. >> on what to talk to john townsend now joining us on the phone with aaa.ow are things on the roadways? >> we are still telling people to stay off the highways because it is critical out there. our most impossible to get through some neighborhood streets because they have not been plowed yet. >> what are some of the issues you are seeing right now on the roads? have people been heeding the advice or have you had more distress calls? >> going into the last night, we had over 1100 calls. this morning the calls have tapered off because people have not got up and out yet. but some people have. w calle only had one to this morning. 18 in maryland. but those are going to peak today because people will venture out because the storm is technically over, but it does not mean that the effects of the storm are over because we have all the snow drift and snow cover to deal with. there are people who have to go to work tomorrow so they will clear their cars today and try to venture out to test the roads and they will get themselves stuck and stranded. autria: so, you ar

now we want to get over to john townsend. he's with aaa. he's been busy. >> john, you and i have known each other for a long time. what do you think about 270 being shut down. is that an appropriate move by the governor? >> it is an appropriate move. it's matter of life and death. on 270 you have tractor trailers getting stuck. they're hard to rescue. once those skid out of control, then you have the whole road clos closed, and they couldn't clean it. you have to clean it to make it safe for drivers to go out. >> and, john, you know more than 1.5 million car crashes every year are caused because of poor driving conditions related to weather. what kind of tips are you offering at this stage of the cleanup after the snow because i know yesterday when we were trying to just get back to our hotel, people were running lights. they weren't even trying to stop. it's like all rules went out the door. >> right. this is the time when you have to have safety a top priority as the utmost thing. the first thing you have to do is clear all the snow from

john townsend joins us again on the telephone from aaa and joh john, for those who did not hear our interviewesterday you could sum up the work that a. a has been doing since the storm hit. >> we have extricated thousands of motorists and towed thousands more and yesterday in the peak of the storm we were doing. it 1100 person as cross our foot present including people in district of columbia ordered to stay off the road. people are not heeding this and some people have to be at work. and even this morning calls are still coming in. and it's be fudling that people can't put themselves me harm's way. most of these calls have been for tows. but we have thousands of calls literally. that sound like doneald trump but got to be specific we've gotten 4 to 5,000. >> when you say tows, battery died, what was the breakdown. >> 65% for battery breakdowns. batteries that wouldn't start. tires that were flat and door that were locked and then 35% for people who just couldn't go so. those were tows. and the numbers kept mounting until the peak of storm. but, they tapered off this morning as allison said.

appearing on the today show, john and lisa robinson, who haven't yet turned the ticket into lottery officials, decided to go on television first. (sot / joe townsend - attorney :31 - :38 "well this is over they want to let the public know that they are the winners." the robinson's live next door to the munford grocery store where the ticket was sold. (sot / lisa robinson - unofficial powerball winner :45 - :50 "looked again, they're the same, looked again and the third time i went running down the hallway, john john you got a check these numbers. (sot / john when the news comes on in the morning and they say hey there's a winner been in munford." so what's it like to be winner :xx - because everybody knows." laughs "lost your anonymity." the next stop for the robinson's: turning in their ticket to lottery officials to make it official. mark barger, nbc news. still ahead on midday - toxic water - now a governor is asking for the president's help on fixing the problem. plus we can show you an ice rescue...as crews search for missing teenagers my constipation and belly pain... ...feel like a raging storm. i've tried laxatives... ... but my symptoms k