rain may be the mt damaging aspect of this monster storm. up to 20 inches or more may fall in some areas over the next few floodinging widespread and major damage. good morning, everyone. >> we he been talking about this storm all week and this morning we're startin to see just how powerful it really is. >> in just a moment we'll geto sheena with a check on your commute but let's begin with chuck bell tracking the latest on the path and intensity. >> good morning. good mornin everybody. friday finally here. and we are watching s aaping of the north carolina coastline by hurricane florence here. the center of the circulation is about to reach the coastline near cape fear and it's going to be quite a punch for southeastern north carolina. the storm surge goingnto t outer banks.

it's going to be a devastating flood as well as all the river basins that drain into it. the wind is on shore here so it's literally blowing the water upstream so there's going to be ex flooding across eastern north carolina. the outerbands are starting to each southern maryland and lower parts of the shore. it's still a category 1 storm t i always have to tell you, don't focus on themb category . it's a 90 miles per hour sustained wind but the winfield is enormous. it has huge amount of wind to push water on shore. the rain and the flooding does all the damage. so this storm now expected to stay farther to the north than what the hurricane center thought yesterday. yesterday they thought it might graze into northeast georgia. by monday at 5:00, the heart of the storm moving into parts of west virginia. that will leave us on the very

rainy sidehe so as a result biggest impacts here are likely to come in the monday-tuesday time frame. land falling in northern and south carolina. beer news for georgia but the southern appalachians are going to take aard hit from flooding. sheena has the local forecast now. >> good morning. we are watching some clouds locally because of florence. down to the south like chuck showed you. stationary front is going to be slowing florence down once it moves on land and youch heard k mention we're starting to see the northern edge of the cloud cover andhowers as well and that's what we're seeing locally. a couple of showers moving through. the res of the area looking dry but as you step outside this morning, you'llotice it's breezy and misty. ore rain in the atlantic for later today and make sure that you have your umbrella andse raincoat bec it's going to be breezy.

temperatures in the mid to low 70s. and 7:00, 8:00, 00, cloudy, breezy, areas of drizzle and misty out there too and scattered shors increasing chances as we go through today. we'll talk more about that as we go through the afternoon. let's head over to jack at wtop. how's the commute looking? >> we had a lot going on overnight. we had the end of a police chase and crash in the same area. reportedly all lanes are open. at one pointnly the left lane was getting by. thankfully now all lanes open. outbound on the key bridge after m street, youav a work zone left lane getting by. north on 395 up toward the 15th street bridge there's a work zone on the bridge with two right lanes getting by. those work zones in virginia in the wrap up stages and clearing and as said 66 before the belt

way with a delay but that should ease before you hit the road. back in to you. >> thank you. powerful winds and a drenching rain are already pummeling the coast. >> it's expected to make rainfall i a matter of hours, but the storm is already impaing so many areas. >> listen to that wind. you can hear it ripping out there. 100 miles per hour winds beating up those pm s.tr this is in mothrehead city, nor carolina. the wind may be the least damaging part of this thing. it's the rain and the storm surge tha t could provebe the worst. already tens of thousands of people are without power a we're still hours away from the hurricane making landfall.

>> here's some ofhe rainn wilmington, about 100 miles away from morehead city. it's been coming down like that for hours and may continue through the entire weekend so as much as 3n feet of isex cted here. and that's enough to turn roads into rivers. >> this storm surge started yesterday afternoon and you can just see that rushing water. itaused a wall to collapse right inside this garage. this is in north topsail beach and ast quickly as rushed into the garage it rushed right back out. eathe damage was a done. in some areas the storm surge coul exceed 11 feet. >> we're w workingith you for team coverage of the hurricane zone today. >> he's watching that powerful storm surge firsthand. >> through the night here on the outerbanks we have been pelted

with horizontal rain. storm surge expected from 4 to 6 feet here. we have seen wind gusts of 75 miles per hour. the real story is going to be that storm surge inland where we have already seen rivers rising, roads washed out too. that's going to be the story of the day. more live coverage coming up at 5:00 and 6:00 a.m. on news 4 today. back to yo >> the rain is not showing signs of slowing down. downpours are expected to continue for days. right now the storm is bigger than north and south carolina combined. locally we aren't seeing anywhere near the impact being felt in the carolinas. they have cancelled thef state emergency declaration. right now a group o first responders is in south carolina

to help out. >> the size of the storm and the movement of the stormng is g to take awhile for it to pass over this area and as soon as it does we'll be moving in but as you have seenn the week leading up to this the storm has been unpredictable. >> fema will decide where the first responders will itgo. >> stay us for the latest on hurricane florence it will be continually updated as we get newinformation. >> one person is dead and dozens of neighborhoods are empty this moing after dozens of home explosions and gas edres. >> spa up to 80 fires across three towns. an w18-year-old man killed

when a house exploded and the chimney toppled over. >> it's crazy. i've never seeng anyth like it. >> extremely scary. >> emergency management officials say too much pressure inhe gas lines caused those fires. >> new details this morning in the future o cardinal donald wuerl. he now says it's time for new leadership at the washington arch diocese. he wil askope francis to accept his resignation. a pennsylvania grand jury report criticized how heaned priests accused of sexual abuse while he was a pries in pittsburgh. he says a new leader will help the arch diocese move pas the confusion, disappointment and

disunity. west r controversy in virginia. they're planning to review allegations that a bishopal se harassed adults. he re-signed thursday and authorized them to investigate the allegations. he denied any wrong doing. >> developghis morning, sources tell nbc news, new allegations against kavanaugh are sexual in nature. she received a letter from someone that did not want to come forward and she turned that information over to the i. e person that wrote the letter was not specific about the accusations or kavanaugh's behavior. they were scheduled yesterday tb confirm h pushed back the vote to next week. we could find out if donald trump's former campaign manager had a plea agreement withobert

mueller. there's been reports that paul manafort has beenn talks with them since last month. he is set to have a preliminary hearing for his secon trial. he is accused of laundering foreign money. >> this comes after a seriesf tweets yesterday questioning new death toll numbers in rico after hurricane maria. the president said quote this was done by the democrats in order to make me look bad as possible when i was successful raising billions of dollars to help rebuild puerto rico. early estimates put the death to at 64 a bindependent study estimated nearly 3,000 people died in the aftermath of the storm due to lk of resources. someca republins are being critical of the president. paul ryan said he disagrees. still ahead, general motors announces a major recall. the details you want to see

before you climb behind the wheel of your suv. >> listen to that. hurricane florence not even making land fallet but already raging along the coast of the carolinas. a look at the damage already done and the long road still t come. >> good morning. yeah. the latest on florenin here. wa on the 5:00 a.m. advisory from the national hurricane center but the outermost effects are here. across southern maryland and the eastern shore. take your umbrella with you. we're in the 70s now. we'll stay in e 70s all day today. more on florence and your weekend coming up. >> we head to bak with a live look at hurricane florence. this is womeilmington, north ca slina. you ca the winds whipping there and the rain is falling. we'rete exp to get updated

information on the storm's path in less than one hour. stay with us. continuing coverage continues ght after the break. ri ri infused with eighty 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.

ac welcome to news 4 today at 4:14. we're h watchingricane florence slam into the east coast. you caneally see t rain coming down reallyha rd. all night long the carolinas haveeen slammed i is a category 1 storm but the winds are still being clocked at over 00 miles per hour in some places. you still have to think about the impact and it can still be devastating. >> it's pushing all of that water on shore. >> hurricane florence is so massive it required a wide angle lenses. >> pretty amazing, right? take a look, an astronaut took these photosdan wedn they had to use the super wide angled lenses in order to capture the shot.

these winds are about 300 miles across. theyut cover a50 miles of coastline. no matter how you look at it, this is one massive storm. >> really is a stunning shot to see it from sp as hurricane florence begins to hit the east coast, first responders are ontand by. this was the i scenen south carolina where emergency vehicles are standing by. there's also hundreds of volunteers from at least 10 states in south carolina ready to jump in to help. the army national guard is also in place. no matter where the volunteer are from, the sense of communits there. >> if i can get in the same situation where my home isth unr at i'm sure there's plenty of other men and women across the state willing to do the same. >> myrtle beach pice say most of the people have listened to evacuation orders. they're ready to help anyone still there and in need. check this out. it's a ghost town at the myrtle

beach airport. i wouldn't expect that things will be up and running any time soon. people in carolina are beginning to see a pretty strong storm surge there. >> up to 13 feet in some areas. >> some folks captured this video of the beaches ere. incredible waves and wash out coitions for some of them. although it's downgraded to a category 1 storm, residents are still urged to stay away from the atcoastline. ind pushing all of that wall of water right on the coast. the fact that it's moving so slow now, imagine for a long period of time wind pushing water on shore so we're going to see this happening throughout the entire morning this morning. it's not going to move much over the next two days. it's going to pull in msture from the atlantic and catch in with this gulf stream current and pull in moisture once it

gets over the southeast a little more. inland flooding is going to be a huge problem through much of the carolinas and southeast but we're watching it too bause it will eventually move through. a few showers, reclouds,y conditions, but later on next week, that's when we'll see the remnants. you can see the northern edge moving into our area. here's the e. that's the center of florence right there. there you see the rnbands. there's wilmington, north carolina. so the center of this thing, and if you can see that black line, that is land. that's north carolina. so the center is inching closer to land and then we will officially have that probably as we go through the next few hours here. it's still categy 1. it's going to move on land so this morning, 8:00 p.m. tonight, there's 8:00 tomorrow morning you see it hasn't moved much but we expect it to weaken and then

very quickly caught up in the upper level winds with the cold front and then look at the speed pickinup. there's monday at 8:00 p.m. and then tuesday in parts of new england so it will start to move by quickly. locally, it' small rain chances but our best rain chances will be mostly monday and tuesday of next week as this storm continues moving to rte but take a look, we're talking about catastrophic flooding thugh parts of north and south carolina and potentially parts of we're talking about western parts of virginia through the next several days here so we' be watching that closely too. temperatures for us, if you're about t wake up and walk outside it's breezy outside. it's misty too so you'll need the windshield wips in areas this morning. and there you see it. this is the far northern edge ot florence the cloud cover in the area. showers along 95.

they'll keep moving mainly to the west and northwest. through the daytoday,here's future weather. scattered showers have the umbrella. it will be breezy. still mostly cloudy skies and rain chance for tomorrow afternoon inly. but so far sunday doesn't look too bad. it's monday andt tuesday t we'll be watching for the impacts of florence. we do expect rainy conditions and some of thee rain could locally heavy and once this thing moves on land a little more computer models will have a better idea of how it's interacting and how it's going to effect the storm and the speed of the storm. wooem we'll talk more about that coming up but let's get over tj with a check on your traffic. >> good moing. the outbound key bridge after m-street. not causing a big delay. just beware it's there. also northbound on 123 we had accident activity. left lane is blocked there.

also in montgery county, the beltway, northbound heading from 495. we have a paving project. right lane is getting ai. without any kind of a delay. southbound completely back to you. >> thank you. >> coming up, a classic car on its way out of america. >> why the car will no longer be produced here. plus former first lady michelle obama coming to town. she's talking about her new book. whnd where you'll be able to see her. >> then this afternoon on ellen. >> weekday updates. >> so it's not a rerun of sarday night live. they're stopping by and they're talking about monday night emmy awards. they're hosting. seen righty can be seen righty can be here on nbc 4 and ellen wil

geico has over 75 years seen righty can be here on nbc 4 and ellen wil of great savings and service. with such a long history, it's easy to trust geico! thank you todd.ot it'sust easy. it's-being-a-master-of-hypnotism easy. hey, i got your text- sleep! doug, when i snap my fingers you're going to clean my gutters. ooh i should clean your gutters!

great idea.'s ot just easy. it's geico easy. todd, you will go make me a frittata.

this morning general motors is recalling more than 1 million trucks a suvs d to a power steering problem. it includes certain silverado pick up trucks and suburban suvs. the issues occur when drivers atry to make turn while going at a low speed. the power steering can fail momentarily and has been linked to dozens of accidents. so far no one has died. olwagen is closing the door on one of its most iconic cars. theny confirms it plans to beetle duction of the last year.

after iseven decades first came to the u.s. next near two final edition models will join the line-up. it's unclear exactly when it will roll off the assemblline. i have a picture of me astt a boy washing my kidsld '75 beetle. >> you have to find that and share it. >> i know. celebrating a milestone at the library in the distayct. >> yestehe signed her name to the work being done to the martin kutherg jr. memorial library. it will create more to the library. it will include a largeri audi and conference center. spaces for music and art and special areas for itresearchers. scheduled to reopen in two years. it's going to be incredible. ew problems arise in plans to

expand the hospital in arlington. they delayed plans to vote on the hospital next week.an they to add an outpatient facility and parking garage and later add hospital beds in the current outpatient area. neighbors are concerned that the project is too big with single family homes close by. it's 4:26. millions of americans struggle to pay their rent. a nonprofit in the district pes to draw attention to that issue with art. the nonprofit will display painted doors. it will feature 11 painted doors to represent the 11 million hos. s dealing with rental crisis. organizers for the art exhibith say hope lawmakers and policy leaders can do something to solve this crisis. former first lady miche obama made a name for herself while serving in d.c. that's kind of an understatement. >> she did but now she's coming to promote her latest book.

she will promote her memorie entitl becoming. she will appear in major arenas right after her tour kicks off in chicago and she's set to appear here at capital one arena. they usually do small bookstores and s's doing capital one arena. >> going to sell a lot of books i suspect. rainy and breezy today as the outermost bands of florence are impacting us and quite a b cloud cover coming your way for the weekend too. stay with us, your complete forecast coming up. plus, new video showing us the scary effects of hurricanef ence before it even makes landfall. a gas station crumbles during overnight winds. >> we're tracking the latest on the storm as it comes closer to land. pictures.king at live this is on the roads in

that weather alert continues this morning as we track huicane florence. outerbands make their way on to land. this is a live look atinhe and the rain. it might be hard to see but it's pummeling north carolina. the