paralyzed after a crash talk about their heartbreak. >> a bizarre alert in hillsboro county. what deputies say this man did to two female real estate agents. >> and more proof tonight that building inspectors are overloaded. 8 on your side pushes hillsboro county for answers. good evening. i'm keith cate. >> and i'm jennifer leigh. thank you for joining us tonight. we begin with a potentially crippling winter blast hit had gone the eastern u.s. a live look right now at our nation's capital, dc is in the cross hairs. residents are expecting as much as 30 inches or more of snowfall to fall during this storm. >> and now let's take a live look at pennsylvania. a lot of drivers braving the conditions. we'll give them the benefit of the doubt. we'll say these are work crews spreading ice. but still, some areas are expecting to see as much as 3 feet of snow. at biltmore park, north carolina, the snow is really starting to accumulate on the roadways. pretty desolate-looking scene there. and much of the east coast already getting whacked by this dangerous winter storm.

the video from the winter blast, already incredible. josh benson joining us now with more. >> reporter: yes, it's a wild state. states of emergency have been declared up and down the east coast. take a look at weather conditions in roanoke, virginia. the blizzard warnings affect some 30 million people from baltimore to philadelphia and to new york. residents in these areas are urged to just stay home. a slippery slope from tennessee to the carolinas, devastating snow, sleet and freezing rain. >> brakes locked up and i slid right into the back of their car. >> reporter: this car even catching fire. the driver revving the engine after being caught in a snow drift. here in charlotte, the storm started after midnight. the morning commute, treacherous. at this emergency command center, all hands on deck after six weather-related deaths in north carolina alone. statewide, about 1000 crashes. take a look from the air. you can see the snow, but it's the ice underneath that's so dangerous.

off power to thousands. a state of emergency coming at a crucial time. the carolina panthers shoveling snow off the field before practice today, the nfc championship game still set for sunday here, but a major pep rally for the team, canceled. tonight, a warning from the governor. >> stay off the roads. if you don't need to be on the roads, spend some time with your family. >> reporter: lot of warnings tonight. take a look at this picture. do you know what it is? it's the white house, believe it or not. there's that much snow. you can barely see it. this will be the scene for a couple of days now. consistently. we'll keep a close eye on the storm, as all the video and the pictures come in, we'll share it with you on-air and online at wfla.com. back to you. >> like a puzzle, finding the white house. the storm is not expected to let up any time soon. chief meteorologist steve jerve

the severe thunderstorm watch that was in effect for this morning, part of the early afternoon, those showers raced through here at 35 miles per hour, did have some local gusts. you can see right now some clouds continue across the area movement. clouds rolling in, strato cumulus and very light rain. these are little light showers throughout the overnight period and possibly the early part of the day. but kind of a good bank of clouds for tomorrow with that changing wind out of the west- northwest. snow continues new york, washington, dc, all the way down through northern virginia. computer models estimate over a couple of feet possible, he welch west of dc. rain continues. cold front is clear of the state. we're working a cooler and breezy northwest to westerly wind into the area. estimates from snowfall additional, now through sunday morning, you can see maybe a couple of feet there in the bright green, rather a foot in the bright green. red would be 2 feet. 30-plus inches in the pink area there, all the way up into the northeast. folks are going to be digging

for us, we'll be dealing with a cooler weekend, talk about a warmup later on. >> steve, thank you very much. this winter blast is causing a lot of delays and cancellations. in fact, more than 7000 cancellations nationwide. at tampa international, airlines are halting flights into certain cities, translating into travel headaches for people heading to many places along the east coast and the upper midwest. and if you or someone you know is heading into this storm, you'll want to make sure to check out wfla.com. our web team has put together a list of what you need to know before you head to the airport. and here in the bay area, strong thunderstorms sent a tree crashing through a home on san juan street in south tampa. the owners were stunned to see it when they came home. sort of looked like a fat finger from a live oak tree poked its way through the shingles, attic, right down into the living room. no one was home when the tree came through. the work is already under way to fix it. a story now you'll only see on newschannel 8. their son

with a pinellas county deputy. now, a st. petersburg family is opening up about this tragedy for the very first time. surveillance video caught the moment his life changed forever. he was riding his motorcycle home from work on a dinner break, having no idea that in the next few seconds, he would endure a horrible life-altering impact. paul mueller spoke with the family and joins us now, live from bayfront in st. petersburg. paul, i can't even begin to imagine all that this family is going through right now. >> reporter: you know, jen, so much pain, such an emotional interview here today. their only son here at bayfront tonight. doctors say he will be paralyzed for life and no one knows for sure just how long he's going to be here. 20-year-old eli barry in the prime of his young life. kayaking. mountain biking, anything to do with the outdoors. that is until the accident.

said your son is never going to walk again. >> reporter: the crash caught on camera, showing a pinellas county sheriff's corporal joe minor pulls out into the middle of mlk. eli with, no time to come to a complete stop, rushed to bayfront. ever since, the family at his bedside. >> i love you, and we'll get through this. and you could see him want to start crying. >> reporter: his mother remembering that fateful morning well. eli called her, saying let's go for a walk. >> i didn't know that could be the last time we might be walking together. >> reporter: since then, the sheriff's office has taken full responsibility, offering the family the maximum liability, $200,000. not enough to take care of eli for the rest of his life. >> but when it comes down to it, i have to protect what's right for my son. >> reporter: his youngest

eli, and his dream of being an elite soldier. >> that's all he wanted to do, was serve his country, and i think it's going to break his heart that he can't. >> the deputy, do you ever think you could forgive him? >> that's why i'm able to say i don't want to live with that burden. >> reporter: for now, the and each other. >> that's in god's hands and in eli's hands. eli's a pretty determined kid. >> reporter: back live here in pinellas county tonight, the family has hired a lawyer. they have not taken that check from the sheriff. but the sheriff telling me tonight he will do whatever it takes to help them out. meantime, we've put information on our website, if you would like to help with medical >> remarkable family. we certainly appreciate them sharing their story with us in a time of incredible grief. paul mueller, thank you.

people for stealing personal information from those ebt food stamp cards belonging to other people. the investigation began nearly a year ago when a polk county sheriffs detective investigated a credit card fraud case in dundee. in the process, a much larger scheme involving fraudulent food stamps was uncovered. all nine people are charged with fraud and identity theft. and four people are dead in what's being described as the worst canada school shooting in a decade. it happened in a remote part of saskatchewan at a school complex that houses 900 students from prekindergarten to 12th grade. two other victims are in critical condition tonight. a male suspect is in custody. it is still unclear what motivated him to commit that shooting. an 8 on your side warning for real estate agents in the bay area tonight. be on the lookout for this guy. hillsboro county deputies say on several occasions he's gotten a little too friendly with real estate agents. in one case, he's accused of rubbing his groin on the

8 on your side has the details, disturbing details on this case. jamel? >> reporter: jen, disturbing, indeed. these women were alone when they were showing these houses, right in this subdivision here behind me. this person, detectives say, would show up to this opening, like any other interested buyer, get in their personal space, and that's when he would make his move. detectives want to talk to this guy. he's accused of getting a little too close with at least two real estate sales agents in the bay area. >> we received a written alert on our next door neighbor app, saying have you seen this guy? >> reporter: dana reece-black lives in one of the neighborhoods where the man showed up to an open house last monday. detectives say he pulled the agent close while shaking her compliments. later, he rubbed his groin area over her hand while she showed him maps. he's also accused of doing something similar to another agent earlier this week. in both cases, the women were

>> you do think about the realtors and the sales people out there with these home builders. they are kind of out by themselves. you would think that and hope that people would be better than that today. >> if i'm in a house with a 200- pound attacker, doesn't matter how many classes i've taken, i would be in a better situation if i wasn't. >> reporter: sales agent nicole reagan takes certain safety precautions. >> first of all, i would make sure i met with the buyer at my office first and made a copy of their driver's license or other identification. i would let someone know where would be back. >> reporter: she tries not to meet a client unless they are prequalified. >> i don't think anyone up to something bad would give all of lender. so it's a deterrent for crime. >> reporter: detectives are still looking for this man. they say he is driving a four- door dark-colored vehicle resembling a toyota prius, and he has an out-of-state tag, possibly from virginia. that's the latest here in river

still to come tonight, it has happened again. 8 on your side has the documents to prove it. >> coming up next, senior investigator steve andrews shows us how building inspectors continue to be overworked in hillsboro county. >> and concerns over the zika virus are growing. where the cdc now says pregnant women should not travel to. >> and a live look right now at the campus of virginia tech. look at that. makes you appreciate life here

an 8 on your side investigation. building inspector overload. hillsboro county admits to a work overload. 80 inspections in one day? evidence tonight hillsboro county continues overloading its inspectors. logs show six different inspectors assigned 50, 60, even 70 inspections apiece. today, the county agreed to sit down and explain itself. the senior investigative reporter steve andrews has the story. >> reporter: jen, hillsboro county's building official claims he is confident that his inspectors are concentrating on quality, not quantity. as homes and buildings go up in hillsboro county, so, too, do the number of inspections assigned to county building inspectors. >> we're actually at an all- time high. yesterday, we had 1700 inspection requests, which has been one of the highest numbers in a long time. >> reporter: that translates into quite a load. these inspection logs obtained by 8 on your side show 75

two building inspectors, 81 the day before. building official mike romaldi. >> with safety and quality being most important, i don't expect anyone to get 81. i'm not going to ding them on the evaluation and say you didn't get all 81 done. you're out of here. i'm not going to do that. >> reporter: while job openings remained unfilled, the building department has blown through its overtime budget to meet first quarter demand for inspections. the work load sent some inspectors to transfer. >> there was a lot of stress. >> reporter: buckley told us he saw no end to the work load. he worried about what he might inspections. >> i was assigned one day 91 inspections. >> reporter: development services director told county commissioners that wasn't true. in this july letter, he wrote buckley's allegation of 91 inspections was not substantiateiated by the facts. >> has any inspector been assigned more than 80

of. >> reporter: with 80-plus inspections assigned to a building inspector just this week, it is gormley's response that is no longer substantiated by the facts. building officials tell me the county is responding to demands of the building industry, which in turn is creating that high inspection load. >> okay, but so if someone is finally admitting there is a problem with the work load, that it's just really heavy, why don't they just hire more people and make it all more manageable? >> it's tricky. the building department is primarily funded with building fees. hillsboro has reduced those fees by about 70% to. to raise them would take county commission approval, but would also mean getting the builders association on board, which is a powerful lobby. not sure they want to increase building fees. >> money. it's all about the money. >> there you go. >> thank you, steve. appreciate it. >> you bet. an 8 on your side health alert tonight. the cdc has expanded its list of countries they believe

visit because of that zika virus. more than 20 countries are now on the list, including brazil, ecuador, mexico, and puerto rico. these countries are dealing with a mosquito-borne virus. the virus can be dangerous to unborn babies. . well, headed out to the parade tomorrow, the extravaganza for kids at 11:00 a.m. 53 degrees, cloudy, sprinkles possible, generally before noon. 55 degrees. not a big warmup in the afternoon, although we'll likely see a little more sunshine. eight-day forecast here, 71 today. it wasn't that nice. not really. we did have quite a few showers and severe thunderstorm watch. 55 degrees for saturday. sunday, warming back up to 68 degrees. beautiful day on monday. as we get into wednesday, another round of rain. then temperatures fall off once

you can see the kite boarder. beautiful shots on a nice sunsets the past couple of nights with the clouds in the sky. still getting nice colors to the sky. rain chances are slight overnight. i'll show you the radar. there's a few rolling in here from the west, very light stuff overall. enough to put a few drops on the windshield. 50 degrees at 7:00 a.m. you can see they let up toward the second half of the day tomorrow, very light chance of showers early in the day. look at the temps. they don't warm up too much in the afternoon, so bring a jacket. 61 degrees in tampa. 64 in venice. 55 inverness. current winds are strong, directly from the west at the moment. 17 mile-per-hour sustained in tampa. clearwater, 18. st. pete, 14 miles per hour. but gusts all over 20 miles per hour out to lakeland, plant city, lake placid at 13 mile- per-hour gusts. it's going to stay breezy overnight and through the day on saturday. gale force winds for mariners, not a good boating day tomorrow. area of low pressure, nor'easter dragging all of that

it's not extreme cold by any means. we're talking 20s, but still must have to pile up the snow in places like dc, eventually southern pennsylvania, even over to pittsburgh. you can see new york city starting to see some of that snow. northern and western virginia, west virginia, and also high pressure back to the west helping to bring in that strong pressure gradient. stronger northwest and westerly wind, as we're clearing seeing now. cold front is essentially east of the florida peninsula, but we are picking up a few light showers that you see on doppler radar. maybe even a little more substantial rain mixed in here. not a big deal. these are not thunderstorms, just passing light showers. rpm forecast model in the early morning hours keeps up that trend. these blobs are exaggerated because of the grid here. you get the idea. you saw the radar. they will continue to move quickly from west to east. notice these lines close together, tightly packed, isobars indicating a strong -- when they are tighter together, a stronger wind and wind direction from the north. that's a northerly flow to the south. clearing skies in the afternoon. very windy. same for sunday. lots of sunshine, but still

windy certainly on sunday with very dense air. 50 degrees to start the day. partly to mostly cloudy, maybe a few sprinkles in the afternoon. 55 degrees, big warmup. normal high, about 71, so this is cold for us here in florida, in case you're watching in a hotel room shaking your head. 68 degrees for monday, that's sunshine. nice day there. tuesday, temperatures in the low 70s. wednesday. same kind of routine. another storm system. could be a few showers, potentially thunderstorms. we'll watch that of course for severity. we're in this el nino mode, been here for extra hours or early in the day, three days out of the last seven. >> seeing a lot here today. >> working hard. >> those storms came through around 10:00, 11:00 today. >> yeah, a few severe thunderstorm warnings. always watching for tornadoes because the winds are so fast at the surface and high above. >> we appreciate the extra hours, because it makes a difference for all of us. coming up, the buccaneers

the ring of honor. the class act himself, mr. john lynch. >> really like him. the former bucs safety discusses the honor and the

. it's an unbelievable honor to get up there and forever be up on that stadium. ladies, gentlemen, local television viewers, please welcome john lynch to the buccaneers ring of honor. the bucs contacted lynch a couple weeks ago about becoming the ninth man to add his name to the prestigious ring around raymond james stadium. meanwhile, his other ring, the 2002 super bowl ring, is missing. lynch said it was misplaced or stolen about three months ago. perhaps today will take his mind off of things while he

lynch was drafted by tampa bay and spent 11 seasons here. he was elected to nine pro bowls and the hall of fame finalist stats are just staggering. 1058 tackles, 13 sacks, 16 forced fumbles, and 26 interceptions. legendary runningback barry sanders said it best. he didn't just play the position, he occupied a spot in your mind. as it turns out, sanders occupies a spot in lynch's mind, too. >> when you're known as one of the hardest hitters in the history of the league, do you have one particular slobber knocker that you look back on and say you got that guy pretty good. >> probably the one hand -- not the one, but the best one i got on barry. the guy never got hit hard. for him to say those kind of things, believe me, the feelings are mutual. he always occupied a spot in my mind because it was so difficult to touch him, let alone tackle him. that's probably my favorite of all time, because he just, like i said, he never got hit. i'll have my full one-on-

this week's edition of supersports sunday. meanwhile, the 91st annual east-west shrine game kicking off tomorrow on the nfl network. tons of talent with local ties, spending the afternoon showcasing their abilities in front of pro scouts, including florida gator brian poole, fsu's nile lawrence, and south florida star jamie bird. those guys all suiting up for the east squad, coached by charlie weis, who spent the week getting them prepared for the world of professional football. >> we designed a practice so scouts could see them doing the things scouts want to see. we've also given a lot of instruction about the off-the- field things, how to talk to scouts, you know, the character, everything you do. i think there's pressure. once they get on the football field, it becomes football again. once they get out here, they are just playing football. so i think the pressures when they are off the field, when they are in an interview 24/7. >> that's one of the biggest things about becoming a pro,

to be scrutinized all the time, when they can tweet, social media. >> charlie weis is a good guy to mentor them. he's been around for 36 years, i think he's been coaching. >> knows the business. >> thank goodness no one was were 20, 21.

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. winning lotto numbers. . quite a few clouds, a few sprinkles overnight for the first half of the day on saturday. lot of clouds. chilly for the parade if you're going to be out early. in the afternoon, a bit more sun. lots of sun on sunday. still overall, a cool weekend with highs in the 50s. time for the nightcap. so the big question, what do you get when you mix science, space and sports? you get yourself some liquid ping-pong. nasa releasing video of american astronaut scott kelly at the international space station, demonstrating a pretty cool toy. look at that. the paddles are etched with a geometric pattern that exploits

allowing him to flip a glob of water between the paddles, hence, boing, liquid ping-pong! >> never lose the ball, i guess. >> so fast-paced, though. >> science is cool! >> science is cool. that's going to do it for us. >> have a great weekend.