The B-12 Store opening Saturday at Montgomery Mall in Bethesda

The B-12 Store will open at Westfield Montgomery Mall in Bethesda tomorrow, Saturday, October 1, 2022. Special grand opening promotions will run for the next week at the store, which sells and administers injectable and intravenous vitamins. The store is overseen by a physician who can write prescriptions for the vitamins, and all injections and IVs are adminstered by certified nurses. 

All supplements are manufactured by Legere Pharmaceuticals and Vox Nutrition in an FDA registered outsourcing facility. Look for the B-12 Store on Level 1, next to Haagen-Dazs.

Hurricane Ian outer rain bands to reach Maryland, Virginia today as eye makes landfall in South Carolina

The first outer rain bands of Hurricane Ian will reach the Washington, D.C. metropolitan area around the middle of this afternoon, as D.C., Maryland and Virginia get their first splash of what will be a very wet weekend. Around the same time, Ian will make its third landfall on the coast of South Carolina. Accuweather forecasts a storm surge of 3 to 6 feet in South Carolina, with the greatest impacts north of Charleston, and in the vicinity of Georgetown and Myrtle Beach. The South Carolina and Georgia coasts could experience a total rainfall of 8 to 12 inches, and up to 18 inches in some spots. Rainfall will likely total 4-8" in North Carolina, Eastern Tennessee, Virginia and West Virginia.

Here in Maryland, the localized flood risk will first loom tonight, and today will feature the highest wind gusts of 37 MPH. Winds will drop to gusts of 21 MPH on Saturday and Sunday, Total rainfall in Maryland and Montgomery County is expected to be about 2 inches over the weekend. However, if Ian were to move out over the ocean again or stall over our area, that total could more than double. So be prepared for all potential outcomes.

As of 5:00 AM this morning, the National Hurricane Center reports Hurricane Ian's current location is 145 miles SSE of Charleston, South Carolina. It is moving NNE at 9 MPH. Ian's current maximum sustained winds are measured at 85 MPH.

Graphic courtesy National Weather Service

Car stolen outside Rockville apartment building

Montgomery County police are investigating the theft of a vehicle from the parking lot of an apartment building in Rockville yesterday, September 28, 2022. The vehicle was taken from a residential parking lot in the 1300 block of Piccard Drive. That appears to be the Flats at Shady Grove apartment building. It is believed the vehicle was stolen sometime between 7:00 PM Tuesday night and 5:30 AM Wednesday morning.

Hurricane Ian remnants to impact Maryland sooner than expected, after stops in Georgia, the Carolinas, Virginia

The worst of Hurricane Ian may have already passed in Florida, but the now-Tropical Storm is expected to make a speedy trip up the East Coast, including a jaunt out to sea and another landfall somewhere in the South. Yesterday, Ian's timetable for arrival in the Washington, D.C., Maryland and North Virginia area began to look like it was slipping from early next week to this weekend. Now, Accuweather is forecasting the first rains of Ian to arrive in the Mid-Atlantic as early as tomorrow. 

Tropical rain showers are now expected all weekend, and showers may continue from Monday into Wednesday. This does not look good for events like Taste of Bethesda this Saturday. Rain associated with Ian will arrive well ahead of the actual storm center, which is expected to pass through Maryland sometime Sunday night or early Monday morning.

Ian has further business south of here first, however. After crawling across mainland Florida, the storm will go back over the Atlantic, and make another landfall tomorrow evening. Accuweather currently predicts Ian's landfall will be somewhere near the border of Georgia and South Carolina Friday night; the National Hurricane Center's prediction is for a landfall in South Carolina. 

The full impact of Ian's second landfall, and the strength of the storm's remnants when it arrives here in the D.C. area, will be determined by how long it drifts over the waters of the Atlantic prior to Friday night's landfall. The National Hurricane Center says the storm could again near hurricane strength as it approaches land.

Ian already has shown plenty of destructive power after making landfall as a Category 4 hurricane. Over 2 million utility customers in Florida are currently without electricity. Accuweather reports that every customer in Hardee County, Florida is in the dark. Part of the Sanibel Causeway collapsed, the only bridge between Sanibel Island and mainland Florida. 

Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis said earlier this morning that helicopter rescues are being performed on barrier islands by the Coast Guard and Florida National Guard. He said 100 portable cell towers are being set up to restore some level of phone service, and that power line infrastructure in the hardest hit areas would in some cases have to be entirely rebuilt. Pine Island Bridge, like the Sanibel Causeway, is damaged and impassable, he added.

Fox Weather reports that there are believed to be hundreds of fatalities in Lee County, Florida, according to the sheriff there. Accuweather reports one confirmed death in Florida from Hurricane Ian, a 72-year-old man in Deltona. He slipped down a hill behind his home into a flooding drainage ditch while trying to drain his pool as the storm approached his area at 1:00 AM this morning. Fox Weather also reports Ian has caused a 200-year flood event in Orlando. More than a foot of rain has fallen on the city.

DeSantis said his state has all of the supplies it needs for storm victims. "It's much better to donate financially, rather than sending items. We've got a lot of items," he said at a news conference this morning. Those seeking to help storm victims displaced in Florida can have the greatest impact by donating funds at FloridaDisasterFund.org, or text DISASTER to 20222, he said. Florida First Lady Casey DeSantis said the fund has already raised $1.6 million in the last 24 hours.

Tropical Storm Ian's current location is 40 miles east of Orlando, the National Hurricane Center reports. Its current maximum sustained winds are at 65 MPH, and it is moving NE at 8 MPH.

Graphic courtesy Accuweather.com

Strong-arm robbery at Rockville grocery store

Rockville City police responded to a report of a strong-arm robbery at a grocery store Monday night, September 26, 2022. The robbery was reported at a supermarket in the 1800 block of Rockville Pike at 9:15 PM Monday. There is a Safeway store on that block.

McCormick Paints to open store at White Flint Plaza

McCormick Paints will open a new store at 5268 Nicholson Lane at White Flint Plaza. McCormick has an existing location on Lewis Avenue in Rockville. The new store is expected to open in early 2023. It will face competition from a nearby and also-new Sherwin-Williams store.

Hurricane Ian still on track to eventually hit Maryland; now nearing landfall in Florida as a Category 4 storm

Hurricane Ian is still on a track that will eventually take it to Maryland, Washington, D.C. and Northern Virginia, according to a model posted by Accuweather.com. The newest update shows the storm making its turn toward the Atlantic Ocean at a slightly later point than predicted earlier, with the center of the storm now passing north of Washington and more directly over Baltimore, before heading out to sea over Atlantic City. This track is subject to change from many variables.

Accuweather forecasts the storm arriving in the Mid-Atlantic on Sunday or Monday. It predicts Ian will drop about an inch of rain on our area by the time it moves off to the Atlantic.

Earlier this hour, the National Hurricane Center reported that Hurricane Ian's current location is 75 miles WSW of Naples, Florida, and has strengthened into a Category 4 hurricane. It is moving north-northeast at 10 MPH. Maximum sustained winds are near 140 MPH, with gusts over 140 MPH. Landall on the Gulf Coast of Florida is expected this afternoon, according to ABC News.

Graphics courtesy Accuweather.com