we do not yet know how many people were on board that plane or the conditions of anyone involved but again, an active scene off the coast of atlantic city, approximately 17 miles off the coast. i'm staying in touch with new jersey state police and the coast guard and as soon as we get more information, we will bring that to you. live in atlantic city, ted greenberg, nbc 10 news. >> we will wait for updates. thank you. meantime, 20 minutes of nonstop news continues with this. heavy rain falling across our area. people in old city needed umbrellas, of course. rain coats too, and rain boots even during downpours this afternoon. one of our nbc 10 crew, as they drove right through water puddling on interstate 76 in south philadelphia. check out this flooding. a viewer sent this video from rutgers university campus in camden. there's the water pooling there. she says she was stuck at school because of this high water.

>> here's a live look outside as we track the rain. you can see a mix of rain and clouds on the ben franklin bridge in philadelphia. in new jersey, it's not the best beach day along the shore. the sand looks pretty barren. delaware isn't escaping the rain either. this is a soggy look over interstate 95 in wilmington. although the sun seems to be peeking out. the first alert radar shows there is still a lot of rain left to move through. we have live team coverage in the first alert weather center. our meteorologists are tracking the rain and potential for flooding. >> we begin with first alert chief meteorologist glenn "hurricane" schwartz who is tracking the rain for us. very active radar, glenn. >> there are a lot of colors back there, yellow and red indicating the heaviest rain. one thing you don't see very often, you can see the spin in the radar echoes here. this is really heavy rain headed right into the philadelphia area. there's a lull now but it's not going to last. we have more heavy rain coming, more heavy rain coming into

delaware as well. we are dry in philadelphia, delaware county, but parts of berks county, upper montgomery county, northern chester county, getting pounded. limerick getting very heavy rain. west chester getting into it. the rainfall rate here in the upper portions of montgomery county, 2.2 inches per hour. so if it rained in the same spot, if the shower didn't move, in one hour you would get over two inches of rain. that has happened in some areas. even in the lehigh valley, allentown area, this is about an inch an hour. same thing with upper bucks in the holland area. towards the shore, lighter rain around cape may, little heavier in delaware bay. that may be headed into portions of cape may county. there's another band of some really heavy rain headed into northern kent county. dover, that area has already had over two inches of rain so more is on the way. there is a flash flood watch for

much of the area until 8:00 tonight. the potential for more heavy rain. let's see how much rain has fallen and where the next rain is coming with meteorologist sheena parveen. >> we have already seen several inches of rain in some areas so we already have seen street flooding, especially in lower-lying areas. that's what the flash flood watch is in part for, the lower-lying areas prone to flooding. this is showing you now the rainfall we have seen so far. now we are zooming into delaware, sussex county. this is where we have seen quite a bit of rainfall so far. but maybe not as much as other areas. right near georgetown we have seen over two inches and closer to the shore, to the delaware beaches just north of lewes, this is one area where we have seen about 2 1/2 inches. up in kent county, we have seen rainfall rates of so far at least 2 1/2 inches near riverview, 3 1/2 inches, not so much in new castle county but there is more rain on the way. right near glassboro, in new jersey, we have seen a little over three inches of rain.

a little closer to hammonton, two inches. to berks county, close to an inch near reading but allentown, about 1 1/2 inches for most of that area. lancaster county has seen anywhere from about 2 to 2 1/2 inches possibly but the heavy rain is still falling in these areas. we do expect the totals to be going up through the rest of the evening. here's a look at future weather. as we go into the next couple hours the heavy rain continues. by 6:00 p.m. by 8:00, we should start to see some of it tapering off. big improvement into tomorrow. coming up, glenn will have a closer look at the forecast. all the rain is slowing down traffic on area roadways ahead of the evening rush. this is a live look at interstate 76 and the vine street expressway. here's at look at interstate 76 at grays ferry avenue. you can see the right-hand side of the screen things are pretty tied up. now to new jersey. this is interstate 295 at route

168 in mt. ephraim, camden county. you can see traffic is slowing down. we will check on more local roadways throughout the show. track the rain as it moves through your neighborhood with the nbc 10 news app. get live first alert radar and any weather alerts sent right to your smart phone or tablet. also right now at 4:00, a guilty plea from the man at the center of a germantown kidnapping and rape case from last november. today's plea, an about-face for delvin barnes who oraniginally told a judge he was not guilty of the crimes. it was caught on surveillance video right here and triggered a three-day multi-state manhunt. nbc 10's george spencer was in the courtroom as the plea deal was read. for the first time, barnes tried to explain himself? >> reporter: he looked down during most of the hearing and most of his answers were simply yes, sir or no, sir.

when the judge pressed him, he finally gave his version of the kidnapping that terrified this city. this surveillance video from november shows how it all began. delvin barnes first parking his car, then jumping 22-year-old gaither as she walked down the sidewalk. today he acknowledged his guilt in the kidnapping and sexual exploitation case. at first he seemed at a loss to explain. the judge asked why did you do that. barnes said it was an act of desperation. i really can't make sense out of it. as the judge read the plea deal in court today, we learned that barnes also admits just a month before the kidnapping here, he abducted a 16-year-old in virginia, sexually assaulted and tried to kill her. when barnes was pressed by the judge today, he said he was out of money and looking for quick cash which would allow him to

see his daughter before facing those charges in virginia. he told the judge he quote, grabbed the wrong person, actually, it was an act of robbery in the beginning and it turned into other things. those other things tloed a three-day manhunt ending in maryland and today's guilty plea which means 35 years in prison without parole. today's plea does include those charges from virginia meaning he will not be tried separately in that case. barnes would be 73 years old when released from jail. still likely short of the possible maximum life sentence he did face. live at federal court, george spencer, nbc 10 news. the secret service is revealing how philadelphia will look when the pope comes in just over two weeks. nbc 10's keith jones just watched the new video released in the past hour. this is an interesting 3d view of areas where the pope will be. >> reporter: that's right. take a look at this.

this is the screening area near city hall. you can see the bike rack fencing all along the sides of the roads. you see them down at this corner. they will be used in many of the screening areas all around town for crowd control. the front of the cathedral you just saw is where the pope will say mass saturday morning. the secret service emphasized here there will be a number of screening areas, some have between 10 to 14 of those magnetometers so visitors can get through quickly. look at the jumbotrons along the parkway. they will be on the side of the road. the thought process there is crowds can stand on the other side and easily see the pope on the many screens. >> there is no secret that during the papal procession, the pope will be coming down and using the outer lanes as he circles going all the way down to city hall and coming all the way back up to the art museum. >> reporter: the other point the mayor talked about is towing in secure perimeters which will begin on sunday, september 20th.

it will be completed by wednesday to finish construction of the area. you will start to see signs posted next monday. there are lots available for your vehicles. you can read more about where those are on nbc10.com. keith jones, nbc 10 news. indicted congressman chaka fattah is asking for donations to help foot the bill for his legal defense. the 11 term philadelphia democrat launched a fund-raising website for what he is calling the preservation of public service legal trust. the site says the $25 to $5,000 contributions will assure he has the best resources. the site allows people to give money to his 2016 re-election campaign. fattah was indicted in july accused of misusing campaign funds, donations and grant money. he denies all wrongdoing. in the indictment the congressman is accused of misusing his congressional influence, stealing taxpayer money and charitable donations. he's accused of accepting a secret $1 million campaign loan

and taking a bribe from a lobbyist who wanted to be an ambassador. he denies all charges. congressman fattah is married to nbc 10 anchor renee chenault-fattah. renee is referenced in the criminal complaint against her husband. she is labeled as person e and an affiliate of the fattah enterprise. the feds allege she took part in a scheme to fraudulently sell a car in order to pay closing costs on a vacation home. she is not charged and denies any wrongdoing. renee is on leave from nbc 10. protecting puppies is the goal of a new plan in new jersey. the state wants to make sure pet stores aren't selling animals from puppy mills. nbc 10 south jersey bureau reporter cydney long is live outside an animal shelter in blackwood. shelters can really benefit from this proposal. >> reporter: well, that's right. camden county is taking governor chri christie's legislation a step further by banning puppy mill sales of any puppies, dogs or kittens, period. so it will eliminate the overcrowding and overpopulation

at shelters like this one, and it will also promote healthy adoptions. >> the reason we are doing this is that puppy stores equal puppy mills. >> reporter: animal activists stood in the rain along route 70 with signs in hand, puppies are not products and adopt, don't shop. this out front of pat's pups, camden county's only pet store which organizers claim have sold animals commercially bred for profit. >> we know where his dogs come from. he tells people they come from good amish breeders. there's no such thing. >> reporter: the rally just an hour before today's announcement that camden county will no longer tolerate puppy mill sales on any level and one that camden county hopes will spread to counties statewide. >> it discourages and prevents the sale of animals brought to our community under the most horrific circumstances that no

community should ever condone. >> reporter: freeholder jeff nash is naming it norma's law after he rescued norman, a stray lab mix in the streets of camden five years ago. >> we are not letting anybody in besides customers. >> reporter: we tried to get answers and documents for animals that passed today, asking to see cage cards and proof of where the animals were born and bred. are any of the animals here from a puppy mill? >> no. none of our dogs are from puppy mills. >> reporter: the governor signed legislation in february to combat puppy mill sales but activists say the june law has yet to be enforced. >> all of the stores visited by our investigators were found to be buying puppies from suppliers with known animal welfare act violations. >> reporter: today's measure which will be voted on and adopted in camden county next week comes just one month after nbc nationwide had a clear the shelters initiative in which 20,000 dogs, cats, kittens and puppies were adopted into loving

homes nationwide. i'm cydney long, nbc 10 news. the six police officers charged in freddie gray's death will go on trial in baltimore, at least for now. this morning a judge denied a change of venue request from the defense. the ruling states there's no legal reason to move the trials outside baltimore. that's where gray died after becoming paralyzed while in police custody. the defense claims potential jurors would be pressured into convicting the officers and the defense argued jurors would be afraid of touching off more riots like the chaos that erupted after gray's funeral. the judge said the trial could be moved in the future if an unbiased jury cannot be found. now to decision 2016 and more controversial comments from donald trump. this time, the republican front-runner is under fire for comments made about rival carli fiorina's appearance in a magazine profile. a "rolling stone" cover store describes an incident in which trump and his staffers are watching tv news when fiorina

appears on camera, trump says look at that face, would anyone vote for that, can you imagine that, the face of our next president? today trump says he was talking about fiorina's persona, not her looks. as for fiorina, she dismissed trump's remarks during a tv appearance saying maybe, just maybe i'm getting under his skin a little bit because i am climbing in the polls. to the phillies now. they are making a big change at the top today. g.m. ruben amaro jr. is out. he started his long career in baseball as a batboy more than three decades ago. comcast sports net's john clark is joining us with more. team's just not doing well enough for him to stay? >> reporter: yeah. this is a season of change. ruben amaro after seven years as phillies general manager and assistant g.m. for the 11 years before that is being let go by the phils and the phillies actually say today fans' feelings towards ruben was a factor in the decision.

incoming president andy mcphail watched over the job ruben did at the trade deadline and feels they need a new approach. he says he will hire a new general manager but it's not certain that the new g.m. will pick the manager for the future. phillies management says the feelings of fans towards ruben had a part in this decision but it was andy's call. >> the conclusion i reached was we needed a fresh perspective in the baseball operations department, fresh approach. >> the fans do buy tickets, the fans do watch tv. nobody in this room at this moment would have a job. so they are critical to all sports organizations, including the phillies. what they think is important to us. >> reporter: coming up, we will have more on the phillies continuing season of major change. i'm john clark. see you then. students in ninth grade will not have to pass a new standardized test in order to graduate high school in new jersey. a state education department

announced it's extending the exemption for another year. it's already in place for current tenth through twelfth graders. instead of passing the exam from the partnership for assessment of readiness in college and careers, the students can use their scores on college entrance exams to prove they're ready to graduate. a new report finds about 10% of new jersey's students from kindergarten through twelfth grade are chronically absent from school. a report by the group advocates for children of new jersey found about 125,000 students missed at least 18 days of school. a range of reasons was given from bad weather to fear of showing up to class with a dirty uniform. local power companies doing its part to help make schools a safer place. delmarva power donated 17 bulletproof whiteboards to pleasantville elementary school in new castle delaware today. this video shows what the protective boards look like. the hand-held boards are used by

teachers during instruction but they double as a shield in the event of a school shooting. really has been a wet day in much of the area and we are not done yet. if you are in the middle of this hole, including part ever the philadelphia area, you might think the rain is over but it is not. you are surrounded by rain and more is on the way. as we take you to atlantic city, remember the plane crash at 2:45 p.m., the time that ted greenberg reported, 17 miles offshore, there was a heavy shower there. not as big as the thunderstorms elsewhere but there definitely was a weather issue out in that area. now, this is a weather issue right now in the northern portion of chester county, upper montgomery county and also the eastern half of berks county. there are tremendous rains taking place there and right along the pennsylvania turnpike

in chester county, east whiteland township getting some of the heaviest rain right now. downpours in that area. we also have some heavier rain in parts of -- right near the delaware river in the trenton area and up toward the north and west, and you can see that hole but it's surrounded. we have more rain coming into cape may county and now heavy thunderstorms coming into portions of delaware that some places they have had a couple inches of rain already. there is a flash flood watch for much of the area until 8:00 tonight. there are flood advisories for current flooding, localized flooding, not river flooding or creek flooding. this is more of a localized thing caused by the heavier rain in parts of chester and berks and montgomery and lehigh valley and that is until 6:45. we also have part of mercer county under a flood advisory until 6:30. that includes hopewell.

why is all this happening? well, the winds show it. this is just a classic case of the northeast winds meet northwest, there's an area of low pressure right there and when the winds come together, the air is forced to rise, it creates heavier rain. that's not just a little front coming in. so some of these rain amounts have been pretty amazing. port richmond, 3.4 inches. fox chase, little over two. graduate hospital in center city, about 2.2. 1.4 in rocksborough. also heavy rain in ocean city, 2.74. avalon, 1.62. not everybody has been getting this but some places do get some really heavy rain and there's more coming as we go through the next few hours. it will gradually be tapering off from west to east but there we are, 10:00, 11:00 tonight, there is still some rain on the radar. some of it on the heavy side.

the temperatures held down by the rain, it's the end of the heat wave. we didn't even get to 80 degrees today. we are in the upper 60s to the north and west. we dry out tomorrow, we start off with clouds, get sunshine, really nice afternoon. saturday might start off okay, too. but we've got another system coming in from the west and that means some more showers, maybe some thunderstorms. some of the models keep the rain in, especially for delaware and south jersey, even into sunday. we will keep that updated. the exu for tonight, no disagreement, rain and thunderstorms, localized flooding, the low about 68 degrees. tomorrow, chance of an early shower but general clearing during the day, temperatures getting into the low 80s. pretty nice, especially in the afternoon. and a nice start to saturday but afternoon storms.

sunday, we have the rain coming in, a chance of rain, especially as we go toward the shore and breezy conditions on monday. beautiful weather after that. let's check in on how the rain is impacting traffic. here's a live look at interstate 76. this is by the king of prussia mall. the road is wet, cars are moving slowly. to new jersey now, a live look at interstate 295 and route 30 near haddonfield, camden county. you see the cars, touch and go as they are moving along in this wet weather. as the new school year starts, millions of children are getting on the school bus again and most of them will not be buckled up. >> the new push to make restraints mandatory and where the rules stand in pennsylvania, new jersey and delaware. plus, no more men's and women's rooms? the new plan that would make all philadelphia city building restrooms unisex. ♪

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we have this breaking news from washington, d.c. the iran nuclear deal just survived a key vote in the senate. senate democrats blocked the disapproval vote led by republicans. this is victory for president obama. the deal now moves forward unchecked by congress. senate republicans vow they will keep fighting to block it. a new piece of legislation is on the table that would require many of the city's public restrooms to become gender neutral. due to legislation signed into law back in november 2013, many of the city's single stall restrooms have already received a gender neutral designation. that only applied to city-owned facilities. the new bill seeks to include current and future single stall bathrooms on privately owned property as well. city council president darryl clark told nbc 10 he is confident the bill will succeed. >> making sure that there's opportunities for all, accessibility, so we're quite a

progressive city in that respect. i think that conversation will move along those lines. >> the bill was introduced by the first district councilman. while pope francis doesn't touch down in philadelphia for another two weeks a bit of the vatican precedes him to town. the franklin institute is hosting the vatican splendors exhibit ahead of the pontiff's arrival. on display will be a 17th century bronze angel along with two other never before seen artifacts in the united states. vatican splendors opens to the public september 19th. speaking of the pope, if you didn't get a free ticket this week to see the pontiff on the papal weekend, you aren't completely out of luck. >> nbc 10's lauren mayk lays out how you can be part of this once in a lifetime experience. >> reporter: i will show you how you can still see the pope even behind this ticket boundary. a soggy day across the area. i am tracking a lot more rain to come. i will show you where the rain is headed and when it will clear out next.

. we continue to follow this breaking news out of atlantic city where a plane has crashed into the ocean. a small plane, we should say. this video appears to show a helicopter searching for debris in the water. coast guard does confirm that debris has been found. that debris is about seven miles off the coast of atlantic city. the faa says the plane left michigan and was headed to atlantic city international airport. the plane involved is a single engine plane. we have a picture of the type of plane right here. there is no word yet on how many people were on board, if there are any possible survivors at this point. let's take a look at the search area. nbc 10's ted greenberg is in atlantic city gathering more information right now. we will check in with him live ahead on "nbc 10 news at 5:00."

now to our weather. a day of heavy downpours across our area. that means potential for flooding. windshield wipers were a must for drivers making their way through center city today. here's a look from behind the wheel. the camera in one of our news trucks captured the heavy rain along route 54 in hammonton, atlantic county. >> nbc 10 chief meteorologist glenn "hurricane" schwartz back now with the nbc 10 soggy first alert forecast. >> glenn, is there still nor rain to come? >> oh, yes. in just about the entire area there's more rain to come. in some places, heavy rain. you can see the yellows and reds indicating the heaviest stuff. what you don't normally see is the radar echoes spinning around and that's part of this area of low pressure that's right on top of us that's enhancing that rainfall, making it worse than

it normally would be on a rainy day. by the way, that plane reported offshore at 2:45 p.m., there was a heavy shower in the area so that's one of the things they will probably be at least looking at. you can see upper montgomery county, northern chester county, berks county, reading, limerick, milford, allentown getting hammered as well, and the pennsylvania turnpike has that downpour in chester county that continues to plague them. this is the upper portion of montgomery county. once again, you can see near harleysville, the rainfall rates of one to two inches per hour. with the rain spinning around in the same spot, you see it's not exactly moving out, is it. there it is right around allentown. eigh it's not showing signs of letting up there. they have had over an inch of rain in allentown. this rainfall rate is close to another inch per hour.

even heavier rain now in portions of central delaware. this is kent county, parts of the dover area already had over two inches of rain before this area has come in. there will probably be localized flooding with that as well. we do have a flood -- flash flood watch for much of the area until 8:00 tonight and flood advisories for conditions already in flood stage in some areas. this is localized, poor drainage type of flooding as opposed to rivers and creeks. this is until 6:45 p.m. that goes all the way from chester county up through the lehigh valley and poconos. more on rainfall totals and when it will move out of here and what might come over the weekend, too, with the seven-day. we have been showing you traffic cameras from across our area as the rain slows down the pace and fogs things up. here is 202 at 29 near penn state great valley, traffic appears to be at a stand-still.

here is route 70 in cherry hill. you can see it's very slow moving here as well. we will check on more area roadways coming up in just 15 minutes. track the rain as it moves through your neighborhood with the nbc 10 news app. get live first alert radar and any weather alerts sent to your smart phone or tablet. so time es running out now to prepare for the pope. pope francis lands in philadelphia in 15 days and about 16 hours, give or take. you can bet this live picture of the ben franklin parkway will look very different that weekend. there is going to be hundreds of thousands of people flooding center city. a lot of people plotting their travel into philadelphia right now. some of them will be carrying those free tickets that the city gave away this week for three different events but the majority don't have the ticket. >> we want to show you today that no ticket does not mean you can't be part of this historic weekend. nbc 10's lauren mayk did the legwork and has this report.

>> reporter: in philadelphia, there is plenty of pope paraphernalia available but the pope tickets, those are gone. >> i was trying to get four. yeah. i was going to take my aunt and a couple cousins. none of us are going. >> reporter: mary isn't one of the lucky ones to get a ticket. >> i was blown out. they went in in the first seconds and by the time i got there, they were all gone. i was so disappointed. >> reporter: but she has a backup plan. >> i'm volunteering. i will be on the parkway so i will at least be near him. >> reporter: with only 30,000 tickets to the three events up for grabs online, a lot of faithful will have to find another way to take part. throughout the city your best bet may be to look up and look for one of 40 jumbotrons. you will be able to see some much the jumbotrons quite a distance from the big event like the one that will be here at broad and green. on the parkway, if you don't have a ticket to get into the red ticketed area, you will still be able to go into the purple area. as long as you go through security.

beyond that, is an open area where you will probably find this man. >> i will try to ride my bike up, see if i can check it out. >> reporter: like mary, he is going without a ticket. but with hope to be part of it all. >> i just wanted to be there to participate in it. because you will never have this opportunity again. >> that was lauren mayk reporting. whether you are planning a trip in to see the pope or trying to stay away from the crowds, the nbc 10 news app is for you. we have information about road closures, what's ticketed, what's not and the pope's itinerary. did you hear about this? the police commissioner [ inaudible ] in a case of what's being called mistaken identity. the nypd says blake was detained yesterday as they were investigating an identity theft ring. blake says he was just standing outside a hotel waiting for a car and suddenly undercover officers charged at him, slammed him to the ground. commissioner bill bratton said he has seen surveillance video much the incident and is concerned about the inappropriate amount of force

that was used. >> i'm very interested in speaking with mr. blake and hope to hear back from him to extend apology for the experience he encountered. it should not have happened. >> the commissioner says the department's internal affairs unit is looking into the incident. the fda wants to make sure the food on your family's table is safe. >> next, the new rules companies need to follow and look at this video. a philadelphia mother says the emt driving her son to the hospital was on his phone behind the wheel. what the driver's boss has to say about the incident coming up.

the largest five below store in the country is officially open for business right here in philadelphia. today, mayor michael nutter helped celebrate the opening of the two-story flagship store in center city along chestnut street a few blocks from the discount retailer's corporate headquarters. five below first opened in philly 13 years ago. now the chain operates 400 stores in 25 states.

food manufacturers will have to show federal regulators how they are preventing food poisoning and other safety issues under new rules. the food and drug administration finalized the rules aimed at companies that make processed food for both people and animals. those food facilities will be required to take steps to prevent outbreaks. previously companies were only forced to respond once an outbreak started. an estimated one in six people in the u.s. falls ill each year with a food-borne illness. glenn? widespread radar, look at that radar. we could also see flooding from all of this. more on how much rain you can expect, coming up in the first alert forecast.

you know what this music means. the philadelphia eagles counting down to kickoff.

live look from xfinity live, where a big kickoff party is planned later tonight. current eagles players and alumni will be there along with brian westbrook and the eagles cheerleaders. the fun begins at 6:30 tonight. it all leads up to the first game of the season that airs tonight right here nbc 10. steelers taking on the patriots in foxborough at 8:30. the eagles first game coming up on monday night. all season long, count on nbc 10 for complete insider coverage because, yeah, we are your official philadelphia eagles station. >> the actual game won't always be on nbc 10 but we will have exclusive access to the team for our pregame and post game shows. eagles game day kickoff premieres this sunday at 10:00 a.m. comcast sports net's john clark will be the host, joined all season long by nbc 10 correspondent malcolm jenkins. they will have expert analysis with eagles broadcaster mike quick ahead of monday's season opener in atlanta, including an exclusive interview with new eagles running back demarco murray.

speaking of football, don't forget to vote for our high school football game of the week. here's a look at the early voting. this week's choices, garnet valley, conwell egan, highland at camden. they need some help there. cast your vote at nbc10.com. you can call or text your vote to 610-624-4111. voting closes tonight. we will announce the winner at "nbc 10 news at 11:00." a lot of rain on that radar. if it's dry where you are now it's not necessarily going to stay that way. we have a hole here, covers philadelphia and some of the new jersey suburbs, but this area of rain is slowly moving in our direction. i emphasize slowly. that's part of the problem. from the pennsylvania turnpike all the way up through the lehigh valley and poconos, that is some really heavy rain.

the heaviest of all right across the turnpike right now, just west of chesterbrook. that's headed right up towards phoenixville. that's a heavy cell there. you see the drier air to the east but up to the north and west, up the delaware river, we have heavier rain and then some really heavy rain and thunderstorms heading for dover area which got hit hard earlier today, already had over two inches of rain and at least another inch or two is coming. flash flood watch for much of the area. that's until 8:00. we have a flood advisory for some flooding that's already taking place in these counties in the green that again goes from much of chester county through all of berks county, upper montgomery, upper bucks, lehigh valley and into the poconos. we also have mercer county. that's until 6:30. the other ones are until 6:45. so you just don't want to drive through the flooded areas.

why is all this rain happening? this is just a classic case. look at the winds going right around in a circle, a really tight compact area of low pressure right on top of our area, and the winds come together, it's forced the air to rise and that makes the rain heavier. boy, did we get some heavy rain. 3.4 in port richmond. about 2 inches of rain in center city. now, as we go up to the north, look at this, 2.8 inches in allentown. much of that just in the last couple of hours. kutztown, 2.6. a little bit to the north and west, 4.42 inches of rain and it's not over yet. in delaware, like i was telling you, dover, 2.34 inches before this heavy thunderstorm has come in. so there's likely to be some flooding in the dover area within the next hour or two. as we go through the evening, we still have some more of that heavier rain spinning around.

it will take awhile for this to move all the way through. it's not just a front that races through. this is creeping through, because of the way it's structured. and it also has kept the temperature down. it's only 76 in philadelphia. that's about as high as it's gotten today. we are in the 60s north and west. good-bye, heat wave. good-bye heat, for quite awhile. rain and thunderstorms tonight with localized flooding. 68 degrees for the low. tomorrow, could get an early shower in some areas but the general trend is for clearing. that will allow the temperatures to get above 80 degrees. it will be pretty nice in the afternoon and pretty nice saturday morning but then the storms come in from the next system saturday night is likely to be the wettest. the chance of rain is especially in new jersey and delaware and especially toward the shore on sunday. we will keep an eye on that. once that moves through, does the weather get nice next week. >> looking forward to that. because look at this.

if you are waiting for someone to get home from work, you can probably expect them to be late. we have been showing these live cameras of really slow traffic because of all this rain. this is route 202 at route 30 in exton. traffic just at a standstill. then let's take a look at interstate 295 at church road in mt. laurel. yeah. not moving along very quickly there either. pack some patience. if you are waiting for somebody, they will be late. speaking of the roads, buckle up. it's something we know to do in our cars. >> what if seat belts aren't an option? that's the case on many local school buses. next, the new proposal to change that and keep children safer.

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a philadelphia balanambulan driver is going to be disciplined after video of him scrolling through his phone was posted on social media. he was taking a child to the hospital. ebony clark shot the video while her son was being taken to the e.r. if you look closely, sort of center right of your screen, you see that bright thing by the windshield? the driver is actually looking at his phone as he's driving. the fire commissioner said he was disgusted by this incident and said the department has a no cell phone policy while driving. most experts will tell you the bus is the safest way for your kids to get to school. >> right now, only six states require seat belts on school buses. nbc 10 national correspondent tracy potts has more on how that is about to change. >> reporter: two children and the teacher's aide died in this school bus accident in knoxville, tennessee last december. it's rare. 25 million children ride every day, on average four die every

year. safety experts say lives are saved by a bus design called compartmentalization. >> energy-absorbing seats are designed for frontal crashes. >> reporter: these buses also absorb much of the impact when hit from behind. but a rollover accident can have a very different outcome. this one landed on its side in tulsa, oklahoma in april. four students went to the hospital. >> if the bus is hit from the side or rolls over, compartmentalization means nothing. if you have them in a seat belt, they will stay restrained and injuries will be minimal. >> reporter: only six states require seat belts on school buses. there's no federal mandate. that could change. >> this fall we are going to come out with some action and that could be inclusive of seat belts, very likely to be if it's top of the list. it's not that they're in the bus. they have to be working properly and we have to make sure it's the three point. >> reporter: los angeles had

three point harnesses on about 70% of its school buses. but who is going to make sure kids wear them? that they are buckled properly? and who is paying for this? and what happens in an accident if kids are trapped in those seat belts and can't escape? those are some of the things federal officials are looking at and trying to work out before their announcement this fall. dramatic test crash video there. where do we stand in our area? new jersey, one of the six states that have passed a law to require seat belts on buses. pennsylvania and delaware, they don't have laws. "nbc 10 news at 5:00" is next. here's keith jones. >> next, nbc 10 continues to follow breaking news of a plane crash off the coast of atlantic city. nbc 10 jersey shore bureau reporter ted greenberg was the first one on the scene. ted? >> reporter: i just got new information on the crews responding to the scene of that crash. the latest ahead in a live report. we are still tracking heavy

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"nbc 10 news at 5:00" begins with breaking news in atlantic city. a plane crash in the ocean. this video appears to show a helicopter searching for debris in the water. the coast guard does confirm the debris has been found. the debris is about seven miles

off the coast of atlantic city. nbc 10 jersey shore bureau reporter ted greenberg is live in atlantic city. >> ted, bring us up to speed. >> reporter: since 4:00, havei gotten an update on where that plane went down. it's about seven miles off the coast of atlantic city. we are standing on the beach outside the trump taj mahal casino. seven miles rather than 17 miles which was initially reported. within the past hour, we saw a coast guard helicopter hovering over the ocean and a new jersey state police boat heading in that direction as well. we have some video of that. i also just learned the coast guard is deploying two additional boats to the crash site, a 25 foot boat and another that's 87 feet long. the faa says the small plane went down around 2:45 this afternoon. members of the new jersey state police marine division discovered debris in the ocean in that general