how is it feeling out there? >> beautiful morning out here. low 60s here in our corner of the world. 50s in most of the suburbs. >> 50s in the suburbs. i will say it's cool outside this morning. by 7:00 a.m., a lot of the suburbs will be around 60 degrees. school day forecast is looking good. by lunchtime, unseasonably cool for this time of year. by lunchtime, in the upper 70s. you'll notice a lot more clouds later today. especially overnight. that's going to be because of an increasing rain chance. we'll have an area of low pressure offshore. coming up in a bit, we'll talk more about that and our rain chances for tomorrow as well as the potential harvey impact for your weekend. over to jack taylor with a look at the roads this morning. good morning, jack. >> sheena, good morning. sounds like our early morning crash in the baltimore washington parkway northbound after 197, it's been put into the median. southbound could get a look at it. we'll get a live look 95 northbound near the prince william parkway. not bad into woodbridge.

on the outer loop of the beltway. we're headed to the scene. we'll have more in the next hit coming up pretty quickly. back to you. >> jack, thank you. it's 6:01. we have continuing coverage of harvey and all the devastation we've been seeing throughout the weekend. there have been incredible breathtaking images of the destruction but also signs of hope as people, neighbors come to each other's aid in these times of need. >> we're expecting an nbc news special report any moment. we know there are two confirmed deaths having resulted from the hurricane and the flooding that's happened in eastern tex tx. we also know that there are reports of tornadoes, at least watches and warnings in place across that part of the state. >> let's now go to the special report. this is an nbc news special report. this is savannah guthrie. >> as we come on the air, the wrath of harvey is b

houston, the fourth largest city, houston, mostly underwater at this hour. mandatory evacuations overnight for several neighborhoods with another 2 feet of rain still possible. let get to gabe gutierrez in the flood zone in houston. gabe, good morning to you. we can barely see you, it's so dark there and you're surrounded by floodwater. what's the situation? >> savannah, good morning. >> reporter: we've been seeing rain constantly throughout the night. this event is not over. many roads are impassable. houston, the fourth largest city, houston, is paralyzed. overnight the rivers continued to rise. bayous, buffalo bayou is at record stajts. norts are considering and they actually overnight release thor from two reservoirs. that will continue to increase the water levels in houston. we see hundreds of water

help. authorities in houston are defending their decision not to issue a mandatory evacuation order ahead of the storm. the mayor has said it would have been incredibly dangerous to send millions of people evacuating at the same time. because of a previous experience they had back in 2005 with hurricane rita, where millions of people got into the roadways at the same time and more than half of the deaths reported from hurricane rita were attributed to that evacuation. however, this is a threat that is not going away. we're expecting more rain today. other cities around houston are expecting record levels of rain and the water is continuing to rise. savannah, this is a desperate situation here in this major american city. >> i have to say. i got a chill when i read that houston authorities were asking people if they had private watercraft to just basically everybody get in there and try to help if you an

are they still asking for that? or do they feel they have the resources they need. >> reporter: first responders in houston are overwhelmed, savannah. there's no way that they can get to help everyone in this massive metro area. the city of houston itself is 2.5 million people. more than 6 million people live in the larger houston area. this is a disaster on aun unprecedented scale. houston itself is well -- they've had many floods before. in fact, last year they had the most flood-related deaths in the country. this is because of a population explosion in the last few decades. a lot of development, so a lot of the wetlands that had been around decades ago have turned into concrete covered suburbia. that has made the problem worse. there are many issues when it comes to drainage. but at the same time, saah van arc the amount of rain that has fallen here in houston, at last check, 25 inches in some areas. they're expecting muc

this is something that even with the preparation, this is something that on a scale that many local authorities say that they could not have handled. again, at this point, there are some mandatory advantage wagss for certain neighborhoods. two reservoirs are letting more water on to buffalo bayou causing the water levels to rise. this situation as you can see behind me is not going away any time soon. >> gabe, we'll check with you as the morning wears on. let's go over to dylan dryer. they're dumping more rain. what do you expect today? >> reporter: a vanna, we expect more rain on top of what's on the ground. through the morning, we're getting tornado warnings. there's a lot

endless supply of moisture. that produces the torrential downpours. at times, rainfall rates ever 4 to 6 inches per hour. this morning, east of houston, rainfall rates of 1 to 3 inches per hour and the rain lasts for hours. so we are out looking at the storm to meander to the southeast very slowly. get back over the gulf of mexico. it gives it the energy it needs to maintain the strength. then it's going to move to the northeast staying as a tropical storm. now, we've already picked up reports of about 15 to more than 30 inches of rain. that's what's on the ground. the problem is, we'll be in and out of the tropical downpours for the next 48 hours. after that, scattered showers. so we're looking at an additional 15 to 25 inches of rain putting storm

50 inches. if we get more than 52 inches that, will be the most rain we've seen from a tropical cyclone in the united states ever. the last was hurricane in 1950 that affected hawaii. this is unprecedented and especially for this area. it's only going to get worse. savannah. >> terrifying. dylan, thank you so much. i know you'll stand by. we'll have complete coverage on "today." for now, we'll return you to your regularly scheduled programming. i'm savannah guthrie. this has been an nbc news special report. you've been watching a special report on the aftermath of harvey and the continued efforts for relief and rescue there. we're going to bring you more of our network coverage within the hour. now we return to our programming. agencies from across the area are springing into action to help the victims. virginia task force one, fairfax county fire swift boat rescue team left yesterday and will help with rescue efforts in texas. truck loads of equipm

there and local volunteers from the american red cross moved its resource toss texas yesterday to help provide relief. >> montgomery county fire and rescue also sending help. the department tweeted that maryland task force one is headed to texas to help with search and rescue efforts. that's a team of 20. they'll join 26 other task force teams deployed to texas from around the nation. stay with news 4 for continuing coverage of harvey. we have stories of survival and a look at some of the most dramatic images coming from the flood zone in the nbc washington app. your time is 6:08. breaking news right now. you can help police catch someone who took off from a deadly crash. angie goff at the live desk with details. what's going on? >> police saying that the driver of the car involved in this deadly hit and run should have damage on the driver's side. now at this point the description is vague. they say that after the crash it was a dark-colored car that took off on the dumfries road

that someone actually died in that accident. if you drive that way this morning, we have learned that all of the lanes of 95 in dumfries are back open right now. here in the newsroom, meanwhile, we're going to continue to make calls to get more information about the victims so that we can update you throughout the morning. now back to you. >> angie, thank you. we are getting you ready for school and we have live team coverage in fairfax and prince william counties. return to class for the first time today. >> news 4's molette green live with tips for parents to save you time. we begin with justin finch live at glasgow middle school in fairfax county with more on why the first day is going to be really different than others for these kids. justin, good morning. >> reporter: hey there, aaron. good morning. as students make their way to bus stops this morning, they're making their way to the middle school. we're talking about teachers and s

will fill up. we're here at student drop-off. things are a bit different. school starting sooner than use after fairfax county public schools got a waver to start school earlier this year after years of dipping into their snow day supplies. so pretty soon, some 1630 bus also make their way across the county to get kids to classes today after a series of round the clock inspections and repairs happened last week. this bus in fairfax county public schools, the second largest after new york city. a lot of work to be done. in fairfax today, 189,000 students making their way back to class today. classes are beginning between 7:10 and 8:30 this morning. the word for drivers is to be alert as you make your way on to the road today. lats year, 2016, they did issue 154 citations for drivers who tried to cut around the stopped

buses. they're asking drivers to stop doing that. it puts a lot of lives in danger. we can also tell you, too, right now molette green is looking at lunch already. molette, what's going on to get kids a healthy start? >> oh, yeah. we're doing it up here in kitchen. it's all about packing a slam-dunk lunch. i've got my harlem globetrotter expert here. he's the lunch dad with these kids. we're working on the protein. we've got the veggies and the cool looking cheese. show that cheese. you guys, cut that really cute. >> we're going to talk about the best way to do the protein when we come back in just a few minutes. we're live in the kitchen. live in the community in northeast with the lunch dad. right? >> that's right. >> he gave up basketball for making lunches. cool. we'll show you what that's all about in a bit. >> the kids must -- must be pretty good. they're loving it. >> looking forward to that. i need

the veggies. we'll talk about all of that and how you make your kids tasty good food that's healthy. that's the trick. >> molette, we'll see you in a few minutes. 6:12 our time. he's being called the king of the vmas. not him. your social media feeds will be flooded this morning. that's a girl. a look at the big moment. >> katy perry. >> the big moments you missed while sleeping. >> it could be a game changer for your commute in maryland. the day some of us thought might isver come

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6:15 on a monday morning. nice and cool outside this morning. going to stay

average all day today. temperatures will stay in the 70s for highs. tracking the chance for rain. pleasant weather returns for wednesday. warmest weather thursday in the mid-80s. look at the whole five-day forecast in a minute. good morning, jack taylor. >> good morning, chuck. everything on the shoulder outer loop at arena drive. they pushed it to the shoulder. topside of the beltway before georgia avenue, everything was temporarily stopped to move the vehicles from the left side of the roadway to the right shoulder. the lanes are now -- 6:16. all over texas and louisiana, people are holding tight to their loved ones this morning. rescue crews are trying to save it. >> the waters keep rising if you can believe that. more than a thousand people escaped dangerously high waters. we're expecting more rain.

conditions in dickinson, texas, right now. >> houston waking up to more rain, more flooding, more of the scene there behind me. homes with water, neighborhoods turned into lakes. now, yesterday officials put out the call for volunteers with boats and people really responded. not only boats but canoes, jet skis, anything to get into the neighborhoods and help rescue people. here in dickinson, texas, a nursing home was photographed with residents with water up to their waist after that photo went viral. they were rescued by helicopter. that really speaks to the situation here. too many people in dire situations and not enough emergency workers to go around. >> back to you. >> 17 after 6:00 right now. today a major milestone for the long awaited purple line. governor hogan will be a groundbreaking

operation's center in hyattsville. it could be ready for riders in 2022. thousands of students in fairfax and prince william counties returned to school today almost 300,000. news 4, a lot of kids, right? >> news 4 getting you ready for school too. >> every parent knows that packing ailun much, fixing breakfast, getting the snacks ready can be a chore. remember when we just ate peanut butter sandwiches. >> molette green is live in northeast d.c. with a dad who figured out how to score big time with the kids. molette? >> he knows about scoring and everything. i'm holding the ball that mike wild thing wilson used when he made the tallest, highest slam-dunk. >> highest slam-dunk. >> he's in the guinness book of world records. i'll put this down. who has school today,

no. >> you don't have school. >> technical issues. you know. we're going to check back in with molette as she prepares us with great back to school tips on preparing lunch. stick around. right now let's turn to meteorologist sheena parveen. we're off to a cool but nice start around here today. >> yeah. a really nice start. it's the kind of weather where you walk outside. for a monday, it's very refreshing. >> a little bounce in your step. >> rigorous. >> especially at the bus stop. really nice temperatures. 65 in washington. we have the 50s. 57 dulles. we have low 50s on the map too. 51 in warrenton. 50 winchester. warrenton went down to 50 degrees. 58 in clinton. 57 in gaithersburg. nice and dry on the radar too. not for texas thou

tropical storm still spinning. it's going to be stationary for a couple more days before it finally gets out of there. the heaviest rain bands now east of houston. that is good news for houston. at least the heavy rain is not right over the city. but still really bad news for parts of texas. look at this track, though. not leaving texas until about wednesday. then moving closer to tennessee with the leftover moisture. possibly here as we go into labor day weekend. tomorrow, though, is another thing we're watching. we have a tropical area of low pressure off the southeast coast. that's moving off our coastline and it could get stronger. we're going to be watching it closely. the national hurricane center is watching it, too. this is what future weather is showing. by tomorrow, morning rain likely. even through the day. periods of rain. that will be in tomorrow's forecast. remember it before you step outside. you want the umbrellas tomorrow. today, unseasonably cool. 78 degrees. with the rain, only around 73. once that leaves wednesday we're sunny, 79.

friday looks good too. again, into the weekend we'll be watching the remnants of harvey. some of that moisture here for your labor day. we'll show you that with the extended forecast. let's check your roads on this monday morning with jack taylor. good morning, jack. >> good morning, sheena. we had a crash early on the baltimore washington parkway. back to 197. everything in the median. they grabbed the left lane. delays building quickly back to goddard. southbound, not bad right now. not too bad at all. you'll see in the beltway, the delay begins before new hampshire avenue headed to the crash before georgia avenue. that got moved to the shoulder. flashing lights, causing a slowdown. building normal delay towards georgia avenue. again, all travel lanes, thankfully, are available. back to you. >> thank you, jack. a frantic search in the potomac. a body recovered. what happened minutes before there was trouble in the water. plus, loving lamar. a fiery performance you may know about the big winners of the

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thousands of kids in fairfax and prince william county return to school today. >> molette green is live with a dad who figured out how to score big time with the kids packing lunches. hi, molette. >> i know. we're in in kitchen up surrounded by cool kids and moms but the lunch dad, retired harlem globetrotter. you figured it

>> it's all about preparation. you want to do it like the day before. i try to have a couple of meats before the weekend. i got on the grill, made my memphis rub barbecue. i can't tell what you it is. it's a secret. >> what else? >> chicken. >> we've got what else? >> banana muffins, baby -- strawberries, blueberries. we like to mix it up. my philosophy is i want them to eat healthy and taste good. >> it's all about making it look fun too and tasty and healthy. >> we're going to come back. we've got to talk about packing this up and the right way to do it so the kids don't bring home lunch bags full of uneaten food. that's the trick, right? >> sending my kids out to school and they come back, stealing ailun much. >> a big challenge for me and eun yang and all the moms here and dads. that's coming up in a bit. >> listen, they get memphis barbecue for lunch. i want him

those kids are lucky. >> planning ahead with the cool dad and the cool recipe. >> thanks to molette. today is the day amazon is taking over whole foods. it starts with lowering its prices. we have a look at the key items that will be cheaper. i'm adam tuss. it's been closed for a year. the first section under construction opened back up today. i'll

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just about 6:30. thanks for waking up with us. >> we have continuing coverage now on harvey ahead. we need to begin with the forecast. sheena parveen and chuck bell. outside on the weather deck. >> we were talking about how nice it is outside. especially for a monday. >> monday? >> sorry. >> sorry kids. back

>> prince william county kids, off you go back to school. 179 days left after today. your four-part planner then. temperatures near 60 this morning. sun coming up at 6:34 this morning. it's a great day for outdoor recess. perfect weather for coming back home as well. clouds increasing today. that leads to an increasing chance for rain through tomorrow. we'll let you know if it will be tropical storm irma or not up the coastline. a little bit interesting the next 24 hours or so. >> for now, let's go to jack taylor who always has something interesting to say. >> i know. usually unfortunately, what i'm talking about is not good. annandale eastbound hit the latest hummer road. right side tied up. the lights had been flashing. police are trying to assist. chopper 4 is north on 95 right now in dumfries. looking good. it had heavy traffic north of it towards woodbridge. outer loop of

georgia avenue. accident activity was put safely to the right shoulder. delays back at 95. back to you. >> jack, thank you. more local news in just a minute. >> first, we want to take you to an nbc news special report on harvey. good morning everybody. as we come on the air, we've got new information on this unprecedented disaster lay playing out in texas. devastating flooding in and out of the houston area has led to thousands of rescues. even more tore tension rain is on the way. overnight, officials began releasing water from reservoirs. this is a move to protect downtown houston. dylan dry drier our meteorologist has been there. what have you seen and observed? >> reporter: you know, savannah, it's hard to believe hurricane harvey made landfall friday night when we flew in. then on saturday, we tour

gusted up to 140 miles per hour sustained winds were around 125 miles per hour. so the damage we saw from the wind alone was just so devastating in that area with so many homes and residences and businesses destroyed. then now this over to the rain. driving up here from corpus christi yesterday. we saw pockets of torrential rain on the roadways. you can see what happens in the low-lying areas. you end up with puddles on the roads. cars try to go through and they're stuck. that's the scene we're seeing all over. we've picked up 15 to 30 inches of rain. we're still in the middle of it. it's going to last through at least wednesday morning. and then we have to be concerned about the flooding in the rivers and the streams. we'll get to the forecast in a second. again, savannah, we're in the middle of it right now. things are getting worse. >> absolutely. we'll get your forecast in a minute. but i want to go to kerry sandin

that's about two hours to the southwest of houston. kerry, good morning. what's the situation there? >> reporter: well, it is still raining here. there is still an ongoing situation here. some electricity has started to return. you can see over my shoulder that they brought in some mobile relief kitchens to actually make warm food in many cases the first warm food the people have had in four or five days. this has been set up by the largest grocery chain here in the state. h.e.b. meantime, those folks who are now leaving the shelters trying to go home, in one case, they discover there's no home to go to. during the hurricane, we believe it was a lightning strike but whatever struck this fire, the apartment complex burned to the ground. other residents are returning home only to discover that there are trees on top of their homes and that their homes will maybe have to be completely condemned. at this

starting the process of waiting, waiting and waiting. long lines as people get in line to buy gas, to try to find food. as i mentioned, h.e.b., the grocery store did get some supplies into one of their stores here. folks have been able to get some food. they hope to continue that supply line today. as all of this is going on with the rain still falling, residents who live along the guadalupe river here have been told, as cops went door to door telling them the water is rising. by wednesday, it will be at a historic level. 32 feet above flood stage. they need to make plans to get out of there. this is along the river, a slow motion disaster. yet more flooding. savannah. >> kerry, that's the situation south of houston. but houston itself underwater as well. dylan dreyer is there. you mentioned the forecast and that we really are expecting even more rain. hard to imagine how houston could handle that. >> reporter: especially when you

additional rain is not out of the question. take a look at the radar. you'll see why we're dealing with these torrential downpours. the storm itself is hardly moving at all. it's passed into the gulf of mexico. that's an endless supply of moisture to fuel the storms. the heaviest into southwestern louisiana. but we have tornado watches because of the intensity of the storm itself. that spins up the tornadoes at any time. lightning strikes are still a possibility. in addition to the rain. it still has winds at 40 miles per hour. moving southeast at 3 miles per hour. it's going to continue on that path. stay over the gulf of mexico for tuesday into wednesday. that's going to help maintain the strength of this storm. then it will continue on to the north bringing all of that rain with it. so we've already picked up, i mentioned, 15 to more than 30 inches of rain in some areas. including in and around the houston area. and then as we go into the next 48 hours, we're still looking at the possibility of rainfall

hour. creating storm totals likely over 50 inches of rain. but a widespread 10 to 20 inches of rain still has to fall at this time. want to point out the buffalo bayou where the record highest level is 61 feet. we're forecasting by wednesday, for it to go over 70 feet. we've already broken a record at that bayou and that runs through houston. all of this water collecting from the sky has to trickle into the rivers and the bayous and those will continue to overflow the banks. this will remap an issue possibly into next week. >> records being washed out all over the area. we'll have more coverage coming up. for the moment, we'll send you back to our regularly scheduled programming. i'm savannah guthrie. this has been an nbc news special report. you've been watching that nbc news special report on harvey and the efforts now to rescue the victims

>> as savannah said, you can expect more live coverage on the "today" show at 7:00 a.m. now to the top stories at 6:37. one man is dead and another in critical condition after they were pulled from the potomac river. this happened last night in georgetown near the key bridge. we're told the men were hanging out when one of them decided to jump in the river. the other went in to save his friend. dozens of people will set out on a 100-mile march from charlottesville to d.c. to fight hate. organizers of this event are calling it the march to confront white supremacy. they plan to march 17 miles per day and stay overnight in churches. you'll see the impact of new ownership at whole foods on your wallet. amazon says it will cut prices immediately on some fruits, vegetables and other items. helping afterharvey, local crews take action.

♪ ♪ sit down. you weren't expecting that, were you? >> one of music's biggest nights. >> turn that back on. >> i'm so sorry. >> the mtv video music awards held last night. lots of big moments there. first the big on honor of the night. kendrick lamar for humble. featuring eun yang. >> lamar took home six awards r

go a ahead. best new artist, ed sheeran artist of the year. pink gave a heartwarming speech when receiving the vanguard michael jackson award. congrats to the winners. good morning. temperatures this morning on the cool side. we have areas in the 50s. 65, though, in washington. tomorrow, though, that's a day to watch. pressure off the southeast coast that could become more organized. it is tropical. we have increasing rain chances tomorrow. we'll show you more details in a bit. let's check your roads on this monday with jack taylor. good morning, jack. >> sheena, good morning. we had a hiccup in woodbridge. it is on the shoulder. this is 123 in woodbridge. 95 north. again, all travel -- an abrupt

floodwaters rising. new

6:45. we're tracking harvey. the historic floods have them working overtime. look at the video of the crew performing a helicopter rescue. since the storm made landfall on the coast on friday.

the coast guard performed more than 1,000 rescues in and around the houston area. >> this is quickly an iconic image from the storm. this picture shows several elderly people surrounded by waist deep waters in their nursing home. after seeing this photo, the coast guard brought in a helicopter and saved 2 dozen residents from that nursing home in dickinson, texas. >> crews from virginia and maryland are heading down to texas to help the victims there. virginia task force one from the fairfax county fire department. the swift water rescue team left yesterday and a team of 20 people from montgomery county fire and rescue have also deployed. that's maryland task force one. they moved their p team to texas as well. >> they're trying to come together to get out of storm and get to safety. >> that includes children and people living in nursing homes. news 4's sarah dallof joins us live from dickinson, texas, near the gulf coast.

>> reporter: good morning aaron and eun. a light rain falling on and off here. not good news for residents. in fact the national weather service is describing the storm and its effects as beyond anything experienced and says up to 50 inches of rain may fall in some areas before all is said and done. here in dickinson. it was one of those areas where yesterday officials put out the call for volunteers with boats and people really responded. bringing air boats, jet skis, canoes, making trips back and forth into the flooded neighborhoods to get people to safety. >> you talked about the photo at the nursing home. that photo really speaks. the key problem here in houston is there's so many people in dire situations and just not enough emergency workers to go around. meanwhile, the army corps of engineers has started to release water from dams that's going to eventually make itay

houston. it was a strategic decision believing that it was safer to do it slowly than risk a catastrophic failure of any of these dams. aaron and eun. >> sarah dallof live in dickinson, texas. thanks. dramatic water rescues in texas. angie goff has new video into the newsroom. angie, what are we seeing? >> eun, it is a rescue that takes your breath away. a man has seconds away to escape by crawling through the back window. his suv quickly swallowed by those floodwaters. keep in mind, this is happening on a major highway in houston. one of many parts of the city unrecognizable with no relief in sight any time soon. most of the major city underwater. as our crews have been reporting as you know. a lot more rain is on the way. relief is far away. aaron? >> angie, thank you. 6:48 now. we are working to get you ready for school. today, parents and students in fairfax county will be making lunches and

some begrudgingly for the first day of school. >> don't forget to share the pictures with us. news 4's justin finch is live at glasgow middle school in fairfax county with more on the new leadership for the school system this year. justin, good morning. >> looking like the first day of school on the parking lot. it's been filling up as you can see. also, every light inside glasgow middle school is now on. the teachers and staff are inside and pretty soon the students will make their way in as well. once they get inside, their new superintendent will be there to meet them. now county wide right now, 189,000 students are making their way to schools today and just last week, we did see the county getting its bus fleet of more than 1600 buses ready for this big start. those crews had to work faster than yush because the window to make repairs was shorter. starting school for the

the new superintendent, dr. scott bray ban says that eventually, eventually if not already that students and their families will grow to love their new calendar. >> we're going to have more instructional time before a.p. tests and s.o.l.s. i think kids will enjoy and parents too, getting out a little earlier this school year. >> reporter: and as you can see, the students and staff, teachers also making their way inside glasgow right now. the county also asking drivers out there to pay attention today to the roads. more cars out there, buses too and also students. again, sooner than most are usual to. back to you. >> justin finch out there in fairfax county. thank you. build in driving time, extra time in prince william county as well. nearly 90,000 public school

students head back to class there today. more than 800 will start in a new building. covington harper elementary school opens this morning in dumfries. you can drive along beach drive in the district again. >> adam tuss traveling along the road with a look at what's open and what's closed. adam? >> reporter: good morning, guys. the section from rock creek parkway up to tilden street, the section that's been closed for a year is now back open. it looks beautifulment take a look, guys. we have sent in video, driving on beach drive in northwest d.c. along the brand new stretch of road that's really beautiful. it's got new pavement and new drainage systems. the trail next to the road that people use is in good shape. this stretch of road back open. take a look at this map. this is what we're talking about. the green stretch on this map, that has reopened today from rock creek parkway to tilden street. now, the re

that will close for the next round of construction on beach drive. that's from tilden to joyce road. be aware of that. this is a multiyear project and it's happening in stages. once again, the good news we get. this really busy stretch that goes by the national zoo, back open and it looks great. back to you, guys. >> adam tuss, thank you. right now shall let's turn to wtops jack taylor for a look at the morning commute. good morning, jack. >> good morning. we had a hiccup in woodbridge on 95 northbound near 123. chopper 4 found it on shoulder. we've got a delay that remains. but a flashing light or two shouldn't slow you down that much. be aware if you're headed north this morning. baltimore washington parkway northbound had activity after 197. that got moved over to the median. still ail little bit of a delay. southbound not too bad. 95 is an alternate slow from the itc headed to join the outer loop delay. all in all, not

the traffic. chuck, can you keep it going with nice weather? >> absolutely. sun is already up there. a large amount of sunshine. i was going to say a fair amount but large amount. that's for the first half of the day today. more cloud cover later. temperature now 65 at national airport. most of the suburbs in the comfy 50s. couple of things going on in the tropics. obviously harvey in texas. this swirl off the coast of savannah, georgia, is trying to get organized a little bit. if it does become a named storm, it will take on the name irma. it doesn't look like it will have a long lasting stretch of impact along the coast. it should be up and gone the next 24, to 48 hours. pummeling of heavy rain. that's continuing for the next couple of days. things not moving all that fast. the eventual track of the moisture of harvey could be up to memphis as early as thursday

i mention that because eventually that moisture could pass over our head as we get towards saturday and sunday. >> increasing clouds. showers likely for the morning and the evening commute. not expecting anything all that heavy tomorrow. but nonetheless, cloudy, cool and showery tomorrow. sunny and warm weather wednesday, thursday, friday. chance for rain on this first two days of your holiday weekend. >> chuck, thank you. 6:54. before the school day starts, a lot of people are thinking about lunchtime. parents are struggling how to make lunch both healthy and happy time too. >> it's very challenging. molette green is working on -- kids working for you. live in northeast d.c. with an unexpected chef dad. he's going to help you get through the day. good morning to you, molette. >> good morning, guys. i'm still holding this slam-dunk ball that mike "wild thing" wilson. he holds the record.

globetrotter, knows how to pack the lunches. slam-dunk lunches you call it, mike. all about packing them up. >> all about preparation. you can do -- my daughter, she also likes, i get a chicken sausage, i cut it up and put it in the oven. >> i add a few to those. >> i like how you have is divided with these, what, silicone cups? >> yes. kids it's all about preparation and how you present it. they like it. when you prepare, we want to put it in these airtight reusable bags or containers that you have. >> yeah. we talked about prepping ahead of time. the protein, you cook that a day ahead, right? >> getting the kids involved, we saw them cutting the cheese into cute little forms. especially for -- you've got three kids and you've got to divvy it up how they would like it. >> my oldest, andrew, he'll eat pretty much anything. my

have to be creative in what they like. luckily, they all like carrots. they like carrots. >> all right. i love it. i love that the veggies, the snap peas were eaten up. >> thank you, mike. >> does this look yummy? >> yes. >> we're making slam-dunk lunches. even on the chalkboard. thank you for letting us in your kitsch eb in northeast d.c. this retired harlem globetrotter is passionate about nutrition and good meals. >> looks good, those lunches. >> great ideas there too. molette? >> thank you molette. 6:56. here are four things to know on this monday. the rain is not stopping any time soon in texas. the houston area expected to see another 15 to 25 inches of rain. the governor of that state going to visit houston today where there has been historic flooding. amelia draper is in houston now and watch the "today" show for team coverage.

helps us to save lives. first responders left over the weekend to help in any way they can. time to post pictures today in fairfax and prince william counties. it's the first day of school for nearly 300,000 kids. check out the nbc washington app for everything you need to know. >> reverend al sharpton and 1,000 faith leaders will take part in the minister's march for justice. they're marching from the mlk memorial from the department of justice. that's our newscast today. >> make it great monday a

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♪ good morning, unpress debtd disaster. hooum houston, the nation's fourth largest city under water in the wake of hurricane harvey. >> call i could grab was my water and my phone. >> thousands more stranded, rescue crews stretched to the limit. another two feet of rain on the zbla we have to remind ourselves this veenlt is not over. >> with waters rising, new evacuations overnight, but why weren't they order before the storm? houston houston's mayor defending that decision. >> you give an order to evacuate, you are create a nightmare. >> left ter holt is live in houston and we have correspondents and if out all across the region today,