a bad deal for pepco customers. >> pepco tried to sell the deal to the public service commission. >> in fact getting better service and because of the merger, rates will go down. >> we tried to get a direct response from the representative of exelon the company that plans to pay roughly $7 billion for pepco. >> i have no comment but the company has a comment. >> by company he apparently means pepco. >> don't believe this will raise rates. we think this will actually lower rates for customers. >> consumer advocates continue to raise red flags. opponents say with the $7 billion price tag, exelon is going to have to generate a lot of money and it's probably going to be looking at its customers. >> we're trying to get the information out and it's really well known. >> one step in what promises to be a lengthy process. this pertains only to the district of columbia. the entire sale would affect millions of customers here in d.c. maryland and all the way up to new jersey and out to delaware. stephen tschida, abc 7 news. >> first lady michelle obama and all five living former first ladies w

less choice for pepco customers. it will lead to higher rates for those same customers. >> in fact, this deal will result in lower rates for consumers in the district of columbia. >> one of the reasons for this merger is that exelon combined with pepco holdings will be able to provide electric distribution service more efficiently. >> the public service commission is expected to make a decision about the sale of pepco to exelon either later this spring or sometime this summer. stephen tschida, abc 7 news. >> new at 4:00 the search is on for the person who smashed the glass at a local pet store and then stole two kittens that were inside. diane cho is in columbia heights with the details. >> you may have heard of the smash and grab at a jewelry store. this time, police say it happened at a local petco store in northwest d.c. while the store was opened. the director for last chance animal rescue tells us the two kittens were there by habitat when somebody came in at 10:30 this morning, broke the glass, smashed them and

where a big merger is in the works between pepco and exelon. merger. today at 10:00 they are worried their rates and reliable will change. supporters say they'll actually save money and they'll pass those savings along to customers. delia? >>> i'm delia goncalves outside the wilson building. leaders say they don't need congressional approval, they are moving ahead with hearings today on how to implement the marijuana law. 10:00 a.m. at the wilson building. >>> nbc, news anchor brian williams has backed out of this thursday's scheduled appearance with david letterman. the decision follows his announcement he is temporarily stepping away from his anchor duties after he falsely said he was in a hop that was hit by a grenade in iraq. >>> a few showers this morning. a better chance of showers mid to late afternoon into the evening hours. highs today in the 40s. tomorrow breezy, late day sun 44. then turning a lot colder thursday and even colder yet by sunday. >>> beverly parkway southbound 295. one of the big slow spots, getting done to fort mead. d

pepco crews are still at the scene making repairs and fire officials say when pepco arrives, the other two exploded down the street, effecting traffic signals at this hour here. we are told it was caused by the snow getting on a transformer. authorities had the area blocked off while they were making repairs and we talked to one man visiting from out of town who said he was stuck for a little while because his car was parked in the area that was blocked off to traffic. >> our friends were parked in front of it just down the street and they let us know they were pulling out the manhole cover and it blew up in the air. they smelled a pretty bad smell and told us to try to get to our car and get out as fast as we could. >> i'm told no one was injured and firefighters say there have been several reported about the city today. >> thank you. apco is reporting more than 3000 power outages. these are mostly in columbia heights and mount pleasant. pepco estimates the majority of repairs will be finished by 10:00 tonight. first, the deep freeze and now the big melt. thousands of you dealing with

ddot and pepco. the $1 billion price tag will largely be funded by customers who will pay up to $3 more a month that pepco hopes will be a small price to pay to improve its service and its reputation. it was just four years ago citing poor reliability that business insider named pepco the most hated company in america which prompted the utility to invest. and d.c. government numbers obtained by "7 on your side" show it has worked. in 2006 the average pepco outage lasted 4.5 hours. by 2013, that was reduced to just over two. the number of outages increased to .88 in 2013. both stats are now below the industry average. >> the d.c. plug initiative will contribute to increased reliability. in tandem with that we'll continue our enhanced program in the district. >> this surveying has already happened in ward three where construction is scheduled to begin in june. this map shows the first stage of the seven year project. according to pepco, these underground lines will be 95% more efficient. but they do co

now, to avoid this scam pepco tells us hang up and call back pepco's customer caroline directly. >>> president obama's request for war powers to expand the fight against isis is creating new battles on capitol hill. republicans are worried it's too limited. democrats are worried it goes too far. namely with boots on the ground. news4's steve handelsman is tracking the debate on capitol hill. steve? >> reporter: pat, thanks. president obama's request for war powers to fight isis that he sent up here at capitol hill strikes a middle ground. he wants limited use of american ground forces for a limited time. his problem is a lot of lawmakers up here want less than that or more. many in congress agree isis is a threat to america. >> we're either going to fight them there or we're going fight them here. >> reporter: but despite the deaths of four americans held by i isis kayla mueller's made public this week, congress might not okay the obama plan to send american combat forces. many democrats fear that will not be limited as the president promises. >> ground troops if necessary, to take t

pepco says that was caused by a transformer blowing a fuse. the combination of the blown fuse box and faulty underground cable cut power to thousands of people. pepco says about 2,600 customers in the district were affected at some point. but at last check, power has been restored to all of them. >>> a fla fire on top of a street car is prompting the distri to inspect the entire system. the car started sparking last night. the fire did go out on its own. engineers tested the power system and everything checked out. right now the street cars are only running simulated service. and mayor muriel bowser says street cars will only whoep it's safe to do so. >>> in southeast, a man and woman are recovering after someone shot them. happened just before 2:00 in the morning on elvins road. a woman of shot in the face and a bullet grazed a man. the shooter is still out there. >>> al shabaab is responsible for the deadly mall attack in kenya. now the terrorist group is making threats against malls here in the united states. as nbc's kristin welker reports

according to pepco underground lines will be 95% more efficient. but they come with a downside. more road construction. >> we will try to limit the inconvenience. we also think this project is worth it. >> ahead a nice start to the weekend, but get ready for warm weather sunday. >> so what do we thank for this weather system? >> the jet stream moving up north, allowing so much of the united states to have unseasonably mild temperatures. tomorrow we get about 60 degrees. look at this great sunrise that we captured from the weatherbug camera. that is from the belle haven country club in alexandria. really brilliant. a good bit of cloud cover today but some peaks of sunshine today. absolutely stunning sunset. we got to 50 degrees today at reagan national. now we have dropped to 38 degrees, dulles international that 31. manassas currently 27 degrees, one of our coldest spots. along the jet stream are some clouds. we see some of those on the satellite radar. further toward the north, the snow showers falling through syracuse, boston, even new york city on the cusp of the wet weather.

we checked the pepco website and so far no major outages. the same with potomac edison. dominion has over 100 households out. no word on whether that is because of the weather. seven is on your side helping you stay warm if your power goes out. you do not want to be without heat tonight. on your screen are a few of the major heating centers around the area. we have a complete list online for you at our website wjla.com. abc 7 is your storm watch weather station. stay connected with us on the go by liking us on facebook and all of us on twitter. we are also sending you alerts through our free smartphone app to keep you ahead of the weather. new tonight, danish authorities say a shooting in copenhagen was a terrorist attack. one person was killed, three police officers were wounded. it happened during a free speech event honoring artists. he has been getting death threats since he depicted the prophet mohammed as a dog in 2007. he was uninjured but says that he believes he was the intended target in today's attack. more than 75 firefighters were called to this town house i

. >>> and a public outcry to proposed merger of exelon and pepco.oncerned the deal could b for business. >> reporter: she was seriously injured, her fiance died by her side. survivor of that terrible hit-and-run accident on the bw parkway. >>> right now at 5:30 an interview you'll see only on news4. >> the fiancee of a man who was killed in a hit-and-run crash on the bw parkway is sharing her story from her hospital bed. >> our pat collins just finished speaking with her. he joins us live to explain how her soon-to-be groom may have saved her life. pat? >> reporter: >> reporter: i just left her hospital room shis getting better but she has a long way to go. her name is jewel pierce. she's the surviving victim of that terrible hit-and-run on the bw parkway. her fiancee was changing a tire. she was holing the light when they were run down. he was killed. she was seriously injured. this is how she describes what happened. >> i was, like checking to see if he's breathing because he was -- my hip was stuck that way, and he was laying like sort of on me.

a push under way to stop exelon from the proposed takeover of pepco. public interest advocates from delaware maryland and d.c. held a news conference in baltimore about an hour ago. exelon said the merger would improve reliability in the region. but opponents say the $6.8 billion deal would lead to increased electricity prices. >> in fact we see a lot of harm to consumers from the proposed acquisition of pepco by exelon and we see a detrimental impact on the ability of households and businesses to lead to the sustainable future that we and regional policymakers have demanded. >> hearings on the merger are being held this month. covering metro now. d.c. lawmakers will hold a hearing today on the metro smoke incident. council members will examine how prepared the city is for emergencies on the metro system in the wake of the fatal accident last month. the district's fire chief, emergency management director and metro's interim general manager are all expected to testify. that incident killed carol glover and 80 others were taken to the hospital with smok

pepco right now has roughly 1,200 customers without power. dominion, virginia power just under 100 smeco just a few and bge under 200. so quick work this weekend, but we're not out of the woods yet with more storms on the way. back to you, bruce. >> if you find yourself later in the cold with no place to go or discover somebody who needs shelter, we've got a list of cold whether shelters and resources on our wusa9 app. >>> the strong winds have caused lots of damage across the region. stephanie ramirez checks out some of the hard hit neighborhoods. >> it sounded like a hurricane came through. there just was all this crashing sound. >> reporter: that sound brian wike later discovered came from his neighbor's tree in alexandria that collapsed on his neighbor's home. >> i've never felt wind that strong in this area. >> reporter: no branches pierced through the windows and the weight of the tree didn't go through the home, but the damage still had him on edge for some of the other trees around the neighborhood like here in northwest where the fro

pepco is on the scene trying to fix the problem. >>> d.c. mayor bouzer says street cars will open when it's safe and not a moment sooner. that's what she tweeted this after after d-dot said there was a brief flash fire on top of one of the cars last night. the sparks went out on its own. the power system was checked out, but they're still going to do a full inspection. right now they're only running simulated service. >>> in southeast, a man and woman are recovering after someone shot them. it happened just before 2:00 in the morn on elvins road. we're told the woman was shot in the face and the bullet grazed the man. police say the shooter is still out there. >>> the road conditions were problematic for a lot of drivers. some had more luck than others. >>> a credible terror threat made to shopping malls, a warning from the top officials. >> you would want everything done to britain your child home. >> a trading-in or selling your car truck or suv? webuyanycar.com takes the hassle out of selling in just 3 easy steps. one, get your free onlin

more than 6800 customers do not have customers right now and -- pepco customers do not have power right now. bge has nearly 3000 people out of power, and so that means that thousands of customers are without power in prince george's county. those will continue to rise throughout the night, but seven is on your side, if the power goes out and you know someone who has lost power, these are a few of the major warning centers -- warming centers around the area tonight. we have complete information at [captioning performed by the national captioning institute, which is responsible for its -- we have complete information at wjla.com. i we continue to coverage of bethesda tonight. >> this was the scene as we hit 66 going west. blinding snow and pavement barely visible with traffic slowing to a crawl. wind was powerful enough to toss around roadside. there was a nice white blanket covering everything. so much snow that the county has declared a snow emergency. even with the cold and the snow and the wind downtown bethesda was fighting against this, and many headed to max brenner's for sweet cho

pepco said there are about 2300 in montgomery county and prince george's county. huge travel delays tonight. reagan national cancel 200 arrivals end up archers. dulles and bwi each canceled about 150. and to the west, richard reeve is live in winchester. people out there dealing with more than eight inches of snow right? reporter: absolutely, scott. behind me, a familiar sight, a pickup truck buried. the snow almost reaching the top of the front wheel. over here, check this out, this parking lot was buried under about a foot of snow for much of the day. it is now clear, but the job is not over. pushing snow. >> it is four-wheel-drive weather. reporter: about all you can do with a storm like this. at least eight inches, which is why an army of plows is fanning out across winchester. >> started at 9:00 this morning and probably will not be done until tomorrow. reporter: all the snow is one reason why an ice scraper is a must. vdot plows along route 7 -- the biggest part of the snow offensive. main roadways passable. neighborhood streets, not so much. >> they are wor

water, pepco, and metro crews all working on a power problem from the morning. pepco says water leaked into a large electrical vault, and darrion jones came through hit the morning in the dark. >> the lights were out and he just said go ahead, go through the gates because they were open. >> reporter: entrance still locked. when he came back to head home earlier this afternoon. >> it's kind of inconvenient but that's metro for you. >> reporter: just one of several challenges for passengers on the rails. chopper 4 caught orange and silver line trains sit ong the tracks because of two cracked rails near the east falls church station. metro tweeted about the delays but that did little to ease rider frustration during this arctic blast with more bad weather on the way. >> myself i just don't understand the whole metro process. seem like they don't design the system to be an all-weather system. >> we have leg warmers on under our pants and good gloves and winter jackets so we're set to go. >> now in this extreme weather that is the right thing to do especially if you'

dominion has about 20,000 customers without power and pepco with 8,300. download the weather app or head over to nbcwashington.com. >>> please stay off the roads late tonight and all day tomorrow. >> the massachusetts governor warning people about another winter storm. some areas of new england could see additional two feet of snow blizzard conditions and extremely cold windchills. >>> new at 11:00, the weather is causing massive pile-ups. dealing with whiteout conditions in indiana where heavy snow and high winds caused this five-car crash and slick roads caused an even bigger pile-up in pennsylvania. even though it involved more than 100 cars and trucks police say there were only minor injuries. >>> now to astory. our sister station in baltimore reports a teenager shot and killed himself after police tried to pull him over. he took off and fired at officers. and wbal says the car he was driving is registered to a home in kentucky where three people were found dead today. >>> now to some breaking news in copenhagen denmark, where there's a second shootin

pepco has hundreds of linemen and contractors on stand by in case strong winds knock out pow perp stay er. latest updates on our website. nbcwashington.com. >>> dwelling now get ready for 12 hours of hell. that's a direct quote from a weather channel meteorologist as new england prepares for another storm. wind gusts could reach 75 miles an hour which would make it impossible for plows to career the roads. a blizzard warning goes into effect at midnight and the governor of massachusetts just warned everyone to get inside before then. >>> also developing tonight, police are on the scene of a massive pileup in pennsylvania. that involved more than 100 cars and trucks. this is cell phone video of traffic backed up on interstate 90 near erie. we don't know if anyone was hurt or what caused the crash but roads in the area are very slick and covered in snow. >>> also watching developments out of copenhagen denmark, a manhunt for a man who shot and killed someone at free-speech event. three policemen injured. organized by a danish art getting death threats for depicting the prophet muhammad a

at the height of the storm tens of thousands of pepco customers were in the dark. they restored 39,000 customers. bruce? >> reporter: thanks a lot for the strong winds that left trees down across the washington region. stephanie ramirez reports on the damage in virginia, maryland, and dc. >> it sounded like a hurricane came through with all the crashing sound. >> reporter: that sound brian wike discovered came from his neighbor's tree in alexandria that collapsedden o his neighbor's -- that collapsed on his neighbor's home. >> the weight of the tree didn't go through the home, but the damage still had him concerned for some of the other trees around the neighborhood. other areas around the dmv saw the same like here on 30th street northwest where the front of the home is not suppose to look like that. >> hi heard the sounds i looked up the window. >> reporter: they checked after hearing the odd sound as they found their tree had toppled over towards the neighbor's home. >> we are lucky that it seems to have fallen perfectly. it didn't hit any cars or homes. >> repo

pepco fixed problems for about 5,000 customers but still has to restore power to about 7,000 more. in northern virginia dominion is working on just under 5,500 outages, down more than 4,000 from an our ago. in prince george and montgomery counties there's a snow emergency right now. watch where you park. in d.c. the department of human services activated the hypothermia hotline to make sure no one is stranded in the cold. >>> the strong wind may have brought down a building in northeast d.c. police say this building was under construction on 12th street northeast. nobody was hurt when part of it collapsed last night. weather was likely the reason it collapsed. >> a building also collapsed in southeast d.c. police say weather may have been the cause there. as of right now we're told good hope road southeast by martin luther king junior avenue is completely open again. the collapse happened early this morning in an abandoned building. no one was hurt there. >>> this tree fell on this van on 16th street around rom street northeast overnight. we're told no one was hurt. it happened aro

pepco reports about 840 customers in our area with no electricity. dominion is working on 95 outages, and bawl gas and electric has 6. -- has 6. >>> trucks will head out to treat roads by 3:00 in the afternoon monday. the district is asking residents and businesses to pretreat sidewalks before the storm hits and reminding them sidewalks need to be clear within 2 hours after the storm. >>> the virginia department of transportation says it is now in high response mode. 2,500 crew members will be working in sthoifts treat the roads and to remove snow. in maryland crews also at the ready. about 1,200 trucks on standby. because of the extreme temperatures the george washington birthday parade scheduled tomorrow is canceled:the bone-chilling blast of cold air did major damage including blowing a tree right across a femme's roof. check out the roof in landover. orlando rimalo pushed his wife out of the way but got hit by branch. the couple says they're lucky to be alive. >> sheet rock everywhere. yeah fiber glass, all that stuff, came on to us. >> the coupl

a pepco spokesperson says water leaked into one of the vaults at the station. electrical systems in the ninth and d. street entrances were affected and crews were called in to repair the problem. >>> and commuters throughout the area also dealt with painfully cold temperatures this morning for their commute. we caught up with a few of them at the eastern market metro stop to get their take. >> how you feeling right now? >> it's awesome. you got to just love it right? >> i embrace the seasons. so when it gets hot you know i love the heat but also i kind of like the cold too you know what i mean? i'm a fan of the season. so like all four. >> it's very cold outside. it makes me not want to go to school. [ inaudible ] >> penguin bottom? >> i don't know, but i can imagine very cold. >> there you get to figure it out. it isn't the cold but repairs that will keep bethesda's metro station closed this weekend. they will be working to replace one of the escalators, according to metro the escalators at the bethesda station are the second longest in the entire western hemi

we checked and pepco is working to restore power to more than 8,000 customers. dominion is dealing with more than 9,500 outages. in prince george and montgomery counties, officials declared a snow emergency. in d.c. the department of human services arkt vaeted the hypothermia hotline to make sure no one is stranded in the cold frmths you've got to really layer it on, pretty much cover it all up if you plan on heading ouchlt news 4's derrick ward is live along route 7 in sterling, virginia, showing us how dangerous these conditions can be. i see you're pretty covered up. >> in deed, these conditions can be bad. it's time to bring out old furry for this one. we're in a parking lot. as you can see, that's ice. we have one car stuck in a parking spot. they tried to get out and spun out. if you look over to the secondary road that hasn't been treated quite as much as route 7, route 17 the white surface that's where it's actually been treated. you have to be careful because there can be patches of ice that go through those areas. you are better off obviously on the ma

exelon is planning to buy pepco more than $6 billion in april.in baltimore last week. today's protest in front of d.c.'s public service commission office at noon. today is also the commission's first day of formal hearings on the proposed merger. >>> some students are going to hold a sleep-in demonstration in hopes of convincing montgomery county school board to change school start times, all part of the save our sleep campaign. middle and high school students and their parents will wear pajamas, bring their sleeping bags and camp out outside the school board's rockville office. the demonstration starts at 3:00 this afternoon. ahead of tomorrow's possible vote on changing the bell times. the proposal started with trying to adjust bell times to let high school students start a little late. >>> tomorrow is safer internet day. millions of people from over 100 countries willpart. the goal, bud a better and safer internet for everyone. in particular children. from the isc scared foundation joins us with how parents can do their part. good morning. >>

exelon is planning to buy pepco for more than $6 billion in s video of a protest in baltimore last weektoday's protest will be in front of d.c.'s public service commission office. today is also the first day of formal hearings on the proposed merger. >>> virginia lawmakers are working on the budget for the state. today governor mcauliffe set to make a major economic announcement that will impact northern virginia. richard jordan is live where the announcement will happen. >> reporter: big implications. governor mcauliffe and i nova's chief executive expected to announce that the hospital is growing and will pick up the property directly across the street on the other side of gallo erode's road here in falls church. it will create a medical campus just under 120 acres. and the focus will be on research. cancer research and again skra genomics research. have a lawmakers made headlines of their own yesterday when they announced a budget proposal talking about pay increases for government worker state troopers public schoolteachers and other twree's who could see a 1.5% to 3% pay increase.

and maryland will head to baltimore to protest the proposed merger of pepco and exelon. some say the deal would raise rates and to little to increase reliability. hearings on the merger will take prais place later this month. >>> right now an active scene in taiwan. we want to show you live pictures from the site of the plane crash where the search continues for 12 people still unaccounted for. that's going on right now. and we do have some new video just into the newsroom of divers searching that shallow water where the plane crash landed. and just about an hour ago, the nose section of the plane lifted out of the water. we saw that and some of the family members of the 31 people killed have now started to arrive in the capital city flown in on a charter flight from china. 15 people survived that plane crash. back to you. >>> metro making improvements after a deadly accident. the fix the agency is making now that may have slowed down rescue efforts last month. >>> smartphones detenkt ss detecting hiv. >>> and you can track the time the flurries will hit your neighborhoo

pepco dealing with more than 13,000 outages in our area.ominion virginia is working to restore more than 5,000 northern virginia customers this morning. if you're planning the step out the door, be careful around slick roads and sidewalks. if you live in montgomery or prince george's counties careful where you park because there's a snow emergency right now. >>> in d.c. the hypothermia hotline is active right now to make sure no one is stranded out in this cold. the city deployed its full snow team yesterday. take a look at this. you can see squalls smothered the roadways and cars having to slow down in all this weather. we did talk to several people who were outside. not everyone said they were ready. >> were you prepared? >> no. >> why not? >> i didn't believe it when the sun came out this afternoon. >> you didn't think it was going to be so bad? >> no. i thought it was another overreaction. >> we do want to see your picturespick. send your pictures to i see@nbcwashington.com. >>> be sure to check before heading to catch your train. all t

this is the coverage live this area pennsy avenue and southern avenue southeast pepco reportg power is out. we that number withine minutes drop from 12,000 to 40 so definitely improvin the working on it. as far as everyone getting their power back on, no time table n for that. >>> want to show you live picturm atlanta georgia. folks there bracing for a possib 4 inches of snow that afternoo southern states have faced cold icy youfew da s all that ice was just good practi for them ahead today's storm. >>> millions of people who no longer have anthem insurance may still ha prp all n compromised. landon dowdy has more "4 your insurer anthem which reported earli it was hit by a major data breach says hackers access personal information from nearly 79 million people. includes 60 million to 750 million of its own current and former employees and customers. the rest of the people were enrolled in other blue crosd plans, but used t coverage in states e anthem is the plan operator. anthem says the attack exposed names, gayda social numbers, but n r or bank account number thank you, landon. >>> a

. >>> today activists will protest the proposed merge of pepco and exelon.aise rates and do little to increase reliability. hearings will take place in the district later this month. >>> the power ball jackpot expected to grow to at least $360 million for the saturday drawing. no winning ticket sold for last night's drawing. take a look at the numbers. 24 36, 51 52 56 power ball number was 22. >>> so no luck there. >> and no luck with our weather at this rate. >> who is up for some frigid windchills? no takers in here. well here it comes. we were suckered into a false sense of spring yesterday when we got the into the low and mid-50s. but february going to make us shiver again. looking at storm team 4 radar, scattered flurries aloft. i set the radar scan elevation a little bit higher because there is light snow in the clouds. they are producing some light snow here these patches of gray in the clouds. so you maybe getting a few flurries trying to reach the ground certainly the higher elevations shenandoah valley, northern fauquier county coming in to western

exelon planning to purchase pepco for more than $6 billion. at noon the d.c. power coalition will protest tt hernlgmerger. today's prote will be in front of d.c.'s public service commission office. today is also the commission's first day of formal hearings on that proposed merger. if it goes through, it will create a single energy provider for most of our area. >>> in the day ahead, you can learn more about a project to upgrade an interchange in west springfield, virginia. vdot crews will widen the inner loop ramp from rolling road to fairfax county parkway. it will create a dual lane ramp. you can stop by the public meeting at rolling valley elementary school at 6:30 tonight. >>> gas prices are rising once again. what is driving the prices now and how high they may go. >>> dozens of cars vandalized. the unwanted surprise for many in one d.c. neighborhood. >>> some of you may be waking up to some sprinkles this morning. tom kierein and chuck bell are tracking this storm, the timing and how it will impact your r. narrator: gas prices are down helping middle cl

group is raising some new fears in other countrys and a proposed merger sparking outrage against some pepco customers. why they're against this move. abc 7 news at 6:00 starts right now. >> we had a burst of springlike weather yesterday but winter has turned. doug hill is tracking this winter weather alert for us tonight. doug? >> cloudy skies and temperatures in the 30's outside of the belfort furniture weather center right now. it seems like every time we check the maps, the national weather service expands the winter weather advisory a little bit. just added eastern half of loudoun county and remainder of montgomery county. a possibility of freezing rain until 3:00 a.m. howard county baltimore anne arundel, prince george's until 5:00 a.m. and in areas east of town possibility a little sleet and snow could mix in if the colder air moves in. for now, everybody in the metro area is above freezing. and safely so. it's just rain. that's going to change later tonight as surface temperatures fall and more moisture moves northward ahead of the cold front and the cold air runs behind it, we have

there's a pepco work truck right behind me still working here. just a short bit ago a d.c. water crew left the scene, both working with metro crews to try to fix the power-related problem here at l'enphant plaza. as it gets colder with more bad weather on the way, metro passengers seem to get more frustrated. in this bitter cold you dress in layers especially if you are waiting on a bus or a train or walking to and from school like these d.c. school students. but for metro passengers each day seems to bring the unexpected. two cracked rails left orange and silver line trains sitting on the tracks during the height of the morning commute. and at l'enphant plaza, a power outage from this morning shut down the ninth and d street entrance to riders. >> not much not sure with the sign. would have been a lot easier. >> you try to leave early, leaving even earlier and even earlier. myself i just don't understand the whole o process. seem like they don't design the system to be an all-weather system. it's like they built it for it to be in miami versus for it to be in washington, d

this entrance is back open but i just confirmed with pepco that their crews are still here working with other utilities on this all-day-long power problem. a power outage at the l'enphant plaza station after water leaked into a large electrical vault. just one of the many challenges for rail passengers who were turned away from the ninth and d streets entrance. and a the commute got off to a slow start during the morning rush. two cracked rails at east falls church station left orange and simp line trains sitting on the tracks. passengers say each day it gets colder with it comes the unexpected. >> myself i just don't understand the whole metro process. seem like they don't design the system to be an all-weathe. >> reporter: in these extreme conditions metro says passengers should be prepared for anything to pop up on the rail and bus line. coming up tonight at 6:00 what to expect on metro tonight and over the weekend with the coming bad weather. i'm molette green live at the l'enphant plaza station. back to you. >>> these frigid temperatures make it challenging for firefighters to do t

pepco customers lost power during the storm. with the sun out and the snow melting, lots of people came out today. >> i'm from upstate new york and i came down here to get away from the snow. so this is kind of a disappointment thinking about going to atlanta next. >> i love it. i've been off work for about five days. >> and, of course, she's right. when you count the holiday and then the snow day today, a lot of people haven't been to work for a while. the mayor hopes to have the city fully functioning again tomorrow. and we were talking about the roads, you can see this is minnesota avenue not even a -- not even a snow emergency route but it's cleared curb to curb. the sidewalks are clear and the buses are running once again. if you haven't had your trash picked up, since last monday if you're in for a monday trash pickup, you'll have to keep it until next monday. but they're going to begin picking up trash and doing all the things that they normally do when they are not clearing away snow. reporting live from northeast washin

those companies that come and try to sell energy to consumers as well as the new change in pepco's billing. there's a new billing format. a number of customers are calling about that. so similar to the types of questions that we get every day. so we're doing what we do every day. and the message that we are getting with respect to high bills, there's things that consumers can do. you call out or we can arrange for the companies to have billing payment arrangements. in addition there are energy efficiency measures that they can take as well as get energy assistance from some of the energy companies such as the d.c. energy office. >> ok. there's help out there. >> there is actually help out there. we would like you to call our office at 202-727-3078. >> thank you so much. thanks for being here with us. we're getting lots of calls and you can get in on it too. our number here at the hotline is 703-236-9220. that takes you right into our help center. our experts will be here until 6:30 to answells. back to you guys in the studio. >> all right. you got it, horace. maybe you're feeling lucky tod

pepco is reporting 20 outages in the district. b genie is reporting seven outages. dominion virginia reporting about 21 outages. we are not the only ones dealing with winter weather. winter storm warnings are in effect in 20 states this morning, impacting 90 million americans. in new england it is adding to the feast of snow already on the ground. homes and business owners are already worried about building collapses. >> it started to split and fall into the attic. >> the 1600 square foot home one foot of snow can weigh up to two and a half times. the same amount of heavy snow can weigh up to 14 tons. we are getting the light and fluffy stuff and they are getting the heavy stuff. >> so expensive to come clean all of that off. flex i know. >> it gets heavier, then they add more on it. >> around here we will have a little bit more as we speak. more snow showers in the forecast for the day. by midday tomorrow and into the afternoon we could get more inches of snowfall >>> good morning, america. it's 8:00 a.m. and the countdown is on to the oscars. "gma" is making some