inches of rain. reagan national, a record of 3.85 yesterday. pax river about six inches of rain. phenomenal gusts of wind last night. thomas point, light in the bay, 79-mile-an-hour gusts. a 76-mile-an-hour gust. maryland, point lookout, they all had gusts of 70 miles per hour. all coming from this storm, which is now calls a post-tropical cyclone which came inland with tropical characteristics. it's stalled out by an upper level flow that wrapped around it. the upper level is drawing in cold air. it's changing some of the rain to some snow. many locations where you see here in the pink, the white, they are getting wet snow flakes along skyline drive, areas above 2,000 feet as well as up the

mountain in western frederick county in maryland, it's been snowing. a lot of it is melting. all these counties in green, the tides will be up two to four feet above high tide. it's going to happen around 9:00. a blizzard warning continues out of the mountains. they continue to get the snow there. they could get total amounts six to 12 inches. some of the high locations have had more. it is cold. temperatures still hovering in the low 40s. it may only warm up two to three degrees for the high this afternoon. the winds diminished, generally around 20-mile-an-hour gusts. we have to talk about windchill. the wind makes it feel like it is in the 30s. this is just amazing for october 30th. as we go forward, it looks like we'll have continuing snow out of the mountains, this area in blue and the areas in green are showers. it's going to be all over by

late tonight and tomorrow morning. wednesday, sunshine breaking out during the afternoon. still a lot of clouds around this afternoon as we get into thursday. for the rest of the afternoon, showers, wet flakes, maybe. chilly, in the 40s through the afternoon. winds will be diminishing overnight. the four day forecast in the 50s. tomorrow, thursday, friday and into the weekend each day, welcome sunshine. that will really help to ramp up the recovery giving us dry weather. right now, nobody wants to be out there in the cold rain trying to cut up a tree. i think we are dwoung going to see that ramping up tomorrow and into the weekend. >> tom, you have been going and going and going. when do you expect people to get back to normalcy in their lives? >> if you are without power, not until you get the power back. it may be several days. it's going to take some time because we have so many trees down. >> i'm without my fiberoptic cable.

it's like being in the dark. no internet, no tv, no phone. >> we are so used to the connections to everything. >> thank you, tom. it is 11:26. coming up, another consequence of sandy. the storm that's impacting the presidential election. >> you are watching live team >> y[ minto ] you know,e team those ads saying mitt romney

would ban all abortions and contraception seemed a bit extreme. so i looked into it.

turns out, romney doesn't oppose contraception at all. in fact, he thinks abortion should be an option in cases of rape, incest, or to save a mother's life. this issue's important to me, but i'm more concerned about the debt our children will be left with. i voted for president obama last time, but we just can't afford four more years. [ romney ] i'm mitt romney and i approve this message. today, we are finally getting a sense of how much devastation sandy caused in the area. this is laurel, maryland. they are under water. streets, baseball fields look more like streams. >> look at that. tony tull is live on the ground there with another look at the damage. what are we looking at there? that was a baseball field? you probably couldn't see it. tell us what you have behind

you. looks like a tree over there. >> reporter: massive damage. we have been talking the damage all morning long. the next stage will be clean up and assessing the damage. kind of like here in laurel, if you look behind me, there's a house with a massive, massive tree on top of it. the good news, no injuries. you can look at the trunk of the tree to see how massive it is. throughout the region, scenes like this, the damage is all too common over the last 24 hours. as sandy moves through the area, it's the first chance to assess how bad the d.c./maryland/virginia area got hit. damage to homes like this one on gerald road. the neighbors tells us the problems they have had with overhanging branches and large trees. >> cut up a lot of trees and

rented a lift. >> reporter: down the stream, homes damaged by an uprooted tree. this time, no one was home. the damage wasn't limited to falling branches and trees. a downed power line caused evacuations of an apartment building. still to this hour, flooding is a major concern with multiple roadways under water including route 1. traffic diverted as both lanes are cut down. with the rain, many lost power turning to portable generators for electricity. at this home, one family accidentally using one inside. >> they are dangerous equipment. you have to keep an eye on them and keep them. you are not supposed to use them indoors or near windows or any place where ventilation can be

sucked through. >> reporter: many of these families and individuals have been taken to shelters or they are staying with family and friends. take a live look. we have prince george's county fire marshall here. i talked to him two minutes ago. he said the next step is assessing the damage and they will be able to come in and find out what to do with the houses as well as how to clear the trees. the trees are massive. you can see the person who lives in this home is clearing out belongings, making sure the inspectors can get in and do their job. we are live in laurel. tony tull, news 4. >> thanks so much, thanks so much. >> sandy is putting the brakes on the race for president. president obama and mitt romney are taking a break from campaigning out of respect for the storm victims. the president canceled the rest of the day and tomorrow to oversee the government's response to the storm. he says he's more concerned about sandy's impact than next week's election. meanwhile, romney is also

scrapping his campaign plans for today. the nominee and running meat will hold storm relief events instead. romney will be campaigning in virginia on thursday. the campaign says romney will make three stops in the commonwealth. he will not make any stops in northern virginia. >> you'll probably have to wait until tomorrow if you planned on voting early today. >> martin o'malley ordered all to be closed for a second day due to sandy. he's ordered it through november 2nd to make up for the missed days. the d.c. board of elections postponed itd for today as well and fairfax county canceled early absentee voting, too. >> 11:34 now. this is live team coverage of sandy's impact. we'll have more after the break. >> reporter: high tides came and

went. the fears of rising water. details coming up on news 4.

now, we are learning more about the impact sandy is having on the d.c. area. the storm is blamed for at least two deaths in the area. when a tree came crashing through a house and a woman died in a car accident in montgomery county when her car hydroplaned off the road. there are no flights in or out of dulles or reagan this morning. a handful of flights are getting out of bwi. we have news for metro riders. rail and bus service will resume at 2:00 this afternoon. good news for people without power. in the last half hour, utility companies restored power to thousands in the area. in the last half hour, pepco got

the number of outages down from 19,000 to 17,000. in northern virginia, 98,000 customers are without power now. more than 15,000 outages. bge says more than 61,000 homes and businesses have no electricity. more than 50,000 of them. now, less than 2300 outages. let's go to tom kierein with an update on the forecast. tom? >> boy, our hearts go out to the crews working hard to get the power back. they are dealing with rain coming down, too. in some places, snow. the areas in white, gray and pink, it's snowing and snowing hard in west virginia. many locations are going to get a foot or more of snow by the time it ends on wednesday evening. a few pockets of snow showing up in montgomery county into western county. the areas in pink and white and out here in western frederick

county as well. a few wet snow flakes in southern maryland. all the counties in green under extreme flooding and tidal flooding. around the bay, coastal flooding due to abnormal high tides, two to four feet above average. right now, it's chilly. low and mid-40s. occasional showers throughout the afternoon. a few wet snow flakes. winds diminishing. gusts 20 to 25. tomorrow, wednesday, into the weekend, looking much better. sunshine coming out. high 50s, morning lows. chilly. i'm back in a few minutes with another update. >> thank you. residents of virginia's most flood prone neighborhoods will be able to return to their homes. many living in the huntington section of alexandria evacuated the floodwaters. we are live from the neighborhood with more on the

damage there. what's it looking like out there? >> reporter: it's looking good for those folks. they can go home now. we are at the huntington shopping center. last night, this was the scene of the coordination of an evacuation for folks who wanted to go from an area prone to flooding. we got a bit of a skirt. the water rose and didn't do any damage. there's no regrets from officials for being proactive. >> the last time we were here, we were on boats. >> reporter: fairfax county police and firefighters spent monday afternoon knocking on doors with suggestions for residents. >> we can't force people. we can only suggest you evacuate your home. >> reporter: they were close and ready. it reached street levels. >> the first one came up quick overnight. we were asleep and the

neighborhood -- hey, gotta get out. >> reporter: folks in this neighborhood are no stranger to high waters. most chose to stay, but others weren't waiting to be prompted. >> 3:00 just for precaution. >> reporter: buses took those who heeded the advice and shelter was set up. they were ready. there was food, water and a chaplain to help folks through it. as the worst passed. others couldn't wait. i came by looking at dry wall work and a bunch of dry wall. >> reporter: residents repeated the drill again or maybe not if a ballot measure gave rise to improvements and drainage when mother nature rose the water. >> a vote coming up november 6. hopefully, it will do some improvement in the future as far as storm control. >> reporter: now, authorities are going to be individual lent and watching cameras run here

and in the bellevue area, another low lying area prone to flooding. they think they are past the worst of it. we are live in northern virginia. back to you. >> no boats necessary this time around. >> reporter: let's hope not. >> thank you so much. we are learning more about the man killed when a tree crashed into his home. the 80-foot tree fell on to the home in pasadena late last night. county executive, john leopold  says the victim was a 73-year-old construction engineer. he was in the kitchen when he was struck. the tree weighed between 15 and 20 tons. it's so big, rescuers had trouble recovering the man's body. an accident this morning in montgomery county closed the road down for awhile. it's not clear if the accident was related to storm damage.

we are waiting to hear if anyone was injured. >> catching a plane in our area is difficult. the airport authority tweeted out there are no flights in or out of dulles or reagan this morning. a handful of flights are getting out. backlogs of people waiting for a flight will likely take time to clear. if you had a flight scheduled today or the coming days, call your airline for the latest on the status. >> let's take a look at traffic. danella has had a busy day. >> she has and yesterday as well. what's it looking like? light in traffic? >> volume is light. problems on local roads. there are restrictions on interstates as well as u.s. routes. the speed restriction is 45 miles per hour max. that's to make sure you can see everything you need to see. let's head over to upper marlboro traveling southbound 301. that right exit ramp is closed because debris is blocking it.

in the district, sandy is making an impact in the northwest traveling westbound. this is h street at 7th. low hanging metal. it is blocking the right lane. you are able to get by, but you have to stay to the left. keith, over to you. >> all right. a major clean up effort is under way in rhode island. i don't think folks are proud of that name right now. these pictures, where waves breached the seawall and destroyed a local landmark. the coast guard house restaurant. mario joins us from rhode island with more on the damage in the state. how is it looking mario? >> reporter: good morning, keith. as you said, the ocean state not a name folks are happy about living so close to the coast. a lot of damage here. i'm standing on front steps. the steps are now detached from the home. they are sitting in a big pond of water. all these mobile homes are just

sitting in a pond that wasn't here 24 hours ago. just to give you an idea of how powerful the storm surge was here, where the homes are is on the other side of the street where the ocean and the beach are. the surge so strong, it pushed the water over the main road and created this pond and submerged these homes here. this is the scene that the being played out across the state along the coast. a lot of coastal flooding, beach erosion. one beach nearby where we are, cottages, three of them were swept out to sea because the storm surge was so strong. several others teetering on the brink, on the edge of the ocean. the governor touring these areas throughout the morning to assess the damage and see what assistance can be made here. a lot of clean up. a lot of damage here along the coast of rhode island. hundreds of thousands of people without power. we are still waiting for utility crews to get the power back on.

you can hear the helicopters, military helicopters are flying over head to assess the damage here in the ocean state. a lot of it along the coast. beach erosion, a storm surge, flooded out homes like we see here. just a lot of damage and a lot of clean up. now, the good news is the sun is shining here. it's dry. unfortunately, the sunshine is shedding light on devastation. the damage assessment and the clean up begins. we are live in rhode island, back to you. >> all right, mario, thanks so much. when you talk about rhode island, you talk about newport and block island. one of the premier destinations of the country. it won't be that way for quite some time. >> we are going head to the bloomingdale neighborhood where tom is driving around with mayor gray right now. it's an area that is often

flooded in the district. what's it looking like there? >> you can see pictures from -- national guard traveling the city with the mayor. we have been up and down to see the kind of damage there is. the mayor is talking to neighbors. trees fall down. the fire chief walked in front. [ poor audio ] >> tom sherwood with mayor vincent gray. they urged people to take caution and safety before the storm hit.

now, he's going around and doing his civic duty of checking on people and seeing what the aftermath of sandy is. >> again, tom sherwood with him. that's his skype camera taking those pictures. we can see there are a lot of people out probably ready to tell the mayor what their problems are. we have reported for years on the flooding of the basements in that part of the city. i'm sure they have problems out there today that we will hear about. >> definitely. >> 11:49. coming up, live team coverage of sandy continues. we'll tell you about the incredible price tag that could come along with this devastating storm. stay with us. [ earnest ] out of the blue one day,

we were told to build a 30-foot stage. gathered the guys and we built that 30-foot stage, not knowing what it was for. just days later, all three shifts were told to assemble in the warehouse. a group of people walked out on that stage and told us that the plant is now closed and all of you are fired... i looked both ways, i looked at the crowd, and...we all just lost our jobs. we don't have an income. mitt romney made over 100 million dollars by shutting down our plant and devastated our lives. turns out that when we built that stage,

it was like building my own coffin, and it just made me sick. [ male announcer ] priorities usa action is responsible for the content of this advertising. we were just talking moments ago with tom sherwood who is riding around the bloomingdale neighborhood with the mayor. he told us the mayor is talking

to the president, president obama about the damage that he's seeing. we are going to check with in hampton with a look at sandy by the numbers. hampton? >> how you doing, barbara? with wall street closed for a second day, we thought we would give you the numbers tied to the impact of hurricane sandy. they are pretty amazing. 60 million people impacted. power outages at the top of the list. estimated 7.8 million people from the mid-atlantic to new england. it could be days to weeks before all those customers get their lights and power on. way too early for damage estimates. the range for insured losses from $6 billion to $10 billion. at the high end of the number would make sandy the fifth most expensive in hurricane history. the impact on this total economy, $20 billion. wall street is dark for a second straight day, as we said. we are told the exchanges are testing contingency plans in

hopes of resuming trading as early as possible. tomorrow is the end of the month and important day for mutual funds. barbara? >> thanks so much. i know it's going to be an expensive recovery for everyone. >> the numbers are staggering. >> okay, see you later. >> staggering numbers, but we have a bit of good news. montgomery county schools are open. we just learn prince george's county schools will be open as well. news 4 midday continues after the break. meteorologist tom kierein will continue our live team coverage of sandy's impact. stay with us. anncr: which do you believe?

what mitt romney's tv ads say about women? or what mitt romney himself says? mitt romney: do i believe the supreme court... should overturn roe v. wade? yes. and it would be my preference that they, that they... reverse roe v. wade. hopefully reverse roe v. wade. overturn roe v. wade. planned parenthood, we're going to get rid of that. i'll cut off funding to planned parenthood. anncr: no matter what mitt romney's ads say. we know what he'll do. president obama: i'm barack obama and... i approve this message.

we are continuing to look at the impact of sandy. tom joins us with a look at the forecast. >> sandy winding down at this hour as we approach the noon hour. still spinning away to the north and spreading snow in the mountain region. a few snow flakes. northern montgomery county into western howard. down along skyline drive above 2,000 feet, they are getting the snow. all the counties in green have

stream flooding. we have temperatures right now still in the low 40s. highs today maybe in the mid-40s. a chilly, wet day. thankfully drys out for wednesday and into the weekend. see you tomorrow morning. >> thank you. >> thank you, tom. your coverage has been simply amazing. >> thank you so much. >> that's news 4 midday. thanks for joining us. tune in for updates all day as well as 4:00, 5:00 and 6:00 for all the days news. >> we'll be back tomorrow with more. have a terrific day. see you in the morning. what's so special about mini babybel cheese?

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