in the last hour, we learned that storm is starting to weaken just a bit. >> storm team 4 meteorologist sheena parveen is tracking the storm. this doesn't mean the coast clear, sheena. >> it certainly does not. aaron is right, it did weaken to a category 4. it's at the top end of a category 4. still a major hurricane and on a track to florida. it's going to be passing over warm weather. we don't expect it to turn to cube a the update from the national hurricane center, the 5:00 a.m. advisory, the track is what everyone is looking at. it's passing over the warm with the waters moving into south florida. taking that turn. we're going to be watching for that turn that will determine where the center goes and where the strongest winds are. it's going to slam the florida keys, move into south florida. affect both coastlines. this is ever glade territory in south florida. that is warm swamp water. it could maintain hurricane strength as it nears

we'll talk more about this and what it could mean. this morning, a jacket when you walk outside. zor good morning somara. >> it is unseasonably cool. we should be dropping into the 60s overnight. right now in the upper 50s. let's get a look at the current conditions. 57 degrees. some of us, though, you have ft. meade towards manassas and upper 40s. a cool start. don't forget the jacket. things are shaping up nicely. now, your weekend, spectacular weekend ahead. temperatures rise into the 70s. nothing but sunshine. a cool start again. but we're going to be seeing better conditions sunday afternoon. a got of sunshine in here. i hope you have outdoor plans this weekend. let's get a check of the roads. jack, how is it looking? >> unfortunately -- beltway avenue, georgetown, unfortunately crews have not

still two left lanes getting by on the outer loop of the beltway. old georgetown road. >> the beltway, topside outer loop as you move around. towards georgia avenue. not causing any major delay early. >> building volume. nothing huge to slow you down yet. 27 at the penn shop road. all lanes -- large structure fire. 27 closed both ways. back in to you. irma is close to crashing into florida and we're seeing intense video of the damage it's leaving behind. we have team coverage following the storm here and in florida. >> a lot of problems at airports. chris lawrence is at the live desk with a look ahead. chris? >> aaron, hurricane earlier is about 500 miles now from miami and closing in. while it has dipped to a category 4. we're seeing winds swirling well over 150 miles an hour. at least 12 people have been killed and these images give you and idea what irma is doing to some of the islands in the

from barbuda to st. martin, we're seeing homes ripped down, cars floating down the street. people in turks and caicos, reporting waves as high as 20 feet. with communications down, it's not clear just how bad it is yet. florida's governor has ordered residents to get out of its way. we may be in the middle of one of the biggest evacuations in key west. chris, thank you. people in florida are paying attention to the warnings and evacuation order. thousands are trying to get out of irma's path by land or air. take a look at the lines for gas. we've been seeing this for days. people waiting in line for two hours. some gas stations have even given police on patrol, once they fill up, they're stuck bumper to bumper, trying to get out. >> team coverage continues where the state is in effect shutting down ahead of irma's arrival. news

lauderdale area showing us how families are preparing for their homes. you can watch all of his -- in the nbc washingturk toshington . we'll have -- you'll see doug, as well as lauryn ricketts on news 4 sunday morning. and somara theodore will be in for the news at 6:00 and late news after sunday night football. >> four minutes after the hour now. we're following a developing story concerning this missing pregnant teacher. she's been missing since monday. >> news 4's justin finch outside of her condo in olney with the latest. justin, good morning. >> reporter: eun, good morning. so much of laura wallen's story begins and ends at her condo. she was last seen here. neighbors telling us overnight, they saw police going into they are home appearing to be gathering some kind of clues. we're working with montgomery county police to confirm that fact. we can tell you, labor day morning about 8:30 a.m., she was last seen here alive d

because she has not been seen or heard from since. her family now hoping that she's okay because she is also four months pregnant. often showing off her sonogram to friends and loved ones and posting it on her fridge at home. she is a well-liked teacher at wild lake high school in columbia. she did not show for the first day of class. it's a chilly development in the case. what they're calling a very troubling text. not telling us, though, what was in the text. it brought her dad to her condo. here, he found no sign of her. take a look at this as well. also missing, laura's ford suv. a black 2011 escape with maryland tags. 522 -- m 522473. neighbors telling us they have gone out to search for that vehicle and finding no sign of it at this time. they have counselors

for staff and students affected by this. they're working for -- laura or that suv to give them a call as soon as possible. we're live here in olney. i'm justin finch. news 4, back in to you in the studio. >> justin, thank you. there will be no charges for a d.c. officer in a deadly christmas day shooting. the officer was responding to a domestic incident on walnut street in northeast. gerald hall was killed when he came to the door with a knife in his hand. he stabbed his girlfriend in the arm. when he wouldn't drop the knife, an officer shot and killed him. one of the officers responding was wearing a body camera. >> there could be some closure soon for one of our area's most notorious cold cases. he's expected to plead guilty for his role in the deaths of these two girls. they vanished in 1975 from montgomery county. they believe welch lured the girls away and killed them. their remains have never been found. w i

court in bedford county in virginia. police say he admitted to killing his sister and two young cousins. yesterday's court hearing for antonio williams was calm and productive. that was different from the first hearing where family members fought and williams had a series of outbursts. the family says he's suffering from some kind of mental illness. prosecutors say there's no evidence of that. williams is charged with stabbing the three girls inside a home in clinton last month. he's being held without bond. to breaking news. a four full earthquake in mexico. chris lawrence is at the live desk. >> yeah. aaron this hit while a lot of folks were sleeping. a small tsunami has come ashore in mexico hours after that 8.1 magnitude hit near mexico city. the capital. the strongest earthquake in a century. what we've learned is that the mexican police have dispatched the military, trying to find

trying to get them out of some of these areas. a hotel and multiple homes have collapsed. right now we know at least six people have been killed. two of them children. there are tsunami warnings in effect now for countries all the way from guatemala, panama, el salvador and down to ecuador. we'll keep on top of this story for bring you any updates as we get the new images as the sun comes up. at the live desk, i'm chris lawrence. you're going to get a free play for brady. it is caught! >> look at that catch. but didn't help them win. football is back, though. the nfl season opener is kicking off last night on nbc4. the super bowl champs, new england patriots against the kansas city chiefs. it started off well for the brady bunch. but they couldn't get the home win. chiefs win 42-27. >> great way to open the season. >> there you go. >> here in the dmv we're

opener for a washington team. >> molette green is up early with eager fans at 6:00 a.m. molette? >> reporter: yeah. we're ready for it. who is ready for a tailgate? nothing like these fans, right? >> nobody ready but a red skin fan. we've got a tailgate going on. smoking it up here right here at fedex field. we've got the chicken. we've got all kinds of barbecue. we've got -- we don't have one chef. we have two chefs. and we have a philly fan in the house. where is she? we're going to let her live for this. led redskins versus philly a tailgate party going on at fedex field. ready for the home opener on sunday. are we ready? >> all right. we've got more on "news4 today" coming up. we're going to talk about how to do a tailgate right. coming up in a

the weather is going to be looking great for that on sunday. we're also warm irma closely. florida dealing with this on sunday as potentially a major urricane. hwe

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good morning. welcome back. i'm storm team meteorologist somara theodore. if there was a perfect day to run errands, it's today. temperatures in the mid-730s. cool start. you don't have to worry about wet weather get not guilty and out of the car. over to you, jack. >> maryland is not starting off well unfortunately this morning, somara. we have accident activity on the inner loop of the beltway. toward

chopper 4 is on scene following the emergency vehicles. described as a vehicle along the left side of the -- we have late clearing near georgetown road. the delays back to 95. heading over to -- 27 in mt. airy blocked because of a structure fire. back in to you. thank you. developing this morning, the long wait lines at miami international grew even longer after an officer involved shooting. >> he was armed and trying to get back into the airport through the ceiling. that shut down the terminal already packed with passengers desperate to catch a flight. they don't believe it was related to terrorism. right now, an isolated incident. our officers are okay, which is an important thing. nobody got hurt. aside from the perpetrator and this incident. >> that suspect was taken to the hospital this morning. his condition is unknown right .

is spended for mocking the death of heather heyer on facebook. you remember that heyer was killed during that counter protest at a white supremacist rally in charlottesville last month. the kentucky officer shared a photo of the dodge challenger vehicle that struck higher and its mangled front end with the caption reading, before you were born a challenger, but identify as a ram. >> he's been with the department two years. he will be suspended for the next week. he'd been on paid administrative leave since an internal investigation last month. in the wake of so many confederate statues being removed, there is a new plan that could do away with the high-profile statues in the district. democratic lawmakers introduced a measure to remove confederate statues from the u.s. capitol. there are statues of general robert e. lee, jefferson davis and about ten other confederate figures in the national sanctuary hall collection inside the capitol. if the bill is approved, the states will be able to reclaim

smithsonian. lawmakers proposed this after the violence in charlottesville. seven first responders say they suffered more than anyone should. they filed a lawsuit over that chemical plant ex please. we told you about this time where the generators failed. several deputies and ems crews were exposed to toxic chemicals even though they were outside of an evacuation zone. some said it gave them chemical bronchitis. they want to know why they didn't get more warning. they pleaded with the public for people to get to safety and rejects any suggestion that it failed to warn of the dangers of wreath breathing the smoke. before you make breakfast or lunch, need to let you know about a recall from wegmans. the assorted muffin four pack may include a muffin with walnuts. that's not listed on the label. people with an

sensitivity to nuts should notm. if you have them, you need to -- i was there for you. redskins fans are getting excited for the first game of the season. we're even more pumped because the 'skins first game is at home. >> molette green working for you in the community this morning. she's at fedex field bright and early with how folks are getting the party started early. tailgating is essential. >> all right. we've got the crazy fan here doing the worm. but oh, my goodness, we've got redskins cheerleaders, aaron and eun. this is good. all right. redskins. phillys. one philly fan in here. we're talking about how to do a tailgate. we've got one of the tailgate team themselves. chris capel. he's got the grill going. we've got chicken wings, pork

tailgate. pumping it up here early. it's the home opener here. >> can't wait for the football season to start. >> how do we do a tailgate rate? >> simple. get the right ingredients and dock cook it perfectly. that's all you need to do. >> chicken wings and why pork loin right now? >> they're easy. going to be really tasty. i think you're going to find our mouth is watering. >> i love it, chris. thank you. with -- to learn more about how to tailgate, we're going to go to your website. come on out here. he does this all the time. nice for a redskins game. >> you hear that? >> whoo! >> much more coming up. we've got not only one chef. we've got two. we're going

later on in the hour on "news4 today." live here from fedex field all the way live. right? >> all the way live. back to you. >> not just for redskins games. does he get dressed up like that to go to a gas station? >> essex pressing how we're feeling inside. you know what i mean? great vehicle -- sneemt you throw pork in there, i'm really hyped-up. 6:19 now. we're talking about good stuff this morning. this is happening right now. it's a doughnut. >> not any old doughnut. >> pumpkin spice glazed doughnut from krispy kreme. they're available today -- back for one day, though. it's the same original blaze it serves every day with a hint of cinnamon and pumpkin spice flavor. you can buy this at participating stores today only. >> i'm not a pumpkin spice person but it looks deteriorate. >>he

the box, i could eat the hole dozen. >> i'll go to the doughnut, which ever doughnut place you like to at night. sitting there all day. >> get one. >> doesn't matter, right? >> it's fall-like out this morning. you can enjoy your pumpkin spice but we're keeping a close eye on hurricane irma. we have the 5:00 a.m. update. if you missed the track earlier, this is the 5:00 update from the national hurricane center. it's out right now, it's now a category 4. downgraded to a category 4. but it's on the very, very top end of a category 4 hurricane. winds at 155 miles an hour. look at this thing as it travels. expected to stay over very warm water, north of cuba. it would be staying as a major hurricane. by saturday night, it's going to turn to the north. we're very much anticipating this turn because that's going to position where the center of this thing hits. either way, the florida keys are really going to get hit hard by this thing. the water levels very low. the storm surge is expected to go

florida keys. maybe even covering them. then we'll see the storm moving inland sunday through monday. if it holds on to its strength, it could be a hurricane as it nears tampa bay and that will be devastating for both coastlines. it will be moving inland mostly around tennessee. storm surge warning for south florida. this includes the southeast and southwest of florida. 7 to 10 feet storm surge. including the florida keys starting saturday afternoon. hurricane warning for -- just barely to the south of tampa. that will become a warning too. what that means as winds could be gusting near 125 miles an hour. it's going to be really bad for the state of florida. look at how wide it is. as you go from pinellas county near tampa to the east coast of florida, that's 135 miles wide. let's look at irma. it's 400 miles wide. no matter where it moves into florida, it's going to be impacting both coastlines. here though, we're nice and dry. 57 degrees in washington. it's 49 in ga

your day is going to shape up nicely. the bus stop, cool and dry this morning. perfect weather this afternoon. mid-70s. look at your weekend. gorgeous. we could see impacts going into next week from irma. let's check your friday morning commute. we're at the end of the week. good morning, jack taylor. >> we sure are. it's not going out like a lamb at this point if you know what i'm saying. chopper 4 into mt. airy. a structure fire along 27. right now, though, we've got massive delays. 6:20 in the morning. outer loop moving toward old georgetown road. late clearing emergency construction. at one point, only the left lane is getting by as you pass old georgetown road towards the curve. the slowdowns are back to new hampshire avenue. 27 up at penn shop road is closed because of a structure fire. they're on scene. also hearing that a truck is trying it turn around, trying to do it too aggressively. jack-knifed in the area. if you're leaving frederick, 15,

accident blocking the right lane. not a great start. >> not at all, jack. thank you. you may have heard about the equifax data breach. we're working for you to with details on how you can find out whether it impacts you and what you can do about it now. >> amazon is looking for a new home. the big moves having the retail giant bringing in big business and new jobs. >> halle berry will give us the 411 on her new

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. [ laughter ] i can't even watch the trailer without screaming. >> we literally both jumped. we've seen the trailer and it still scares us. >> there's no way on god's green earth i can begin to approach -- i can't even watch the trailer. i'm covering my eyes from now on. >> i can't watch the commercial. >> i have never watched anything stephen king. now that i'm going to breathe again, the novel turned movie "it" comes out. can you imagine reading this book. i would never sleep again. georgetown, pennsylvania got a real preview of this.

>> the police department in this little town posted this on the facebook page this week. since then a 17-year-old girl taking credit for the not so funny prank. she says she wanted to scare her friends in anticipation of the movie. you remember the original with the red balloon. >> stop. i can't. i didn't read it or see it or anything. i know what happens and i'm still terrified. >> that clown. >> never. >> hold it togetherment. 6:27 on our friday morning. want to tell you about swastikas at georgetown university. we'll tell you about the action taken by the school as students return to campus. >> reporter: the departure board at reagan national airport is starting to show the impact of

6:30 right now. thanks for waking up with us. >> we've been monitoring hurricane irma all morning. everything you need to know. >> sheena parveen has the

ladies, good morning. good morning. it's a category 4 hurricane now. doesn't matter. it's at the top scale of a category 4 hurricane. i'm shoal you the local forecast in a minute. it's leaving the turks and caicos and entering very warm waters between cuba and the bahamas. if you've ever wondered, the most dangerous side of a hurricane is the northeast side of the eye of the storp. that's the highest spot for tornadic activity, heaviest rain, highest wind. we'll watch this as it makes landfall. that's why where it hits is so important because of the direction of motion. as far as the storm track is concerned, it's a category 4. it moves into south florida potentially as a major hurricane. moving inland. still potentially as a major hurricane and then possibly still a category 2 as it nears tampa. it's big enough to impact both coastlines. storm surge could be 7 to 10 feet. we'll talk more about this and what south florida can expect. let's check the local weather. good morning,

we're off to a cool start. unseasonably cool in fact. we should be in the mid-60s. upper 50s. some spots, down to 46 degrees in manassas. let's get a live look outside now, though. here comes the sun. hopefully it's rescuing us from the unseasonably cool temperatures. let's see what we're dealing with today. i think it's going to be an awesome day, folks. lots of sunshine. highs into the mid-70s. absolutely gorgeous. your weekend is shaping up nicely. too, if you want a breakdown of that, stick around. let's get a check on the roads with jack. >> leaving 95, headed over towards college park in maryland, accident activity blocks a couple of left lanes. maryland state police on the scene. coming up 95 south, you can see our gigantic delay on the outer loop of the beltway. headed over to old georgetown road. the emergency roadwork in place with two left lanes getting by. a gigantic slowdown. up in mt. air

add penn shop road described as a structure fire. the fire may be under control, all lanes are blocked on 27. a tough trip between damascus and mt. airy this morning. thank you, jack. as irma marches towards florida, it's left a path of destruction through the caribbean. 12 people have already been killed by the hurricane. that number is likely to rise. >> the images we're seeing are just heartbreaking from barbuda to st. martin. homes have been reduced to rubble. we've seen cars just floating down the street. thousands don't have running water. in puerto rico, more than a million people in the dark for a second morning in a row. >> as we've been saying, hurricane irma remains on a track to hit miami this weekend. >> even though the storm weakened to a category 4, it will still pack a punch. we want to take you to miami where al roker explains the impact it will have on the states. >> reporter: we're here in south beach in miami beach, florida. right

up. we're in an evacuation situation here. as we watch irma make its way towards south florida, one of the largest evacuations ever in the miami-dade county area and we are really prepared for this system to come on shore. we're looking at storm surges of anywhere from 7 to 10 feet. 10 to 12 inches of rain. right now a category 4 storm. but that does not mean people should be less vigilant because this could reintensify and could be a natural cycling of things. even if it's just a category 4 storm, this in a sense is more dangerous than andrew. andrew was a much more compact storm. this storm in circumference with twice as large as andrew was. so the potential for damage and destruction is unimaginable. in fact, the national weather service down here is saying that people may not be able to get

where they live, for weeks or even months. it's still a dangerous volatile situation and we continue to track it here in south florida and all along the coast. >> guys, back to you. look for more from al roker coming up next on the "today" show. if people aren't hunkering down, they are getting out of town and a lot of those passengers are coming to our area. >> news 4's megan mcgrath continues our team coverage live from the airport how this is impacting our local airports. megan, good morning. >> reporter: good morning. we're seeing people coming from florida to our area. we're also still seeing people who are trying to leave. that flight in miami we've been talking about this morning, it was supposed to leave at 6:00 this morning. 7:30. that's the new time for it. it's dae delayed. believe it or not, people are trying to get to other areas because that's home. talked to one man who really has to get there to hunker down and prepare for

beach. we expect it will be a huge mess but we need to get home and take care of things. a lot of rain and wind and probably a lot of damage. >> so we've got this delay from miami and also a cancellation. a very fluid situation as all of this is going to change as the day wears on. if you are trying to get to the affected areas, best bet is to call your airline ahead. back to you. >> thank you, megan. 6:36. we're seeing video of major damage in mexico. an earthquake killed at least six people. a tsunami is now headed to the shore. people are being told to evacuate or find shelter. while you were sleeping, we heard from neighbors of the missing pregnant teacher laura wallen. they tell us police were at the condo in maryland overnight. she had been missing since monday. news 4's justin finch will have the latest on the search for her coming up at

credit card numbers, addresses and driver's license numbers could be on the internet. people are doing what they can to protect identities. equifax credit reporting agency. it's offering free credit monitoring and theft protection for you now. if you're following the #black girl magic, you may have heard about this magical night at the u.s. open. look what everybody is talking about this morning. >> reporter: we're slicing up the food. we're ready to eat. oh, yeah. it's a tailgate. the one, two, three of how to throw a tailgate up next on

so exciting. tomorrow is the finals for the women at u.s. open. venus williams is out there.

finals for the fir time. she won that match last night. a great match. all the women left are from the united states. this is going to be an all women's final as well -- all u.s. final. >> stephens is going to face madison keys in the final round tomorrow. all eyes will be on that. it will be huge, too. >> for sure. all right folks. if you do not have weekend plans outdoors, you need to make them. maybe head out to the winery. temperatures expected to peak in the low to mid-40s. sorry, 70s as we head through your friday, saturday and sunday. low 70s. tons of sunshine. spectacular time to be outdoors. let get a check on the commute. jack, how is it looking? >> boy, have we had a trip through maryland this morning trying to get from college park, 95 towards georgia. you see that stopped traffic. means very heavy and very slow the entire ride over to old georgetown road. the emergency roadwork in place. two left lanes get by

plan ahead. that's not what you expect on a friday morning. plus, swastikas at georgetown university. vandals leave their mark and the campus is on edge. >> reporter: a montgomery count mom to be

born and raised incian, dr. rrural virginia went to vmi. trained at johns hopkins. an army doctor who treated soldiers seriously wounded in the gulf war. eighteen years as volunteer medical director of a children's hospice. as lt. governor, he's fighting to expand healthcare in virginia.

and we need to provide access to affordable healthcare for all virginians, not take it away.

we are following a developing story concerning this missing mother to be and teacher laura wallen. she's been missing since monday. justin finch is outside of her condo in maryland with the latest on the search 6789 justin, good morning to you. >> reporter: eun, good morning. overnight, neighbors are telling us they saw montgomery county police here in the area of the condo. we're following up with them to sort out as to why. neighbors also say that this site makes it all painfully real. they tell us laura would often park her suv close to her building out here in olney. for the last several days, they've seen no sign of her. concerns are that she is somewhere and will be found safely. because laura is four months pregnant and she was last se

condo. an hour later she sent her family a troubling text message. they sent -- tuesday she was a no show at her first day of school at wild lake high school in columbia where she is a teacher. also too, the -- no word of her condition and concerns for the baby and, of course, laura's physical and emotional well-being are running high. also missing, take a look at this. this is laura's black 2011 black suv with maryland tag m 5224372. police are asking that you keep an eye out for that. police were here at her condo. they are trying to figure out what they were doing. we're standing by for a briefing. we'll bring you that of course on our nbc washington app. >> justin finch live for us in olney. 6:46 now. back to our coverage of

from this satellite image, that storm is headed directly towards florida. >> our meteorologists say irma will slam into miami this weekend and that has thousands of people scrambling to board up their homes and get out of town. right now we want to take to you miami. sarah rosario picks up our team coverage. sarah, good morning. >> reporter: good morning to you, aaron and eun. we're still preparing for hurricane irma as you mentioned. people are trying to get out of town as fast as possible. local officials are trying to make sure every resource is available to allow people to do that. bus evacuations are under way. airports, though, are shutting down today. people have been getting sandbags and plywood and preparing their home for what's to come. after they do that, once their home is taken care of, the people will be hitting the roads. today will be the last chance for people to do that. before we start feeling the big effects of this monster storm headed to our area, a big concern once the storm hits is

going to be the storm surge that could impact both sides of the florida coast. these are things that people are going to be keeping an eye out for in florida. mandatory evacuations under way for the florida keys and low-lying areas here and miami. we have shelters in place, plenty available for people to take advantage of them. so they can take refuge. since hurricane andrew, a big storm that hit this area 25 years ago, building codes have been improved since then. so tall buildings like the ones behind me here in miami, those buildings are now able to withstand category 3 storm. hurricane irma is bigger. officials are saying get out now. reporting live in miami, sarah rosario, aaron and eun, back to you. >> thank you, sarah. people in florida are paying attention to the warnings and evacuation orders. thousands are trying to get out of irma's path by land or air. take a look at these

gas. these are reports of people waiting in line for two hours. some gas stations even had to have police on patrol once they fill up. then they're stuck in bumper to bumper traffic to get out. >> we'll have team coverage from florida for you all weekend long. david culver is in the ft. lauderdale area showing us how families are trying to prepare their homes for this massive storm. you can watch all his reports right now in the nbc washington app as well. we'll have a team of meteorologists following the hurricane's every move throughout the weekend. you'll see doug kammerer and lauryn ricketts on "news4 today" on sunday morning tracking the landfall. amelia draper and somara theodore will be here after sunday night football. 6:49 our time right now. racially charged graffiti is showing up at georgetown university. >> this time swastikas were spray painted inside a dorm elevator last week.

anti-is anti-semitic graffiti was found last week. there's a statement reading in part this racist and anti-semitic symbol must always be taken seriously and responded to appropriately. they're still investigating the incidents. there will be no charges for a d.c. officer involved in a deadly christmas day shooting. the officer was responding to a domestic incident on walnut street in northeast. gerald hill was killed after he came to the door with a knife in his hand. he had already stabbed his girlfriend in the arm. when he wouldn't drop the knife, an officer shot and killed him. one of the officers responding was wearing a body camera. just tweeted new information about a new danger from mexico. there was a massive earthquake overnight. 8.2. now 9-foot high tsunami waves are headed ashore. making it worse, some folks lost power in the earthquake ve

even hearing all of the warnings. this is new video just coming into the newsroom in the last few minutes. there have been a lot of people evacuated on to the streets. people have lost their homes. we've learned a hotel collapsed. at this point, we know six people have been killed when the earthquake hit off the coast. two of them were children. we've seen more and more damage every hour. we're likely to get a much, much clearer picture in the next few minutes as the sun starts to come up there in mexico city. at the live desk, chris lawrence, news 4. chris, thank you. 6:51 is our time. want to check the morning commute for you. jack taylor has a look at what's going on in your traffic. good morning, jack. >> for a friday, i keep saying wow on the beltway. outer loop that's after 450 but before the baltimore washington parkway. two left lanes are blocked on scene. also activity on the right shoulder. then the gigan

to georgetown road. the work zone, emergency work still there. two left lanes are getting by. again, monumental slowdowns. on the inner loop of the beltway, into college park, after 95 and before route 1, that accident activity finally moved over to the left shoulder. 27, penn shop road in mt. airy, apparently the fire has been put out. but the roadway remains closed. you'll need to find an alternate route between damascus and mt. airy as the evacuations continue. good morning, jack. we're tracking hurricane irma very closely. this is the newest update. category 4, 155 mile sustained winds. expected to stay over warm water as it nears florida and flat fla keys. potentially as a category 4 hurricane. it will move in early sunday morning. florida is still right in the cone. if this travels up the center of the state, it's going to impact both coastlines because the storm is so big. it could be holding on to the

and then it will weaken and the remnants into tennessee and georgia. a likelihood of -- >> here's a look at the hurricane. the outer rain bands are a little over 200 miles from reaching mime and the southeast coast of florida. the center of it still a ways away. we'll watch for the turn into saturday. watches and warnings, hurricane warnings through all the south florida, the florida keys, they will become warnings very soon. that means 70 to 90 miles an hour winds with 125 miles an hour wind gusts. southeast and southwest coast of the -- florida keys, 7 to 10 foot storm surge. devastating in many areas. we'll be watching through the weekend. 57 washington. 48 in manassas. 52 degrees in clinton. 49 gaithersburg. maybe a light jacket this morning. it's going to be beautiful today. if you're exercising, low humidity, just like yesterday. absolutely gorgeous, any

and into wednesday. guys in. >> sheena, thank you. what's the percent thing that comes to your mind when you think about football? >> tailgating. food and fun and all that. >> that is the name of the game all season long. molette green is working for you in the community. she's live at fedex field with tips. fans get ready for sunday's game and some food. hey, molette. >> reporter: hey, guys. it's all about sunday's home opener and being tailgate ready. tailgate 101. i'm learning on this friday before the game on sunday. we've got chris capel with disney big. they have the pork tenderloin ready, the chicken wings on the grill. look at what we have cooking. the ribs oh, yeah. we've got the burgers and the dogs, of course. joining me now to talk more about tailgate 101, the 1,

3 is roxana johnson. how do we make this work? >> it's just about basics. you have to be prepared and got to have your food, your essentials, your drinks and your awesome fans. >> we've got the blender going for some kind of drink, cocktail or two. >> nectar with rum and lime. >> all of it -- did you see the shrimp. this is high-end tailgating. we've got the shrimp going. >> oh, yeah. >> all before 7:00 in the morning. this is what we do. >> okay. >> this is my favorite of all-time. this guy is hungry for a win on sunday. right? >> yeah. >> we've got it all. roxana thank you so much. we have not only one but two tailgating chefs out here today. and redskins cheerleaders, we're ready for a win. uh-oh. eun, aaron, let m

sneaked in. there she is. there she is. >> okay. help her out. >> thanks molette. >> now we just need a win on sunday. four things to know. florida getting ready for the worst with hurricane irma about to roll in. these are the images that we could see. 12 people died in the caribbean. david culver is in florida now. you can follow the forecast minute by minute and the nbc washington app. >> just a few hours ago, we heard from neighbors of this missing mom to be and teacher, laura wallen. they tell me that police were at her condo and maryland overnight. she's been missing since monday. follow justin finch on twitter for the latest. >> six people are dead after an earthquake off the coast of mexico. a potentially deadly tsunami is headed towards shore. the "today" show will have more on what's being done to save the area comi

loudoun county, prince george's county, all drawing up plans for amazon's new headquarters. it will bring 50,000 jobs. many paying more than $100,000 a year. that is the broadcast this morning. we appreciate you waking up with us. >> the "today" show is next. we'll see you for weather and traffic, breaking news. don't forget the "today" show is next and the game is on sunday. >> we'll leave you with pictures from fedex field this morning. that guy at 7:00 a.m. >> yeah. >> all of that. >> committed. he's a committed

♪ good morning. running for cover. a mass running for cover, a mass exodus under way in florida, one of the largest ever, with hurricane irma set to hit this weekend targeting nearly the entire state. >> this is not a storm you can sit and wait through. >> highways snarled, gas running out, desperate residents and tourists stranded. lester holt, al roker and a team of correspondents have the region covered. breaking overnight, an 8.1 magnitude earthquake strikes off the coast of mexico, the most powerful to hit that country in 100 years, at least five people killed, a tsunami warning issued. residents on the coastline told to head for higher ground. >> largest breach