"news 4 today" begins with breaking news. that breaking news, hurricane maria is just now making landfall in puerto rico, and this region has been battered already with these powerful storms. now the people of puerto rico are being told you need to get out now. >> yes. >> this is going to be -- >> it's too late at this point. if you're there, you better be somewhere hunkered down. >> we have new video coming in from puerto rico that we hadn't seen yet. there it is, folks. >> wow. >> look at how forceful the winds are. >> it's a strong category 4. it was a 5 earlier and we had the 5 a.m. update and now

this is only within a 5-mile-an-hour wind difference. the max winds are 155 miles an hour. as we go through the next couple of hours, this thing will be over land. it's currently making landfall in puerto rico. look at this video there. these are tremendous winds. as we go through time here, we're going to see this thing move through puerto rico and head out to the atlantic. here is a look at the atlantic. heavy rain. there is the center. 5:00 a.m. update, it continues it as a hurricane as it nears the bahamas. it's staying east of the bahamas. we'll see what happens. it will be somewhere in the atlantic. we'll see how close it is to our coast line. currently we are dry. 72 degrees, a mild start to your wednesday morning. we'll see how warm we get this

bit. let's check your roads on this wednesday morning commute with dave dildine. >> let's check with chopper four. check it out. beltway not so bad right now. getting heavier. looking at the spur. no incidents on the beltway in maryland and virginia. the work zone at 109 cleared. cleared just late enough to slow the pace from here on out for the rest of rush hour. virginia, new crash, 66. manassas, back to you. >> dave, thank you. 6:02 right now. following two big breaking stories at this hour in the caribbean. hurricane maria already leaving major damage in its wake. it is a category 4 hurricane. sheena mentioned it with winds at 155 miles per hour. don't let the number fool you. puerto rico is getting slammed.

and in mexico crews are frantically trying to rescue people after another earthquake there. this morning we know 217 people have died. >> we expect that number to go up. angie goff at the live desk with the latest. angie, what do you have? >> as you know, right now hurricane maria bearing down on puerto rico with 155-mile-an-hour winds. you can see how strong it is. uprooted trees will be next. what we have found out is that this is the most powerful storm to threaten a u.s. territory in almost 9 o years. the governor tweeted out, it's too late to get out. 10,000 people and 200 pets are in fact in shelters now. a dangerous storm that is deadly roaring through the caribbean. puerto rico now

widespread devastation and also possible black jowl that could last for days, we're told. we want to take you to live pictures. this is san juan. you can see there that that is paul goodloe with the weather channel. he's been there reporting throughout the night. he's talking about the strong winds. puerto rico really is in the direct path of the storm that has already killed in the caribbean and has swept through part of the u.s. virgin islands. now back to you. >> angie goff. >> the rain that sheena says. the entire island is getting rain. >> so much of the island is quite frankly under developed. doesn't stand a chance of survival. >> it's 6:04 now. developing this morning, an urgent plea

county police to lock your doors and windows, especially at night. >> we told you about a case this past saturday. police say a college park woman was sexually assaulted by an intruder about 3:30 in the morning. news 4's darcy spencer is live to explain why the investigation is widening now. darcy? >> reporter: good morning. police are now saying there appears to be three separate incidents all happening here along gilford road. they're now investigating to find out are these cases connected. let's show you video we shot this morning. we want to show you how dark it is when the woman was attacked in her home at 3:30 in the morning. a woman came into her unlocked window, she screamed and he ran off. there were two more incidents. one was not reported. one had happened earlier in the day and one happened on the saturday before. both happeni a

door or window. in those other two cases there was no sexual assault. the woman skreempd and he ran away. this is happening south of the campus. prince gorges county police are on it and they have stepped up patrols. very important to be cautious. make sure you lock up before you go to bed at night. >> a lot of these are crimes of opportunity. that's your first defense. lock those doors and windows. darcy spencer. darcy, thank you. if you smell gasoline when you're driving through alexandria this morning, investigators say don't worry. there was a fuel leak on 135. the alexandria will fade. it was an emotional moment when the father of a teenager killed by police forgave an

officer. >> i woke up and i wrote a letter of forgiveness to the person that i don't even know that took my kid. i forgive. >> he says police went too far. he was telling the story about the 15-year-old boy who died last week. his father believes police subdued him. they said the death was justified. prince william county police said the teen told officers he had a bomb and he wanted to dye when he came at them with a crowbar, they say officers shot and killed him. at times these moms had to wipe away tears as they listened to what led to their children's death. those kids all sailors aboard the u.s.s. john mccain. the senate armed services committee met. they grilled the naval chief of operations who admitted

mistakes on the job. delayed maintenance on ships and budget concerns could be a pr problem as well. they are saying this is truly the final shot. they're scrambling to get the 50 votes they need to repeal and replace the affordable care act. senators say they are expecting zero votes from democrats. if they don't get it done by the end of the month, it will not apply anymore. does virginia need a long, hard public look at race relations in the state? how would you commit to meaningful examination and action on the bigger issues? >> video from last night. one of the panelists in the virginia governor's race. the issue of race is important to talk

violence in the state? both said local governments should have a final say of what to do with them. gillespie wants to keep them in place. northam wants to remove. >> i found it to be a very informative debate. i think the choices in this election could be not more clear than they are right now. >> anyway, we have bugged people and especially what we watch in '16. >> virginia is only one of two states electing governors this year. good question. interesting how they address that moving forward. 6:09. we'll find out if

bridge. this is in anticipation of the purple line. the judge declined to issue an immediate request to stop construction on the 2r5i8. that means construction could start as early as today. 6:10 right now. mish chef in labor and delivery. the proof is in the pictures. a simple facebook post from a nurse breaks open a big investigation that may have every parent wondering what happens to your newborn when they leave your arms at the hospital. this morning as you're about to leave, your commute will be nice and dry. i'll tell you what to expect on friday. hurricane maria is moving into puerto rico right now. that's coming up. >> reporter: we're waiting on your food donations. come on out to the whole

we want to stuff this bus. we need more to feed kids in need. the fairfax county council of ppas will

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♪ ♪ magical moment on "america's got talent" last night. that was the 2005 plane crash survivor bringing down the house with the song "conquerer." here's a dog act. these act are 12 competing for a $1 million grand prize and a chance to headline a

stage show. tough competition as it is every year. the winner will be announced tonight in a live two hour finale. >> not the dog. >> i know. >> the dog lovers vote for the dogs. you have to vote for your favorite. >> absolutely. >> the ventriloquist, darcy lynn. >> she's awesome. >> i think she's a front-runner. >> tune in for "america's got talent" at 8:00. 15 after the hour right now. let's go to the storm team weather center. sheena parveen, what do you have? >> i don't mind the dog. i love the ventriloquist. 72 degrees outside. by lunchtime warming to the mid 80s. here is hurricane maria, category 4. strong category 4 moving into puerto rico. i'll show you the updated track and what we can expect locally. let's check the roads. hey, dave. >> it is no fun, sheenan

and 355. crash in frederick. holiday drive blocking various lanes. meanwhile, southbound 270 stuck in traffic. work zone, little late to clear. that's your latest. back to you. >> dave, thank you. check back in just a bit. a warning for drivers, arlington county police say they found a credit card skimming device at a busy gas station on monday. that device was at the exxon station at old dominion drive and military road. police found the skimmer after they complained about fraudulent activity. you can protect your hard earned money by going inside the next time you fill up or using a credit card which gives users more protection. >> you may have noticed something different when you're scrolling through your twitter feed. twitter says it's on a mission to weed out users advocating violence.

nearly 300 accounts have been looked at. this story has a lot of mothers and expectant women asking how they can know their kids are okay. we can warn you some of the pictures you're about to see may be a bit upsetting. two naval hospital employees are off the job after they used newborns for their own entertainment. these pictures originally showed up on snap chat. one shows a nurse moving a baby to the 50 cent song "in the club." the other has a nurse giving the baby the middle finger with the caption called mini satins. the hospital said that this was outrageous, unacceptable, incredibly unprofessional and cannot be tolerated. >> why are you in the job if you don't want to take care of these babies. they are heapless. >> move on. >> when you're in the hospital and you have a newborn, the nurses give you the option of

mom can get some sleep and i always kept the baby in my room, even if it meant i went up. i'm glad i did. i had amazing care. i had amazing care at georgetown. >> nurses do amazing work at every hospital in the country. >> exactly. it is the ultimate foul shot in the world of technology. a poorly timed twitter rant by nba champ kevin durant. he took time at a tech conference in san francisco to address several tweets he sent out about his own team. he ridiculed his former teammate and coach. people said testifies a sellout to go to golden state to win the championship. he told the crowd he explained a little too much and made a mistake. he has apologized to the coach

listen, this is a way to connect with my fans and i'm not going to stop using twitter for this kind of conversation. 6:19 right now. we are working for you this morning in the community. news 4's molette green hanging out in vienna and fairfax as kids and parents stuff the bus. >> molette, how's it going out there and what's this all about? >> reporter: well, it's all about helping to field hungry children in fairfax county. we have some items here, but we need so much more. we're here with the fairfax county council of ptas, someone from whole foods, a representative of the organization that will take on this food and distribute it. we'll talk about that in a minute. joining me is beth tdan with the pta to talk about why this is so important to do in the county. >> so many people

need for it, but it's not through. over 30% of children in fairfax county are hungry. we're getting food delivered here to home food. we have different items here. >> we want to stuff this bus. >> exactly, want to stuff the bus. >> stuff this bus. >> reporter: real quick, how will the food be distributed? once we get it stuffed, what's going to happen? >> others are going to come and pick it up. >> reporter: we're going to talk about that in a minute. how does it get distributed to the young people? is it a weekend program? >> yes, it's a weekend program. over the weekend it will go to them so they'll have the items, the food that their family may not be able to provide. >> reporter: got it. at the whole foods on maplewood avenue. there areer

locations with a big old school bus. coming up in a bit, we're going to talk about what kinds of donations are best to bring out and how that does help these young people. we should say 5% of the day's proceeds at whole foods will go and support the programs of the fairfax county pta. back to you. >> thank you. i think people don't realize that the county as sucks ifful as fairfax with great schools, there is an issue. kids get a majority of free or reduced lunches. that's an important issue to bring up to help solve the problem skbl we should also mention there ace a similar story going on. 5% of sales at the four stores in d.c. will be going to d.c. arts and humanities collab

they're open 7:30 to -- they'll be set up, telling people more about the programs they do to help improve arts and humanity, education in the city. theater kid here so i know the benefit these programs can have for a lot of kids. >> for sure. last few days going out with a bang. >> yes. we have a few more days left of summer. fall officially starts on friday. wait until you see the temperatures. everyone will be drinking their pumpkin spice whatever in summer like weather. this morning it's going to start off feeling a little bit more like a summer like morning as it should. mild at the bus stop. if you're eating lunch outside, you'll want to sit in the shade. hot one in the afternoon. 72 in washington, 67 in quantico. leesburg has you out

if you want to walk a dog, this is roxannea. by noon, 84 degrees. by 5:00 p.m., upper 80s and plenty of sunshine. here's a look. we had the radar image and it leaped out for a minute. this is the puerto rico radar. i'm imagining there are issues at the very end because hurricane maria is moving on land. it's making landfall, we have landfall at 15 miles an hour. this is going to be devastating as it crosses puerto rico. then as we go through time it's into the bahamas. we'll be able to see where it is in relation to our area. locally, nice and dry. highs this afternoon in the upper 80s as well as tomorrow, first day of fall, well above normal.

let's check the roads. >> rough morning south of frederick on 270 and 355 on route 355 near holiday drive. all ways stopped at least temporarily. southbound on 270, man, it is taking time to go south towards 109 in germantown. you can see chopper 4 flying above the delays. >> thank you. attracting amazon. high hopes for a new headquartersn i

you're watching "news 4 today." >> if you want someone to like you, give them a cac tis. >> oh. >> that was the idea behind this picture apparently. an economic group in arizona sent this cactus to amazon to show how interested it is in amazon's new headquarters, hq2. it's 21 feet tall. it can't accept gifts and donated it to a museum. >> that would be bribery. although i like cactuses, cacti. you can bring me a little one. >> can i set up my headquarters? >> i can't with all of these children around. we are learning more about the prince gorges county pitch to become amazon's new home too. >> the executive director is looking at three sites. they're all primed for amazon headquarters. the county leads maryland in job creation and

would bring 50,000 more jobs. residents are excited about the opportunity to have such a large addition. >> we've got all of these folks that live here in the county, would love to work in the county. >> to be honest with you, it should come here. >> larry hogan supports baltimore. he. if you got an e-mail from amazon that looked like this, it is not a scam. it's a glitch. they told customers they had a gift on the way from the baby registry. >> a lot of people balance sheeting a sigh of relief. >> can you talk about stopping your heart? i would have lost it if that had been in my e-mail. some people thought it was an e-mail scam. amazon took responsibility and said it was a technical glitch. >> okay. that would have been a surprise.

is joust a scam, they're looking at more so-called speed traps. the top earner is camera on k street running under washington circle. in 2016 it generated more than $11 million in speeding tickets. that's one camera one year. council member mary chay is asking ddot to look at signs and speed limits to make sure it is fair. the lincoln memorial is vandalized again. >> a the student could stay 20 years in prison. he tried to avoid our cameras. park police say they caught the student scratching letters into the pillar with a penny. that kind of damage you can't fix. the paint they can remove. >> you have to hope the park service doesn't start blocking of

if people do that, you have to think of fencing, lines, security. let's check in with sheena parveen to find out more about our weather and the track of maria. >> yes. locally pretty mild conditions. maria moving in as a category 4. 72 degrees in washington. we have some clouds around this morning. a little bit of a breeze. overall as we go through the day today we will be seeing plenty of sunshine. 66 gaithersburg, 60 in manassas. we have comfortably cool spots. 56 martinsburg. i will say a mild start for most of the area this morning. as you wake up and walk outside, 7:00 a.m., mild. more sunshine. look how quickly the temperatures will heat up. 74 degrees. temperatures around 77

news special report. >> we're having more information about the situation in mexico as that country is rocked by a massive earth cake and the latest on the path of hurricane maria. here we go. this is an nbc news special report. here's matt lauer and savannah guthrie. >> good morning, everyone. 6:31 on the east coast. coming on the air right now because hurricane maria has made landfall on puerto rico. >> this is the scene in puerto rico right now. being hit with 155-mile-an-hour winds. torrential rain. the strongest storm it's faced in nearly a century. gabe gutierrez is live in san juan right now. gabe, good morning. >> reporter: savannah, good morning. the situation is dire. we are being pounded by ferocious winds and it is only getting worse.

slamming into san juan. this could be potentially a catastrophic situation. we have sought shelter inside a comment structure. authorities have been begging people in wooden structures and flood prone areas to evacuate. they've opened 500 shelters and more than 10,000 people this morning are in shelters. as you can see behind me, it is blinding conditions here. we've seen debris peeled off buildings already. most roads are impasse siblg. it is difficult to be outside and we are being very careful as to how we're bringing you these live images. savannah and matt, authorities here fear this could be potentially devastating for this region. the strongest storm to hit puerto rico in nearly a cey.

irma just graze the the island but more than 60,000 people were left without power and now with a weak power grid there's no telling what type of devastation maria could bring. back to you. >> gabe, he said all those shelters have been open. can the shelters withstand winds of 150, 160 miles an hour. nbc's tammy leitner also in san juan this morning. what's the scene where you are? >> hey, matt and savannah, the conditions have deteriorated quickly. we've had to move several times. there are about 10,000 people that have taken refuge in shelters, but i can tell you we've spoken with a lot of people on this island in the last few days that have said they are going to hunker down and wait this storm out in their homes. we've also spoken with

who are trapped here on the islands. i can tell you where we are fema has sed up their head quarters and they have 300 workers who can go out once be the storm passes over. >> let's turn to al. >> this is what we feared the most. it is coming to fruition unfortunately. 150-mile-an-hour winds but we've had gusts up to 190 miles per hour. it is moving northwest at 10 miles per hour. here's what we look for as far as the impacts. the winds are going to be devastating. gusts, hurricane force winds. the storm surge where we get most of the deaths and damage, 6 to 9 feet from san juan all the way through the southern tip of the island and the flooding. we're talking about river and highway flooding, mudslides. totals of 20

it's over. it's at the dominican republic. 4 to 6 foot storm surge. 4 to 8 inches of rain and then on into the turks and caicos on friday. winds 100 to 125 miles per hour. a storm surge up to 15 feet. that could be ultimately devastating for these islands. guys, we'll take a look at this a little bit later. >> al, thank you very much. by the way, there's another natural disaster unfolding right now. happening in mexico. the death toll from a powerful earthquake there soaring to more than 200 people overnight. countless others said to be trapped in the ribl. miguel almaguer is in mexico city. good morning to you. >> reporter: matt, good morning. the scene of

what's unfolding over my shoulder, this is the scene playing out in city after city. search and rescue teams have arrived where dozens of people have been pulled out of the rubble alive and where search and rescue people that are still buried underneath all of this ribl. waiting for those who may be inside or trapped inside. the death toll rising to 200. we're told the situation is fluid not just on this one city block but all across mexico city. matt? >> miguel, thanks. a lot of news this morning. unfortunately, not a lot good. >> no. we'll be following what's happening as we speak with hurricane maria hitting puerto rico. we'll see you in just a

this has been an nbc special news report. you're watching that nbc news special report with reporters talking about the devastation in mexico after that major earthquake. also the deteriorating conditions in puerto rico as hurricane maria makes landfall there. >> devastating. so bad for that island. we're going to have much more on that as well as a look at your i'm a lawyer, and i have clients, and i am proud to do what i do on behalf of my clients. narrator: the clients john adams and his team are so proud to work for? banks accused of money laundering. big corporations accused of defrauding taxpayers. and mortgage lenders accused of unfairly foreclosing on homes. now he wants to be attorney general. john adams: the best attorney general the

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good wednesday morning. mild start as you walk outside. by 7:00 a.m., 70 degrees. by lunchtime, already in the mid 80s. 4:00 p.m., feeling like summer. 88 degrees. unseasonably warm as we go throughout the day today. wait until you see the weather to start the first day of fall. for the weekend, i'll have the forecast. let's check the roads with dave. hey, dave. >> sheena, let's check on chopper 4. frederick county on

all lanes are pretty much reopened there, the crash at halladay drive. flying over rockville at the remains of a minor crash on key west avenue. all lanes pretty much open there. back to you. >> thank you, dave. well, she was just trying to get home from work. the deadly accident in a ride sharing car. who the family says is to blame. plus, gas leak scare. the smell that had people on edge. what you need to know before you head out this morning. >> reporter: i'm dorothy spencer in college park. after two more potential

ralphcandidate for governor,rtham, and i sponsored this ad. they're studying for 21st century jobs. but ed gillespie supports donald trump's plan to take money out of virginia public schools and give it to private schools. as a washington dc lobbyist, ed gillespie worked for lenders trying to keep student loan rates high. and ed gillespie's plan to cut taxes for the wealthy could cut virginia school funding, too. ed doesn't stand for education.

chaos in mexico city. buildings demolished in a devastating earthquake. the rescue mission getting more desperate by the hour. >> i saw what's needed, that's why i came over. as the winds continue to come out of the northeast gusting 91 miles per hour. >> maria is a monster storm. now we have a better idea where it's headed next. i don't understand why she had to go like this. >> it's the deadly accident that began with calling a ride sharing service. the family is angry and

shopping, the reason you may see a grocery store in the parking lot. breaking news out of puerto rico where hurricane maria has now made landfall. >> we have seen the conditions there deteriorating. here's a live look right now. you can see the forceful winds blowing there. we had reporters in that nbc news special report showing us that right now the conditions are getting worse. >> these pictures are live out of san juan, puerto rico. it made landfall on the southeastern tip of that island about 60 miles away from san juan. still, look at the winds. we are seeing some level of hurricane force winds. not as strong as 155 miles an hour, which they're seeing on the southeastern coast. still, strong winds that will be devastating for san juan and most of this island. >> rain continues to pound the entire island right now. we're going

hurricane maria and giving you the very latest on the path of destruction. >> storm team 4 meteorologist sheena parveen is tracking the tropics. she's updating her forecast and we'll have updates soon. >> 6:46. urgent plea to lock your doors and windows, especially at night. so important. >> we told you about this case this past saturday. police say a college park woman was sexually assaulted by an intruder around 3:30 in the morning. darcy spencer is live to explain why this investigation is now expanding. darcy? >> well, good morning. when police began the investigation into the initial sexual assault, they found out that there had been two other incidents and now they're trying to figure out was this the same man? are these cases connected? now the sex assault happened at a home in the 4500 block of gilford road. that was about 3:30 in the morning saturday. a man climbed i

window. the woman screamed and he ran. now the other two incidents also happened on the same road, the same hundred block. one of them happened on the very same day. both of them happened at 1:00 in the morning. in both cases the man was able to open an unlocked door and window. there was no sexual assault in the other incidents. these are happening two blocks down of the university of maryland campus. police are warning people, like we said, you have to make sure you lock up at night. this person may be looking for an easy opportunity, possibly checking for doors and windows that are unlocked. in the meantime, police are stepping up patrols in the area. at this point they have not released a description of the person they're looking for in connection with these cases. back to you. >> darcy spencer live for us in college park. thank you. balloons were

the night sky in southeast washington for talada williams. she was killed in a crash over the weekend after doing what many of us do. she used a ride sharing service to get home from work. dc police say a pickup truck hit the car she was riding in head on. this is on good hope road saturday night. williams' driver and the truck driver are now in serious condition at the hospital. her family blames the truck driver for cutting her life short. >> why? why was you on the other side of the street? my sister was on her way home from work. >> the truck driver has not been charged with any crime. d.c. police say they are waiting for toxicology results to see if that person was under the influence of drugs or alcohol. >> 6:49. the commute that a lot of folks struggle with. if you find yourself gripping the steering wheel when you drive i-66, some

coming. >> news 4's justin finch is live. big changes set to be announced by virginia's governor today. justin, it seems like it's always busy on 66 any time of the day. >> reporter: oh, yeah. it is always busy, eun, indeed. you ask any driver who relies on i-66 and they will tell you it just has got to change. the backup getting especially bad in the beltway area as you may know. as you mentioned, the governor will announce a solution, as many as ten ways to help. the goal is to get 5,000 more drivers moving along the i-66 corridor getting them out of their cars into a safe and efficient way to their jobs and also to school. as we look out on i of 66 east going east we can see the traffic beginning to build up out here. that's why there's also talk of enhanced car pools moving the requirement from two occup

december we are going to find the rollout. we did speak to drivers this morning who say they like the idea of change coming out of here, they're just not so sure about the buses. >> by 5:30 in the morning and then 3:30 in the evening. so it's very heavy. >> would you ever take a bus to beat the traffic out there? >> no. no. i don't want to be in a bus. no. i want to be driving my truck. freeway. >> reporter: so as you heard, there is still perhaps some selling to do to get drivers on board with the bus idea. that's due out. justin finch on 66. >> see the cars building

hey, if you smell gas while you're driving through alexandria, the fire department says not to worry. there was a fuel leak on king street 3rks 96. >> the it is not dangerous. >> the minute you smell gas. >> right away. >> think it's something -- >> you want to get out. >> i was going to say, we're still talking about this hurricane hitting puerto rico and we saw the pictures coming in of that intense wind. >> yeah. it's a very strong category 4. hitting puerto rico as we speak. it is making landfall. and it's really going to be devastating for puerto rico as a strong category 4 hurricane. here's some video we have from puerto rico. you can see sideways rain. that shows you how strong the winds are. right near the center we have winds of 155 miles an hour. you see the trees. this is going to be a prolonged period of time with

strength winds. you can imagine a lot of trees snapped, uprooted, power lines snapped. there will be widespread structural damage from the category 4 hurricane. look at the video we have coming in. one thing i've noticed as we've gone through time is our radar of puerto rico has gone down a bit. this is in east liberty, i believe. you can see the rain coming down. obviously very, very windy. this is one area of puerto rico where they are just beginning to see some of the worst of it. the category 4 hurricane is approaching the south east side of puerto rico. that is the strongest winds. i'm going to show you what i was talking about with the radar imagery. now locally we're going to be nice and dry as we go through today and the weekend. fall does start friday. temperatures very warm. it's actually going to feel like summer. here is the radar out of puerto rico. notice the last few frames here, the radar kind

i think this is due to hurricane maria. the strong winds affecting the radar site. unfortunately that does happen. here's a better look at it. strong category 4 there. expecting flooding with very heavy rains here. once this moves through puerto rico the track giving it a northerly turn. east of the bahama sz heading into the atlantic. we'll see what happens when we go into next week. it could be pretty close to the coast line. currently temperatures in the mid to upper 60s. feeling like summer not just today and tomorrow but the first day of fall. un seasonably warm into next week. let's check the roads this morning. good morning, dave. >> okey-doky. rush hour going into swing. two dump trucks involved right in the center of the roadway. right center lane blocked and slow over landover. new crashth

and chopper 4 i believe is flying over a crash in aspen hill. intersection of connecticut avenue. lots of crashes like this ongoing at any one time. little impact on traffic out this way. send it back to you all. >> now 6:54. when you go to whole foods in virginia today, you may see an unfamiliar sight. >> news 4's molette green is with a group of parents there in fairfax county and some kids as they stuff the bus this morning. they've been energized trying to get behind this effort there. molette, what's going on? >> reporter: hey, you know what, we've been able to put together what's called a snack pack, something like this, to be able to give to a child in need, a child who's a bit food insecure in the county. all day today you'll be able to come to a whole foods supporting this. there will be a

your group takes the food and distributes, all of this. this came because there were counselors and teachers who said there was a need? >> yes. about seven years ago the counselors and school teachers were coming to us saying their children were coming to school on monday mornings tired and unable to concentrate and learn, and so we developed this program and today we serve almost 2,000 children each week at local fairfax county schools. we're very thankful for supporting this. come on out. we're at five whole foods stores throughout fairfax county. please make your donations here. >> stuff this bus. that's what it's all about. >> stuff this bus. >> whole foods will be taking the donations until they close the doors at 9:30 at this location so stop by. whole foods. we'll have a school bus and you ca

do this in fairfax county. live in the community. there is a direct correlation between a well balanced breakfast and performance in school. >> great effort out there, molette. thank you. it is now 6:56. here are 4 things to know before you head out the door. 30 people are missing in an elementary school that collapsed in mexico and more than 200 people are dead in that earthquake there. we'll update you in the nbc washington app as we get new video of the devastation. hurricane maria has made landfall. residents are praying at a shelter. the dangerous hurricane killed two neem guadalupe. a college park woman was sexually assaulted by an intruder monday morning not far from the

all three happened on the same street. major changes coming to congested i-66 inside the beltway. today virginia's governor will announce a series of transit projects that will go along with the launch of the road's express lanes. and today is going to be warm. going to feel like summer all the way through the weekend even though fall starts friday. >> thank you, sheena. and that is the broadcast this morning. we appreciate you waking up with us. the "today" show is next. we'll see you i 25 mnin

good morning. breaking news, double disasters. hurricane maria slamming puerto rico right now. making land fall as a powerful category 4. 155 mile per hour winds, two feet of rain expected. san juan's mor with a desperate plea. >> don't forget us. just don't forget us. while in in mexico, the death toll climbs to more than 200 from the powerful earthquake that caused buildings to collapse. and triggered explosions. reue