another danger is the rising water. on the banks of the potomac, 14 boy scouts had to be rescued. fire and rescue teams used boats to get them safely to dry land. and right now, across maryland, about 160 people are without power. so they ve made considerable progress, restoring the lights throughout much of the state. and again, this is all stuff that can be replaced. thankfully, no lives were lost as these three tornadoes touched down. mary, back to you. absolutely, good point, mike. first warning live coverage continues. captain mike? yeah, we are along route 97. littlestown pike, just south of the pennsylvania pike, where saturday, a very large storm, apparently looks to me like a tornado. completely twisted out of the tops. along route 97, at green meadow lane. you re looking at bge crews in the area now. working to restore power where these trees went across pour lines. now, fortunately, for the folks living in this area, this was only a short-lived tornado acro
to safety. the big question now, why weren t the flood walls in place? dc fire and ems say it is the responsibility of the management company, which took over the complex about a year ago. they were a bit surprised that the wall was not there, in fact, the flooding had occurred. do you think this was preventable? certainly if the flood gate is up, you don t have this situation where you have the flooding. and so in that sense, yes, probably it is preventable. reporter: they brought in a crew and finished installing the flood wall shortly afternoon, but the damage was done. now, business owners and employees are left fuming, wondering why it was not done sooner. especially since the coastal flood advisory was issued. i was just really surprised, i mean, it was in the forecast. reporter: and now, i have tried calling and e-mailing that management company multiple times today. and so far they have not returned any of my requests for comments as to what exactly went w
into the rapids. she was in this water like this for more than a half an hour before montgomery county fire fighters moved in for the rescue. peter gillis, he made the grab. we grabbed her any pulled her toward the one side of the boat. pulled her up over the boat and back into the boat safely. when she got into the boat she said thank you. she said i didn t think i could hold on much longer. she said i m glad you guys are finally here. reporter: the kayaker identified only as a 31-year-old woman from virginia. they say she went out by herself when her boat capsized and she was left holding on to that tree. it was a doctor on the cno canal who was bird watching and saw her first. he made the 911 call for help. had that doctor not made that call much different outcome. as you heard from the rescuers, she was fatigued and she was hypothermic and she didn t know if she could hold on much longer. reporter: once out of the water they put her in an ambulance and wrapped
houses and it looked like my granddaughter had been playing with a doll house or a paper apartment and it s all shattered and spread everywhere. reporter: what makes this outbreak most remarkable though isn t the hundreds of reported tornadoes, but how long they were on the ground. and we re dealing with very long-track tornadoes that are tracking on the ground anywhere from 20 to upwards of maybe even 80 miles. reporter: for those who survived, the tales are harrowing. it s a very, very terrifying experience. there s no way to describe it. reporter: more than 100 made it out of this lowe s store after a manager pushed every everyone to the back. felt an incredible wind inside and a noise just prior to us getting into the hallway. it was deafening. there was a deafening roar over our heads. reporter: the huge crowd kept alive by mere secondses in a region now left with a long, long recovery. reporter: and back live now. you don t have to go far to see anothe
statement. we have just lost a hollywood giant. more importantly, we have lost an incredible human being. i took it very to heart because i feel like i lost a family member today. reporter: taylor fascinated the public for more than a half century. thank you for keeping still. reporter: she was in the spotlight for her films, her beauty, her eight scandalous marriages and affairs, and her contributions to the a.i.d.s. community. this is a sad day for hollywood because she is hollywood legend. reporter: taylor made more than 60 movies and won two academy awards for best actress. reporter: she had been hospitalized at cedar cedars- sinai for six weeks. her children were here with her when her heart gave out. reporter: she suffered health problems for most of her life, which kept her out of the public life in recent years. her family is planning a private funeral later this week. she is expected to be buried in kenwood cemetery. kendis gibson, wjz eyewitness news