the code red weather night is all over but the hail, the high winds and lightning have caused problems all across our area. >> we have the latest on the damage and more storms in topper's forecast. plus, for the first time we hear from george zimmerman about the night trayvon martin was killed. severe storms barreled through the washington area today knocking down some trees, cutting off power and sparking

several house fires. >> matt jablow joins us now. >> reporter: hundreds of thousands of d.c. area residents are now living in fear of losing power again. unfortunately that fear is a reality for folks on arcadia place in northwest washington. >> i just now started restock my refrigerator. >> reporter: when jennifer vermillion's house lost electricity today after a huge tree collapsed on power lines in her northwest washington 245eubd she said her only thought was, hear we go again. >> yes, exactly. >> reporter: jennifer and most of her neighbors were in the dark for nearly a week after last month's storm uprooted several trees at least one of which, according to people here, had a hollowed out and badly damaged root system. >> they're beautiful but they take the risk. >> reporter: fortunately only one tree also with a hollowed

out root same came down today. even more fortunately, nobody was injured, and only one house was damaged, and only slightly. >> we do usually lose power because we have aboveground lines. >> reporter: still residents here say they're beginning to feel jinxed. >> the tree at the end of the street had the red dot on it for it to be taken away. >> reporter: in wheaton a toppled tree was also causing serious problems. >> lightning struck this tree out here. >> reporter: the strong winds knocked down a tree into some power lines which then fell into cheryl kelly's house and started a fire. >> i came out to look at that and heard somebody scream. it was my daughter. >> reporter: nobody was injured, but cheryl was pretty shaken up. >> we're safe. god has kept us, and that's all that's important. >> reporter: folks in annapolis are feeling fortunate after a

lightning strike caused a fire in their house. as far as we know there were no injuries at all anywhere in the d.c. area as a result of today's storms. very lucky. >> matt jablow, we thank you. at last check pepco power outages were down to about 1500. in northern virginia, dominion power was reporting only three outages remaining. we did suffer through some storms today. meteorologist topper shutt is here. is there anything else out there, and could we perhaps get a little relief from the heat now? >> that's probably the silver lining, derek. there's only one storm on doppler now but it is going to knock temperatures down. we're looking at some dying showers in the mountains, and they were heavier earlier. in fact, rockingham county i'm surprised they did not issue a flash flood warning. right now light showers through the panhandle of west virginia, maryland, and back into the new market area. a couple of storms down toward the northern neck, and that is

about it. that may go into southern maryland but for the most part we're done. that said we could see some fog develop later on tonight. look at the storms back into west virginia. most of the activity sunk to the south and to the east after the first wave went through, and that's kind of what saved us. in terms of temperatures, here's our break. 78 in rockville, 79 in leesburg. wake-up weather not bad. temperatures in the 70s but dry. 72 to 80 by 7:00. 74 to 82 by 9:00, still dry. we'll come because and talk about when the storms return. it's going to be earlier than you might expect. >> i'm not a racist and i'm not a murderer. >> when you think back and -- >> george zimmerman gives his first television interview since being charged with murdering trayvon martin in february. it was an exclusive on the fox news channel that ended an hour ago. gary nurenberg monitored that and is here with highlights. >> reporter: zimmerman said he

was sorry but also said, given the same set of circumstances, he would do nothing differently. he was interviewed by fox's sean hannity who asked about the confrontation with trayvon martin, 17, unarmed, in a hoodie. >> i felt he was suspicious because it was raining, he was in between houses, cutting in between houses, and he was walking very leisurely for the weather. >> reporter: martin, he said, reacted to his interest. >> his demeanor, his body language was con fran taigsal. >> and there was a confrontation. he asked me what my problem was. >> expletive problem. >> yes, sir. i was wearing a rain jacket, and i had put my cell phone in my jacket pocket as opposed to my jeans pocket where i normally keep it, and i immediately went to grab my

phone to this time call 911 instead of the nonemergency, and when i reached into my pants pockets, because that's where i keep it out of habit, it wasn't there, and i was shocked. i looked up, and he punched me and broke my nose. >> zimmerman fell to the ground. >> he started bashing my head into the concrete sidewalk, cursing, telling me to shut up and then finally telling me he was going to kill me. >> there was a struggle, zimmerman says, for his gun. >> he started to try to suffocate me, and i continued to take -- push his hands off of my mouth and my nose. he said, you are going to die tonight [ bleep ], and took one hand off of my mouth, and i felt it going down my chest towards my belt and my holster, and that's when i -- i didn't have any more time. >> zimmerman said he wishes there is something he could have done so that he, quote, didn't have to take his life, end quote, said he can't

imagine the martin family's pain adding he praise for them every day. he is charged with second- degree murder. derek. >> new at 11:00, $50,000 up for grabs tonight for information leading to the arrest of a couple of crooks. take a look at this surveillance video. the loudoun county sheriff's department says these two masked men ripped off this harris teeter grocery store. the bad guys busted open a couple of saves and got away with an unknown amount of cash. if you recognize anybody call the loudoun county sheriff's office. an update on that freak accident. a giant tree falls on a car stuck in traffic and kills the man inside the car. it happened yesterday in great falls, virginia. we're told the tree was almost completely rotted out. an arborist said that avey was the only thing keeping it from toppling over before yesterday.

we're also learning much more about the victim. his name and his age. 64-year-old albert carl roth the iii. carl loved living large, driving his mercedes is and throwing elaborate parties. one of his best friends was on his way to his house the night he was killed. >> i was on my way to his house. i was a half-hour behind him, and i tried to turn here, and i saw a tree, and all the emergency equipment, and i thought, wow, i don't know what happened, and i had to drive miles to get over to his house, and he wasn't there. i thought, well, he's probably just having dinner or he's late. i called him, i said, don't go down georgetown pike, there's a tree on the road. i didn't know he was under it. >> roth is survived by his 20- year-old daughter. montgomery county executive ike leggett is issuing an order

that all champion model ride-on buses get off the streets after another one went up in fire. >> how many buses to have burn before you get it, you realize we have bad equipment. >> reporter: gino renne is president of the union that represents the ride-on bus drivers. he's thankful that champion buses will be now taken off the streets. >> this government allowed unsafe equipment. >> reporter: the union and county administrators have been fighting over the future of these buses for years. the vice president the union that represents the ride-on bus drivers says the county bought about 50 of these buses back in 2007. the total bill for it, he says, was somewhere in the neighborhood of $10 million. just two years after the purchase in 2009, the first case of a self-combusting bus happened. since then, including the one on wednesday morning in silver spring, some 13 buses have gone up in flames.

>> so what you end up having is wires up against very, very hot hydraulic systems which go up in flames, or you have, you know, brakes that aren't made for the stress they're under. >> reporter: he says the buses weren't built to be used as often or run as hard as montgomery county officials have ordered. the bottom line is removing the buses from service is the right thing to do to ensure the safety of the public, according to the executive. it officially ends the fight to get these buses off the streets. ken molestina, 9news now. >> temporary replacement buses have been brought in until the county gets a new permanent fleet. these changes affect the routes tomorrow which are placed on a holiday schedule. the dulles toll road back

open tonight after an accident involving an airport super shuttle. the driver and four passengers on that shuttle were hurt and one of them has life- threatening injuries. super shuttle officials say they are investigating. and today's accident comes nearly one year after a deadly accident involving another super shuttle van along that very same stretch of road. one person was killed in that accident. the driver was charged with reckless driving. a 9news now investigation revealed long hours for super shuttle drivers and a record of speeding and reckless driving for that driver in particular. in campaign 2012 news mitt romney trying to keep the conversation focus on the economy and the president's record. romney told voters in bowling green today there's a job crisis in ohio and president obama isn't doing anything about it. >> his priority is not creating jobs for you. his priority is trying to keep his own job, and that's why he is going to lose it. >> president obama insists his focus is on jobs and helping

the middle class. >> he's not playing by the same set of rules. that's why i ran for president in 2008. that's why i'm running for a second term as vice president the united states of america. >> meanwhile mitt romney's wife said that her husband has yet to settle on his running mate. there had been some speculation he would announce his vp choice as early as this week. here is a picture you don't see every day. a woman decided she didn't want to use the escalator up and around the tracks at the metro center so she just walked across. she got about halfway through and decided maybe this is not such a good idea. metro workers turned off the power to the third rail and got her safely back on the platform. still ahead on 9 news, when you jump into the water, what's the last thing you want to see? we're going to show you a shark surprise. plus, capitol hill smackdown. we'll tell you why john mccain went all wwe on a fellow

republican, michele bachmann. that's coming up.

so what's more likely, getting hit by lightning or jumping into the sea and landing on a shark?

one man has never been hit by lightning but he came darn close to landing on a shark. he and some friends were spear fishing. a friend was videotaping it all. when he jumped in the water a great white was there to greet him. message from senator john mccain to fellow republican michele bachmann. enough. congresswoman balkman has asked for an investigation into whether muslim extremists have infiltrated top levels of the government. she specifically points to a longtime aid to secretary of state hillary clinton. the allegations have been swirling around d.c. for weeks now and mccain is tired of it. >> these allegations about houma abadin and the reports from which they are drawn are nothing less than an unwarranted and unfounded attack on an honorable citizen, a dedicated american and a loyal public servant.

these attacks have no logic, no basis, and no merit. and they need to stop. >> in response, balkman said, quote, i will not be silent, as this administration appear pieces our enemy. the big argument on the presidential campaign trail seems to revolve around mitt romney's record as abs man but tonight derek is asking, in a very hoarse voice, do former ceo's really make for a good commander in chief? >> it is an enduring american political fantasy. the president man as president, using his mad ceo skills to slash the red tape and the excess bureaucrats and give us that lean,' fission government we say we want, right? the only thing is, it's a myth. it's never worked out that way. the prime example? herbert hoover. made a fortune in mining before he was elected in president only to lead intuse the only economic crisis worse than the one we're in right now. other successful businessmen

who made it to the white house? jimmy carter, george h. w. bush. both were one-termers. our best president? abe lincoln, career politician. franklin and teddy roosevelt is career politician i.c.e. harry truman, career poll didn't. ronald reagan? actor, but did he spend two terms as governor of california. the point is, being president is not like being america's ceo. for one thing, a private sector boss gives orders, then he fires people if they're not carried out. a president has some power, sure, but often hat to be the power to persuade the other two branches of government to go along with what he wants to do. it's called politics. it's tough, and it's tricky. so then why do we continue to believe it's so simple, even a ceo can do it? now, the good news here for mitt romney is that he actually was a governor of massachusetts. in fact, i hear he engineered a healthcare plan that covered 98% of residents. in fact, he could make that the center piece of his campaign, call it romney care.

oh, yeah. never mind. anita. >> thank you, derek. if you want to respond to something derek says, whether you like it or you don't, or you just want to watch some of the commentary one more time, head over to the "let's be real" section of our home page. as we were tracking severe weather here the cbs station in boston was doing the same thing. the lights went out as the station was struck by lightning. he paused. then -- >> we're not having any lights in here. power has been knocked out. i believe we're on generator power at this time. >> that's pretty interesting. >> that's calm in the midst of the storm. >> yes, it is. >> would you do the exact same

thing. >> we're all kind of cut from the same cloth. the good news, the storms are pretty much gone tonight, and the other good news, cooler tomorrow, and cooler still on friday, and cooler still on saturday. bad news, more storms tomorrow and friday. so kind of good with the bad. let's start with a live look outside. we're looking at temperatures, after a high of 101, which was not a record downtown, but it was a record at dulles, 84 right now. dew point 68. at least the dew points are in the 60s, that's kind of bear afternoon. winds light, pressurizing a little bit at 29.92 inches of mercury. satellite picture radar combined, we talked about this frontal system. it's now stationary. when you see the red and the blue that means it's not moving. it's just south of chicago, just south of detroit and running through north-central pennsylvania. that's going to become the focus of weather. tomorrow the front gets further south, then on friday gets a little further south, and

that's going to be the focus, if you will, of showers and storms. until it gets all the way to our south we run the risk of some big storms. so keep that in mind. these storms back in the mountains are dying out, and these storms south of fredericksburg will stay south of fredericksburg tonight. so here's what we're looking at. more storms possibly in the morning, late morning. i think the morning commute will be dry. and again in the afternoon. so another round coming our way. some could be strong, a few could be severe on thursday. not as hot thursday and friday, that's good news. in fact, i've lowered temperatures quite a bit for friday and saturday. more storms on friday as the front finally makes its trek south of the metro. overnight we'll say partly cloudy, muggy, some patchy fog, lows in the 70s. winds out of the northwest at 10. by morning, early in the morning, i think we will be dry, maybe a late-night shower or thunderstorm. 70s and 80s. by afternoon much better chance of scattered showers and thunderstorms but not as hot, some heavy, some severe. high temperatures around 90. next three days we are going to keep it code yellow, yellow,

then green. 91 on thursday with some storms. 87 on friday with some storms. i knocked saturday down to 81 with just a slate chance of an afternoon storm. pretty good deal. next seven days. also knocked sunday down to 86. a slight chance of an isolated storm. the heat will return. the front goes back to the north. we are looking at some hotter conditions monday, tuesday, wednesday, back into the mid- 90s with just isolated thunderstorms, but that 87, 11, and 86 looks pretty good. >> it looks absolutely lovely. refreshing. >> that's about as refreshing as july gets. >> it almost looks as good as the news that r g iii is in camp. >> they haggled whether he would get all the money, and finally the redskins just said, here's the money, come and play. that's all we want. we just wanted to hear on the field. weave got details of rgiii's

deal. highlights next in sports.

the redskins have now all their drafted rookies from this season locked up and ready to

go. heading into this week just two remain unsigned. third round pick josh laribus and robert griffin iii. both signed today. the redskins tweeted this pick of rgiii finalizing his deal at the park in ashburn. the two sides hashed things out. four years, $21.1 million, all of that guaranteed is what they ended up with. even if the redskins for some reason let rgiii go before that deal is up he gets all that money. the deal includes a $13.1 million signing bonus and the team has an option to extend the contract to a fifth year. once everything was said and done, rgiii tweeted, well, people, time toe get to work, off the unemployment line, and, oh yeah, hail to the redskins. it will take a lot for the nationals to top last night's classic and wild win over the new york mets, but with atlanta

hot on their tail for first in the division, every game has that urgency to the. it was a big game tonight for jordan zimmerman. six shutout innings, striking out four on track for his fourth win. the game stayed scoreless into the bottom 6 until adam laroche sends this pitch over the wall. the mets rallied with two homers in the 9th to come within a run. tyler clippard says this one is ours. nats are 17 games over .500 for the first time this season. wizards taking on the bucs today in another summer league game. early in this one, they were down, but bradley beal, the rookie, led the team.

the washington castles rocking the cam mow gear where the match. the castles continue to refuse to lose, their slogan. they win tonight 21-19 in overtime. that's 23 straight wins for the castles. screw tiger woods tees off in t minus five hours across the pond. woods is looking to end a four- year major winless streak on sunday. he tees off at 4:42 this sunday morning. >> and we'll all be up watching. >> i thought about it. >> i wouldn't be surprised. >> that's what they have dvr's for, my friend. >> watch it when you wake up. >> we'll be right back.

that is our broadcast. thanks for sticking around. >> don't forget we're always on at wusa9.com. letterman is next. good night, everybody. stay safe.