>> it's 7:00. 8 at 7:00 begins now. >> we begin with breaking news. a gas leak has caused people to evacuate from their homes in north boulevard in tampa. all because of a truck going out of control and crashing into the side of the billing. jamel lanee joins us live at the scene. bring us up to speed here. >> reporter: this is still a

firefighters continued to work on leveling this piece of wood work that was hit by the truck. as you can see where detectives are inside. what we know so far, is that this red truck right here crashed into the side of this building. we are here at north boulevard homes and it ran straight through this gas tank causing a leak. the leak has since been fixed but detectives, they are searching for the suspect who was driving this red truck. as we have just learned has come back as a stolen vehicle. that is what we know at this point.

we came out, and it was a gas leak. we evacuated a couple of the apartments. the truck comes back as being stolen the last couple of days. the suspect ran. so he is at large and we need to find him. >> reporter: they are evacuating people for their own safety. but they have been told at this point, they are allowed to go back inside. that is what people in this area have been told they are allowed to go back into their homes. the firefighters are still working behind me to level that ledge over there. and right now, again, that gas leak has been fixed but again, right now, detectives are searching for the suspect who was driving that vehicle, that stolen vehicle. so this is still an active investigation. if we have any details we will

i'm jamel lanee for newschannel8. another breaking story tonight. an rv fire on u.s. 19 in clear water has created a traffic nightmare this evening. righted now, highway 19 northbound is down to one lane. this rv caught fire south of enterprise road. the fire is out now. crews are working to get everything cleaned up. we will let you know when everything is back up and running. a clearwater assistant fire chief is off the job for stealing an energy drink worth $3. ronald gemsheim is accused of going to the nearby 7/11 and stealing an energy drink. the manager confronted him. investigators say he put the drink back on the counter and left. >> it is an enfortunate incident. embarrassing for our department. we are not pleased to discuss this. >> surveillance video shows gemsheim taking the drink an

if convicted, the chief says he could be fired. cleanup is now underway following a touchdown of two tornadoes in charlotte county. numerous homes across a massive area were in the storm's way. john rogers shows us what mother nature left behind. >> reporter: al santoro feels helpless. his backyard was gutted after wednesday's tornadoes and for him, this all came as quite a shock. >> what were you thinking when you drove back and saw this? >> i wondered what the heck was going on. >> reporter: the two tornadoes destroyed 11 homes and damaged 25 others. all across the area, trees are uprooted, garages bent out of shape, roofs torn apart. contractors were out in force trying to bring this place back to normal. this area was tested. back in 2004 when hurricane charlie hit. these residents rebuild back

thankfully, there were no reported injuries. in charlotte county, john rogers, newschannel8. tonight, more people in hillsborough county need to be on alert for rabies, the disease has been confirmed in another cat. that cat bit someone near the mallory square apartments. this is the second cat with rabies discovered lately. the first one was in citrus park. in this case, people in the community had fed the cat and it was used to being around it could have spread the disease to all sorts of wild animals including raccoons and possums. the rabies alert will last for 60 days. health officials say you need to talk to your kids too about not petting or touching any wild animals or strays. skateboarders who like to shred it at a local skate park are upset. the city of lakeland has

it has been open a number of years but incidents have prompted the city to move it up from 10:00 to 8:00. >> most of them are good kids. there are a few bad seeds but even with them, good people will pressure them to be better because if not, they are going to be further consequences for the park. >> if city wants to see if the changes have any impact on the park visitors. and angelica mererro thought if she told police her son was in the back of her stolen car, they would get her car back in short order. she was right, but she may not consequences. chip osowski joins us live. >> reporter: it wasn't true. and this little stunt put countless lives in danger. police? >> my car was stolen twice,

stalking me to get my vehicle, i told them my child was in the car. >> reporter: but her three-year- old son was never in the car. day care. meanwhile, clearwater police pulled out all the stops to little boy. >> when you have a child that you believe is in the backseat of the car and you don't know the mind set of the driver, has he assaulted the child? bridge? you don't know what is going to happen, so this becomes priority one. >> you are charged with fleeing and looting. >> reporter: when police stopped the driver stevie gamble, they found his only crime was stealing the car. now the initial crime victim is now a suspect herself. >> i will never do this again ever in my life. i love my kids.

faces a number of charges including misuse of 911 and possession of marijuana. she was released from the pinellas county jail early this morning after she posted a $5,300 bond. live in clearwater, i'm chip osowski, newschannel8. have you ever driven over the hillsborough river and thought this would make a great water slide? that is exactly what we are getting this may. slide the city is bringing its thousand foot long water slide to tampa. may 14. here, you can see what it looked like in other cities. tickets start at $10 and they are on sale right now. and we have apparently been living in the dark ages for long enough, but our long days of suffering are almost over because the tampa bay area is getting a cup cake atm. sprinkles is opening a cup cake shop on south dakota avenue in

it will include a cup cake atm like 7:30. which just happens to be when my dinner break begins. still ahead on 8 at 7:00. >> a 93-year-old victim of a home invasion four years ago, her house fell into disrepair. wait until you see who came to fix it up today. >> florida's last one-room schoolhouse is in danger of closing. coming up, a community meeting and a plan to save it.

>> she suffered a violent home invasion four years again. since then, margo chauncey's house fell into disrepair.

citation, she got an extreme home makeover. >> reporter: the people doing the work on this house and in the yard are usually patrolling the streets of clearwater. they are police and code compliance officers who befriended the 93-year-old homeowner. >> it is unbelievable. >> reporter: margo has quite a story. four years ago, tommy mitchell offered to detail her pt cruiser. then he asked for ice water. >> he grabbed the money, threw me down on the toilet and i hit my head. i was in a daze for a while. >> reporter: mitchell is serving a 15-year prison term. the crime changed margo's life. >> i just don't trust people like i used to. and i like to trust people. but, not anymore. >> reporter: a huge baseball fan, the rays sent a gift package and she is sporting a new cane with a lightup handle. the clearwater police officers

are hoping people who see the story know there is another side and they do care about the community. in clearwater, peter bernard, newschannel8. how long before your trip should you buy your plane ticket? tonight, we know the exact day that has the best deals. that story is coming up. plus, an e-cigarette in your pants could be hazardous to your health. we talked to a local seller to find out how this could happen. (phone ringing)

but that's how some presidential candidates seem to be dealing with social security. americans work hard, and pay into it. so our next president needs a real plan to keep it strong. (elephant noise) hey candidates,

>> on wall street today, the dow gained 212 points. lower gas prices are great, but not for the oil industry. halibert is cutting 8% of its global work force. on top of 9,000 jobs they cut a little over a year ago. kohl's is dealing with tough times. during a conference call with investors they announced they would close 18 store this summer. we will find out which stores so stay tuned. there is one store in the mall that americans love to hate more than wal-mart.

it was one point below wal-mart and ten points below the average score. people really love nordstrom, costco, and amazon. looks like the apple watch wasn't a big hit. apple does not publicly disclose watch sales numbers but the intel firm believes they shipped about 4.1 million watches during the final quarter of 2015. that was just slightly bigger than the priest quarter. bit fit continues to dominate with twice as many units shipped as apple. well, one phone maker that didn't unveil its latest model was htc. it sent out a teaser promising a new model is on the way. likely an htc1m10. some images of the phone have already leaked online and they expect it to look a lot like an iphone. well, some video of a man in kentucky is sparking a lot of attention.

when his pants exploded and caught fire. turns out, it was the battery from his electronic cigarette. gary wilder, owner of lizard juice e-cigarette store says he knows how it happened. he says the battery likely touched the guy's keys and change in his pocket and completed the circuit causing a spark. it could happen to anyone. >> even a regular double a will do exactly that. just not as much. smaller battery. smaller explosion. >> the guy in the video quickly slipped out of his pants and the clerk used a fire extinguisher to put out the fire. the man suffered second degree burns but is recovering. well, how far ahead should you purchase your plane tickets to get the best deal? cheapair.com believes it has the definitive answer. 54 days. that is when the prices are at their lowest. they looked at 1.3 billion air

last year, it may not be exactly that this year. you should also find a deal that is very good within a few days on either side of 54. it considers anything between three weeks and three-and-a- half months out now as prime booking window. it may soon be the end of an era. a piece of history is in danger of closing in the tiny manatee county of duette. >> duette. >> the school opened in 1930. at this time, there were three one-room schools in the area. >> reporter: at one time, there were more than 75 students here. >> when duette school opened, school. it is closed from december to june because the children work strawberries. >> reporter: now, it is

>> when you come in the billing you see it is not a one-room building. but it is a one-room school because all students are in one classroom with one teacher. >> reporter: donna king has been the driving force here since 1993. >> i came in 1993. it was my dream to come here. there was one teacher here when i came. she retired. >> reporter: now, she is facing the reality the school may not be able to go on without her. >> i want to go to the garden and see if it is ready to plant. students remaining. many coming from the most rural areas of manatee county. the students have the advantage of very focused attention. very individualized instruction. a different approach for many of today's schools. but donna king is retiring and over. >> the district is concerned about maintaining the school. >> reporter: there is a community meeting going on at

discussing ways to save this school. in duedte, jeff patterson, newschannel8. we have great weather planned for the weekend. yes, the temperatures are a little below normal. 64 degrees saturday. 69 sunday. the breezy conditions will be in place throughout the next 24 hours. but the weekend, we will see that slow warmup. temperatures will continue to stay fairly cool this evening. we are calling for a strong wind from the northwest. eventually, northerly. that's a cool flow for us. that means our temperatures will stay in the 50s overnight. you can see hour by hour here. we have a few clouds in at 10:00 a.m. 56 degrees. 57 degrees at 11:00 a.m. plenty of sunshine in the forecast for tomorrow. 57 degrees, temperatures are cooling down now, we have a little bit of radiational cooling. when you have the winds up, it mixes the atmosphere a little bit. sun city center. 53 brooksville. 56 in north port.

a little cool. if you are out, you will want to bring the jacket. the winds are still strong. we have gusts over 15 miles an hour in lake placid. they have come down. they will likely be up again for tomorrow. bit. the forecast wind speeds, they northwest. overnight. but by 12:30, 1:00 in the afternoon, you can see the winds coming in strong from the northwest. gusts. it will be another breezy cool day for the area. keep that in mine, the sun could help to balance thinning out. low pressure continues to the north of us. hard to find a cloud in the sky. it will be quite chilly. temperatures falling fast. already in the 50s in most locations. for the morning hours, chilly start to the day, but it ends up fairly nice. 64 saturday, 69 degrees sunday.

70s for monday and tuesday. thursday. another rain chance wednesday. the computer model forecast, it is starting to look like potential severe weather but today, the model actually looked a little bet. great weekend. can it be here already? >> no. one more day. >> we'll be right back. >> you can't hit fast forward. >> plus, here is what you will see tomorrow at 6:00 a.m. >> i'm lindsey mastis. the state's pipeline challenge is over. i'm going to show you how one local group of hunters fared. >> plus, weather and traffic on

>> dinner came with a special

while enjoying clams in an italian restaurant, she bit down on something hard. she put it in her pocket. later, she was told it was a purple pearl worth about $600. only one in 200 million of these are considered to be gem quality. it is pretty right? now she plans to make a necklace out of her unexpected discovery. there is just something about a certain stray cat in california that will probably help it find a home in no time. can you see it? >> yeah. >> anything unusual? >> yeah. >> that is sally ann. and she has a mustache. someone dumped sally ann in a salvation army box. she was found and taken to a cat rescue in fresno, california. she will be ready to adopt in a few day. >> very cute looking cat. >> maybe that is our weather cat?

>> i like her the way she is. >> mental picture. we are back here tonight at 11:00. we will see you then hopefully. have a great night. adele cursing and crying. rihanna dirty dancing with drake inside britain's wild and raunchy version of the grammys. >> now on "extra." >> adele breaks down, and breaks >> [ bleep ]. >> from the swearing to the kissing to the twerking, the surprise moments at the brit awards, and where rihanna snuck off with drake after the show. >> gwen stefani grilled about blake shelton. >> so when he popped the big question -- >> ellen goes in for the kill as gwen's ex gavin spotted out with the nanny again.

hrissy teigen's designer baby scandal. >> it's a slippery slope. >> then -- >> are republicans afraid of donald trump? >> a.j.'s got bill o'reilly on the trump factor. can the donald go all the way? >> only on "extra." >> khloe kardashian's new photoshop uproar. fighting accusations she digitally slimmed down her thighs. what's kimmel got up his sleeve? >> they say it's bigger than the oscar themselves. >> who says that? >> me. >> now on "extra" from universal studios hollywood, the entertainment capital of l.a. >> hey, everyone. welcome to "extra." i'm mario lopez. coming up, new mariah carey wedding rumors that are top secret tropical location just leak out? >> also coming up, pam anderson naked at 48 and all i can say is

but first, today, adele. she was the big winner at the brit awards and it was a night of crazy a-list antics. >> crying. >> thank you! >> swearing. >> you're probably getting [ bleep ] bore of me anyway. >> ruling the brit awards. >> i got really lost for a while, i didn't know if i would ever come back. for you all to be so kind to me. >> after nearly five years away, hello, she's back. this was adele's night, getting a kiss from justin bieber, performing her emotional hit. and diving into the ke$ha controversy. >> and i'd also like to take this moment to publicly support ke$ha. >> the rapper also getting support from another international superstar, lady gaga, who instagramed this message. adele, gorgeous on the red carpet in burgundy after a dress emergency. rumor has it she forgot one of her gowns back in the u.s. and