midwest. rescue crews scouring joplin, missouri, looking for the injured and survivors after a series of severe storms spawned a deadly tornado. 89 people are confirmed dead in the town of 59,000 people, and that number is expected to rise. the twister carved a six-mile path of destruction through a residential area in joplin. at times as much as 3/4 of a mile wide. it wiped out homes, crushed cars and destroyed a hospital. officials say the rescue effort could take days. >> the city's initial priority is to take care of the injured by completing a thorough search and rescue effort in cooperation with many areas emergency medical service personnel. we have continued this through the night and anticipate this effort will be going on for the next couple days. >> the damage is so extensive and so devastating it has stirred strong emotions and n. all who have seen it even a seasoned reporter. the weather channel's mike bets arrived in joplin minutes after the tornado touched down. what he saw, he could hardly put into words. >> pete are looking for their loved ones, looking for family members. take a look here at this neighborhood, all i can say is it looks reminiscent of what we saw last month in -- excuse me -- in tuscaloosa. yeah, it -- it's tough. no question about that. >> and unfortunately, joplin may not be out of the woods yet. rescue efforts could be hampered by more rain and potentially violent storms. the area has been under a severe thunderstorm warning for most of the morning and has already seen more strong rain, lightning and hail. more tornados are also possible as the system moves through that area. our area has a chance of severe weather this afternoon. tom kiernan joins us with more on what happened in joplin and with our forecast as well. >> that was a devastating tornado, half a mile wide. the path, six miles, it was on the ground there. unfortunately, this morning they got hit with another thunderstorm, this time don't have tornado reports but it did produce hail just over last hour and a half. it produced tremendous rain and wind gusts to 60 miles per hour. as well as some hail. right now, in our region, we do have a line of storms that has diminished as it moved into west virginia. but right now counties in pink are under a severe thunderstorm watch and it includes all of northern virginia, as well as much of eastern west virginia, much of maryland and the district of columbia into southern pennsylvania, all of those counties in pink under a severe thunderstorm watch until 6:00 this afternoon. in that zone, there could be some thunderstorms that could produce some damaging winds and hail, and only a small chance of an isolated tornado. so that's the story for the rest of the afternoon, just stay close to nbc 4. we will let you know what's going on. if you hear thunder, get inside. we'll let you know if a storm is threatening your neighborhood. while have a complete report on the week ahead, looking into next week in a few minutes. we'll check on the midday traffic now. tanya hutchins standing by to tell us what's happen on the roads. >> good morning, barbara. we are do have some incidents. howard county 175 eastbound closed at 29, due to earlier accident there. we had an accident that cleared from 59 northbound before the springfield parkway. that was on the right. now we have cones, 95 northbound at 644, left lane is closed for road work. so this is going to be slow from newington. be aware if you're in the express lanes you may be single file getting by those cones, as you can see there. 29 southbound in silver spring, coalsville road at lockwood, construct as well in left lane. stay to the right there. and we have slow traffic in virginia. 66 eastbound at 7 to the right of your screen. barbara, i'll check back with you in a few minutes. >> thanks so much. one brother has died and another survive the after a crash in fairfax, virginia. it happened around 1:30 on pickett road near mathy drive. the driver hit two trees of before suv rolled over before stop in median. the brother who survived had on his seat belt, the other was ejected from the car. it's not clear if he had on a seat belt at the time of the accident, though. investigators have not released their names but do say they were 20 and 23 years old. no word on what caused the crash. a father accused of stabbing his 17-year-old daughter to death is scheduled to be in court in a few hours. 45-year-old rodney mack entire faces first-degree murder in the death of enny franklin. megan? >> reporter: well, bash ra 17-year-old ebony frank will was murdered last november. she was stabbed several times, according to sources. her body was dumped in a trash can in a northwest alley. in a disturbing twist in the case, police this weekend arrested franklin's 45-year-old father, rodney mack entire. mack entire is facing first-degree murder charges and making his first court appearance in a few hours from now. investigators have not spoken publicly about a possible motive in this crime, but police chief linear says there is evidence there was a sexual relationship between mcintyre and his daughter. six months after the murder, investigators say he has always been a suspect in this case. again, mcintyriced up over the weekend, due in court at 1:00 this afternoon. back to you. today, the teen suspect in the shooting of a d.c. police officer will be in court. investigators say the 15-year-old opened fire on officers at a house on crittenden street saturday morning. the teen allegedly hid under a porch and ended up shooting at an officer three times. the officer is in good condition. police haven't released the names of the people involved in the incident. today the washington suburban sanitary commissions' headquarters in laurel is closed after a fire there. the electrical fire broke out in the 1450 block of sweitzer lane. the fire diz not affect water and sewer operation. essential and emergency personnel are busy trying to get things back on line there. another electrical fire kept firefighters busy, this one in prince georges county. our crew is on the scene. it happened in the 6600 block of cling log avenue around 1:00. fire officials say everyone did get out safely. prince georges county is on the verge of landing 80 stores as part of a new high-end outlet center. it would be located on the national harbor as part of ongoing expansion along the potomac river. tracee wilkins has more on this potential project. >> reporter: it's a major announcement for folks who live here in prince georges county. major shoppers know that when they're trying to do outlet shopping in this county, they need to drive for hours, making day trips to virginia, now it looks like they'll have outlet shopping in their backyards and possibly high-end stores. a massive outlet shopping center coming to the national harbor in prince georges county. $100 million, 350,000 square foot development will house up to 80 brand name and high-end retail stores. >> good news, good news, yeah. we've been wanting them to come to the area so we won't have to go to other, like virginia areas. the. >> reporter: peterson companies, which opened national harbor in 2006, hired the tanga factory outlet centers to lease the space. the company operates 34 outlet centers in 22 states have relationships with high-end retailers like saks fifth avenue off fifth, coach, brooks brothers, and the neiman-marcus last call. >> going to be a big win for prince georges county. i think it will be a big win for this place. >> reporter: prince georges county is the second wealthiest county in maryland and residents complained poor retail and shopping options. >> they brought in wiegmann's, other stores saying, if you want our money, come to us, why do we have to travel far? >> reporter: spokesmen with peterson companies believe this is one of the most profitable outlet stores for the tanger company because it's located near a metropolitan area. that's something that's unusual for them. if all goes well the project could be up and running by 2013. at national harbor, tracee wilkins, news4. >> there's some controversy surrounding this project, though. the outlet center is set to be built on the grounds of an historic plantation. the development spokesperson says they've reached an agreement and will acknowledge the history of the space in the property. it's ten after 11:00. race for the gop nomination. candidates making new promises and those saying no thanks. another volcano erupts in iceland. we'll3q why do we choose coppertone sport? it works great on wet or dry skin because it's seriously waterproof and ultra sweat-proof. coppertone protects across 100% of the uva/uvb spectrum. coppertone sport. embrace the sun. right now, president obama is in ireland for start of a weeklong trip around europe. earlier, the president visited ireland's president and prime minister and had private meetings with both of them. in a few hours mr. obama will head to moneygall, where he'll explore his family's heritage, it's the birthplace of his maternal great-great-great grandfather. we'll learn more about the ancestry and how the town is prepped for his visit. decision 2012, another republican enters the presidential race. former minnesota governor tim pawlenty will formally announce his candidacy in iowa. he released this video on youtube. pawlenty's visit will be his 14th to iowa since the 2008 election, more than any candidate except former senator rick santorum. pawlenty talked with matt law. >> finances are out of control, the debt and the deficit are not being tackled by the current president. i've got experience in minnesota as governor, in tackling spending, i balanced budgets, i got an a-rating from the cato institute, one of only four governors to do it, the other three aren't running for president, by the way, matt. >> mitt romney and newt gingrich for the republican nomination. mitch daniels will not run. we're waiting to hear if congresswoman michelle bachmann or sarah palin will join the race. donald trump talked about his decision not to run after last night's celebrity apprentice finale. >> i had so many different pressures, in terms of this because, you know, you have one of great shows on television and other things. i love doing what i'm doing. but i am very, very unhappy when i look at world and look at this country and see what's going on. it's very sad. i certainly hope they pick the right person, because it's a very important choice. >> trump decided to continue his celebrity apprentice show here on nbc. in case you missed last night's finale, country singer john rich was the winner. two american hikers held in iran were allowed to call home for the first time since november. shane bower and josh fatale told their families they staged a 17-day hunger strike after iranians kept them from receiving letters. the mothers were happy to hear their sons' voices and sound okay. iran detained the two since july 2009. share are shord was take noon custody but out on bail for several months. the hikers pleaded not guilty to charges of spying. they were supposed to stand trial earlier this month but it was abruptly postponed without reason. right now a volcano eruption in iceland is threatening european airports. authorities closed iceland's main airport. aviation officials in the united kingdom say dense ash will likely reach scotland by tonight. another eruption in iceland last year led authorities to shut down europe's entire airspace. on the ground, heavy ash is making it hard for drivers to see road markings. norths are urging people to stay inside. we may have to stay inside late for we get the weather that tom thinks we might get later on. >> when i visit school i tell students, thunder is your friend. it lets you know when a storm is coming and if you hear thunder, get inside. radar is so now advanced that we can tell you all the way down to your street whether or not a storm is threatening your neighborhood. so the best thing is to stay informed. we do have the possibility of strong storms here later this afternoon. right now, though, no storms around. live picture from the sky watcher camera looking toward virginia. we do have just a few clouds now beginning to move through after we have had sunshine in and out earlier this morning. you can see the humidity hanging in the air. right now it is humid. temperature at reagan national 75. south-southwesterly breeze at 15 miles an hour. right now the radar, not showing precipitation here other than looks like a few showers are beginning to slow up in the panhandle of west virginia. don't have storms yet. along the blue rage here, east of interstate 81, there are showers showing up. also, farther to the west, out in the highlands of west virginia, western maryland this is a line that may set up and turn into strong storms and then come into the metro area, perhaps by mid to late afternoon. right now no storms around. these are the zones under this severe thunderstorm watch. knit effect until 6:00 p.m., including northern virginia, all of maryland, west of the bay, into the mountains. parts of the panhandle of west virginia into pennsylvania. and this will be the zone where we could get some of the strong storms. now over the last 12 hours, earlier this morning we had showers and thunder coming through. the secondary line is beginning to show intensification. as that does come in by mid to late afternoon we have to keep an eye on the sky. if southern missouri this is the storm system that produces big tornado in southern missouri yesterday. that has broken down quite a bit but still a lot of energy associated with that, that combined with the humidity as well as sunshine we could have strong storms developing. futurecast, showing a stormy pattern. these blocks here of color, these are zones of potential storms from this afternoon into the end of the week. we have this sort of stalled frontal area that's going to be hanging around the mid-atlantic states here all the way into the end of the week and first part of the weekend. for this afternoon, for the rest of the monday afternoon if you hear thunder, get inside. we could have a strong storm coming toward your area. individual storm could produce wind damage, maybe hail over an inch in size, as well as maybe gusts over 70 miles an hour. it's possible from some of the isolated storms later this afternoon and early this evening. by mid evening, any storms around should be ending. after that we'll say cloudy. it's a rather humid night and then by dawn tomorrow, we'll have our temperatures down after we are in the 70s in the evening, down to in the mid-60s starting off tuesday morning. another hot day tomorrow looks like we'll be up around 90 degrees. and we'll still be rather humid. there's a smaller chance of an afternoon thunderstorm on tuesday into perhaps efearly tu partly cloudy tomorrow. wednesday, increases chance again of strong thunderstorms. looks like those would be in the afternoon, morning lows in the upper 60s, afternoon highs climbing into the upper 80s wednesday. increased chance of strong storms on wednesday. then thursday we've got a smaller chance but still a chance of afternoon thunderstorms and partly cloudy and still warm and humid. here comes summer, as we head toward the memorial day weekend on friday. looks to be partly cloudy, small chance of isolated afternoon storms, highs in 80s, as well as saturday. sunday looking better. we may be storm-free sunday and perhaps for memorial day, of course it's way out ahead. it's far ahead but indications are things should settle down by then. all through the day, follow my updated forecast. watches and warnings on twitter as well here at nbc 4, nbcwashington.com. many ways to stay informed. that's the most important thing, stay informed. we'll let you know if storms are threatening where you live. >> i asked you this every year, is it unusually stormy for us? >> no it has not been. >> catastrophic storms. >> that with the worst, single tornado as far as fatalities since a worcester, massachusetts, tornado, of all things back in 1953. >> wow. >> for one single tornado. >> seeing those pictures, just amazing. it looks like a war zone. >> yeah. >> so much more to come on that, i'm sure. hopefully they will find more survivors. check on the midday traffic now. tanya hutchins. >> much better. we have an improvement in maryland. coalsville road southbound, lockwood drive, all of the cones picked up in the left lane. all lane are open in silver spring heading southbound on coalsville road. in the district, new york avenue inbound 9th street northeast, cones there. inbound traffic to the left not causing a problem, though. traffic is getting by in the two lanes to the right. top side of the beltway in maryland, doing fine, 495 at university boulevard in both directions new york problems on either loop. and in virginia, 66, just east of nutley, doing fine. up ahead through falls church, you may run into a slowdown. >> thank you. we'll talk to you shortly. 11:21. judgment day came and went. and what's the prepare who predicted the end of the world doing now? how much did that unforgettable hat, worn by princess beatrice at the royal wedding, go for? & hey, guys ! what's going on ? we're fine. we just figured since it's taking forever to pay off our mortgage, we might as well slow our whole life down. touch the ball. get rid of your mortgage faster. get an easy orange mortgage from ing direct. pay less interest, pay more principal, pay it off sooner. yes ! 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[ laughs ] [ all ] what's in your wallet? right now, news4 midday, more severe storms sweeping through the nation's midsection hamp, efforts to rescue those potentially trapped in rubble from several tornados. the hardest hit, joplin, missouri, where a tornado ripped th