. today is tuesday, july 15th, good morning, i'm ukee washington. >> i'm erika von tiehl. >> we're cleaning up after severe storm damage in south jersey. national weather service will be on hands investigating possible tornados. live report coming up. >> also, our eyewitness weather team tracking more than 9,000 lightning strikes, 9,000. one bolt struck a 14 year old delaware county boy. an update on his condition ahead. >> and a philadelphia area whistle blower at the center stage of congressional hearings. that story and more straight ahead. let's start once again with your weather, boy, what a storm last night. it was a clap of thunder over our house, the pictures fell off the walls.

>> wow. >> that -- i've never experienced anything like that before ever, ever. >> i heard of not sleeping because of the thunder, but that's crazy. >> i was actually getting tweets from people, i'm scared, this is crazy stuff. we see severe thunderstorms every summer. sometimes some can just submit your memory because they hit you little harder than maybe they hit your neighbor. you said it, 9100 strikes what we actually calculated over the span that we will show you here in a kim of minutes. what i want to do, take you back in time right now. let's go ahead, take a quick check, looking at 4:30, yesterday morning, let's walk you through what happened here. quiet, quiet, quiet. then all the sudden look at all of the lightning strikes. they were everywhere. we had not just lightning and heavy rain, but also damaging wind, not to mention even couple of possible tornados around the delaware valley, and even back into maryland. so, you know there is was very serious severe weather day for our area. now things have quieted down at least briefly, the problem

is, we are coming up here on day two so we'll talk about the threat. >> kay i has been talking about mother nature, really hitting the philadelphia region with the storm. >> downed trees, down power lines par for the course this morning. steve patterson is in voorhees, new jersey, to show you the damage there, steve? >> reporter: ukee, erika, good morning to you. this is a typical site. it is not a boogie board. this is actually part of the siding of somebody's house. welcome to voorhees, new jersey, another typical site behind me, massive tree down in somebody's yard that pushed somebody's house about 6 inches back, ripped the siding off of the house, then you see the end result. we've seen trees and just about every yard here, the power remains out in this area, and it gets whole lot worse. check out the video.

we brought along to arcing and sparking from downed power lines, streets still closed off at this point, because of work that has to be done in that regard. meanwhile, the national weather service is expected to be back out here this afternoon, they want to determine if these were straight line winds or if this was a possible tornado. but just speaking to neighbors and the sounds they describe from last night's storm it, could be anything at this point. we spoke to one neighbor, who had a tree come right through his roof nearly missed his wife. >> i never seen anything like this in my life. we're just shocked. >> wife was upstairs in the bed when the tree came through our roof, and it is laying in our bedroom now. it sounded like a freight train. i never heard a noise like that before in my life. >> reporter: heavy rains, powerful wind, and we will learn more from the national weather service as they survey

this area. whether it was a tornado or not, we'll find out later this morning, the latest from voorhees, new jersey, steve patterson, cbs-3, eyewitness flues. >> steve, "eyewitness news" cameras captured light show in the sky. wild weather moved through delaware county last night, came dangerously close to 14 year old boy on ashton avenue in glenolden. we're told the teen was get nag car when lightning struck his finger returned to crozer-chester medical center, where he was list in the good condition. more on the trafficking. throw it back over to kate. >> i talk about light show out there, my goodness, we start things off with barely any light visible right now. all you can make out is the taj mahal, at the top of the casino here, on "skycam 3", the fog and the haze has really set philadelphia for us now that the storms have basically wound down at least for now. and we still got a lot of moisture to work with. so a lot of times we see a line like that come through, as we did yesterday, then things will be clearing out. not this time aroundment

reason being, that we are still awaiting the passage of another front. this is going to be the bad boy that finally clears us of the heat and the humid i i want to take you to picture sent in by our very own eyewitness reporter, elizabeth hur, straight up lightning bolt straight down to the ground here. we have seen thousands of them in the last say 12 hour time frame. at the moment again storm scan3 looking pretty quiet, still a lot of moisture though to work w you can tell that just by seeing the speckles of green that fire up. heavier thunderstorms already igniting back toward northwestern pa, platter of time before it hits us. severe weather threat doesn't encompass the entire delaware valley for the second day straight. it, pained dollars the zone, and right now looks like our biggest concerns today ever so slightly, strong wind, heavy downpours, this time hail may be bigger concern. we still can't rule out the lightning risk to be pretty frequent. will you, isolated tornado still can't be ruled out.

it is that volatile of an air mass. so we take you through the rest of the day. it will be steamy once again, a pair of eight's generally where i think we top off for the daytime high. not as hot. but still steamy, still very hot outside. and again, some more strong storms are in the forecast. bob, over to you. >> good morning, everybody, 4:36. dealing with some wet roads, damp roads, maybe, debris in the form of maybe trash cans, boxes, maybe some branches. so, a little caution as you roll out of the driveway this morning. we hit the majors, left overs from last night, 26th and penrose. twenty-sixth street, the stretch from say the platt bridge and that tunnel that gets you over to the schuylkill closed, because of flooding. there is also flooding closing green lane, here in bristol, between ash avenue and wilson avenue. so traffic diverted through bristol. keep in mind we're the trailblazers, first ones out of the house, so this morning, until the sun begins to rise, at least we get some daylight, there could be some flooding areas that right in your

neighborhood that you're not aware of yet. you will hit them. of course if they are like this one here downed wires, creek road at sweet water road, respect the closures, therefore a reason, this is set of with woo wires, baltimore pike the best bet. >> accident on the turnpike eastbound at the reading interchange, and rest of the roadways good shape. no problems on 95 or the schuylkill again just be careful as you work your way through the construction zones this morning, south jersey looking good, as well, on majors, on the freeway, headed in toward philly. ukee, back over to you. >> breaking overnight, israel has accepted egypt's proposal foresees fire with hamas. >> however, hamas has reject philadelphia, israeli military says three rockets were fired at the southern city this morning. it injured two people, and started a fire as well. previous rocket attacks on the city have come from radical islamic militants in the neighboring peninsula. it is unclear, however, who exactly is behind the attack.

a whistle blower from philadelphia takes center stage at congressional hearings investigating the va scandal. >> kristin raw handles compensation claims at the va regional office. she told the house veterans affairs committee that some veterans died while waiting for their planes to be process the the says unreels goals to process claims quickly meant more difficult timely veterans claims, words that some were even destroyed. >> start in washington, d.c., placed on employees have required employees to decide to do what is right helping the veteran or what's wrong in order to keep their jobs. most employees have taken easier route, doing things they're bullied to do to stay employed. >> found widespread problems at the va's regional office in philadelphia, including mail bins full of disability claims. in a exclusive interview with "eyewitness news", the mother who lost two children in southwest philadelphia fire is speaking out about the tragedy. was hospitalized for a week

following the july 5th fire. her voicer nearly taken way by the smoke and flames. was able to get her 11 year old twins and 13 year old safely to a rear window, but when she tried to go back for her four year old twins, and two other children, the home was engulfed. >> i did not know what to do. i did not know what to do. >> she continues to recover surrounded by family. she now faces the task of planning her children's funerals. police are investigate the disturbing discovery of a young woman's body found stuffed in a duffle bag in north philadelphia. investigators say the body of hispanic woman believed to be in her 20's was left near a vacant house on north third street near susquehanna. it is unclear at the moment how long the victim may have been there before she was discovered early yesterday

morning. the woman's body was wrapped in a trash bag, with her hands and feet bound together. police also located a burned car belonging to the woman a few hours earlier in grays ferry t turns out gasoline that seeped into sump pumps caused the strange odor that forced dozen of people out of their homes in skippack township. krause spent most of the day ventilating homes that were impacted. the 150 residents who to leave are now back in their houses this morning, while officials still do not know where the gas came from. they do know that no one's drinking water was effected. i'm sure they're happy to be home back now. >> tell me about it, more to come, including the sixers noel and andrew wiggins of cleveland in summer lookings. >> saw two of the most well known people on the planet sitting on a bench watch would you do? one teen got the picture after lifetime. back

new video just into us from the fox chase section of philadelphia where lightning sparked a house fire. it happened late last night on the 400 block every chandler street. you can see the fire damaged the roof of that home t took fire fighters 45 minutes to get it all under control. luckily, no one was injured. still, i mean, what, more than 9,000 lightning strikes overnight, katie. just incredible. >> crazy crazy stuff for us, yes. again, people were starting to get afraid of these storms. people were reaching out to me last night, what's going on here? we see these storms every single year. but if it hits your neighborhood like this, and we do, again, have some damage to look over here, to see whether a tornado struck. unfortunately, this is day two, guys, of our potential for severe weather a lot of times we get once and done severe weather than clears out, we end up with much more comfortable conditions and it is quiet.

no this time around. let me explain, going back in time here, show you sort of when those lightning strikes came through. they were all cloud to gown we were able to count. we have great tool with our weather center here we can count up the lightning strikes, between seven p.m. to 8:00 p.m. over 2500 strikes, eight to 9:00 p.m., that was the hot time frame for us, 4500 strikes, counted, and nine p.m. to 10:00 p.m. 2,000 more. so total them up. again, thousands of upon thousands every strikes through our area, so, that's why we say, if you hear thunder, head inside. and specially with storms of that intensity. now, we are looking again at another day of that severe weather potential. you can see y we're in the in the clear just yet, guys. we zoom it out even more so. this very, very potent frontal boundery has yet to cross. so until we get this back edge of clouds through, we're going to be dealing with new round of more stormy weather here, before it is all said and done. soap, flashflood watches remain in effect, right through this evening, for expanded coverage zone, now all of the garden state, all

of the first state, and basically eastern pa. still included here for the flashflood potential to continue here with additional showers and storms, that will fire up throughout the day. mainly, it is into the p.m. time frame. so afternoon, into tonight. seventy-five the current temperature at the airport right now, very, very mild, obviously, still so steamy outside. air conditioners have been really working on overdrive here lately. but you are going to need them throughout the rest of the day, and again, you want to stay on top of that radar. it does lock like we will be dealt fresh round of severe storms. skies do clear, gradually, it may be little stubborn to get out of here on wednesday, but i'm confident some of will you see some sun before it is said and done. we should ends up with so much more comfortable conditions as we hit wednesday night. ukee, back over to you. thanks, katie n sports the group representing the sixers opened their las vegas summer league, meaning the cavalier, while they didn't have labron james had number one overall draft pig win inches.

sixers of course had the big fellow, noel, scored 12 points, with six rebounds, two steels, and four blocked shots. know sell averaging 13 points in more than three blocks a game so far this season. guy's got the quickest hands i've seen for a big man in a long time. wiggins ten points against the sixers last night, three blocks, two steels. cavaliers beat the sixers in the summer scrimmage, 86 to 77. the sixers summer squad will play again tonight against the phoenix suns. to the all-star festivities in minneapolis. oakland a's first back-to-back winner of the homerun derby since ken griffey junior, except last year's homerun derby, nine to one, in the final round. by the way, cardinals starts tonight for the national league. mariners came through, hernandez, going for the american league. all-star time in baseball. well, talk about good timing for a selfie.

teenager tom white walking down the street in omaha, nebraska, saw great opportunity. he saw the beatles paul mccartney, and billionaire, warren buffet, just sitting on a bench. see over his shoulder, so of course got a selfie with him in the background, played a concert last night in lincoln, nebraska. i think i would be surprised a teenager new who he was. good tore him. us customs and border protection, intercepted interesting cargo at lax, as is in he is cargo, snails there, look how big those things r they seized 67 live snails that arrived from liberian snails paperwork said they were meant for food, but their giant african snails, and extremely invasive. they've been known to eat anything from fruits, vegtables, to paint and stucco right off houses. they've also been known to carry parasites harmful to people. i've never seen a snail that big. takes two hands to hold it. >> the size of my fist.

wow. still ahead, we head to wall street f for live preview of today's update with jill nag nerve. >> first what's up today on cbs-3.

jill wagner joins us, another big day on wall street, finished above 17,000 again. we like this news, jill watch investors watching today? >> yes, that's right, well, will deliver twice a year report on the economy. lawmakers will likely grill her about when the central bank will raise short-term interest rates, they are still at those record low levels. investors also watching a tech giant yahoo report. yesterday good earnings report from citigroup. pushed stocks higher, trading begins as we mentioned with the dow above the 17,000 mark

again. ukee, erika. >> jill, many people of course head to mcdonald's for quick burger and fries, but now really shaking things up. getting into the wedding business? >> yes, that's right. well, more romantic than big mac and fries, right? mcdonald's is now offering weddings at 15 locations cents in hong kong, and this actually start in the 2011 but such big demands that the program has expanded, spokesperson says that couples tell them that mcdonald's is where they first started dating. so they are actually asking for this service. there are few different wedding packages. the delux cost about $1,300, in american dollars, it includes two hour restaurant rental, 50 invites, of course plenty of burgers and fries, and apple pie, cake display, and mcdonald's wedding ring balloons. who wouldn't want that? ukee, erika? >> hey, the price is right. >> late night talk show host will have a field day with

that one. thanks, jill. coming up after a short break, traffic and weather together, we do it on t

just past 4:53. >> they just reopened, there you go, good morning, everybody, just in time, live look here, 26th and penrose, so, they had to 26 street tunnel blocked because of flooding from the overnight. so we're good to go now, from southwest philadelphia, south philly working your way down 26th street. that straight away into the schulkill many police just turn their lights off, back in business there. out to chester county, where again this morning obstacle courses most likely as you roll out of your driveway from the storm damage last night. could be a trash can lid, maybe a we branch along the way, live look at route 202, in malvern, careful on all of the work zones. on my way in here this morning, i noticed some of the power grids are out. so the overhead street lights are out, couple of different spots along the schuylkill

expressway. otherwise, turnpike looking good. no problems at all between valley forge and philly. 422 looking good in toward king every prussia. one flooding concern here, green lane blocked in bucks county between ash and wilson avenue. katie storms last night, will that continue through the day here? >> it lost look like we'll catch a little break. much like yesterday, little lull for now then later in the day more storms set to ignite for us, it is day two now of severe weather potential. storm scan3, still active, few showers out and about. not as active as last night obviously, do again expect fresh round every those strong or severe storms to fire up mainly later today, much like the timing yesterday. does look like strongest storms come through evening, night fall, and again, you're going to hear thunder roaring. make sure to head inside. again, another day of severe weather much like what we had yesterday. >> starting to clear skies out, i think jersey might be left with some rain for good chunk of the day, but the rest of us should start to clear out quickly.

should end up with sun and more comfortable conditions, as well. back to you. >> pennsylvania has issued new guidelines for medical professionals, on the use of opiat penicillinase effort to stem the rising tide of prescription drug addiction. final homeless person living in camden tent cities was moved out yesterday. is it too much after cake walk for new jersey law makers to keep their seats? one of the states top republicans wants to seymour competition. check in two, three, four times a day, "kyw news radio" 1006 on your a.m. dial. >> coming up in the next hour of cbs-3 "eyewitness news", septa scare, you have to see the weapons a septa passenger was caught caring on a train. >> also, stunning video when carjacker gets more than he bargained for. see how the brave bystanders helped stop him. >> we'll be right

severe storms pacca punch. knocking down trees, and igniting fires overnight. the national weather service will be out today, to see if a tornado caused all of this damage. bracing for round two, later on today. also, new this morning, a disaster narrowly avoided on septa train. the big break that helped police find all of these weapons on an arm passenger. tuesday, july 15th, good morning, i'm ukee washington. >> i'm erika von tiehl. also this morning, breaking news for you in the crisis in the inned it east. israel agrees to except a cease-fire, but that could actually lead to even more violence. we'll explain. katy? >> erika, as you said, we have severe thunderstorms in the forecast for the second day

straight. a lull obviously right now, here on the skydeck, we'll tell when you to expect the next round coming up. bob? >> 5:00 o'clock straight up on a tuesday morning, looking live at i-95, where everything is wet and soaked from all of the rain last night, dealing with a lot of debris from some of your secondary roads in the neighborhood. and getting words of transformer problem here in center city. all of the details coming up next. >> downed power lines and uprooted trees illustrate the power of mother nature. another round every strong storms leave nor clean up jobs in the region. steve patterson joins us at voorhees, new jersey to show you more of all of the damage, steve? >> ukee, if you want good look at what voorhees new jersey looks like this morning, just take a look behind me. look at this tree destroying part of the side of this home, and then ripping some of the siding off of the home. then you can see, all of the branches down in the yard, the lawn mower, check this out, er