the monday after the blizzard of 2010 and the roads are a mess. this truck jammed traffic for hours this morning. >> breaking news in northern virginia. the roofs of two fire stations collapsed this morning from the weight of the snow. >> and more snow is on the way. "news 4 midday" begins right now. good morning, everyone, and welcome to "news 4 midday." i'm barbara harrison. >> good morning. i'm joe krebs. this monday is the 8th day of february, 2010. >> we begin with breaking news out of fairfax county, where one firehouse roof has collapsed under the weight of the snow and a second may be a about to come down as well. news 4's kimberly suiters is live in annandale where the firehouse is.ñi she can tell us what's happening right now. kimberly? >> reporter: barbara, when the roof of the first firehouse collapsed, bricks, this one included, went flying, cinder blocks as well. and it was a very dangerous situation. now, those firefighters were evacuated and a short time later, a second firehouse had to be evacuated, this one here when they noticed that the ceiling was sagging right over the sleeping area. they are questioning whether this roof could give way as well. the wake-up call at station ten bailey's crossroads, a deafening boom at 3:00 a.m.. it looked like an explosion. 18 firefighters evacuate when the roof over the engine bay collapses on the station's most valuable ladder truck. >> as long as the bay area doesn't have firefighters in it, right at that time, it was a good place for it to collapse into. >> i was totally surprised. >> reporter: wanda knox, walking to miles to her office on columbia pike, stops for a moment to take in the scene. >> had to be very scary, very scary for them. i'm just glad they're safe. >> reporter: the theory, two feet of heavy snow too much for this flat roof to hold. so the 18 firefighters of station ten transfer down columbia pike to station eight in annandale, only to find out it too is on the verge of caving in. at this point, is it just wait and see? >> wait and see right now. you know, we'll wait until the structural engineers get a better assessment of the facility and then we'll put plans of action in place so we can keep operating, regardless of what their outcome is. >> reporter: so firefighters from two fairfax county stations, the rescuers themselves, escaped danger a second time and wait helplessly for the other roof to drop. so at this point, two of fairfax county's 37 firehouses are partially disabled. they are still taking calls. in fact, we can hear the dispatch out here. outside they've got a bingo hall they're operating out of there. they also say this is a warning for homeowners too. if you live under a flat roof, do not get on the roof and clear the snow. they want you to evacuate as well. they're not on this roof, so th don't want you to be on yours. in general, though, they say the public should not see any disruption in service. reporting live in annandale, i'm kimberly suiters, news 4. barbara, now back to you. >> okay, kimberly, thank you. and one virginia post office is closed after snow threatened to bring down the roof there. the post office is in the 200 block of lawyers road in vienna. it was evacuated after the roof buckled. no one was hurt, was building inspectors are making sure the post office is structurally sound before they're letting people back in there. well, for the first time in days, some people are taking a chance and hitting the roads. one driver in bethesda quickly learned, that's easier said than done, after getting stuck in a snowbank. the driver then got out with a shovel and tried to dig himself out. he finally took the help of a truck, which eventually pulled the car out of the snow. well, let's take a lo outside right now. we've got sunshine. yeah, it looks like a nice day. it's cold, though, if you haven't been out yet, prepare for some more snow. that's coming. >> that's right. the sunshine doesn't give a hint of what's headed our way. here's tom kierein in storm center 4. >> hey, tom. >> unfortunately, we have the potential for more accumulating snow tomorrow afternoon and evening into wednesday morning. this storm is taking shape now off in the central plains and upper midwest and heading off into the east at this hour. leading edge of light snow into tennessee and kentucky. radar showing some of that light snow as well, illinois, parts of southern indiana. it is just now gathering its strength. right now, 28 in washington. mid-20s in montgomery, prince george's, arundel, upper 20s there. we're generally in the 20s all around region. all these counties in blue under a winter storm watch, meaning that we could get accumulating snow in these counties, northern virginia, the district, much of maryland, the panhandle of west virginia as well as the eastern shore. and those watch areas extend all across pennsylvania and up into ohio. looks like the higher amounts of snow will be in northern shenandoah valley and areas north and west of washington. temperatures out in the mountains now in the teens. eastern shore, now, the upper 20s. we have high pressure over us, giving us ls of sunshine. here, now, it will be in place the rest of the day. a sunny, cold afternoon. a rather blustery wind out of the northwest. and temperatures hovering in the low 30s, but the windchills just only in the low 20s, but that wind a bit blustery. we'll take a look at the snow totals, i expect from this storm, the first inclinations about this potential inclemency coming in tomorrow. that will be in just a few minutes. >> thanks, tom. >> thank you, tom. >> let's take a look at the inner loop of the beltway around branchvenue in prince george's county. a tractor-trailer jack knifed earlier this morning. this is the traffic backup chopper 4 captured just after 7:00 this morning. no word if slippery conditions caused the accident there. >> but one can speculate and one can guess, one would have to figure that slippery conditions probably had something to do with it. here's jerry edwards now in the news 4 traffic network. >> barbara and joe, good morning. if i were a betting man, i would say, that would be the reason. there is improvement. a little time, a lot of hard work and some chemicals and the sun has actually made the road relatively passable in many jurisdictions. still very, very wet and sloppy. make sure you have a lot of windshield wiper fluid, because you will definitely need it. there are tons of chemicals out on the roads and interstates at this hour. this is the general vicinity of where the accident was on the prince george's county beltway improvement. but tomorrow morning, this is going to be ice. just bear that, keep that in the back of your mind. let's head over and see how we're doing elsewhere. take a live look. this is the key bridge, if you were with us early this morning, there was nothing but ice, now it's just sloppy chunks. but again, that is significant improvement. if you could postpone your travels a little bit longer until this afternoon, you might make out a lot better than some of the other folks who had some problems this morning. we'll keep you updated. >> thanks, jerry. power outages are still one of the big stories this morning. more than 50,000 area residents have no electricity as of right now. most of those are pepco customers. pepco reports that more than 40,000 people are without power. in northern virginia, more than 8,000 dominion customers are without power. the northern virginia electric cooperative or nvec says more than 4,000 of its customers remain in the dark and the cold. is southern maryland electric cooperative, smeco, is reporting more than 1,400 people without power. and bg&e is working to restore power to more than 4,000 of its customers. allegheny power says 107 of its customers have no electricity. and numbers don't always tell the story of people suffering through the cold nights without that power. tracee wilkins is live right now in northwest washington. she has the latest on the roads and the power outages. tracee? >> reporter: good morning, joe. that's really the hard part of all of this. you know, there are plenty of people who enjoy the snow and love watching it fall, but then there are the folksho have to deal with it. digging out and then also the power outages that it can sometimes cause. let's, first of all, talk about digging out. we've got a lot of that going on around us here. we've got people here who are digging out some of the businesses here around 40th street. i see a car some folks are trying to dig out over there. wisconsin avenue is looking pretty clear here today. so that's good for folk who driving down wisconsin. this is a good example of how a lot of major roads in d.c. are looking. but let me tell you how some of the other roads are looking. we've been all over the place, from connecticut avenue to capitol hill in southeast connecticut and northwest down towards maryland, east/west highway. and i'm telling you what happens is that you'll drive for a while and maybe there'll be a nice little clear patch and then before you know it, you're on top of some slush and some icy snow and some streets look like they haven't been plowed at all. but like, maybe just cars have driven over those roads and helped to compact down some of the snow. so we have these issues of just trying to get around the city and also maryland. and then you've got those folks who are in their homes right now with no heat, no electricity, many people have left and are going somewhere where they can find these things. >> we all sort of hunkered down friday night, put a lot of extra covers on. by saturday at about 5:00 p.m., it was starting to get really cold and the temperature was down to about 55, as i say, on saturday night. so we decided to bail out and stay elsewhere saturday night. >> reporter: so what have y'all been doing to keep warm? >> making a fire and dressing -- putting everything we own on. and i'm just happy last night i made it out to bethesda to see the game. >> reporter: now, that first guy who we talked to was in his home, he was telling me that looking out his window, he could actually see the transformers going, causing this kind of blue light in the sky, in the distance. and he saw them and he said, like every five to ten minutes, he'd see another one go and another one go. and he just knew it was coming his way. i said, what do you do when you see power outages coming your way? he said, we unplugged the electronic s and hoped for the best and hope that pepco can get to them as soon as possible. they stayed with someone else. this is the downside of this major storm and now another one come tuesday night. pepco should be able to get to everyone by tuesday night, but that's when we're going to be dealing with the next storm. i'm tracee wilkins live in northwest, back to you in the studio, again. >> here we go again. thanks, tracee. all the snow is still causing problems for metro riders this morning as well. underground trains are running, but only once about every 30 minutes or so. all aboveground stations remain closed. several metro buss are running until 7:00 tonight, but service is very limited. all metro access services are suspended for the entire day today. the d.c. circulator will be running and officials say rides will be free of charge. for those of you who take mark trains, there is no service today on the camden and brunswick line. some trains are running, but passengers should expect delays. vre is also not operating any trains today due to the widespread power outages. and amtrak passengers will want to check on the status of their trains before heading to the station today. many trains are still canceled south of washington, but most northbound northeast regional trains are running, with just a few cancellations. a satellite express service between boston and d.c. is operating on a full schedule. you can check your trn status at amtrak.com. our time right now, 11:11. and coming up, some good news from the airports this morning. coming up, we'll check and see if flights are finally getting in and out of the area. and power outages mean big business for some local hotels. we'll explain. plus, snow-in, just in time for super bowl sunday. highlights from the game. stay with us. we're cong right back. aw?ñ?ññññññññññññññññ after weekend full of canceled flights, some travelers are finally getting to their destinations this morning. both dulles and bwi are offerg limited flights today and reagan national just opened about an hour ago. that's where we find news 4's eun yang. eun, good morning. >> reporter: good morning, barbara. reagan national airport is open and operating. and as we mentioned, flights resumed at 10:00 a.m. this morning on a limited basis. but it looks like most of the scheduled flight have said delay ordina ed or canceled this morning. the terminal is quiet right now. people here either have confirmed flights and are heading out now or they have confirmed flyings for later in the afternoon and are trying to catch a later flight out. if you don't have a confirmed flight at the airport today, do not come to the airport. dulles airport opened yesterday morning, but expect a few delays and cancellations there as well. it should be operating on a normal schedule by tonight. bwi marshall opened lastçó nigh at 5:00. flight have said going in and out this morning. andfficials there say they are gradually resuming flits on a normal schedule. now, passengers here at reagan national say that after this weekend, they're just happy to get out and they're willing to wait to do it. >> i think i am going to be able to go home today. i've been here since di-- i mea i was supposed to leave friday. and they texted me saying it's on time. and i got my boarding pass. >> supposed to leave at 7:00 this morning and looks like i'll be on a flight some time this afternoon. who knows. >> reporter: you don't know how long you're going to wait? >> well, i have a confirmed flight at 5:00, but i'm trying to get on an earlier one, if the planes come in, which as you can see, there's not too many planes out here. >> trying to leave since friday, headed back to madison, mississippi. we have a flight tentatively scheduled for 5:00, but we're going to try to catch a standby at 1:00. with a little luck, we'll make it. >> reporter: now, crews at all three airports are still working to clear the airfield. here at reagan national airport, the big problem is there's nowhere left to put the snow. they've had 60 trucks working all day long, all through the weekend, trying to put the snow where, but they're just running out of space. they have the potomac river on oneside and the g.w. parkway on the other. so the crews have a lot of work ahead of them. and of course, now, the crews are on stand by for another big storm and they have to make plans to deal with the ice and snow that's going to come after that as well. barbara, back to you. >> what a challenge out there. i know passengers are desperate to get out of here before that next storm hits. thanks, eun. >> speaking of the next storm, tom joins us here in the studio to tell us about that. tom? >> unfortunately, we do have a chance for more accumulating snow beginning around noontime tomorrow, maybe a light accumulation by sunset tomorrow. and then, overnight tuesday night into wednesday morning, we could have some areas of moderate to heavy snow moving right into the metro area. well, let's take a look at how it looked on saturday. here is a time lapsed video of one of our viewers who had their cameras pointed out there window at their deck. and look at the snow piling up. this took place in several hours, we're squeezing it down to just 20 seconds. but look at it just piling up and up and up and up it went. a wonderful video sent in by chris alton from manassas, virginia. thanks so much, chris. look at all that snow on their deck. looks like about 30 inches or so. well, here, locally, we've got that bright sunshine today, thankfully. the sun is out. there's reagan national airport, where they're trying to get back to normal. and you can see the snowbound scene there, as well as all around the region. right now at reagan national, 28 degrees. where the winter so far, there at the airport, they've measured 45.1 inches of snow. that is 35 inches above average. this is now the third snowiest winter on record and it isn't over yet. we'll take a look at this view from space. this is what the landscape looks like from space. all this why is is all snow, all of virginia covered with snow, all of maryland, all of the eastern shore, all of pennsylvania, most of new jersey. and you can make out some features here. this is ka tokton mouth and south maryland here in maryland and then across the potomac river, this is the blue ridge mountains and the shenandoah valley and easily just the entire region really impacted by that storm andn a wi in a wide . here comes another one. another storm developing through the central plains. we'll have a couple areas of low pressure that will be affecting our region as they both get close to us. we'll see the snow intensifying. but right now, just some scattered light snow from the upper midwest, all the way down to the tennessee valley. as we take a look at temperatures locally, it is below freezing. we'll stay below freezing throughout much of the rest of the day. we might for an hour or two get above freezing by early to midafternoon, but just generally in the 20s right now. mid- and upper 20s. and as we look here on this map, in all this area in blue is under a winter storm watch for tuesday, into wednesday. it includes all of northern virginia and the district of columbia and most of maryland, as well as the panhandle of west virginia and much of the eastern shore. and this watch also extends into new jersey, up into pennsylvania, again, this whole area that was impacted by the storm on saturday, unfortunately, we're going to get more accumulating snow, although not as much in virginia, it appears, with this storm. and look at the temperatures now, the eastern shore, they're still below freezing. in fact, it's below freezing all around the region, except norfolk down to raleigh, durham. we've got a large area of high pressure that's sitting right on top of us, giving us this clear blue sky. it's going to be exiting slowly. as it does move away, it will open up the door for this developing storm system here in the midwest. now, as we go forward over the next 48 hours, the futurecast shows what we've got two areas of low pressure that are going to be aecting our region. one of them is coming in from the southern plains. another one from the northern plains. and both of these systems are going to be working together here as we get into tomorrow evening. wee will have had maybe an inch or two on the ground here. this white zone is snow. the pink zone is a combination of a little rain and sleet. that may come up to our region here and sort of keep our totals down a bit. we'll still have quite a powerful low pressure system over the ohio valley. this one will be developing as we get into the rest of the day wednesday. that will pull away, give us some very strong winds, draw some of this snow right back down on top of us into wednesday. so, for the rest of theday, sunny, cold, and breezy. temperatures into the low 30s, briefly, during the afternoon. and then clouding up tonight. teens tomorrow morning. cloudy tomorrow morning. light snow developing during the afternoon and then light, moderate, even heavy at times snow bands coming through tuesday night into wednesday morning, finally ending wednesday afternoon. but very strong winds. could have winds gusting over 40 miles an hour, wednesday afternoon. that may cause more power outages and also cause sig