hello and thank you for joining us. i'm j.c. hayward. well, the number of customers without power is dwindling but still not fast enough if you are still in the dark. so let's take a look at the latest numbers. commonon is reporting 78,000

customers without power in northern virginia. bge's website is reporting 159,000 of its maryland customers are without power and pepco has a total of 121,000 customers in washington, d.c. and maryland without power. one pepco customer is especially angry. he says that the utility company set his car on fire. delia goncalves reports now if silver spring. -- from silver spring. >> reporter: how are you feeling about pepco right about now? >> honestly i'm very upset. i think they created a very dangerous life-threatening situation. >> reporter: who would blame him? andrew already dealing with the headache of two damaged cars. crunched up by this massive tree that fell during the storm. now says when pepco restored power to the lines this morning, his cars went up in flames. >> their power lines were in direct contact with our cars. and when they reenergized the

power lines, it started arcing through the cars and we spoke to a pepco inspector yesterday afternoon. and told him of the situation. >> reporter: so they knew this tree had fallen. >> they knew it had fallen and they knew that there were power lines directly in contact with the cars. >> reporter: crow anyone, his wife -- cronin, his wife and 84- year-old mother rushed out of the house rescuing their four cats, thankfully they made it out safely but it could have been much worse. >> there were power lines lying right on the ground down the street. if there was somebody on the power lines when they came on they could have been electrocuted right away. i'd rather they be safe. >> that was delia goncalves reporting. meanwhile, maryland governor martin o'malley just held a news conference in order to update the public on efforts to restore power. thousands of marylanders have

been suffering without electricity. the governor says the outage has become a health issue for thousands of residents. >> we are now heading into probably the most dangerous part of this event and why do i say that? because the more prolonged the heat exposure, the more prolonged the time that especially a lot of elderly citizens have been forced to spend in isolated ways in the heat without air-conditioning. the more worn out. the more vulnerable they become. >> governor o'malley says that 800 more crews have arrived in maryland. they came monday night and that brings the total number of crews up to the level that we have after hurricane irene hit last year. now for thousands of washington, d.c. residents, this will be their fourth day without power. it is believed that power could be restored to most of the residents by friday. this morning on cnn, d.c. mayor

gray said that is not going to fly with him or with pepco -- rate payers. >> this has to be put in context. this is not the first time. this has happened repeatedly. we've had power outage after power outage in the district of columbia and frankly the people are just fed up with it. fed up with it. >> when we last checked pepco had more than 20,000 d.c. customers without power following friday's storms. tenants living in one high- rise in fairfax say that they just can't take it anymore. we're talking about the circle towers located on lee highway. residents living there have been without power now for four days. >> it's a living hell. it's like the most -- terrible days of my life. we lost power -- without power, i have 2-month-old kid and he is crying the whole time and i don't know what to do. >> i go to the safeway for the

power output and charge mine and the starbucks for the free wi-fi. >> so far there is no word on when the power will be restored. about 450 families live at circle towers. this is turning into an international effort to get the power back on because crews from ontario, canada arrived in our region yesterday. teams from hydro one will help dominion and pepco restring power lines, put up poles, and get the electricity flowing again. there are teams from as far south as florida and from as far north as new brunswick here in our region. well, a lot of people are looking for dry ice in order to keep their food cold. but they're not having much luck. the only company to make dry ice in maryland has been without power since friday. capital carbonic in baltimore had about 10,000 pounds of dry ice in stock.

it's just about gone. the company is hoping that it can get a truck in from other locations -- other locations in delaware very soon. . of course many are wondering what to do with the tons of debris left behind by the storm. people waited in long lines to drop off storm debris at this lot in rockville, maryland. what do you do if you have a lot of branches that you want removed? well, prince george's county residents can dispose of storm related debris through friday at the brown station road sanitary landfill. in arlington county, residents are being asked to place their debris for collection with their regular trash through july13th. and district residents can place branches that are cut into four feet lengths and tied into bundles no more than two feet wide with their trash for pickup. temperatures will be in the 90s today.

so local governments are opening up cooling centers to help residents without power. 15 community centers in prince george's county are opening up today so that residents who do not have power can stay cool. the centers all have different hours but officials say that residents can go to northwest high school in hyattsville or the kentland community center if they need overnight accommodations. now in the district of columbia ten libraries will have extended hours from 1:00 p.m. to 9:00 p.m. and arlington has 24 hour cooling stations at the walter reed community center and they're also hosting longer hours at recreational centers. we have just learned that beloved actor andy griffith died this morning. a long time friend says the actor died at his home in north

carolina. emergency crews rushed to his home in an attempt to revive him. griffith played sheriff andy taylor on "the andy griffith show" seen here on cbs in the 1960s. he made a return to television as an attorney on the 1980s hit show "matlock." andy griffith was 86 years old. >> is that right? well, now that's just --

last weekend's storms are causing a new problem. communities throughout the washington area are canceling their plans for fourth of july celebrations. but one group in northern virginia is pulling together to pull off a big show. jessica doyle has their story. >> reporter: cheese balls, chips, water, check. barbecue grill, check. even the birds and bees are excited for the fourth of july. but mother nature has thrown a monkey wrench into independence day celebrations this year. some towns have canceled fireworks' displays after 911 and power outages. those problems aren't stopping this tight-knit beach front community in fairfax county. kevin camp has worked on the pyrotechnics display at lake bar croft for six years, after four days without power he thinks the community needs a lift. >> because the neighborhood's a little down in the dumps and so we figured we should have the

celebration anyway. >> reporter: show of hands. who doesn't have power? as nearby crews work to get the lights on, these barcroft volunteers are working the light the night die -- to light the night sky. leaning on each other to move heaven and earth. >> we have a really good safety record. nobody has ever been hurt. the fire marshal will be out to inspect the batteries when we build them. >> reporter: lake barcroft has been through these types of power outages before and residents know how to stay cool. >> there's always a dip in the lake and since we have a tankless water heater the showers are really cold. >> reporter: forget about the heat. forget about the storms. forget about the power outages. here in lake barcroft, the fourth of july show will go on. jessica doyle, 9news now. >> residents of lake barcroft tell 9news now they don't expect to get their power back until the end of the week at

the earliest. olga is in for howard. she has holiday forecast just ahead -- the holiday forecast just ahead. >> that's right. it is hot and humid today. we're increasing the cloud cover this afternoon. i'm tracking the opportunity for a late day shower or storm and also looking ahead to the fourth of july. will you need the umbrella as you head out to see the fire works? we'll let you know when 9news now at noon continues.

loudoun county's board oversup visors diseased -- of supervisors decides to extend the silver line past the dulles airport. phase two will go from reston to the airport and on to ashburn. county leaders voted to fund at least $270 million of the project. without that funding the entire second phase of the project was in jeopardy. a review of insurance claims finds that many newer technologies in our cars are helping us avoid crashes. the highway data loss institute compiled the figures and the insurance institute for high safety released the study this morning. researchers found crash avoidance systems that automatically apply the brakes are particularly helpful. another big plus comes from adaptive headlights which shift direction as the drier steers. however -- driver steers. however the study also found

cars with lane departure warning systems designed to help a driver avoid drifting into other lanes are involved in more crashes than those without this technology. >> part of the problem may be that they depend on the driver responding to the warning. there are newer systems that try to steer the vehicle back into the lane. maybe these will provide more of the benefit we were hoping for. >> some other systems like blind spot detection and park assist aren't showing any clear effects on crash patterns yet. the study covered a number of makes and models made between 2000 and up to last year. our coverage of the epic storm aftermath continues and today, the district of columbia is making it easy for you to dump spoiled food. it has set up six locations to bring spoiled food to so that you don't have to wait for your trash day. it's going to be open this afternoon from 3:00 p.m. until 8:00 p.m.

the locations are -- -- now we have that entire list on our website, wusa9.com. look under local news. a number of people are using generators as a source of power until they can get their electricity restored. but there are some risks associated with using a generator particularly carbon monoxide poisoning. so if you use one, you should follow the safety precautions. generators should be placed in well ventilated areas away from doors and away from windows and away from vents. never use a generator inside an attached garage even if you leave that door open. and make sure to install carbon

monoxide detectors in your home in the proper places and make sure that they are in working condition. always, always turn off a generator before refueling. and allow it time to cool-off. very important information. >> good advice. >> and it's going to be hot the rest of the week. yes, i advise folks to limit their time outdoors the rest of today. we're actually a little bit on the muggy side. we have some humidity move only in. >> yes, we are. >> it's not unbearable but it will be even more humid for tomorrow. and i know a lot of people are going to cookouts and going down to the pool and they wanted to spend that time outdoors so please be careful. we're looking at a forecast today that has started out pretty good. mostly sunny skies through midday but we're starting to build in a little bit of cloud cover as we head into the afternoon. therefore, our day planner is going to allow us to warm up already. we've hit the lower 90s and we're going to keep going to about the middle 90s, 95 degrees at reagan national airport around 3:00 to 4:00 we should top out.

also build in more cloud cover at the 5:00 hour and we'll see the opportunity for a few showers or thunderstorms to begin to develop just prior to sunset. we'll continue to monitor that for you. now as we head to the overnight a little bit of rain cooled as temperatures will start to back on down after about 9:00 tonight. in all for us though, the satellite and radar has stayed fairly calm for most of the day but over the last half hour, we started the see just a little bit of pop of activity here along i-66. now sliding down toward i-95 south of the beltway. and as we come a little bit more widespread with the opportunities into the late afternoon. right now at reagan national airport we've hit 93 degrees and keep going a couple more degrees more. but notice the dew points are high. humidity as well will be creeping up as we go into the afternoon as we pull in some more of that moisture. the current temperatures are warm. you don't want to spend too much time out in the sun. but when you factor in that humidity, it does feel a couple of degrees warmer. for most of us for today, we will have a great deal of sunshine. the showers that are headed our way for the afternoon and evening will be hit or miss.

some folks won't get any at all. but it will become a little bit steady roundabout the 5:00 to 7:00 hour. by tomorrow morning you will be okay if you hit the road but in the afternoon and evening hours particularly after 2:00, you want to have that umbrella handy. this could impact some of the fireworks' displaces later another -- displays later on in the evening but by 9:00 viewing time for the national mall we will dry out or at least stop the rain by then if the show goes on. forecast highs today are going to be fairly warm. middle range 90s for most and keep it cooler to the north and west. slightly warmer down south. and in all a very nice night again for tonight. down into the 70s for the overnight lows. you'll notice that mugginess though over the next three days and that's going to give us that yellow weather alert meaning that each afternoon, opportunity for showers and thunderstorms will move on through. but the next seven days shows quite a bit of consistency. right around 95 degrees during

each day. the overnight lows are going to be a little bit muggy and steamy. middle range to upper 70s in town. lower 70s out into the suburbs. we're definitely watching that rain and storm opportunity on the fourth of july evening. we'll dry out a little bit on friday. looks like the forecast is not too bad for the weekend. sting arnold, 9news now -- stick around. 9news now will be right back. before copd...

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germane smith, bernard brooks, owners of henry's soul food cafe. you don't have to cook tomorrow. just go down to 17th and u street northwest. or you can go to fourth and k street northwest. or you can go to oxon hill and the indian head highway. you know i understand that the white house -- uh-huh, they get their sweet potato pies from here. but today we're going to talk about baked beans. >> that's right we're going to put together some baked beans of course everyone has a fourth of july cookout or whatever going on. we bought the ribs and we bought the pulled pork barbecue. slow smoked chicken and potato salad. what's -- fourth of july without watermelon. a lot of people say the baked beans are the hardest to do. it's easy. take you some pork and beans or some vegetarian already prepared beans. we put a little bit of onions and peppers in them. >> oh really? >> then we come with the brown sugar, dump that in there and

barbecue sauce of your choice. of course henry's makes their own barbecue sauce. >> you have fabulous sauce. you can even buy the barbecue sauce and put the meat on the grill. >> and the mambo sauce. here's the mambo here. >> here's the trick. at the cafe we put the own mambo sauce in it that we make. >> that's why the beans taste so good. the mambo sauce. >> just let it simmer after that and hang out and for people that's at home and got the guys on the grill and everybody on the grill doing everything. just take this pot and it it on the grill -- put it on the grill and let it simmer and take on some of the extra smoke can things of that nature. you'll be getting all the flavors with the smoke. you know even if you're vegetarian you've got the flavors of the meat. and everything and then you just let them simmer and hang out. >> and you put a little flavor and you put meat in your beans? >> no meat. >> no meat. >> it doesn't really make a difference, it's personal preference. start out with whatever bean

choice that you like. add these ingredients and you'll have the perfect baked bean every time. >> it does smell good. >> it's easier to call henry's soul cafe. we'll do everything for you. fried chicken. barbecued chicken. pulled pork barbecue. >> string beans and potatoes. >> obama's sweet potato pie. >> my sweet potato pie. that's where i get mine. why make it when you make it and it is so, so good. so what are you going to be doing tomorrow? >> tomorrow eating at henry's soul cafe. everybody else. we'll be open. >> at all the locations, 17th and u street northwest. fourth and k street northwest. >> definitely be open in oxon hill to come on through and make it about 4:00 or 5:00. they can come by today and get the orders and come by and get the slab of ribs and take it home with you and just tomorrow put it out on the grill like you already did it yourself. >> all right now we going to get this seven day forecast again from olga. in case you missed it. it is going to be hot.

>> that's right. >> drink lots of water. >> now it looks like -- we're definitely getting up into the middle 90s tomorrow and with the humidity, it's going to be really, really tough in the heat. >> okay. stay safe. thanks fellas for being here with us. >> thank you. >> pleasure for having us. >> i'm going to eat really good today. they brought lots of food today. thank you. come back and visit us at 5:00. [ captions by: caption colorado, llc 800-775-7838 email: comments@captioncolorado.com ]