to move the rays across the bay to tatampa. good evenining, i'm stacie schaible. . >> i'm keith cate. thanks for joining us tonight. cigarette >> it has been a busysy day in the bay y area. >> steve jejerve brings us up to date. >> the bululk of the rain isis south of i-4. we have seen n over an inch of rain in many locations. lakeland, saint pete. a lot t of rain for a a day in late jajanuary. let's take a look at what is going g on. certainly the severe weather threat tonight isis muchch lolower but still a small chance. don't want toto rule this out, we hahave talked all winter long about the el nioo threatat. later onon tomorrow afternoooon, the showowers, storms willll come to an end. ththe severe weather threat is higher further to the soututh and d marginal risk. a general thunderstorm risk elsewhere e and you can see how the last 12 hours or so

south to north giving us very good coverage. two tornado i touchdowns, coconut creek. a waterspout around the area as well. . you can see areas like sebring, sarasota, areas to the north not as much. virtually alall of polk county. we will talk about that potetential for a severere small weather threat and a a much cooler weekend comiming up. >> thank you ststeve. and a reminder you can trtrack the rain on your smartphonene anywhere you are useingng the radar storm mate weatheher max app. it is free to downloaoad at the app store. and today's rain is creating a whwhole new set of problems for some people in sarasota. it has been morere than a week since deadly totornadoes ripped through thatat area and the cleanup continues. newschannenel8's jeff patterson joins us live. he is in sarasota to tell us

>> reporter: : good evening. the tornado hit here in sisiesta key pretty hard. but ththe light drizzle falling now is not the bibiggest problem. cleanunup an insurance problems are at the top of the e list. more than a week after the storm hit, there is still heavy lifting to be done. cleaning up the debris from the storm. inside some homes, contractedders are tearing out damaged furnishings and trying to put temporary patches on roofs and walls. >> you feel exposed to the outdoors. >> reporter: like mamany others, michelle's has a blue tatarp. > it is only plastic you knowow. you don't feel totally protected. > reporter: work is being done here, but the problem m for some homeowners has been findining out who is qualifieied, licensed, and bonded to do the clcleanup and repairs. >> ha is ththe thing to be

cacan be absolutely trying to find business genuinely, but you don'n't know the good from the bad. >> reporter: several homeowners are battling their insurarance company toto get repapairs done. but it hasasn't all been bad. >> we e are in goodod hands. >> reporter: kathy flemming founund a a qualified cocontractor and made sure toto asask her r ininsurance provider about the contractor before she hired him. >> we e told him what had happened and there e is this company out here and he said oh no. we have used them. they have been around for 50 years. >> reporter: thahat is the key to finding a contractor that is licensed, bonded and insured. several homeowners say they called their insurance companies and got a contractor recommenendation that is great if you can do it stacie schaiblele. >> soso jeff, hehere's the question.

and the repairs that ststill aren't finished were new problems creatated? >> reporter: there cecertainly were, we spoke e to one man up at 3:00 in the morning. he woke upup to the sound of wawater pouring into his house from thehe open gap inin his roof that had been covered by the tarp. he had to make adjustments but it has been a lighght drizizzle throughout most of the day. so not as bad as it could have been. > jeff patterson, thank you. >> now, an 8 8 on your side investigation. abandoned again. >> run away and abandodoned pets are being rejected by hillsborough county's's pet resosources. 8 on your side first brought this issueue to lighght last night. >> now, ththere is a new complaint that tax dodollars suppororted pet resources is not community friendly nor focused

ststeve andrews tells usus it starts with limited accessss and little assistatance. > reporter: and h how convenient is ththis? if you need toto take a sick or r ststray dog to the animal shelter. forget a about nights and d weekends and if you call for help? good luck. fourth of july fireworkrks make for spectacucular displays but they terrify many animals causing them to flee in fear. it is one of the busiesest intake dadays of the year for animal shelters. on july 5 when a dog with no tags wandered into adrienne swisher's cul-dede-sac, she called animal servicices. >> they y said this wawas not their r normal intake hours. i coululd bring it in monday 8:0000 to noon. >> r reporter: first ofof all, she works,s, manages the timber lane pet hospitital. shshe has s three dogs at home and said she coululdn't keep a stray. >> there wawas no compassion. no empathy. no solutution.

bring the e dog to the shelter, she said she woululd be foforced to release it onto the streetet. to d do. > reporter: dr. eleanor lands got a sisimilar response when shshe talked about someone abandoning a cat in her hospital. >> i said i cannot keepep this cat. what should i do? they said lelet it out. >> reporter: it is hard tore surrrrender animals here and some people belilieve the county is doing it to improve ththeir numbers. adrienne c contends the e county is more cononcerned about raiseing the live release rate than caring for ththe ananimals so it is limimited when the public can surrender animals. shshe contends resescues are e taking in m more strays. > eventually y just like everythingng else, you run out of room. you run out of space, you run out of resources. > reporter: it is her belief, morere animals are beining left on the street. >> how many more animals are out there suffering,g, starveing to death, , hit by cars, injujured, that wouldn't have bebeen if they

shelter and have a safe place to go? >> reportrter: critics contend ththe county is shihifting ththe burden from ththe animals shshelter to ththe commununity. hillsboroughgh county has yet to agagree to dodo a sitdown inteterview with me. . >> the hours the public can drop off the pets, those hours are limited. if pet resources is saying we have certain isissues when it comes to picking up these animals. it raisise the question whatat are we spending our taxes on? >> reporter: : with the ememphasis on live relelease, are we really saving momore animals or i is itit just the numbers in the books that say we are saving more animals? i'm not ready to buy w what they arare selling at this point. >> interesesting stuff. thank k you steve. and our 8 8 on your sidede, or channel 8 facebobook page, wewe have a discussion going now w on ththis very topic so join that conversation. we wanant to know what you think.

countyty got a bibig break in a ststrange mystery thanks in part to a belt buckle. skeletal r remains were found and the only clues were a cell phone and the belt buckckle. months later deckives found d a man who recognized the buckle and identified t the man as fernando valalasquez. >> wewell, there was nono identificacation on the body y at all or located in the area that we locateted the remains. so, we had to start from scratch. >> detectives are trying to determine how valasquez z died. if you have questions about the case, call the sarasota county shereriff's case. . there is new informatioion about a brutal homeme invavasion in spspring hill. the boyfriend of onene of the victims is in the jajail totonight. she attacked kathlelene perkins. he ran off f but kathlene's

him. deputies swawarmed the area and captureded the suspecect as he tried to cross the sun coast parkway. maybe you have noticed this. snow birds appear to o be back in florida. >> i have seen them. i have some relatives here. >> coming up, why thousands of our northern visitotors locked to lakeland this afternoon. >> plus, there is a new boating rental s service avaiailable for this weekend's gasparilla festivities.

>> well, the wheels are officially turning when itit comes to moving the rays across the bay to tampa. the leaders had their first meeting to talklk about t where the rays could build a new ststadium. a move to tampa becacame a possibibility when the e sasaint petersburg county council voted to look at locations other than tropicana field. but the big question remains where? >> we are in a big listening mode. we need to know what their needs are. how big is the stadium? urban suburbrban. all l the other things that go along with this. >> there are a numberer of possible stadium sitetes being talked about right now. but again, no one is talking specififics. saint petetersburg police are hoping t that somemeone will recognize an idenentity thief.

suntrust bank drive through using two frauaudulent checks totataling almost $4,000. the maman appear toto be driving a newer momodel chevy silverado crcrew cab. call saint p petersburg popolice if you can help. there is a new way toto go boating just inin time f for gagasparilla. >> timing is everything. coming umpteen next, the new way to rent boats that is

>> we are e just a few dadays away from ththe gasparilla pirate invasion. as a always, the bay will be fifilled with boaters watching the parade. but t this year, there e is a new boating seservice in tampa that works a lot lilike uber anand lylyft. mary mcguire joins us lilive in tampa to explain. standing out there in the rain with your umbrella i see. >> reporter: yeyes, hey, good evening to you keith. it certainly has not been a lovely day out on the water here in tampa. but with the help of a new service calleded boat setter, it could d be smooth sailing as the pirates invade tatampa on saturday. come saturdaday, the waters of tampa bay will be filleded with ships and sailors cruising in the gasparilla. but what happens if you happen to be a marorooned piratete without a ship of your own? >> anyone e can go to the e website. look for what you are trying to do. cruising, sailing, fishing, kayakiking.

inin ththe bay area, , boat setter alallows people to rent a a variety of boats. like uber onon water. ththere is a ship of every sidede available frfrom small pontoons to luxuriates. they plug g in the info. you certainly y don't have to have discovered a sunking treasure chest to enjoy the openen water. > boat center provides an adadditional option for people who may not be that pirate with their own ship. >> reporter: the servrvice is especially handy fofor the pirates looking to enjoy a lilittle grog. >> it is just lilike driving a car. the legal limit is .08. >> reporter: safety is always criticalal. and that is why y the u.u.s. coast guard advises checking one important document before setting sail. >> ask the captain. ask that person that isis going toto bebe operating do you have your proper licensing? ththey have to have a coast guard

when they are taking money y for r services. >> reporter: now i plugged d in tampa to the websbsite. the chcheapest boat i found was $200 andnd the most expensnsive was a luxury yacht for around $10,000 a day. so keith, i'm thinking it would be a great t outing for this station. soso you got this one right? >> yeah,ly be in ioiowa but i'm susure someone elsese will pick up the tab. it is only money. cocome on mary. mary mcguire reporting live for us tonight.t. >> chump change! >> just some chump change. the pirates invade this saturdrday. newschannel8 will carry ththe parade live for you.u. jennifer leigh and d josh benson will coanchor. jejenn holloway will be the e reporterer on the street. . we posted everything you need to know on wfla.com. well today, thousands of cacanadians gathered at the lakeland center for the 27 annual snow board extravaganza.

hundreds of events and keynote speakers and entertainment. the canadian dollar is down 30% in the lastst three years but that is not stopping snow boards frfrom flocking to florida. >> itit is a freeee showow. and on a rainy y day like today, they keep coming year after year. >> canadadians are still the number one internationanal visitors to florida and the largest buyers of second homes in the state. and no doubt in florida, they have e seen sunnier days. we are looking forward to the gaspsparilla pirate fest. . a little cool. 62 degrees. 2:00 p.m., 68-degree. sunshine, a littttle cloud activity, but very nice weweather. as you canan see hehere, something is wrong with this camera. it i is not downpour tag bad. over at 1.3 inches of rain though.

sasaint pepetersburg, in tampa, and alsoso in lakeland today, so some dececent amounts. lake club 67 degrees. not very bright there as well. and the e southeasterly wind. south southerly breeze. 67 at saint pete bebeach. eight-day forecast, temperatures will be cooler the nenext couple of day, especially as we head into the weekend. chilly starts to both those days but shoot right back up above e the normal line. upper 70s . . rain continues to surge. we will leave rain in the forecast. there are some drier r patches here. you saw mamary out there in tampmpa with the umbrella. there is not much in the way of lightning. it is jujust lighght to modederate rain lifting from south to north. you can see frfrom lakeke placid, all the way to fort meade, sarasota, down to north port.

pinellas county, pasco county, a lilight tricklkle going on. estimates from radar, an inch. lessss than a inch. favoring the cenentral and southern areaeas. nortrthern counties didn't geget as much. so take your weatather max app along. temperatures you can monitor that a along with the latest radar in the forecast. it is a pretty cool app. 7:7:00 a.m., 63 degrees. tetemps don't chanange too much. humidity vevery high. 60s from palm harbor, treasure isisland. 66 lakeland.d. 67 now north port and cloudy. cold front just to the north. high pressure well north of that. eventually, that w will get a kick and movove through herere with coolerer drier aiair. upper level trough need to swing through. the severe weather threat generally across south florida. we have a very small ththreat for us ththat would favor ththe southern sections s soft our area. but clearly the rarain is falling steadily across s most of south florida. ththis is our computer model. rain passes the early part of the day.

we will see the quieting of the atmosphere and skies clearing as the high pressure buililds in. ththe wind over byby cooler conditions. by saturday, the high wiwill be over us. . we wiwill look at lighteter wind conditions. a chilly statart to the daytime low ins the 40s s . then as we get into the second half of the day, sunshine in the upper 60s . nothing to say about t the overnight low tempmperatures. high humidity. 68 for a high thursday. 63 friday.y. rainin chances highest the firsrst hahalf of the day thurursday, but we will stay in ththere until things impmprove. as we e get into sunday, upper 60s by monday and tuesday. so up and down with the tempereratures. liliterally heat one day. air-condnditioning the next. >> it is. >> yeah. our thermostats are confused. one is on heat. one is on air. coming upup, the lightning get set for their last game before the all-star break. >> the bolts hope to get back

the worst team in the league. we shall see. paul ryan has the previeiew

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>> sports on newschannel8 brought to you by your gulf coast honda a dealer. >> it has been a babad year to be a canadidian fan of the national hockey league. just one of the seveven teams north of the borderer is in position to make the playoffs. the vancouver r canucks and theyey are barely above water. it i is entirely possible that for r the first time since 1970, canada willll go unrepresenteted in the post season. of course, this doesesn't bother ththe lightning in the slightest. as tampa a bay tries to bolster their positioning against ththe torontnto maple leafs. they enteter tonight's affair clinging to one of the wild

the leleafs are the e cellar dwellers in the atlantic. . lost seven of the last nine. over i it. >> we have to worry about ththese games a little bit. because, in the all-starar break starting, you know that guys, the all-star breaks here, what are we going to do? ahead. this i is our one game. so we have mamake this one count. > we put ourselves behind ththe eight-ball quite a bit. now, we hahave gotten ourselves backck in the hunt a and we have continueued to work. we haven't accomplished anything. we are still chasing. so, trying to start with toronto and trying to get something going again. >> ben bishop is geting the night off. in his start andre will get the

he surrendered 16 goals in his span. so cocoach coop, , why start him? >> there are lots of reasons. itit is a chance to play the kid.d. >> puck drorops just after 7:00. ly h have highlights and reaction tonight atat 11:00. >> so it is not just flipping a coin? >> ththere is more to coachining. >> i think he knees knows what he is doing. >> i hope they get a win tonight. >> don'n't go anywhere. nightly news coming your way tonight. >> steve e and jen coming back to you later.