this is 9 news now. every time there's a rainstorm people are like brace for impact because the storm is coming whether it's 1 inch or 6 inches. it doesn't matter. people get really frustrated because we don't know what's going to happen. >> a thunderstorm se up over d.c. and dumps as much as 4 inches of rain in some neighborhoods and folks living in the bloomingdale area north of rhode island avenue say they're at wit's end. >> our anny hong is live in northwest with more. >> reporter: they're getting a lot done here with the clean- up. you can see in that area in this house the water came up this high. i'm going to open the door here. you can see the homeowner here, michael thomas, making a lot of progress cleaning up his home after this basement flooded. he says this was not the first time that his home flooded. in fact, in the last several

weeks it's flooded three times and he is getting sick of it. >> about 40 inches. >> reporter: homeowner michael thomas says in four years of living in his two-story condo on u street and bloomingdale court in northwest d.c. -- >> the couch was floating, this table. >> reporter: -- this was the worst floodinghe's experienced. >> scared me when i saw the water force that door open. i couldn't believe it and i was sitting here praying that it doesn't push the door open entirely because it was that much pressure on that door to where it bent the bottom of it. i've never seen anything like it. >> reporter: he wasn't even home during sunday night's thunderstorms that dropped heavy rain and caused his basement to flood. the same storm also forced a stretch of rhode island avenue between first and second streets northwest to shut down. a few cars got stranded. one driver had to be rescued by the fire department on an inflatable raft. fortunately no one was injured. >> this street always floods. think need to get something

done about that. constant -- they need to get something done about that. constantly they have to pump out the basements. every time it rains you don't want to leave your house because you don't know what you're going to come home to. >> reporter: thomas came home to water 3 1/2 feet high. its force lifted this refrigerator and landed on its side. all of his appliances, tv and furniture are ruined, a cost he expects to absorb because he has no flood insurance and has little faith in the city. >> i know there's no immediate solution, but there should be some kind of compensation for this. i mean it's not like we created. this. >> reporter: thomas keeps these sandbags in the steps leading up to his door just because it floods so often and those sandbags could come in handy. just across this home here are these storm drains. these sewer drains, and he believes these got backed up. in fact, d.c. water guys were here and also believe these storm drains got backed up and led to all that flooding in his

home. he called the city and the guys came out here, d.c. water. then they told him to call the risk manager's office, but guess what? he called them today because it's a holiday and got no response. we are life in northwest d.c., anny hong, 9 news now. >> so much damage and frustration, thank you. we know that d.c. mayor gray has established a task force to look into the long term solution to that flooding problem that anny was just talking about. i walked through the bloomingdale neighborhood today with george hawkins, director of d.c. water to, ask him what can be done to help residents right now. >> last night we had a storm of very significant proportions. the reports have been over 2 inches to over 3 1/2 inches of rain in just over an hour. when there's that much rain and the pipes themselves are not big enough to handle that much rainwater, in the short term we don't have an immediate solution. >> water director george hawkins says sandbags and a backfill which the city will help pay for are available

right now, more on that and the long term solution coming up at 7:00. >> and a chance of more rain in the forecast tonight has the 9 weather team declaring a yellow alert day. topper is in the weather center right now checking radar. >> good news, right now the radar is quiet, big storms to north and east. i think you have a good chance of getting a cookout in. we have big storms also in west virginia and delmarva got hammered today with 3 to 4 inches of rain just west of the ocean resorts. a couple showers just south of town, but by and large, heaviest activity north of baltimore, heaviest activity now exiting delaware over into new jersey. it is humid out, temperaturewise a bargain, but the humidity not so hot so to speak, 83 downtown, 83 leesburg, 81 manassas. again the chance of showers and storms in the forecast tonight. we're not sounding the all clear. if you want to cook out the next couple hours, i think you can. >> that's good news. thank you. labor day traditionally

means a big rampup toward election day. we're 64 days away from november 6th and the presidential election and one day from the start of the democratic national convention. randall pinkston is in charlotte where the party is already underway. >> reporter: charlotte is throwing a big party. >> it's monday at the dnc. >> reporter: before the democrats go the down to business. actor and singer jeff bridges entertained the crowd at carolina fest and thousands of people collected tins, t-shirts and other souvenirs at the labor day sell brace. dems like kirk clay -- celebration. democrats like kirk clay who traveled here with his family from d.c. are having fun but eager for the convention to begin. >> this is a magical moment for not just the african american community but for all of america. >> reporter: north carolina is struggling with unemployment well above 9%. as president obama makes his way here, he is on the defensive about the economy. in toledo the president

rejected republican claims that the country is not better off than when he took office. >> i bet on you. i'll make that bet any day of the week. >> reporter: president obama accepts his party's nomination in charlotte thursday. first lady michelle obama is already here. she took a tour of the stage where she will give her speech on day one of the democratic national convention. randall pinkston, cbs news, charlotte. >> president obama will end his road to charlotte tour with a stop in virginia tomorrow. he plans to be in norfolk in the morning for an event with students at norfolk state. mitt romney is taking a few days off from the campaign trail for the long weekend. his running mate congressman paul ryan held a rally in south carolina today. a ground swell of support on twitter today for this guy, for clint eastwood's discussion with an empty chair during last week's republican national convention. the hashtag empty chair day was one of the top trending topics by mid-morning and was attached

from everything to empty beanbags to empty lawn chairs with makeshift teleprompters. you can stay connected to everything related to the presidential campaign and of our local elections at www.wusa9.com -- and our local elections at www.wusa9.com. it was an emotional day at edgewater, maryland, as the body of a navy seal killed in afghanistan returned home. people lined route 2 south of annapolis to honor naval special warfare officer first class patrick seeks and to support his family. scott broom was there. >> reporter: they turned out by the hundreds. the word spread on facebook and twitter starting late yesterday. >> it's very important for our country. >> it's just tragedy what has happened. the thing was he was doing it for us. >> reporter: a spontaneous show of support for a man most had never met. >> it's sad that we have to come to things like this. >> reporter: 28-year-old special warfare officer first

class patrick feeks, an elite navy seal, was killed august 16th when the helicopter he was on crashed during a fight in kandahar, afghanistan. his lifetime goal was to become a seal. he was highly decorated and had been on two previous tours in iraq. he leaves behind a wife and parents from his hometown in edgewater. at 9:45 the motorcade escorting his body appeared on the horizon. people crowded close to the curb to see lently watch it pass. it went on like -- to see lently watch it pass. it went on like -- to silently watch it pass. it went on like this for two hours including black trained fire trucks, a patriot guard of bikers and hundreds of mourners. >> making me cry a little bit. he gave the ultimate sacrifice and that needs to be honored. >> reporter: the helicopter crash feeks died in among the deadliest that's occurred in the afghan war. in all 11 people were killed, seven of them americans. other familiars from florida to

california are mourning in similar fashion this holiday weekend. in edgewater, scott broom, 9 news now. >> feeks will be buried in arlington after a funeral at ft. myer chapel wednesday. this just in, word that michael clark duncan has died. the actor had been hospitalized since july when he had a heart attack. his credits include the green mile, armageddon and the whole 9 yards. michael clark duncan was 54 years old. still ahead tonight metro is making some changes that could impact your morning commute. >> but first putting the brakes on plans to upgrade every taxicab meter in the pita how does it feel to try smooth,

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new hershey's simple pleasures chocolate. 30% less fat, 100% delicious. if you ride a cab in the city, the district's plan to install new meters in all the city's taxicabs is on hoed tonight, that upgrade stopped -- on hold tonight that, upgrade stopped over the weekend after a ruling by the city's contract appeals board which has to rule on whether the contract to install 6,500 smart meters by november was awarded properly. it's not every day a military helicopter land behind your house and soldiers with guns jump out, but it happened friday to nicki schultz who lives in ellisville, indiana. she was home alone and the whole scene freaked her out. >> saw it coming this way and it was low and i was like oh, my god. it's going to crash in my

backyard. >> well, it did not crash in her backyard. it landed safely a few yards away in a field. turns out it was a national guard helicopter and the crew was working with indiana state police searching for marijuana plants in nearby woods. they found plenty, dozens, in fact, and that, too, has nicki freaked out a little. still to come on 9 news now it may look quiet now, but tomorrow will be another story. a preview of what's typically a terrible traffic tuesday for the area next. heavy load in america. but mitt romney plan, a middle class to $2,000 more a year in taxes. multi-millionaires like himself hits the middle class harder... bigger break. forward for america? this message.

get ready because tomorrow traffic is expected to come back with a vengeance. after all those summer vacations a lot of folks who have been missing from your morning commute will head the road again -- hit the road again tomorrow. joining us right now is john townsend with aaa mid-atlantic to talk about terrible tuesday. it's not just one day, right? we're talking about the beginning of some bad traffic for the washington area. >> this is the beginning of the beginning, bruce, and we've seen this long on our local highways for the last 2 1/2 months with the kids out of school, but with all of the kids returning to all of the school systems tomorrow and all the parents and commuters back into the mix, we expect 2.8 million commuters on the highways and transportation systems tomorrow, 1 million kids, 7,000 school buses and the absolute return to the absolute worst gridlock in the country. >> already the worst gridlock in the country and, john, i'm

looking at some data here. it talks about we'll be using 37 gallons of gas just idling in traffic. we'll be spending a lot of time, waistful time idling in traffic. what does that -- wasteful time idling in traffic. what does that do to the psyche of the washington area motorist? >> traffic will increase 26% over the summer months. so you can expect a 26% increase in traffic and the bulk of that or ground zero will be around 9:00 when all the parents finish carrying their kids to school. so that will be the worst hour, but you'll see that the vast majority of drivers and commuters who try to leave home by 7:00 in the morning to try to avoid all this gridlock. >> it's going to get worse again because we got thousands of people in charlotte now, democrats, out there for the convention. they've got to come back here and get in the mix. so what's the solution?

how do we keep some of these vehicles off the roads? >> well, one of the best solutions out there is to take alternate forms of transportation. use mass transit. try carpooling and then the best possible solution is to telework, telecommute. we do that about 26% of us during the week and it really works. that is the one thing you need to convince your employer to let you, do telecommute and telework. >> john townsend with aaa mid- atlantic, thanks a lot for that information. as we just heard, one of the big reasons for more traffic tomorrow is the return of school buses across our entire area. some school systems did go back to class in the last two weeks, but come tomorrow pretty much every school in every area will be in session. make sure to watch out for the kids on the roads and those bright yellow buses. one more reminder if you're getting back into a routine tomorrow, metro now requires you have a minimum balance on your smartrip card in order to

enter the system at all. so that means no more boarding the bus and charging the bus at the station. you need to have at least $1.20 to start your trip. 9 news now will be here to help you get through any extra madness tomorrow morning. all the news, weather and traffic you need before you led out the door starting bright and early 4:25 a.m. last holiday for the summer. >> i know. >> some of those cookouts will be safe now. >> we're lucky. most of the storms north of baltimore and in the delmarva, up to 4 inches of rain there. so we are now kind of at a respite. let's start with the live look outside on our live weather cam brought to you by michael and son. it's on top of our roof here broadcast house in north west d.c. we're looking west. there's some sun, breaks in the clouds. we'll keep the chance of a shower or storm tonight, but right now we are in pretty good shape. temperature 83, that's okay. the problem is the dew points are in the 70s. that's pretty much uncomfortable. winds south, southeast at 6 and

pressure 30.01 inches of mercury. satellite picture radar combined, a lot of showers and thunderstorms in the southeast, ohio valley, parts of the mid- atlantic and yes, in part that is what's left of isaac and also what's left of a frontal boundary moving north of us. that's what triggered these showers and storms. these were monsters. they were in the delmarva. now they're pushing into southern sections of new jersey. big thunderstorms back in the west virginia area, but i think they'll stay west and north of us overnight. we'll watch a couple showers south of culpeper down toward stanton, but those have even died out in the past hour or so. again your cookout should be fine. 84 rockville, 83 great falls, 81 in vienna, 80 in arlington, 84 college park, even out west temperatures low 80s, low 80s in leesburg, 81 haymarket. again temps not the problem. humidity is the problem. still humid and unsettled, cookout still possible. i think it looks good, just a few thunderstorms overnight and shower and storms possible

again tuesday. it will become hot and humid on wednesday. so mostly cloudy and muggy tonight, a few storms. now those that develop will have heavy rains because there's a lot of moisture in the atmosphere, low temperatures 68 to 74 and winds south, southeast at 10. lows inside the beltway not so comfortable, low to mid-70s, 73 arlington, downtown, maybe 69 in gaithersburg, reston and 69 in fairfax. next three days because of the threat of thunderstorms we'll keep it code yellow. more storms tomorrow, 8th7th. 89 with a few -- 87, 89 with a few storms on wednesday and some storms thursday and back up to the low 90s. the next seven days we'll keep the chance for thunderstorms in friday and even saturday, but saturday a cold front pushes through that will finally get rid of what's left of isaac and this frontal boundary and all the instability and we'll be left with cooler weather sunday and monday with highs in the low to mid-80s. >> that is a little unsettled.

>> but like the weekend you can do some stuff. just keep an eye to the sky. some developments in nats park? >> big meeting today between some of the folks on and off the field some big news, at the park a big meeting, sort of like a sports summit, you will. davey johnson and mike rizzo talked. stephen strasburg listened. then his mate went out and accomplished something unseen in these parts since a man walked on the moon. sports is next.

i'm anita brikman with this health alert and urgent warning from poison control centers. toddlers have become violently ill after biting into or swallowing highly concentrated laundry detergents in pods or packets. violent vomiting, seizures, even breathing distress have been reported. keep them away from young kids. heavy load in america. but mitt romney plan, a middle class to $2,000 more a year in taxes. multi-millionaires like himself hits the middle class harder... bigger break. forward for america? this message.

and now 9 sports with dave owens. >> mike rizzo, davey johnson, gm manager, pitching coach met with stephen strasburg today to map out shutdown 2012. strasburg's final start planned for september 12th at new york of the davey johnson said, "strasburg hates mccaddy, me and rizzo a little more than before the meeting. he's a competitor. he wants to play." nats in their stars and stripes uniforms today. their defense making the cubs see stars. 5-4-3-espinoza, laroche and the bomb, 8th inning here's zim. down the line. watch bryce harper from first. when you're 19 years old, you can run like that. your muscles, you got those fast twitch muscles going, scores all the way from first, nats' first winning season since moving back to d.c., win

today 2-1, first d.c. baseball team to win 82 games since 1969. >> just getting better, you know, just getting real confident and stuff and when he starts using, you know, all his weapons in that arsenal, he's going to -- it seems to be easier on him. >> strasburg leaving. john lannan coming soon. davey johnson says he'll hurl a handful of starts when strasburg goes on the shelf. lannan has been called up a handful of times already this season and pitched really well, the orioles gang just as good of story as the nats. they were once 10 games out in july. now they're just one game out after beating toronto today 4 -0. this is a nick markakis double. they're one game back of the first place yankees. the redskins open with a major challenge with the saints. drew brees, the most prolific passing attack in football over the last couple years.

you would think defense would be important, but maybe the offense will be more important as in keeping the ball away from the saints. rookie running back alfred morris will be key. he's been the most productive and healthiest rb in camp and is hoping to get the nod and the task of keeping brees off the field. >> as an nfl player you become to start as a rook kirks all the hard work that i did to get here and just a lot of them -- rookie, all the hard work that i did to get huer and just a lot of them deal -- here and just a lot of them deal me to start. south lakes herndon in prince george's, and john champ, a new school at darnfield, so a lot of good stuff coming up. >> don't sell yourself short, you guys. >> stay tuned. cbs news is next.

>> we'll be back at 7:00. good night.