good morning. 9news now special coverage of hurricane sandy begins now. it is 4:00 a.m. we're on the air about 25 minutes earlier than normal. a live look at the u.s. capitol withtemperatures in the mid- 50s as hurricane sandy approaches. >> good morning. welcome to the special edition of 9news now. today is monday, october 29. i'm andrea roane. i'm mike hydeck. monika samtani will have what is there for timesaver traffic coming up in a little bit. howard bernstein will have the latest on sandy. we begin with the impact it's already having right here at home. >> that means government and schools. the federal government is closed today and most local governments are also closed. >> emergency personnel are still asked to report in, however. every major public transportation agency is closed today. metro transit, vre, almost every flight to our region has already been canceled. call your airline is the

advice. marc is shut down. amtrak canceled most of its trains as well. >> and today is a day off for most school systems in our area. this is the place to get the latest information. good morning. thank you again for joining us. we're glad you're with us. here's monika. let's talk a little bit about traffic. there can't be much out there. >> there isn't but we will talk about street flooding, airlines, trains, everything you need to know. river road is shut down. beach drive is shut down. >> areas where we know the water normally builds up on the roadway. howard wishes he could be the man of the hour for great sunshine but you are the man of the hour. where is sandy now?

>> 285 miles east of cape hatteras. looks like it's starting to make the turn to the north. it was going northeast yesterday and last night. it looks like it's going more north and toward southern jersey in the early morning hours. we start a look at the day planner. we've got temperatures probably as warm as they're going to be all day at 54 degrees. 51 by lunch time. 50 by 5:00. i anticipate winds also increasing. they're not bad this morning although at ocean city we've had gusts to 45 miles an hour. you can see we've got the warnings up and down the coast here. marine storm warnings down in virginia. then they become hurricane force wind warnings. this has to be one of the dumbest things i've seen from the national hurricane center and i respect the heck out of these guys but they stopped issuing warnings north of cape hatteras because it's going to

be extra tropical. consider this a hurricane warning where gusts could be over 85 miles an hour. that is snow in the mountains. we're not growing to talk much about it but there are blizzard warnings from garrett county through the high country of west virginia. there could be more than a foot of wid driven wet snow -- wind driven wet snow in some areas. we'll talk about the rain which has been increasing along coastal areas during the overnight. yesterday they got hammered on the eastern shore. that is finally starting to cross into our eastern suburbs. look at the heavier rains from baltimore down calvert, anne arundel counties picking up more so as you get across the bay into delaware. this is even getting into southern maryland. we're picking that up also toward reedville and the northern neck. locally we're seeing a little enhancement of the rains in montgomery county, down toward waldorf, through d.c. and this is only the beginning of what's probably going to be a very long 36 hours or so around here. here's the latest on sandy as of the 2:00 a.m.

advisory. still 75 mile an hour sustained winds, gusts to 90. pressure down to 950. this is one of the lowest pressures i've seen on the entire storm. this thing is probably going to get a little bit stronger before it comes inland. it is starting to interact with the upper level winds. a storm like this, a situation like this could really only happen in a very short time period late october because you wouldn't ha the winter type winds in the upper levels of the atmosphere. any later it starts to get too cold to get tropical systems in the atlantic. here's the latest track from the hurricane center. they strengthen to 80 mile an hour winds at monday at 8:00. the belief it will be an extra tropical storm, more of a nor'easter. making land fall. i stopped the clock at 1:00 a.m. still just off shore coming in just south of atlantic city here. by tomorrow morning it will be passing philadelphia about 8:00. potential winds 70 miles an hour winds there and down to 50 mile an hour winds by the time we get toward 8:00 p.m.

on tuesday. we're looking at this storm again pulling away from us slowly. so with a track like this, we're still expecting winds around here later today gusting to 50. tonight they could be gusting maybe 60 to 70. and with lots of rain. we're probably going to have lots of trees down and power outages. we'll continue to update wusa9.com, facebook and twitter as well. if when your power goes out you've got your smartphones you can stay up to date with us through social media as well. monika, everything is closed. everything is closed. of course volumes are going to be very light. my biggest concern that i want to keep emphasizing this morning is that with the flooding and the debris that is associated with the storm, that's where you want to be most careful. even with the light volumes this morning we've already had two accidents. one northbound on 270 near montrose road. the other involving a tractor- trailer on the inner loop after route 355. that is now sitting on the shoulder. again with the volumes being this light, it's not going to cause any major delays but that

is going to be my biggest concern. i'm going to step out and kind of give you an indication of what the plans are right now. of course we've been telling you already metrorail bus, metro access, all service suspended until further notice. you might just want to go to metro alerts for your updates. of course vre, amtrak, all of those services also suspended in the northeast corridor for today at least. we will keep you posted as that situation changes in the coming days. if you are planning to use other services, you also want to be aware that storm closures, beach drive is shut down for a stretch as well. as you travel on little falls parkway, you want to be aware normally it's open between river road and mass avenue. today it's already closed in anticipation of flooding. and same with the sligo creek parkway between wayne avenue and -- near wayne avenue. so be aware of those closures as well. also air travel, at least 7500 flights canceled in the

northeast corridor. you want to call ahead to your airline. today of course everything is canceled but as the day comes, you also want to call ahead to find out about your airline. again, if you're traveling outside early this morning, let's take a look at some of the roads right now. volumes are light. 270 at montrose road still looks okay. let's go to our next camera shot. this is in southern maryland. route 4 at the beltway near andrews air force base. volumes are light. as you head for the wilson bridge you should be okay. in virginia northbound 95 i think this is how it's going to look all morning long here in springfield. a quick look at 395 in landmark at duke street heading up to the 14th street bridge. i'll keep you posted on any changes on the roads at 4:47. back to you. >> thanks, monika. 9news team coverage of hurricane sandy continues with a look at things on the northern eastern shore. >> kristin fisher is live along rehoboth beach, delaware to look at the conditions there so far how are we doing, kristin. >> reporter: doing pretty well.

good morning to you all from the atlantic sands hotel on rehoboth beach. we started to feel the begins of a hurricane here i'd say maybe 12 hours ago. it increased throughout the night. now we're really starting to feel it. but the amazing thing here is we're going to feel these kinds of winds, see this weather and it's going to get so much worse and it's going to continue for 36 more hours. this hurricane is still 350 miles off shore, the center of it at least. as you stand here, we see these conditions that have been going on for so long. it's mind boggling to think that we're only at the very beginning of n. i know it's really dark out here, folks, tough to see, but the surf has been kicking up hard all night long. we've got about 14-foot waves right now. they have been pounding. my hotel room is right on the beach. they've been loud all night long. wind gusts increasing throughout the night. the hotel is very secure.

this hotel is made for this sort of stuff but definitely starting to feel a little bit of shaking during the big e gusts throughout the night. we have lots of rain, wind. this has been going on for 12 hours and already we're starting to see innocent flooding, significant pooling all along rehoboth beach, especially on the bay side. i would say yesterday around 4:00, we were over at the bayside of dewey beach. already starting to see some flooding there. that was before we'd even started to see any of these kinds of wind or any of this kind of rain. also seeing a lot of road closures already this morning. route 1 down to ocean city completely shut off, although we've seen lots of folks throughout the night trying to get out there, take some pictures. we've seen lots of boogie boarders trying to hit the surf earlier yesterday afternoon but of course this is so dangerous. this is under a mandatory

evacuation order still which means you're not being forced to leave but if something goes wrong, there's no guarantee people can come in here to help get you out. another thing we've been hearing, there's been a lot of talk on social media about ocean city, the ocean city pier possibly being down. just got a report from law enforcement officers over there. they say the ocean city pier still standing so good news now but again still, this is a very, very beginning of hurricane sandy. i know right now i'm looking pretty nice and dry, just a little bit of rain on me. i know that's not would you all want to see back in washington, d.c. i promise you we're going to be out here for maybe one more live shot but then we'll be getting out, getting nice and wet and getting in this stuff and showing you what it's like here a rehoboth beach. stay safe. back to you. >> you too, kristin, stay safe. the red cross, national

capital region, i would imagine you have to try to mobilize people, too, not just the electric companies. >> we have volunteers at the ready. we are right now mobilizing volunteers and our equipment. we're getting ready to hear where we might be able to help our government and local agency partners in any shelters that are opening. and we are -- our main message, though, is for everyone to be safe and remember that preparedness depends on you. >> cheryl, right now, the process would be the local governments will tell you where they're opening shelters and you will assist them in that? what else does the red cross do in an emergency like this? >> our main message is preparedness. one of the things we would like people to do is make sure at home you have three days of basic supplies. that information is on our website, redcross.org. the other thing is if you're an eligible blood donor, once the

storm passes, we strongly suggest that you come give blood because many of the blood drives up and down the east coast that we were depending on for life saving blood have been postponed of course. >> cheryl, there are a lot of families if they are forced to evacuate, they do have pets. we remember during hurricane katrina, people were forced to abandon their pets. are there any shelters that you know of that will accept families with their animals? >> i don't know right now, but i would say everybody should keep in touch with media, like yourselves, because as shelters open, they will let us know if they are pet friendly. but certainly if you are sheltering at home, you should have what you need for your pet and have it now and have it ready and have three days worth of it. >> what's the protocol to getting some of your team members on the ground, say there's a situation where there's a tense emergency and your help is needed, how does

somebody contact you specifically and put in a request? >> what they do is they will go through their local emergency agencies like the police, fire department or their governments and we get called. then our volunteers and staff who are trained in these services are at the ready and provide the help that is needed. >> cheryl kravitz with the national capital area red cross. cheryl, you stay safe as well in this store. thank you for your help. >> thank you. >> you're welcome. wusa9 will be with you throughout the storm. we'll be on air round the clock. our entire newsroom is out in full force. our help desk is here to answer your questions and concerns throughout the storm and we can be reached through many different ways including on facebook. just make sure let us know when we can help. >> we'll give you the number for the help line. you can also call the newsroom. everybody is worried about losing power. we have you covered whether you have electricity or not. all of our news will be live

streaming on our mobile site so if you lose power, you can watch your news on your tablet, your phone, your mobile device. you can get up to date information. our weather app is fantastic as well so download that. we will be right back.

4:16 on this monday morning. hurricane sandy throwing a little rain and breeze our way now, but it's only going to be increasing this afternoon. those winds by 6:00 might be closer to 40 miles per hour with gusts 50 plus. we're looking at temperatures slowly falling into the upper 40s by 6:00. i'll be back in a few minutes with the latest information on

hurricane sandy. now over to monika with timesaver traffic. if you're planning to head around town, you're going to find volumes are light but they are wet. the roads are wet. you want to be aware that it's going to abtough ride later in the -- to be a tough ride later in the afternoon. if you need to get anything double, get it done early. if you are planning to take a plight out this morning, you want to be aware the airports are open. you want to check with your airline first to see if your flights are coming in or out this morning. a few flights still coming into the airports and going out, but not for long. we'll be back with more traffic of course coming up in a few minutes. back to you, mike and andrea. >> d.c. is preparing residents for the storm. 5500 sandbags are being dues butted yesterday at coolidge high school in northwest. also distributed in the bloomingdale community which is prone to flooding in smaller storms. >> the d.c. fire department were knocking on doors to make sure residents are prepared. they subjected moving furniture to an upper -- suggested moving furniture to an upper level and

move cars. pepco wants to remind customers about the dangers of downed trees and power lines, another reason to get your car in a safe location. with the strong winds some of the crews may not be able to assess the damage until wednesday morning. so please keep that in mind. and 9news now will remain on the air throughout this storm. >> we'll bring you the latest on how the storm is affecting you and your neighbors. as we head to break, let's take a live look outside right now. you're watching 9news. stay with us.

good morning. welcome back to 9 news now, a special edition. we're on at 4:20 to get you the latest information coming in this morning. pretty calm winds. i saw lots of super cans on the street. i tweeted yesterday don't do that because they can become projeect tiles. if you can -- project tiles. if you can, bring them in. what are the winds and where is sandy now? >> winds aren't bad around here. it's 250 miles east of cape hatteras so it's hundreds of miles away. >> still moving slowly? 15 miles an hour? >> tropical storm force winds already reaching into connecticut for this storm. it has tropical storm force winds extending the diameter 800 miles. this thing is a monster, a very

large storm. we start off with a look at the day planner once again. we're expecting conditions to be going downhill rather quickly here, especially into the afternoon. 51 by noon and 50 degrees or so by 5:00. increasing winds. we could have gusts later this afternoon 40, 50 miles an hour. this morning you still have a little bit of time to make final preps but let's start with sandy, the very latest. winds at 75, gusting to 90. pressure has dropped to 950 millibars. we have another advisory coming up within the next half-hour. they updated big advisories every six hours, 5:00, 11:00 and intermediate advisories every three hours. it's moving north at 14. it started to make the turn. last night it was moving northwest. now it's moving north. then it will make the turn to the north, northwest and even west, northwest. expecting landfall just south of atlantic city sometime 1:00, 2:00 tonight. winds will increase a little bit. 80 if not 85 miles an hour around the center but the time it makes landfall. you'll notice an l, not a

hurricane symbol considered to transition to this extra tropical storm, more of a normal -- not normal but more of a run ter time low -- of a wintertime low as opposed to a tropical low. by tuesday night maybe down to 50 mile an hour winds as it approaches perhaps just east of the state college area up toward penn state and what's left of this forecast by the hurricane center to drift up into new york state here later into wednesday. i want to show you something. this is a combination of some of the latest winds and the waves. to the east, southeast, looks like the waves could be topping 40 feet. we do have bowie reporting 30- foot waves. east of virginia beach, 20-foot waves. this bowie is about 15 miles or so east of rehoboth. waves of 23 feet. sustained winds at 45 gusting to 58 miles an hour. so this is the core of the strong winds just off shore. ocean city gusting 38. we've been gusting 40 at

norfolk. close to 40 at virginia beach. right now as andrea said not terrible. we've got north winds at 17 miles an hour. so not horrible. we are watching the storm which is throwing snow into the mountains of west virginia. blizzard warnings in effect there all the way up to garrett county. could be more of a foot wet wind driven snow. incredible. got the heavy rains coming on shore now and getting closer and closer to the metro. they've been on the eastern shore since last night. now into the bay and east of us in anne arundel and calvert counties, s.a.t. mary's and -- st. mary's and down toward the northern neck as well. getting moderate showers starting to show up right now in d.c. these are sustained winds forecast by the hurricane center. this was on facebook yesterday. looks like the heaviest winds, the winds, the damaging windses, 58 miles an hour or higher could be in toward the metro here tonight. here's 8:00, especially on the east side of town. overnight east and northeast seems to deal with the worst of the winds. you'll notice the hurricane force winds shrinking as the storm comes on shore.

even through tomorrow evening, tuesday 8:00 p.m., still have winds greater than tropical storm force and that may be the case right until the early morning hours on wednesday when things finally settle down. wednesday still going to abbreezy day but we -- to be a breezy day but we will not be nearly as windy. rain totals could exceed 8 inches. 4 to 8 locally in the metro. a ton of rain. we have flood concerns. you've got wind concerns which will bring down trees and power lines. a couple of final prep thoughts, pack your freezer. you can throw water that will freeze, the more frozen mass you have should the power go out, the longer it will stay cold. secure yao lawn furniture. clear leaves from drains. i know it's raining. got trees around your house, sleep downstairs so nothing falls on your house and does some damage or worse. the worst weather will be between 8:00 p.m. and 8:00 a.m. tomorrow morning. here's the forecast. today 52. of course severe weather alert days today and tomorrow with

sandy. tomorrow only 46. it's going to be raw. rain tapering to showers i think later in the afternoon. maybe a shower or two wednesday. mid-50s. not the gratest halloween. -- greatest halloween. you'll see temperatures the rest of the week a little cool saturday. this is the weekend by the way. with everything else going on, clocks fall back. monika, your turn. >> at least we get an extra hour. we'll need it, absolutely. what you need to know of course with so many closures, school closed, government offices closed, you're not going to have to worry about volumes but some of you do have to get to work regardless. what are you going to do? you're going to need to know about the closures. storm closures beach drive right now is shut down between the d.c.-maryland line and grovener lane. sligo creek parkway, same

story. it tends to flood between wayne avenue and piney branch road. it's already shut down there. if you're planning to use the airlines, you want to know all three airports are open right now. they are staging for some flights to come in and out of the airports but very, very few. so you'll want to call ahead and see what is going in and out of your airports this morning. all three airports are open but as you can see, about 7500 flights canceled in the northeast corridor. let's take a quick look outside and show what you it looks like. if you're planning to head here on 270, this is basically what it looks like all around town. wet road conditions. volumes are light. be careful as you head outside. i will have updates of course throughout the morning on any more road closures and what you need to know. back to you guys. >> thank you, monika. at 4:26, here's a quick recap of some things you need to know if you live in maryland. all maryland government offices are closed today. public transportation across the state also closed. maryland residents are asked to stay home to try and keep area roads clear for emergency

personnel. also all early voting activities have been suspended for today. the early voting hours missed today will be rescheduled for friday. maryland governor martin o'malley says the decision to shut down the government was made to remain consistent with the district as well as the federal government. there is no absentee vote drag in fairfax county, virginia. the county has also set up emergency information line for residents. the phone number 703-350-1300. it can be used for 24 hours by fairfax county residents who have questions related to sandy. this number is not to be used in an actual emergency. for that dial 911. as we mentioned earlier, all d.c. government office buildings and fates are closed today. -- and facilities are closed today. five d.c. public recreation centers will operate as emergency shelters and recovery sites. they include guy mason recreation center at 3600 calvert street in northwest.

the emery rec center at 5801 georgia avenue in northwest. turkey thicket recreation center at 1100 michigan avenue northeast. deanwood recreation center at 1350 49th street northeast, bald eagle recreation center at 100 joliet street southwest. residents are asked to please call 311 to report downed trees. you're asked to only call 911 for true emergencies. all d.c. residents again are being asked to stay home and stay indoors. montgomery county has three shelters which will open today at noon. they are at the white oak community recreation center. that's at 1700 april lane in silver spring. this one is for both people and their pets. we were asking the red cross about that. this one in silver spring is open for people and their pets. the white oak shelter will only be accepting -- is the only one

accepting pets. there are two others for people only. they are at the activities center at bora -- bohrer park at 506 frederick avenue in gaithersburg. and the mid-country recreation center at 2004 queensguard road in silver spring. you're watching 9news now covering hurricane sandy. we'll be right back.