nbc 10 first alert weather breaking news. >> hundreds of thousands of people are without power this morning after severe storms swept through our region last night. downed trees landed on cars and houses and have roads blocked this morning. nbc 10 is live in the hardest hit area. meanwhile, thousands of commuters will have to find a different way to get to work this morning. patco is stopped and many septa lines are delayed. count on nbc 10 to help you navigate the mess. this is nbc 10 news today. i'm rosemary connors. the storms are gone but the problems persist this morning. here are the latest power outage numbers across the region. in pennsylvania, 187,000 peco customers are without power

right now. in new jersey pse & g are reporting 45,000 customers are out, ac electric says 59,000 and in delaware 14,000 delmarva customers are without electricity this morning. we begin with matt delucia, live in middletown township delaware county, where nearly everybody is without power right now. matt? >> reporter: we've been out here for a little while now. there's total darkness behind us the only lights coming from our camera and truck out here. i'll step out of the way. we're on baltimore pike route 1. you can see, really again, no light out here just traffic cones in the distance. that's where we saw a tree down. at this point we're only seeing a few vehicles come down here. they're being merged to the left lane there. you see a lot of the brake lights because of the traffic

issue that is going on at this point. just down the road here at valley road we saw many many trees down wires down on that roadway as well. just tree branches leaves everything out there on the roadways. a lot of that debris and hazards in the roads at this hour. we're going to be going around this area throughout the morning showing you the damage. again, this is what we're seeing out here this morning. we've been told that a lot of the work to repair and restore some of the services out here not going to happen until later on when there's some daylight out here. again, as we mention really not a lot of power. you can only hear the hum of generators as you drive through the side streets manly the secondary roads throughout this area. we'll be back again in 30 minutes with an update. i'll be making calls throughout the morning as well trying to get more information.

>> jessica boyington is keeping tabs on traffic to help you maneuver the mess this morning. what are you seeing? >> we're seeing a big impact on mass transit, actually. septa is actually suspended between thorndale and malvern due to debris. new jersey transit, from ac to philly. patco, the entire thing is suspended due to a power outage. we'll keep you updated there. plan your trip accordingly this morning. there are a lot of local detour. we have a downed tree in cherry hill on green tree road and spring dale road and route 70 eastbound. police activity on the scene. additionally in cherry hill we're dealing with ongoing construction westbound between south cornell avenue and mcclelland avenue. the typical construction on the vine street expressway. leave early today. i was even a little bit late today having to come through the construction and downed trees you aren't suspected in the

area. a lot of random road closures. we'll keep you updated as the morning progresses. last night, the storms caused problems for anybody catching mass transit. katy zachry is at the patco station in haddonfield. katy? >> reporter: unfortunately, those mass transit problems persist for patco riders because later this morning, during the morning rush patco will not be in service. we are at a very dark haddonfield patco station right now. a lot of power outages in that area. you're only seeing the station because the lights from our truck are lighting it up. presumably these bicyclesvh left by patco riders who could not get back over here from philadelphia or their other destination in new jersey because mass transit was so affected by last night's storm. because of the storm, the subsequent power outage that's why patco is not offering

service this morning. local power companies trying to restore the power. we were told they should have it restored after midnight to confirm that i've been calling repeatedly to our patco spokespeople and representative. but because of the power outages and the difficulty contacting people calls are just quite frankly not going through. the good news is for all patco riders who have that freedom pass new jersey transit buses are cross-honoring that. that is how you can get to your destination this morning. another good piece of information, here at the haddonfield patco station, it doubles as a new j atco riders who can't hop the train they'll be hopping buses right here at this station. that's the latest live in haddonfield, katy zachry nbc 10 news. we want to show you what it looked like in gloucester county right after the storm struck. overnight we reached out to the national weather service to find out if a tornado touched down here. the weather service told us that

they'll decide later this morning whether there's enough evidence to investigate that possibility. some witnesses insist they saw a twister touch down in the deptford mall parking lot. >> this is going circular motion and it was coming straight towards us. that's when everything started happening. >> you think a tornado touched down? >> yes, it did. we saw it. there were actually several. >> blake, whom you just heard from says the tornado flipped over this honda civic and blew out the windows of the car right next to it. strong winds forced shoppers into the basement. the winds even knocked the roof of a nearby friendly's restaurant. talk about a rude awakening. nbc 10 spotted this storm damage early this morning in center city. this tree crashed down on several parked cars in the 2100 blook of lombard street. and this tree fell on to a house in frankford. this was at large street and roosevelt boulevard. nbc 10 was also in king of

prussia where the rains left behind this flooding. drivers were taking it slow as they had to navigate their way through several inches of water. now that the storm has moved out we are waking up to considerably calmer conditions outside. here's a live look at the center city skyline. meteorologist bill henley will have details on what to expect today in his first alert forecast coming up in just a couple of minutes. remember, you can count on nbc 10 for continuing coverage and the storm damage and impact throughout the morning on the air and on the nbc 10 news app. coming up at 4:15 this morning, a look at damage caused in other parts of the country by the same system of severe weather. preparing for the pope. here's a live look at vatican city. pope francis will be greeting the philadelphia delegation. they are seated in the front row of st. peter's square where a midweek mass is happening. as i mention, they're there for

this papal audience at st. peter's square. nbc 10 has been following this delegation in rome. we took this video about an hour before the pope's midweek mass. the delegates from philadelphia are in rome to finalize plans for the world meeting of families in september. they've been told pope francis will come to speak them at the end of the midweek mass. the ceo of beneficial bank couldn't be more excited. >> i look at philadelphia as being the birth place of the american family but the entire world is now looking at philadelphia and with the papal visit it's tremendously exciting and to have this type of opportunity to represent the bank and philadelphia is just unparalleled. >> after the morning mass which we understand is happening right now, the delegation will attend a luncheon for international media. the goal to promote philadelphia as a tourist destination all over the world. nbc 10's chris cato reports from rome.

>> reporter: of course rome is an international destination but philly wants to prove that it's a goebel superstar, too. and today they get a big chance to do that. the u.s. embassy and the leaders from philadelphia that are here they are hosting a luncheon or international media. it's designed to show the world what philadelphia has to offer to market to tourists all over the globe from the liberty bell to love park all the history, cheesesteaks rocky, everyone knows philadelphia is one of a kind. they want to make sure everyone knows that. we talked to tourists in st. peter's square. they may not have visited philly but they do know a thing or two. >> what do you know about philly? >> rocky. >> right. everyone knows the steps. >> that's about it. >> philadelphia museum of art. those are the steps he runs up. >> i heard about the movie called "philadelphia." >> reporter: yes, thank, tom hanks. not too bad, right? we learned other things about what people think they know about philadelphia. we'll share that with you later today. we'll be following that

luncheon, that international opportunity to market philadelphia to the entire world when that happens later this morning. reporting from rome, chris cato, nbc 10 news today. now can count on nbc 10 to continue our live coverage of the preparations for the papal visit. we expect more big announcements as soon as we learn them. we'll share them with you on our nbc 10 news app. now your nbc 10 first alert weather with meteorologist bill henley. ten minutes after 4:00. 71 degrees. we are running cooler this morning. the storms are down as rosemary told you. we're seeing clearing skies at this hour which will lead the way to lots of sunshine. it will be a typical summer day and less humid than what we felt yesterday and the days before. much more comfortable. we're tracking the return of showers, not today but the possibility later tomorrow of more showers moving back into the area. clearing out in doylestown, 65 degrees. 71 in philadelphia and millville, scattered clouds in

philadelphia and in millville. it won't last. it's drawing out in south philadelphia. lights are on there, sunshine will be bright and we will quickly warm up into the 80s this afternoon. nowhere near 95 like we saw yesterday. 63 in kennett square washington township 68 69 in northeast philadelphia. reading 64 and look at the 50s in the pocono mountains, shenandoah. 69 in millville and 67 in newark on cape may harbor 73 degrees. a quiet start this morning. the storms are gone. no sign of them on the radar screen. now we have clouds that are still over delaware and south jersey. those will be clearing out even cooler, dry air will be filtering in during the day. you'll feel the difference. neighborhood by neighborhood forecast 77 degrees. into the middle 80s for allentown, reading, bright sunshine for doylestown, trenton and mt. holly. into the 80s for atlantic city

cape may. dover a high of 84 this afternoon. nowhere near the 90s for wilmington, swedesboro, up to 87 for drexel hill and philadelphia. look at the weekend forecast when i come back in ten minutes. at 4:12 on this wednesday, let's get a check of the traffic with jessica boyington. i'm guessing those downed trees will create problems for at least the next couple of hours. >> we actually have so many downed trees it's hard to stuff them into one report. we'll start off with a few of them and then cover new jersey and traffic lights malfunctioning. we have a downed tree partially blocking city avenue and 71st street. there's police activity directing traffic. it's barely squeezing by at that point. heading over into new jersey in cherry hill, we're seeing a downed tree closing both directions on green tree road and spring dale road around 70 eastbound. police activity there as well. now we have so many downed wires and malfunctioning traffic lights throughout the area i just have to list them all for

you. police activity as well. met ford metford, route 70 berlin voorhees new jersey. mass transit extremely affect. septa suspended between thorndale and malvern. >> our coverage of the storm damage continues. we take a look at the impact in montgomery county and parts of new jersey. plus we'll show you tornado damage in illinois after this same severe weather system ripped through the midwest. autopsy leaked. the report on freddie gray's death is out this morning. it sheds light on what may have happened inside the baltimore police van before he died.

this morning, thousands of people are waking up in the dark. peco, ac electric pse&g and ppl are reporting more than 351,000 outages across the delaware valley. patco is stopped. septa and new jersey transit are dealing with delays and suspensions. commuters may have to find a different route to work. the national weather service is investigating a possible tornado that may have touched down in deptford new jersey. the two men you're looking at right now, those are witnesses who say they saw the twisters touch down last night in gloucester county. overnight, nbc 10 was on south street? philadelphia where peco crews were busy working on downed power lines near 24th street. heavy wind and rain in woolwich

township gloucester county. take a look at the wind. here's the scene in cherry hill where a tree and live wires fell on to a car that was traveling down road. the fire department had to pull the driver to safety while pse&g handled the wires. despite the damage the driver was not hurt. skyforce 10 found several trees down in cross roads in conshohocken, montgomery county. an nbc 10 viewer sent thus picture of a large tree that came crashing down along beachwood avenue in collingdale delaware county. heavy winds slammed long beach island tossing debris across the water. this is home video of the severe weather that brought downpours, thunder and lightning to the shore before blowing out to sea. the threat of violent storms affect ed half of the country last night. it wasn't just us. it stretched from montana to maine. tornado warn innings our area came after a massive outbreak of

twisters in the midwest on monday night. the damage in illinois was clear, after six tornadoes touched down there. an ef-3 twister swept through the town of cole city southwest of chicago. winds maxed out at 160 miles an hour. new from overnight, crews responded to this fire inside a cell phone store that spread to a neighboring furniture store in philadelphia's elmwood section. one firefighter is recovering from a minor injury. right now investigators are looking into the cause. we have new information this morning about the death of freddie gray autopsy results reveal more details about how he died while in the custody of baltimore police. the report obtained by the "baltimore sun" says gray suffered a high-energy injury. the 25-year-old was arrested april 12th. he was severely injured while in police custody and died days

later. the autopsy report suggests that gray hit the wall of the police van as it changed directions. the medical examiner suspects gray may have tried standing up in the van but because his wrists and ankles were shackled he was at a greater risk of injury from being tossed around. while the "baltimore sun" obtained the autopsy report it has not been officially released. maryland's attorney general says, i want to make it very clear that the state's attorneys office did not release the freddie gray autopsy report. as i have repeatedly stated i strongly condemn anyone with access to trial evidence who has leaked information prior to the resolution of this case. all six police officers charged in the death of freddie gray have pleaded not guilty in the case. prosecutors plan to try them in october. one of the officers charged has ties to our area. edward nero was a firefighter in washington township gloucester county for a decade before joining the force in baltimore. now your nbc 10 first alert

weather with meteorologist bill henley. >> almost 20 minutes after 4:00. the storms are done. clear skies from philadelphia looking up the schuylkill this morning, to the northwest. lots of sunshine. the temperatures will warm into the 80s. right now we're 6 degrees cooler than yesterday. the humidity is down too. that number will come down even more. we have a northerly wind at 6 miles an hour. looking toward the ocean storms are way offshore not a threat for today. there is more wet weather in our future in the coming days. light breeze or no wind right now in allentown and pottstown. light wind for wilmington and philadelphia. a bit stronger in reading. those are northwesterly winds, coming in behind the storms which are still raging off the norfolk coastline there off of the virginia coast, east of norfolk and out to sea. they will stay clear of our area today. we are starting to feel the drier air. the humidity has started to come

down. the hour-by-hour forecast, has us up to 76 degrees. by noontime, we could be in the very low 80s. but the winds will be with us through the day. that's going to limit us to the middle to upper 80s this afternoon. plenty of sunshine and less humid. but there are changes on the way for the weekend. here comes more rainfall. that's going to keep the temperatures much cooler than it normally is this time of year. we'll be in the low 70s saturday and wet weather around again on sunday. with a high of just 74 degrees. some of that cooler air will be here before the weekend. we have the seven-day forecast coming up in the next half hour. >> thanks, bill. see you then. at 4:21 jessica boyington is keeping an eye on the traffic out there. jessica, drivers, commuters this morning, they're waking up to a mess. >> yes, definitely a mess is an understatement. we're also dealing with a lot of problems out in new jersey. we have debris spill reported. downed trees, roads being blocked. speed restrictions on the new jersey turnpike as a result of

this in both directions that's between exit 3 in runnemede up into the delaware memorial bridge in both directions down to 35 miles an hour. pay attention to the speeds posted through the area. as for mass transit, taking the hardest hit so far for the morning. septa suspended between thorndale and malvern. new jersey transit suspended from ac to philly and patco suspended due to a power outage. plan your trip accordingly this morning and give yourself extra time. out in lower merion, police activity at bala avenue and bala circle. more updates to come. thank you, jessica. a new car share program is ujju)jr'to high gear this morning. next a proposal that would let you buy a car and make some money renting it out. plus expanding mass transit through delaware. the plan to offer a new way to get in and out of i would wilmington.

congress is looking into possible safety measures for train transportation. following the deadly amtrak train crash in may, there are serious concerns about train control and passenger safety. so today the house transportation subcommittee is scheduled to hear witnesses from federal bureaus and railroad companies about the matter. >> honoring the effort ofs those who rendered aid. several philadelphia hospitals were presented with certificates in recognition of their work following last month's deadly derailment. the ceremony took place at temple university hospital, one of several medical centers that sprang into action immediately after the crash.

>> in the midst of this disaster, the philadelphia health care community stepped up in a huge way and handled this crisis with skill compassion, coordination and professionalism. >> more than 200 people were injured in the crash on may 12th. eight people died. new this morning, imagine buying a new car and then renting out your new set of wheels for others to drive. it's about to become a reality in six u.s. cities. ford motor company is beginning a car sharing program. search shows more drivers living in urban areas want access to cars but don't want to worry about making monthly car payments. a pilot version of the car sharing program will run through november in several california cities as well as oregon, chicago and washington, d.c. from the nbc 10 news delaware bureau commuter trains for maryland they come to the first state. mark is maryland's commuter rail

line the line runs from washington, d.c. to perryville, maryland. transit officials are thinking about extending service as far north as wilmington. it's only a possibility. service could begin in three years. it's also unclear exactly how much the expanded route may cost. now your nbc 10 first alert weather. >> a stormy night last night but those storms are well offshore and now drier air is pushing into the area. you'll feel the difference first thing this morning. right now it's down to 71 degrees at: 4:27. jessica boyington is in the first alert traffic center. >> we are dealing with major debris spills and speed restrictions. new jersey turnpike in both directions is down to 35 miles an hour between exit 3 and runnemede. more information on that to come.

dear stranger, when i booked this trip, my friends said i was crazy. why would i stay in someone else's house? but this morning a city i've never been to felt like one i already knew. i just wanted to thank you for sharing your world with me. it felt like home. airbnb. belong anywhere.

nbc 10 first alert weather breaking news. >> power crews are working around the clock to get the power back on hundreds of thousands of people in our area. at first light, many people will be clearing trees from their homes and cars. nbc 10 is driving county by county this morning, surveying the damage. last night's storms will also impact the morning commute. here's a live look at the ben franklin bridge where the patco rails are shut down and we're checking on problems that septa is dealing with this morning. good morning, this is nbc 10 news today. i'm rosemary connors. >> i'm vai sikahema. the weather has quieted down a little bit. many people are feeling the impacts of the damaging winds. live first alert team coverage checking o