not believe that we are prepared to handle. >> some new orleans residents left their homes anyway. they don't want to take my chances. should isaac deliver the same devastation that katrina did seven years ago. meanwhile, dominion power is sending more crews to the gulf r region to help restore electricity. they will help with relief efforts. dominion already sent about 80 crews to the region over the weekend. pepco also has more than 200 crews in the gulf ready to help restore power. storm4 meteorologist tom kierein is tracking isaac this morning. what's the latest on the storm? >> here is the latest on isaac. the information coming in within the last hour, here's the great circulation of isaac over the gulf of mexico. here's new orleans. a few rain bands out ahead of that are just about to move into the new orleans area but they're light right now. most of the rain is south of the center of circulation, which is moving at northwest at about 12 miles an hour. winds are at 70 miles an hour. just below hurricane strooent. it may not become a hurricane. later this morning may become a weak hurricane. coming ashore it does look like your southeast of new orleans, that could be perhaps around midnight tonight, and then right near the new orleans area as a tropical storm by dawn on wednesday morning. and then tracking inland and up the mississippi valley after that. one of the effects on new orleans? well, mostly storm surge. that's the wall of water that comes in ahead of the center of circulation. that storm surge may be coming through the bayous and up towards new orleans and it does look like as it does move in the storm surge could be 6 to 12 feet, rainfall 6 to 18 inches of rain. to is main threat there is a 24-hour period of heavy rain. for us, a few showers moving in in the metro area. across northern virginia and maryland. those will be with us here from time to time over the next couple of hours. breaking up, sunshine after that. showers south and east of washington during the afternoon. low humidity moves in. highs in the upper 80s by mid afternoon. beautiful as we get into tonight, tomorrow. i'll have details. another update in ten minutes. danella has traffic now. good morning. >> thank you, good morning to you. first4 traffic report, kick it off with the rails. traveling on the metro. still seeing delays because of track work. now, you will be single tracking on the blue line between eastern market and stadium armory. on the orange lines, we will track between eastern market up to new carrollton. expect delays in both directions. over to the marc. 11-minute delay, brunswick east train 870 and also brunswick east, this time, train number 89 0. if you're traveling 395 northbound as you make your way to duke, accident in the right shoulder lane and starting to see some volume here northbound lanes of 39d 5. you're slow to seminary road. angie, back over to you. new this morning, police are investigating a possible meth lab inside an arlington apartment building. this is just one block away from the virginia square metro station along north monroe street. firefighters and hazmat crews were called to the building just after 10:00 last night. residents were evacuated as a precaution. everyone has since been allowed back into the building. we're told two people were taken in for questioning. a shooting at columbia heights happened at 2:00 a.m. one man was shot in the chest, another in the arm. both were taken to the hospital. their names and conditions are not being released yet. so far, no arrests have been made. mitt romney arrives in florida today as republican national convention kicks into high gear. it's a packed schedule. today's run-down highlight will be the official roll call to nominate romney for president. he is expected to accept the nomination on thursday. then later in the night, romney's wife ann will take the stage as will new jersey governor chris christie for the key note address. virginia governor bob mcdonnell will also take the stais stage for a prime time speaking spot tonight. romney's oldest son tag says the convention will help voters get to know his dad a little better. >> it's a first chance for people tuning into the election to get to know my dad. he's got a vision for america to fix the economy. he's a great guy. a great father, great gra grandfather and a very good husband. >> the convention is a family affair this year. his daughter will also have the honor of addressing the rnc crowd. the 31-year-old who served in iraq as a army platoon leader will speak around 8:00 tomorrow night. the fellow veteran wounded in combat will join her on stage. she has been in the spotlight before campaigning for her father and singing the "national anthem" at his 2010 inauguration. programming note about rnc coverage for you. tomorrow, "nbc nightly news" will air half hour early at 6:30 p.m. so we can bring you the redskins preseason game redskins against tampa bay buccaneers. and paul ryan's speech will air immediately after the graham. president obama is campaigning today and open college students will help him return to the white house. first stoch is iowa state university. then he heads for ft. collins, colorado, to speak for students at colorado state. the president will finish up his tour with a visit to charlottesville tomorrow, the home of uva. right now the gulf coast is bracing for a direct hit. isaac is strengthening and on a collision course with new orleans. we'll go live to see if people feel repaired this time around. a different weather story but we could get wet, too. weather and traffic on the ones. next, if you are heading to the gym this morning. why it may do your body good, get this, to cut your workout in half. >> oh, yeah. you may actually be able to to lose more weight in half the time. researchers in denmark studied two groups of men, one group exercised for 30 minutes, the other a full hour. they found the group that exercised for 30 minutes lost nearly eight pounds over 13 weeks. the group that exercised longer lost only six pounds. researchers say those who exercise longer they eat more to compensate. here, here. or those who spend less time exercising may be willing to do other forms of physical activity. >> what about the ladies? i want to know about the ladies. you can help kids in need succeed in school. we are holding a backpacks 4 kids program. you can donate online. search the word backpacks. you can call in your donations during news4 midday and news4 at 4:00. today is our final day of the drive. please help out. a lot of kids in need in our area. >> pick up the phone. we're making it easy for them out there. so what should kids be wearing today? if they're allowed shorts they can get away with it, radio it? >> yeah. but you also need an umbrella before you head out the door. there's the cloudy sky over washington. hd city camera. weather and traffic on the ones. right now at 6:11. storm team 4 radar showing some showers moving west to east across northern virginia in prince william, fairfax, loudoun. across the potomac in the district, northeast, north wes of washington and montgomery county and howard and northern prince george's, northern anne arundel getting a few sprinkles. hometown forecast for lanham, 8:00 a.m. then by early afternoon, sunshine breaking out in the mid 80s there. here is the hour-by-hour forecast for the whole region. might have a few showers south and east of the metro area during the afternoon. other wides, partly sunny to mostly sunny and returning less humid. highs mid and upper 80s. first 4 traffic now with danella, good morning. >> good morning. thanks, tom. if you're taking the bay bridge, let's take a live look from chopper 4 right now. chopper4 is right over i-270 at i-370. chopper is showing you southbound, it's not terrible. your travel lanes are open as you make your way towards the beltway. let's head over to the bay bridge. big delays across the bay bridge because of the bridge work. what's happening is eastbound is traveling west and eastbound traffic. two lanes. you are absolutely jammed if you're taking the bay bridge. it's going to be a slow trip for you this morning. 395, there, activity still in the right shoulder lane. northbound at duke. travel lanes are open though. jim and angie, back over to you. time is 6:12. when we come right back on "news4 today," a gold medalist gabby douglas with a surprise admission. what she over came to make it to the top. and next, new information about the shooting inside a maryland high school. the message the suspected shooter posted on facebook hours earlier. president clinton: this election to me is about which... candidate is more likely to return us to full employment. this is a clear choice. the republican plan is to cut more taxes on upper-income... people and go back to deregulation. that's what got us in trouble in the first place. president obama has a plan to rebuild america from... the ground up, investing in innovation, education... and job training. it only works if there is a strong middle class. that's what happened when i was president. we need to keep going with his plan. president obama: i'm barack obama and... i approve this message. extra police will be on land this morning at one of maryland's largest high schools after that shooting on the first day of class yesterday. the shooting happened inside perry hall high school in baltimore county. a 15-year-old suspect is in custody. police are releasing very few details about the suspect but according to wbal the suspect used the moniker suicidal smile on his facebook page writing, quote, first day of school, last day of my life. police say he fired a shot in the cafeteria hitting a special needs student. >> something hit the ceiling. and i don't know what it was. we heard it. then as soon as we heard it again, we got up and grabbed my stuff and i ran out. i didn't know what it was. >> guidance counselor stop the teen before he could do further damage. the 17-year-old is listed in critical condition in the hospital. he was the only one hit but not the intended target. today a gathering of victim's families in colorado, loved ones of the 12 people killed in a mass movie neater shooting last month will appear in public together for the first time. the group is expected to read a statement and to take questions from the media. james holmes, former ph.d. student, is awe kused of bursting into the theater and opening fire, killing 12 and injuring another 58 people. olympic gold medalist gabby douglas says her teammates bullied her when she was training in virginia. the 16-year-old virginia beach native tells oprah she almost quit gymnastics because she was bullied. growing up her teammates in virginia would call her their slave and make other racial slurs. it got so bad she would come home crying. so at the age of 14 she ended up moving away to iowa. douglas won the gold medal and around around gymnastics in london. this morning we're learning some of the details of astronaut's neil armstrong's funeral. he will be laid to rest on friday near his home in cincinnati. it will be a private service. the white house though has ordered flags fly at half staff on friday. armstrong died saturday at age 82. all eyes are on the gulf of mexico today where tropical storm isaac is churning. take a look at some of the flooding the storm already caused in florida. isaac also triggered a tornado that damaged dozens of homes in vero beach. flooding is the biggest concern in new orleans where isaac could make landfall tonight. nbc's danielle lee is there live this morning with the very latest. danielle? >> reporter: good morning, angie. it's starting to feel a little bit like a calm before the storm right now. we've had a few light winds. we had a couple of rain drops. and then all went just calm. if you look behind me you will notice there isn't a lot of activity on canal street. that's not because it's early in the morning. just last evening it was relatively the same because many people are taking these warnings seriously. they're going home and getting ready for the storm. if you walk along canal street, many businesses like this hotel are putting up sandbags and other precautions ahead of the storm. the same is true for residents here in louisiana and new orleans and really around the gulfs people are putting sandbags up in their homes. they were getting plywood and covering their windows. gas stations, long lines, and emergency supplies of food in case they do have to go without. this storm is going to hit right around the seven-year anniversary of hurricane katrina. that has very many people on edge. this storm will in many ways be the first test of the levee system in the roughly $14 billion in repairs that we'll put into that system after the system veiled during hurricane katrina in 2005. that has people's attention. they aren't sure whether or not they can trust that. and so some people have this decided to evacuate because of that. for many people here the largest concern is flooding. i'm danielle lee, back to you. >> thank you. this morning isaac may be reminding some folks about another ice storm. one year ago hurricane irene was heading right toward us. it walloped the mid atlantic, you will recall. the eye was off the coast of north carolina at this point. it never strengthened beyond a category 1 hurricane but irene ranks as the costliest storm in more than three decades. it's believed to have caused more than $15 billion da n. damage. irene also killed at least 67 people from the caribbean all of the way up to canada. they were telling us a while ago that this may not even strengthen into a hurricane but it's the rain we're worried about. >> the rain surges, the high level of water. the mayor is thinking the levees will protect them. still a very high level of anxiety out there they're experiencing. here, just may be a little bit of rain that we have to contend with this morning. >> behind you there we see a few breaks in the clouds. it's certainly going to be getting cloudier in washington with light rain beginning to move in northwest right now. farther north and west of washington. right along 95 from the beltway between there and baltimore. it's all wet. getting some passing showers there. then into virginia, a few sprinkles in fairfax county and faur there to the west right along 66 from near burke virginia to chantilly out to near front royal. it is wet there as well. the showers heading offer to the east through steam heat. it is in the low to mid 70s. most of the region. low humidity is coming to rescue us. it's on the way. it will be arriving later this afternoon. highs reaching mid and upper 80s with a clearing sky. then beautiful summer weather wednesday, thursday, and friday. highs tomorrow, low to mid 80s. mid and upper 80s on thursday. near 90 friday morning lows in the 60s each morning and not too humid. over the weekend, getting more humid. perhaps some remnants of isaac here in the form of some tropical showers. i'll be back in ten minutes. another update coming. and now a look at your first4 traffic. here's danella. good morning. >> checking at your area of volume is increasing. you're starting to be sluggish already. let's talk about disabled vehicle out of the beltway in college park. disabled vehicle in that area. starting to see delays, the usual suspect here. the beltway at new hampshire avenue. sluggish. in fact, your delays right now just go to university boulevard. but if you're trying to get from i-95 to i-270, about 44 miles per hour. right now that drive will take you 13 minutes. heading over to i-95, here's a look at fairfax county parkway. slow as you make your way to franconia, springfield parkway. good news on i-95, no reports of accidents right now. jim and angie, back over to you. 6: 22. when we come back on "news4 today," why one of the giant pandas at the national zoo is making things a bit difficult for veterinarians. and you may soon be able to finish that movie the next time you fly. the rules the faa is considering relaxing. switching to progressive could mean hundreds more in your wallet year after year. feed me! saving you money -- now, that's progressive. call or click today. but what choices will women be left with? just like mitt romney, paul ryan would get rid of planned parenthood funding. in congress, ryan voted to ban all federal funding for planned parenthood and allow employers to deny women access to cancer screenings and birth control. and both romney and ryan backed proposals to outlaw abortion even in cases of rape and incest. for women... for president... the choice is ours. i'm barack obama, and i approve this message. startling reminder it is not just drivers that can be hurt during an auto race. four members of a pit crew was injured in holland. driver had just finished pitting. as he left the pit his car caught a hose there another crew was holding. it whipped around sending four crew members flying. they were all rushed to the hospital but they are expected to be okay. well, it's going to be while before you can use your ipad or smart phone during an entire flight. the faa is beginning to study the use of electronic devices during air travel and will release its recommendation in march. right now passengers have to shut off all smart phones and computers when the plane is below 10,000 feet. that's because of worries that signals from the devices might interfere with electronics in the cockpit. the faa says allowing cellphone use during flights is not under consideration. so words with friends still can't do. >>out can't. but it's always in the good part of the movie. >> exactly. >> when it's time to descend and you're watching the flight attendant hoping they're not going to come down and call you pout. >> shut it down. time is 6:26. fu with dp you are just waking up, we are tracking isaac. not quite a hurricane but getting close. be the latest track is still ahead. the local police officer shoots himself. what he was trying to get away from when it happened. scary moments at a maryland hospital. who walked out with a newborn baby. your weather and traffic on the ones. whee wheeeeeeeeeeeee! wheeeeeeeeeeee! whee whee wheeeeeeeeeeee-he- he-heeeeee! whee whee wheeeeeeeeeeee! pure adrenaline. sfx: snorting sound. whee whee wheeeeeeeeeeee! everything you love about geico, now mobile. download the geico app today. final farewell in just a lyle while. friends, family, and fellow officers will say good-bye to an officer killed on n. a crash on 95. hospital scare. what happened after a woman walked out with a newborn baby. good morning, everyone. welcome to "news4 today." i'm angie goff. europe eun yang is off. >> i'm jim handly. aaron gilchrist is in tampa. right now people are cleaning up from tropical storm isaac. but it's the people in louisiana, mississippi, and alabama who are brace for a direct hit. an update on isaac just ahead. but right now, though, a look at the sky over our area shows cloudy once again. some of you also getting rained on perhaps. >> yeah. meteorologist tom kierein is not. he is out on storm weather deck. you are not getting rained on. is it even warm out there yet? >> oh, yeah, it's steamy and mild and we have a few sprinkles trying to come down. cloudy sky. the clouds are sort of a steel gray. they are producing some scattered sprinkles around the region now as we look at storm team4 radar, the areas are moving. that's where we're getting a few showers. where you see the yellow, moderate showers there in southern loudoun county, northern prince william. that's about to enter fairfax county. another moderate shower now just moving out of northern prince george's county and northern anne arundel. a few sprinkles. across the region we are going to have this passing shower activity for the next few hours. lower humidity moves in. it's already in place in the ohio valley. and closer to the mountains it's beginning to turn less humid now. and that will be moving in during the afternoon hour by hour. by noontime, the mid 80s. maybe a few showers south and east of the metro area. partly sunny elsewhere. turning less humid and mostly sunny during the afternoon. blustery northwest winds. i'm back in ten minutes with a hometown forecast. danella has a look now at your first4 traffic. we have a crash along route 1. i'm watching it for you right now. northbound lanes are blocked. this is at forest place. all your linebacker lanes are blocked. your work around is going to be a left on sacramento drive. make a right on pole road. another right on frye road and a another left on route one. 395, still seeing accident activity at duke. the ldelays, just regular volum here. seminary, you know how that is. just underspeed in this area. no accidents in the roadway on 395. heading over to the bn, outer loop, taking the ramp to northbound route one, have a crash there -- excuse me, a disabled vehicle there. it is blocking your right lane. stick to the left of the ramp. a prince george's county police officer killed in the line of duty will be laid to rest today. funeral service for adrian morris will be held this morning at 9:00 at the woodstream church in mitchellville, maryland. megan mcgrath is live there now with the story. good morning, megan. >> reporter: good morning, jim. it's still very early, but we are already starting to see some activity here at the church. you can see officers have gathered here going over the logistics for the viewing and the funeral which will happen later on this morning. aid drn morris always wanted to be a police officer. as a teenager he joined the police explorers group and served as a scout. morris lived his dream for 2 1/2 years on the prince george's county police force. sadly though, his life and career were cut short last week when his cruiser crashed. yesterday hundreds of people attended officer morris' viewing in beltsville. he was remembered as a dedicated police officer committed to helping the community, also as someone who immigrated to this country and then lived the american dream. >>. >> officer morris is an american success story. he came to this country from jamaica with his mother. became a citizen in 2009. graduated from eleanor reoosevet high school in 2007. police explorer. you couldn't write a script that could depict a young person so dedicated to public servant. >> and final viewing will happen at 9:00 this morning here at the woodstream church on lottsford road in mitchellville. we are expecting a very large crowd. people out on the streets can expect rolling road closures later on this morning as the very large funeral procession makes its way here from the church to the cemetery in davidsonville. also we're expecting road closures this morning as that procession goes from the funeral home here to the church. they're going to be staying off the major roads to try and limit the impact. but if you travel through the area this morning and later on after that funeral service, you may encounter some closures. they could last up to 30 minutes. and the funeral again gets under way at 10:00. the viewing begins at 9:00. reporting live in mitchellville, megan mcgrath, news4. jim, back to you. >> megan, thank you. a baby taken from a hospital in la plata is back at the hospital this morning. >> that's right. police say the mother of the week old baby took the child from civista medical center without permission last night. we're told the mom does not have custody of the child. it's not yet clear how the mother was able to get the baby out of the hospital. these two spotsylvania mothers are facing child neglect charges. they arrested craig and lamb after they found them living with eight children in a filthy home. they say the house was filled with rotten food and animal wastes. child protective services took away craig's three children and lamb's five. they are now living with their grandmothers. animal control also took seven dogs and two cats away. today d.c. councilman tommy wells will hold a public hearing into the high priced tickets from the district's traffic cameras. wells is not against the cameras themselves but he tells news4 the fines that go up to $250 are too high. by comparison, violations in montgomery county are $40. last year cameras in the district generated more than $50 million. wells plans to propose new legislation to lower the fines after meeting with community and transportationed a no indicates. d.c. will resume installing new smart meters in taxicabs while the lawsuit to stop the installation makes its way through the court system. a judge ruled the d.c. taxicab commission can proceed with the verifone system installation. the new device comes with a credit card reader, gps technology, and a smart tv monitor. the d.c. council approved a $35 million contract with the verifone company. companies that did not win the contract are suing citing the bidding process was flawed. if everything goes as planned, all 6500 cabs will have new smart phone meters by the end of this year. time now is 6: 37 on this tuesday. ahead on "news4 today," why two members of the mcdonnell family will have starring roles at the republican national convention. plus, a call for a domestic disturbance turns into something much larger. why dozens of people were forced out of their apartments overnight. right now there is excitement down at the national zoo but there's one giant panda who may ruin all the fun. >> oh, no! and a wet start for some of you. tom is tracking showers. danella is watching the roads. weather and traffic on the ones still ahead. anncr: it'll start out as concrete and steel... but it'll become so much more. a new world-class resort casino in prince george's county. two thousand construction jobs to build it. four thousand permanent, good-paying jobs when it's done. hundreds of millions for maryland schools... real oversight to make sure the money goes... where it's supposed to. but none of it will happen unless we vote for... question seven this november. vote for question seven. and help build a better future for maryland. do you know what you're really drinking when you buy one of those popular energy drinks? new york's attorney general wants to find out. he's launching an investigation into whether drink makers are misleading consumers about ingredients and nutritional information. for example, labels don't often say how much caffeine is is in those drinks. the more caffeine, the better. you would agree. >> just coffee. tom, how are we looking so far? >> right now, weather and traffic on the ones at 6: 41, we have just some light showers, maybe just a few sprinkles in the district of columbia. but just to our west, right now western fairfax county from near chantilly up toward reston, getting moderate showers as well as into southern loudoun county. advancing east. just about to come into falls church and then eventually head toward arlington. then the district and in falls church, hometown forecast, may be a lingering showers, low 70s. mid afternoon, sunshine and mid 80s. for the whole region, hour by hour today, mid afternoon, we ought to hit the mid and upper 80s. the big story, low humidity moving in during the afternoon as we get a clearing sky and a bit of a blustery northwest wind. seven-day outlook and a look at the latest on isaac in ten minutes. danella, how's traffic? >> still checking out the situation along richmond highway. northbound lanes are blocked at forest place and a crash in that area. all the lanes are blocked. now, let's head over to i-270. big delays here. very slow. jammed even starting at 85. travel speed at 80. just 18 miles per hour. southbound still seeing red to about 109. then delays continue. in the germantown area, see delays here as you make your way through gaithersburg, sluggish as well. rockville, stop and go for you. live look as you make your way west of montgomery avenue. good news, no accidents right now on i-270. just difficult lays. talking about i-66 right now. slow eastbound at suddenly. right around 50. you don't have that closure, hit the brakes agained a you make your way in. jim and angie, back over to you. >> danella, thanks. new this morning, police are investigating a possible meth lab inside an arlington apartment building. this is just one block away from the virginia square metro station along north monroe street. firefighters and hazmat crews were called to the building just after 10:00 last night. residents were evacuated as a precaution. everyone has since been allowed back inside the building. we're told two people were taken in for questioning. also new this morning. police are investigating a double shooting in columbia heights. the shooting happened just before 2:00 a.m. along sherman after knew. we're told one man was shot in the chest, another was shot in the arm. both were taken to the hospital. their names and conditions are not being released at this time. so far, no arrests have been made. a run-in with a rabid fox ended with one woman hurt and a police officer in the hospital. police tell us the woman and n. ft. washington reported the animal had bitten her. the officer shot and killed the fox when it charged him. but also accidentally shot himself in the leg. we're told his injuries are serious but not life threatening. check your fruit bowl this morning. giant food is recalling daniella mangos because of salmonella concerns. it affects splendid products, daniella mangos. giant says several people reported getting sick in canada after they ate the mangos. you can take any unused mangos and receipt to any giant store and they will give you a full refund. d.c. mayor vincent gray will reveal his plan to clean up elections in the district. the mayor will unveil his campaign finance reform plan. the washington examiner is reporting the proposal will include ideas d.c. attorney general has been promoting. that includes limiting contributions for people looking to do business with the city. gm is betting big bucks on expanded gambling in maryland. the company is pumping in $2.4 million for jobs and schools in maryland. it's a committee supporting maryland's expanded gambling package. it is just the start of what's expected to be a multimillion dollar campaign. both sides maryland jobs and schools already is running radio ads, tv campaigns again this swooek week. final say on expanded gambling happens in november. republican national convention is launching into high gear this morning as the party's presumptive nominee arrives in town. mitt romney is expected to arrive in tampa today. it comes as delegates take the official roll call to nominate him for president. romney is expected to accept the nomination thursday. now, a little later in the night, romney's wife ann will take the stage, as will new jersey governor chris christie for the day's key note address. virginia governor mb mcdonnell gets a prime time speaking spot tonight if governor won't be the only mcdonnell taking the stage. his daughter will also have the honor of addressing the rnc crowd. the 31-year-old who served in iraq as a army platoon leader will introduce senator john mccain around 8:00 tomorrow night. fellow veteran who was wounded in combat will join her on stage. jenen mcdonnell has been in the spotlight before campaigning for her father and singing the "national anthem" at his inauguration. mcdonnell's speech highlights you pivotal a role virginia is playing. fairfax county delegate barbara comstock is co-chair of romney's come pain in the common wealth. she will be on the big stage for a short speech and then second romney's nomination to set the roll call vote in motion. >> i'm really forward to that because i've been working for him since 2006. and i'm really excited about the campaign and his nomination and hope the next president of the united states will be mitt romney. >> virginia delegation also got star treatment yesterday. they were visited by actor jon voight and romney's oldest son tag. programming note about the rnc coverage. tomorrow night "nbc nightly news" will air at 6: 30 so we can bring you the redskins preseason game, redskins against buccaneers, at 7:00. and then the rnc coverage will air immediately after the game. this morning we're tracking tropical storm isaac as it moves closer to the gulf coast. right now isaac is a tropical storm but it could strengthen into a category 1 hurricane later this morning. forecasters expect the storm to make landfall late tonight and new orleans is right in its pat. isaac has already caused major flooding in florida and it may bring similar levs station to the gulf coast. here is proof that people in louisiana are taking this all very seriously. you don't often see bourbon street looking like this. chief meet yteorologist took th picture last night. thousands of other gulf coast residents are also bracing for the worse. the weather channel's paul goodlow is in gulf port, mississippi. how are conditions there, paul? >> right now they're not that bad. people are waking up this morning and happy that isaac is not a hurricane yet. still just a tropical storm. again, preparations have been going on here for at least the last 24 hours and behind me is the actual port of -- gulf port, mississippi. we all remember what happened with katrina and new orleans. but a lot of people don't remember is the basic ground zero of this storm, the right front part of the storm as part of that hurricane katrina hit right here across the coastal sections of mississippi and this area of gulf port was devastated by the winds, also by the storm surge. where i'm standing 18 feet above sea level there was a 29 to 32-foot deep storm surge. we're talking the water four or five feet above my head. that's how deep it was. this area definitely a kerney time you have a hurricane or tropical storm in the mexico. right now the national hurricane center is for a 6 to 12 foot storm surge. nothing like what happened with katrina but still enough to concern people. in fact, two of the casinos west of the bay of st. louis has been ordered closed by governor because they're south of u.s. 90 which is the road i'm standing on right now. because they're in a low-lying area. there are other casinos open but people are preparing for what isaac could bring and with its slow ward progression we could have hours perhaps if not a day and a half of heavy rain with this system. flooding could be a lingering impression of this system because of isaac and keeping the eye out for the storm surge and the water to rise here as we head over the next 24 hours. back to you. >> paul, thanks so much. dominion power is sending more crews to help restore electricity. 50 crews and bucket trucks will help with relief efforts. dominion already sent 80 crews to the region over the weekend. pepco has 200 crews in the gulf ready to help restore power. and this morning, we are getting a better idea of how much more gas could cost because of isaac. we knew this was coming. cnbc has the story. >> that's right, angie. question could see higher prices at the pump in the next few weeks. gas prices are likely to tick higher once tropical storm isaac expected to become a hurricane today passes through the gulf of mexico. the storm could prompt the closure of up to 12 gulf coast refineries and analysts say gas prices could go up ten cents or more depending on the sever they of any damage. the region's refineries produced 22% of the nation's gas supply. of course, with less supply you have higher prices. back to you. >> thanks, kay la. tom was just telling us he woke up in montgomery county and saw changes, what, about a tidi overnight? >> it's a temporary spike, but they have to evacuate all of those oil rigs, everything out there in the gulf, because they are sitting there right now under the influence of a tropical storm, which is churning away over the northern gulf of mexico. that is the storm team4 tropical satellite view and the green. that's the radar. the land-based radar picking up the first rain bands now coming ashore in the bayous of louisiana. and here is the way it's looking trackwise. it could track anywhere within this zone of possibility. could go east of new orleans or maybe west of new orleans. coming ashore it does look like into the bayous perhaps south and east of new orleans by early this evening, by late in the evening and around dawn. it will be near new orleans tomorrow morning. the big story is going to be b the storm surge. right now it is looking like that storm surge coming in off the gulf, it's that wall of water out ahead period of time center of circulation coming in. 6 to 12 feet above the average tides and rainfall is the other main threat, up to 18 inches of rain because it's going to slow down as it gets inland. and just sit there and unload. lots of rain. for us, we're getting a few showers now in fairfax county and northern prince william heading off to the east about to come into the district. also having other sprinkles here in northern prince george's county and northern anne arun l arundel. for the morning commute, have an umbrella handy. clearing west and east during the afternoon. might have a few lingers showers east and south of washington noontime. by then be in the low to mid 80s. and turning less humid during the afternoon. highs reaching upper 80s. clearing out. then beautiful summer weather for wednesday, thursday. highs reaching the 80s. morning low 60s. low humidity, lots of sun. getting steamier on friday and saturday. high 80s to near 90. saturday evening into early sunday morning. might get a few tropical downpours from the remnants of isaac here. so stay tuned. danella has a look at traffic now. good morning. >> good morning. here's a live view from chopper 4. over 395, taillights, lots of them northbound as you make your way past duke. you're underspeed as you head to the 14th street bridge. travel lanes are open. travel speed is 30 miles per hour. slow trip this morning. 22 minutes to make that commute. now, let's head over to northbound richmond highway. route 1 in this area is blocked at forest place. this is due to a crash blocking all northbound lanes. we have to talk about metro. situation here is if you're taking the blue line, expect a 20-minute delay. orange line, expect a 30-minute delay. the situation is unexpected track work causing single track on the blue and on the orange. you're single tracking to new carrollton. jim, over to you. >> danella, thank you. bethesda mother is speaking out this morning in hopes of finding a driver who hit her while she rode her bike. her injuries may be hard to look at. she's reluctant to show her friends. jody grant rode her bike friday morning when a driver struck her on massachusetts avenue, left her bleeding and unconscious on the road. she suffered facial fractures and her teeth had to be realigned. she doesn't remember much. >> it's really sad and hard to explain to my friends and to my two little girls how someone could leave their mom bleeding, unconscious, in the street. >> montgomery county police are looking for a dark blue late model minivan with damage to the driver's side. anyone with information is urged to call police. today the martin luther king jr. memorial is celebrating its first anniversary. the memorial opened last august. its organizers are celebrating the occasion with a special program tonight. it will include several speeches and a screening of the movie "the long walk home." the program begins at 7:00 and is free and open to the public. veterinarians at the national zoo will try to examine a panda today to see if she's pregnant. key work word, try. there is hope that she is pregnant. she was supposed to have an ultrasound yesterday but she wouldn't come out of her den. she was having none of it. the zoo tweeted out this photo. vets will try to examine the panda again this morning at 8:00. the zoo says she's displaying higher hormone levels. that means she could be pregnant. since 2007 we've experienced five false pregnancies but zoo officials are hopeful to say she started building a nest already. that's why she wouldn't come out. she's getting the cribs and toys ready. >> paws are crossed. >> fingers, toes, the works. that's going to do it for us. thanks for waking up with "news4 today" on this tuesday. "today" show is next. we'll be back in 25 minutes with weather, traffic, and any breaking news.