keeping an eye on annapolis on the dam. can it stay firm during this whole rain storm? can we keep our trees up and power on? we'll get you all prepared on this thursday morning. i'm jamie costello, good morning maryland. >> i'm megan pringle. prepare today when you head out the door. the right coat, shoes, umbrella and then some. >> meteorologist justin berk, one more time. >> you may be seeing rain more than five or six times in terms of how much we may get today. a lot of issues with the remains of what was once tropical storm nicole, had a long life span. it's going to have every little bit of a tropical feel with wind advisory, gusts of 45 miles per hour today. flood watch, heavy rain, also for tide coming up the bay. and a tornado watch in the area until 1:00 in the afternoon. all right, in addition to that, rainfall already over two inches in some spots. could max out at over five

inches in some places today. flooded already an issue. heavy rain will continue all day long. we have one band pushing through right now. heaviest of the rain sliding up the chesapeake bay. kent island, graysonville, heading up towards extreme eastern baltimore county, middle river right now, over towards kingsville, getting the heaviest of the rainfall. we'll have bands of rain and slugs of moisture as you see the bottom of the screen, another push of those deeper red shadings coming up from the south. look at this this morning, 70 degrees right now in annapolis. they've had over two inches of rain. we're watching them for the possibility of that dam failure, we're watching the possibility of storm drains really not able to handle what we've got. 68 this morning in many spots. 75 this afternoon. it's potential flooding, winds gusting to 45 miles per hour and that additional possibility of tornados, at least until 1:00 this afternoon. how about that traffic. it's already a mess out there. here's kim brown with the latest. >> how about that traffic this morning, justin? we have lots of problems to start off the 6:00 hour.

ton of problems on the beltway, causing big headaches on the outer loop, southwest corner, we have a crash at wilkins, blocking the two right lanes. both shoulders are blocks. two middle lanes do get by. delays are beginning to form at about liberty road at this time. expect this to be closed or these lanes to be closed for at least a little bit of time going forward. as we look at our maps, we have several other incidents we're working, flooding in baltimore city has patapsco avenue closed. flooding in middle river, eastern boulevard and martin boulevard. still working a crash on the top side of the outer loop, ramp to the jfx one of the lanes continues to be blocked because of an earlier crash. 70 eastbound closed, there is no access getting on towards 695. you can't even get towards the beltway if trying to travel 70 east. all traffic is being diverted onto southbound route 29.

in western howard county, glen oak, burntwoods drive closed. allow yourself extra time this morning. if you're heading out today, you'll need more than your umbrella, bring your patience as well. all of the rain means a lot of power outages. linda sow is live in towson this morning. >> all this rain, it's inevitable, there'll be a lot of problems, flooding, downed trees, the downed trees part is the part that bge is concerned about. all this rain will soak the ground, that will bring down trees and some of those trees will bring down power lines and that is where the outages will occur. bge crews are already on stand by. they're calling this a system-wide event, they're expecting thousands of power outages throughout the area today. the state's emergency operation center will be activated this morning. all this rain has people in annapolis getting ready too. they're putting out sand bags by

the downtown dock. >> it actually may be a pain in the butt, but if it saves your carpet or stone or whatever you happened to have in your place, it's worth it. >> now bge crews won't be able to start fixing the downed power lines until after the storm passes, they're asking people to be patient. if you want to let bge know you're without powerer call 877-778-2222. we're live in towson, linda sow, abc2 news. an annapolis dam is determined unsafe. many are hoping this dam can handle the significant rain we're expecting here. state inspectors sent the city a letter stating that failure of the dam at water works park off 450 could result in massive flooding. workers have released water from the dam to prevent a possible failure. >> there's erosion, sort of underground erosion with the earth right next to where the

dam is. they're worried about long-term break down. to be clear, there's no imminent threat of a major break down right now. >> a number of repairs are planned for later this year. staff will monitor the water level. we've got problems on the beltway. you know about that. we have problems on 70 east. the beltway backs up on any day with sun. here's sherrie johnson bracing us all for bad traffic this morning. >> reporter: we're here in towson along york road. if you're heading out today, allow yourself plenty of time. you definitely don't want to be in a hurry with the rain coming down. give yourself plenty of following distance. traffic is starting to back up a little bit here. watch out for standing water on the roadways, could cause you to hydroplane. here in towson, we're not seeing flooding just yet. the state highway administration, we talked to folks on the phone, they're warning drivers to use extra

caution this morning. watch out for downed trees and power lines. you don't want to have to swerve to miss something in the road. use extra caution. be careful approaching stop lights. there could be outages in the area. you just want to be aware of your surroundings, step out of your comfort zone this morning, because you're not going to have your normal driving routine this morning. slow it down, use extra caution. reporting live in towson, sherrie johnson, abc2 news. nobody covers a storm better than justin berk. we'll have the latest power outages as well as what areas to avoid because of flooding. kim brown is working traffic like never before. she's on it. right now, 6:06. a charter bus plunged off high 270 in bethesda. killed the driver. 20 passengers were on board, at

least a dozen were taken to the hospital. the driver appeared to have a medical emergency, slumped over in the seat, leading the bus to swerve over the railing and fall near 40 feet. >> it ran over, everybody was saying "get the kids out." i was just holding everybody. i held a girl in my arm, they all were crying and bleeding. >> there was a couple in shock. it was pretty bad. >> it flipped and landed. it was a harrowing experience, i think. >> the driver has been identified as 66-year-old joseph claybaugh jr. of pennsylvania. the superintendent of carlisle school districts says he was told this was a private trip charted by parents. open to the public on monday, but today the casino in perryville will have its grand opening. the 35,000 square foot slots

parlor in cecil county has two restaurants set up like a hollywood movie back drop. the casino brings 350 new jobs to the area. governor martin o'malley as well as perryville aaron hart will be on hand at 10:00 a.m. the casino is open from 8:00 a.m. to 2:00 a.m. every singing day. in the words are vanessa williams, he saved the best for last. kevin millwood shut out the tampa bay rays last night. 2-0. the orioles will avoid 100 losses, how about that? 31-and-22 under buck. tampa gave out 22,000 free tickets. total attendance was 36,000. supposed to be fan appreciation night, i don't think they'll get this one in. tropical storm nicole is leaving her mark all over the

east coast. >> coming up: we'll tell you where folks are bracing for more wind and heavy rain. plus: there's so much to learn about breast cancer. in our think pink series this morning, we'll tell you about five myths surrounding the disease. these coaches could use a lesson in anger management. this was a peewee football game, everybody. let's head to new york for the latest in business news. >> reporter: good morning, we begin your moneyscope report with federal reserve chairman ben bernanke back on capitol hill. the fed chairman will tell lawmakers today that the central bank is working closely with other regulators to implement the financial overhaul rules. new numbers show one in every four homes sold last quarter was in foreclosure. those homes sold at a deep discount, averaging 26% less than homes not in the foreclosure process. jp morgan chase has put a temporary freeze on more than

50,000 foreclosures as it reviews documents that may contain errors. it will slow things down, but won't reduce the number of foreclosures. pepsico chairman and ceo tops the list of the 50 more powerful women in business for the fifth straight year. . that is your moneyscope report, i'm vinita nair.

four years ago, bob ehrlich got fired as governor of maryland. for good reason. first, he protected tax loopholes for giant cable cable companies. then, he let utilities jack up our rates 72%. and for the last four years, he worked as a hired gun for big corporations, even a bank that took billions from a taxpayer funded bailout. ehrlich sides with corporate executives again and again and again

tell bob ehrlich big banks and billionares don't need help. middle class marylanders do.

we're back, it's an east coast knockout storm from tropical storm nicole here this morning. >> the rain storm and the northeast weather system are flooding. everything from miami all the way to maine. north carolina's governor already declared a state of emergency. emily schmitt has more. >> reporter: all the rain falling all along the east coast, people are testing the water. >> it's the first tropical storm i've been in, it's cool. >> reporter: or if the water is testing them. north carolina's governor declared a state of emergency after wilmington had at least 18 inches of rain since sunday. four months worth of water in

100 hours. for landscape businesses, it's disappointing. >> reporter: for others it's disorienting. >> normally i was making my swing around to this box here to deliver and i misjudged the pavement, you know? >> reporter: clarence williams drivers this postal route all the time, but standing water stood where he thought the water would be. >> i think it's good if you're a duck. >> reporter: in florida, portable pumps have been working for days. emergency workers in south carolina are ready for long hours too. >> there's always somebody or someone who doesn't pay attention to what they're doing. now you have a water rescue on your hands. >> we have the level coming right up to the door. we had six inches a few days ago. >> reporter: flood watches and warnings extend as far north as new england. the remnants of a tropical storm promising to test more people as

it passes through. >> want to start off with maryland's most powerful doppler radar, as we continue to watch this particular storm, we've had heavy rainfall across the area. as you can see, the heaviest slug of moisture right now. right along the chesapeake bay. if we could bring this in closer, you can see where we have the heavy shade near graysonville, pushing up 95, heading towards kingsville. we'll watch this moisture continue to just sit and sometimes train over the same locations. it's easy up a little bit, glen burnie picking up two inches of rain. check it out, our rainfall tallies right now. 2.6 inches in edgemere. aberdeen, you're catching up, 1.39. bel air an inch and a quarter. perry hall, an inch and 2/3. we have roughly an inch and a

half to over two inches of rain. we'll be watching that, there is that possibility of that dam failure that we already talked about earlier on. there's the moisture continuing to stream up. one band on the eastern side of the chesapeake bay. hitting extreme eastern baltimore. now harford county, eastern shores. some of you missing out on the rain. as the storm extends down towards, you heard north carolina, down towards the bahamas, all involved with a couple pieces of energy, the remains of what was once tropical storm nicole and a very large pool of cold active air, really speeding up the jetstream and focusing all this stuff up the eastern seaboard. we have all day to deal with this. probably after midnight until it is that right pushing east of the area. waves of low pressure, you'll see them carved out, almost these comma shapes on radar. forecast model midday, slug of heavy rain, central maryland,

there's another little hook if you will, that's one of the reasons we have that tornado watch, any of these spins could work their way down to the ground with small tornados and definitely gusty winds. 45 miles per hour. most likely we'll see an average of 2 to 5 inches of rainfall with some amounts higher than that. heavy rain extending through daybreak, del marva, east of baltimore by daybreak, all out of here as we get clearing late on friday. the strong surge of winds from the south, we have to watch that flood watch for the heavy rain, tidal flooding around the chesapeake bay. 11:57, just before noon today, just after midnight overnight. there's a range up and down the bay, we'll try to work that for you abc2news.com. it's all about the heavy rain, gusty winds will increase throughout the afternoon. push warmer temperatures in at 75 degrees. there's the possibility of flooding from rain up the bay. also isolated tornados, down to 60 overnight. the rain tries to end by

daybreak. let's see what's happening on the roads right now, those are busy in and of itself. >> they certainly are busy. another road closure due to flooding. westbound route 450, closed at hunt wood drive because of high water. don't drive through the high water if you happen to see it. just be aware of puddling and ponding on the roadways. hydroplaning a big possibility this morning. we had an earlier accident on the outer loop, wilkins avenue. all lanes reopened. these are the residual back-ups from that. traffic pretty much at a crawl as you make your way down towards i-70 and further on towards 95. folks, before you head out the door, allot yourself lots of extra time, still working a crash in ellicot city, what that means is you have no access to the beltway from the point of the accident. all the traffic is being detoured right now onto

southbound route 29 so expect to see some increased volume on 129 and route 40 as folks are trying to get onto the beltway. 70 is closed right now. around the area, accident reported in baltimore city, east cold spring lane and loch raven boulevard. flooding an issue, 895, that is closed in that area. middle river, eastern boulevard, martin boulevard, closed there as well. on the beltway, a couple things, top side of the outer loop. one lane remains closed from an earlier crash. we have an accident outer loop, 795, spun out vehicle blocks the left shoulder and in randalstown, we're working a crash in liberty road. it'll be busy on the roadways. please take your time and keep the speeds down. megan and jamie, back to you. there's a lot of information about breast cancer out there, not all of it is true. abc2 news linda sow sorts it out for us. she has the five biggest myths

surrounding the disease. >> reporter: the words breast cancer can often have you fearing the worst. but such a diagnosis doesn't automatically mean a death sentence. >> many women think their diagnosis means they're going to die. the fact is that in this country, breast cancer survivors outnumber any other type of cancer survivors for any other type of cancer. >> reporter: thanks to advances in early detection, many women are going on to live healthy lives. the second myth about breast cancer is that it only affects older women. the fact is, it can strike at any age. >> that practice that was occurring where a young woman with a breast lump was told "it's nothing, don't worry about it", well every lump or abnormality should be investigated, regardless of age. >> reporter: the third myth deals with family history. just because it doesn't run in your family, doesn't mean you're out of the woods. >> 80 to 90% of all women diagnosed with breast cancer

have no family history. as long as you're female, as long as you have breasts, you do carry some risk of breast cancer. >> reporter: fourth, when looking at your family history, it's not just your mother's side that counts. >> we get half of our genes from each of our parents. we need to be aware of family history on mom's side and dad's side. >> reporter: the fifth myth is that a lot of women think a lump in their breast means cancer. >> if women have an abnormal mammogram or abnormal critical condition clinical exam, don't panic. odds are in your favor that it'll be a benign finding. >> linda sow, abc2 news. >> tomorrow on good morning maryland, we have five ways to keep a positive outlook. right now, we want to send it to justin with breaking news. >> we talked about a tornado watch which still extends for the entire area until 1:00, we have a warning, doppler radar indicated spin or rotation in the clouds, that is on down through southern maryland.

this is just outside of our viewing area. the reason we're mentioning this, in calvert and st. mary's county, this stuff is moving to the north at 40 miles per hour. next on the list, most likely anne arundel county. we can watch this thing right now, maryland's most powerful doppler radar, we have five sweeps through the chesapeake, one coming through right now. near golden beach, we highlighted what appears to be rotation, little hook or comma shape in that orange shading and this is racing to the north at about 40 miles per hour. locations here include uh, california, town creek, st. leonard creek, calvert cliff, all in the location of a potential tornado as indicated by doppler radar at 6:16 this morning. just six minutes ago. racing to the north at 40 miles per hour. if you know anybody in these locations, alert them to seek coverage right now. it's indicated by doppler, not spotted on the ground.

when we have these landfalling tropical systems. there's potential of spinning twisters up throughout the morning and into the afternoon. that's why the rest of us have the tornado watch extending until 1:00 p.m. we're looking at calvert and st. mary's county for a tornado warning right now. this extends until 7:00. it's racing to the north at 40 miles per hour. so stay tuned if you're watching this now in southern anne arundel county, you may be next on the list. not right now, but you may be next. stay tuned, we'll have more information when we come back, right after this break.

it's 6:26 right now. end of september, if you're celebrating a birthday today. happy birthday. brothers live in the baltimore area, turning 40 today. happy birthday, guys. dasheaka happy birthday to you. >> o.j. brigance, that guy

deserves everything. happy birthday. morningshow@wmar.com to get your birthday greetings in. all right: take a look at entertainment news right now: the creator of kathy announced she'll be retiring in october. she cited several reasons for calling it quits, including creative biological clock. the cartoon kathy and the real one were a voice for women for a generation who were told they could have it all and then learned they couldn't. the comic has been around for 34 years on sunday. the last kathy comic will run in the paper. justin bieber is about to enter a new level of fame. he's about to be featured in a new line of dolls. according to billboard magazine, the dolls will be available just in time for the holidays. >> well now i know what i'm getting you for christmas. >> oh boy! look at what could have been, but luckily wasn't. >> simulation of what could have happened in a bomb went off in

times square and how much damage it could have done. puddles won't be the only problems you'll deal with today. why all this rain has us bracing for widespread power outages. my dad is the supervisor of a train station and my mom's a teacher. my dad's an auto technician. my mom's a receptionist. i'm not sure i would have been able to afford college without the tuition freeze.

while tuition in other states is rising out of reach... governor o'malley made the tough choice to freeze tuition. he made my dream of going to college into a reality. i'm the first in my family to go to college. my brother and i never would have been able to afford college. even though times were tough... governor o'malley kept his promise. there's never a doubt... there's never a doubt whose side he's on. martin o'malley... moving maryland forward.