from the channel 4 studios in boston, this is wbz this morning. >> a severe weather alert this morning. thanks for being here it's 4:30 i am kathryn hauser. >> i am chris mckinnon. thursday february 25th and it's nasty out there let's look over boston and you can see the cameras shaking. big story of the morning is the wind. let's get over to danielle niles with the warnings and watches going on. >> the wind you guys and the thunderstorms that have been rolling through has been a wild morning and the temperatures too you may have noticed up into the 60s. let's bring in the severe thunderstorm warning in effect right now.

are focused in southeastern massachusetts. that's where we have some of the deeper reds that are focused in here with torrential rain and a lot of lightning too. so this extends from the south coast to bristol county from new bedford and through plymouth county scituate seeing down pours and lightning in mash are -- marshfield. heaviest shifted offshore from boston harbor. there's lightning bolts but the heaviest rain pushed offshore. dealing with rain from woburn it's lighter and up knee essex county. area of focus is over southeastern massachusetts here in the next 45 minutes to an hour or so. as this whole cluster of miles per hour. that brings it through carver at about 4:44. so in the next 15 minutes hang way. islands. so this is not moving east.

motion right through plymouth county over the next 45 minutes or so. in fact sile it in the hour by hour. cape and islands will linger longest with some additionaldownpours through early morning but most of us will be drying out for the morning commute. the sun may break out temperatures will be in the 50s and just an isolated shower later on today. so the story is the wind through the remainder of the afternoon and we have a wind advisory in effect. some strongest winds came through with the thunderstorms but leftover showers through the evening commute not nearly as widespread or any severe today. we have you guys as of last check about 38,000 customers without power. in massachusetts. i aming the -- i am expecting the number to go up as people have power. pamela is behind the scenes and will have a look at the storm damage reports in a couple minutes. >> thank you. we have breaking news we are checking several reports of

here's a scene in cambridge. strong winds take down a tree. crushing the top of the car. no one was hurt. police did block off the entersection at calendar and dodge to keep people out of the area until the tree could be cleared away. and in boston a. tree snapped in half hitting part of a house and crashing to the ground. this was the scene on milton avenue. we are told no one inside the home was hurt. danielle mentioned we want to update you on numbers we have reports of power outages. that number above 40,000 across the state right now. >> most of those are on the south shore. we are told a breaker went down at a station during the storm. knocking out power to most marshfield and duxbury. >> never good idea. they have been able to reduce outages. 12,000 people are without power in marshfield and 3,000 in duxbury. crews hope to have the power restored within the hour. and a 2-year-old boy is among those killed in severe weather stretching from the south. right up the east coast a

waverly virginia -- in waverly virginia. the body of a child and two adults were found. 300 feet away. nearby one man was sheltering inside his home when he saw the wind rip the roof off a laundromat. >> of course the wind comes spinning and lift the roof you know. i don't know but i survived. that's when i came out and i learned i saw one of my friends and they said he probably died. >> virginia's governor declared a state of emergency for the entire commonwealth. a fire truck involved in a crash with a suv around 9 last night in acton. witnesses tell us that it appears the suv ran a stop sign at the intersection of parker and high streets. two vehicles collided and the suv flipped. homeowners ran to help and say the female occupant climbed out

>> robert went outside and came in and said holy, it's practically in the house. >> yeah i could hear her in the car and tried to open the door it wouldn't pop open and the neighbor came over and he came to get a flashlight and came back out and she climbed out the back window. >> no one on how the driver is doing but the witnesses tell us the firefighters were shaken up but appeared to be okay. grief counselors will be on hand this morning after a high school senior was killed in a crash on her way to school. her younger brother is incritical condition. the crash happened along route 62 in the central massachusetts town of barre5 miles from the quabbin regional high school. school opened two hours late because they were worried about icy roads. after 9 a.m. 17-year-old brittany murch was brisk her 15-year-old brother to school when she lost control of the car and hit a tree of the when rescuers got there it was too late to save brittany but they cut out griffin from

>> it's very tough for anyone who either has to go through this or those who responded. as a father myself my heart goes out to the family. >> i am in shock over it. i wish i could word it better. it's like a bad dream. >> griffin is being treated in at his bedside. they are look at the role of ice and speed in the crash. a fight over the wynn casino project putting the ground breaking on hold. the latest challenge comes from the mayor of somerville. katy brace looks at the issue he is -- katie brace is looking at the issues he is raising. >> reporter: jackly is undecided about the wynn casino but she and others are tired of the stop and go. >> i wish they would make up their mind once and for all get it going. >> reporter: somerville fired a new environmental legal

wynn canceled job fairs for thousands of construction jobs and stopped work. >> you are driving there. >> reporter: the mayor says cat soono will bring 18,000 extra cars a day to the city streets. he argues they have not properly addressed the congestion and is challenging a decision made iarbitration. >> i am perplexed why he he would file an a-- why he would file an appeal. >> reporter: somerville's marrow posed the casino and insist -- o-- mayor has conis siftently opposed the the casino. >> it's serious health threat. >> reporter: this is what it would look like they are lowerbroadway including cleaning up a hazmat side and everettt residents are ready.

now it's somerville. plows. >> reporter: the -- please. >> reporter: the ground breakwas scheduled for april and now it could be years away. katie brace wbz this morning. >> and we caught with up governor bake here hopes this can be resolved quickly because people planned for work to -- backer -- baker hopes this can be resolved quickly because people planned for work. >> this is a surprise for folks and it's important to work quickly and hope to get other folks to work quickly whether to get it resolved so the project can get started. >> the state gaming commission estimates once it is opened the wynn he evert -- everett resort will generate tax develop new -- renew for the state. 28-year-old ryan callinan is on administrative leave. the wilmington resident was off duty at the time of a accident and driving his personal car. the victim was treated and

today a public hearing will be held over the future of the garden at boston's children hospital. the hospital says they need to expand to help hundreds of patients delayed or turned away by overcrowding. but a growing group says that expansion can't come at the expense of proudy garden which has been used by thousands of young patients and fap list for comfort in between difficult treatments often for terminal illnesses. coming up, the surprising person president obama is reportedly considering for the supreme court. >> and mitt romney take on donald trump. he thinks trump is hiding something. >> and scary moments at a convenience store where what a man says caught fire in his pocket. a busy morning. >> it's been wild. we are talking about the wind and damage and thunderstorms pushing through plume south. we are looking at the radar and where we go from here through

a man is recovering from severe burns after an esignificant rit exploded in his pocket. -- see cigarette exploded in his pocket.

frantically trying to put out the fire. the clerk rushed over with a extinguisher to help. a driver in florida caught fed ex worker swerving all over the the road and when he got closer realized the driver was asleep at the wheel. police are now trying to figure out if the driver was actually impaired or if he had a medical emergency. scarry situation both stories. -- the-- >> the weather is the big story of the morning. you probably heard it the thunder and wind gusts. >> it feels like a summer afternoon storm but we are in the middle of winter. let's get over to danielle. >> it is wild. it feels sticky and humid and we have thunderstorms and wind damage but you are waking up and while it's windy a lot of the rain has been pushing off strongest thunderstorms are focused south of boston. zooming in here severe

but south of town scituate and marshfield the heavier areas of red and orange in here indicates the heaviest rain along with lightning so from marshfield stretching back up to south shore from scituate to cohaset you are into the lighter down pours and all of this is moving to the northeast at about 50 miles per hour. behind that mainline there are a couple additional cells popping up so in franklin it is pouring. this whole thunderstorm is moving to the northeast too. so over the next half-hour to 45 minutes it will make the way from medfield to norwood and needham and dedham too. primary risk in eastern massachusetts you see the the motion with it all is for continued damaging wind gusts along with lightning in the storms moving through. the orange you see going away were the is severe-- were the severe thunderstorm warning.

cluster of storms that's in southeastern massachusetts. so where do we go from here in terms of rainfall? most of us will be dry for the morning commute. there's leftover pockets of wet roadways and puddles on the road but it's primarily even by 8:00, the moisture is coastline. so by 9 a.m., the sun is breaking out across the region. the remainder of the day features some clouds at the coast and then breaks of sunshine across the interior and there will be an isolated shower for the rest of the day but no more severe weather threats for the afternoon. and few leftover showers north and west of boston into the evening commute may mix with wet snowflakes out across western new england. wind has been a huge aspect of the storm. pamela gardner is standing by. thanks for controlling the radar pamela. >> no problem. we have storm reports that have been coming in and we have multiple reports of wind damage or wind gusts and in fact, some of the storm reports we have here really right around the

storm. we have had a 69 mile pea per hour gust in boston and we had trees reported over a car in cambridge around 1:40 a.m. and these storms are powerful creating trees and wires down in dover and so if you are out driving, be careful as we start to wake up and head out. you see some of the damage. and the blue hills over 74-mile- per-hour wind gusts. current gusts are starting to let up a bit. still gusty from bedford and worcester and boston 32. plymouth winds picking up a bit. 44-mile-per-hour gusts as the storms push through. wind advisory after all the storms move through wind advisory goes into effect through 7 p.m. today. wind gusts of 40 to 60 miles per hour so additional trees may fall and we might have additional power outages. we are not over yet with those winds but storms at least moving out. danielle and it gets quieter. the next few days.

our weather is going quiet behind the front so it's pushing off the coastline. yes you mentioned the wind gusting again later today. tomorrow morning sunshine. nice end to the week but it's colder. we are in the 60s right now. and we are in the upper 30s and week. the weekend features another south. there's going to be a front but it puts on the brakes here and eastern canada so we are on the warmer side so while saturday will still be right around the upper 30s to 40 we will come into the 40s and low 50s possible by sunday. so 50s this afternoon and i know we are in the 60s right now but we will fall by a few degrees he nonetheless a very warm day and tonight, we dip into the 30s and 34 in boston and right around 3 # in the suburbs and yeah that's right tomorrow only 35 to around 40 degrees. probably just under that so the roller coaster ride of temperatures continues here and you will see it here in the 7- day. we will come up near 40 on

another warmup. 50 on sunday and 50s to start next week a couple rain showers on monday and that's a cool front pushing us back into the 40s. >> thanks. there are multiple reports this morning that president obama is considering a republican as a potential nominee to the supreme court. governor boyan sandoval of nevada met with senate democratic leader harry reid. he's former federal judge who supports abortion rights. the nomination could be a way for the president to get a resistant gop to hold hearings on antonin scalia's replacement. the president predicted republicans will cave. >> i think it will be very difficult for mr. mcconnell to explain if the public concludes the person is well qualified that the senate should stand in the way simply for political reasons. >> over the weekend sandoval

was mentioned but had not heard anything to think he was being considered for the job. mitt romney throwing himself in the middle of the republican race for president. former massachusetts governor and the gop's presidential nominee in 2012 suspects there he a bombshell in donald trmp's tax returns which romney says probably explains -- trump's tax returns which romney says probably explains why he is not releasing them. trump says they are work on them and will make them public. the remaining candidates will debate in houston texas the final debate before super tuesdaya. >> south carolina democratic voters head to the polls for primary. and hillary clinton is riding high with the key congressional endorsement. senate minority reader harry reid says he is all in for the former secretary of state. bernie sanders team is hitting the road rallying supporters in oklahoma and missouri. sanders again attacked clinton

transcripts of her paid speeches to banking giant goldman sachs she responded she will release the speeches only if her republican counterparts did the same. we should remind you the super tuesday is just five days away. wbz will bring you coverage beginning at 8 on my tv38 and stay with us for a cbs news special on wbz at the 10 followed by wbz news at 11. >> it's 4:50 on your thursday morning. concerning reports near local college campus. >> students being told to be on himself. >> and we are continuing to our area. there are downed trees and a lot of power outages to tell

we are following breaking news this morning. we are checking several reports of storm damage across the area. this is what it looked like in cambridge overnight. strong winds take down a street car underneath it. you can see the damage luckily no one was hurt. police did block off the intersection with tape of cal ender and -- calendar and dodge to keep people out until the tree is cleared. in boostan tree snapped in half hitting part of a house and came crashing to the ground. this was the scene on milton avenue again we are told no one was hurt. danielle and pamela are keeping an eye on the forecast and will update you and we will bring you new alerts when we get them in the full forecast a few minutes away. a warning for student he at

alone or distracted at night. waltham police say a man exposed himself to a student on south street not far from campus at least five other times -- it happened at least five other times since nid- november. federal prosecutors are look at brian joyce's role in a solar project at stone hill college. the paper says that it is part of a probe into the senator's possible criminal activity. that included an fbi raid last week. joyce's law office reportedly represented both stone hill and the company that installed 9,000 solar panels at the college. even as joyce supported legislation to make clean energy projects easier. one of the state's top watch dogs calls abuse of handicapped park spots a huge problem. >> it takes up the spots all dayand costs cities millions in potential parking revenue. the i-team ryan kath explains

>> reporter: cryan kath checking no a tip you've been park for freebie using someone else's handicapped placard. >> nothing to say. >> reporter: whose placard is that? >> nothing to say. >> reporter: mark donlan walked by his carisn't that your car. >> no. >> reporter: we have seen you do it day after day. five times we saw mark's white chevy parked in brigham circle in the mirror the andy capped placard of a man who died several years ago. why would he do it? a placard allows you to park all day without having to feed a meter. >> it's wrong and they should do something about it. >> reporter: how much does that bug you? >> it bothers me because i am paying for my meter. >> reporter: does the abuse keep growing. >> it hasn't let up. >> reporter: inspector general glen cunha has been track it. >> it's hot button issue. >> reporter: the temptation for parking for free all day is too

our camera spotted this trio of construction workers finish their shifts and get into car with a placard. ig says the ease of getting the parking privilege contributes to the abuse. so is the state issuing too many placards. >> absolutely there's got to be better scrutiny by the registry of motor vox on the application to ensure the people who are receiving placards qualify. >> reporter: no explanation for why you would do that? >> no get away from me. >> reporter: mark didn't have a answer but this final piece of video speaks volumes. driving away after a day's work with the placard of a dead person hanging nearby. so what can be done? other states use a two tier system. that's when people who have a disability that prevents them from using a parking meter continue to park for free. but everyone else with a placard has to pay. the inspector general is recommending a similar approach here in massachusetts. for the i team ryan kath. >> interesting story.

a beg announcement from tom and gisele. >> up next the new addition to

there's a new addition to the brady bunch. gisele sent out this picture of the new rescue dog fluffy. in her post she says the kids are over the moon and fluffy is a pure joy. fluffy joins loua and scooby and she gave a shot out to where they adopted fluffy from which i thought was nice. >> i love it. >> cute dogs. top stories and weather and

this morning. >> theews at 5 starts right now. >> right now at 5 a.m. the strongest thunderstorms now done. leftover damage as we track the strong wind that will come back later on today. >> and that storm making a mess overnight. heavy wind and rain bringing down trees and power lines. a closer look at the damage. >> and serious crash involving a fire truck and suv. who witnesses say is to blame. >> from the channel 4 studios in boston, this is wbz this morning. >> good morning to you it's 5:00 i am chris mckinnon. >> i am kathryn hauser we appreciate you being here the big story is the weather let's get to danielle with a update on the forecast a lot going on. >> it was a wild night. no severe thunderstorm warnings are up right now. strongest thunderstorms are shifting off the coastline of