compared to the upper 90s, this is going to feel good. a little bit of relief for those folks waiting for their power to come back on. we should see 95 toward manassas and generally the lower 90s for all. in all today though the forecast is going to stay in code yellow, because we still have very warm heat moving through. the isolated shower, a scattered shower and thunderstorm chances at the end of each day. the next three days ahead will keep us in the middle range. as the forecast goes further on into the week we are going to warm up a little more. fourth of july looks good but we are monitoring the opportunity for afternoon showers and thunderstorms on wednesday. monika? the biggest advice i can give you right now is to know that it is going to be a little tough they are morning to get to work. but to help you out, hov restrictions have been lifted on i-27 0. and 66 east inside the beltway. metro mark is telling us they are on a regular service this

morning. again i think you need to give yourself extra time, even if you use public transportation, considering all the factors involved. overall you can see the beltway, beltway is looking fine no issues to report all around town on your major thoroughfares, such at 495. inside the beltway, canal is closed between reservoir and arizona. and the georgetown pike out here at old dominion drive is shut down as well. canal road and also georgetown pike at old dominion drive. other than that, there is a whole list of secondary roads that are shut down. here's what 395 looks like inside the beltway. you have hov restrictions on 95 and 395. there was an accident a pretty major one on the south side of i-95 in woodbridge with crews there overnight.

southbound i-95 in woodbridge. if you are planning to head around town, be careful with all the debris in the road. lots of intersections with lights down. 69 intersections by the way affected in the district and they are telling us some are powered by generators and some have been outfitted with stop signs. 69 intsections still without power. you want to treat those as a four way stop. again no hov restrictions inside the beltway. back to you guys. even with all of the outages in your area and many of you still have to report for work today. if you have to go in you are asked to consider using metro and remember metro fares increased on sunday. >> if you are thinking about ditching the car and taking

mass transit here's what you need to know. >> as of now the transit will operate on a normal schedule. but it is telling customers allow additional time for your commutes. storage damage could create big delays. >> metro has enough power to run all of its lines. several stations, however, are still on back-up power. which means riders could find, some locations have escalators out of service. again the lines are still working. >> our live coverage of the aftermath begins with a trip through montgomery county. connecticut avenue rid would with downed lines. kristen fisher joins us live. good morning. >> reporter: good morning. there have been some improvements, but there are still about 400 dark intersections in montgomery

county. slight good news, connecticut and university, power has been restored there. trees and power lines are off the roadway. that would have been a huge bottleneck. right now at the intersection of connecticut and decatur, this is going to be something if it does not change by rush hour. trust he, there are -- trust me, there are big power lines on connecticut avenue. if we go south a little bit more on connecticut you actually can see some of the power lines which have been kind of strewn across the doorway to this office building. cars are allowed through, but what they have done is taken it down to one lane. essentially you have southbound traffic on some of the northbound lanes. in certain spots it is down to one lane traffic in each

direction. it is dark, that is going to add to the confusion and some of the other problem spots we are seeing is friendship heights area. totally dark on wisconsin avenue there. and connecticut avenue in kensington. no street lights to speak of whatsoever. the problem here, these lights in particular, pep co-had promised to get the power lines back up before the morning rush. they were able to do it all the university -- at university and connecticut. huge improvements here. so far they have not fixed it. we did see some trucks here, earlier this morning, but then they pulled away, not sure what that is about. hopefully we'll get the power lines off the roadway so traffic can be restored along connecticut. back to you. >> there is so much work to do. doesn't matter where you drive, could be the district, virginia, all points some maryland. parts of virginia especially

really hard hit with power outages. >> jessica doyle joins us with one of the hardest hit areas. we see street lights behind you. >> reporter: good morning. good morning to both of you. the situation here, let me give you a little visual here. this is military road here, along argue county. sort of a secondary feeder road here for a lot of commuters. we are going to get a lot of traffic here. doesn't look so bad. you see lights on. two-thirds of northern virginia right now. but let me show you about the problems one-third of the folks are dealing with here. you are going to see a line coming down. this is a major power line here, this is quincy road. i'm going to stay a short distance away from this, because this may be partially

energized. it is tangled in small trees and then you get over here and you have one of these oak trees. some trees in these neighborhoods are 100 years old. that is about 1000 pounds of leaves that have come down from this storm that we had on friday. a lot of it came down on saturday. about 27% of residents in northern virginia are still without power. virginia dominion has been working really hard on this situation. they brought in crews from 13 states and canada. the declaration of emergency really helped getting extra crews in. but this is the restoration timeline folks are looking at. virginia dominion expecting that about 80, 85% of folks will be back online as of tomorrow. that is when the hard work is going to really begin. they have got areas like this. these feeder streets neighborhood streets they have got to get in and chop this

stuff up, and put the lines back up. they are thinking probably 90, 95% of folks will be back with the power by thursday. the problem is, if you are deep in a neighborhood and you have a lot of trees down, you are probably not getting your weekend back until the weekend, at the earliest. obviously a lot of folks have been without heat. the food should be thrown out. we are going to continue in arlington all morning long to keep you up on the situation. i will send it back to you in the studio. there is one major question, when is the power coming back on? we'll let you know what they said this time, we'll be right back.

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welcome back. we have partly to mostly cloudy skies at 4:40 this morning. definitely going to be a warm day again today but not quite as hot. temperatures right now in the upper 70s, moving down to the middle 70s for the overnight lows. we'll hit 90 degrees by noon and we should top out right around 95. >> reporter: give yourself extra time to deal with all the different conditions. hov restriction have been lifted on i-27 0 and 66 east, inside the beltway, outside the beltway you have restrictions on 66 and on 95 and 35 as well. i'll have more on area road closures and other conditions, coming up in my next report at 4:47. andrea and mike? >> reporter: pepco is once again the topic of discussions. thousands of customers may have to wait until friday night before their power is restored.

>> it is going to be really deflating when you are a customer battling the stifling heat. >> reporter: another tough day for pepco and its customers. even pepco's website crashed today. and anger toward the utility company grows with each hot, dark passing day. power lines are down. temperatures and tempers are up. pepco may have returned power it its more than 20 sub stations knocked off line friday, but it has not restored the faith of its customers. >> competent people with antique infrastructure that have never, never stepped up to the plate. >> it seems really sad in 2012 the nation's capital, it takes a week to recover from a bad storm. >> reporter: we pressed pepco

and asked tough questions. how do you deal with this potentially catastrophic public relations issue right now that? >> its president offered a bleak assessment of the restoration plan. ninety% of customers should have electricity by friday, july 6ing at 11:00 p.m. >> we didn't bring down the wires and the trees. we will restore service to customers quickly. >> it is an e vein outside of our control. if there was a neglect or maintenance issue. but certainly we cannot control mother nature. >> reporter: tonight, even maryland's governor was stepping up the pressure, pushing for at least the majority of pepco's customers to have power. >> nobody will have their boot further up pep dough's back side -- pepco's back side than i will. >> reporter: the company's next

restoration update is expected on wednesday. in northwest washington. andrea mccarron, 9news now. >> i heard from northern virginia dominion power. they were saying maybe by friday night they'll have all their customers on. so much ill will with pepco, they are not getting the benefit of the doubt as virginia is but they are in the same boat.

we have a recap now of key closings today. all federal agencies are open. employees can take unscheduled leave or unscheduled telework. george washington university biostatistic location in rockville is closed. dc public schools closed. dc p.s. administrate stiff sites open, essential employees should report to work there. >> in virginia alexandria

public schools are closed. every northern virginia college campus is closed. the university of northern virginia is also closed. alexandria city workers can take leave but essential employees must report to work. the city of falls church is on liberal leave. in maryland montgomery and prince george's county schools closed. this is summer school and some of the courses going on. montgomery county circuit court is closed. montgomery county district court it is open. montgomery college is closed. prince george's county government employees can take liberal leave. maryland state employees can also take liberal leave. it would be nice to get a little bit of temperature relief. olga, good morning. >> reporter: we are seeing cloud cover overhead. temperatures have dropped just a little bit. around 80 degrees, into the 70s outside the beltway.

we'll clear out clouds as the rain moves on later on this morning. looking at 90 degrees by noon, middle 90s 3:00 to 4:00. later on this evening we'll build in cloud cover which will bring an opportunity for showers later on this afternoon. most of the moisture is moving through the portions of southern maryland. that will continue off toward the close again. some of the rain had been steady overnight. it should be moving quickly as we head in toward the next two hours. our current temperatures are into those middle range 70s, look at a fewer lower 70s. that is a good thing for folks who don't have power back yet. it will be fairly warm today. futurecast is going to move out very quickly. give us an opportunity later on for scattered showers. there could be pockets of heavy

downpours again passing very quickly. then in the evening hours, say 5:00 hour, 6:00 hour, we'll see a little bit more moisture. by tonight we start to clear out nicely. we are looking good for our forecast tomorrow. partly cloudy to mostly sunny skies. here's how we look for the forecast highs today. 94 for reagan national. 92 toward martinsburg. also the 7-day forecast looking good for us. we have our north winds today. we are going to switch to mainly south and southwest winds bringing back that moisture. we are headed for middle 90s for most of the week and a warm-up by the weekend. monika? >> reporter: i'm going to focus on what will help you out. if you are planning to take 270 southbound this morning all your restrictions have been lifted. inside the beltway, 66 no hov restrictions but you have hov

outside the beltway heading inbound on i 66. regular service, may be a good idea for you to take public transportation although you still want to give yourself extra time. now to our next graphic. i want to let you know that canal road is shut down between reservoir road and arizona avenue. one of our producers was coming in on canal this morning and she said it was extremely dark and there are some cones or some tape set up there. difficult to see as you come upon it, so you definitely want to be careful on canal road. there was a major tree down in the roadway there. georgetown pike is closed on old dominion drive and there are a lot of secondary roads closed as well around virginia. you want to give yourself the extra time. you are going to need to deal with all the different conditions this morning, especially with dark intersections. let's take you outside live right now. if you are planning to head over here on route 50, there are no

issues. you have hov here on route 50 as you head inbound in maryland. we'll go back over to our maps and 270 southbound no hov restrictions. as i mentioned, hopefully that should help you from frederick into rockville. route 80 is closed between 270 and 75. if you are planning to head out one more time, 395, 95, you do have hov restrictions this morning. but keep in mind you may come upon road closures, and you need to give yourself the time you'll need and the patience you'll need to deal with that. coming up at 4:55 another look at traffic. 9news coverage continues of the summer aftermath. this huge storm. we look here in the district now. >> delia joins us live from randall circle. good morning, what are you seeing? >> reporter: well you know, a police officer said it looks much better than it did just last night. lots of the debris has been

cleaned up. we are here actually in the middle of the circle, there is a clearing here and it is safe on this side of the yellow line, because you can see police are keeping watch because there are several downed power lines and poles throughout the area causing those widespread blackouts. they are trying to keep residents safe. take a look. the only light they are probably going to see is this massive flood light they are set -- they have set up. the national guard has arrived here they are helping with the restoration and the clean up efforts. a tough and sticky situation for people who have been without power for some time. also in ward 7 in the hillcrest area around 30th and alabama, there is a power or a traffic signal, i should say, that is

out. and the streets in that area, many homes are dark as well. i live in that area, and as i was driving through, half the block would be dark is the other half of the block would be lit. so it is kind of scattered in the area. i can tell you there are lots of elderly residents who live here in ward 7, especially in neighborhoods like hillcrest. here in randall circle, i caution and ask everyone to check on elderly residents. lots of folks have been without ac. certainly with these very hot temperatures it could be a dangerous situation for elderly people, many of them who could be living alone. also another traffic situation that could be dangerous for the early morning commute. lights are down so treat the

blackout intersections as a four way stop. andrea and mike, back to you. the mid-atlantic isn't the only part of the company cleaning up after a wild weather weekend. >> what a weekend. when we return we are going to take a close look at the clean up efforts in the midwest. you are watching 9news now.

good morning. thunderstorm warnings in the southern portions of maryland for dorchester county, somerset county as the moisture moves offshore. day planner for today, mostly cloudy skies, sunshine through midday. clouds later on this afternoon, expecting highs to reach the

middle 90s. monika. >> reporter: hov restrictions outside the beltway. inside the beltway hov restrictions lived on 66. connecticut avenue, by the way, closed southbound between adams drive and perry avenue. coming up in my next report i'll have more on road closures all around town. we were certainly hit very hard by these storms friday night. parts of the midwest dealing with the same stuff extreme heat, power outages, severe storms there. yesterday in chicago it was high wind, hail and lightning knocking out power to 200,000 customers in the suburbs. an additional 56,000 are now dealing with power lines and trees everywhere. roughly 7000 residents in colorado are being allowed to return home. >> reporter: fire crews have been able to get about 55% containment. drew levinson has more now from colorado springs.

>> reporter: thousands of people, living in some of the hardest hit areas of the waldo county fire lined up early sunday at checkpoints. these residents got a chance to see their property for the first time. for some their homes are still standing. for others they returned to see the charred remains of where they once lived. red cross mental health counselors were with them. >> what we do is listen, give them reassurances. but some of the things they tell you are things that they need to repeat over and over again. that is part of the healing process, that they can talk to someone. >> reporter: by sunday night most of the 30,000 evacuees many of whom spent time in shelters have finally gotten the all clear to go home. that included tonya rose who spent eight nights sleeping on a

cot. the waldo canyon fire has scorched more than 17,000 acres. more than 1500 firefighters are working day and night to bring it under control. their efforts have not gone unnoticed. every day the locals cheer on the firefighters as they head up into the mountains to battle the blazes. >> so grateful. can't even imagine how hard they are working. >> reporter: even though firefighters are gaining ground, their battle could go through the month. drew levinson, cbs news, colorado springs. good morning and thank you for watching 9news now at 5:00 a.m. i'm andrea roane. >> if your electricity is on and you are watching us, consider yourself lucky. >> olga has the weather and hopefully a little bit of relief temperaturewise. we are going to get a little bit of a boost from our winds today. we are going to have a little bit