even get here. heat indexes could be near 105 before the severe storms arrive. and metro safety back in the spotlight this morning. the ntsb talks about problems uncovered after that deadly smoke incident. growing momentum to take the confederate flag down. the retailer promising change as south carolina lawmakers tackle the issue of the confederate flag on state grounds. and now, your storm team 4 forecast. >> good morning, everybody. a very busy weather day coming our way today. dangerous heat and humidity to start. heat index values up near 105 degrees and in all likelihood we are going to have severe thunderstorms around here later on this afternoon. a weather alert day here. we'll have frequent updates on the website, on the nbc washington app and frequent updates also right here on nbc4 on air. here's where we start this morning. temperatures are in the upper 70s now around downtown. mid 70s in the cooler suburbs

this morning. high temperatures before the storms start, near 100 degrees. the records today 96 at dulles is probably going to be broken. 97 the record at bwi likely to be broken. 98 the record at national likely to be broken. timing out your storm chances, most likely for severe weather between 3:00 and 7:00 p.m. over for a chance on traffic with melissa. >> live picture of chopper 4 over the beltway at route 50, nice and light. not the situation in a section in virginia. right now here 210 headed northbound here. a little bit slow just before you're approaching the beltway on indian head highway. 95 north at prince william parkway it's starting to look a little better. dale city approaching that area as you head through dumfries a little slow this morning. this is some road work we had, then a crash. so we slowed things down. nothing is in your way but a tad slow. 66, slowest spot is through

centreville and then it opens up back in town. back in ten minutes with travel times. >> thanks, melissa. in a few hours we could learn a lot more about that deadly underground emergency on metro. news4's megan mcgrath is by the l'enfant plaza metro station where smoke filled the tunnel back in january there. megan, what's happening today? >> reporter: well there's a big hearing that's going to be taking place, eun so metro is going to be under the microscope and they have to answer a lot of questions. the ntsb is beginning a two-day hearing today into that deadly smoke incident that happened in tunnel near the l'enfant plaza metro station. a woman died back in january when smoke went into the train. the train was in the tunnel and the ntsb wants to know what went wrong and what needs to be changed to make sure such a thing never happens again. the investigators will be focusing on a couple of different things. specifically let's take a look. metro's infrastructure and conditions leading to the electrical arcing that produced

the smoke down in that tunnel. they're also going to look at emergency response and the evacuation. there's been a lot of criticism about how long it took to get people out of that tunnel and to safety. the hearing gets underway at 9:00 a.m. and will continue through tomorrow and we of course will continue to follow it and bring you the very latest that comes out of this two-day hearing. back to you in the studio. >> megan mcgrath at l'enfant plaza, thank you. nearly 100,000 people in montgomery county could receive paid sick leave. today, the county council is expected to vote on the earned sick and safe leave bill. it would require businesses to give employees the chance to earn up to seven paid sick days a year. and safe time to handle time for counseling. and by now you've heard that larry hogan is fighting cancer. he has advanced aggressive non-hodgkins lymphoma. that means a long road of

recovery ahead for him. he said it's a shock to him but he will beat it. >> honestly they say you'll go through hell and back again but you'll love it when you get back and the results will be good. . >> hogan joked yesterday about losing some of his hair. he plans to stay in office. he says he'll undergo 18 weeks of treatment with chemotherapy once every three weeks. he will take time off to undergo chemotherapy. that's where boyd rutherford will come in. he went to howard university and he's been in public service for years but this is his first elected office. he worked for maryland's previous republican governor, bob erlich and former president george w. bush. hogan said rutherford has his back. a lot of people are watching the south carolina legislature lawmakers are meeting on the state budget today. but they could vote to stay in session next week and debate

whether the confederate flag should stay on the state capitol grounds. governor nikki haley called on lawmakers yesterday to act as you have seen -- pressure to take the flag down was sparked after the murder of nine people last week. and it's reaching a fevered pitch right now and walmart has recovered all merchandise with the confederate flag on it. page after page of confederate themed goods are removed from walmart. however, confederate flag merchandise is still for sale on sites like amazon.com and ebay. coming up in half an hour, we'll talk to craig melvin live. he's working on this story. the redskins will try to get their trademark back in court today. a native american court challenged the team name last year and the u.s. patent office cancelled the trademark. the redskins owner sued the

group and the judge will decide if the lawsuit should be dismissed. signs of progress, but still not making the grade. where d.c. students fall short in the classroom when compared to their peers. and right now i have some big slowdowns in the section of virginia. going to tell you where this is and how to get around it coming up. but first, a developing story at this hour across parts of the midwest after severe storms and the impact that the

rescue crews are working right now to try to clear downed trees and power lines and damage across illinois. this after a string of tornadoes hurt seven. you're looking at a aftermath. this camp ground was hit hard. people were trapped in their campers and rvs.

they had to be rescued. we know that five tornadoes reportedly swept through this state. you can see the twister on the side there. high winds destroyed buildings and trees. some areas got two to four inches of rain and just in, the governor has activated the state emergency operation center to help out this morning. eun? >> thanks angie. this morning, trash and recycling crews will hit the streets early today in prince george's county. as the day heats up, crews in laurel will start at 7:00 a.m. to beat the heat. you still have a little time to put our your trash. any day where the heat index is expected to hit the triple digits crews will be up working early. today is one of the days, it will be dangerously hot outside. so anyone who has to work outdoors should take those precautions we have been talk about this morning. >> you can see the sun is up and it's really heating up already out there. chuck bell is in the storm team 4 weather center with the warning we all need to hear about the extreme heat today. >> absolutely.

that hazy, thick looking atmosphere out there, just blurring out the sunrise this morning that's all the fuel we'll need for thunderstorms coming our way this afternoon. already temperatures are in the middle to upper 70s. 72 in manassas. 79 at reagan national. temperatures will climb fast, we should be above 90 degrees before 11:00 a.m. and get near 100 this afternoon and significant risks for severe weather today. primary risk will be damaging winds and winds can gust over 80 miles an hour. and now a check on traffic with melissa. >> still slow on 95 northbound in prince william parkway and through dumfries and dale city. as you head northbound this morning. you can take route 1 to avoid it. it isn't bad enough to want to do that this morning. but only 14 miles per hour through dale city. if you're coming from further south you might want to take an

alternate instead. quantico to the beltway, right now 44 minutes instead of 23. 66 inbound looking good. and in maryland no major problems. remember to listen to our friends o your car. melissa, thank you. today's extreme heat may have you reaching for a bottle of water, but several different brands are being pulled from the store shelves because they can make you sick. what you need to look for. overhauling an icon. the dramatic changes in store for the legos that you and your children grew up playing with. your time is 6:12.

welcome back. 6:15. we are helping you prepare for the day ahead on this weather alert day. the first thing you'll notice as you step outside is this brutal heat. we're expecting the heat index today to reach triple digits in the hours ahead. severe storms will also have an impact on your plans. storm team 4 meteorologist chuck bell is helping you prepare with storm timing at 6:21. >> right now police are asking you to keep an eye out for a missing child. this is maya davis. she works at a store on "q" street in southeast d.c. and she may be in the area. if you have any information, give takoma park police a call. there's a push for tougher

prison sentences for those who commit crimes in front of children. a petition calls for lawmakers to add five years to the sentence of any convict who commits a crime in front of a child. young took action after someone killed her niece kaya. it happened in front of her two children. the 7-year-old is the one who called 911. >> something like that to happen in front of those children and have them face -- to be faced with that dilemma all of their lives, to have my niece's life not be gone in vain. i have decided to be a change agent. >> lawmakers are expected to call on wilson young to testify as they consider changes to the law. you can find more information about signing the change.org petition on the nbc washington app. today, senators and congress will ask for answers about how hackers stole information from the federal government. the senate is holding a hearing about federal security this morning. the office of personnel

management said hackers stole information from millions of current and former workers including some people who applied for but never got a job. 6:17 now, we're keeping an eye on donald trump today. he's catching up with republican party leaders tonight at the red, white and blue dinner. trump is the headliner, so watch for more of trump's trademark blunt political talk. that dinner starts at 7:00. a new report recommends 71 changes to the fairfax county police department's use of force policy. it includes clarification on the use of deadly force. right now, there's no language about the consequences of shooting and killing a driver in a moving car or truck. the report recommends crisis intervention strategies to help those with mental illness. it comes two years after a fairfax county police officer shot and killed john geer. he was unarmed at the time. the police department settled a wrongful death lawsuit with his family for $3 million. we know who will preside over the trial of six baltimore

police officers indicted in the arrest and death of freddie gray. judge barry williams was appointed to the case yesterday. all the officers entered not guilty pleas. and a trial date was set for october 13th. arraignments are scheduled for next week. charles severance will have one trial to defend himself against three different murder charges. severance is charged with killing three people in alexandria over the course of ten years. yesterday, a judge denied a motion to split the cases up. severance asked the judge to keep the cases together even though it was his lawyers who wanted separate trials. severance's trial starts this october. 6:18 now. we are following a developing story this morning. an isis leader is dead. the pentagon says ali ani al harzi was killed in the air strike in mosul iraq last week. he worked closely with extremists in north africa and the middle east. he is suspected in the attack that killed u.s. ambassador chris stephens and three other americans in libya.

oscar winning composer james horner has died in a plane crash. the plane went down yesterday about 100 miles north of los angeles. horner was the pilot, no one was else was on board. aviation officials are trying to figure out what caused that crash now. hollywood has taken to social media to share its condolences. horner wrote many prominent movie scores including those for "titanic," "avatar" and "brave heart." police in montgomery county are testing body cameras and they're running into issues. police chief major tells wtop that they're having a hard time explaining to witnesses they're being recorded. it is an issue for those who don't speak english. manger said many people act differently when they know they're being recorded. sweet briar college in virginia will stay open at least for now. a plan to reverse the decision to close the 114-year-old women's college has been approved. saving sweet briar is urging students who had transferred or

those who are looking elsewhere to come back. staff members have also been asked to return to their positions. the plan requires saving sweet briar to find $2.5 million by july 2 and an additional $10 million to save the college. the change of management is also a requirement under this new plan. kaya henderson said that the school system has come a long way, but more needs to be done to improve the achievement gap. she testified before the education committee and she said there's improvement when it comes to preparing for the first day of school and many parents, teachers and education advocates were frustrated at the low pace of progress. a report fro the national research council found students are still not meeting standards despite major changes in 2007. it's already hot out there. it's one of the brutal days and

you do need to drink plenty of water, but pay attention because there's a massive bottled water recall under way right now. 14 brands of bottled water are under a recall because they may be contaminated with e. coli. wegman's, 7-eleven and acadia brand is also affected. they said to boil the water before drinking it. take a look at the bottle the recalled water bottles have codes that begin with the letter "f" or "a." i posted a story on the facebook page if you want to see the full list. >> it's one of the days you need to hydrate and get into cool air as often as possible. dangerous heat today. >> storm team 4 meteorologist chuck bell with more on what we can expect in terms of the heat and the storms, chuck. >> absolutely right. it will be one of the double squeegee brow to wipe off the sweat this morning. a lot of people spend the summer

days out on the golf course or at the pool, at the very first sign of darkening clouds or the rumble of thunder, get to a safe place and fast as weather can go downhill very very quickly. this is the view from the tower camera. the haze out there this morning is blurred -- has blurred out the sunrise. this is the transmission tower at channel 4 and the message we're sending out today is be alert. it is a weather alert day today. it will be a high impact from the weather department today. high heat and humidity to start. severe thunderstorms are a real likelihood later on this afternoon. humidity it's already uncomfortable outside. it will be down right oppressive later on. heat advisories have been issued. heat indexes are near 105 this afternoon. right now it's 72 degrees at dulles airport. temperatures in the suburbs will be in the upper 70s by 7:00 and near 90 degrees before it gets to noontime. and afternoon highs today mid to upper 90s. some neighborhoods will touch

100 degrees for actual air temperatures and severe thunderstorms will bubble up later on this afternoon and go into the early part of this evening. here's where it's going on now. there's already severe weather in northern pennsylvania and southern new york at 6:30 in the morning. this line of storms will expand southward with time. here's your severe weather risk. usually we're in the yellow which is the slight risk that's where we were on saturday for example. today we're in the next category up from that. the enhanced risk goes from washington baltimore, philly, all the way through new york and boston. if you're traveling up the i-95 corridor today, expect a big weather impact. the timing out of the storms as we go through future weather into this afternoon beginning between 1:30 and 2:00. here's the line of thunderstorms coming right through the metro between 3:00 and 7:00. good news in the seven day forecast and that is that we will cool down and lose the humidity as we get into tomorrow. and nice weather to finish out the week. the weekend is looking cloudy and showery and cooler with highs in the 70s. now chopper 4 is in the air for

melissa mollet. >> chopper 4 over the top of the beltway right now. and chuck showing us a little bit of volume. it's not really bad. looks like the outer loop at colesville road is moving along pretty nicely here for a weekday morning. hopefully some folks are on vacation. good for them and on the road of course. prince george's county looking good right now. a little slow inbound indian head driveway before the beltway. looking here at 95, 95 has been kind of a problem for us all morning long even with travel times. through dale city only 11 miles per hour this morning. 66 east bound at route 28, westbound looking good as well. no major problems on 66 right now. 270 at germantown road is moving along nicely as well. back at 6:31. 6:24 right now. virginia does not seem to be benefiting from the affordable care act. take a look at some new numbers from a recent survey. overall the number of uninsured americans went down from 45 million in 2013 to 36 million

last year. the national center for health statistics conducted the survey. in virginia though the number of uninsured people under 65 didn't change much. it went down from just over 13% in 2013 to around 12.5% in 2014. west virginia saw the biggest benefit from the health care law. the number of uninsured people under 65 was close to 24% in 2013. that went down to just 9% in 2014. experts say west virginia's expansion of medicaid was probably responsible for the decrease and virginia has not expanded access to medicaid. beware of skinny jeans, i'm serious here. an australian woman ended up in the hospital after squatting for several hours in her jeans. her feet became numb and her calves swelled up so much her jeans had to be cut off her. that's too tight. doctors say she actually damaged her muscles and nerve fibers in her lower legs. so you out there wearing skinny jeans don't necessarily have to throw them away. make sure they're not too tight.

if you can't feel your extremities, that might be a sign you need to size up a little bit. right? or just get rid of them. >> you buy shoes that are too small, you have to tough it out right? isn't that the rule, same thing? hey, lego wants kids of the future to have fun, but not at the expense of the environment. the denmark based group vowed to find sustainable materials to replace the plastic used in the bricks by 2030. it will invest more than $150 million to establish a lego sustainable materials center. >> whoa. >> lego says it wants to inspire the future buildings of tomorrow and leave a positive impact on the planet too. >> in case you're wondering, lego goes through more than 6,000 tons of plastic each year. you know, fans are worried, don't mess with a good thing. >> got to be plastic light.

>> my question is it still going to hurt as badly when you step on it in the middle of the night? ouch. head stones an caskets washed away. the work repairing the extensive damage. another rabies scare in virginia. and the severe weather that wreaks havoc on parts of the midwest. it will be moving into your neighborhood in the hours ahead. storm team 4 meteorologist chuck bell is tracking w

right now we are under a weather alert as we brace for day of dangerous weather. first up, a triple digit heat index and storms are pushing their way into the region and will likely impact your afternoon plans. before those storms arrive though you'll be forced to deal with extreme heat. >> yeah heat advisory has already been issued for later today and it's important to know the warning signs of heat exhaustion and heat stroke. symptoms of heat exhaustion include everything from heavy sweating to faintness.

heat stroke much more serious and symptoms include high body temperature a lack of sweating nausea, rapid breathing and confusion. best advice, stay indoors as much as possible today. >> storm team 4 meteorologist chuck bell is helping you prepare for this extreme heat and tracking some storms too. chuck? >> yeah, severe weather taking place this morning in northern parts of pennsylvania and southern new york. that's the same system that's a going to put us under the severe weather threat later on this afternoon. you need ty ahead of the weather today. we're here to help you do just that. we'll have frequent updates on nbc4 and our website and our nbc washington app. here's the live picture of the dulles international airport a hazy and thick atmosphere outside this morning. temperatures are in the mid and upper 70s in the metro area. upper 70s along the bay and down into parts of southern maryland. forecast for this morning going out the door for your walk 85

degrees by 10:00 a.m. coming home later this afternoon, storms firing up. temperatures flirting with 100 degrees by later on this afternoon. no weather related slowdowns now but we could have a big impact on traffic later on today. >> looking at our issues right now, we're talking about 95 northbound, brand new crash here. it's actually off to the shoulder so that shouldn't be slowing down things too much. but right now, that is in the area where we had that earlier problem here. 95 north at the rest area, north of that a little slow here through dale city. still going about 12 miles per hour. 66 into town, a little bit slow there as well through manassas and then through fairfax. going 45 miles per hour not too bad. a wide look at things, no major issues. beltway at branch is rolling along quite nicely. same thing as you're looking at 95 in maryland at 198 through laurel. we'll look at travel times in ten minutes. 6:32 right now.

repairs begin today on a retaining wall that collapsed allowing floodwaters to rush into the cemetery and wash up a coffin that's what some families faced on father's day in suitland. zachary kiesch has more on how this happened. good morning. >> reporter: yeah good morning, aaron. can you imagine that, you come to the cemetery to honor the people that you love and that's what you see? they're not being taken care of properly. it looks like the culprit here is that heavy rainwater that we got last week and actually knocked out a retaining wall here and flooded some of the gravesites. actually caused one coffin -- at least one coffin to wash up. this is what visitors here at cedar hill cemetery in suitland saw on father's day. not the kind of father's day i'm sure that they were expecting. now, investigators say that severe flooding caused some of this. my colleague out here, chris gordon was here yesterday. he also discovered some head stones near this local river bed too. so nothing nice out here.

now, the cemetery manager did tell us that only one family was affected and the problem has been taken care of. but this is a problem they have had a number of problems out here. the most important thing is that the fixes will start today. reporting live here in suitland zachary kiesch, back to you in the studio. >> thank you. 6:34 now, a developing story in new york where state police are checking some items they discovered for two escaped killers' dna. david sweat and richard matt broke free from a maximum security prison earlier this month. police say they found the items in the cabin 20 miles from the prison. police did not say what those items are. sweat and matt escaped using tools that prison worker joyce mitchell gave them. mitchell's husband spoke to matt lauer about what his wife said she did. >> well, she first started telling me that she did give them the hacksaw blades, the

drill bit and a chisel. and she said i have something else to tell you. i said what's that? he said -- she said, their plan was they want to kill you. >> while mitchell spoke exclusively to the "today" show you can watch his full interview later this morning on "today." prince george's county police want your help to find a man they say inappropriately touched a girl in the cvs. it happened earlier this month. they released a different photo last week of a man they say no longer believe is connected to this case. if you want a closer look at the pictures we have posted them on the nbc washington facebook page. a loudoun county paramedic facing more sex abuse charge. timothy ward of sterling surrendered yesterday. he was charged with rape connected to the abuse of a child. in may, ward was charged with having inappropriate contact with another child. the sheriff's office has not

released details of either case in an effort to protect the victims. the u.s. has new competition in the bid to host the summer olympic games come 2024. the french olympic committee announced that paris wants the game. the city is joining boston, rome and hamburg as bidders and word is that budapest wants to enter the race. the chosen city will be announced in 2017. eun? >> thanks, angie. growing pressure for change in south carolina. the retailer promising change as south carolina lawmakers prepare to address the use of the confederate flag. slow on 95 northbound through virginia. how long it's going to take you to get from quantico up to the beltway and a brand new crash come up. and preparing you for today's weather alert day as we deal with extreme heat and the threat that storms could cause big-time damage in the day ahead where you

you're watching "news4 today." >> if you had contact with a stray orange tabby cat in spotsylvania county, health workers want to hear from you. it tested positive for rabies. that cat travelled between leavellson, road and salem station boulevard and they know a young male and a woman driving a silver or gray suv helped rescue the cat. they may need to seek medical attention too. anyone with information on the cat should call the rappahannock district office. we know that bradley whit

ford will be the emcee. barry manilow will highlight the big show. the capital 4th concert is a prelude to the massive fireworks display. it brings hundreds of thousands of visitors and it's broadcast each year on pbs. should be a good time. 6:41 or time right now on a dangerous he hot day. >> chuck bell has the forecast. >> yeah, fireworks from mother nature coming ahead of the fourth of july. heat indexes are already in the 80s. temperatures today will climb up to near 98 dengs. severe thunderstorms are a very is damaging winds of 70% chance. and even a chance for a tornado as well. so stay weather alert. melissa? >> right now new crash here at 95 northbound at dale city. adding to the slow downs on 95. let's look at the travel times. 95 to quantico, 20 minutes

behind. in general, maryland looking pretty typical at this point top of the beltway outer loop slow. remember to listen to our friends from wtop on the latest when you hop in your car. >> thank you, melissa. making sure you make it to work safely every time you ride metro they're back under the microscope. the agency tries to move past this year's deadly accident. plus making sure you can take time off when you're sick. the vote in the day ahead that could provide that benefit for tens

a pair of big stories as we work to get you up to the minute the minute you're up. first a weather alert day as we deal with dangerous heat and severe storms. south carolina lawmakers in the spotlight as pressure builds for the state to take down the confederate flag. let's begin with more on that storm threat with meteorologist chuck bell. good morning chuck. >> good morning aaron and eun and indeed a very high threat for severe weather coming our way later on this afternoon. be advised a very steamy start this morning and it will be a very stormy finish later on today. there's the timing out of it. chances of storms arriving here in the metro between 3:00 and 7:00 this afternoon. over to melissa. >> we have a slow down on 270 southbound. nothing major there as you're passing the montgomery county bus lot and remember 95 northbound at dale city, a slow area. especially with this brand new

crash. aaron and eun? thanks, melissa. >> it's time to move the flag from the capitol grounds. >> that is south carolina governor nikki haley calling for the removal of the confederate flag on state house grounds. it comes less than a week after a 21-year-old white man gunned down nine black people inside a church. today, religious and political leaders are pressing lawmakers to choose to stay in session next week so they can te this issue. a number of leading republicans and democrats say now is the time to do away with the flag. and nbc's craig melvin is live in south carolina following this debate. so craig, good morning. does this removal seem likely now? >> reporter: well, you know what, eun, that's the million dollar question. i grew up in this city, i worked here and i lived here most of my life i lived 15 minutes away

actually. this is a conversation that has literally been going on for 50 years. the flag was hoisted in 1962. the state at the time wanted to stick it to the federal government. that was pushing desegregation at the time. back in 2000, there was this grand compromise that was orchestrated that took the flag itself from atop the state house dome to where you currently see it behind me. there has never been this kind of political pressure on state lawmakers to get something done. i spoke with a member of the governor's team yesterday and i asked her, what's different this time and she was very honest. the difference is there are nine dead church goers in charleston and one of them was one of us. referring to the state senator who was shot and killed last week as well. it requires a two-thirds super majority to get done here. but we should note it's not just

south carolina. word that the speaker of the house in mississippi is calling on that state's legislature to also remove the confederate battle flag emblem. eun? >> all right, craig melvin, thank you. and walmart is now removing all confederate themed merchandise from store shelves. merchandise is now gone from the website as well. however, confederate flag merchandise is available on amazon and ebay. the president will head to charleston later this week to remember the nine victims in the church massacre. a charleston newspaper reports that the president plans to meet with victims' families. he will deliver the eulogy at the funeral of clementa pinckney. the vice president and the first lady will join the president on the trip. 6:48. today metro will have to answer some serious questions about the underground emergency that killed a woman earlier this year. day one of the ntsb hearings starts in a few hours. news4's megan mcgrath is at the

l'enfant metro station now with what we can expect today. looks like we're having some trouble with her signal at this point. we'll try to get that information to you as quickly as we can. we should mention too that we know the hearings will last about two days and adam tuss will be at the hearings. he'll be tweeting updates for you. you can follow him on twitter. today we can see a final vote on a bill that will require paid sick leave your in montgomery county. the earned sick and safe leave bill allows employees to have six paid sick days every year. they can have days to handle counseling also. if passed it would affect 100,000 people in the county. a group of native americans challenged the redskins trademark last year and dan schneider sued the group. the native americans want the

judge to dismiss that lawsuit. their appeal starts today. but we won't find out a decision until later this week. today on capitol hill senators holding a hearing looking into the major takata air bag recall. they recalled the air bags because they can explode. cnbc's landon dowdy with our report. >> good morning to you. the senate commerce committee is holding a hearing on the massive global recall of takata air bags. those have been linked to at least eight deaths and 100 injuries. ahead of the hearing the report by the senate democrats say the company may have put profit before safety. takata says it contains several inaccuracies. back over to you. >> landon dowdy, cnbc, thank you. and angie goff at the live desk where we continue to monitor the aftermath of the tornados that pummelled the midwest. we want to take you here live. this is cole city, illinois, one of the hardest hit places. homes were ripped apart.

we watched as neighborhoods were flattened. the devastation that people are waking up to right now. in all, seven people were hurt. five twisters swept across this state alone. what a sight. seven people were stuck at a campground, five were rescued and one is in the hospital in serious condition. >> thanks, angie. chuck, we know that same storm system is working this way. could be as severe for us do you think? >> you betcha. i think that we're under the gun. we could have -- it's not to forecast a derecho like a few years ago, but we could have it approaching the level of severity with the june derecho. winds could be gusting to 80 miles or hour with some of the stronger storms later this afternoon. not the garden variety thunderstorms. these are the storms you need to be on the lookout for coming our way later this afternoon. the atmosphere is already primed for severe weather. heat and humidity in abundance. the hazy, filtered sky this

morning with the sunrise. temperature, 79 at national airport. heat index in the mid 80s. what to expect today, dangerous heat. heat advisory already up. that means heat indexes near 105. severe thunderstorms extremely likely today. weather alert day from nbc4 means you'll have frequent updates on air and online and through our nbc washington app. have that in the palm of your hand, ready to go. near 80 now. here's the future feels like this afternoon. by 2:00, feeling like 103 in leesburg and 102 in culpepper. by 5:00 or 6:00, near 105 here in the metro area. future weather here's the timing out of the storm. this model updates every hour. so each hour we get another look at what we think will happen. the good news is from the consistency standpoint it's had the same answer every time we run the model. here's 4:00 this afternoon. these are likely to be severe thunderstorms coming through at

4:00 and 5:00. and another round of storms between 6:00 and 7:00 as that pushes into parts of southern maryland. do be advised. threats are very high today for damaging wind gusts and there is a tornado threat that comes along with these storms today. so stay weather alert. here's your seven day forecast. if we can get passed today, everything gets easier. beautiful sunshine back tomorrow and thursday. cool, cloudy with rain chances on saturday and sunday, but stay weather alert today. good morning melissa. >> thanks so much. 95 northbound at dale city still have that crash there and north of dale city you can see we are pretty slow this morning. beltway at branch avenue looking good. inner and outer loop. no major problems. new crash here on capital heights, pepper mill drive. top of the beltway pretty typical. 29, 95 b.w. parkway a little slow outbound as you approach 32 there. other than that looks good. right now chopper 4 over 270, all the folks in the southbound

lanes passing the montgomery county bus, those folks are off for summer. also looking good right now. 66 headed into town, pretty much from gainesville on you're fairly slow here. inbound this morning, outbound don't have any problems at all. you know honestly they say you'll go through hell and back again but you'll love it when you get back and the results are good. >> you have probably heard that maryland governor larry hogan is fighting cancer. he has lymphoma. he'll take a couple of days off to undergo chemotherapy and then he he will have 18 weeks of treatment with chemotherapy. politic politicians and friends took to twitter and d.c. mayor tweeted that her thoughts about all this, saying that she's with him in his fight against cancer.

former maryland governor martin o'malley wished him the best in overcoming the challenge. the prince george's county state's attorney office showed support by saying they're praying for a speedy recovery and anthony brown said he and his family will be in their prayers. the announcement comes five months after he took office. and metro has to answer about the underground emergency and let's go live to megan mcgrath. megan? >> reporter: well eun, metro is under the microscope for the mex couple of days as the ntsb begins a two-day hearing into the smoke incident at l'enfant plaza. they'll ask questions about metro's infrastructure and the conditions leading to the electrical arcing that caused the smoke in that underground tunnel. they will look at the emergency response and the evacuation. there's been a lot of criticism about how long it took to get

people out of that tunnel and to safety. so two-day hearing gets underway at 9:00 this morning. back to you in the studio. 4 things to know on this tuesday morning. all eyes on south carolina where today the legislature could decide to stay in session next week. that would give them time to debate whether to remove the confederate flag from the state capitol grounds. after a ground swell of public pressure. a retaining wall that collapsed and caused water to rush into a cemetery and wash up a coffin will be repaired today. severe flooding caused that wall to collapse at cedar hill cemetery in suitland. it's not known how long the repairs could take. today we can learn about why smoke filled the metro tunnel earlier this year and what they're doing to prevent it from happening again. the ntsb meeting starts in hours. follow adam tuss on twitter for the updates. 50 million americans are under the threat of severe

weather today. more strong storms expected in the midwest. it's going to be unbearably hot here today as well. chuck bell has more. >> that's right. here's a look at the future weather at 4:00 this afternoon, all severe thunderstorms coming through the area. so all eyes on social media and nbc4 later on this afternoon for updates. >> all right thank you, that's the broadcast this morning. we appreciate you starting your day with us. >> the "today" show is next. we're back in 25 minutes. have a great day. >> make it a great tuesday, everybody ♪ ♪ ♪

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good morning. breaking overnight, violent tornadoes. at least 14 reported from kansas to michigan. five people rescued after be ing trapped at a camp site near chicago. the severe weather threat is moving east this morning. nbc news exclusive. the husband of the woman accused of helping two killers escape from a new york prison speak ing out for the first time. >> said how can it happen? she said i was over my head and i was scared. she said, i have something else to tell you. >> what was her relationship with the convicts and were they planning to kill him? toxic fumes? what's this the air you breathe on passenger planes is it? boeing