quote one crazy mayor for comparing the damage to hurricane sandy. the mayor says the governor called him and he accepted the genuine apology. this afternoon christie said the flooding wasn't a fraction of sandy, and we have team coverage tonight from the jersey shore all the way up to trenton. we start with ted greenberg in west wildwood. it's an area with flooding and ted, extensive damage. >> reporter: and keith, that now infamous comment about a mop may have been a joke to governor christie but i can tell you that people here are not laughing. >> feel hurt. >> reporter: in west wildwood waves of anger directed to governor christie. >> i'm offended that he tried to act like people in south jersey are stupid. >> i don't know what you expect me to do. you want me to go down with a mop. >> christie's remarks last night were in response to a question why he was there instead of

assessing damage from the weekend nor'easter in new jersey. >> i think should bring two mops, one to some place where the sun don't shine. >> i think this is more than a mop. >> the comment has clearly struck a nerve along with another that there was no residual flood damage, and comparisons to hurricane sandy. >> i heard one crazy mayor down in south jersey say this is worst flooding than sandy. here's the one thing you need to know about that mayor, his town didn't get hit by sandy. >> it was personally disappointing. >> patrick is that mayor and disputes the notion that sandy was a non-issue here. since many of those flooded out this weekend also sustained serious damage in the hurricane. he says the governor whom he supported for many years, called this morning to apologize. >> i accepted that apology. i think it was genuine. i think that the lack of compassion for residents and business owners i expressioned

that to him. that is still a concern. >> reporter: someone even started this go fund me page to raise money to quote mop up the mess we have in trenton. and send as many mops as possible to governor christie. live tonight in west wildwood, ted greenberg, "nbc 10 news." >> thank you. so now the question is what does the governor have to say to the people affected by the storm? cydney long asked that question to the governor. she's live in trenton. what did he have to say? >> governor christie says his comment about the mop was intended to be taken funny. so he didn't apologize for that. he says it was his way of comparing this storm to hurricane sandy. >> where i think i went overboard i apologized. >> governor christie on the defensive hours after his controversial comment. >> i don't know what you expect me to do. you want me to go down with a

mop. >> what about the people who are hurting and did suffer damages and now are offended by your words on top of that? >> they shouldn't be offended by my words. my words were not directed toward them. i said all along there was damage there. >> the governor says he has thick skin and takes the heat quite often. >> no it's a joke you don't like the joke you don't like it that's all. >> he went on to explain all that's being done to include assessment for are federal disaster relief and members of state government helping businesses that were flooded. he says because everyone and he pointed to the media, was expecting a big weather event. >> show a couple of videos of water down the street in margate or avalon or in stone harbor, and you get some folks in the media saying it's worse than sandy. well i got to tell you everybody, i went through it. bit by bit. and there was not a thing about what happened on friday and saturday that even resembled sandy. >> reporter: and the governor said he genuinely wanted to

reach out to the friends and family here in new jersey of the woman who asked the question last night while he was in new ham happen and not in new jersey but she refused to provide any phone numbers. cydney long, "nbc 10 news." >> right now we're tracking rain on the way for tonight but on the bright side the sun didmelt away some of that snow, still going to be wet. let's talk to nbc 10 first alert meteorologist sheena parveen. when should we expect the rain? >> parts of the area have seen it. it's mostly light rain at this point. but here it is moving through, it's mostly north and west of philadelphia and as we go through tonight i think we'll see more showers moving in. trenton is seeing light rain across 295 and that's going to keep moving into new jersey. for parts of chester county across 76 seeing very light showers. so these are light rain showers right now. and really the rain we can expect is all going to move from the southwest part of a cold front. what we can expect is just light rain at this point.

and even overnight. but the important thing to note with these temperatures and the rain action we wanted to be above freezing or it's going to stick. we are well above freezing in the mid-40s. northeast philly, 46 in philadelphia, 46 in trenton and areas where we've seen some light rain we have dropped in fact into the 30s but we're still above freezing. 37 allentown, 39 reading, 39 coatesville, 43 in pottstown, 43 degrees in blue bell so we'll keep our eye on these temperatures closely but as we go through the overnight hours i think most of the rain is going to try to shift into south jersey and delaware where temperatures are still around 50 degrees for part of thor a. so coming up i'll show you a timing on the rain for the rest of tonight and a chance of that for part of the morning commute tomorrow. that's straight ahead. >> thank you. just a minute ago the philadelphia archdiocese says its schools will also open tomorrow. so the philadelphia archdiocese schools open. let's get back to recovery efforts getting all of the streets drivable. we're told 80% of them are

passable. the city hopes to get all of these side streets done by tomorrow night. nbc 10's rosemary connors joins us from east mount airy. the people where you are could use a plow or two. >> reporter: yeah. not one plow truck has come down this street between upsole and clivedawn. they hope the city lives up to the promise this won't look like this come tomorrow night. for some drivers it seems their cars have flattened more snow coming down clivedon than a plow truck. >> i understand it's a big city but people are stuck. we have old people on the block, people who need to go to work and it's like no one came through here at all. >> you know, i got a regular job, so i come out and break my back outside to get out of the snow, then go to work and break my back. where's the break for us. >> reporter: stalled and stuck cars block some of the smaller city streets and that has pose add problem for crews trying to

clear them. >> that's something we're struggling with. parked cars on certain corners, individuals trying to move their car when they shouldn't. >> reporter: 80% of residential roads are passable in philadelphia and that now includes taylor street which finally got plowed this afternoon. >> it's a tiny street here and there's a lot of people parked on the street. close corners. so it's great finally someone is here helping us out. >> reporter: taylor street by the way is in the city's fair mount neighborhood. when we asked the city what their game plan is for the next 24 hours, to make sure all of these streets get cleared, they said we don't have a priority list, every neighborhood is a priority. rosemary connors, "nbc 10 news." >> thank you. across the river in camden today look at this, senator cory booker grabbed a shovel. he helped residents dig out. mitch blacher checking out the roads in camden county nifb in news force 10. where are you now?

>> we're in the city of camden now, we're seeing what we have seen all over camden county. clear streets, snow starting to melt. a little bit of concern that will refreeze and that's really where the views' efforts are, focusings on cleaning up intersections and widening lanes, but for the most part everything has been passable from haddonfield to collins wood to cherry hill. we're talking about more than 100 trucks more than 1400 miles of road all over camden county. that's a 72-hour continuous cleanup effort for this county. where they had a wide ranging snowfall. from 14 to 20 inches of snow fell depending on where you were in camden county. as you can see, the roads pretty clear here in the city of camden. live in news force 10, mitch blacher, "nbc 10 news." >> speaking of fears of refreezing, freezing rain led to this, pileups on i-78 in berks county this morning. the weather caused 11 accidents

in 15 minutes. sky force 10 was above the scene. the crash stretched from tilden to bethel and greenwich townships. the closed access meant drivers were stuck for hours while state police struggled to get to the scene. we can report no one got hurt. >> in pennsylvania now a look at a front-end loader clearing the snow away in king of prussia, 76 westbound near route 202. sky force 10 can give you a view of what areas need help. nbc 10's randy gyllenhaal joins us. how do the roads look there? >> reporter: as you mentioned, some of the side streets are still filled with snow, we've been following this crew, two front-end loaders in north philly, making good problem. if we zoom out you can see this park on the right where they are dumping all of this snow, piled high in this park here. they have gotten pretty good

progress on this road. let's zoom up you can see the road is clearing, this will be good for school buses and you can see how narrow it is. because schools are open tomorrow the buses have to make it down these really narrow side streets. you can see the suv barely making it. the side streets are slowly getting cleared. they have about 900 miles of residential streets they have to get to. at this point they have gotten to about 80% of them. with school open tomorrow the buss have to pick up kids in these neighborhoods. they don't want the streets filled with snow. they might be slippery. though the plows and the front-end loaders are here that could refreeze and we're watching this guy blocking the way of some of these plows, so if you see them in the neighborhood tonight, give them space. let them through because they are working to get all of that snow out so all of you can get to work and school. we're live in sky force 10 over north philadelphia, randy gyllenhaal, "nbc 10 news." >> coming up next, atlantic city

dealt a new hand to avoid bankruptcy. how the state plans to take over the jersey shore town. plus, new video in, a truck explodes. it damages homes. >> and we have showers around coming up i'll show you where they are heading and if they will linger into your morning will see below freezing.

you're looking at new viewer video of the moment a garbage truck exploded in hamilton township mercer county. you can see the smoke and flame shooting into the air. we're told the truck runs on natural gas. one of the gas tanks blew up. after a battery caught fire. the damage to two homes. police evacuated several of those homes as a precaution. no one was hurt. >> the state is set to take over atlantic city. new jersey governor christie made that announcement this afternoon. he was joined by mayor don guardy and who originally opposed the takeover but now says he will accept the state's

help. >> we like being a cash cow. we like being an atm for the state. we want to continue to do that. we're not dead we're just wounded. >> a takeover bill that was introduced will be amended to include a financial assistance package that if you recall the governor had previously vetoed. christie called for the bill to be passed before the end of february and promised to sign it. the takeover would last five years. >> a passenger waiting for a train this morning was attacked at suburban station. someone hit the man in the head with a pipe wrench around 6:00, police quickly took the suspect into custody. the victim is in the hospital. officers haven't figured out why he was attacked in the first place. police in allentown are investigating the murder of a 16-year-old boy last night. he was shot around 9:30 on ridge avenue. so far no arrests. today congressman chaka

fattah's lawyers told the judge quote they want out. the attorneys say fattah stopped paying his bill and the firm is too small to not be paid. the congressman told the judge he focused on fund raise forge re-election and will deal with his defense fund after the april election. the judge advised him to take his case seriously and re-evaluate his priorities. the congressman hopes to hire a larger law firm able to work with his financial?situation. the trial is scheduled to begin may 2. the judge did not rule on the issue today and noted that the decision date was set. the congressman is married to renee chenault-fattah. she is on leave from the station. >> back to the storm recovery, agents at the philly 311 call center say they answered 24,000 phone calls with their questions and requests, since friday night. officials say that is eight times higher than the normal call volume. the center has had extended hours since the blizzard moved into the area and about 6,000

requests came through social media. one of the most popular questions during this blizzard, can i report a property owner for not clearing snow or ice from their sidewalk? it's a good one. here is what 311 agents say. property owners must clear a path at least three feet wide on their sidewalk within six hours of a snow emergency. you can report a violation to 311 and the streets department will investigate within one business day. it may decide to issue violations to owner who is have not cleared the sidewalks as required by city code. you can read all of the 311 top five questions and requests go to nbc10.com or the nbc 10 app. still a lot of snow to remove. tonight we'll deal with rain. could make things icy out there, sheena. >> yeah, keith, rain that falls and freezes overnight we'll see the icy spots and the snowmelt from today too. that's going to create more icy spots. we're tracking showers, most of these on the light side.

here is a live look at blue mountain. a lot enjoying the fresh snow. the showers are not in the poconos but mostly north and west of philadelphia and eventually will move into south jersey and delaware. the ice threat is going to continue the rest of this week with melting during the day and freezing later on at night. as we go into the weekend though it's going to get milder so we're going to be around 50 with a weather pattern change as we go into the end of the weekend. we'll talk about that in a minute. right now a look at the radar, some light showers and these are very light, it's rain through chester county, moving up toward philadelphia, and we have more approaching the area from the washington area and points south and west of that. i'll show you that in a second. the temperatures are really important here with this rain falling. everyone is still above freezing right now. westchester at 44 degrees, pottstown 43, 39 in lancaster and reading, 37 in allentown but we're not seeing the rain in allentown now. that has pushed closer to the philadelphia area, where temperatures are at 46 degrees. 47 in bensalem and mount holly,

46 wilmington, 50 in millville, 45 degrees right now in dover. so, as we go through tonight we'll have more showers around, temperatures will be staying just above freezing i think as we go through most of the night at least through the philadelphia area. north and west that's where we'll drop below freezing first. the rain should be pushing into south jersey and delaware. can't rule it out in the lehigh valley so watching that closely. at this point we have very light rain moving toward westchester but again these areas are seeing temperatures well above freezing still. so not freezing on the roads now. washington seeing that rain moving in our direction, this mostly light rain too. i think as we go through tonight not a lot of moisture in our area to deal with, but anything will be on the lighter side with that rain shower moving in. future weather, so overnight we keep the rain in the forecast, this is 10:00 p.m. now how it's shifts into south jersey and delaware. we'll be watching these temperatures but most of south

jersey and delaware will be above freezing. 5:00 a.m. tomorrow a chance some of this could approach the i-95 corridor still, temperatures right around freezing so again, something to watch closely because then that would be freezing on the roads. 2:00 in the afternoon the rain moves out, temperatures around 40, more melting occurring, then later tomorrow night we're back down in the 20s, with more freezing occurring. now, we are still going to be chilly as we go through the weekend. then we see the jet stream move to the north, that's where we get the pattern change coming. just in time for the end of the weekend and early next week. temperatures will start to near 50 degrees again so even more melting across the area. tonight scattered rain showers, a chance of a mix very late tonight, temperatures staying below freezing, then tomorrow a chance of an early mix south mainly new jersey and delaware, we'll be watching that closely but shouldn't be anything heavy. 42 for the high wednesday with more melting, chance of flurries on thursday and we're dry but getting milder into the weekend. >> i'm john from comcast

sportsnet. preparation for the eagles, we'll tell you where. the sixers showing off their new home across the river. all of that coming up next. for the girl scout meeting... okay. for the soccer team... for the girl scout meeting... how many meetings are you having?!

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two teams focused on the super bowl, the other 30 are dialed in to the senior bowl. with draft preparations under way this week in mobile, alabama, eagles new regime is on duty. doug pederson is skouth out the action along with offensive coordinator and the defensive coordinator jim schwartz. howie rosemund also attending.

we hope to hear from pederson tomorrow. times are tight but not for eagles tight ends. brent celek has received a 3-year restructured extension worth $13 million. presumably the revised contract will provide cap relief for next season. >> the sixers host the suns tonight. that's not the only thing they are battling. okafor is out for two games with a virus. sampson with a respiratory infection. sixers have a peek into the training facility in camden, new jersey. the facility expected to be the largest in the nba and it will house all of the sixers offices. they hope to be in some time in the fall. hockey, the flyers see the washington capitals for the first time tomorrow and no one in the league has been excited about that. alex ovechkin and the capitals are running away in the east. they lead the conference by a whopping 12 points, and the metro division by 14.

the caps rank first at goals, goals against and power play percentage, ovechkin continues to be a terror and the flyers know what's in store. >> they are having a pretty good season. they have a lot of offensive players and their goalie is pretty good too. so they have a complete team. it's going to be a good test for us to see before the all-star break here where we stand. >> that is sports. of we'll be right back.

wonder how the hundreds of animals at the philadelphia zoo hold up? zoo officials say actually some are loving it. the zoo's polar bear, panda cub can't get enough of this. for the warmer climate animals they are kept inside to keep warm until spring arrives. cute. for all of us here i'm keith

jones. thank you for watching. the news continues with "nbc nightly news." tonight, unstoppable. ted cruz's dire warning about donald trump as the front-runner surges and nabs major endorsements just six days until iowa. cliffhanger. evacuations under way with an entire community on edge tumbling into the sea. a state of emergency as el nino unleashes its wrath on the california coast. where's the response? nbc news has learned amid the toxic water crisis in flint, no pipes are being replaced. we ask the governor why not. warning signs for pregnant women and mothers of newborns. a big announcement from doctors about diagnosing depression. and remembering abe vigoda. sadly this time it's for real. from "the godfather" to "barney miller," the legendary actor is