homeowners in linn county will have to figure out what they'll need to fix after unseasonable storms last night. an iowa city doctor is spreading the message about toxic shock syndrome, a condition he believes is often mis- diagnosed. and a litter of puppies who had a very rough go from the start are waking up in new forever homes this christmas eve. good thursday morning. it's christmas eve, december 24. here's a live look at our cedar rapids south city cam. meteorologist kaj o'mara joins us now. kaj, we've seen some wild weather across eastern iowa in the past twelve hours. what can travelers expect today? a weak wave of low pressure will drift up and across iowa today. it may generate a few hours worth of rain or snow showers on us this afternoon, especially the rther north you go. highs should remain in the 30s. christmas day will be quiet across iowa with the potential for 40-degree highs. our next storm system arrives this

generally in the 40s again on saturday, and a cold round of rain possible. we'll be cooler and drier for sunday. enjoy your day, and safe travels! thanks kaj. homeowners north of cedar rapids will assess storm damage today after heavy winds last night. the storm did not last for very long, but this is a glimpse of some of the destruction along tower terrace. the owner of a luxury camper - a 2016 jayco jay flight

wreckage as his camper was spread out across about 500 feet. the damage in eastern iowa is minor compared to other parts of the country. power outages, wind damage and even tornadoes hit parts of the south and midwest. at least three people died in mississippi, including a boy who was in a car that was picked up and tossed. the mississippi highway patrol worked into the night, clearing streets and helping anyone trapped. " we're trying to clear each street, each county road, each highway. we're going door to door to make sure that we can eliminate all the possibilities that there's someone who needs help."" two deaths were reported in tennesse. and in arkansas, a tree blew into a house, killing a woman inside. the u-s, british, french and other embassies are warning westerners traveling to beijing about possible threats this morning. chinese officials have tightened security around a beijing shopping district popular with tourists. beijing police issued a

the threats. police commonly issue "yellow" alerts during holidays. a health care coverage company is planning to fight in court to be part of the newly privatized medicaid program in iowa. the department of human services tossed out wellcare's contract to help oversee the program. this week, wellcare of iowa filed a lawsuit against d-h-s. the state says it terminated the contract because the company didn't disclose some information during the bidding process. toxic shock syndrome is more common then you might think. that's according to one professor at the university of iowa, who's been studying tss for decades. you probably remember learning about it in high school health class. the mayo clinic says common symptoms include... a sudden high fever... low blood pressure... vomiting or diarrhea... a sunburn-like rash on palms and soles... and others like headaches and seizures. menstrual toxic shock syndrome is an illness that can be set off by feminine hygiene products. tv-9's forrest saunders is here now. forrest, how common does

that's tough to say. a quick google search will show a lot of different sites with different numbers. 255 cases in 2014, according to one. others, say 1 per 100,000 women. this ui professor thinks it's quiet a few more than that. two weeks ago cedar rapids teen kailee becker came down with something that made her miserably sick.she likely had toxic shock syndrome. but at first, she thought it was just the flu. the symptoms were similar. "shaky and cold. dry heaving nonstop. my mom took to the hospital."there, doctors thought flu too. they gave her some meds and sent her home. kailee, got better at first, then much worse. the chills came back. her fever rose to around 103. she was weak, could barely move. her mom took her back to the hospital where a doctor discovered kailee had a rash. he forgot the flu and started looking at tss.

degree fever. that's a bacterial infection."pro fessor patrick schlievert, chair of microbiology at iowa, says misdiagnoses of menstrual tss happens all the time. his research suggests 10,000 women get it each year. if left untreated, it can shut down a persons vital organs, even kill them. "this disease is extremely rare. it's important that you recognize it." schlievert says menstrual tss is caused by a strain of staph bacteria that a percentage of women have in their bodies. when those women have their period, the bacteria grows. schlievert says the bacteria will create a poison if it's given oxygen. and that oxygen can come from absorbent tampons. the more absorbent, the more oxygen, the more poison. "if you think about how big a grain of salt is, the amount to cause toxic shock syndrome is a tenth of a grain of salt." schlievert says that manufacturers are making less absorbent products these days. tss severity has decreased over the years. but, prevalence is still a problem. he wants more awareness to be brought to the illness. kailee, who's still recovering, does too. "i spent seven days in the hospital, dry heaving, not feeling good. i don't want any other person to ever go

through." kailee is doing much better. her hands and feet are peeling, which is a common side effect. she's also go some memory loss from when she was sick. doctors expect she'll make a full recovery thanks, forrest. puppies that almost didn't make it have new homes today. the dubuque regional humane society took in an injured dog named avery in october. avery had a lot of serious injuries after someone attacked her. she was also pregnant, and then gave birth to her litter of puppies. the humane society put all ten of those puppies up for adoption yesterday. and people who wanted to take them home lined up outside before the doors even opened. the puppies were a big hit on social media, and that's why some people showed up hours in advance to get their picks of the litter. "i came to look a couple days ago to see if there were any puppies, and i saw the poster so i decided to come back today. "

morning with the next person coming about a half hour later. " some who were in line said the puppies were christmas gifts for their families. if you've been thinking of getting a pet for your home, now might be a good time to do it. cedar rapids animal care and control wants to find good homes for all of their pets by the end of the year. adoption fees are down to 25 dollars for cats and 50 dollars for dogs. "if everything was cleared out by the 31st i think i would have a staff that would be jumping for joy because i don't think they've ever seen that before. a lot of times we get real low on dogs, but we've never had a situation where we've had empty cat cages." the cedar rapids animal care and control center will be open next week, monday through thursday, from noon to five each day. today, children undergoing treatement at the university of iowa children's hospital will wake up to presents and cheer in

hospital employees decked the halls and brought carts full of presents to kids throughout the hospital yesterday. the father of a young patient with an extended stay at the hospital said all of the elves and hospital employees have been a big help during the holiday season. " he's had a lot of fun the last few weeks here with feeling better and trying to bet better and people being so supportive. " even santa claus made an early trip down from the north pole to visit. the iowa hawkeyes are rose bowl bound, and getting ready to leave today for pasadena. they'll catch up with their training equipment and gear, which took off last week for california. and two soldiers from eastern iowa are being recognized as heroes for their extraordinary bravery in battle. but right now, here's a look at

opening farm markets. good morning!

a weak wave of low pressure will drift up and across iowa today. it may

worth of rain or snow showers on us this afternoon, especially the farther north you go. highs should remain in the 30s. christmas day will be quiet across iowa with the potential for 40-degree highs. our next storm system arrives this weekend with temperatures generally in the 40s again on saturday, and a cold round of rain possible. we'll be cooler and drier for sunday. enjoy your day, and safe travels! thanks kaj.

across iowa today. it may generate a few hours worth of rain or snow showers on us this afternoon, especially the farther north you go. highs should remain in the 30s. christmas day will be quiet across iowa with the potential for 40-degree highs. our next storm system arrives this weekend with temperatures generally in the 40s again on saturday, and a cold round of rain possible. we'll be cooler and drier for sunday. enjoy your day, and safe travels!

celebrating a win in hawaii today. the game wrapped up early this morning our time, with a final score of 63 to 59 against washington state. it's part of the diamond head classic all this week in honolulu. next, the panthers will play b-y-u tomorrow. the iowa hawkeye football team, coaches and staff are making sure everything is ready to head to pasadena today. the team is scheduled to fly out of the eastern iowa airport at noon ahead of the rose bowl on january first. the team's gear is already in california, the team's trailer left last week. if you're still looking for a ticket to the game, cedar rapids and marion police say craigslist may not be the way to go. they've received several reports of counterfeit tickets that people bought through the craigslist website. police say the sales involved the seller meeting the buyers at a cedar rapids movie theater, and the tickets turn out to be fake. police are advising fans to only buy tickets from

the online prices for the rose bowl have significantly decreased on the secondary market in recent weeks. the cheapest ticket on stubhub was more than 500 dollars in the days right after the hawkeyes were selected for the game. now, fans can buy upper end zone tickets starting at less than 150 dollars. the eastern iowa airport expects more than 3- thousand passengers to fly out to southern california before january first. airport officials are preparing for a lot of traffic in the terminals next week. people throughout the country are assessing damage this morning after storms overnight. some of those storms turned deadly.

search crews are looking for those who are still missing in the storm damage this morning a deadly system with tornadoes killed people in several states. a-b-c's kenneth moton has the latest from

caught on camera overnight... nat "oh! i think that's a line of powerful and deadly storms churned up tornadoes from the midwest to the south last night. indiana, iowa, mississippi and tennesee survived nearly two dozen confirmed twisters that left 7 people dead and 40 more injured. natsot - "i can't stick around here - gotta go find some cover." in holly springs, northern mississippi, a 7 year old boy was among the dead. this region was under the biggest threat...about 4 million people took cover as a massive funnel cloud tore across the area. drivers were caught on the roads trying to figure out how to escape. sot - "back it up! no! you ain't got time to turn around!" natsot - woman - "there's a tornado in front of us." man - "settle down." nat chainsaw in tennessee, the work to clear vital roads began overnight after those strong winds threw vehicles around, ripped down power lines and destroyed homes. tornado damage here...but out west, more

mess in utah impacting traffic. 80 mile per hour wind gust in mojave california tore the roof off this building and toppled tractor trailers on this major freeway. sot - it's scary. i don't like this truck rocking big rigs were banned from that california highway until the winds died down. in the midwest and south, there are states of emergency as residents try to pick up the pieces on this christmas eve. kenneth moton, abc news washington. let's go back now to meteorologist kaj o'mara. kaj, we saw some sever weather here in eastern iowa overnight. are we looking at any storms today? stay with tv9. it's .

two iowa soldiers were recognized as heros for their extraordinary acts of bravery in battle. former specialist brian swedberg led a six-man team through an ambush, eventually forcing the enemy to retreat. in a separate incident, former sergeant justin schmitt led fellow soldiers through heavy gunfire, also forcing the enemy to retreat three times. those stories earned both men the army commendation medal of valor. army officials awarded the medal to the men in front of family and friends at a ceremony in waterloo. members of the patriot guard were also there, holding flags to show support. schmitt says the award represents actions that are just part of wearing the uniform. 06:15:31 "honestly, i still get questions today about why i enlisted, but to this day i'm not sure why i enlisted, i think i just wanted to serve my country the most." army officials say this medal is

valorous actions during combat. let's go back now to kaj for another check on your weather this christmas eve morning. a weak wave of low pressure will drift up and across iowa today. it may generate a few hours worth of rain or snow showers on us this afternoon, especially the farther north you go. highs should remain in the 30s. christmas day will be quiet across iowa with the potential for 40-degree highs. our next storm system arrives this weekend with temperatures generally in the 40s again on saturday, and a cold round of rain possible. we'll be cooler and drier for sunday. enjoy your day, and safe travels! thank you, kaj. now, a-b-c's renna ninan and kendis gibson have this morning's tech bytes. trt oc

topping "america's money" -- hyatt hotel hit by hackers. >> it's invest it gates malware used to process payments. >> it's only hotels managed by hyatt. time is running out. there are still deals out there. >> here's what to buy eight now. electronics still have deep discounts. winter clothes. retailer slashing prices because of the warm weather. >> prepare for next year. christmas decorations are going on sale. columbia house is getting a relaunch. the new owner wants to revive the mail order company with vinyl records. >> the 12 lss for a penny, not coming back.

>> get's "america's money." i was out in the dining room, you know, meeting the residents and i had a gentleman stop me and ask me if i made his dinner. he had lost his wife recently, but i didn't know that. he made a remark to me about not sure he wanted to be there anymore, but he said something to me that has stuck with me to this day. after having your dinner, i think i want to stick around a while and that really meant something to me. i never had an experience like that and it just let me know that what i'm doing is much more important than just food. fact. advil pain relievers are used by more households than any other leading brand. to treat their aches and pains more people reach for advil. relief doesn't get any better than this.