is coming to see us and i don't care what you do, you better get ready, because she's coming to see us. >> conditions along the coast are calm now, but don't let that fool you. we're days away from life threatening conditions in se areas. it's 4:00 a.m. good morning, everybody. >> states of emergency have been declared in maryland and virginia. >> mandatoryor evacuations portions of virginia begin at 8:00 this morning. th week news 4 is the place to turn for the latest onca hurne florence. >> we will begin with a check on the current conditionsnd your commute with storm team 4 meteorologist chuck bell and melissa. we saw a lot of fog whene were coming in. >> super dense fog. national airport down to.1 mile. that's only 520 feet of visibility at national airport. half mile visibility. under a mile in fairmont.

super foggy this morning. this is our tower camera. these are the lights in therk g lot right here. they're there. i promise, they're on. it's pea soup thick fog this morning. low beams on and speed down this morning until visibility improves. low 60s.ce and cool but humid low 70s here from i-95 to the bay. so for today a very cloudy day. the fog will giv wayo regular clouds and rain chances today. not expectingon a of rain and might see a sliver of sunshine today. high temperatures up close to 80 degrees. ecifics of he spis florence coming up. >> looking at the fog outside here at northwest. here's wisconsin avenue at massachusetts avenue. i'm telling you,ar it's to see in front of you in some spots. be very careful thirn g.

bailey'srossroads westbound. just one left lane getting by. riverdale, southbound between campus andiver road. getting by there and as you look at the beltway, looks good, inner loop and outerloop and that fog will be a problem for a lot of people. >> your time is 4:02. as we mentioned, hurricane florence could have a devastating impactrom the carolinas to maryland. here's what you need to know in prepare. >> evacuations start in about four hours. the orders effec people living along the eastern shore and hampton roads arean bothe southeastern part of the state but video shows people already getting outf town. some 6,000 members of the virginia national guard are on stand by to help now. both maryland and virginia declared states of emergency.it neher state governors are taking any chances. >> i want to emphasize this hurricane is likely to have

impact statewide. i ask a virginians to take all precautionary measures. >> start now to prepare your families and your homesor potential heavy rain, winds, and possible flooding. morey, importan use common sense. have water batteries, flashlights at the ready in case of power outages. >> criticalgs warn the u.s. navy also ordered about 30 of its ships out to sea. it left yesterday and they'll go out into parts of the atlantic where they are better able to weather these types of restorms >> wot the only one getting prepared. in south carolina you can see them filling hardware stores and boarding up their homes andin ge necessities includingie batters and flashlights. schools and state offices will be closed in 26 counties except for emergency personnel. there's reports of gas shortages, especially in coastal

areas such as wilmington. many expect supplies to be replenished today. >> hurricane florence quickly strengthened >> in 24 hours it went from being a tropical storm to a category 4e. hurric take a look at the brand new images of the storm. these areaken from space. you can see just howell formed that hurricane is. that swirl and that eye in the ddle. the images were taken by american astronaut ricky arnold on board the national space station. >> thiss a perfect looking storm. we don't see any wind sheer in this. wind sheer would typically try to rip the top off a lot of the thunderstorms. we're seeing a perfect looking eye and great symmetry within this storm so that shows you that conditions are favorable for this thi to stay strong. it's a category 4 right now.

look at this path. the cone is narrow because models agree still looking at north carolina. that would be late friday into saturday. the track has been consistent. th we stays farther s have less rain and wind in the forecast. if it heads farther north we have more rai and wind in the forecast. the computer models are all heading to north carolina. it's expected to stall as it heads inland and we'll be watching that throughout the rest of the week. more updates in just a tbit. nk you and jim handly is on his way toar northina to cover hurricane florence. he'll start filing reports on evacuations tonight and bring us live coverage later this week. >> nd4:05 florence is still a few days away from impacting the east coast but days of rainy weather have already taken a toll on the region. yesterday in old town exandria

high tides brought foding back. but people were out there walking their dog and taking pictnes. >> it'spportunity to be out in the middle of kings street. >> we thought we'd see how far it came up today. >> many business owners protected their shops and restaurants with sandbags as you see here. >> today the cauntry will to remember those killed on 9/11. thou ands of people expected to gather to pay their re pects. resident mike pence will take part in a ceremony at the pentagon. this morning crews plan to put a giant flag on the side of the building and you may remember the iconic moment after the attack seen as a sign of resilience in our country's darkest moments. tributes are already taking shape. drivers may have sn flags on

igh roses and along 110 yesterday. president trump and the first lady will head to the united 93 memorial for a ceremony later this morning. breakingews on a big fire ripping through california. >> this delta fire burned more than 49,000 acres of land and residents are on edge this morning. itamaged three homes in the lakehead area near the major interstate 5. take a closer look. firefighters are battling 1fo flames coming off of trees and brush. it's a fire that srted last wednesday and it's only 5% contained this morning, almost a week later. more than 2,400 firefighters are battling the blaze and they hope have tha fire at least contained by september 22nd. so into the week.

so it's ahead for residents as well as those trying to get it under control.l weeep you posted. back to you. >> thank you. bob woodward's new book "fear" hit store shelves. president trump is calling then veterajournalist a liar on twitter and the president also tweeted the book is a joke woodward is standing firm on all of the explosive accounts andre rting in that book. we expect to learn more about a dealer accused of cheating at mgm nationa harbor casino today. he is set to face a judge on charges of cheating at his table and profiting the scott mcfarland reports federal agents accuse him of deliberately not shuffling the debt properly and then letting co-conspirator take a photo of the cardefore making big bets. >> it's 4:08. more than three years after a wealthy business man, his wife,

son, and housekeeper were tied up and tortured a kille inside their northwest d.c. home, the sole suspect will go on trial. opening statements are expected this morning. we could hear for the surviving housekeeper that worked f the family for 20 years. also other family members. he faces life in prison. stay with news 4 for continuing coverage of the d.c. mansions murders trial. d.c. police are investigating multiple shootings. two of the shootings happene overnight. take a look at the video here. deteives responded to the scene on chesapeake street around 8:00 last night. a few blocks away from there two people were shot near atlantic and 3rd street also in southeast. we'll update you on the shootings as w learn more information. four people are recovering after an suv crashed into marie's diner in la plata last night. no one was seriously hurt here.

no word on wha caused that crash. >> over the past week, someone has been going around parts of d.c. tampering wit fire hydrants and it's putting thousands of people at risk. high dran hydrants have been open half a dozen times. s there was much water it forced police to close an intersection and it's concerning police, firefighters and d.c. water. it's absolutely illegal. npd is involved butn there's b a rash of these in the last few days and we're concerd. we're really concerned. >> police don't know whether the sa person is behind all six incidents and they're not sure what the motive isor opening all the hydrants. that's a problem, especially if someone an emergency and is going to need all of that water. > it's 4: this morning. the frederick county health department in maryland is warning you to stay out of the water. >> it seems as if all the rain

we have been getting is overwhelming sewage facilities and causing keoverflow. look at the map here. you can see the rivers and areas to avoid hhlighted in red. health officials say no one should swim in these areas for at least a week. of course a lot more rain could be on the way. still ahead this morning, as we age our memories could fade. new research suggests how to slow down thatprocess. plus caught on camera, a daring river rescue done in the nick of time. >> and a story you'll have to see to believe. a d.c. rat pulls a fire alarm. >> well, that's disgusting. this morning we're dealingeith defog. before you head out, know the visability is very poor across the area. chuck is back in a few minutes to show you h today e infused wihty lavender flowers in every bottle. air wick essential oils smells so real we put it to the test with real people. this one smells more like lavender.

that one. no way! i'll be darned. the complete air wick essential oils collection.

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couldelp reduce further memory loss by 88%. you just need to get outhere d move your legs. >> work on both things at one time. chuck's laughing. you keep walking buddy. you keep doing the best you can. >> wild weather impacted several parts of our country. >> we begin in kentucky,ke wor were forced to sort mail in the rain after this post office roof collapsed on sunday. 18 people inside the building when the roof kafed caved in du

rainstorm. >> two boys are lucky to be e alfter being trapped in a fast moving creek yesterday. they found one boy barely clging on to a tree branch. eaman nearby one of them screaming and calling for help. they were taken to the hospital and are expected tbe ay. you might want to look away from your tv, a new social media video is showing a rat and it's burning uphe internet right now. >> you know how i feel about rats so i look out the cner of my eye and close my eyes for the dest of it. it cau a false alarm in northwest washington. a it apartment building, you can see the rat literally jumping off that railing and pulling the fire alarm.pe this hd over the summer but it's really picking up steam since we found this video. you can see the full video right now in the nbc washington app. i put it on my facebook p e as well and i'm going to tell everyone else to go look at it. you know me, i'm covering my

eyes. that looks like the size of m whole entire life. >> it's ren and cstimpye to life. whatoes the big red button do? >> you don't need a thumb to pull t fire alarm. us froms what separates the animals. >> barely. >> i feel the black hole coming. what about the latest on florence. >> what about it, chuck bell? >> we transition to something that people really wantro h about. hurricane florence, rapid intensification over the past day or so. now a full category 4 storm. main threat and is going to have a wide ranging impact. most likely to be severely impacted, north carolina, south carolina and virginia. overtime we'llee how much o an impact comes northbound into northern virginia andnd mary everybody needs to be on guard.

the eye itself is likely to make land fall late thursday but could hang on the north carolina 8coastline for some hours or longer. so the impacts are likely to be most severe from saturday to tuesday of next week and our main threat will be possibility of severe flooding. that's going to be the main threat for us. bermuda is now officially out of the path of the storm. the storm is going to make a landfall sometime late thursday, most likely as a category 4 storm. this will be the fartherest north -- farthest north on record to have a storm likee that m landfall. it will linger from thursday night until saturday and then the remnants going inland could bring serious amounts of rain te the h elevations of southwest virginia and the western carolinas.

all of that water has to go downhill that means not only is there a coastal problem but a huge fresh water flooding issue. especially just downe to south and west. overtime the remembnants of tha are likely to stay until monday or tuesday of next week. this is going to be a long duration event. more about today, cloudy skies and fog thismorning. temperatures are in the 60s and 70s now. w am and humid day, around 80 degrees. a little warmer tomorrow but off and on rain shower chances. nothing heavy for the next couple of days. what florence decides to do on friday and the weekend is a big qu mark. we'll be keeping an eye on it. sheena has the ten day outlook coming up. >> you can see some of the folks heading southbound when they're right up o the camera.

after the rosslyn tunnel left lane is getting by. work zone there. 395 after duke street, right lane blocked by that work zone and riverdale between campus and river road, work zone lef lane. a couple of weeks ago we introduced you to an incoming georgetown freshman kicked out of his parents house because 's gay. >> he feared he wouldn't be able to pay for school until the community stepped in to help him foot the bill and today seth is sharing his story on ellen. >> i was just so sprised that people would actually support me. >> it's more than 2,000 now. >> it's closed off at $141,000. >> and the university stepped in and p offered to his tuition there too. you can see seth today on ellen at 3:00 on nbc 4 and then stick around forat news 4:00. >> coming up next, dejunk your

laptop. we're not talking about deleting showing ry files but you where germs, thousands of them can hide. >> plus new details about the potential

a school in georgia is

gettingational attention. parents were given consent forms that state a student that misbehaves will be struck by al pao more than three times. if parents don't give permission their child will be suspended for up to five days as punishment. so far, a third of parents have given the consent to paddle their children your computer may be dirtier than you think. >> they c collect tons of germs and materials and needo be cleaned. susan is working with you for a proper way to clean your computer without damaging>> it. e knows laptops. >> laptops get dirty but they're also full of germs and need to be cleaned. black keys aren't going to show a lot of dirt but they'relt . you clean your keyboard less than you clean your bathroom in most cases.

>> a handy vac works well on dust but to tackle germs you need to get more serious. dip a soft cloth in water mixed with alcohg and r it out so noneth dripse clkeyboard. n your screen with the type of cloth you'd use to clean your eyeglasses. dish detergent diluted with water. just dampen thecloth. with a little bit of time and elbow grease you can get your screen really, really ean. >> his residue from last year's stickers, that same alcohol mixture works wonders on the case. now it'son. i was saying that it seems lik a lot of work. but you have to do it. ♪ i

is 4:25 nownd coming up, a d.c. musician hitting the high notes on a national stage. how you can help keep him sharing his talent, coming up. well, good morning. we're dealing with dense fog this morning. take a look at the visibility in the district. zero. almost down to it's going to be hard for some of you seeing this morning. take your time and take it slower onhe roads. more coming up. plus an outcry after ant officer snd killed a man in his own home.

we continue to track hurricane florence. it's now a category 4 storm in the atlantic. we're trackin it as it gets closer to the east coast. also our loc weather. not only will you need the umbrella but you may need extra time get to work through the

fog. really thick out there. the whole team is hereorking for you this morning. a check on your morning commute with a warning on the roads. >> the big feature this morning is the fog.it hard to see out there. >> you bet. pea soup f this morning. there isn't an advisory for it but that doesn't cha the fact that you can't see your hand in front of your face. >> it's very, very dense fog but here's a look at the visibility because we're almost at zero here. when i was driving this morning i could only see maybe 30 fint ront of me in some locations. take it slower on the roads, especially near the bus stops.

temperatures are in about the mid 60s to low 70s. low visibility this morning, very dense fog through the district especially and as we go through the day cloudy skies an spottyshowers. that rain is going to stay in the forecast this week and then we're talking about of course, hurricane florence. details on that coming up. let's see how your commute is looking. right now as promised, here's the beltway inner loop and outerloop. so no big complaints but that fog is a serious over the place. so you can't even see these folks heade southbound this morning. it's really, really dse looking good here this morning. southbound 395 after duke street still have tight lane blocked by a work zone and up to maryland here, 95 southbound, 32 to the beltway. you're on me