♪ ♪ people all around the world ♪ join hands ♪ it's called a love train it was a party on the parkway. music legends shared a stage, making philly's 4th of july celebration one to remember. good evening and happy fourth. i'm keith jones. we'll bring you all the highlights in just a moment. we begin with what could likely be a messy morning commute. we're about to see just how much rain. and some of it could lead to flooding. this is what it was like driving on route 202 on north wilmington, newcastle county. you can see the windshield wipers on the right side work

pretty hard. as you can see on the nbc 10 first alert radar on the left the worst of the rain isn't even here yet. chief meteorologist glenn hurricane schwartz has our first alert forecast. >> the first wave of the rain is just about past the philadelphia area, as you can see. it's generally dryer back across delaware and maryland. but that is not going to be the end of the rain. you can see we're getting some heavy rain heading toward doylestown area. another batch of heavy rain on long beach island near ship bottom. another batch coming right into allentown right now. up in the northeast extension of the turnpike. and yes, there's more. back to the west. as you can see, west virginia and into kentucky, that's some of the heaviest activity that's going to be coming in in the next several hours. that's why we have first alert for all but the lehigh valley and burks county. that is from 3:00 to 9:00 a.m. because that rain's going to be

heavy at times. we've got a threat of flash flooding in parts of the area. as you can see in the future cass hour by hour we've got more waves of rain, some of it on the heavier side. if you think it's been heavy this evening, some of this is going to be heaviest, four to five to 6:00 a.m. and then it starts to move out. so we're going to see dramatic improvement in the weather conditions as we go through the morning. as we go through the night tonight, we're going to see more in the way of showers, thunderstorms. wilmington, atlantic city. and then in the morning that's when it's going to be the worst. 5:00, 6:00, 7:00. but then things are going to change dramatically through the day. we'll get into that hour by hour in a few minutes. >> looking forward to that, glenn. in the meantime on top of all that rain isn't the only problem you can expect during your commute. septa's worried about delays so massive you'll want to find another way to work tomorrow. the problem is with regional rail. a third of the rail cars are out

of commission. nbc 10's randy jalen haul shows us how to get around the mess and why you could see an impact even if you drive to work. >> reporter: remove 120 train cars, subtract 13,000 seats, and you end up with a frantdic and confusing tuesday morning rush hour. >> it's a lot more rush and probably longer than an hour. >> reporter: emmett goodman boyd is a college student in montgomery county. he's expecting to see packed trains shoulder to shoulder getting cozy on your morning commute. >> maybe strike up a conversation, you know, or just like listen to some good music and zone out. >> reporter: septa warns some trains will be so full they'll have to skip stations closer to the city. >> going to have a hard time ghaith seat on the train. >> reporter: and if possible arrive early. a modified schedule is on septa's website. in some cases trains will only come every hour. >> losing 13,000 seats is quite substantial. so we want to get the message out there to be flexible with

your time. >> there are alternatives like buses and trolleys, but the spillover could also affect the highways. it's possible the schuylkill expressway gets even more clogged. and septa tells nbc 10 this squeeze could last till the end of summer as they work to replace and repair cracked steel beams that are causing a regionwide headache. >> commuting this summer, getting into town on septa's going to be very tough. >> be patient. septa will get you there. >> reporter: if you live closer to center city, consider taking a taxi or an uber or even one of the subway lines. septa has put those modified schedules on their website, and we will link to them on ours. at contrahawken station randy gyllenhaal news. this cracking problem is plaguing nearly a third of septa's rail cars. it's a pretty serious issue. officials say the problem lies with small cracks which were found under nearly every silver liner five rail car on a steel beam that's used to keep the car balanced. septa says it's unclear if it's

a design flaw or problem that occurred in the manufacturing process. ♪ beautiful view there. the skies over the art museum lit up tonight, putting a bow on wawa welcome america's fourth of july celebration. ♪ ♪ take me to the river ♪ >> earlier tonight a raw and soulful performance from leon bridges at the july 4th concert on the parkway. the singer-songwriter performed "river" for the crowd. ♪ ♪ me and mrs. ♪ mrs. jones, mrs. jones ♪ mrs. jones ♪ we got a thing >> that's a great song, too. big name to take the stage

tonight. "hamilton's" leslie odom jr. the philly native performed several songs including this cover of "me and mrs. jones." it's a song written by philly's own gamble and huff. what an incredible 4th of july in the cradle of liberty, right? tonight we have live team coverage from the city all the which to the shore. we begin with nbc 10's brandon hodgson live along the ben franklin parkway where thousands of people came to celebrate for wawa welcome america. you had a great spot there too, brandon. >> hey, keith, this is what the aftermath of america's birthday party looks like. you can see behind me and see what the parkway looks like behind me. very empty. but there are street department crews. the street sweeper rolled through. then gates that need to be picked up as well as trash that needs to be thrown away or recycled. despite the rain a lot of people did not let that stop them from celebrating their independence day. the rain didn't dampen the spirits of the thousands who

came for the wawa welcome america concert on the ben franklin parkway. of the people who stayed, they tried to stay dry. like the jawahar family who bought ponchos from a vendor. >> we're from delaware, and the fireworks were canceled when we were there because of the weather. >> reporter: others had umbrellas like chrissy brown and her friends. >> my mom told me to bring it. she knew it was good. >> i don't like the rain but i'm still having fun. >> reporter: maya wayne says she came to see philadelphia native yaz the greatest perform. ♪ this year's concert featured a mix of new school acts. ♪ old school performers like the o'jays. ♪ and leon bridges, a new name with a familiar sound this year's concert paid tribute to the sounds of philadelphia music legends gamble and huff. while most people tried to get close to the stage, we saw don

coluluse who drove in from north jersey sitting five blocks away, waiting for the fireworks. >> there's one thing i wanted to see, is the philadelphia on the 4th of july. >> reporter: as you may or may not have seen in those fireworks, they're a little foggy because of the rain. taking a live look now again at the parkway, some of these intersections are actually open and you see that some of these street department crews are actually making some quick work. so the parkway can be opened bright and early tomorrow morning. live along the ben franklin parkway, i'm brandon hudson, nbc 10 news. ♪ people always ask me what a time to be in our area. we also heard some music star power down the shore. tim mcgraw entertained thousands of people down at wildwood. further up the coast, though, fireworks show just wrapped up despite that bad weather. nbc 10's drew smith is on the ocean city boardwalk.

>> reporter: there was still a pretty good crowd out here on the beach tonight but less than normal because of all of the rain. but a lot of people said they wouldn't miss celebrating the 4th of july down here on the shore. the conditions weren't ideal off ocean city, but the show went on as planned tonight. down in the wildwoods organizers chose to save the pyrotechnics for a clearer day. >> unfortunately, we had to cancel the fireworks for this evening, which is a bummer, because we were really looking forward to doing that. >> reporter: most of the 35,000 people with tickets to this concert on the beach did show up wearing the kind of patriotic outfits you only see at a country show. >> great music. fun times. >> reporter: some fans who drove from several states away say it was worth it to see hunter hayes. ♪ and among ponchos and a sea of umbrellas tim mcgraw playing as

the rain poured down. ♪ >> and i love coming up here to wildwood. >> reporter: a big guitar sand sculpture thanked america's veterans. and a percentage of the concert proceeds are going to veterans' organizations. >> i love how patriotic everybody gets. i mean, everybody's go america, and that's the best. honestly, especially when you serve in the military. it's great to see that. >> reporter: if there was a bright side to the weather, it's that some people decided to head home early. so the traffic may be a little less intense on the way home tonight. in ocean city i'm drew smith, nbc 10 news. we'll take a right-hand turn now to decision 2016. speculation now growing tonight over who donald trump will pick as his running mate. today the presumptive republican nominee met with gop rising star iowa senator joni ernst. this after he spent some time with indiana governor mike pence over the weekend. former house speaker newt gingrich and new jersey governor chris christie are also rumored to be on trump's short list. trump is also dealing with more fallout from a tweet he sent out

over the weekend, criticizing hillary clinton. it features what appears to be a star of david over a pile of money. that same image had appeared before on an account that promotes racist imagery. today trump blamed a "dishonest media for the controversy" and said it could be seen as a sheriff's star. but clinton's campaign called it blatantly anti-semitic. tomorrow both candidates hit the campaign trail in north carolina. trump will be in raleigh while clinton will team up for her first campaign appearance with president obama since he endorsed her last month. they'll be in charlotte. clinton will then head to atlantic city on wednesday, where she'll make the case trump is unfit to be president based on his business dealings there down the shore. meanwhile, two women say they fought off a man trying to kidnap them in a pair of incidents in newark. officers were called to the main towers apartments. that's around 3:30 this morning. a woman says she escaped a man who tried abducting her as she walked into her apartment.

investigators believe that same man tried kidnapping another woman late last night outside the nearby colonial apartments. police say he tried to put a rag with an unknown chemical around her mouth. that woman also says he got away. tonight we're tracking heavy rain that could cause havoc on your morning commute. take a look at the conditions in south philly. you can see pretty wet night there around citizens bank ballpark. andrea. >> well, this rain has forced a number of cities to postpone its fireworks show but not here in camden. we're going to take you to their celebration that also included a grammy award-winning artist. that story is coming up. glenn? and i'll tell you what to expect in the morning and when things are going to improve. i'm also tracking a heat wave. in my nbc 10 first alert neighborhood forecast. plus, it is a 4th of july tradition. the nathan's hot dog eating contest. find out just how many franks you'd have to eat to become top dog. you will not believe it, folks.

♪ ♪ you're so beautiful yazz the greatest had his fans dancing in the aisles in the ben franklin parkway with his performance of "you're so beautiful" at the wawa welcome america concert july 4th. ♪ and soul legends the intruders close the down their set with a performance of their hit "i'll always love my mama." jumping across the river in camden, caused some delays there, the rain, and some changes as well to the city's 4th of july celebration. fireworks did light up the sky but the show went on a little earlier than originally scheduled. nbc 10's aundrae klein thomas.

some cities had to postpone their fireworks to another day entirely. >> reporter: cities like connellwood and vineland. that's not the case here in camden. where organizers say the celebration should happen on the nation's birthday rain or shine. the rain started at camden's waterfront freedom festival before headliner michael mcdonald hit the stage. but kevin and sheeran flowers were prepared. >> we were out here last monday and it rained like crazy. and we sat out and enjoyed the concert but we only had one umbrella. this time we were prepared for two. >> reporter: not far away -- >> you don't have an umbrella or anything? >> no, nothing. we're just here getting wet. >> reporter: john klatt still wouldn't budge. >> we're hanging out because it could pour. i'm going to stay here. >> i'm not afraid of a little bit of water. we're not going nowhere till we

see michael mcdonald. >> reporter: grammy award winner michael mcdonald was a big draw for many who have followed his career for decades. the rain forced organizers to move mcdonald's performance and the fireworks 30 minutes earlier, but they say there was never discussion about postponing any part of the celebration. >> you celebrate the 4th on the 4th, and that's what we're going to do. ♪ >> reporter: and despite the rain the show went on as planned. >> you are soaking wet. was it worth it? >> yes, it was. it was great. >> reporter: and as you can see, it's still raining out here and organizers say that definitely impacted attendance. not as many people showed up when compared to prior years. but still they sigh thousands of people stuck around for the show. reporting live in camden, aundrea klein thomas, nbc 10 news. >> it seems like the people that showed up did enjoy themselves. >> yeah, they had a good time. let's take a look at the conditions right now down the shore.

this is our live cape may camera. that's from the marquee delafayette hotel. you can see it's a pretty wet night. water on the roadways. let's bring in chief meteorologist glenn hurricane schwartz with our nbc 10 first alert neighborhood weather. there are some flooding concerns at least in the morning, right, glenn? >> yeah, we've had a good bit of rain in the evening hours. get a bit of a break from philadelphia westward. nothing more than some sprinkles. but there's a lot more on the way. as you can see back in maryland, we've got some heavier showers, now north of washington. we've got another batch in west virginia. another batch back here in west virginia, farther west in west virginia. there's more to come. as we go through the night tonight, hour by hour, you can see waves of rain not so much in the lehigh valley. that's why we don't have a first alert out for lehigh valley at burks county. but there are more patches of heavy rain coming through. but watch how quickly it moves out of here in the morning. by 10:00 a.m. it's gone.

there still could be some flooding around from the previous rain. but the rain itself is over. so the first alert is at the lehigh valley, burks county, from 3:00 to 9:00 a.m. it's not for all day tomorrow, and that's because of the flood threat with that heavy rain at times, one with some more thunderstorms. we've got computer models that are showing the heaviest rain just south of philadelphia, and into south jersey. 1 to 1 1/2 inches. some places, though, with over two. as you can see, carney's point, 2 1/2 with this model. newcastle with 2. swedesboro between 2 and 3. near 1 up in philly. so that's a lot of rain in just a matter of hours. cherry hill a little over 1. voorhees about 2 1/2. lesser amounts as you go farther south in delaware. so at 7:00 a.m. it's raining pretty much everywhere. we've got some thunderstorms in

atlantic city. by 9:00 a.m. we've got a lot of places drying out. not clearing out yet. still storms in atlantic city. by 11:00 a.m. none of the areas, as you can see, seeing any rain. 1:00 we're starting to warm up into the 80s. and it's still going to be humid. and now we're close to 90 in the afternoon. so what a change from the morning rain to the afternoon heat. and watch what happens over five days here. wednesday it's 96 in philadelphia. then 97. 97, 95. that's with high humidity. it's going to feel like it's over 100. most of those days we could get into some physical danger here. certainly relief at the shore. some thunderstorms during the afternoons, especially in the inland areas. but that is clearly the hottest week so far this summer. and we'll be right back. ♪

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♪ ♪ if you don't know me by now ♪ you will never, never, never know me ♪ >> sounds from the wawa welcome america july 4th concert. harold melvin's blue notes came right out of the gates with the hit song "if you don't know me by now." 4th of july full of traditions. this next one, though, there's nothing more nauseating -- let me just say that. it's the nathan's hot dog eating contest. this year marks the 100th anniversary of the contest. it's new york city's coney island. joey chestnut was top of his class. listen to this. he downed a record 70 hot dogs in ten minutes to take home the

mustard belt. it was chestnut's ninth nathan's hot dog title in the last ten years. we're showing you the streamers, celebrating and not him eating a hot dog every nine seconds. sports is next. we'll be right back.

>> announcer: this is sports desk, brought to you by xfinity. x-1 from xfinity will change the way you experience tv. hi, i'm ron burke from comcast sportsnet. the sixers' first overall draft pick ben simmons played his first game as a pro tonight against the celtics in the utah summer league. second quarter's where we find simmons making his first bucket from the field. the short jump shot. he was only 2 of 9 shooting from the floor. off a celtics miss he pulled the rebound. great passer at lsu and that's showing up tonight. nowawu on the break for the lay-in.

simmons' other basket a dunk. part of his ten-point, eight-rebound, five-assist night. and unfortunately he left this game early in the fourth quarter with multiple cramps. goes to the floor here grabbing both calves. he will not play tomorrow against the spurs. it's a 5:00 p.m. game on the comcast network. here's simmons' description of what happened. >> it happened in the third quarter. came out, tried to fix it. a lot of fluids. and then tried again. obviously got to the rim and then soon as i exploded to the rim that's when it kind of kicked in. >> what's the biggest thing you think you learned tonight? >> drink fluids. you've got to keep the fluids going. that's the worst i've ever cramped. i'm definitely going to stay on that. >> stay hydrated. the phillies, meantime, got good starting pitching from jared ikeoff and had their biggest offensive inning of the season today against the visiting braves. pick it up bottom of the second phillies tee off against de la cruz. herrera with his tenth home run of the season. two-run blast making it 5-1.

three batters later franka with his 14th. the phillies score a season-high seven runs in the seventh inning. just the second phils pitcher to reach the eighth inning this season. the phillies win it 8-2. here's eickhoff on the defensive backup. >> definitely a good feeling but it comes with responsibility. i try to stay within myself and not change what i do. i think for the most part i was able to do that. >> i can't complain about the hitting anymore. these guys, the hitting continues. it's great to see. i believe our first eight hits were extra bases hits. i don't know if that's a record. it's got to be close. >> the phillies hitting a league-best .351 in their last 13 games. that's sports. we'll be right back.

that's nbc 10 news at 11:00. i'm keith jones. from glenn and all of us here at nbc 10, thank you so much for watching. hope you had a great 4th of july. "the tonight show starring jimmy fallon's" next. one last look at the fireworks from wawa welcome america. ♪ america ♪ my home sweet home [ cheers and applause ] ♪ >> steve: from studio 6b in rockefeller center in the heart of new york city, it's "the tonight show starring jimmy fallon." tonight, join jimmy and his guests -- adam sandler, karlie kloss,