thunderstorms just yet and again the watch goes until 9 p.m. they've trimmed the watch a little bit now to the south. you see the warnings just barely in that watch area now. they trimmed the watch down toward manassas into southern maryland. right now the biggest severe weather threat will be south of town as these storms begin to migrate south and east toward culpeper and fredericksburg. look at temps. we haven't seen this in a long time. we've got 60s, we've got 70s, 80s and 90s on the map it. did hit 101 today both at national and dulles, a record high at dulles. we're down to 84 downtown, 79 gaithersburg, 77 frederick, 81 in leesburg. we'll come back and talk about the prospect of more storm overnight and we're not done with storms after today, nope. more storms on the way later in the week. we'll tell you how strong they'll be. here's an example, a lightning strike setting a house on fire in kensington. it happened on devin place when storms moved through this afternoon. we talked with the homeowner

who describes in vivid detail what happened. >> lightning struck this tree out here and the branch fell down. i came out to look at that and heard somebody scream. it was my daughter. i looked over here on the side and some paneling was down off the side of the house in back there and i thought i smelled smoke. i called 911. about 15 firemen came in looked through everything assuring me that we were fine. i'm still smelling smoke and was thinking about calling and i looked out the window and saw the fire engine come back down. so i go outside and he said come out of the house. the house is on fire. >> wow. thankfully nobody was hurt. tonight's storm packed some pretty powerful winds toppling trees all over town. that's the case on arcadia avenue in northwest where a massive tree was uprooted and fell on a house. matt jablow is live there with the details. i hope nobody is hurt. >> reporter: no, they aren't.

as you can see behind me, it's a bad scene in arcadia place in northwest washington, but it could have been a whole lot worse. this afternoon during the storm that barreled through the area a tree toppled over onto some power lines, knocked out power and did minor damage to a house. fortunately nobody was injured. residents were out of power nearly a week after ther ther it rach -- after the derecho. when you lost your power today, were you thinking here we go again? >> yes, exactly because i just now started restocking my refrigerator and here i am again back where i started. >> i'm wondering if we should start booking hotels yet or leave town or start throwing things out. our kids suggested eating all the ice cream preemptive strike. >> reporter: i'm sure they did. one man's power outage is another man's ice cream festival. the storms already knocking

out power to thousands of people throughout the area. right now pepco has more than 8,100 customers in the dark, most of them in d.c. and moat mack edison has more than -- and potomac edison has more than 1,300 outages in northwestern maryland. submit your storm report and pictures and photos on our website www.wusa9.com. we continue to follow breaking news out of reston tonight where the dulles access road has now been reopened after an accident involving an airport shuttle. this one happened late this afternoon in the westbound lanes near the reston parkway exit. the driver and four passengers in that shuttle were hurt. four of them only had minor injuries, but one was flown to the hospital via helicopter with life threatening injuries. once again the toll road and access highway are both open again. police are still investigating what caused that accident. tonight we are learning more about the freak accident that killed a 64-year-old man. albert roeth, iii died last night when a tree fell on his car when he was sitting in

traffic in great falls. >> reporter: surae chinn in great falls where the roots of this 40-ton tree is rotted out and when it fell, people felt it. david kinney shaken by what happened. the gigantic tree crushed 64- year-old carl roeth while stuck in traffic on georgetown pike in great falls around 6:30 last night. >> it's absolutely devastating, such a random thing to have happen. >> reporter: fairfax county urban force management director was on site last night and instructed a second tree nearby to come down. >> they had a similar rot pattern going on as this tree. >> reporter: michael knapp says 98% of its roots are rotted. >> slowly year after year it will make its way up into the structural roots. >> that was surae chinn reporting. the montgomery county department of transportation is still trying to figure out what

caused fire on a ride-on bus this morning near the intersection of ramsey avenue and bonafev in silver spring. nobody was hurt, but today's fire is the latest in a series of fires the last couple years and now county executives have pulled a certain model of the ride-on bus off the streets. ken molestina with more from rockville. >> reporter: this has been a known problem for years now. it was in 2007 the county bought a fleet of 50 buses. a couple of years after they started catching fire and the fight has continued until today. county executive ike leggett made it official these buses will not return onto the streets again. no one was hurt in this morning's bus fire in silver spring. the cause is still under investigation, but early speculation is that it had something to do with an electrical issue. since 2009 this particular model of bus, the champion model, has had 13 instances where they just go up in flames. the president of the union that represents the drivers says in

all cases it's been due to stress put on the buses. he says they weren't built to be used the way montgomery county officials have been using them and the result is more than a dozen of them catching fire, a fight both the union and county have agonized over for years. following today's event the executive ordered the remaining 37 buses on the fleet to be taken off the streets. >> we have been lucky. we've defied the odds out here. i could just envision a busful of people, one being one of my members and potentially a neighbor or someone else on there, trying to get to work or somewhere, stuck on a bus that is a death trap. >> reporter: in a statement released by county executive ike leggett he said, "the bottom line is removing these buses from service is the right thing to do to ensure the safety of the public and our bus drivers." we're told these buses will now be dismantelled, some of it sold for parts. what they can't sell, the county will just trash. in the meantime buss have been brought out from out of town --

buses have been brought out from out of town to replace these buses temporarily. they'll get a replacement fleet permanently sometime in the near future. meantime metro says it has fixed the glitch that occurred. still to come a big day for the redskins, that heisman winning quarterback with the three initials, he signed his details, details on rg3's multimillion dollar contract. >> and remember the fellow with santa outside the loudoun county courthouse just ahead. we'll tell you about the controversial decision coming up.

we're back with a 9news update. it appears there will be no skeleton santa on the cross or anything like him displayed outside the loudoun county courthouse this winter. last year that display stood up a bit of a debate, so for this year loudoun county supervises have approved no privately constructed exhibits, only the government sponsored holiday display, the jewish me nor remarks christian nativity scene and -- menorah, christian nativity scene and the santa and reindeer scene. maryland governor martin o'malley is stepping up his push to expand gambling in the state. he will release draft legislation friday to add table games and a new casino at nash

harbor, all this after his -- at national harbor, all this after his 90 minute meeting this morning with house speaker michael busch. he's hoping the legislation will help lawmakers better understand what's on the table. the general assembly faces an august 20th deadline to pass the proposal to get it on the november ballot. is the government push doing hard on this? the general assembly couldn't agree last spring on the issue, his special gambling task force couldn't make a deal last month and he's had dozens of meetings to no avail and then the cost. analysts estimate special sessions cost about 20 grand a day. couldn't this wait till next year? we can't wait to hear your. that e-mail mcginty's mailbag, the address mailbag@wusa9.com. maryland state police can once again collect dna samples for people arrested for serious crimes at least for now. that's because supreme court justice john roberts temporarily blocked a maryland court of appeals ruling that barred it. the case centers on the conviction of alonzo king jr.

he was found guilty of a 2003 rape. roberts' order will remain in effect until king responds to the appeal. he has to do that by the 25th. the storms are still coming. topper tells us when they might be over, the forecast coming right up. >> but first virginia commuters get ready to shell out some bucks. the airport authority has the profile for rate hikes from the dulles -- proposal for rate hikes from the dulles toll road.

now we've got a heads up for you if you're a commuter using the dulles toll road. the cost to drive that road could start soaring next year. the metropolitan airport authority released possible toll rate increases today. if approved, the cost of driving through the main toll plaza and exit ramp booth would cost 2.75 next year, 50 cents more than you pay now, but that's just a start. the plan also calls for an increase to 3.50 in 2014 and 4.50 by 2015. the nwaa will hold a series of public hearings before making a decision. the increases would be used to help fund metro's brand-new silver line to dulles. now the campaign to the white house, republican hopeful mitt romney hoping to switch the conversation to the economy. he told ohio voters today there's a job crisis in this country and president obama isn't doing anything about it. the president insists his focus is still getting the middle class back to work. >> his priority is not creating

jobs for you. his priority is trying to keep his own job and that's why he's going to lose it. >> well, the white house continued its push for romney to release more than just two years of tax returns. white house spokesman jay carney says it's important because americans deserve that kind of transparency. so far the romney campaign has shown no signs of caving in. turning to the virginia senate race, republican george allen and democrat tim kaine. today both men were campaigning in alexandria talking with folks who own or work at small businesses. >> setting priorities and getting others. >> i feel really good about it. >> small businesses create most of the jobs and i've heard from small business owners throughout virginia the worries about what's going on in washington in a variety of ways bether it's taxes, mandates and regular -- whether it's taxes, mandates and regulation. >> the true job creators in the american economy, my dad ran a small welding shop with five

employees and what we need to do to get the economy strong is do things to help small businesses thrive. >> george allen spent some time meeting with the mount vernon lee chamber of commerce. tim kaine visited some small shops in the mount vernon area. today redskins fans heard what might be the most eight exciting words of the summer, robert griffin, iii has signed his contract agreeing to a four- year $21 million deal earlier today. the media did not talk to my players or management, but rg3 sent out a tweet this morning saying well, people, it's time to go to work, off the unemployment line and oh, yeah, httr. that means hail to the redskins for the uninitiated among you. topper is not one of those people. >> no. some good news. the watch has been trimmed a little bit, so the severe thunderstorm watch covers the southern 1/2 of the metro area until 9:00. there's one warning in rockingham county till 8:00, some good news, but still the

chance of thunderstorms tomorrow and again on friday. let's start with live doppler 9000 and we'll show you where all the thunderstorms are. first we'll go down to our friends in southern maryland. pretty good thunderstorms rolled through in the last hour. they're about to move out into the open waters, but they had some hail with them. there were no warnings on these storms. these were heavy going through southern sections of calvert county, st. mary's city, lexington park and on to the southeast. they'll cross over to the delmarva and east side of the bay and produce pretty good storms. we'll zoom back out and the second wave, if you will, are now in virginia from woodstock down toward harrisonburg and this is rockingham county, a severe thunderstorm warning until 8:00. this storm here south of franklin has hail and this also has hail just to the west side of 220. see the purple or magenta, that is indication of a little bit of hail. the red is rainfall rates 1 inch per hour. we'll zoom out and put these

into motion and you'll see by and large the storms will move off to the south and east. that's one reason the severe thunderstorm watch has been trimmed to the north. so you folks in culpeper and fredericksburg and just south of warrenton still could see severe weather in the next couple hours. you folks in frederick, maryland, should be done. you saw your severe weather earlier this afternoon. we'll widen out. you can see a tremendous amount of lightning with these storms back in parts of harrisonburg toward elkins and winchester. we've had a lot of lightning. proof of that was the house fire in kensington and we still see more storms upstream. big storms are just entering morgantown now on the other side of garrett county. the frontal system is still north of us. life look outside, our live weather cam brought to you by michael and son. it was 101 today, down to 84, dew point not great. you don't want to see dew points in the 70s, pressure falling 29.85 inches of mercury, 77 frederick, 79

gaithersburg, 84 manassas, 90 in fredericksburg. all right. severe thunderstorm watch until 9:00, the threats hail and damaging wind. storms should diminish by midnight. more strong storms are possible tomorrow and even some storms friday. tonight severe storms ending by midnight, partly cloudy, muggy, lows in the 70s. tomorrow morning even during the morning we still run the risk of a shower or thunderstorm, 70s and 80s, so not as much sun as we had this morning. by afternoon partly sunny, not as much sun either, more storms, not as hot, highs around 90, some heavy, some severe. next three days, our 9 weather alert code goes yellow, yellow, green, storms tomorrow, 91, 87 friday with storms and then finally an isolated storm sat but not enough to alter your -- saturday but not enough to alter your plans. we'll make that code green. next seven days, sunday we're in good shape, maybe an isolated storm, highs near 90. warming up a little, heating up a little next week, mid-90s on monday, tuesday and wednesday

with just isolated storms, but no triple digits. today was the sixth time this month we hit 100 the seventh time this summer. >> what's the deal for tomorrow morning? are we rainy or what? >> i think late morning is the best chance for showers. maybe we get through the morning commute dry. >> thank you. let's get to our weird news file tonight because is it art or is it furniture? to a town called vilnie s, lithuania. somebody decided it was a good idea to put a table and chair on the roof and tea as well. it's the brainchild of a woman named ann bun akyt who says she likes to spend time on the roof of already town and likes coffee. first this was supposed to be an art project, but now she says they're going to make some rooftop furniture. the local mayor says it will be wonderful to see residents enjoying their morning coffee on the roof, but i'm wondering if it will be that wonderful later on because what happens when you're on the roof later in the evening and the

beverages come a little stronger? might not work out so well, no. >> looks a little precarious, doesn't it? >> yes. >> we want to hear what you think of the send your e-mails to mcginty's mailbag, the address mailbag@wusa9.com. 9 news now will be right back.

well, last night we asked for your thoughts on montgomery county council member hans reamer's efforts to get the entire state public service commission fired in light of pepco's ongoing difficulties in keeping your lights on when the weather gets bag. in the mailbag tonight lynn from silver spring says she understand pepco is in this to make money, but the psc's job is to look out for our interests as customers and they haven't. finally a psc fined pepco for poor service this past year, but they'd let years of lack of infrastructure investment and maintenance by pepco build up to the point we have major out ages almost of winter and summer. throw the psc rascals out and start fresh, but pete from maryland still can't get over pepco's performance in this most recent blackout catastrophe. he says he was in the dark for

seven days. day four a crew was in the neighborhood. the power was restored to residents on the west side on the main road that divides the community. the east side went without power another three days. after a few days the only thing i wanted to understand was when is the power going to be restored and why is it taking so long? well, those were truly the questions on the minds of millions of people, but my voice is gone, so i can't answer this. luckily meterologist topper shutt can tell us about the weather. >> we're looking at more storms tonight, but the good news is there's no warnings now. the watch goes until 9:00 south of town and we're watching a little growing area of thunderstorms off to the west, derek, from garrett county southward to just west of new market and west on the west side of i-81. these storms will duck off south. we're looking at a severe thunderstorm warning for rockingham county until 8:00 and the immediate metro area i think we're okay and i think the nats game will be played tonight. they should be okay, but the

problem is the frontal boundary is still to our north and that means a chance for more storms tomorrow and again friday and we'll have an update on 9 news now at 11:00 as to what copieds we set. >> let me remind -- codes we set. >> let me remind you our address is mailbag@wusa9.com. couldn't get that out before. i'm better now. we'll see you at 11:00 with anita and top. bye bye.

now, "entertainment tonight," the most watched entertainment newsmagazine in the world. tom and suri, the new video. the 6-year-old hiding from cameras as both parents parade her around in new york, but are photographers going too far? >> it can be frightening and overstimulating. plus, did tom come face to face with katie and how other star couples have handled their kids in the midst of divorce. sylvester stallone's son's death investigation. were 50 prescription pill bottles found in sage stallone's home? "american idol" desperate search for new judges. >> they now realize they have to step it up. with pressure from other shows, are "american idol's" days numbered? action! >> jeremy renner on the set of the bourne legacy. no stunt doubles. >> we had to keep it as realc