>> he tra tropical storm elsa slamming the east set to hit major cities during the morning commute hours after another storm flooded train stations and stranded drivers on the highway. the south and mid-atlantic now cleaning up. and in the west, the extreme drought expanding. one town running out of water. temperatures approaching 130 this weekend. what people are now being asked to do. a strong earthquake felt across california and nevada unleashing boulders, scattering them across the highway. what experts are saying about the quake. a major new headline in the fight against covid-19. what pfizer is now revealing about how long its vaccine will last. the cdc already issuing a

response. new overnight, what we have learned about the american arrested in connection with the assassination of haiti's president and the charity the suspect set up i morning coffee. the best time to drink it for the best possible energy boost. and later, history at the national spelling bee. the inspiring new champion who at 14 already owns three world records for her other remarkable talents. good friday morning, everyone. i'm zohreen shah. mona is off. >> i'm andrew dymburt. we begin with extreme weather from coast to coast. here in the northeast tropical storm elsa is hitting the busy i-95 corridor just in time for the morning commute and only hours after another storm triggered extreme flooding in new york city unleashing waist high water in underground subway

stations and forcing some drivers to abandon their cars on the highway. in the west this morning, the opposite problem, no rain. the historic drought is now expanding. one town in california has run out of water, and this weekend the temperature in death valley could approach 130 degrees. >> abc's reena roy begins our coverage from new york. reena, good morning. >> reporter: andrew, good morning to you. as you said, the heaviest rain here in new york city is expected to hit just in time for the morning commute just hours after another storm triggered flash flooding and left the ground soaked setting the stage for what could now be a possibly dangerous morning. this morning, elsa is powering up the east coast producing heavy rain, gusty winds and the potential for tornadoes. in new yorcity, commutghhat loo underground lakes as water pours into subway stations.

the floods crippling some of the city's highways and streets. more than a dozen people had to be rescued from this expressway. earlier elsa gaining strength over the carolinas before heading north. in virginia this driver getting his ford mustang stuck in feet of water. meanwhile, as flooding rains inundate the east, an extreme drought is expanding in the west. 98% of utah is now in extreme or exceptional drought conditions. in california, nine more counties have just been added to the state's drought emergency. the governor is now asking californians to voluntarily reduce their water usage by 15%. >> not only on residences, but industrial, commercial operations and agricultural. >> reporter: the small farming town of teviston, california, has already run out of water. the pump in the town's only well broke down and has been dry for a month. >> you can't cool down. you can't take a proper shower, nothing.

>> reporter: officials trying to determine what caused the malfunction believe a lack of water is to blame. >> the only thing we can think is that the well went down so low that the sand started agitating down below and got into the pump and made it malfunction. >> reporter: shelly soriano says she's been traveling to another town to get five gallons of water every two weeks, and it's still not enough. >> it comes out to, if you have a family of four, this much water per person per day. >> reporter: and back here in the northeast, elsa could drop up to five inches of rain this morning as it heads into boston by midday with winds moving up to 50 miles per hour. andrew. >> reena, thank you. we'll have the complete forecast for the day ahead in just a few minutes. a magnitude 6.0 earthquake rocked the california/nevada border about 40 miles south of lake tahoe followed by dozens of aftershocks. people up and down both states say they felt intense shaking. experts say a quake of this

magnitude is uncommon for that area. one aftershock sent boulders falling onto a busy highway in mono county, but otherwise no major damage was reported. a major development in the fight against covid-19. pfizer now says its vaccine's effectiveness may be waning, and it says a booster shot could be needed as soon as six months after getting the second dose. the news causing a lot of concern but already the cdc and fda are responding saying, not so fast. abc's elizabeth schulze is here with the very latest. elizabeth, good morning. >> reporter: andrew, good morning to you. pfizer says its current covid vaccine works well against the delta variant, but a third booster shot might work better. this morning, with the delta variant now the dominant strain of the coronavirus in the u.s., new questions about the need for booster shots. pfizer announcing it will ask the fda to authorize a third

booster dose of its vaccine six months after the second shot saying it could be even more effective against the variant. some health experts say not so fast. >> eventually we will probably need a booster shot, but six months may be too early. >> reporter: hours after pfizer's announcement the cdc and fda writing in a joint statement, americans who have been fully vaccinated do not need a booster shot at this time. the debate comes as the highly contagious delta variant spreads faster than expected across the country. >> this rapid rise is troubling. >> reporter: the variant is now behind 80% of all covid cases in parts of the midwest and plains. and nearly all u.s. counties with the highest covid rates, vainat. dngf hospitalizations. it's unvaccinated people. >> reporter: at this single day vaccine clinic in missouri retired nurses struggling to understand why patients were so sparse.

>> they're not trusting the science. they are listening to facebook. >> reporter: 45-year-old trisha jones chose not to get the vaccine. >> we were just like, mom, please just go and get it. >> reporter: she died from the delta variant last month. >> i was actually the one who felt her last actual breath, one without the ventilator, and it hurt. >> reporter: now it will ultimately be up to the fda and the cdc to decide if and when booster shots should be allowed, recommended and made available. andrew. >> elizabeth, thank you. we're learningmore about the men accused of assassinating the president of haiti including the americans under arrest. james soleges and joseph vincent are among 17 suspects detained in the killing. both are believed to be u.s. citizens of haitian descent. soleges is listed as a member of the board of directors for a charity he started in florida to

help rebuild haiti. on the charity's website soleges says he previously worked as a guard at the canadian embassy in haiti. authorities say the rest of the suspects are colombian. haiti's ambassador to the u.s. says it's obvious the gunmen had internal help within haiti. president biden is defending the u.s. withdrawal from afghanistan even as the taliban gains power. he says the u.s. goal was never to nation build. he says the security problems in the country will now be up to afghanistan's government to solve. >> mr. president, will the united states be responsible for the loss of afghan civilian lives that could happen after -- >> no, no, no, no. it's up to the people of afghanistan to decide on what government they want. not us to impose the government on them. no, there's no mission accomplished. the mission was accomplished in that we got osama bin laden and terrorism is not emanating from that part of the world. >> the president says afghan

interpreters who helped u.s. troops will be moved to other countries to wait for u.s. visas. guam is one territory willing to accommodate them. 64 people are now confirmed dead in the condo building collapse in surfside, florida. the mayor says it's possible the death toll could reach 140. that's because 76 people are still unaccounted for. authorities say recovery efforts will now move at a faster pace. meanwhile, officials say a condo building five miles from the surfside condo is unsafe. 300 residents were evacuated last week. authorities now say it must remain empty until structural and electrical repairs are made. time now for a look at your friday weather forecast. good morning. tropical storm elsa held together from the gulf of mexico to the atlantic coast, and it's moving up as we speak with tropical storm force winds of 40 miles an hour or greater. elsa's path brings it through new york city and long island on

friday morning. southern new england on friday afternoon. you can expect 40 to 60-mile-an-hour winds and 2 to 4 inches of rain through friday. meantime, our friends out in the west are going to be hot. anheween aerea wave for you. high temperatures on friday, well above 100 degrees. i'm accuweather meteorologist kevin coskren. coming up, the new research on coffee. the best time of the morning to drink it. also ahead, the billionaire space race. branson versus bezos. the final preparations for the big blastoff this weekend. but first the death of a 47-year-old woman on a roller coaster. did the ride cause one of her arteries to tear open? we hear from an expert.

back now with police in georgia announcing an arrest in connection with a triple murder at a country club. police outside atlanta called the 23-year-old man in custody a lone shooter. on saturday three people were found dead on the golf course. two victims were in the back of a truck. one victim was a professional golfer at the club. investigators are not revealing any information about a possible motive. but they say the golfer was not targeted. instead, he apparently witnessed a crime in progress before being killed. we're learning more this morning about the death of a woman in her 40s on a roller coaster in indiana. doctors say she suffered a torn artery and officials say the artery was torn while she was on the ride. here's abc's andrea fujii. >> reporter: this morning some answers as to how an ohio mother died on this amusement park roller coaster. an autopsy revealing 47-year-old

dawn jankovic died from severe internal bleeding and a torn artery suffered while on the ride. >> it just so happened while riding a roller coaster the heartrate is faster, the blood pressure goes up slightly, and the slight increase in blood pressure, the faster heartrate can cause a weakness in the weakened blood vessel to rupture, causing a person to bleed. >> reporter: last month jankovic rode the voyage roller coaster with her son at holiday world and splash and safari in indiana. this is a picture of them on that ride. but when it was over, jankovic was unresponsive and was rushed to the hospital, where she died. park officials say the roller coaster was inspected and was operating as intended. the coroner now confirming the normal force of the roller coaster caused jankovic's artery to tear, causing severe internal bleeding. >> roller coasters are safe for most individuals. there are very few medical examples of individuals who have had adverse events from riding the roller coaster. >> reporter: doctors say deaths like this are rare but there are

medical conditions that put people at higher risk. very high blood pressure, a history of aneurysms, coronary artery disease, and history of severe degenerative disc disease of the neck or back. it's unclear if jankovic had any of those conditions. the coroner simply ruling her death an accident. jankovic's family says she was a roller coaster enthusiast and had ridden that ride before. they also say she had felt fine all that day. andrew, zoreen? >> apd rae, thank you. coming up richard branson's historic mission to space this weekend. the risk involved. but first caught on camera. the rescue of a 6-year-old girl kidnapped while riding her bike. how neighbors helped save her. i'm morgan, and there's more to me than hiv. more love, more adventure, more community. but with my hiv treatment, there's not more medicines in my pill. i talked to my doctor and switched to fewer medicines with dovato. dovato is for some adults who are starting hiv-1 treatment or replacing their current hiv-1 regimen.

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>> hello. it's okay. come here. it's okay. >> reporter: police say she was outside riding her bike when witnesses saw 40-year-old robbie wilt grab her and throw her into his car. >> parks his car, middle of the road, up the little girl, takes off. >> reporter: neighbor prentiss weatherford hopping in his car to pursue the suspect. only stopping when he saw police cruiser and provided them a partial license plate number. >> i knew that it wasn't right, the situation just wasn't right. and i just -- i had to do something. >> reporter: thanks to detailed descriptions of that vehicle, officers were able to locate the little girl within ten minutes. officer jason burba taking the young girl out of the passenger seattle, carrying her to safety. >> i want my daddy. >> as a police officer and as a parent we were there to get this guy off the street, there to get that girl safe because if we missed this opportunity to do this one it could be, you know, our child next on the bike on

the streets. >> reporter: wilt arrested,ge w little girl was unharmed. she is now back home with her family. authorities commending the quick thinking of that neighbor and the officers who rescued her. erielle reshef, abc news, new york. billionaire richard branson denies moving up his trip into space just to beat jeff bezos. on sunday branson will become the first billionaire to travel to the edge of space via a private company. jeff bezos is set to fly to space just nine days later. >> i know that it's been painted as a race. honestly i don't think any of us see it that way. we're not really in direct competition. >> branson's space flight will start in new mexico like a typical plane's lift-off. once they reach 45,000 feet, it drops the spaceship, followed by the rocket igniting. the phoenix suns now have a two games to none lead in the nba finals. they beat the bucks 118-108.

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louisiana. she says she studied 13,000 words every day to prepare. >> avant-garde is also a basketball phenom. she holds three guinness world records for her ball handling skills. and nexte turn to fast food. the annual rankings are out this morning on america's favorite fast food chains. >> according to the american customer satisfaction index, coming in third place was kfc and coming in second place domino's pizza. >> drum roll, please, for america's favorite. the defending champion, chick-fil-a. and next a new theory about the best time to get the maximum jolt from your morning coffee. >> you should wait at least one hour. that's because the stress hormone cortisol naturally spikes when you wake up so it already gives your body a jolt of energy. >> researchers say delaying your coffee by one hour will provide the best caffeine boost for your morning. and finally, a fun way to get rid of your old car. >> the town of glacier view, alaska has a tradition, launching junk cars over a 300-foot cliff. >> because the sun doesn't set

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building a better bay area, moving forward, finding solutions, this is abc news.

>> the deck started shaking and rolling. >> now at 5:00, overnight after shocks after a magnaitude 6 quake here in northern california. a lot of you felt it. we will have a look at the te a os with federal health officials over a booster shot, what both sides are saying about protecting you from covid-19. the won't be an issue tonight for these two men trying to break a teeter-totter world record. i said teeter-totter. >> yes, you did, friend. >> this is how it goes. >> the hat a vital. there will be dangerous hot conditions in the bay area for these men who are just trying to complete a record, for some reason. good morning on this friday, july 9th. >> we only have one more day to do so hopefully it will not be