smaller utilities. 22,000 bge customers in montgomery and prince georges still with no power. 2300 outages in southern maryland, while edison has 2600 customers with no power in frederick and montgomery counties. of course the question now, when is the power coming back? dominion power hopes to have 85% of those who lost their service back on by tomorrow. pepco's time line is longer. it hopes to have 90% of customers restored by 11:00 p.m. on friday. and that prediction caused a lot of uproar. is it deserved? bruce leshan spent the day trying to answer that question. he is live in bethesda with what he found out. somebody is working there, bruce. >> yeah, derek. the funny thing is, we have seen a lot whole more of these guys out working on places like this house. we have seen pepco crews.

another surprising thing, which is that a lot of the folks that you would expect to be punching pepco at this point with all this heat and humidity and no power, well they are actually saying hold on, let's give it a little more time before smacking the utility for poor performance. >> can't do anything until pepco comes through? >> even the verison guy was waiting on a pepco crew. people across the region are showing remarkable patience. brad's next door neighbor lost his home to a tree. so he's willing to offer pepco a break. >> they are doing the best they can. i mean, it's a tough situation. there's a tree on a house. >> is it too early for you to judge their performance? >> it is too early. >> montgomery county council president, roajer berliner has been one of pepco's fiercest critics. he's willing to wait and see on this storm. >> i think one of those is their efforts to acquire

additional crews. when did they make that effort? get other utility systems. >> the maryland public service commission find pepco $1 million for bad maintenance and outages that took too long to fix. but the chairman is withholding judgment, too. >> do you think that they are doing what they need to do? >> we had almost no warning that it was coming. certainly had no warning it was going to resolve in this magnitude. >> now all the utilities in the state are actually required to submit a major storm report. how they did on major storm response to the public service commission. and the pse says it's going to look very, very closely at those reports and if any of those utilities deserve a fine for their poor performance, the

pse chairman says they will be slapped with the fine. derek. >> of course that is cold comfort to those dealing with all the heat with no ac right now. thank you, bruce. a harsh assessment of pepco's assessment. he called pepco disappointing and its time line for restoring power unacceptable. >> frankly, i think most would agree friday is just not good enough to be able to restore power to our people here in the city. >> unfortunately, one of the things is clear, this is going to happen again and people are sick of it. >> the mayor is anxious to meet with the goff no, governors of maryland and virginia to come up with a plan of action to hold pepco accountable. >> dominion power has restored 2/3 of those who lost power in the storms friday and that utility company reenforcements coming in to help out. a spokeswoman says 200 crews from canada are arriving at fort meyer and peggy fox has the latest on dominion's

restoration efforts from arlington. hey peggy. >> hey, derek. well, power crews haven't gotten here yet. i'm standing in the middle of great falls street in the city of falls church. normally, a major thorough fair, but it's blocked. that huge oak tree down on those power lines. no one around here has any power because of that. become quite an attraction. but of course, the big problem is, the power. and dominion, virginia crews can't get to fix the lines until the trees removed. now you would think this would be an unusual situation, but it is repeated throughout northern virginia. >> what took 30 minutes will take us over a week to restore. >> before dominion, virginia, can restore power to damaged neighborhoods. their tree contractors have to untangle the trees from the lines. in many cases, that involves cutting down trees piece by piece. >> we heard this big flash of

lightning and we ran downstairs and we could see the tree falling. >> despite their smashed car, janelle and their family consider themselves lucky. >> the tree that fell and nuked our shed off the foundation and landed on my husband's car. that's all the power lines down. >> 90-mile an hour violent storm. knocks the trees into our poles and wires. catches the wires, snaps the poles. and again, you get cascading. >> dominion says the winds and falling trees knock down 12 utility poles in this one arlington neighborhood along south aberdeen street. >> part of getting the power up and running when you have downed lines is bringing in some new utility poles. it takes a will the of heavy ma sheerly machinery to do so. >> it will take two days. >> customers need to understand the magnitude of the damage and the time it's going to take to repair every neighborhood like this. and get the power back on to darkened intersections. >> dominion has been around

for a hundred years. >> you think friday is bad, how does sunday sound? dominion, virginia, said it will take until sunday to get every last customer back up and running. of course, they have more than in the d.c. immediate area. and a huge amount of work here. however, dominion, virginia, says in the next couple of days, they will be offering estimates on, for individual customers so you can go online or call in and find out when your power is expected to come back on. won't that be nice. speaking as somebody that doesn't have power yet, back to you. >> i'm sure your power will be back soon. no one wants to be that last customer on sunday. >> if you're in a hotel and don't have power or you know somebody in the dark, here are some numbers. check the status of those power outages. pepco customers should call.

dominion, the number is 1-866- dom help and the number for bge is 1-877-737-2662. and all the power companies say they their time line is contingent on no more storms this week, but with all the heat, that could come back at any time. topper has a yellow weather alert for the next few days. topper, hoping that doesn't mean we're getting storms, does it? >> they are in the forecast. as we go through the fourth, we'll be okay. have it in the forecast, but radar is quiet. temperature wise, it's not bad. high was 95. but down to 91 downtown. but 90 in manassas. 88 in frederick. haven't talked about 80s much. 88 in hagerstown. and still 91 down into fredericksburg. you factor in humidity and the temperatures don't go anywhere because the humidity is not a factor, which is great. which is why we did not have a heat advisory today. the heat advisory only triggers

when we have heat indexes well over 100. right now, they aren't moving the temperatures. for tonight, partly cloudy and warm. we'll keep a chance of a thunderstorm in. almost comfortable. mid 60s in the suburbs sounds good. mid 70s downtown. we'll come back and talk about that increasing chance of a shower or thunderstorm tomorrow and unfortunately for fourth as well. >> thank you, top. the lack of power also creating quite a headache out on the roads with all those dark intersections out there. no traffic lights. and montgomery county, 200 of the traffic signals are out and police are directing drivers at only 90 of those intersections in the county. in d.c., 65 traffic lights are still in the dark. over in virginia, 35 intersections in fairfax county. 40 in arlington. all have no power. now police in every jurisdictions are asking the drivers to treat these intersections like a four-way stop. now you take the dark traffic signals and add in detours, a few lane closures from downed trees and you have a treacherous ride home. scott broom is live in

rockville where he was not scared of those roads. scott, how bad was it? >> well, you have to move. people are getting by. i wasn't aware of any major accidents that were related to power outages and the lights being out. derek, you just reported a number that motorists are very disappointed by. 200 intersections still out. there were 240 out earlier this morning. okay, so today, one full workday with good weather, they were only able to restore 40 of these signals here in montgomery county. signals like this one at veers mill and broadwood. in rockville, still out tonight and here's how some motorists are reacting. >> i'm a little nervous. one go, one go, and i go. but when i go, they still -- >> the lucky ones had portable stop signs standing in like this one on veers mill road in aspen hill. >> do you trust the other guy?

>> um, i guess. >> what is helping really is officers out there in the boiling sun and they are doing a great job. >> despite endless warnings to treat dark intersections as four-way stops, many motorists simply breeze through intersections like this one. meanwhile, busy trying to restore power and traffic sanity this pepco crew in takoma park. >> all right, so i have seen the pepco guys out. we have seen the tree crews out. some good news i have to report to you a few minutes ago. i saw the first out of town power crew cruise by. it said fpl on the truck. i believe that's florida power and light. so that's my first indication out here in the field that the cavalry is beginning to arrive. so, hopefully they will step it up and get lights back online for traffic tomorrow. reporting live in rockville, scott broom, 9news now. >> i thought you were going to say the lights came back on,

but we aren't that lucky yet. >> not that lucky. thanks, scott. coming up t is so hot out there, you can't think straight. we share stories with you. stories of families that are struggling, but somehow surviving in the aftermath of the big storm. and up next, imagine you are fighting wild fires in this heat, but that is exactly what hundreds of men and women are doing in the national park. it is getting ugly.

more than 200 firefighters firefighters battling a wild fire. that's in page county. this fire grown to about 1200 acres in size, several trails and shelters are closed down, but luckily no structures have been damaged yet. the wild fire is now 20% contained. firefighters hoping to have that at 100% by july 15. ralph and the other activists are calling on folks in d.c. to show up late for work a few times over the next several weeks. they are staging a limited general strike, hoping to grab attention. the first one is called for july 9. they are asking folks to show up 15 minutes late for work and tell their friends and coworkers why they did it. no power, no ac. could those in the dark get a break from the heat any time soon? the answer lies in topper's forecast. that comes your way in a minute. up next, families struggling

before the storm hits are really facing challenges now. we hit the streets to give you this.

with these extended power outages, a lot of folks hit the stores, fire up the generator, or pack up and head for a hotel. some of the folks that live in ward 8, they don't have all the cash to do those things and as ken molestina tells us, they

are having to find their own ways to keep cool. >> horrible. horrible. >> all throughout anacostia, you'll find hot, angry washingtonians to find help. >> we don't have any hope. we don't have anything to look forward to. i am fed up with it. i'm tired. i'm disabled. >> like many other places, ward 8 got hit hard. these residents, is this day three of battling sweltering heat without any electricity. >> 104. 104 and 98. something like that. it's hot. >> heat and humidity -- >> utility trucks have remained absent. even worse, these residents have had no help from district leaders or emergency personnel. people like robert and his navy base are simply trying to survive. >> i'm starving, sweating, no

ac. can't think straight. >> this is killing me. >> clifton says he has been living off of what few things he has been able to stash into his cooler. >> you can't buy a whole lot of stuff. >> ice and food is hard to come by. and many don't know where their next meal will come from. >> our food has gone bad, so we have no food in the house to eat or feed the children. >> pets are feeling the heat. the owners say they are worried for the well being of these puppies. and now they are concerned the children and elderly. few abandoned their homes and gone elsewhere. many more don't have anywhere to go and they are begging pepco to step up their response. >> you aren't giving us any hope. nothing to look forward to and it's tiresome. >> officials say they have no set time and date when this neighborhood can get restored and get their power back on. this is what they will do to stay cool out here.

we're in anacostia, 9news now. >> getting that power back on this week may be difficult. more heat. yellow weather alert over the next few days. so, what are the chances of more big storms? a little rain would cool us down. big storms? not a good thing. >> i think tonight we are okay. i kept the isolated storm in the forecast. as we go through the week, the chances increase a little bit, along with the heat. let me show you interesting video. this from this is from the storms on friday. this is the same storms that went through friday night that produced all the severe weather. remember, that lightning is five times hotter than the surface of the sun. >> i've heard that somewhere before. >> that something. >> all right, kind of rare to catch that. that's on video. let me show you a picture that was sent to us. this also from friday's storm and also a lightning picture. that's a really good picture. this was taken from bethesda from the 12th floor balcony on

the corner of woodmont and bethesda avenue. this was taken friday night right around 11:00. the storms had wind and some rain and a lot of lightning. they were, again, one in 100 year event. this was taken in bethesda. thank you very much. okay. live look outside. it's pretty nice outside. high was 95. it's not that humid. we are down to 91. they are in the 50s. that's fantastic. winds out of the northwest at 7. pressure steady over the past hour. and when the humidity is at 32%, that's manageable really for us anyway. almost as good as it gets. satellite picture, radar combined. a couple clouds off to the north and west. i think we'll take the chance of a shower out by 11:00. we'll give you an update. 89 in great falls. 84 in vienna. that sounds nice. 85 in fairfax. 90 in old town and still 91 in college park and in laurel.

but it is not humid. that said, heat continues, 90s stay with us all week. warm tonight, maybe a storm. tomorrow, another copy, paste day really. and then big storms are possible for the fourth. unfortunately, right near the fireworks time which is 9:10 on the mall. partly cloudy, warm tonight. thunderstorm possible, but almost comfortable. 65 to 75. not bad. tomorrow morning, partly cloudy, very warm. 70 to 90. winds south, southwest at 5 to 10 and by afternoon, well partly cloudy and hot. storm is possible. high temperatures near 95 and winds out of the southwest. we'll break it down. not bad to start. 65 to 75. hot by noon. 85 to 90. by evening, 92 to 96 and perhaps a thunderstorm. next three days, we're going code yellow next three days. 95 tomorrow. 97 for the fourth. and then 96 on thursday. so these three days, the best chance for a storm will be on

the fourth. next seven days, we stay in the 90s. we're looking at upper 90s on friday. almost 100 on saturday. 96 on sunday. and even better chance of showers and storms next monday and looking at temperatures by then in the low 90s. we talked about this earlier. it's hot everywhere. it's hot from wyoming to bismarck to here. everybody is 90 or higher. >> i seem to remember a will the of 80s last summer. >> i remember this. >> we'll be back.

in the mail bag tonight, some rage and redemption for pepco. for some, the restoration of electric power following the brutal storms on friday, just too slow. kimberly wrote for many of you. a week? that's messed up. it was not a long storm and taking a long time to restore the power. even when it snowed, power came in quicker than that. but karissa is forgiving. i would be thankful those workers are out there trying to restore power for everyone. and kyle says you haters should lighten up. if you can do it better and faster, well hop to it. show them how it's done. yeah, small storm, but a will the of widespread damage and only so many men. be glad they are working on it. they are working on it for sure, but would a better run

utility get it done just a little faster? just asking. your thoughts don't have to be better to make the mail bag. the address is mailbag@wusa9.com. that is our report. i'll be back with lesli foster and topper will have the latest. don't forget, log on any time to wusa9.com. have a great evening. we'll see you later. bye bye. ♪

♪ ♪ [ male announcer ] a moment of silence for the internet as we know it. a revolution in internet speed is here. more than twice as fast as anything america has ever seen. introducing fios quantum. call the verizon center for customers with disabilities at 800-974-6006 tty/v.

now, "entertainment tonight," the most-watched entertainment news magazine in the world. >> "entertainment tonight" investigates tom and katie's divorce. is scientology to blame? >> if you are a scientologist, you see things the way they are. >> the new reports of katie stalked outside her home. was she afraid suri would be kidnapped by the church? >> they are taught not to look to the outside world. >> young children sent away to scientology boot camp? what you don't know about the mysterious religion. >> you are either in or out. >> plus -- >> my name is katie holmes. >> katie, before tom. how much has she changed since marrying the world's biggest superstar? alec baldwin's top secret weekend wedding. the details you haven't heard, as we look back at his first marriage. kim basinger in white. the groom with his brothers. the star guests. then, why is kyra sedgwick in tears?