closed. emergency personnel, however, are still asked to report in. every major public transportation agency is also closed today, including metro transit and vre. almost every flight into or out of our region has been canceled. reagan national and bwi have canceled all flights into and out of the airports through at least the end of the day we presume and perhaps even into tomorrow. you're advised as a result to call your airline if you're even thinking about going to the airport today. marc is shut down today. amtrak has canceled most northeast corridor trains as well. howard is tracking the storm and will be up with a forecast in just a bit. first, here are the latest outage numbers. pep exoa is reporting 38 -- pepco is reporting 38 outages. the numbers will be going up significantly over the next few hours and into tomorrow. dominion power says it has 137 customers in the dark in northern virginia. smeco has 18 out alleges in

southern maryland. allegheny power is working to restore power to 141 of its customers. bge is reporting more than 2,000 outages, 26 in prince george's county and more than a hundred in howard county. here's a quick recap of some things that you need to know if you live in maryland. all maryland government offices are closed today. public transportation across the state is closed. maryland residents are asked to stay home to try and keep the area roads clear for emergency personnel. that means all early voting activities are suspended. the early voting hours that are missed today will be rescheduled on friday. maryland governor martin o'malley says the decision to shut down the government was made to remain consistent with the district as welling a the federal government -- well as the federal government. >> 9news coverage begins with a look at the conditions in montgomery county. >> andrea mccarren is on river

road in bethesda with the latest. and ya? >> reporter: -- andrea? >> reporter: jc and matt, things have not really worsened since the last time we talked but they certainly haven't gotten better. the rain is pelting us now, kind of falling sideways. a couple of notes to tell you about. we're close to little falls parkway still closed between river road and mass avenue. we also have some other road closures to report to you now. parts of beach drive and sligo creek parkway now closed also due to standing water. but as you know having been in the area for a while, those are fairly typical closures for any type of heavy rainstorm. also can tell you an important reminder as you're taking a live look at traffic on river road, it's been consistently heavy throughout the morning. thankfully there is still power here. but there are expected to be widespread power outages as you know. and state law requires that

every intersection that does not have power should be treated as a four-way stop. there are shelters across montgomery county opening as of noon today. one of them, the white oak recreation center does allow people and their animals. they're -- there are also shelters in silver spring. i'm sure we have a complete list of all of them on our website wusa9.com. for those of you who are still looking for fuel in montgomery county, there are at least two gas stations that still have it here on river road. we also know some of the businesses and stores are open. oddly enough i think some people are taking this day off as an opportunity to run errands. this dry cleaner right over here has been doing a booming business this morning. people so far undeterred by the weather but things are going to get worse. hopefully people will stay in

for the rest of the afternoon. back to you. >> andrea, thank you very much. residents in prince george's county are also keeping an eye on hurricane sandy. >> todd walker joins us from prince george's county. he has a look at conditions there. todd, what is happening? >> we're feeling the wind pick up. the rain pick up as well. i'm joined by mayor walter james of bladensburg. what do you want to get out to the people who live here in bladensburg? >> we're really concerned about the safety of our residents. that's the most important thing. we're asking individuals only if essential to go out. be home and be safe with the family. with the town, we have actually put in place all our essential employees who are definitely on call. we're making sure we're able to respond. i just left one of our senior citizens facilities in bladensburg. we're making routine checks on our seniors and we'll continue to do that throughout the storm. >> reporter: you're encouraging people for stay home.

we have seen people come down to the park to check out the conditions. it's not too bad right now but in a couple of hours it's going to get pretty bad. >> oh, yes. the safety of our residents is so important. we encourage everybody to shelter in place until the storm passes. >> reporter: you are going to be setting up some shelters. >> in the past we have been working with our schools, with our past events. we will continue in that same vein. >> reporter: how can people find out that information if they do need a shelter. >> you can contact our town hall or also call our police department at 301-864-6080 for information. >> reporter: mayor walter james, thanks so much for coming out here and braving the rain for us. >> thank you. stay safe. >> reporter: thank you. i want to show you we're out here at bladensburg waterfront park. what we'll be watching, the mayor says this is a little higher than high tide already. we're sure the water is only going to come up more. as i ask our photographer to

pan over, this dock over here is an anchored down dock. this is what we'll be watching. this dock does not float. as the water comes up, it will come up and over that dock. that will be kind of our barometer as to how high the anacostia river is going to be. again we have seen the rain come through, the winds blowing through in sheets. we've gotten some strong gusts here in just a little bit but not too bad so far. again we're expecting in the next couple of hours -- [ no audio ] >> that was todd walker reporting to us from prince george's county. obviously we're having technical problems as we will from time to time of course because of the storm. let's go now to jc who's over at the 9news storm alert hot line. jc? yes, we have set up this hot line so if viewers have questions they'd like to have answered, we have volunteers who are going to be here all day to give you important information. and everybody is on the phone. that's good. let me give you the phone number to call.

the phone number is 202-895- 5560. 202-895-5560. i want to find out what people are asking but everybody is talking right now. could someone tell me what the questions are? maybe colleen can. what are the most questions being asked? >> we get a lot of questions about how bad is the storm going to be. getting questions about generators and whether you can run generators in the rain. the info we're getting is no, you can't run generators in the rain. >> and do not put them in your garage. they need to be ventilated. >> that's right. we're getting very specific questions from folks about what's going on in their neighborhood. >> they are concerned. they're taking this seriously. because officials certainly are taking it seriously. again if you have a question that you'd like to ask, we will have volunteers here all day and throughout the night and tomorrow. the number to call is 202-895-

5560. we're going to take a break. we'll be right back.

a reminder, we have you covered whether you have power or not. starting this morning all of our news from wusa will be live streaming on our mobile state. it's a good one. m.wusa9.com. so if you lose power, you can watch 9 nuts 9news -- watch 9news on your tablet and get the most up to date information. >> topper is here with information on our weather. we need to hear what he has to say. >> and give how we a break for just a -- howie a break for just a minute. >> a well deserved break. >> well deserved. the central pressure is a way of measuring the storm's strength. it's way lower than the models thought. that's bad. that means it's stronger. >> oh, wow. >> because of that, the wind field that howard showed you about half an hour ago has actually become a little more -- well threatening to the metro area bringing higher

winds directly overhead. let's -- we'll start with the track. the track hasn't changed that much. it's still going to go into southern new jersey and they'll have hurricane force winds there as we get into later tonight and it will become extra tropical. tropical systems feed on the warm sea surface temperatures. when we get a cold core storm, that feeds on the temperature contrast in the atmosphere. this type of storm really can only form in a relatively short window of time, like october when the sea surface temperatures are still pretty warm and we're also now beginning that transition getting some colder air down from the north. so winds 90 miles per hour as it makes landfall tonight around 8:00 or 9:00. then it goes essentially through the northern bay across northern maryland. even tomorrow morning -- and this is sort of the scary part. at 8:00 tomorrow morning, still 70 mile per hour wind n. is over land now. now it's just a cold core storm that's feeding on the temperature contrast and still

in some ways strengthening. hard to believe. then it gets back into south central pa by 8:00 tomorrow night. winds are still 50. that's pretty impressive. we did some research last night. this could actually become the strongest land-based storm that we have on record in terms of central pressure. it may even eclipse the 1993 superstorm back in march. after that look at the wind fields now. this is what really caught my eye when i first came into the weather office and howard had this on the air. tropical storm force winds extend pretty much forever across the eastern seaboard. now we have these winds 68 to 73 in orange. watch what happens. they push right toward the immediate metro area by 8:00 tonight. so as bad as it is now, things are going to get worse as we go through the day and through the night. look at the expansive field of hurricane force winds in red. these winds are more than 75 miles per hour. so all of the delmarva, not just at the shore but all the delmarva will see hurricane

force winds. that includes the bay bridge, all of the bay and across into even anne arundel county, even into southern maryland. you could see hurricane force wind. we get into 2:00 in the morning on tuesday, we still have problems. we still have winds up to 73, 70 miles per hour. back to winchester. we still have a little bull's eye of hurricane force winds in maryland extending to philadelphia, northern delaware and southern sections of new jersey. just an increditsible storm. this -- incredible storm. this is 8:00 on tuesday. we still have a tremendous amount of wind across the immediate metro area, winds that could gust over 60, 65, even 70 miles per hour. the problem is, howard mentioned this earlier, a lot of rain so the ground is going to be wet. we factor in the winds, we're going to see a lot of damage. there's just enough of a canopy left on the trees to cause some big problems. even by wednesday morning, halloween morning, we still have tropical storm force winds almost to charlottesville, almost to spotsylvania county

and almost all the way down to fredricksburg. then finally we see the winds abate as we go through thursday and the storm finally begins to push off to the north. so it will be historic. we know that. critical times essentially now through 6:00 p.m. on tuesday. damaging winds 40 to 60 plus and flooding is likely 2 to 8 inches of rain. >> i was just reading something online. the flooding forecast for the river, the high drawlists over at sterling say this could be the worst since ag necessary as far as -- agnes as far as the rain expected. the inland flooding threat 4 to 8 inches of rain is going to be tremendous. i know we're talking about the winds and trees down, the damage along the coast but let's not at all forget the flood potential out of this. >> that's a good point. who forget agnes. i think we came close to the flooding of agnes in the 1986 blizzard and the rain. some local impacts, leesburg 40 to 60 miles per

hour. your critical times 6:00 p.m. tonight through 2:00 p.m. tomorrow. frederick, we've got you up to hurricane force winds, 3 to 6 inches of rain. some areas west of town have already seen 2 and 3 inches of rain. fairfax and d.c. 45 to 70 mile per hour winds. critical times 6:00 p.m. tonight until about 2:00 p.m. tomorrow, 3 to 7 inches of rain. la plata, we may have upped these winds a little bit. 65. 4 to 8 inches of rain. annapolis certainly you'll have hurricane force winds, 50 to 75 and essentially you're under the gun now right on through 2:00 tomorrow. 5 to 10 inches of rain. we will be back in just a little bit with more on sandy and of course we'll keep you posted online wusa9.com and on air. stay with us.

welcome to 9news. i'm matt jablow. i'm jc hayward. we have team coverage of hurricane sandy. scott broom with more on the situation. >> reporter: good afternoon. here in annapolis, the rain continues. i just listened to topper's forecast before that break and listened to him talk about the potential for hurricane force winds all over the region, but of course i'm interested in annapolis right now because that's where i am. that's really something that i don't think folks here can think of in recent memory and they have had some whoppers here. when its bell came -- when isabel came through annapolis and you're looking at my from

my dashboard camera mobile vehicle, i'm here at the store front of the city dock area where when isabel came, the water was about up to here. so there's a lot of anxiety as we go into this storm which is predicted to be much, much worse. you can see behind me here, the sand bags are out. these rows of shops are still open. this is a starbucks coffee. sandbags are out. i'd be interested in getting topper's take on this as well. i talked to some locals today. because of the circulation of this storm, the winds in this section of the maryland coastline on the chesapeake bay are blowing south pretty hard. the first round of high tides and expected tidal flooding did not materialize here and the wind is continuing to intensify. that is pushing the water away from annapolis and over toward the eastern shore. good news here.

perhaps not so good news on the eastern shore. then after the storm blows through with hurricane force winds, you get to the back of the store. the winds shift around. that's when they may see the tidal flooding here in annapolis. they haven't seen it yet. people are anxious about it but they're also pretty naught nautically oriented here in annapolis and know the wind directions so they're pretty confident they're not going to see tidal flooding in the next few hours. they're worried about that the day after and the day after that. why don't i take you on a little drive just briefly off of my dashboard camera. i'm going to hop in the car. you can hear me as i get in and get myself oriented and get the seat belt on. just going to take you for a little trip here around city dock so you can see what's going on and see the conditions are in pretty decent shape here. i mean, this is a section right here at city dock where traditionally even a strong thunderstorm in the summer can

flood streets here. the only flooding we're seeing right now is just flooding from the heavy rains. coming up now as we circle around the harbor masters office here at the city dock in annapolis, you can see the high water signs are up just like the sandbags are out, but so far there are no hazards. as we drive slowly along the walkways here in the pier, you can see a lot of the larger yachts are tied up here. they are in. a lot of extra lines tied up on these yachts. they're very hopeful that the tidal flooding does not materialize because that can be a big problem down here as the water lifts these boats higher than the sea wall. that could be a big, big issue. you can hear the scanners on in the backgrounds as well. as i continue to drive you around the city dock area of annapolis, you can't leave this region without talking about the bridges. the bay bridge right now is open but it has wind

restrictions on it. wind restrictions which means that empty box trucks, large tractor-trailers and the like are not allowed on the bridge but the bridge is still open. topper talked about the increasing winds and as the winds get upwards of 50, 55 miles per hour, you can expect the bay bridge to close. that is going to be a significant issue, particularly as people who are still out and about making final preparations, maybe moving from one location to another, folks are still trying to get across the bay bridge. i would suggest you get that done sooner than later before the winds kick up any more. i'm getting outside the vehicle again now. we're back here on the waterfront in annapolis, the end of city dock. conditions not too bad. the rain has lightened up compared to the way it was a little bit earlier this afternoon. the wind has lightened up some so maybe we're between some of the outer bands of the storm right now. everybody here hunkered down and expecting a lot, lot worse

than they're seeing and it's for extended periods of time that's creating a lot of the anxiety here in annapolis. that's it for now. scott broom reporting from my mobile newsroom vehicle. looks like i've lost my ear so i can't hear you. wait a minute. going to rig it back up and see if i can hear you. >> can you hear me now? >> reporter: yeah. i'm sorry. yeah, i've got you. one other thing. this is called tv news survival. you may notice a lot of reporters walking around with microphones wrapped in the basics. zip lock bag. we're already getting wet and we certainly want to keep our gear as dry as possible through this. this is one of my little survivor -- tv news survivor skills which is wrapping everything and anything that's electronic in a zip lock bag. >> all you budding journalists out there, pay attention to

what scott is doing. he's doing it the right way. thank you. a quick note for all of you folks out there who are wondering where some of your favorite shows are. >> like the young and the restless, bold and beautiful and the talk is going to be on our digital 9.2 channel. >> if you're wondering where our digital 9.2 channel is, that's a good question. just follow along the bottom of the screen. we'll be scrolling that information throughout the day to give you an idea where you can find the young and the restless, bold and beautiful and the talk on our digital 9.2 channel. it's different depending on how you get your television, whether satellite or cable. it varies person to person, customer to customer. follow along. watch. we'll be scrolling it fairly regularly on the bottom of the screen. the beach front atra hoe both -- at rehoboth beach was evacuated by residents making way for hurricane sandy. >> kristin fisher joins us.

>> reporter: hey guys. we just got our latest update from the suspect county emergency operations center. i want to read you a direct quote from what their director just said. he said the next 24 hours are the most critical as the height of the storm comes ashore with potentially devastating effects not seen here in half a century. they're expecting record inland and coastal flooding. but we've already got some flooding on the bay side of rehoboth beach. we're already seeing some scattered outages. but it is only going to get worse which is really hard to believe when you take a look at some of the waves we're seeing out here. let me show you some of the erosion we're seeing already. the boardwalk is looking good. but down here, this type of erosion -- want to make sure some waves aren't coming. this type of erosion up and down rehoboth beach's boardwalk, it's everywhere. what's happening as these waves get bigger and bigger and

closer to shore, they're coming in. they're coming through these walkways down to the beach and then they're all just -- the force of the water is just driving right underneath the boardwalk. at the moment it's holding strong but we are still several hours away from the height of this storm. this is going -- good gust there. this is going to continue at least until tomorrow, late morning. these are some of the strongest gusts i've felt thus far since we've been out here. kind of died off a little bit but now it's coming back nice and strong. the other thing that's really shocking right now -- i want to get out of this hole. the other thing really surprising that we've been feeling is the temperature. in the last 15 minutes i would say -- what do you think, joe? how much has it dropped? crow is our photographer. we've been debating thcht we think it's gone down maybe about -- it feels like 10 degrees in 15 minutes. that's probably an exaggeration but i tell you what, i'm pretty much in full on ski gear out here covering a hurricane and

it just feels wrong. it doesn't feel right. the one good thing is whether you like tv reporters standing out here on the beach or not, one thing that i think we can all appreciate is just the spectacle that mother nature is putting on for us out here. it is dangerous, potentially deadly. we don't want anybody out here. most people are heeding those warnings but just looking at these waves crashing over and over the closer they get, the more they sweep the beach away. it's just incredible to watch. this is a pet good size beach. we are -- pretty good size beach. we're losing a lot of it. the vegetation is holding the beach in place quite well but the fence is being swept out. the beach is going along with it. again we still have so much longer to go. in terms of the rest of the region in this area, as i said the boardwalk here is good. ocean city way far down in maryland not so good.

their main pier, that big iconic pier in ocean city, significant damage to that. dewey beach, bethany beach which are a little lower than where we are at rehoboth beach, they have a bit more flooding than what we have here. and also we can't even get there to see it. delaware route 1 completely closed. you can't get there. there's just water all over the roadways. even if we could, we really technically aren't allowed to. let's go over this way. our lens is getting hosed. even if we could drive down there, we're not allowed to because right now there is a level 2 driving restriction in place. that went into effect at 5:00 this morning. so if you are in the delmarva peninsula, in rehoboth beach, anywhere in sussex county, you're not allowed to be driving right now unless you are emergency or essential personnel. you can actually get a ticket for it. it's 1125 bucks for a first --

it's 125 bucks for a first offense. you could also be jailed up to 30 days. eight no joke. they're taking it very seriously -- it's no joke. they're taking it very seriously. part of it is because there were so many spectators out here for irene and they don't want that again when you could be dealing with a once if a century sort of storm. look at that break. oh, my gosh. that's what you would see surfers going through, those little tubes. i don't even know the proper terminology for that. i mean, we've just been seeing set after set of incredible waves out here. in terms of what we're seeing like damage, stuff like that, no real huge trees down. no power lines down, at least right here in the boardwalk area. we know we're seeing it up and down more on the bay side again. it's just the story right now is the waves. we've got a good amount of

rain. it's definitely blowing in my face. we're getting some good stronger gusts of wind. but sustained winds, they don't feel too bad. it still feels more like a tropical storm than a hurricane. of course that's because hurricane sandy still several hundred miles away from us here. let's just go back to the boardwalk real quick. i'll show you some of the businesses that -- how they're dealing with this storm. you can see some of the -- see the stand over here on this side of the boardwalk. it's been pushed back from the beach up against our hotel, the atlantic sands hotel. didn't get through there. but look how close it came to these first floor rooms at the atlantic sands hotel. the debris has come all the way up here. you can see they have needed every little bit of these sandbags, the boards, all the tape. every single business along the rehoboth beach boardwalk looks just like this and farther back