making news in america this morning -- deadly floods. walls of water taking out homes and covering entire communities. the number of missing still rising, including a mother and her two young children. plus, the the hazards now surfacing. a casket unearthed. and even snakes seeking higher ground. breaking overnight. american investigators going after officials connected to the world's biggest sport. why authorities arrested fifa members in the early morning hours. caught on camera. robbers storm a jewelry store. smashing the cases with hammers. an employee fighting back with a weapon of her own. tarmac trouble. posing in a plane's engine. a flight attendant trying to get the perfect picture now answering questions as the image goes viral.

good wednesday morning, everybody. we begin with the paralyzing storms parked over the southern plains right no unleashing nearly a foot of rain on houston in just a matter of hours. >> deadly floodwaters trapping people in their cars and homes and bringing the city to a virtual standstill. at least five people killed in houston and at least 15 across texas. >> and this mom and her kids among more than a dozen people still missing after they were swept away in a vacation home with two other families. and then this shocking sight. a casket swept away. carried 100 yards from the cemetery cemetery. >> the flooding forcing snakes out into the open. the latest on the storm damage from abc's bazi kanani.

>> reporter: the damage measured in miles. entire neighborhoods in houston submerged. water flowing over roads and highways. sweeping away cars. families like these forced to abandon their vehicles after the deluge that dumped nearly a quarter of the city's yearly rainfall in just 24 hours. >> we have 1,000 properties that we visually inspected. we believe there may be as many as 4,000 with significant damage. >> i can't see. >> reporter: this driver trying to make it through the floodwaters that trapped hundreds. >> we have a female who's stranded on top of a car underneath a bridge. we're going to need a rescue. >> reporter: more than 900 emergency calls into dispatch. more than 500 of them, water rescues. >> i was sleeping in that room last weekend. i was here for a niece's wedding. and i was sleeping in this room. and all the furniture just left. the wall's gone. >> reporter: residents now surveying the damage. as the search continues this morning for the more than a dozen still missing, including laura mccomb and her two young children. they were inside this vacation house in nearby wimberley when

it was swept away. >> she called me. she said, i'm in a house. i'm floating down the river. tell mom and dad. i love you. and pray. >> reporter: the deadly floodwaters now receding. families across texas left grieving. among those confirmed dead this morning, 14-year-old damian blade and homecoming queen alyssa ramirez. bazi kanani, abc news, washington. >> well, that wild weather stretching all the way into the midwest and ohio valley. >> a tornado touched down near dayton, ohio, flipping over cars and sending them crashing to the ground, leaving behind a trail of wreckage in the parking lot of a shopping center. two people were injured. several restaurants and stores damaged. >> the storm system moves east. the plains not out of the woods yet. accuweather meteorologist justin povick with the forecast. good morning to you, justin. >> t.j. and reena, thanks and good morning. the northeast preparing for showers and thunderstorms later on wednesday afternoon. i want to focus on this area. we need the rain.

really have not had much at all so far for the month. any rainfall here will be well appreciated. as long as you're not out driving in it, right? there will be travel delays along the interstate 95 corridor. perhaps some backups and delays out of jfk, laguardia, and newark. and then south to our nation's capital. i think we're in good shape in boston for another day. south plains, severe weather and flash flooding. big-time concern wednesday afternoon, oklahoma city and dallas. a couple of hard-hit cities. later on this week, more severe weather and flooding over the central plains. t.j. and reena, back to you. >> all right, justin, thank you so much. a major breaking story overnight. six world soccer officials have been arrested in switzerland as part of a u.s. investigation. indictments against them focus on allegations of bribery and corruption by current and former members of fifa, the organization that organizes the world cup. specifically it's b new allegations are in connection with fifa's awarding

of the 2022 world cup to qatar. the u.s. was runner up for that tournament. one person not arrested, the fifa president. suspects arrested face extradition to the u.s. turning to the increasing tension between the u.s. and iraq over who is to blame for the fall of ramadi to isis. the white house not disputing the comments by ash carter that the army of iraq lacks the will to fight. the u.s.-led coalition is providing air support. turning to politics, the state department has a plan to release more of hillary clinton's e-mails. in a court filing late last night, the department says it will release a batch on june 30th. and then more every 60 days. they will be heavily edited and posted on a website. all 55,000 pages will be released by january, just before the iowa caucuses. former pennsylvania senator rick santorum is expected to announce his presidential run today. he'll make the announcement in the small community north of pittsburgh where he grew up. he probably won't make the cut for a candidates' debate in august.

he isn't high enough in the polls. a series of changes is coming to the police department in cleveland. as part of the new settlement with the justice department. among the changes, officers now banned from using force against people who just talk back to them or run away. they're banned from pistol-whipping suspects and firing warning shots. a federal monitor will oversee compliance. the deal with the government was announced days after a cleveland cop was acquitted of manslaughter for firing 15 shots into a car windshield killing an unarmed black couple. a threat phoned into l.a.x. yesterday against an eva air flight arriving from taipei. officials say nothing was found on that plane. this comes a day after threats were phoned in against six flights landing at airports in new york and boston. nothing was found on those flights either. and amtrak says it will begin installing video cameras inside of locomotive cabs to record the actions of train engineers. it comes two weeks after the

deadly crash in philadelphia that killed 8 people and injured about 200 others. engineer brandon bostian suffered a head injury and says he can't remember what happened. the train accelerated to 106 miles an hour at the last minute before entering a curve where it derailed. and back to cleveland now, a major reason for that city to celebrate. >> it has everything to do with the native son who returned to join the cavaliers. and look. he's got them in the nba finals now. yes. cleveland completed a four-game sweep against atlanta last night. king james scored 23 points. the cavs beat the hawks 118-88. king james set to play in his fifth-straight championship series in the nba. it will be either golden state or houston. it will be golden state, by the way. still ahead -- proof -- that was funny. proof that the irs is vulnerable to hackers. a lucky escape. a man trapped inside a burning building, making an amazing climb to safety.

plus, smash and grab, armed with hangers. a group of thieves getting away with a lot of jewelry.

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danger of identity theft. the kroox used data stolen from elsewhere to get access. the tax agency just noticed last week but sent $50 million in refunds before detecting the the scheme. the company that makes spam is buying an organic company. hormel buying applegate farms. an loiss eye agree, with hormel's ceo. that's where the growth is. two more restaurant chains moving away from artificial ingredients. taco bell hopes to replace most by the end of the year. it will affect most items, but not beverages and doritos items. pizza hut has eliminated

transfats and msg. >> you love your taco bell. >> as long as it tastes the the same we're cool. when we come back a swimmer trapped in a powerful rip current. hear from the man who made the rescue. and make chur of a flight attendant going viral. and it has got her in some trouble. i'm caridee. i've had moderate to severe plaque psoriasis most of my life. but that hasn't stopped me from modeling. my doctor told me about stelara® it helps keep my skin clearer. with only 4 doses a year after 2 starter doses... ...stelara® helps me be in season. stelara® may lower your ability to fight infections and increase your risk of infections. some serious infections require hospitalization. before starting stelara® your doctor should test for tuberculosis. stelara® may increase your risk of cancer. always tell your doctor if you have any sign of infection have had cancer, or if you develop any new skin growths. do not take stelara® if you are allergic to stelara® or any of its ingredients. alert your doctor of new or worsening problems including headaches, seizures, confusion

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deadly downpours and flash floods have killed at least five people in houston alone. more than 500 others were rescued as rising floodwaters poured into thousands of homes and cars. 15 people died across the state. more than a dozen still missing. now for a look at your morning road conditions. everywhere else it will be wet driving for more than half the country. rain blanketing the eastern u.s. stretching across oklahoma and up to the inter mountain west. if you're flying, airport delays possible in atlanta, washington, and memphis. chilling new details emerging as the colorado movie theater massacre trial enters its fifth week. >> they're focusing on a notebook that james holmes mailed to his psychiatrist. in it, he described his broken mind. he writes about scouting several movie theaters. he considered attacking an airport. he didn't want his attack confused with terrorism. he has pleaded not guilty to 166 charges in the july 2012 attack that killed 12 people and wounded 70 others.

prosecutors are laying out their in evidence a case against a woman accused of killing her fiance while kayaking. investigators say angelika graswald removed a plug from her fiance's kayak so it would fill with water. prosecutors also claim that he spushed her fiance's paddle away from him as he struggled in the water. if found guilty on the second-degree murder charge she could face 25 years to life in prison. growing demanding for tlc to cancel its popular reality show "19 kids and counting." three major corporate sponsors are pulling their ads from the show, with payless shoe source and choice hotels joining general mills. it comes amid the swirling scandal and allegations that josh duggar molested five underage girls when he was a teenager. so far, tlc has only pulled the show out of the rotation. and this wild scene caught on surveillance camera at a south florida jewelry store.

a gang of men pulling off a smash and grab attack. the store owner using a long metal pole to fight them off. the suspects got away with more than $200,000 of goods. the store has insurance on the jewelry. the men remain at large. a dramatic rescue off the california coast. a 22-year-old swimmer struggling in dangerous rip currents. no lifeguard on duty. that's when a man picnicking nearby jumped in. he was a former sailor and experienced swimmer. >> this family came up with their hands in the air, and screaming and pointing out there. that's when i looked out there and saw it and started stripping my boots and my pants off. i'm just thankful the water wasn't that cold. >> he pulled the victim to the beach, started cpr, before the fire department even arrived. they say the young man would have drowned otherwise. that hero says he's no hero. just a guy in the right place at the right time. did you hear, basketball and hockey playoffs? >> yes, i did. >> you're aware they're going

on. >> yes. >> they're very important games? >> very aware. we have all the highlights. guys from espn. take it away. give us a good one. >> lace up the bowers. this is "sportscenter." well, kind of. it's an abridged version. >> very short. >> like not even cliff's notes. it's like cli notes. >> barely trying. that guy tries hard. whether it's miami or back home in cleveland. lebron james. the steal. he got it back. he's tall. cavs bench into it. let's watch again. you guys do top plays later, you can include that. third quarter, cavs rolling. up 23. paul millsap driving. thompson won't have it. kyrie irving is back in play. to lebron. lebron app. going to the title series. golden state or houston? tampa bay moves on to the stanley cup finals if it can beat the rangers on the lightning's home ice.

unfortunately, that wasn't to be the case if you're a tampa bay fan. first period, no score. not anymore. derek broussard started up. he did not stop. broussard broussard, again. and broussard would add a hat trick later. broussard. keeps the rangers alive along with stellar goaltending by henrik lundqvist. game seven is in linda cohn's backyard on friday. >> okay. thanks, fellas. we got to turn to a weird one now from china. a guy here who just set a new world record. can you make him out? he's in there. he's covered in bees. they say there were more than 1 million bees. >> the guy is 55 years old. he's a beekeeper. he was smoking a cigarette to stop the bees from swarming on his lips. >> he was stung more than 2,000 times. that's what happens when you have a million bees on you. we're told they weighed 240 pounds collectively. we have no idea who counted and

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she had just posted the photo, and other photos. a spokes person for spirit says the airline is investigating the incident. she might get in trouble, sure. but i like the picture. >> it's a clever picture. at least it wasn't a selfie. >> they should use that in a promotion. >> that's not a bad idea. >> i love the picture. >> i think they're upset about the security and safety we should mention. >> there is that. if you're looking for a celebrity pitchman, a new study says you can't do much better than liam neeson. more than three-fourths of the people who know about neeson like him. he's currently pitching supercell games. >> behind him on the list, pierce brosnan. and matthew mcconaughey. we remember all those lincoln ads so well. next up here, merriam-webster has added over 1,000 words to the dictionary. >> a lot of them are technology related. including photobomb. >> yes. >> that's one when someone sneaks into the picture, of course. this is one of our favorites. a stingray photobomb. >> also added to the list, memes. we use that all the time.

we show you a lot of those in "the pulse" often. this one, sarah jessica parker. there she is from the met gala. showing the headdress. people showed it as a fire emoji. >> speaking of emojis, they've been added to the list. those are the characters that can be september as texts. finally, a wild ride high in the sky. >> check this guy out. he's strapped to a snowboard. but he's not going down some slopes. he's attached to a helicopter, yes. flew him about 6,000 feet up. where he appears to be carving his way through fluffy clouds. this is a cool picture. along the way, the chopper reached speeds of about 80 miles an hour. >> it's all a promotional video for a company called happy socks. the idea of the new video is quote total human freedom. i don't think i have the guts to do it. it does look cool. >> happy socks? i don't know this place. >> i'm not sure. but it kind of makes me want to get on board and see what it's all about. getting on board.

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i thought i'd start the video by showing you the apartment building where the fire was. when things like this happen i think you find a new perspective on life. hi. red cross put us in a hotel so we were able to stay together. we're strong and if we overcame that or if we can overcome that we can overcome anything, so. [ sniffle ]

live from the kgo-tv broadcast center this is abc7 news. >> morning on wednesday at had:28. thank you for waking up early to join us. >> i am kristen sze. >> i am eric thomas alongside leyla gulen watching the traffic. on this wednesday. no thursday. no when. >> thursday. >> if it was thunder thursday we would already know if the warriors won. >> anyone see drizzle? >> i did not. >> a little. >> a legal. -- little. >> definitely dry. no serious rain out there. mostly cloudy from the camera this morning. the 12-hour day planner show temperatures the same as yesterday, low-to-mid 50s. we stay in the mid-to-upper 50s at the coast and hit the low-to-mid 60s around noon for

the bay and inland neighborhoods in the upper 60 to chilly tonight as last evening. >> how ready roads? >> quiet. very, very quiet. this is the bay bridge toll plaza and cars are funneling in nicely from the east bay. we have a few cash-payers waiting to pay the toll. we have road work's you get there knee the macarthur maze and 580 eastbound teen highway 24 and 35th avenue we have various lanes closed until 6:30 so do not be surprised if you see the traffic collecting. 101 northbound where you see the traffic away from 880 heading up to mineta san jose international airport and you are in fantastic shape. >> crews are investigating a fire at a vacant home in vallejo the fifth fire this that city in

72 hours. four of them may have been started by hopeless people staying inside vacant homes. it broke out at 1:00 o'clock this morning on louisiana street. the home was yellow tagged. no one was hurt. >> the golden state warriors to wrap up the conference finals at oracle arena tonight with a win over the rockets. we know who the opponents will be. amy hollyfield is inside oracle arena. fans have their fingers crossed. >> yes they do. oracle arena as you can see is ready. each seat has a t-shirt on it ready for the fans, and 19,000 shirts taking a teach of 40 people three to five hours to put out the t-shirts they did not know if they would need them when the warriors lost the game against the rockets. the team arrived home yesterday. high seven was overhead