to see it again for several days. good evening. thank you so much for joining us. i'm john schriffen. we begin tonight with the weather. chuck bell is monitoring rain, thunder, and some tropical weather. chuck, what is the week looking like? >> oh, john, indeed. you said it all in your lead-in statement. you'd better have enjoyed the nice weather outside today because it's raining hard out there west of the blue ridge mountains right now. and the rain showers are only going to increase in coverage and intensity here over the next couple of days. so there it is on live doppler. some heavy rain now just to the west of winchester, virginia. in fact, there's a flash flood warning out for westernmost frederick county up into hardy and hampshire county, northernmost parts of shenandoah county. under a flash flood warning now until 1:30 in the morning. some very heavy rain. these thunderstorms are training over the exact same locations time after time. so as a result some places have seen more than one or two inches of rain already. with more thunderstorms coming. thunderstorms really from rappahannock county all the way up the spine of the blue ridge mountains but almost nothing getting east of the mountains in the metro area. what does that mean for us? don't count on any dry stretch of weather ahead. details on a soggy seven-day coming up. >> doesn't sound good, chuck. thanks so much. just moments ago tropical storm lee was downgraded to a tropical depression. it made landfall along the gulf coast this morning and continues to dump drenching rains on the louisiana, mississippi, and other parts of the gulf coast. frances kuo has the latest on the heavy winds and flooding that is posing a big threat tonight. >> tropical storm lee kicked up waves as the slow-moving system made landfall and dumped as much as a foot of rain on the gulf coast. from alabama and mississippi. >> four to six inches in the house last time. so in case we need to put it at the back doors and stuff. >> reporter: to the bayous of louisiana. swamping parts of the small shrimping community of lafite. >> they got the levee that we sealed off. so all the water's coming to us. >> reporter: as the storm passed overhead in new orleans, the city's pumps and levee system held firm. >> movement of rainwater, it's been right up there with the hurricane. and that's been the challenge. >> reporter: a big sigh of relief for the big easy. but even as the storm is expected to weaken as it moves inland, forecasters warn that tornadoes and flash flooding could spread across the tennessee valley into the appalachians. lee packing enough punch to bring heavy rain and winds across the entire southeast. frances kuo, nbc news. president obama promises federal aid for towns and cities recovering from hurricane irene. the president visited waterlogged paterson, new jersey today. the already cash-strapped city was inundated by water from nearby passaic river during the storm. the high water damaged buildings and homes. more than 100 people had to be rescued. some people still don't have power. the president promised not to let washington politics get in the way of helping those in need. >> the entire country is behind you. and we are going to make sure that we provide all the resources that are necessary in order to help these communities rebuild. >> the white house has already asked congress to approve $5 billion in additional disaster already been granted federal aid. no northern virginia counties were included. well, along the east coast there are still 39,000 customers without power in the wake of irene. the majority of those outages are in connecticut. in our region bge is working to restore power to about 475 of its customers. all pepco and dominion customers in our area had their power restored. dominion has about 4,000 who are still in the dark. but those outages are mostly in the richmond area. more than 9 million people lost power during the storm. well, next sunday marks ten years since the september 11th attacks. law enforcement in washington has already started to ramp up security for the anniversary of the date that took away a sense of safety for millions of americans. darcy spencer is live on capitol hill tonight. darcy? >> well, john, police sources are telling me we should expect to see more police and more security as we get closer to that ten-year mark. just outside the capitol police respond to a suspicious package report. u.s. capitol police search through a backpack. nothing is found. with one week to go before the tenth anniversary of the september 11th attacks, sources say we can expect to see a heightened police presence. >> it's, you know, a solemn day for the country ten years ago and, you know, we've come a long way. and i feel secure out here. >> reporter: at the labor day concert dress rehearsal on the capitol grounds we asked folks how they're feeling as the ten-year mark approaches. >> if they strike us, they'll strike us. but i think we have relatively good security. but it's not going to change my life. i'm going to go ahead and live it. >> reporter: some we spoke to said they feel safer now. but some of the security measures have been a bit too much. >> i think there is a lot of paranoia and, you know, we have taken it maybe a little bit overboard, the security at the airports. >> reporter: since the attacks in new york and at the pentagon metro transit police have stepped up presence and initiated random bag searches. >> do you think metro is safe to ride ten years after 9/11? >> yes. because you have police that are very observant on the rails and you have people that are observant. they'll be on the trains, also. >> reporter: most agreed it's hard to believe that ten years have gone by and there hasn't been another major attack on american soil. >> i don't think that we're safer. but at least we are aware of what's happening in the world. i think that ten years ago nobody -- we didn't know what was happening. >> reporter: one woman i spoke to tonight who was here in the d.c. area on 9/11 said she's simply hoping for a normal day, like it was supposed to be on september 11th, 2001. reporting live from the capitol, darcy spencer, news 4. john, back to you. >> thank you, darcy. police in manassas park say a man tried to kill one of their officers by running him over. it happened overnight along cartwright court in the brandy station section of manassas park. police were called to the area for a report of suspicious activity. when the officer approached a vehicle, the driver ran the officer down and then sped off. neighbors are shocked. according to police, the officer fired at the suspect and then chased after him on foot. >> there used to be some problems. but like i say, the police, they do a wonderful job. they've come here, and people from the neighborhood would congregate with them and talk about the issues. and i haven't seen anything in years. >> the suspect has been identified as 21-year-old robert daniel washington iii. he was shot during the incident, but police have not said if washington was shot by the officer who was run over or by other officers responding to the incident. both the officer and suspect are in the hospital. the officer has serious injuries. an elderly couple is dead after a crash in falls church this afternoon. it happened just before 4:00 at the intersection of route 50 and patrick henry drive. fairfax police say the 83-year-old man was driving and tried to make a turn. his car was hit by a pickup truck. the 83-year-old man and his 83-year-old wife were killed. the driver of the truck was hurt. no charges have been filed. well, new york city mayor michael bloomberg is setting the record straight. he says his former deputy mayor arrested for assault here in washington would have been fired if he didn't resign first. steven goldsmith was arrested on july the 30th after allegedly getting into a fight with his wife at their georgetown home. goldsmith resigned. but mayor bloomberg came under fire for not making the arrest public knowledge. today the mayor made it clear that goldsmith would have been let go if he didn't resign. since the arrest goldsmith and his wife dispute that there was ever a serious incident and are not pursuing charges. well, rebels are closing in on the last of moammar gadhafi's strongholds in libya. today talks broke down between rebel leaders and gadhafi loyalists in the town of baniwalid just south of tripoli. rebels are giving the loyalists a deadline of next saturday to surrender peacefully or they will launch an attack. meanwhile, rebel leaders are moving ahead with creating a new government in libya even though they still haven't found gadhafi. american amanda knox returns to court in italy tomorrow to appeal her murder conviction. knox and her ex-boyfriend, raffaele sollecito were convicted in 2007 for murdering 21-year-old meredith kercher. kercher was a british exchange student that shared a villa with knox in the town of perugia. at trial prosecutors testified that knox's dna was found on a knife allegedly used to kill kercher. in july new dna evidence put knox's conviction into question. knox is currently serving 26 years in an italian prison for the crime. we're also following several other big stories in the week ahead. this week we commemorate the tenth anniversary of the september 11th attacks. the national cathedral will hold a series of concerts and events starting friday. and the annual ceremony at the pentagon will be held sunday morning. we have a special section on our website, nbcwashington.com, dedicated to september 11th. you can find it by searching 9/11. on thursday president obama will unveil his plan to get america back to work. he'll address a joint session of congress in a primetime speech. the plan is expected to include a blend of tax credits and public works spending. you can watch the president's job plan address thursday night right here on nbc 4. and tomorrow is the last day to visit the national pinball museum. its creator announced friday that it is shutting down. now, it just opened at the shops at georgetown last year. but the m street mall is undergoing renovations, and the museum's curator lost his lease. for the last day tomorrow, admission is free. the museum's director is hoping to relocate to baltimore. well, still ahead tonight, labor day in the nation's capital. thousands turn out for quite a show, including a performance from the godfather of go-go. and officls national guard troops. but a move they made that has everyone scratching their heads. plus, this little guy is homeward bound tonight after a journey thousands of miles that made him a worldwide sensation. coming up later on the season debut of "redskins final," anthony armstrong on the case of his missing helmet. a classic redskins-giants game that almost cost joe theismann his smile. and we'll look back at the best of the preseason as both quarterbacks go after that starting spot. all that and more on "redskins final," right after the news here on nbc 4. ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ [ female announcer ] coca-cola glasses are at mcdonald's. one free with every large extra value meal... like the one-of-a-kind big mac. the simple joy of seeing things in a whole new light. ♪ thousands all around the world. they call him happy feet, and he's already had quite a journey and an amazing recovery. annabelle roberts has the story. >> reporter: it all began on a beach in new zealand in june. the first emperor penguin seen there in more than 40 years. happy feet, as they called him, was nearly 2,000 miles from home and in unfamiliarly warm surroundings. scientists rescued him and found he needed a lot of help. they discovered his stomach was full of sand. probably mistaking it for snow, which he swallows back home to keep hydrated. once his digestive system had been cleaned, he was treated to a diet of delicacies at wellington zoo. a web cam installed in his ice-packed room meant his fans could follow his progress. his keeper squirting him with water. that must have felt good. his flapping flippers winning him a global following. in preparation for his eventual journey home, he was fitted with a tracker attached to his feathers with glue. yes, he has a website with a map that will show his progress. with over a quarter of a million followers and a twitter account too. there is of course another famous happy feet. >> whoo! >> reporter: just like the animated character, the real penguin has survived an ordeal. and today at last it was time for him to take the plunge and head for home. he has thousands of miles to swim and lingered for farewells and a flap of his flippers before receiving a discreet shove down the slide, and then he was off with hardly a backward glance. this is the journey ahead of him. from the ocean south of new zealand to the cold waters of the antarctic feeding grounds. >> i'm going to be telling your story, happy feet, long after you dead and gone. >> reporter: just as the true story of this happy feet has also touched the hearts of millions. annabelle roberts, nbc news, london. >> now, if you would like to track happy feet as he heads home to antarctica, just log on to our website, nbcwashington.com, and search keywords "follow happy feet." chuck bell is here in the studio following something not as pleasant as happy feet. we've got some bad weather coming in, right? >> it's sayonara to summertime around here for sure. today was a great day to be outside across most of the area. bright sunshine for most of the afternoon and temperatures up nearing in on 90 degrees. but with all that humidity out there and temperatures climbing to near 90 we have cooked up ourselves some thunderstorms out there along the blue ridge mountaintops and back into the mountains of west virginia. some folks have already seen more than an inch of rain just since the sun went down this evening. right now temperatures are still very mild, and it is humid outside. temperatures upper 70s to near 80 degrees still here at the 11:00 hour. there's the flash flood warning, western frederick county in virginia back up into hardy and hampshire county, northernmost shenandoah county. that is a flash flood warning that goes until 1:30 in the morning. you can see there's still more rain training over the same locations. and not a drop yet inside the capitol beltway. but out to the west, right along the ridgetops here, quite a line of training thunderstorms. here's interstate 81. so you folks just to the west of winchester, that's where the heaviest of the rain has been coming down for the last two or three hours now in a row. and they just keep firing up on the same spots. and there's more where those have come from. so don't think it's going to stop raining anywhere west of the mountains here over the next couple of hours. not much eastward progress to all this. as a result we'll be dry here until well after midnight in washington. but that trend also won't last. all this green shading down here, those are flash flood watches which will be expanding into our area i think before tomorrow is through. the other feature that we're watching is the future of katia out here. the official forecast from the hurricane center does call for the northward turn away from the u.s. by thursday or friday. but it is going to be a close call for sure. there you can see katia spinning its way through the western parts of the atlantic. for us we have a whole lot of tropical moisture from what was lee riding up the eastern side of the united states, right out ahead of a weather front. so the combination of the cold front coming through and the tropical moisture coming up means we are going to get a lot of rain around here. how much rain? between monday morning and friday afternoon most of our area will see between three and five inches of rain. so flooding concerns will be a big deal before this week is through. getting your day started tomorrow, cloudy and humid. rain arriving probably before sunrise here in town. already raining out west. and then for tomorrow cloudy, much cooler than today. rain increasing in intensity by tomorrow aerevening. even a couple of rumbles of thunder possible but no severe weather expected. there's ouror temperatures near degrees as far as i can see in the forecast. rain off and on tomorrow. all day tuesday. all day wednesday. and gradually, hopefully tapering off by next weekend. >> just when i thought i could put this rain gear to rest, got to bring it back out there. >> keep it close. >> all right, thanks, chuck bell. appreciate it. well, coming up after the break a unique match-up. local celebrities take on our nation's heroes. and coming up in sports, is not that long ago, many families were priced out of an overheated housing market. but the times have changed. get the facts at remax.com. it's a great place to see all the listings in thousands of cities and towns. with lots of houses to chose from and down-to-earth prices the dream of owning a home seems more attainable than ever. find out what an experienced re/max agent can do for you. nobody sells more real estate than re/max. visit remax.com today. funny not to see livo in a nats uniform. >> it will be because livan hernandez, if you remember back in 2005, threw the first pitch in nats history. so he's been around for a while. and maybe today his last pitch in a nats uniform. livan hernandez has pitched in the major leagues for 16 seasons. as a rookie with the marlins he set a national league championship series record with 15 strikeouts. even more impressive, the 36-year-old has never once been on the disabled list. however, to make room in the rotation for stephen strasburg hernandez made his final start of the season this afternoon against the mets. bottom 4, it's a 2-2 game, wilson ramos up with runners on. check it out here. reaches out under the glove of david wright. danny espinosa trots home. ramos hustles into second with an rbi doubling. nats up 3-2. top six, same score. lucas duda at the plate. change-up from livan. duda all over it. lifts it up high and deep to right center. that's out for a solo home run. ties the game at 3. then after loegd the bases livan gets pulled from the game. gets high fives from his teammates, receives a standing ovation from the crowd. livo goes 5 1/3, charged with six runs. still a class act. in comes todd coffey to face formy nat willie harris. harris rips one down the line. two runs score. and the mets beat the nats 6-3. here now is livo on what could be his final outing as a national. >> this city is a great city for sport. the city, i love to play here. thank you to the fans and you know, for all the support. and let's see what happens. >> livo said he'd like to come back as a coach or maybe be a professional golfer. in tampa os viding the rays, bottom two no score, jeremy guthrie serves one up to shawn rodriguez with a man on. rodriguez hammers one to left. two-run home run. 2-0 rays. meanwhile, rays rookie jeremy hellickson solid here in the fifth gets mark reynolds on a nasty change-up for strike 3. hellickson throws his seventh career complete game, both against baltimore. the os lose 8-1 and fall to 55-83. indy car series taking over charm city for the inaugural baltimore grand prix. these are the hazards of city driving. lap 38 the view from ryan briscoe's car bumps rient hunter ray. he spins around. and look at the result here. gridlock around the turn, stopping half the field. that's a nightmare. final lap now. it's will power. yep, will power, we can't make this stuff up, folks. he's in the 12 car. he's australian. he's very good at these road courses. and, well, will power is your winner of the inaugural baltimore grand prix. a lot of fun today in downtown b-more. coming up tonight on "redskins final," a look back at the best plays of the preseason. we mike up redskins receiver anthony armstrong. it's pretty entertaining, folks. and west virginia battles marshall in morgantown. all coming up on "redskins final" at 11:35. >> nice. i want to stick around for some tennis highlights. donald young was impressive. the american. >> donald young was impressive. but so was andy roddick today. >> yeah. >> so was andy roddick. and also we're going to try to sneak in dan hellie, i think. >> ooh. >> dan hellie, sneak him in. celebrity softball. >> i will definitely stick around for that. >> dan hellie, celebrity softball. try to sneak it in. >> thank you, hakem. still to come it's the video that has many asking what were they thinking? ♪ [ woman ] sam begged and pleaded... so i sent him to camp. we'd earned lots of points with our new citi thankyou card... and i put them to good use. he told me about his bunkmates, and how he signs up for every activity. ♪ he even hangs out with the camp director. just like that. [ male announcer ] the new citi thankyou premier card gives you more ways to earn points. what's your story? citi can help you write it. the new jersey national guard is not punishing five soldiers who drove into flood waters last weekend. now, the whole thing was caught on camera and went viral after being posted on youtube. there you can see it, right there. now, the soldiers getting stranded there, manville, new jersey after their vehicle died in water that was clearly too deep. an official with the national guard said the soldiers were unaware how deep the water actually was. those vehicles can travel through up to four feet of water. good news -- no one was hurt. but the national guard says the incident is under official review. the national symphony orchestra put on a special show tonight with the help of the godfather of go-go, chuck brown. lots of folks grooved to the music on the west lawn of the capitol tonight. this year's theme is legends of washington music. in addition to chuck brown, the concert also featured mercedes ellington, granddaughter of jazz legend duke ellington. >> it's most special. it's very special performing here because this is where it all started and this is where i grew up, all over d.c. all four corners of d.c. northwest, northeast, southeast, southwest. north heights. chavalo. d-wood. it's always very special here. >> love that voice. the concert was open to the public and free. after the break, they fought for our country, and now they're wowing fans here at home a special group of athletes took to the field at nationals ballpark today following the mets -- the nats-mets match-up. this is the wounded warriors amputee softball team. it's made up of about 20 players from around the country. all of them are veterans or active duty members who've suffered a leg, foot, or arm amputation from serving. they took on a team made up of local celebrities. check this out. including our own dan hellie. nice pop-up. now, all of the wounded warriors say they were athletes at some point. but they admit learning to play with a prosthetic is a whole different ball game. they also showed no mercy to the celebrities, beating them by a score of 15-4. didn't look like hellie gave them any help there, either. >> yeah. >> that's impressive. those men are impressive. very impressive. >> well, that's our show for tonight. thank you so much for joining us. news 4 today starts bright and early at 4:30 a.m.