screen, up to 270 in to places like olney, aspen hills, wind gusts in excess of 60 miles per hour, a lot of cloud-to-ground lightning and this is pressing to the east. so places like clarksville, up in howard county, columbia, look out. you will get hit hard and then crossing 95 into laurel and toward odenton and eventually into anne arundel county. and we have showers and thunderstorms developing to the east toward annapolis across the bay and we'll watch those carefully here in the next few minutes. let's get a little closer. and this particular storm has been causing the problems. pressing to the south and east at about 30 miles per hour, will cross 95 in te nt half hour or so. okut for cloud-to-ground lightning, the potential for extremely heavy downpours with this system as it crosses 95 in the next half an hour or so and then greenbelt, bowie, crofton, you're next as this continues to the east. and let's talk temperatures. it's very muggy. currently we're in the 80s. 82 degrees at reagan national. humidity 71%. winds out of the south and east at 3 miles per hour. a lot of energy in the atmosphere. we have a cold front pressing through and we're expecting problems not only this morning but likely redeveloping this afternoon as showers and thunderstorms will linger for much of the day. showers and thunderstorms likely. quite humid out there. good news is high temperature today only in the mid to upper 80s. yesterday there was a record high out of dulles. but still showers and thunderstorms with the passage of this cold front. i'll continue to monitor the strong storms in montgomery and howard county and give you an update in a couple of minutes. let's get to julie wright with the latest in traffic. good morning to you as well. the heavy rain effecting the commute, especially along 270. because of the heavy rain we've lost some cameras in the area. so it will be difficult to see what is going on until the storm passes through the area but we can tell you 270 gridlocked living 70 and out of urbana and toward hyattstown. slow toward germantown toward falls road. 355 at cedar lane, a crash, left side of the road blocked off. recovering from the bus fire, 395 in the h.o.v. lane approaching the pentagon. the activity on the shoulder as the lanes are open but both the h.o.v. and the main line stacked up from the beltway continuing up towards the pentagon. 95 traffic congested now, dale city to 123 woodbridge with an accident on the shoulder. slow traffic continues lorton to the fst with an accident on the shoulder. no problems off of the dulles toll road. slow in manassas, centreville, 50 to 123 and nutley street where we had a report of an accident blocking the left lane. that's a check of your fox 5 on- time traffic. we continue to follow breaking news this morning. there are reports this morning that a man has been arrested in connection to a series of stabbings in virginia and two other states. >> a person of interest was detained in atlanta, georgia. and again, sarah simmons joins us live from leesberg with the details. good morning. >> reporter: good morning, allison and tony. leesberg police just confirmed they do indeed have a person of interest in custody in atlanta, georgia, in connection with these 20-some stabbings that occurred in michigan, ohio and here in leesberg, virginia. he was taken into custody late yesterday afternoon. there are reports as well that we are getting from our sister station in atlanta that there was possibly -- that he was trying to leave the country. they're reporting that it was a possibility that law enforcement took him into custody before he was able to board the plane. officers here say they are looking to confirm that information and are looking into it at this point. police here do tell us that this is what is interesting but they are not elaborating on, is that they claim this man has tied to flint, michigan and leesberg, virginia. what exactly that means right now, they are not expanding on. but of course at this point they are still working the information they can get. we're trying to find out more, whether or not this was local authorities or the fbi, possibly an air marshall that may have taken this man into custody. this continues to develop and we will of course have the latest information and bring it to you as we receive it. toby and -- tony and allison, back to you. >> sarah, thank you so much. and our other top story this is morning, police are searching for a carjacking suspect on the run. he's accused of stealing a car with a child still inside. it happened at a shell station at the 900 block of minnesota avenue northeast. a woman went inside to pay for gas, leaving her 5-year-old daughter in the backseat. witnesses say that's when the suspect jumped in the car and drove off. >> she walked to the cash register, but she left her keys in the ignition. that's wrong to do when you have a kid in the backseat. sad how people out here just do things to try to get around. i mean, it's just not right. >> police apparently called the woman's cell phone which was left in the car and convinced the suspect to drop the child off in maryland. the little girl was not hurt. the vehicle was abandoned along fairmont avenue. he is an african-american male, 6 feet tall with dark complexion wearing a black shirt and blue jeans. a police chase in largo ends with shots fired outside of a prince george's county courthouse in upper moralboro. it began last night. police were chasing a vehicle and it's not clear why. the suspect rammed into the officer's cruiser and then tried to run the officer over. the officer opened fire hitting one of the three suspects. they were arrested and no one was hurt. a man was shot near 16th street and mozart west. he was taken to a hospital and died minutes later. so far no word on any arrest, nor motive. this morning, the ntsb is -- on the scene of the alaska plane crash. investigators are getting a close look at the wreckage. they had to hike through thick for toast get to it. they're trying to figure out why the plane crashed. the head of the ntsb said the pilot never issued a may day stress call. >> reference and information and any discussion of time of death, cause of death will be made by the medical examiner and the safety board will not be releasing that information. >> federal investigators want to interview the four survivors but they are still in the hospital. former illinois congressman dan rostenkowski has died of lung cancer. he was in the house ways and means committee. the career of the long time democrat was tarnished by a corruption conviction in 1996. he was 82 years old. now to the economic jitters on wall street. market traders are hoping for a better day today after a tumultuous day yesterday. the nasdaq dropped over 68 points. umapeople erath has the detailed. >> reporter: wednesday brought the biggest selloff in three weeks, dumping the market into negative territory. >> over the last few weeks we've had a good feeling about the market and i think they had long-term feeling and we're having credit issues and we're still nowhere near where we should be on the path for economic recovery. >> reporter: the federal reserve said they will begin to buy government bonds to stimulate the economy. >> the fed is letting people know they think the situation is bad enough they have to cut more. >> reporter: the goal is to cut interest rates on mortgages and increase lending and help the economy. the number of homes lost in foreclosure climbed 6% from last year. lenders repossessed 93,000 properties last month. >> i think we have to take our medicine. this is a very tough situation. the government has already done a tremendous amount. i think people are worried there is not much more they can do and it's up to the private sector and their executives want to see more confidence before they hire. and so we're just going to have to hope that that gradually impropers over time. foreclosures in california, florida, michigan and arizona account for half of all foreclosure notices in the country last month. for all of your financial news log on to fox news.com. there is some hope for struggling homeowners. the u.s. department of treasury's hardest hit fund will provide $2 billion of additional assistance in states and the district of columbia. we'll take a closer look at how much it will happen people in the 9:00 hour. coming up in a couple of moments, tucker barnes just handed me new information. there is a severe thunderstorm warning in effect for washington and the surrounding area. he'll have details in a couple of moments. and a massive iceberg, bigger than manhattan. it breaks off from a glacier near greenland. we'll look at what this means coming up. and dave ross goes one on one with tight end chris cooley. he's always a good interview. more ahead. and we'll have more on the weather just ahead and julie will have your traffic. it's all coming up ahead. stay with us. ♪[ music ] country music fans here is your chance to see a show at jiffy lube live for free. we're talking about saturday's rascal flats concert. correctly answer the trivia question on your screen. rascal flats has had how many number one songs on the billboard country chart. is it 8, 10, 12 or 14? that's a lot no matter what. go to our website at myfoxdc.com and find the contest on our entertainment page. enter until 10:00 this morning. read the contest rules there too. you must be at least 18 years old. two winners will be selected by random drawing today. the prize of a pair of tickets is provided by live nation entertainment. 7:15 now and we are dealing with severe weather right now. >> intense band of thunderstorms moving through the area, across northern tier of the viewing area during the past hour or so. and we've just had issued in the last several minutes a new severe thunderstorm warning. the counties in yellow here, including the district of columbia, southeastern montgomery county, much of anne arundel county, prince george's county, the city of alexandria until 7:45. you can see that very intense band of thunderstorms generally centered just to the north and west of the district, up near germantown. all of that pressing to the south and east and again we've got widespread reports of cloud- to-ground lightning. look at the flashing there. wind gusts in excess of 50 miles per hour. hail to the size of quarters and torrential downpours to t point traffic was stopped for a time on 270. take this seriously. pressing south and east at 40 miles per hour. let me give you a few locations impacted in the next half an hour. bethesda, chevy chase, georgetown, reagan national. in addition i want to mention we have a special marine warning for the tidal potomac from the key bridge to indian head, maryland. so if you kw anybody out on the water, hold off. these storms are very intense. let's get a closer look. and they are moving south and east at 40 miles per hour, just crossing 95. across the bw parkway in the next few minutes and places like bowie, crofton, odenton, you are next so be ready. if you're across northern prince george's county, including glen burnie, you'll get this intense band of thunderstorms and we're expecting to push through the district in the next half an hour or so. and a lot of rain, a lot of cloud-to-ground lightning. would you not be surprised if we have problems with down power lines and tree limbs again with these storms. they are in tense as they press south and east. i know a lot of viewers watching to the south this morning. in problem for you this hour. this is isolated to areas to the north. but later today we could see more showers and thunderstorms redevelop. this is all associated with a cold front coming through. yesterday we were 97, today only in the 80s and unfortunately this is a consequence as we have to deal with the thunderstorms as they press through. 81 in washington. low 70s off to the north and west. hagerstown 71. and frederick reporting a temperature of 73. so we're starting to cool things down but it will be touch and go for the next couple of hours. 89 this afternoon. here is your five-day forecast. most of the weekend should be dry with highs in the 80s. i'll continue to monitor the weather as needed. >> it's fighting itself. the cold and hot air. >> the battlegrounds have been drawn and they're right across washington area. >> montgomery county getting hit again. thank you very much, tucker. and julie has had problems in the roadways. >> it hasn't been easy for those traveling on 270 out of hyattstown and clarksburg. a crawl southbound toward gaithersburg and still on the brakes toward montrose root. 355 south at cedar lane, accident on the right side. georgia avenue at glenn allen, the signal lights not working. in virginia, this is the ramp from the gw parkway southbound to come inbound across the 14th street bridge. this is where we have the accident activity. and traffic is squeezing by to the left. and this is the ramp from the gw parkway and continuing around to the inbound 14th street bridge. so this is where we have problems. this is backing up your right off of the gw parkway. no incidents to report right now traveling northbound on i- 95 out of dale city. however the pace is slow through woodbridge, springfield toward duke street on 395 and traffic slowing again at the pentagon. traffic eastbound 66 on the brakes in manassas, centreville, fair oaks into the beltway, the ramp to the outer loop is where we had the crash on the right side. talking about the rain north and west of town, here we are live off of the dulles toll road. no problems to report leaving the greenway, route 7 still at speed. no problems reporting from gainesville. that's a check of your fox 5 on- time traffic. and we continue our coverage of redskins training camp 2010. today we're getting to know the man known as captain chaos. >> chris cooley has been with the team for 7 seasons and he recently went one-on-one with our man dave ross. >> you can believe 7 seasons. it's just flown by. he can't believe it either. i think he's the most recognizable redskin right now. >> and i like him. he's well liked. >> yeah. and it's for good reason. he's a good guy and a good player. i did catch up with him after practice and hard to believe he's been here that long but with a guy with a impressive resume, he's ready to build on this this year. >> reporter: we're here with chris cooley. thanks for taking the time. we know it's hot. thanks for talking with us again. tell us what it's like so far under mike shanahan, two weeks into training camp now. >> i think he's been great. we spent most of the time out on the field playing football. and i mean that by saying it's been team scrimmage situations the whole time. >> reporter: not individual drills. >> not a lot of individual. we're out there and getting ready to play games. i loved it. and i think a lot of the guys enjoyed the way we practice. we practice hard. it's like a game. in a normal day i'm taking between 35 and 45 plays that are like game-type plays. so it's fast, we're practicing hard but it's good. >> reporter: you mentioned fred. do you think having two tight ends and we talked to fred about this last week, i don't think we've had two probowl tight ends in the same year from the same team. do you think that can happen this year? you might get a lot of passes coming your way? >> that would be really cool. i think both of us care more about winning football games right now and helping the team. i know i do and i'm sure after talking to fred that we just want to do the most we can for this team. two probowls is pretty unbelievable though. >> reporter: chris, i know you might not be able to believe this, you are now long one of the most tenured redskins, with mike sellers, both arriving in 2004. you are one of the recognizable faces for the redskins. >> the time has gone so fast and i feel like a kid. i don't feel like -- >> reporter: you're not the old man. >> i don't feel like i'm the old man yet. i'm out here having fun and i enjoy being around the guys and it's a game, it's a locker room experience and we have fun. >> reporter: cool. with that notoriety comes some of the whacker fans we've seen. what is the whackiest thing you've seen that somebody tried to gain your attention and ainfection. >> there is a girl out here fantastic. she's bikini girl. she's nice to my wife and i. she's hilarious. there is another guy that the players have called yes, sir man. he knows every player on our team. he doesn't forego any rookies, free agents, he knows everything. he's pretty impressive. and he's loud. >> bikini girl is a sight to behold. and she writes captain chaos around the baby to be. and if you like chris cooley. stick around next hour for dave versus dave, we're going to go off the field and play golf with chris cooley. >> thank you very much, dave, we appreciate it. coming up next on fox 5 morning news, the jury in the rod blagojevich trial could be deadlocked. what the judge wants them to do today. and we'll check in with tucker as we deal with severe weather. that's our tower cam. you can see how dark it is and you can hear the flashes and -- you can see the flashes and hear the thunder here in the studio. >> severe thunderstorm warning and we'll have that next on fox 5 morning news. >> a possible hung jury in the trial of rod blagojevich. jurors are deliberating for a 12th day today. yesterday they sent a note to the judge saying they are deadlocked on more than one count of the 24 counts pending. they include trying to sell or trade president obama's vacated senate seat. the judge has ordered blagojevich, his brother and all attorneys involved in the case to come to court today for an 11:00 a.m. hearing. 7:26. breaking news this morning. a person of interest has been detained in the serial stabbing investigation involving leesberg, virginia. we're live with the latest next. the weather right now severe. you can barely see outside. we're getting hit with severe thunderstorms moving through the region as we speak. a lot of lightning. there is a flash flood warning that has now gone into effect for the washington area. tucker is back in a moment with the latest. >> so, ah, your seat good? got the mirrors all adjusted? you can see everything ok? just stay off the freeways, all right? i don't want you going out on those yet. and leave your phone in your purse, i don't want you texting. >> daddy... ok! ok, here you go. be careful. >> thanks dad. >> and call me--but not while you're driving. we knew this day was coming. that's why we bought a subaru. welcome back. it is 7:30. this is a live shot from the tower cam. a severe thunderstorm moving through the washington area as we speak. we have a vary the of warnings. it is scary out there. tucker barnes is here with the latest on all of that. >> these are extremely dangerous as they continue to press off to the south and east at 40 miles per hour. this is a live shot. now it's not impacting the entire washington area but we've been monitoring this very intense thunderstorm moving through montgomery county over about the past hour and a half. now approaching the district and i really have to tell you, not only is it dark as night, but winds have been reported to be gusting in excess of about 60 miles per hour. we have a flash flood warning that's now been issued for the district until 8:15 thi morning. so expect torrential downpours. let's get to the radar. that will show you the story here. and you can see that all of the cloud-to-ground lightning, look at the flashing on the max hd radar, a lot of cloud-to-ground lightning. this storm system has a history of producing wind gusts in excess of 60 miles per hour. let me give you a few of the places under a severe thunderstorm warning now until 7:45. the city of alexandria, city of fairfax, falls church, arlington, northern prince george's county, central anne arundel county, southeastern montgomery county, and i mentioned the district of columbia. that severe thunderstorm warning in effect until 7:45. in addition, we have a flash flood warning now for the district of columbia, the eastern part of falls church in northern virginia and arlington county in northern virginia until 8:15. a few of the communities are going to be impacted are arlington, roslyn, adams morgananacostia, through the district, through the u.s. capitol and the mall and extremely as this continues to press off to the east at 40 miles per hour. and a few minutes ago this radar was indicating rotation. that doesn't mean we're getting a tornado, but what it does mean is the storms are particularly intense. we have this very warm, very muggy atmosphere that we've been dealing with the last couple of days and now we have cooler and drier air trying to work in and this is the end result. if you're off to the south and east, largo, to the east toward bowie, crofton, it's headed in your direction. than ap list, much of anne arundel county, toward odenton, glen burnie, you'll get severe thunderstorms moving through in the next hour or so. and we expect this to press south and east. so we won't be done with it yet. once it clears the district we have to worry about communities across the south and east and across the bay. wind gusts in excess of 60 miles per hour. i know we've started to report power outages. don't be surprised if we don't have problems with tree limbs and the flood warning in effect until 8:15 this morning. the temperature falling off to the north and west. here in the district, at last look, 81 degrees. that will fall below the rain. humidity 77%. winds out of the south at 6 miles per hour. here is the deal today. severe thunderstorms this morning. a bit of a brake and then we could see more storms redevelop this afternoon. best chance for severe weather later will be across central and southern sections of virginia as this frontal system gets a chance to slowly push off to the south and west. good news is it will be cooler today with highs only in the upper 80s. >> often it looks like we're isolated and immune from what is happening outside. you can hear the rain coming down in here and a few steps out you can hear the grumble of the atmosphere. so if you don't have to go anywhere right now, don't go anywhere. >> wait for a good half an hour and 45 minutes and then we'll worry about the south and east. >> 23,000 pepco customers right now out of power. >> ouch. >> we knew it was going to happen. >> tucker, let us know when you have more news on that. we continue to follow more breaking news. a man has been arrested in connection with a series of stabbings in virginia and two other states. >> a person of interest was detained in atlanta, leather. and sarah simmons joins us live in leesberg with details. sarah, good morning. >> reporter: good morning. we were just getting the information within the past hour that they did indeed take somebody into custody in atlanta, a person of interest they are calling in the series of stabbings. three of them being here in leesberg. with me now, part of the investigative team is officer chris jones. give me an idea, where was he found down there and thousand did authorities get led to him? >> we're still trying to piece this together to make sure information is accurate. so i'll be updating you regularly, but right now we know he was located in in the atlanta -- in the atlanta area and we suspect his attempt was to board a plane and leave certainly atlanta. so what we're trying to do now is pin down hisin tection and where he was -- his intention and where he was going. >> reporter: what led him to you. was it a description of the vehicle? >> we have great credit to the public and media getting out to the public and the task force, michigan state police, leesberg police department, toledo, ohio, all of the information that the detectives have been working on and gathering from the public led them to start narrowing in on one particular suspect and from that they were able to start tracking him and tracking his whereabouts that led them finally to atlanta. >> reporter: and i know a lot of people in the leesberg area have been on edge over there, wondering if he was still back in the area. but the thing i found interesting is he does have tied to flint, michigan and leesberg. you can go into that, what his ties are? >> there are some ties here but i can't go into detail yet because i want to be accurate, so i'll work on that. but he had lived in this area for a time and he has a connection to this area and to flint, michigan. and exactly what that is, we're going to lockdown. >> reporter: so he did indeed live here at some point? >> i think he did, yes, at some point. >> reporter: and you told me you mention you have authorities from this location heading down to do interviews with him. >> that's correct. it's going to be a coordinated effort, we'll send our team, members from our detective unit down to work with the task force members in michigan and state police and toledo, ohio and federal authorities and the fbi and prosecutors and really develop a game plan on how to proceed and they want to -- like we said, we want to make sure that all of the leads -- we're thrilled this person has been identified, we want to lockdown that, yes, he is the person that committed the horrific crimes and then they'll proceed with the next steps for prosecution. >> reporter: thank you so much and good luck on the continuing investigation as you try to piece this together. there is a person of interest, a man they do have in custody in atlanta, georgia, in connection with the series of stabbings that stab from -- that span from michigan, ohio, and leesberg. we'll follow this and bring you the latest. now let's get to julie wright with what is happening on the roadways. can't imagine it's good now, julie. >> it's not. and the storm is causing the lights to flicker in here as well. we've lost our cameras in prince george's county and montgomery county at this time. but we do have a number of calls coming in telling us that water is pounding on the beltway in some areas and callers are reporting a foot of water, whether on the left or right side of the road. be very careful about that at this time. we're also receiving word of a number of trees down along 355. especially traveling out of old town gaithersburg, summit avenue as you continue southbound past deer park and in towards rockville. 355 at cedar ville lane, accident. tree down south of montgomery village avenue. georgia avenue at glenn allen, lights down. and without power at four corners. if you come up to an intersection that is dark, treat it as a four way stop. keep your head lights on because it's difficult to see in these conditions. if you have to be in it, be very, very careful. traveling in virginia, finding 95 jammed out of dale city and for the entire trip now from springfield to the 14th street bridge. that's a check of your fox 5 on- time traffic. severe song storms -- strong storms covering a large part of our area. tucker is back with the latest in a moment. [ female announcer ] welcome to busch gardens williamsburg, where d.c. goes to get away. maybe it's because washington d.c. loves the legendary coasters. or that your entire family will have fun, even the little ones. it could be that water country usa has more of the waves, slides and rides everyone wants. so plan your getaway and come play. you never know who you'll run into. get started at buschgardens.com/dc. we are following some breaking news now. connected with what has become our big story right now. the severe storms moving through this morning. >> a tree fell on an apartment building in the 500 block of south frederick avenue in gaithersburg. there are reports that people are trapped at the scene. on the phone is montgomery county assistant fire chief scott graham. are you there? >> yes, sir. good morning. >> good morning. can you give us the latest on the tree down in an apartment building. tell us what apartment building and what is happening. >> we're at 511 south frederick avenue which is the flowers apartment. it's if the gaithersburg area of montgomery county. we have about a four-foot in diameter tree looks to be about 80 feet tall that has fallen through the second and third floors of a garden style apartment. we are executing rescues at this time. we have probably a half a dozen people confirmed injured. and we're going apartment by apartment now to evacuate the rest of the building. we have our urban search and rescue task force arriving on the scene now to evaluate the structural stability of the building and we'll continue to search the building once we have deemd it safe for firefighters to enter. >> and again you said about half a dozen, chief. how many people impacted. >> right now we have half a dozen people with minor injuries. we are continuing our search of the building, a more extensive search and we'll be continuing that until the entire building has been cleared. >> okay. any other trouble spots you can tell us about? i know you're working this case but we're looking at the whole area? any other cases you can tell us about or places folks should be careful? >> not necessarily. the storm moved through the county beginning at 6:40 this morning and then the rest of the area we've not received any indications as to damage like this. but as the storm moves through, it did move through quickly. we have witnesses that said the winds were hurricane-like. but this is our most significant incident that we're working right now. >> assistant fire chief scott graham with the montgomery county fire department, we thank you very much for joining us this morning. >> thank you. >> and hopefully we'll talk to you later on with more information. this is a live shot of downtown washington. he mentioned some witnesses describing hurricane force winds. they certainly have sounded that way recently here in northwest washington. tucker has. >> joined us at the -- rejoined -- has rejoined us. extremely dangerous conditions across northern sections of downtown washington, northern side of the beltway, into college park and takoma park. wind gusts 70 miles per hour. a lot of cloud-to-ground lightning. flash flood warning until 8:15 this morning. let's get to the hd radar and take a look. we're watching the band of thunderstorms become organized at about 5:00 this morning in hagerstown and it's been pushing south and intensefying with every passing minute. there is your hd radar and they're moving off to the south and east at about 25 miles per hour. the first thing you'll notice is the bright flashing. that is all cloud-to-ground lightning. so look out. these are dangerous storms. never mind the winds and torrential downpour and it's pushing through the county. and this was left to expire but don't be surprised if it gets reissued. there have been a lot of problems, including hail. and i want to emphasize, eastern side of the beltway now, greenbelt, bowie, crofton, now pushing down into prince george's county, andrews afb, very intense band of thunderstorms, college park getting the worst of it through the eastern side of the district. and again under a flash flood warning, severe thunderstorm warning for a couple more minutes. let's push on. i want to show you the severe thunderstorm warning that i was just -- that was just let to expire. let's go on to graphics and don't se be surprised -- don't be surprised if that doesn't get reissued. flash flood warning until 8:15 this morning, including arlington, roslyn, georgetown, downtown washington, including the u.s. capitol under a flash flood warning until 8:15 this morning. so in addition to the cloud-to- ground lightning, wind gusts up to 70 miles per hour, we're dealing with torrential downpours, 1-2 inches of rain in a short amount of time. let's go back to the hd radar and take one more look. pressing off to the south and east at about 25 miles per hour. communities to the east need be prepared. this storm will be very intense as it approaches central sections of prince george's county, southern sections of anne arundel county and then across the bay. and worried about communities off to the south and east as the storm moves through. all associated with a cold front and cooler temperatures today. once the storms get out of here, we could watch another round of thunderstorms redevelop later this afternoon. good news is these storms are so intense they'll likely sap out the energy for later today but we have to concerned with more storms later this afternoon. >> hardly seems like we can survive. that but we'll be ready for it. tucker, thank you. right now we'll go to julie and get a check on the roadways. julie, good morning. >> well to say the least, it is extremely busy out there. poor visibility and a number of callers complaining about the ponding of water out there. again the drain simply can't handle the rain coming down in the area at this point. so again, depending on where you are traveling, whether it's prince george's county or montgomery county, left or right side of the road, reports of standing water on both sides of the highway. big delays from 50 toward the bw parkway. 95 around to georgia we have a number of signal lights dark in the area of four corners. trees down from the map here in the old town gaithersburg. the crash at 355 at cedar lane. 270 had reports of a tree down. and proceed with caution on the roads. make sure you have your head lights on but if you can stay put and let the storm pass that would be your better bet. 270 at a crowell -- crawl at this point and down to gaithersburg and rockville. 66 out to the west, a mess and from centreville into the beltway. that's a check of your fox 5 on- time traffic. >> julie, thank you very much. as you know, weather severe. there are power outages, trees down and likely flooding. tucker is back in a few minutes with the latest. it's not back-to-school, it's forward to what's next with a blackberry curve, samsung reality, or lg cosmos for under $20 after rebate. we're back and taking a look at a intense line of thunderstorms moving through the district now, pushing to the east. let's get right to it. into prince george's and anne arundel county go and already a history of winds in excess of 70 miles per hour. the flashing you see is cloud- to-ground lightning. this is pressed from the north and west right through the district and now points east. so heads up, if you're in upper marlboro, diehl, harwood and toward clinton and andrews air force base, axon -- oxon hill, winds in excess of 40 miles per hour. and we have a flash flood warning continuing for the deliberate until -- district until 8:15. i continue to monitor the weather and don't be surprised if the warnings are not reissued momentarily. over to you. a massive iceberg is threatening shipping lanes off of greenland. it is more than four times the size of manhattan. nasa released these pictures of the iceberg. it could pose a danger to ships and oil platforms. it's in the same place as the iceberg that sank the titanic years ago. we have more insight on what this means and how it might effect us. thank you for coming in. my lead-in to you, sounds like it could be a newscast out of the movie 2012 with the severe weather worsening, everything going on around the world and now the iceberg. let's talk about the iceberg first. four times the size of manhattan, is this unprecedented? >> it is the biggest iceberg from greenland since 1962. it is warming. there is melting water in greenland that is plunging down the holes and the water is the size of niagara falls, it is melting that fast. the planet and oceans are warming. we have evidence of this. the u.s. post graduate naval college, related to the u.s. navy predicted there will be no summertime ice in the arctic within two to three years. >> this is the best example i've seen here so far, showing you what part broke off greenland. as this drifts, is there any way of knowing, of predicting where it will go? >> well i'm not ice scientist, but it's going to melt and it will melt rapidly. and the reason is because the oceans are warming quickly. this is a water planet, 70% water and our oceans are warming quickly because of fossil fuels, oil and natural gas. if we want to slow this process down and address the extreme weather worldwide, floods in afghanistan, they're all consistent with global warning and we're beginning to see it. and if we want to address the issue of icebergs and the rest, we have to start getting off of fosel fuels and on to clean energy. >> now let me challenge you here, because global warming, unfortunately, people ask me about it and i say what was a scientistic term has become a political term. it means a whole bunch of things to a whole bunch of different people and there are those that say well we have no real evidence that this is what is happening and maybe this is natural, it's not because of man and pollutants we put in the air. you're saying that's not the case? >> the bush administration, which was never known as being environmentally extremists, put out three major reports during the bush administration 2 confirming the planet is warming, the warming is accelerating, we'll see more impact and it's driven mostly by the use of fossil fuels. that's the bush administration. if you don't believe it's happening, you're sort of outside the scientistic assessment of the bush administration. if you believe in satellites and photography, you know you can put cameras on the -- cameras on satellites and they can go over the arctic and we see the evidence of shrinking ice. >> i have 20 seconds left of the everything that is happening in the world right now, not everything but much of it, we've seen extreme weather around the globe, is that tied to the warmer of the waters? >> all of it is consistent with what scientists will say come with global warming. more precipitation, warmer temperatures, droughts, extreme weather events, folks warming at the studio this morning have been here for years and years have never heard so much rain on the roof here. we're seeing things we've never seen before and sooner or later we need to connect the dot and protect ourself by stopping the source which is fossil fuels. >> i wish we had more time. mike tid well, thank you for coming in. we appreciate it. a person of interest in the serial stabbings now in custody. plus the severe weather we're seeing right now. that is next. we'll be right back. ahead at 8:00, breaking news this morning. a person of interest in the serial stabbings in michigan, ohio and here in virginia is now in custody. however, police aren't yet saying if it's this man who is believed to be the attacker. i'm tony perkins in for steve chenevey. >> and i'm allison seymour. we're live in leesberg, virginia with new details. other brig breaking news story we're following today, that's what is outside of the window. severe storms making their way across the washington area. right now water on the road is creating massive back-ups throughout the region. pepco already reporting some 76,000 customers without power right now. most in the garage and wheaton areas. also in gaithersburg, a large tree has fallen on an apartment building. it's called flowers apartment. we were told by the fire chief that six people were injured. firefighters are searching the building for any residents who may be trapped. we have a crew on the way to the scene. we'll bring you more details as soon as they are possible. tucker barnes has been extremely busy following all of this with new watches and warnings. what is the latest? >> we have a new severe thunderstorm warning for the district, anne arundel county, prince george's county, calvert county, city of alexandria until 8:30 this morning. so we've been watching this one band of intense thunderstorms -- intense thunderstorms this morning, moving to the south and east and look out because these have very, very dangerous storms. want to emphasize that. first going to the severe thunderstorm warning and it's in close to washington. i mentioned the district now. it's been extended until 8:30. but to the south, prince george's county, pushing into calvert county, thunderstorm warning until 8:30 this morning. let's get right to hd radar. i want to show you how intense the band of thunderstorms is. the dark reds indicate extremely heavy rain. in fact we still have a flash flood warning nthe district for another 15 minutes. see that yellow circle that is indicating circulation in the atmosphere. not likely a tornado but it is probably a down burst. we've had wind gusts reported in excess of 60 miles per hour in a few spots 70 miles per hour. so this is a very intense band of thunderstorms pressing off to the south and east at 25 miles per hour. if you're in upper marlboro, clinton, largo, continue to take cover. the stm is not out othe woods yet and south and east into calvert county, southern portions of anne arundel county toward lusby, it is headedin your direction and you can see -- see the flashing that is all of the cloud-to-ground lightning. so we've had hundreds of reports of lightning strikes in addition to the winds and the torrential downpours. this should get out of here in the next hour or two and then we quiet things down over the next several hours but we could see more showers and thunderstorms, some could be severe, redevelop later this afternoon. i'll continue to monitor the weather here. i'm getting updates by the minute and i'll be back in a couple of minutes. >> tucker, thank you so much. and we don't need to remind you, but be careful with the lightning. just be careful. so in addition to this, we have reports of a flooded -- flooded roads all over the area, in d.c., road island avenue and between 5th and 9th street is closed. we're told cars are stranded there in high water. we're hearing flooding on randolph road in wheaton and we are staying on top of this for you. we'll check in with julie wright for the roadways and for tucker with the late of the in the weather. meanwhile, following breaking news in another area. a man has been arrested in connection with a series of stabbings in virginia and two other states. >> investigators detained the person of interest in atlanta. it is a result of several days of investigation from authorities in leesberg, virginia, michigan and ohio. and hundreds of tips from the public. sarah simmons joins us live from leesberg with the latest details now. sarah, good morning. >> reporter: good morning, allison. it helped as well that the michigan state police had created a task force and they had created a list of suspects and were able to narrow it down and were able to do so overnight. as you mentioned, taking a person of interest into custody in atlanta. it appears as though he was taken into custody on unrelated charges, but investigators from leesberg are heading down there to do interviews with this person they have in custody. he was taken in, in the atlanta airport area, and they're trying to confirm whether he was on a plane, but it appears there were indications he was trying to leave the country. but some information was able to allow authorities to detain this person down there in atlanta. it happened late last night, they're telling us possibly early this morning, they were able to take him into custody. now the interesting thing here is that investigators are telling us that this person does have ties to flint, michigan and leesberg, virginia. it's quite possible, it looks like he did live here at one point in leesberg, virginia. what other ties he has here, we don't know at this point. but with three attacks here, two stabbings, one person attacked with a hammer and then over a dozen in michigan and the one in ohio, a lot of people are a little bit more at ease now hearing they at least have somebody in custody. of course right now still a person of interest and we'll continue to follow this throughout the day. back to you. tony and allison. >> sarah, thank you so much. it is 8:05. let's look at other stories making headlines. gunfire erupts at the prince george's county courthouse. it started with a police chase that started in largo and ended at the courthouse in upper largo. county police were following a vehicle. not clear why. its suspects inside that -- the suspects inside that car ran into a officer's cruiser and tried to run him over. three suspects were hit and one of them critically hurt and all were arrested and no officers were hurt. d.c. police are investigating a shooting in adams morgan as a homicide. officers found a man shot at least once and unconscious near 16th street and mozart place in northwest around 9:30 last night. he died about 15 minutes later. so far no word on any arrests or a motive. police are searching for a carjacker accused of taking off with a child still in the car. this happened at a shell gas station in the 3900 block of minnesota avenue northeast. now fox 5 has learned a woman went inside to pay for gas, leaving her 5-year-old daughter in the backseat. that's when the suspect jumped in the car and took off. police apparently called the woman's cell phone which was left in the car and convinced the suspect to drop the child off in maryland and the little girl was not hurt. just a quick update from pepco as some 88,500 people or businesses, homes and businesses without power. 88,000. and you can keep track of everything at myfoxdc.com. it is 8:07. jet blue's famous flight attendant is speaking out about his new-found fame. hear from steven slater when we come back. and in today's dave versus dave take on chris cooley. not on the football field. they're smarter than that. on the golf course. and here is your chance to see a show at jiffy lube live. to win a pair of tickets to rascal flats, answer the trivia question on your screen. they have had how many songs on billboard's country charts? 8, 10, 12 or 14? to enter go to myfoxdc.com. you can read the rules. you can enter until 10:00 this morning. you must be at least 18 years old, two winners will be selected by random drawing today. the prize is provided by live nation entertainment. we'll be right back. i what do you have to say the people that are saying you're a hero? >> it's so encouraging and so special. there's some really great people out there and i'm getting a glimpse of that. it's a surprise because i've been a way for a little while. >> well that's jet through flight attendant steven slater speaking out about the support he's getting after cursing out a passenger on the p.a., grabbing some beer and then taking off through the emergency exit shoot. he was arrested and charged with three felonies. and this story making headlines around the world now. >> hong kong based next media animation created this reenactment on what happened on board the flight. it shows slater getting hit on the head with the luggage, getting on the p.a. system and grabbing a beer and going down the emergency slide. it's getting hits on the you tube. check out the clib at myfoxdc.com. >> wow! >> they did this previously with a tiger woods story. >> they did. >> they are very creative. any way, we're dealing with this really bad weather right now. >> in the last couple of minutes, report of a 67 mile- per-hour wind gust in silver spring. 2.5 inches of rain in less than 30 minutes in parts of montgomery county. very intense band of thunderstorms. let's get to it. we want to tell you, we have a flash flood warning until 8:15 in the morning. hd radar will show you what is going on. >> and some are saying there is water rescue on canal road and it speaks to the intensity. >> hd radar will show you what is going on. cloud-to-ground lightning. i told you how intense the rainfall is and i had a report of wind gusts earlier over 70 miles per hour. and the good news, if you are in the district or north and west of the district, you're in the clear. one exception is areas south and east, at least south and east of portions of the district here across the beltway and out towards upper marlboro, harwood, chesapeake beach, lusby, look out, the storms are headed in your direction. and of course they have a history of causing problems as they've been moving through. in addition, i want to add we have a new special marine warning been issued from the chesapeake bay from north beach to drum point, maryland. the national weather service urges anyone on the water to take cover immediately. the storms are dangerous. in addition to cloud-to-ground lightning we have the wind gusts over 70 miles per hour. to the pushing off to the east and upper marlboro, harwood, that is intense rainfall and that's rainfall in excess of about 1-1.5 inches an hour there in purple. so you get the idea. more problems with flash flooding into the morning here as the storms continue to press off toward the south and east. in addition, we could see more storms redevelop this afternoon. let's open up the picture again and push on to our maps and you can see the showers stretch all the way from washington, north and east, up into anne arundel county, annapolis will get good thunderstorm activity, up toward baltimore as ll. so if you don't have to be out and about right now and the thunderstorms are heading your direction, just wait them out. they'll be out in the next hour or so as they move very quickly to the east between about 25 and 40 miles per hour. >> that's the good news. >> that is the good news. >> that's the only good news. >> it is rare we see this type of weather this early in the morning in our area. but here it is. >> you got it. and any time you talk about record temperatures, which we have the last couple of days, a lot of weather in the atmosphere. the weather is impacted many locations. there are over 88,000 without power. julie wright is on the phone with us because they've had power issues there at metro traffic. julie, are you there? >> i'm here. you can hear me. >> thank for getting in touch with us. what is going on. >> cameras here in montgomery county. issues on 29 colesville between green castle and to the beltway, signals are dark. i believe this is the live shot looking through the rain of the beltway at old georgetown road and it is at a crawl at this point trying to head on to the inner loop and continuing toward 355 and connecticut avenue. 355 down at nih a crash in the left lane. and problems with trees down 29 at prelude drive and we're told it is shut down because a tree across the highway. and that's the right side of the screen. and problems with standing water along randolph between kent mill and georgia. that is shut down and traffic blocked off in each direction there. and again 270 south, tree reported down at 124 on the right side of the highway. a number of trees down in old town gaithersburg. if you're making the trip into virginia, you'll find the beltway slow between braddock and 66. a number of callers complaining about standing water on the left and right side of the road because the drains cannot drain out the water quick enough so be careful out there. and traveling out and about, allow extra time on the roads and make sure you have your head lights on so we can see you. that's your fox 5 on-time traffic. we are updating all of the information on myfoxdc.com, live radar information, updates on power outages and the like. it's time now for another edition of dave versus dave. ross and feldman battling for football supremacy. >> today they're taking it to the linkings. here is dave. >> reporter: it has been a pretty even match up this year between feldy and i. last year he got the better of me. i'm big enough to admit that now. and i thought we would have a friendly competition on the links for this final installment of dave versus dave. >> dave versus dave on the links. dave feldman and dave ross and chris cooley. the probowl tight end. we got him on the golf course. >> i love to play golf. i'm not great. i can play. it's not bad. >> is golf a sport. >> absolutely. >> because people debate that, whether it's a sport or not. >> it definitely is. i think so. >> so we'll play golf with chris cooley and we'll see what happens. >> he said we had to pay from the tips. >> you should play all courses from the tips because that's how they're built to be played. >> that's a good cut. >> oh. >> oh, he did it. >> he did it. >> how are you feeling? >> not well. i thought we got a mulligan, first of the day. >> this is to win the skin. >> good paw. >> good job. >> all right. >> oh, feldy is money. >> i don't carry. >> get up. >> that was weird. >> oh, no. you're okay. >> feldy, i'm going to need a club back here. >> what's that? >> i'm going to need a club at some point. >> you put it in the pond. you have to play it where it went in. he did. >> that's in. >> forget it feldy. >> oh, chris cooley wins the hole with a 7. he hit it great. he's inside of you. >> dave, before you hit this, you're putting for par. if you make this, you win the hole, three-way tie, if you miss it. >> if he makes it we have to go one more hole. >> if he missed it, it's over. >> then just you and i go back and play. >> you have to make this to make the three-way playoff. >> nice. >> huge putt, baby. >> all right. >> oh, no. >> he hit it great. >> it's all over. chris cooley. >> oh, my gosh. >> well played. >> the champion. >> you've been to a probowl, to a playoff game. >> and now this. >> would you say that athletically this is as good as it gets. >> it's not a low, i can tell you that. i can tell you that right now. i feel pretty darn good. >> all right. >> you guys did not see, that we went back to play the last hole at 1757, right by redskins park, we tank them. feldy put it in the drink. on the replay, i put it to about 15 feet, proceeded to three-putt. chris reputted for the end. so i guess i kind of beat feldy. we both beat haynesworth but feldy beat me. so i think you can chalk that one up. >> i think your form looked great. >> thank you, allison. it is 8:19 on this thursday morning. still ahead, an update on our severe weather and all of the problems it's causing around our area. >> and then holly is keeping cool today at ice crystals making ice sculptures. we'll check in with her later on fox 5 morning news. we'll be right back. it's 8:20. welcome back. tonight the frederick county health department will hold a public hearing in response to concerns about possible cancer clusters around fort detrick. representatives from fort detrick and other agencys will be there. that meeting is tonight from 6:30 to 8:30 at winchester hall on 12 east church street in frederick. there is more information on myfoxdc.com under web links. a consumer letter for salad eaters. some fresh express salads are being recalled because of possible exposure to bacteria. the company is recalling it's veggie lovers salad with the use-by day of august 10th. the product was likely describeuted in more than a dozen states, including maryland, virginia and the district into its 8:23 on this thursday morning. another hot and humid day on tap. thunderstorms have been rogging through our area -- rolling through our area. tucker will be back with a look at what we can look out for now and a general look at the forecast today. then it's been eight years since 14-year-old erica smith was murdered. police still haven't made an arrests so this weekend an event is being held to raise more reward money. her parents join us live in studio when we come back. [ bihirps, lips smack ] [ splash, drip ] [ whoosh, bell dings ] [ female announcer ] new dove go fresh now with nutriummoisture. adding nourishment to freshness. [ bird chirps, woman sighs ] [ female announcer ] go fresh. it's dove's way to revitalize your mind and nourish your skin. dove go fresh with nutriummoisture. ♪ fresh at its best. go fresh is also available as a bar in three revitalizing scents. ♪ it is 8:27 now and it's become the story that folks are talking about today. we're talking about the weather and tucker is joining us again with the latest on what is going on now and the warning out there. >> severe thunderstorms. good news is here in the district, the warning has been let go. but we have new ones issued moments ago. and let's go to radar and i'll read to you those under severe thundersrm warning. south central anne arundel county, prince george's county, calvert county, charles county and northern st. mary's county under a severe thunderstorm warning until 9:15 this morning. you can see our thunderstorm activity continues to be extremely intense, the flashing is cloud-to-ground lightning. i mentioned a few minutes ago that we have reports of two and a half inches of rain in less than half an hour across montgomery county as the storms roll through. pushing to the south and east at about 25 miles per hour. let me add in just the last minute i have an additional thunderstorm warning for calvert county in eastern maryland and extreme southwestern queen anne's county in maryland. that's across the bay. so be prepared here. the storms are pushing off to the south and east between 25 and 40 miles per hour and we have wind gusts in excess of 70 miles per hour and ping-pong sized hail in spots. so very intense band of thunderstorms. let's zoom in and show you the spots hardest hit as we speak. and this is closer to the bay, toward deal, brandywine, dunkirk, and if you are off to the south and east, monitor the storms out on the bay, forget about it. the storms will push across the bay and with wind gusts in excess of 60 miles per hour, that could easily capsize a boat. so please steer clear of being out on your boat over the next 45 minutes or so. we'll continue to be updating you as i get them here momentarily. >> and we should mention at some point today, once all of this goes through, we'll likely see pictures of significant damage across the area because of the strong winds. you were showing some rotation earlier. that does not mean a tornado. >> no. down bursts. >> heavy rain and very strong winds like in previous storms. so be safe out there this morning. >> absolutely. >> thank you, tucker. we're staying on top of breaking news with the severe storms. a large tree fell on an apartment building in gaithersburg. >> now we know that 10-12 people have minor injuries. most got themselves out of the building but some are being rescued. on the phone with us again this morning is montgomery county assistant fire chief scott graham. are you there? >> yes. good morning. how are you? >> we're going okay. i guess we're having a better time of it here in the studio than you are here. can you tell us what is going on here? >> fortunately we were able to preliminarily clear the building using our urban rescue canines. there are 10-12 people injured. there are still some folks that we are evaluating to see if they require transport. we believe both building a and b have been cleared of anyock panses. so we are downsizing anyock -- of any incident. and we'll be working with the red cross and others in the county to make sure those that are displaced have adequate occupancy and working with the city of gaithersburg, engineers to make certain the buildings are deemed safe to reenter and occupy. >> you said minor injuries. could you tell us some of the nature of the injuries? are we talking cuts and bruises here? >> yeah, cuts and bruises. nothing life-threatening. all of whom have been treated and assessed on the scene by montgomery county fire and rescue service ems. there were, i believe, four so far transported to a local hospital with nonlife- threatening injuries. >> and chief, you can characterize the damage? we haven't seen picket -- pictures out there but you can characterize the tree. >> it was about 80 feet in height, 3-4 feet in diameter and it has fallen, fortunately, if you can picture a garden style apartment where you have a center or common entryway where you go up the common entryway and we're blessed because the tree fell dead center of the common area. so in the stairwell. two feet to the right it would be in a litsching room bedroom and six feet to the left it would be in a living room bedroom and at the time the store went through we had a much greater potential for occupancy there. so we'll get you guys some pictures sent in. >> we're seeing them now. we are seeing them now. and the work that continues right now. and i know that the search has been now downgraded. what are you doing right now? we are looking at the ladder there going into the building. can you tell us about -- it's hard to see. very impressive pictures of the tree. tell us what you had to do to make sure everybody was all rights and your safety as well. who knows about the building yet? >> right. we had to make sure the integrity of the building was safe enough to put the personnel in. once the urban search and rescue task force arrived on the scene, we do have canines train to work off-lead or away from the handler by voice command and we were able to place the canines in the building to search with very good accuracy and very good competency in the apartments to the right and to the left of where you see the tree. once we were able to do that, our structural engineers were able to evaluate the building for soundness, for us to physically enter the building and search the apartments, which we did. prior to the completion of the search we did find two persons on second floor. we brought them out and assisted them out of the building and they were being treated and assessed here on the scene. so our work from now will be to help the owners transition, to help theock panses working -- the occupants and to make sure they have shelter and then the owner and property manager will take the building over from there and work with the city of gaithersburg engineering department to deem the building safe. >> with the montgomery county fire department, assistant chief scott graham, thank you for your time. thank you for staying in touch with us this morning. and just as we was describing it we got the tape in. that is incredible to see and he is right. we're fortunate that it landed where it did and not right in somebody's apartment. but instead between apartments. >> the story could have been very different. we're happy for that silver lining there. let's get the latest on the roadway. julie is standing by with that. >> good morning to you both. and it has been a busy morning to say the least. not only are we talking about trees down in old town gaithersburg which is what we just saw the live shot of but tree removal in place at bw parkway at prelude drive. we have standing water shutting down the westbound lanes of randolph between kent mill and georgia. the beltway in montgomery county at a stand still off of the inner loop past old georgetown road and in toward silver spring. southbound # 70, reports of a tree down at montgomery village avenue. signal lights on colesville between prelaid and colesville all blocked. not working. so if you come up to an intersection with the lights dark, treat it as a four-way stop. we've received word of standing water closing kenilworth at eastern avenue. this is what it looks like in virginia. lanes are open, 95 not so busy right now leaving the fsp toward 395. but again trying to get from the beltway across the 14th street bridge will not be an easy commute this morning. that's a check on your fox 5 on- time traffic. an update on our other breaking news, a person in custody in connection with the serial stabbings in michigan, ohio and here in leesberg, virginia. and then it's been 8 years since erica smith was killed. police have not made any arrests. eric's parents are kind enough to join us in the studio. we'll talk to them about that when we come back. if you would like to see your pictures and video of the severe weather roll through the area, go to myfoxdc.com and up load them to us. you can monitor the weather and the power outages on the website, myfoxdc.com. we'll be right back. [ female announcer ] this is a strawberry pop tart. but this is warm, fresh-baked strawberry toaster strudel. [ music ] see the difference? pillsbury toaster strudel, the one kids want to eat. ♪ whoa! do you know what our favorite part of shooting hoops is? 3...2...1... overtime! ♪ ♪ we're the kids in america ♪ oh, oh, oh welcome back. we want to give you the latest update on what we know about the serial stabbing suspect. now u.s. customs and border protection has now issued a report or a release and they say that the agency's officers arrested the man about 10:00 p.m. yesterday, last night, wednesday night, at atlanta's hartsfield-jackson international airport as he was trying to board a delta flight for tel-aviv. the suspect was handed over to the fbi and the atlanta police and that is the very latest. of course a man suspected in a series of stabbing in virginia, in leesberg and also in michigan and suspected in ohio as well. he has been arrested and this happened at the atlanta airport as he was trying to board a plane for israel. our sarah simmons has been on this story. we'll give you the latest updates as we get them in the studio. and tucker barnes just handed me information. there is now a tornado warning for southern talbot county in eastern maryland. we've not had one of these this morning but we have a tornado warning in southern talbot county. queen anne's county in northeast, maryland, this card warning in effect until 9:00. as we reported earlier with the severe storms, we have some rotation in the atmosphere at certain times so now we have a tornado warning in effect for southern talbot county in eastern maryland in effect until 9:00 this morning. some of the areas that will be hit could be hit first, oxford, south -- which is southwest of hamilton and trap. so be aware of this. and we'll bring you updated information as it becomes available in a couple of moments. tucker is on top of that. now to another story morning that we're following. it has been eight years since 14-year-old erica smith's body was found in a secluded area not far from redskins park. as most teenage girls do, erica had secrets from her parents and it's believed she may have contributed to her murder. this weekend a fundraiser is taking place to raise more reward money with the hopes that will help capture her killer. joining us now are her parents william and pamela smith. i thank you both of you for coming in. i'm very sorry for your loss eight years ago and i know this is tough to talk about so i'm -- a appreciate your coming in to share your story. the first thing i want to ask you, it has been eight years, there have been no arrests, william, you and i had the chance to talk a week or so ago about this. have police given you any new information over the past weeks or months, any reason to be hopeful that there is some progression in the case or is there just no new info? >> well they continue to communicate with us on a consistent basis, weekly, monthly, whenever anything happens to pop up. it is an active -- an aggressively active investigation. we're very optimistic that what is going on right now, with our daughter's case, is something that we can be sure about as to whether or not it will be solved and we believe it will be solved in the near future. >> pamela, do you believe that there are people out there who either know who the killer is or have information about this case that could be helpful? >> yes, i do. and i deeply believe that if they would only come forward with what they know, it would make a big difference in solving erica's case. >> this weekend there is an event -- we have a picture of your daughter there. this weekend is an effort to raise more reward money. do we know what the level of the reward is at this point? >> it's approximately $17,000. >> $17,000? >> yes. >> and police have told you and i know you've worked with america's most wanted over the years as well, that sometimes if more money is available, that does prompt people to come forward. so that's the hope here? >> we strongly believe that. we think in most cases, maybe not all cases, but as a rule, i think we believe that in most cases when the reward is a substantial amount, at least a good reasonable amount -- you can't put a price tag on life first and foremost. we want to say that. you can't put a price tag on life. but we do believe that people, for whatever reason, need money to come forward and do the right thing and that's the kind of society we live in. >> your case has attracted national attention. on the america's most wanted and i want to talk about your daughter. erica 14 years old old when this happened. in the wake of the tragedy, you learned more about her through her diaries and some of the things that her friends told you and she was for intents and purposes leading a life that was a secret to you, part of her life? she had many boyfriends, some of them older, was sexually active and the like. what message do you want to give to parents about knowing as much as you can about what is going on in your children's lives. >> as a mother that lost a child, just be alert of who your friends are -- who their friends are, be alert of who their other friends are, get involved in your child's life and if you have to go into their personal stuff, go and get involved in it. be a part of it. i thought my daughter being home was in safe haven, but she evidently -- there was friends that i -- i knew her initial friends but i didn't know the other friends that they knew that connected her into a different world that we didn't know about. >> and the reason that we say this may have an impact on the case is because the theory is the person who murdered her was likely not a stranger, it was someone who was known to her. that's what police believe? >> that's pretty much where we are with this. this is what has been brought back and that's what the investigators say. do we know for a fact? no. but that's pretty much all we have to go on. it is someone that was an acquaintance of hers. how well she knew the individual, we're not sure. >> the event this weekend, it's sunday called unit in the community. i want to show the information about it. it's taking place in herndon. this is something that has gone on for the last couple of years and it is about celebrating businesses in the herndon and reston community. you both are going to be there and have a table, handing information out and raising money to add to the reward fund. it takes place on sunday from 1:00 p.m. until dark at the pavilion shelter in sterling, virginia and i know you are encouraging anyone who can contribute to come out and anyone who wants to share stories with you as well should come out and talk to you. >> absolutely. >> we will hopefully have good news to report on this case at some point. i thank you both for coming in. i know it's tough and we'll see what happens as a result of sunday. >> thank you. >> thank you very much. >> allison and tucker, back to you. we have other breaking news. weather, weather, weather. >> let's get right to it. tornado warning issued across the bay. we're looking at toll bought county and portions of queen anne's county. right to the hd radar, the area in red. the national weather service indicating the possibility of a tornado. this storm centered to the west, about 10 miles west of easton, tracking off to the south and east at 35 miles per hour. it will be near oxford by 8:50 this morning and then in trap by 9:00 a.m. again, tornado warning for talbert county and south central queen anne's county until 9:00 this morning. please seek shelter. safest place is in your basement. if you have a basement in your house and watching us to the east, please take shelter in the basement for the next 15 minutes or so as we're under a tornado warning in talbot and queen anne's county. the storm system part of a complicated thunderstorm complex causing enormous problems. we've had reports of wind gusts to about 70 miles per hour. torrential downpours. how about two and a half inches of rain in less than a half hour and it continues to take off here to the south and east at about 30 miles per hour. so we'll get the storm out of here in the next couple of hours but we're under a severe thunderstorm warning across the lower eastern shore and now a tornado warning until 9:00. >> the effect far hitch reaching. we've been talking about the pepco power outages into the hundred of thousands and we want to show you west beach drive in the district. water damage. you can see over turned cars there. there have been several water rescues. again this is west beach drive in the district there, right around -- outside of rock creek park area and you can see the damage right there. please be careful. i know you said it's lifting, tucker, but if you don't have to go anywhere right now, stay put. >> particularly south and east of the city. here in washington we're in the clear for the time being. but south and east, take heed. these are very, very strong storms. we're under a severe warning. tornado warning in talbot county and queen anne's. and now we're joined by lisa farb stein with metro. what is happening? >> the forest glenn and other stations were closed due to a loss of power. and we had high water issues at stations with water intrusion. our pumps are pumping like furious but the flash flooding is clearly impacted the stations as well. so we have trains passing through forest glenn and cleveland park without stopping. we do have buss to get around the closures. in the red line between silver spring and takoma, we are single tracking due it a tree on the tracks and we hope that the tracks will be reopened as soon as the downed tree is removed. we also are seeing the road conditions impacting our metro bus and petro access service where those vehicles are having to detour around downed trees, down power wires, due to some power outages. tear seeing some delays at intersections where the lights are out and so we can expect slow-going on the roadways as well. >> i would ask you a time table, but normally that would be the question, but i suspect you're going to say we're just waiting to see. but you tell me, what can you tell commuters trying to get around on the red line? >> they should expect delays no matter how they're planning to get around town today, whether they're getting around in their private car or getting around by foot, icicle, metro bus, metro access or metro rail. >> lisa, thank you so much. we'll stay on top of this. again that's the latest with what is happening on metro. obviously there is a lot going on this morning. several breaking news stories. we'll have updates on as much as we can bring you in a couple of moments. again, you can also follow all of this online at myfoxdc.com. we also encourage you, if you have photos or video of any of the weather that is happening out there, send that into us. we'll try to use it on the air. we'll have more of fox 5 rninne the break. trapped in the trance of their shopping routine, some people don't notice the difference between meat... and mystery, when they enter... the frozen zone. is it real chicken? or something else? some chicken nuggets and tenders look like they have mystery meat. with my perdue frozen nuggets, there is no mystery. just real all white-meat. made with 100% natural ingredients. no fillers. no preservatives. and a delicious taste your family will love. perdue frozen chicken. all white-meat. no mystery. we have been talking about the severe weather and the damage now. you can see reports coming in, video, this is a live -- excuse me, this is a picture of a car that is over turned in -- on west beach drive in the district. a water rescue that has been taking place there. u.s. park police handling a lot of that for you now. but that is what can happen when the high waters come in at a very quick rate and you're seeing the damage there. and reports earlier of a tree coming down on the roof of a garden style apartment complex in gaithersburg. there is pictures of that too. just images of extreme weather and how quickly it all came through starting at 7:00 a.m. this morning. >> the heaviest of the storms are now primarily east of the district. they are continuing to push to the east. some of the viewers are still under the gun. this is a live shot from the tower cam so you can see the sky is not necessarily clearing, but this is the aftermath of the storms that have come through. my suspicion is that as the storms move out we're going to begin to see more pictures of damage and flooding of what has gone on during the last couple of hours and we'll bring that information to you as that becomes available. >> and pepco, trying to get the latest numbers here, last count was something like 90,000 outages with pepco. but you can imagine with the damage that we have seen, we are going to have power outages and that's exactly what is happening. most of those in those areas like germantown that we spoke of earlier in montgomery county. also the latest on the suspected serial killer. may he have been arrested in we'll tell you that in just moments. stay with us. fox 5 morning news will be right back. om we are following severe weather this morning. heavy-in -- heavy rain in our area. and this is a car upside down on the 4400 block of west east drive. and there is an amazing rescue behind this story and we'll a m and we bring you the latest of the severe storms come through the area. we've seen a variety of warnings in effect, including a tornado warning issued not long ago for part of the viewing area. tucker barnes joins us at the desk with that and more. >> that's set to expire right now for talbot county and queen anne's county. it should expire. but that doesn't mean there are not dangerous storms about to move into your county. they're moving across the bay as we speak. let's get to hd radar and that will show you the story. we've had more than a few watching and warnings issued.