if you want to save fifteen percent or more on car insurance, you switch to geico. it's what you do. severe weather causing all kinds of damage tonight h5n1 lightning strike sparked this fire at a prince george's county apartment building. we also got heavy downpours, strong winds, trees came down power knocked out.

and northern virginia bearing the brunt of it tonight. >> here in the storm center 4, we're starting to exhale, right? >> yeah. those storms finally making their way out of here. now i'm tracking a big change as storms move out. >> believe it or not, we may have missed the worst of it. take a look. major damage to the northeast. nearly half a million people that philadelphia lost power. >> first off the top tonight, major wind damage all over our region tonight. check out the tree that came crashing into one woman's house in fairfax county. news4's shomari stone began his night in maryland, then followed the storms as they tracked east with powerful wind gusts. we're glad we're all okay. >> reporter: rhonda was relieved her son was not in his bedroom when the howling wind gusts of 60 miles per hour toppled this tree into it. >> pulled him out of bed to get something from home depot. >> reporter: the tree ripped out a chunk of the house this evening. look at the damage inside. if that's not bad enough, just

look at her car. another part of the tree crushed it. >> this is just material. it can be replaced. >> reporter: wind gusts of 50 to 60 miles per hour also blew through montgomery county, blocking floods germantown, maryland. glance ad this, it ripped an awning off of jamie boone's apartment. landing on her mercedes in the 19000 block of crystal rock drive. >> a big gust of wind came in. my mother was there and goes that tree's going come down. as soon as she said it, it hit. >> reporter: you can see that part of the tree where the wind snapped it like a toothpick. jamie said she just finished coming out of her suv with her mom. she's glad that they weren't inside when the tree fell down. >> two minutes before, we had just come in from dinner. thank god we weren't in the car. >> reporter: in fairfax, rhonda thanks god her family is okay. >> happy that the kids are fine. everybody's safe. >> reporter: right now, 13 roads

are partially or fully closed in fairfax county. you see behind me? this family is upset because they can't go in the building because it's uninhabitable and unsafe. tonight's storms had firefighters busy as well. a lightning strike caused this two-alarm fire in greenbelt. flames shot high out of the roof on lakeside drive. people from 22 apartments have to find someplace else to stay. one woman told us when she saw the flames, she ran and left everything behind. one person died in montgomery county tonight when this car crashed into a downed tree and utilted pole. wires came down on top of the car. chopper 4 flew over darnestown near cattail road. the storm also knocked out power at the pentagon city mall. this is what it looked like inside the mall tonight. pitch brach.

there was shortly before 8:00. since there wasn't any electricity, stores had to close early. right now thousands are still without power. dominion has about 33,000 customers without electricity. a majority of the outages are in fairfax county. pepco reporting 13,000 homes without power with most of that in montgomery county. and remember when your power does go out, watch news 4 on your phonor tablet. go to -- phone or tablet. go to the nbc washington app and click on "watch live tv now." back here at the weather center, we now -- after a couple of really tough days, especially today, this is moving out. there's something lovely heading our way. >> there is. the reason why we had all of those severe weather warnings early, the reason we were on so much early this evening is because of all the damage we saw. we knew the potential the storm had. let's show what's happening now. the storms, you see as they came of storms really moving in and developing across our region. ton of lightning across our

area. i want you to watch this now. put this into motion. look at the dots. every single one of these dots is a severe wind gust or severe hail or possible trees down in parts of the area. look at all the severe thunderstorm reports that we had from these storms as they moved through. now the threat well down toward the south. south of st. mary's county toward the northern neck, heading toward the richmond area now. behind this, we've got something completely different. your storm headlines tonight, storms moving out yes. changes tomorrow. changes you're going to love. then a soggy weekend forecast. if you've got plans this weekend, you don't want to see this -- you do, you want to stick around for that. >> we will indeed. thank you. right now, rough night for amtrak service. finally returning to normal this hour. our cameras rolling out union station as folks ran for cover during the deluge. amtrak service was suspended for about two hours tonight between here and grail because of the weather. no easier flying. reagan national, dulles, bwi

marshall trying to get back on track tonight. between the three airports, there were more than 330 delays or cancelations. at the live desk we're watching the storm's impact across the east coast. heat, 71 miles per hour in philadelphia. the storm did a lot of damage just north of us. take a look at south jersey. the wind ripped off part of the mall's exterior and let sheet metal strung across the parking lot. shoppers had to ride out the storm in macy's basement. just outside the department store, the wind picked up one car and flipped it on its windshield. a lot of other cars had broken windows. no one was hurt at the mall. there were more than 600 lightning strikes in one 15-minute period. several trees came crashing down across a freeway near the pennsylvania turnpike. blocked two lanes of traffic, and cars were barely able to get by in the third. the storm also cut power to more than 470,000 people in and around the philadelphia area. the severe thunderstorm watch

just expired there a few minutes ago. at the live desk, chris warren. >> thank you. tonight, one of the nation's largest flag-makers says it will stop producing the confederate flag. valley forge flags said today it hopes the decision will show support for those affected by the recent events in charleston. major retailers walmart sears, amazon, ebay, target,etsy have banned the sale of items displaying the confederate flag. virginia and maryland also taking action. governor terry mcauliffe says he'll begin the process of stripping the confederate flag off virginia license plates. maryland governor hoague not says he's also against the flooding -- hogan says he's also againsted the flag on license plates. they're working to address the issue. state lawmakers in south carolina today extended a special legislative session to debate the removal of the confederate flag from the state house grounds. that debate's going to likely happen in a couple of weeks. hundreds of people protested

outside of that state house today, calling for the flag's removal. and on the house floor tonight, a moment of silence for the victims of the charleston church massacre. led by south carolina congressman and former governor mark sanford. news4's derrick ward is live in northwest d.c. now with the national conversation that has been sparked by last week's shooting. >> reporter: we're here at bus boys and poet in northwest. there was no moment of silence. they moved beyond that. in fact, there was a lot of debate, lot of conversation. sometimes uncomfortable, sometimes encouraging. people are indeed talking. the crowd was as big as it's allowed to get in this activity room at bus boys and poet. the topic of discussion as current as it could get. the charleston murders. >> something like this happens where it's clearly racially motivated, we knew our community wanted to talk about it. >> reporter: talk they did launching right into it with the discussion on forgiveness that

came from some quarters for the man charged with killing nine people in charleston's emanuel ame church. not everyone was for it. >> well if you agree that white supreme e supremacy and -- supremacy and national o.j. simpson are evil -- nationalism are evil, how do you accept it? we need to be accepting of the anger and the rage and all the stages of grief. >> we forgive ton excuse and not because we won't rise up in opposition to it. we forgive to liberate ourselves. >> reporter: the whole affair has led to renewed debate over the stars and bars and prominent display. one woman talked about how she traveled to south carolina specifically to protest the flag and take it down if she could. that didn't fly with the locals who let her know that. >> you're inviting us. we're going to stand and hold hands across the bridge. that's the kind of thing we want to do. they were calling us outside agitators. >> reporter: no definite solutions were reached in the 90 or mow minutes allotted.

all were encouraged by frank debate. it wasn't always comfortable, but most came away with something. >> i love how everyone was honest and open. >> reporter: derrick ward news4. tonight defense attorneys for six police officers charged in freddie gray's death say they haven't seen the newly released autopsy report. "the baltimore sun" obtained a copy today and reports that gray died of a high-energy injury similar to what happens when someone dives into shallow water. the state medical examiner says tonight gray's death fits the medical and legal definition of an accident, but since the officers didn't follow safety procedures, the death was ruled a homicide. all of the officers have pleaded not guilty. maryland governor hogan says he spent part of his day re-tweeting messages of support as he begins his cancer battle. hogan says he was touched truly humbled by all of that support. meetings held at the governor's home today, lieutenant governor rutherford sat in on the meetings that hogan could not

attend. >> some of you thought that i was not going to be around again and put you through the grief. but the substitute teacher is back. [ laughter ] >> staff members are wearing green ribbons now to show awareness for non-hodgkins lymphoma. next at 11:00 -- >> holy crap. it hit theme -- i got it on video! >> more damage from the storms, and the tree that brought traffic to a crawl. police warning about a local utility scam. how teams of crooks are targeting older homeowners to get their jewelry and cash. and food for thought before your morning workout. why doctors say exercise can sometimes hurt weight loss more than it helps.

this is video that one of you sent to us. a bolt of lightning that appears to be striking the washington monument during all the storms that passed through. stay tuned. doug will show more of the lightning show and that awesome sunset that followed. that's coming up in about three minutes. new at 11:00 tonight, we've got a crime alert for you. detectives tell us this man and woman are posing as utility worker to prey on unsuspecting seniors. they were caught on camera using stolen credit cards in montgomery county and the district. investigators tell us the woman distracts older homeowners by asking on this to check -- asking to check the meter. the man goes cash, credit card, and jewelry. one 90-year-old victim wanted to talk to us but is so scared she doesn't want her face shown on of t. >> feel like a prisoner in my own home. you know, i never know who's

watching me. >> there have been three similar burglaries in just the past month. in all three cases the suspects were seen in a red or maroon car. it might be time to put away the running shoes, to skip the gym and get off your bike because there's more and more research showing that exercise might not have much to do with losing weight. doreen gentzler explains. i've had a weight problem literally since i was a little kid. >> reporter: jay says he used to hit the gym about five times a week. everything from lifting weights to cardio. yet, this was him just a few years ago. overweight and suffering from high cholesterol and high blood sugar. >> it was frug traiting. i'm too young -- frustrating. i'm too young to be having these problems. >> reporter: around d.c. you'll see people like jay, running biking, buying gym memberships and classes at expensive fitness studios. but experts say if their goal is to lose weight all that exercise might not be helping,

and it could even be causing weight gain. >> the problem is that people often look at exercise as a license to eat. >> reporter: todd miller is is associate professor of exercise and nutrition science at george washington university's milken institute of public health. he says exercise stimulates hunger. so people eat more and usually too much after a workout. to make things worse, most underestimate the number of calories that going for a run or cycling class will burn. >> it's hard to burn a lot of calories through exercise. most teem people don't like to get on a treadmill and run for an hour and only burn 400 calories. >> when it comes to weight loss, i think it's probably 75% diet and 25% exercise. >> reporter: registered dietician judy caplan says she hears much of the same thing from her clients. >> i'm doing everything i can. i'm following this following that. and i listen really carefully. i say just tell me about what you're eating. tell me about your life. when i really look at it,

they're eating way more than they think. they're drinking way more than they think. they just really don't have a realistic view of what's going on in their life. >> reporter: that's what happened to jay after he met with caplan, he learned he was eating too much. caplan adjusted his diet, adding foods that made him feel full and cutting out anything he didn't need. >> i did start to lose weight. and that was sort of astonishing to me because i had tried so many things over so much time. >> reporter: now, 75 pounds lighter, he says he's feeling better than ever. sticking to his diet plan and now working out with a personal trainer. >> when i turned 40, i was so much healthier than when i turned 30. it was really amazing. >> reporter: doreen gentzler, news4. >> this doesn't mean you should stop exercising because it is good for you in other ways. todd miller did tell us the best exercise for weight loss is resistance training.

we know many of you had a rough commute home tonight because of all the weather. crews were busy throughout the night clearing downed trees to make sure your commute in the morning is clear. a huge tree is slowing traffic here on southbound gw parkway near route 123. we just talked with park police. they tell us they are still working on cleanup there. boy, standstill on so many roads. >> after it all moved out, we had an amazing sunset. >> spectacular. >> no kidding. >> look at that. >> this was fascinating. so many people sent pictures around this -- the people nationals games. fantastic shots. the clouds came through. we also had modever clouds that formed when cooler air -- modest clouds that formed when cooler air dips down. that was amazing, cool. then -- if you flip the camera around this is what we were seeing. toward the cathedral this is as the storms move farther south. look at the lightning. and really prolific lightning. making its way across our region

earlier this afternoon. we did see a couple of houses struck by lightning. numerous trees down. and as we talked about earlier the amount of severe weather reports in our area really something to think about. temperatures today up around the 90-degree mark. no. closer to 100 in parts of the area. temperature 76. the heat index is a combination of the temperature and relative humidity. when the heat is high, humidity is high. that's the same. that means dew points are following, temperatures are going to be much cooler tomorrow. it is going to feel very nice. temperatures now 70 in frederick. 72 in culpeper. 72 toward patuxent river. look at the highs. 92346 d.c., two degrees shy of a record. 98 in fredericksburg. 97 in leesburg. the heat index today in d.c. hit 105 this afternoon. that will not be the case tomorrow. tomorrow, much nicer all thanks to the severe storms that moved on through the area. you see how strong they were earlier. look at all of the lightning.

still down to the south, dealing with tremendous lightning around fredericksburg, south of fredericksburg toward st. mary's county. southern st. mary's county. if you're looking south from waldorf or fredericksburg, looking at amazing lightning now. the show down there is just simply gorgeous. here's the whole system. came through philadelphia. again 71 mile-per-hour winds around the city of philadelphia. those moved through the region. behind this, look how clear the radar is. nothing back here. that means we are in for a beautiful day tomorrow. 88 in d.c. tomorrow. 89 culpeper. 89 toward fredericksburg. and 84 in martinsburg. wednesday will be spectacular. thursday, a little different story but not bad. 89. humidity starts to creep back up. yeah a chance of a late day shower or storm. i think most of the area looks dry. wednesday and thursday are nice. friday, friday we start to see the clouds move in. temperatures around 84 degrees with a good chance of an afternoon shower. here comes the weekend. look at these numbers. 72 on saturday. 74 on sunday.

a storm system brings us a northeasterly wind. that's a much cooler wind across the region. good chance of not thunderstorms but rain on saturday. maybe even through the day. half inch to inch of rain possible on sunday. it's the northeasterly wind. temperatures around 74. it sticks around for early monday. if you're thinking of heading toward the beaches saturday and sunday, yeah not a good beach weekend at all. high temperatures along the beach along the beach even along the bay, mainly around 68, 69 degrees. this is the one thing i'm hoping will change in the forecast. i want the storm system to move out and bring back the 80s. >> this would be lovely. a little bit of good news. the gw is clear. it is -- the tree is clear. it is open both ways. next, steven strasburg lo

the fans had to wait through the weather, but strasburg was giving them a show tonight. >> he looked great. by far his best performance of the year. steven strasburg's first start since coming off the disabled list was delayed two hours and 12 minutes. the fans that did brave the weather, it was definitely worth the wait for them. he had a performance against atlanta. his fastball consistently hitting 97 miles per hour. his teammates, they played good defense behind him. after the rain stopped, this was the scene at nationals park before the start of the game. >> look at that sky. >> strasburg back from neck stiffness looking good in his first start. maven goes down swinging. first strikeout of the game for

strasburg. there's offense coming through as well. batting average going up. comes home, gives the rbi single. the nats take the early 1-0 lead. in the third keeping it going. the run or third. drives in michael a. taylor. next, they're up a pair of runs. strasburg loving the run support in the fourth inning. juan uribe. swinging heat. johnson swinging. the nats, they lead the game 3-0 in the seventh now. buck showalter and the orioles in boston taking on the red sox. top of the second birds up a run. better yolo shot. three-run homer. the orioles go up 4-0 after that bomb. manny machado has been hot lately. birds up 5-3.

this ball off the green monster. ryan flaherty scores an rbi double for manny. batting .378 in the month of join. the orioles beat the red sox 6-4. they've won 14 of their last 18 games. let's go to the college world series final. virginia hoping to keep their season alive against vanderbilt tonight. bottom of the sixth, the cavs have the bagsowses lloyded. -- bases loaded. sending the ball through the gap. driving in one run. they're up a run. next batter thomas woodruff -- if you're not having that bat all tournament -- he came through for his teammates. the ball to shallow center, the senior knocked in two runs tonight. third hit of the game. the wahoos lead it in the eighth inning headed into the ninth. they're up 3-0. and earlier in las vegas, the capitals unveiled their new alternate jerseys for this upcoming season.

the jerseys modeled by the always-camera friendly alex ovechkin. they were designed in part after the jerseys worn in 1974 to 1995. they'll be available to buy in october. also, the mystics winners tonight over the l.a. sparks,

so you think you're hot when you step outside these days? imagine having to wear a fur coat. coming up, this bear play have been looking for a place to cool off when he wandered into vienna

yesterday afternoon. the black bear wandered around for a while before leaving the area without causing any trouble at all. good bear. >> nice restaurants -- >> looking for the vienna inn. >> exactly. >> great hot dogs there. >> hot dog. >> that' ♪ building aircraft, the likes of which the world has never seen.

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♪ >> steve: from studio 6b in rockefeller center in the heart of new york city, it's "the tonight show starring jimmy fallon." tonight, join jimmy and his guests -- channing tatum. mo rocca.