size as hurricane katrina although at this point less powerful. president obama is also keeping a close eye on the storm. he plans to return to washington from his vacation tomorrow ahead of the approach of irene. the president has also declared a state of emergency for north carolina, where irene is expected to come onshore tomorrow. the north carolina coast may look more like a ghost town when the storm does arrive. 150,000 visitors haveeen ordered off the residence. irene could pound the state with 115-mile-per-hour winds and a storm surge of five to ten feet. >> 5:01 right now. virginia beach, norfolk, ocean city, up into delaware -- all these mandatory evacuation orders going out right now. this storm is nothing to sneeze at. >> and locally, more importantly, for many of the residents who live right around washington, the big story is going to be power outages from this storm and maybe toppling trees because the ground is saturated. we may have winds that will be gusting to near hurricane force here late saturday into sunday morning. hires the latest from irene. those rain bands, you can see the color, moderate to heavy rain. those rain bands are about to hit the georgia-florida coast as well as the south carolina coast over the next few hours. here are the statistics for irene. it has maintained its strength although it has weakened just a bit. these are the latest statistics. pressure's held, and the winds have dropped a little bit. it's still a category 3 hurricane. latest track, the brand new track just issued, does still bring it across the outer banks as a category 3 hurricane by saturday around 2:00 p.m. that's the time frame for that. and then it will perhaps decrease down to a category 2 hurricane sunday at 2:00 a.m. there's the position. it does look like it will be just to the east of chincoteague and then right along the coast. it looks like the track may have drifted a little farther to the east. that's good news. the impacts will still be strong here but not quite as strong as it was looking. it's certainly close enough, and it's heading into new york city on sunday. the biggest effects are going to be in the form of strong gusty winds late saturday into sunday. now as we look, we do have a tropical storm warning that has just been issued. that just updated. and there's a hurricane warning now, all those counties in red right along there. i'll change that text because it's just updated as we speak. major impact zone is going to be especially right through washingt washington, that center zone is the major impact zone. extreme impact zone farther to the east. overnight, we've had some showers that have dissipated for the most part. we have a few of those beginning to move off to the north and east coming in from southern maryland, northern neck getting downpours this morning. that has nothing to do with irene. temperatures right now in the 60s to near 70. it's rather foggy. watch out for that. highs reaching mid and upper 80s. danella, good morning. how's traffic? our area still looking good. so far still quiet at this time. a live look at roadways, 16th street and spring street. local roads in maryland are clear. i am seeing a little volume as you head out of dale city, i-95 in virginia. you're looking right now at prince william parkway, headlights coming towards us, those are the commuters traveling north. good news on both sides of i-95 in virginia, no issues there. and also traveling right now, i-66 inside and outside of the beltway in both directions. smooth trip. back to you both. >> danella, thanks very much. 5:04 right now. ocean city, maryland, issued a mandatory evacuation of all residents and visitors as hurricane irene inches closer to the shore. john schriffen is live in ocean city with more on the preparations there. john, good morning. >> reporter: aaron, good morning. as we rolled into the city here in ocean city, about five, six hours ago, i expected to see a ghost town. i expected to see stores boarded up, hotel lobbies, and hotel parking lots completely empty. that is not what we have encountered at all. we also have a lot of company here with us today. the reason for that is because the conditions here on the beach are not that bad just yet. if you take a look at this the wear, you'll see the water is still a good ways away from where we are. it's about 75 yards here on the beach. in just a few hours, we have noticed the waves have begun to pick up, and authorities here locally are warning we could see waves as high as six to ten feet during the height of the storm. let's take a look at the video we shot from a short while ago. this is video from yesterday evening. you can see the very famous ocean city boardwalk was packed yesterday, with tons of visitors, maybe some residents, trying to make the most of their summer. they were trying to extend their vacation as long as possible. the warnings have been out there. here in ocean city, the mayor says we are now in stage three of this evacuation plan as of midnight on thursday, which means all visitors and residents have to leave this area. we did notice that there was a long line of cars that were trying to leave yesterday evening. the gas station, we were told at one point yesterday, had a line of about three blocks long. there are still people sticking it out. here's what authorities have to say about being safe this weekend. >> any visitors or residents of ocean city should be making plans to leave the island as soon as possible and in an orderly way. >> reporter: we're back here live. you can see the ocean, the waves crashing upon us. as we try to get a gauge of what's going on this morning, i've noticed the hotel parking lots, all the hotels really in this area, have been about half full. there are some people making their way out. there are some people sticking this out. the mayor of ocean city says, we are in stage three. stage four starts at 5:00 p.m. today. if there are people that are still around in this area after 5:00 today, this evening, well, then, the authorities say you are on your own. do not expect any emergency crews to come and save you. you have been told all the warnings. for now we are live here in ocean city. aaron, back to you in the studio. >> john, we'll be checking back with you throughout the morning. thanks. power companies across the area are gearing up for a storm that could be one of the worst we have seen in years. some started getting ready for hurricane irene on monday. pepco says it has 150 crews on stand by and has requested 400 out of state crews to come and help. they hope all the tree trimming and line repair over the last few months will cut down on the number of power outages from downed trees. if the lights go out, pepco crews plan to work 16-hour days until all power is restored. dominion power, officials say their crews are packed with seven days worth of gear. bge already brought in nearly 200 workers to help. crews are cleaning out storm drains in old town alexandria. city officials say it doesn't take much more the area around king street and union street to flood. their concern is storm surge from the potomac river will push debris into the storm drains and clog them. city officials want all homeowners to check storm drains on your property and make sure they're clear before the storm hits. people living in alexandria can pick up sandbags to protect your homes and businesses from flooding. stop by any of these three areas. the intersection of king and lee streets in old town, george washington middle school on mt. vernon avenue, and cora kelly school on commonwealth avenue. sandbags will be available beginning at 11:00 a.m. this morning. 5:08 is the time. d.c. officials also will hand out sandbags. residents can stop by the department of public works on new jersey avenue from "k" street southeast from noon until midnight and 8:00 a.m. until midnight tomorrow. each household can get up to five sandbags. you must bring a picture i.d. showing that you do, in fact, live in the district. coming up on nine minutes after the 5:00 hour, still ahead, the first state to be hit directly by irene, north carolina. we'll take you there live good morning. i'm meteorologist tom kierein. the latest on irene, it will certainly be impacting our region. we have tropical storm warnings out for much of our region, including the metro area. that means we'll have tropical storm winds of 40 to 50 or 60 miles an hour within the next 24 hours. hurricane warnings farther to the east. we've had showers passing to our south in southern maryland now as well as the northern neck of virginia. those are drifting off to the north and east. we've got patchy dense fog in the suburbs and rural areas where temperatures are in the 60s, near 70 in washington and right by the bay. for today sunrise will be at 6:31. we'll have a partly sunny day. sunshine in the morning but clouding up in the afternoon with highs reaching the mid and upper 80s. it's going to be rather humid as well. i'll have the latest on irene. we have a brand new track to show you as well as all the latest impacts on our region coming right up in ten minutes. now, danella, how's traffic? >> good morning. no major issues at this time. if you have family members commuting in on route 50 across that bay bridge and making their way in towards the city, they have no delays, no issues for you at this time. other bridges in our area look good as well. i want to show you the american legion bridge. i am seeing volume increase just a bit. no significant delays either direction on the american legion bridge. 14th street bridge as well, nice and clear, no problems here. as you shoot over to the key bridge, no problems as well. back to you both. >> danella, thanks. our time is now 5:13. ahead, how airlines are trying [ martin luther king jr. ]ying i still have a dream that one day on the red hills of georgia, the sons of former slaves and the sons of former slave owners will be able to sit down together at the table of brotherhood. i have a dream today! [ male announcer ] join us at the walter e. washington convention center on august 26th for a live roundtable discussion inspired by the legacy of dr. martin luther king jr. thnchts week this weekend's dedication of the martin luther king jr. memorial postponed because of hurricane irene. that event has been put off until sometime in september or october. 250,000 people were expected to attend the event on the national mall on saturday. president obama, jesse jackson, and hundreds of other dignitaries were expected to attend. here's another look at irene as it churns closer to the eastern seaboard. it's now a category 2 storm, but it's expected to strengthen. here's a look at what irene has already done down in the bahamas. it slammed into the country with winds in excess of 115 miles an hour. some areas saw a storm surge of up to 111 feet. no reports of any deaths at this point. while those pictures are enough to make people in north carolina anxious, nbc's kristen dahlgren is live in kill devil hills on the northern banks. good morning, kristen. any sign of activity brewing right now? >> reporter: joe, we're beginning to see it. the wind still very calm. you can see the atlantic beginning to churn up. the national weather service says along the outer banks waves running between six and nine feet. that is the first water pushed out ahead of irene, and obviously, things expected to get much worse as we go through the day. we can continue to see tropical storm force conditions later on tonight and obviously getting much worse as we go through saturday. here along the outer banks, there's already been a mandatory evacuation order for tourists, and now that expands to residents. they're being told they have to leave by this morning. officials taking this very seriously. they say, if people choose to stay behind, they're doing so at their own risk. there won't be emergency services available to them. and so they've lifted the tolls on roads going out of here, really encouraging people to make a quick and orderly exit. we have seen a lot of people leaving already, a lot of boarding up going on, a lot of stocking up going on as well, and it's not just the carolinas. i know you guys have been talking about it a lot. think about this. some 65 million people potentially in this storm's path. fema has moved supplies into what it believes will be critical areas. but fema's director says this could be the largest population ever affected by a single hurricane. in the end, irene could also be one of the costliest. so many people watching this so closely today, joe. >> and we will continue to watch it all through the weekend. kristen dahlgren, thanks very much. stay safe down there. >> you bet. farther up the coast in new york city, the preparations are well under way right now. all mass transit will likely be suspended starting saturday. at ground zero, workers are trying to secure 13 large cranes that cannot sustain winds of more than 65 miles per hour. the mayor will decide today whether to order more evacuations for those living in low-lying areas although that has already been happening for senior citizens in particular in some of those low-lying parts of new york. airlines are already start to go pull flights and pull planes off the tarmacs in anticipation of irene's arrival. we just checked in with reagan international airport. the 6:00 a.m. flight to raleigh, north carolina, cancelled. many carriers are allowing passengers to rebook trips on the east coast for free. the best advice for you is to always call your airline. our time right now is approaching 5:21. we're going to take a look at our forecast in just a moment. let's take a live look outside. we can see what it looks like here in the washington, d.c. area at this hour. we have tropical storm warnings for hurricane irene. this is hurricane irene at this moment, at least the 5:00 vision of hurricane irene. >> and this is the most recent update. this track and the information for the storm just came down from the national hurricane center, and it's looking, tom kierein, like things are shifting a little bit with this storm. >> yeah. in fact, the track has now shifted just a little bit east. not enough to really make much of a difference in the impact on us. it continues to spin off of the florida peninsula. the outer rain bands, some heavy downpours and gusty winds are just off the georgia and south carolina coast and the northern florida coast. it has diminished just a bit. it's a category 2 hurricane. still sustained winds of 110 miles an hour. all it has to do is regain those winds a little bit. it probably will with day time becoming a category 3 storm later today. it will stay a category 3 storm. here's the latest timing. 2:00 saturday afternoon. just off of wilmington, north carolina. then right over the outer banks by saturday at 2:00 p.m. 120-mile-per-hour winds, a category 3 hurricane. and then right along our coast, but the good news is the track, which earlier was right on the coast, is just a little bit off the coast, maybe by about 50 miles. that may make a bit of a difference, certainly for us. this is the position at 2:00 in the morning on sunday morning, right here, just to the southeast of chincoteague and right near the mouth of the delaware bay by sunday at noontime. close enough to us certainly to be causing some problems. after that, it heads toward new england and then moves on up toward maine. we do have a tropical storm warning out for our region now. it includes washington, montgomery, fairfax, prince george's counties. hurricane warnings now for all of delaware and all the atlantic seaboard. tropical storm warnings mean we will likely have tropical storm conditions in the next 24 to 36 hours. be prepared for that. extreme impacts right along the coast from new england all the way down to the carolinas and major impact zone right here, right near washington and our eastern suburbs and through much of southeastern virginia. then somewhat moderate impacts to our west. still enough to cause problems. we could have rain up to 10 inches in that zone with winds up to 75 miles an hour with major flooding. big storm surge and a loss of power around the bay and eastern shore. the major impact zone, including the washington and metro area. we could get up to six inches of rain, winds gust to go 60 miles an hour. this would be saturday at 6:00 p.m. until sunday at noontime. the western shore and bay will likely have a storm surge. isolated power outages farther to the west in that moderate impact zone and up to three inches of rain with winds gusting up to 40 miles an hour. we'll have temperatures hold steady in the 60s to near 70 where we are now with the patchy fog around. later today in the upper 80s, partly cloudy. then the big impacts of irene over the weekend. monday into next week we'll settle down, but we'll probably still be dealing with power outages. if you're taking the rails this morning, i don't see any delays for you. all the rails are reporting no problems. i am seeing congestion build in our area. no accidents, but i see it specifically in virginia if you're taking 66 east at sully road, i am seeing volume increase just a bit here as you make your way towards the beltway. no accidents on i-66. if you're traveling 95 at fairfax county parkway, looking good here. however, as you're traveling out of dale city, aaron, that's where you're going to see a little bit of volume increase. back to you. >> thank you, danella. the raiders and redskins squared off in the battle of the beltways. there was another battle going on between two of the washington quarterbacks. both qbs for the redskins were solid last night. rex grossman was the starter, but head coach mike shanahan went back and forth with him and john beck. grossman ended the game with 112 yards passing and a touchdown while beck threw for 108 yards, a touchdown, and an interception. as for the actual game, the ravens won last night on a last second score, squeaking out a 34-31 victory. with the hurricane approaching, we're still cleaning up from the east coast quake. teams will continue to survey prince george's county public schools. so far officials have found several cracks inside and outside of ernest everett just middle school in mitchellville. several schools will remain closed while they wait for final inspection. those are beltsville academy, bradbury heights academy, forestville military academy and prince george's county public schools. the cathedral in northwest washington will remain closed in anticipation of hurricane irene. crews roped off the cathedral building. the building suffered structural damage in the central tower, the highest point in d.c. sunday services have been moved to washington hebrew congregation. the cathedral will remain closed at least through sunday, september 4th. and georgetown university is getting ready for the hurricane. the georgetown voice snapped this picture showing them removing three crosses from the top of healy hall. there's no official word from the school about why, but it does appear they're taking precautions after the incident at the national cathedral, where the spires snapped off during that earthquake. the time right now is 5:25. coming up, some dramatic video. an good morning and welcome back. tracking the storm, all eyes are on irene this morning. the hurricane has weakened a bit. that's not expected to last. the storm has already pounded the caribbean. wind and rain lashed the bahamas. now tens of millions of people are at risk up and down the east coast. good morning. i'm joe krebs. >> and i'm aaron gilchrist. eun yang is off today. welcome to "news 4 today." it is 5:29 right now. here's what you need to know about irene. most of our area now under a tropical storm warning. a very rare occurrence. here closer to the ocean, though, hurricane warnings are in effect. already virginia and maryland have declared states of emergencies. irene is a category 2 hurricane right now, but it is expected to gain strength and become a category 3 storm later today. that means it will be stronger. as many as 65 million people from north carolina to new england could be paethed when that storm reaches the coast. experts say it will likely do millions of dollars in damage. >> this gives you an idea how many people are affected by the storms. mandatory evacuations have already been issued in coastal areas in delaware, maryland, new jersey, and virginia. this is an updated warning, tropical storm warning and hurricane warning we just received. right? >> very rare occurrence for us here. we'll have tropical storm conditions. we could have winds gusting over tropical storm force, maybe over 40 miles an hour by tomorrow afternoon. those will be kind of sustained winds and getting even stronger saturday night. here's the latest with irene. it continues to spin away off the florida coast. some of those outer rain bands have already reached northern florida. they're just off the georgia and south carolina coast. those will be moving in there as the morning progresses. here are the latest statistics on irene. it does have winds down to 110 miles an hour. it's still a powerful hurricane even though it's a category 2. it will likely regain strength with daylight. it's moving right over the gulfstream waters, which are warmer. here are the plotted positions along the track. the good news is the track has shifted a little bit east, 40 to 50 miles from what it was from the track prediction last night and overnight. now it does look like it may go a little farther east but still close enough to really give us some problems. the 2:00 p.m. saturday position, you can see is right there over the outer banks as a category 3 storm with 120-mile-per-hour winds that will likely cause major beach erosion as well as some scattered damage there. farther to the north, right along the mouth of the bay, there's a category 2 storm right there over the lower eastern shore is the zone where it may be tracking. it will likely be just off the coast sunday at 2:00 p.m. with 100-mile-per-hour winds. sunday right around dawn it will be just to the east of ocean city. by 10:00 in the morning, it will be right around the mouth of the delaware bay east of lewis, delaware, but close enough to us here in our region to give us some problems. then the track does continue up to new york city later on sunday. we are under a tropical storm warning here locally and hurricane warning on the eastern shore. we'll have these watches and warnings continuing to be in place here. as we go forward over the next couple of hours. we'll have storms continue to intensify as we get into saturday afternoon and saturday evening. let's check on traffic. danella, how's it looking? we have an overturned vehicle on 270 south at shady grove. it's in your local lanes. police and fire department are on the scene there. be on the lookout as you're traveling 270 south. i want to take you further up 270. this is at 109. i am seeing big delays coming out of urbanna as you head towards the weigh station. be aware of that as well. i want to show you d.c. d.c., i don't have any issues for you at this time. it's a look at 14th and new york. again, no problems to report. joe, back to you. >> danella, thanks very much. team coverage of hurricane irene continues now. thousands of residents and visitors have already left the maryland beaches, trying to stay ahead of what governor o'malley is calling a monster storm. john schriffen is live with more on this. you're out there now. what do you see happening? >> reporter: we're out here this morning, joe, and i can tell you, just by looking at the conditions out on this beach, it may be hard to understand there is a huge hurricane barreling its way up the coast right now. just surveying the scene, trying to find any kind of damage, really the only thing we've seen so far this morning is this beach umbrella that's been blown apart by the wind. but the wind is something we're going to keep a very close eye on because, not just for you, the viewer, at home, we're also going to keep a close eye for our own safety. in order to do this, i do have a wind gauge on me. i'll have this on me throughout the weekend. as you can see, very calm. no wind at this moment. even though things might appear calm, residents tell us they are taking these warnings very seriously. i got a chance to talk to a business owner as we rolled into town last night. alfred cohen told me he has owned this beach front store just about a few blocks away from the sand for the past 16 years. he said in that time, owning this store, living here in ocean city with his family, he has never seen the type of storm that we are expecting to see this weekend. now, because of that, he has already begun the process of boarding up his store. he told me he decided to do it on his own to save a little money. it cost him, he said, about $100 to $120 to do it on his own. there are contractors going around town offering services to other stores in the area. he says they're charging about $50 an hour. labor is going to be about five to six hours. total that up, that's about $250 to $300 to board up your store. but cohen told me, if this is your livelihood, like it is for him and his family, you have to do the best you can to protect your livelihood. take a listen to what he said. >> the worst is like a lot of debris like flying around, like trees, signs, and stuff to be damaged. like i'm worried about my sign on the top because this here we just renovated the front. i hope to secure it well. otherwise, it's going to fly away. >> back out here live, you can take a shot here and see the water crashing up on the shore. the sun is slowly making its way up this morning. to bring you up to date on the evacuation plan, right now we are in stage three. that kicked in midnight on thursday. the mayor of ocean city says stage three is for all the visitors and residents to make their way, evacuate, get out of town because, when stage four hits at 5:00 this evening, anyone who is still in town, we are told, is completely on their own. live in ocean city, i'm john schriffen. joe, back to you in the studio. >> how are they effecting that evacuation? are authorities literally going door to door telling people to leave town? >> reporter: no, joe. we have seen authorities in and around town, but they are actually not knocking on doors. what we have seen is there are billboards posted for a radio service. you can tune into the radio service, get up to the minute updates on what has been going on. we have been tuning in and listening to it all morning and all night, and the radio service is telling people these are very strong winds, very strong, we're expecting high tides, high surf to come here. that's why they're saying stay away from the beach, stay away from ocean city. just get out and come back when the weekend is over. >> makes the best sense. downschriffheri john schriffen reporting live. stay in touch. if you are being evacuated, the usual items you want to take with you, batteries, fresh water, and extra clothes. >> you also want to bring important documents you have at home. be sure to bring your checkbook, birth certificate, marriage certificate, social security cards, any military and medical records you might have. also, don't forget your health insurance cards. a recent pay stub and tax return. car titles and registrations. mortgage deeds, credit cards, and, of course, your driver's license and passport. if you have time, be sure to back up important files on your computer with portable flash drives and a camera of some sort to record possible damage when you return to your home. anchors away. the navy isn't taking any chances ahead of irene. the second fleet has been ordered to evacuate the naval station. some ships are heading o to the open seas where the navy says ships can better ride out the storm. other ships,ing moved to repair yards and other shelters. we want to see your hurricane pictures throughout the weekend. snap a few photos or take videos and send them to weather@nbcwashington.com. you may just see them on tv and online. join the conversation online via twitter. you can send us a tweet at nbcwashington or use the hash tag irenedc while doing those messages. >> we're going to communicate with people as much as we can over the next couple of days and keep everybody safe. the prank phone call about funny. good morning. hurricane irene will be impacting our region beginning tonight and tomorrow night and into sunday. already we have a tropical storm warning up around the area, east and washington and around the bay. a hurricane warning delaware and the atlantic seaboard. that means tropical storm and hurricane effects here within 36 hours. right now on the northern neck we have patchy dense fog in the rural areas. near 70 in washington and by the way. later today increasing clouds. a warm and steamy afternoon into the 80s. and then we'll have those effects from irene over the weekend. all the details and the impact, that will be coming up at 5:51. danella, how's traffic? >> good morning. if you're traveling in germantown, heads up. there's a trash truck on fire on middlebrook road and great seneca highway. the fire department is on the scene there. the fire department is also on the scene 270 southbound in the local lanes. still have an overturned vehicle there. police and fire both are there. i want you to just be aware of that as you're heading southbound onto 270. and i am seeing volume in virginia, traveling 95 north out of dale city. this is what prince william parkway looks like right now. you can see the headlights coming toward us. that is volume. that volume increases as you make your way towards lorton. i'll be back in ten minutes with another update. aaron and joe, back [ agent ] so 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[ falcon screeches ] 5:46 right now. the biggest concern for most people in our area, keeping the lights on. we are now under a tropical storm warning, which means sustained winds of at least 40 miles per hour for the next 36 hours that warning is in place. power companies across the area gearing up for the hurricane right now. pepco says it has 150 crews on stand by and has requested 400 more out of state crews. the company also hopes that all the tree trimming and line repair in the last few months will cut down on the number of power outages from downed trees. if the lights go out -- and they likely will -- pepco crews plan to work 16-hour days until all power is restored. dominion virginia power crews have their equipment packed with seven days worth of gear. even if that happens, people can be in the dark for days. maybe we've learned from the winter spent without lights. supplies are flying off store shelves. news 4's melissa mollet joins us from the news room with more on that. melissa, people are starting to panic a little bit about irene. >> reporter: you know, just a little bit. people are trying to be smart. they're planning. they want to be prepared for the worst, of course, while we all try to hope for the best. lots of folks will be taking last-minute trips to the store today as the storm approaches. this hardware store in northwest already hit hard by those searching for supplies. here's a list of things you want to have on hand. a first aid kit, flashlights and batteries. one gallon of water per person or pet for at least three days, and nonperishable food. residents we spoke with say they're as ready as they can be. >> well, i just went to the gas station and got five gallons of gas for the generator and a bunch of batteries for the flashlights and being prepared to be without power for hopefully only 24 hours, but who knows? maybe more than that. >> reporter: 24 pretty optimistic there. this morning we've been talking about which documents you can take with you if you leave your house. if you stay, though, remember to protect those documents, perhaps in a plastic bin and keep that bin somewhere up high. we do have a lot more tips, including how to prep your house and what to do after the storm. you can find those tips on your website at nbcwashington.com. after the storm hits, we would love to see your pictures. back to you. >> critical information there now. melissa, thank you. crews are busy cleaning out storm drains in old town alexandria this morning. city officials are concerned storm surge from the potomac river will push debris into the storm drains clogging them. it doesn't take a lot for the area around king street and union street to flood. city officials also want homeowners to check the storm drains on their own properties to make sure they are clear before this storm does hit. in order to help, alexandria residents can pick up sandbags to protect their homes and businesses from flooding. stop by these areas. the intersections of king and lee streets in old town. and cora kelly school for math, science, and technology on commonwealth avenue. sandbags will be available at 11:00 this morning. the district is also giving out sand bags. you can stop by the department of public works on new jersey avenue and "k" street southwest from noon until midnight today and tomorrow from 8:00 a.m. until midnight. each household can get up to five sandbags. you must bring a picture i.d. showing that you do live in the district. metro also preparing for the high wind and torrential rain. maintenance crews will spend the day placing 2,000 sandbags around escalators. crews are also clearing drainage areas near stations and yards. as for buses, metro says it will deploy personnel from chainsaws to respond to downed trees. metro will also have extra crews available to respond to any problems throughout the weekend. amtrak has cancelled all service south of washington, d.c., today through sunday. so far, though, no trains headed north of washington up towards new york and boston have been cancelled. that could well change as the storm progresses. you can call amtrak for schedule changes. the maryland transportation authority will be monitoring the wind to decide whether to close or restrict access to bridges around the state much the agency usually stops traffic on bridges when wind exceeds 55 miles per hour, which could be the case this weekend. the mta is also checking pumps at all tunnels to make sure they're working in case the tunnels start to flood. and even after irene passes, the storm could send gasoline prices soaring. many oil refineries on the east coast are expected to shut down ahead of the storm's arrival. the national average for a gallon of regular gasoline already jumped a penny overnight according to aaa. eastern refineries account for aboa large percentage of oil production. while the hurricane heads toward our region, police in laurel, maryland, are looking into what they say are fake evacuation robocalls. residents of laurel are saying they're getting robocalls telling them to leave their homes. the city has not issued an evacuation order. city officials wonder if the phone lines have been crossed with ocean city, maryland, which is evacuating, or whether this was part of a prank. >> tom is taking a look at irene in weather and traffic on the ones. and irene's big impact for us is going to be in the form of power outages and maybe some trees uprooting and toppling saturday night into sunday morning. as we look at the latest from irene, it continues to spin. it has weakened a little bit overnight just in the last couple of hours. it the been downgraded from a category 2 storm. it's a powerful hurricane. you can see the rain bands, the radar detecting those areas of color. these are the outer bands coming into the south carolina coast and the georgia coast. the latest statistics, irene has steady. it's a category 2 storm. probably a category 3 in the afternoon hours. here's the track by 2:00 a.m. off the coast of wilmington, north carolina, then as a category 3 storm. coming right over the outer banks saturday at 2:00 p.m. with 120-mile-per-hour winds. the saturday 2:00 p.m. location right here, right over the outer banks. as a category 3 storm could have a lot of storm surge, water pushing inland, a lot of beach erosion there. farther north, looks like saturday evening just to the east of norfolk and virginia beach around midnight saturday night. here's the position, about 2:00 a.m. on sunday. 100-mile-per-hour winds. now the track has been fluctuating. remember earlier in the week it was right along the coast. midweek it looked like it was going to be shifting farther east. last couple of days shifting farther west. and then shifting back east again. we're going to get track fluctuations. don't be too concerned. it goes along the jersey coast. it does head up into new england and moves inland and becomes a minimal storm. right now tropical storm warnings for the washington metro area. all these counties in orange, including most of the bay. tropical storm warning. that means we may have tropical storm force winds of around 30 miles an hour or higher by saturday afternoon into evening. hurricane warnings for even stronger winds for the atlantic seaboard. and the extreme impact zone is right along the atlantic seaboard. the major impact zone includes washington, major subsuburbs. generally i-75 east is a major impact zone. here's what we mean by extreme impacts, rain up to ten inches in that extreme impact zone, winds of 70 miles an hour and major flooding. right along the i-95 and east of the bay, we could get six inches of rain with winds gusting 40 to 60 miles an hour. farther to the west, the impacts will be much less thankfully. right now got some rain in southern maryland, northern neck. temperatures in the 60s to near 70. we have patchy fog in the rural areas. we'll have that with us for the next couple of hours. 80s in the afternoon. we'll have a partly cloudy sky. and the impact of irene here saturday, getting stronger saturday afternoon and evening through midday sunday. maybe a little sun back sunday afternoon. settling down next week. we'll still be dealing with power outages through midweek probably. how's traffic, danella? chopper 4 is live over 270. this is at shady grove. you can see here in the local lanes. i have an accident involving an overturned vehicle. police are on the scene. fire department on the scene as well. it's taking away your right lane in the local lanes. i am seeing some volume in both the local lanes and the through lanes as you make your way south at shady grove and head towards the spur. i also have an accident. this is on 395 north at gw parkway in your left shoulder lane. also in germantown, i also have an accident. i have a truck, a fire truck. it's actually a garbage truck. it is on middlebrook road at great seneca highway. be airwa of that. it is starting out to be a tough commute. i'm tracking all these accidents for you all morning. back in ten minutes with another update. back to you. >> danella, thanks a lot. this morning at least 53 people are dead after a vicious deadly attack at a casino in mexico. crews pulled victims out throughout the night. it happened in monterrey, about a two-hour drive south of the u.s. border. two dozen armed men, raced in, doused the casino with fuel and lit it on fire. officials believe a drug cartel was apparently responsible for this attack. now to libya, where no one has seen moammar gadhafi for days. in a new audio message, though, he urged his supporters to go out in the streets and fight. at the same time, there are several reports that rebels are closing in on gadhafi. the associated press reported about 1,000 rebels surrounded ten buildings filled with pro gadhafi fighters in tripoli. at one point rebels believed that gadhafi and his sons were cornered in that apartment. meanwhile, officials found a photo album of former secretary of state condoleezza rice in moammar gadhafi's compound. in a television interview with al jazeera, gadhafi once praised rice saying "i support my darling black african woman. i love her very much and admire her." a state department spokeswoman said gadhafi's behavior is deeply bizarre and deeply creepy. >> agreed. a little unusual there. a pretty spectacular sight caught on tape. residents in peru got quite the show when what is believed to be a meteorite fell to the earth. >> this shows something streaking across the sky. this is part of the perseid meteor shower which happens in august. officials were unable to figure out where the meteorite did land, though. ght w. [ martin luther king jr. ] i still have a dream that one day on the red hills of georgia, the sons of former slaves and the sons of former slave owners will be able to sit down together at the table of brotherhood. i have a dream today! [ male announcer ] join us at the walter e. washington convention center on august 26th for a live roundtable discussion inspired by the legacy of dr. martin luther king jr.