from sandy may well be in new jersey. president obama got up close and personal with that wreckage today alongside the governor, chris christie. this is all that is left of sea hide heights famous boardwalk, the rollercoaster sits crumbled in the ocean, the ferris wheel suspended over the water. bruce johnson spent his day taking in the damage in nearby asbury park. >> two days after sandy -- tore through here, water so deep it was up to the waist, a lot found that boating is the best way to get around down here. >> we take it one day at a time. >> we make the best of it. >> this is unbelievable. and we live here with my grandmother. she's been in belmar for 80 years and never seen anything

like this. >> if you live in belmar, please leave the area. >> the boardwalk about a mile and a half long, it is all gone. >> i've never seen anything like it before. irene, nothing even close. i went to the beach yesterday and it was like a tornado walked through. i walk it every day. i have never seen anything like it. >> i've never seen anything like it. we've been through storms and blizzards and this one they said it was going to be bad and its with. >> reporter: belmar emergency responders were pulling people from their homes. >> they have been staging ambulances over here and they get boats and kayak out or motor out and pick up whoever needs help. >> the governor is urging patience. >> i think this town is resilient and been through some stuff, so we know to sit and

follow direction. >> derek, we will have more at 11:00. the boardwalk was also destroyed. a lot of flooding and property damage there. right now we are in ocean view, new jersey. but like all of the other small towns, and new jersey is nothing but a bunch of small towns along with newark and atlantic city, a lot of damage here. look behind me at ocean view. some of those people with no power. the lights you see are our lights. when we leave they are in darkness again. and no power means no heat, no cell phone service. just about nothing out here. we've seen some light come back on but nothing over here in the ocean view area. also a lot of flooding over here. we saw people putting out furniture and wet clothing, items that have been destroyed. we saw people pumping water out of their basements here in ocean view. they have come out and talked to us. one of the major concerns is because there is no power, but in the business districts as

well, there is no gas. they can't pump gas here. so you see long lines. we showed it to you last night. they are concerned this can't go along and be allowed to last for many longer because people lose their minds when there is no gasoline for four or five days. they are asking the federal government to get some portable generators out here. >> thank you for giving us a pulse on how they are faring up north. >> and while new york city is reeling, there are signs of recovery. they have limited subway service tomorrow. city buses and two of the three airports are up and running and for the first time this week the new york stock exchange opened today. the engineers are still trying to figure out to how take down the dangling crane in manhattan. >> this river crested at six feet above flood stage.

wind was the biggest problem in brunswick. most of the city still in the dark and residents there trying to deal with a downed trees that are all over the place. >> and didn't dominion virginia power trying to get the last of the customers back online and as of now there are 5800 customers still without power in northern virginia. >> i'm surae chinn where dominion power is still trying to get thousands of people back online. it is a welcome sight to residents after sandy's destruction. >> we have here what was a real quagmire. >> the more damage, the longer the outage and the wait for repairs. waiting anxiously is angus, bundled up and on day two without power. the christensen family is trying to stay plugged in. >> how cold is it inside the home? >> oh, it is freezing. >> did you do all of your

homework? >> no. >> it was a big thump. >> she heard the moment it all went dark. >> boom. >> at the height of a storm a tree came crashing down, taking down a pole and 12 wires and 20 of these cross arms. it is pretty heavy, about 45 pounds, and now the crew is busy trying to replace every single one of them. >> ittivefys some of the more labor intensive work that needs to be done. >> surae chinn, 9 news now. >> so much destruction and we keep saying how bad it might have been and you look at new jersey and you think that could have been ocean city. >> we had 3-8 inches of rain across the area. most of the flooding over in terms of the river flooding. let's start with the manocka fee. they had flooding today but now it is receding. right now it is 3 feet above

flood stage so nothing terrible. now to the potomac, point of rocks, it is just barely above flood stage. and it should be below flood stage by tomorrow morning, about 8:00. and farther south, into wisconsin avenue and georgetown, flood stage is 6 feet and forecast to crest at 8 feet and that will happen in less than an hour and that will cause moderate flooding there. but for the most part we are in good shape in terms of the river flooding. we'll come back and talk about if we're in good shape for trick or treating, gary. >> out on the campaign trail, while president obama spent his day in new jersey, vice president joe biden and the challenger mitt romney were stumping down in florida. mr. biden was hammering the republican ticket for what he said is not giving straight answers. >> everything depends. it depends on the audience you are talking to. >> in tampa, romney avoided

directly attacking the president, but offered subtle remarks. >> i have a plan and i plan to make it happen. >> and according to a new survey out of cbs, president obama leads governor romney by just one point. >> well tonight police on the hunt for a man suspected of launching a series of pipe bomb attacks. 25-year-old lawrence allen stewart iii targeted his ex- girlfriend and two law enforcement officers. the first attacked happened yesterday in fredericksberg. the deputy hadn't been there for over a year. this was over a domestic violence case over his girlfriend. >> i don't care what his record is and i don't think anybody in this room cares what his record is. three acts in the last two days

are of the utmost seriousness to my agency and to the law enforcement community. >> nobody was hurt in any of the attacks. investigators do say stuart is more than likely on the run in a red hyundai accent with a tag, or a pennsylvania tag with the number hlm-1923. >> still ahead on 9 news, no power, no problem. how one man is driving the juice right inside his house. >> and right after the break, we go off to one neighborhood where sandy is not keeping anybody from having halloween fun, especially these little ones. we're back after this.

>> old sandy may have been a super-storm but couldn't wipe the smiles off the kids faces in columbia heights. there they had a parade down

11th street and the trick or treating was going on at the businesses. they had a costume contest but almost every kid got a prize in whatever category the kids could think of. and organizers were worried about rain and flooding and power outages because they wanted to have everybody together. >> this is the best neighborhood for trick or treating. >> it is. we are excited to be part of the community and help the kids out and have a good day. >> and who is this? >> charlie. >> and who is he? >> the pillsbury dough boy. we take him around and they called him the dough boy because he's so fat. >> on 11th street, there was even a dog costume contest. check him out. we'll be back in a minute.

>> hurricane sandy forced a lot of us to get creative just trying to keep the lights on. tonight we hearing from a man in brookeville who used the electric battery of his nissan leaf automobile to power his household items. we have a demonstration of how it works, but we urge you not to try this one at home. >> this nissan leaf is the only reason dawn shelby still has food in his frig. >> when the storm hit, the car

was charged and ready to go. >> a member of the electric vehicle association showed me how to power household items with the smaller battery inside the hood. >> this 12-volt battery is contented to the inverter. >> this makes it possible to use for other energy. >> it has alternating current, which is in every outlet in the house. >> and an extension cord finishes off the rest. >> this is wired through the house to the kitchen here. this is the extension cord coming from the inverter which is connected to the car, the nissan leaf and the refrigerator is plugged in through a meter. now the refrigerator is on, receiving power through the inverter. >> reporter: shelby said it saved him hundreds of dollars in food and more. >> i was able to have a nice hot cup of coffee in the morning all off of energy stored in the car. >> reporter: shelby said he

only lost power for eight hours overnight on monday. >> it wouldn't have been able to power the frig. >> and if trees start coming down in another storm, he'll likely turn to his leaf for power. in brookeville, alex shown add, 9 news now. >> and now why could you not do this with your gasoline vehicle. well they are not safe to run inside the garage and tells us it is not clear if the energy would be efficient enough to power household items for as long as the leaf could do it. remember he said that would go for three days. that's impressive. you have to think, the amount of energy it takes to run a car is more than to just run your toaster. so it would last a lot longer. >> even if you have a generator, you have to fill it with gasoline. this is the nice comfort of your garage, which is nice. >> all right, 55 today. our average high is 64 and we were 84 last wednesday. it seems like a couple of weeks ago, a month ago. let's start with the halloween forecast.

it is okay for the trick-or- treaters. if you've not left yet, treatment -- temperatures in the 40s. and 50 right now and 49 at 8:00. if you go out later. this is spooky music. temperatures in the mid-40s, so you big kids going out late, dress in the mid-40s. and you better kill the music now. temperatures still 52 downtown. dew point 38. winds out of the south at 6 and the pressure is still recovering and will be for a while at 29.62 inches of mercury. satellite picture and radar combined, look at flow of sandy. this is still sandy over nova scotia and down to beckley, west virginia and rain down into eastern sections of kentucky. that is still pretty large. remember it was the largest storm in it diameter, 950 miles wide. close in view, a little bit of snow in garrett county. we'll see more showers kind of pivot down and work their way

from the northwest to the southeast. so i think most of the showers stay in the mountains tonight. a couple could sneak over later. so we have a chance of a shower and maybe a sprinkle for the trick-or-treaters. a lot of clouds more tan anything else. a lot of 40s now. 46 in gaithersburg, 48 in vienna and fairfax. still 50 in burke and 50 over in college park. 48 in bowie and 50 toward andrews. so chilly for the trick-or- treaters. temperatures 46-5. maybe a sprinkle. a dry commute. and kids will need a jacket in the morning. and i think the big kids will need a jacket in the morning. we have 30s and 40s to start. partly cloudy tonight, breezy. we'll call it cold, maybe a shower. mountain snows continue. a low of 36-42. winds west southwest at 10-15. now tomorrow morning, becoming partly sunny, breezy and chilly. you'll need a jacket. 30s and 40s.

and winds welt southwest -- west southwest at 10-15 and that is generated by sandy. by afternoon, partly sunny, breezy and cool. perhaps a shower. high temperatures around 55 and winds westerly at 10-15. next three days, 9 weather alerts, green, green, and green. breezy tomorrow, more sun on friday and 55. saturday, 52, terps in town, cool for the game but not bad. next seven days. redskins in town, temperatures milder on sunday. about 60s. clouds come in late sunday. the game will be fine but as kristin mentioned, it is their 80th anniversary and it is like homecoming so if you get there late it could be a shower. rain on monday. watching the storm on election day, and low 50s. right now we'll just say cloudy and low 50s. >> that's why i did the early voting thing today. >> smart man. >> yes. we'll be back in a minute.

>> 9 news now will be right back. 9 news now is sponsored in part by michael and son. if you can't, we can.

>> in the mail bag tonight, sandy the super-storm that smacked us around but put the serious beatdown on our neighbors to the north in new york and new jersey. if your lights never went out, our good friend john from chantilly said give credit to the storm from over the summer. the reasoning is the der etcho in june took down the weaker trees and some of the infrastructure was replaced. that left more infrastructure for sandy to damage and the bright lining for a devastating storm. make some sense, john. there have to be a finite number of weak trees at one time and that herd has been thinned around here. and walton from virginia who said he is 91, had this to say.

i believe god has spoken. god has given d.c. a washing. it is time to clean up washington. we survived sandy but never lost power. suspect the hurricane was not natural but hot air from all of those political candidates running for office. well, craig, that would explain some things and it would comfort us with the idea that maybe we won't see anything like this again for another 4 years. and finally, a hearty note of thanks from bruce in crownsville, maryland. i found that i tuned straight to channel 9 to learn first- hand about the status of sandy through your exceptional coverage of the hurricane and the impact around our area. i appreciated the live on-scene telecasts for the reporters there to bring us immediate coverage of the storms as they crossedded through the washington metro area. please express my gratitude to

your staff for a job well done. well consider gratitude expressed. and to you for so many kind words. frankly, going all hands on deck like that when disaster strikes and keeping you informed and safe, that's why a lot of us got into this business. so your e-mail is high praise indeed. so please send more. the address is mailbag@wusa 9.com. and don't forget your name and where you are writing from. that is it for our report. i'll be back here at 11:00. log on to wusa9.com any time. happy halloween.

♪ "e.t." will there be a celebrity telethon to help the recovery in the aftermath of superstorm sandy? the devastating damage. the brave rooftop rescues. >> it's rescue, it's recovery and also, a race against time. >> diane sawyer. "e.t." with the latest video and what's next for the victims. >> here's what "e.t." viewers need to know. plus -- ♪ your hometown >> i have already donated to the american red cross. >> to new jersey. >> no electricity. no internet. >> to hollywood. >> videos, pictures. it's horrific. >> how the country is coming together in the wake of the tragedy. "dancing with the stars" champ, an american hero, j.r. martinez. >> how hard is it to look at this photo? >> the shocking pictures that