good afternoon. we are staying with you for another hour of live coverage of tropical storm hermine and its impact all over the bay area and the state of florida. >> what a night it's been with a lot of people losing power. >> we did have a lot of reports of flooding, power ous even sporadic damage around the area as well once hermine made landfall about 1:30 this morning. it's now a tropical storm, and losing that classic tropical storm or hurricane look to it. you can see it's got some dry air but landfall happened at 1:30, and it had 80 miles per hour sustained winds, making it a category 1 hurricane, making it the first hurricane to make

since wilma back in 2005. it came ashore near st. marks. if you don't know where that, i didn't, it's around the panhandle. but even as it moves to the north and east it's still going to affect us. this is the latest forecast. 50-mile-per-hour winds in eastern georgia. because it can still get some gulf moisture and atlantic moisture pulled into it it is going to keep its tropical storm status meaning it is going to keep that circulation and wind speed for hours. here it is tonight in the charleston area. 50-mile-per-hour winds. tomorrow morning, 50-mile-per- hour winds off the wilmington, north carolina coast. once it gets into the atlantic it loses its tropical characteristics but it also loses any steering current sought sits here monday, tuesday, wednesday, right off the mid-atlantic seaboard which is going to keep rough surf and some rain along the coastline

alone. i do still think we're seeing effects from it. there are the feeder bands back into the gulf of mexico. again, a lot better than it was earlier, but some heavier rains still south of i-4. north of i- 4, yes, there's some spotty showers. certainly that is not needed with the high tide coming up here in the next three hours or so depending upon what coast you live but it's better that there's not quite as much rain. we had just some spotty rain. northern portion of hillsborough county. not that you are not going to see reign polk county or hillsborough county. it's just not as widespread as what they're seeing farther to the south in manatee, desoto, and highlands county. this is a look at hulah bay restaurant. this is tampa bay which is usually kind of like glass.

you know that something is going on. you have a south wind at 25 miles per hour. so we no longer are under a tropical storm warning. they don't expect us to see tropical storm force winds, and we're not, but it's still quite windy, winds coming from the south to southwest sustained at 15 to 20 miles per hour. that's an average over time but we can take all those wind gusts and find the highest on hour gusts in brooksville. so yes it's still quite windy out there. even as hermine weakens slowly pushing through georgia and south carolina. our flood watch was canceled. that's great news. but i'm still a little concerned about the high tide already being higher than average obviously between new and 3:00 p.m., plus the tropical moisture and still possible rain coming down. interestingly enough, i think that tomorrow would be a prettier day.

sunshine. it's still tropical moisture lingering. a good amount of rainfall will also fall on saturday. sunday and monday we finally get to dry things out. that's good news for your labor day weekend. my colleague, peter roll gift ed bloodsworth -- meteorologist ed bloodsworth is in the social media center. >> we've been tapping into the twitter pages of our emergency manage officials to they're thinking. a lot of them are sending out reminders. this is the hillsborough county page reminding tall motorists to turn around, don't drown. we still have some areas of localized flooding. even some downed power lines. if you come across a downed power line you need to stay at least 30 feet away, do not walk through flood waters because you never know, there could be a live wire submerged under the waters. also, we have had numerous

thanks to very saturated soil, a very loose soil now. also those stronger winds. >> all right, we're back with you. we had a little kitten rescued from some storm runoff earlier today so some good news. looking over citrus county this is what the sheriff's office looked like this morning. a lot of water nearby. and they were working to reopen u.s. 19 by right around now. again, it was closed near citrus avenue from some of that

again, with all that high tidal surge that came in earlier this morning a lot of 19 actually became flooded over here. also had a lot of reports of some -- a lot of nastiness overpass co county here. you can see a lot of that flooding that we were seeing is and reporting on earlier today. also we had a report of a roadway collapse. parkway boulevard at lag pagin. you can actually see where part of the road ha in. also, the flood threat not quite done yet. yes, less rain than we've had the last couple of days but that onshore flow, those areas you see, note the wind direction that we're expecting as we go through the rest of the afternoon. that, combined with the tides, the next high tide, really now through 3:30 this afternoon will be the time for high tides all over the tampa bay area. and with that onshore flow,

tide, really going to enhance that tide. so flooding will still be a possibility especially along our coastal communities as you progress through the rest of this afternoon. so, yes, not quite as much rain, but we're still going to have a flood threat as we go through the rest of the daytime today. things will certainly start to improve as we approach that labor day holiday. let's take a quick check of what's happening along area roads. toss it over to leslie. >> thank you ed. good morning. this we have some road work and some people out here said they're doing some road work and repair work. the right lane is block. this is eastbound on i-4. this is coming away from hillsborough county, starting to head towards plant city and on into polk county but we've got a bit of a backup. i'm going to show you the map. this is moving into the dover area. believe it or not it's a 35- minute delay. we are down to 10 miles per

lane being closed. what i would suggest is take u.s. 92. i know it's a small roadway but traffic is extremely light outside of this delay because there's not a lot of people out on the roadway. i don't blame them. they're being smart. big delay eastbound i-4 heading into plant city. next biggest issue, skyway bridge is completely closed both directions. you are not going to be able to cross it. you are going to have to take i- 75 all the way around this if you want to go out. but the skyway closed. howard franklin, no delays. bayshore boulevard has been closed several hours. here's what's going on. the police are out there right new and cleaning it up. so they've got to get the street all cleaned before they can reopen it. i just got off the phone with tpd and they said right now it's still closed but we're planning on opening it soon. hopefully that is going to

does. look at this. there was an earlier condo fire. still got a little bit of a delay in the area gulf boulevard as they try to clean that up fire. also we saw a lot of ponding, a lot of flooding around u.s. 19. 19 was a hot spot in the pasco county area. a quick live look here, skyway bridge remains closed. that's a look at weather and traffic. now back to stacie and josh. >> thank you very much. a lot of pasco county residents ar storm hermine flooded their homes. >> it was a big mess for a lot of people. shannon is live with a homeowner. >> reporter: i am on florida avenue in new port richey where these residents have actually had to dig their own ditches in front of their houses to keep this water there going into their house. they're telling me that they have to do this pretty much any time they have a heavy rain

county. this is something that they've been trying to get fixed for a very long time. children on this street have been coming out, trying to make the most of it, trying to play in the water, but they're getting runoff by some of the homeowners that have their safety and best interest here. i want to show you this drain. this is the drain that the homeowners are telling me is not doing the job. i want to homeowners. this is russell. you said that you have been dealing with this for a long time. you were bone up in the middle of the night. what happened when you came out at 3:00 in the morning? >> i said, oh, here we go again. me and the neighbor got up and went on down to the end and dug it out at 3:00 in the morning. >> reporter: it's really just you and one other home other than. >> pretty much. you are the saviours of the street, i guess you can say,

anything about. >> how do you feel that you keep having to do this? >> it's agonizing. i mean, it's stressful. i have a heart condition. i shouldn't be out here doing this. my wife has to go down here, make sure i don't fall out but my neighbor and i, we do what we can. we've been through a lot of doors. a lot of doors have been slammed in our faces. >> what are you asking for from the county? >> that's going to alleviate the problem every time this happens so we can sleep better at nature so we don't have to go down there and risk our life for a fallen power line or a water moccasin coming out. back in the back there's another pond back there. something could come from that pond and get us, bite us, whatever. so not only that, the water is dirty. >> you're worried about bacteria. >> i don't want no flesh eating virus on me.

i plan on going a little bit further. but we've done everything we can. we're at our witts end. what do you do? >> reporter: and guys, these residents will continue to try to dig out. we are planning to go to a news conference in pasco county soon coming up at 1:00. we plan to ask questions for these residents and all the others who are trying to dig out. back to you. >> when you think about it, shannon this is not even a category 1 hurricane fo it was really tropical storm stuff for us. so we can imagine how much worse it could be. >> it sounds like that gentleman has been down this road many times, literally. good for him. >> they're concerned. >> he shouldn't have to be doing that. shannon, thanks so much. a falling tree at a business has injured one person. >> let's check in with steve an doctors at the scene where this all happened. steve, we saw you earlier. bring us up to speed.

avenue just north of mlk. this is coul years sharpening. about 4:00 this morning, a huge 100-year-old oak tree split in two and came crashing down on this business which also housed mr. collier's brother, 76-year- old dale, asleep in bed. the ceiling crashed down on him, trapping him beneath. now, ron collier, the business r, about 8:00, didn't know anything was wrong here. when he showed up he obviously had concerns for his brother, couldn't get him to respond to the door, couldn't get any response. dale managed to crawl out from underneath the ceiling. then as ron told me a little bit earlier, dale had a very close call. >> so he got out, and as he's going out, he crossed over a

wire was charged and it shocked him up to his elbow, but he just had some minor scrapes. praise the lord for saving him. >> reporter: dale actually refused to be transported to the hospital. i talked to him briefly. did he seem a little bit stunned, a little bit dazed, and a little bit cut up. 76 years old, going pretty soon. so this was collier's sharpening. as of now they are out of business. ron collier told me a little earlier he had been here for 18 years. terrible situation for the business, but so fortunate that his brother escaped what could have been a horrible ending. >> yeah, steve, it looks like they got the brunt of it from our area. i did hear you say last time you were on the air that ron plans to decide if he is going to rebuild, or maybe this is

retirement. is that true? >> reporter: yeah, that's what he told me a little bit earlier. he said, i don't know, i was thinking about moving, but this might be a sign from up above that maybe it's time to move on. well, if it is, it is, and best of luck to him. i know things can't go more terribly wrong than they have here today. >> you look at that tree. it's quite a sight. thanks so much, steve andrews, live in clearwater. >> we have crews spread out all over the bay area right now. we are giving you massive coverage of this storm and the damage in al counties. in fact, if you go to my twitter account at tv stacie i have put the power outage maps up there. right now we're going to mark douglas live in clearwater with the latest on the situation there. hi, mark. >> reporter: good afternoon to you, stacie. we're in mariners cove which is certainly earning its name. this mobile-home park is known for flooding whenever there are

i'm standing in water that's almost up to my knees here on the back side of the cove. you can see trailers behind me surrounded by water. i think we're fortunate here, at least the residents here are fortunate that the water did not rise up into their homes. however, it takes a boat or a car that has a lot of clearance. you see a gay right now making his way through, kind of a dangerous thing to do if you don't have a lot of clearance. he's waving. seems pretty happy about all. that i'm not back here, driving back here. and in fact, the gentleman that lives right here, matt lopez, a young man with a young family, he's got a daughter that just turns one in a few days. his wife is 17 weeks pregnant. they had to leave here days ago. he just came back to make a food run, to get some canned food because he's running low on resources. concerned about his family and how he is going to get past all this. meanwhile he's slogging back

as i mentioned his wife is pregnant. the misery never seems toned back here in mariner's cove. this is not nearly as bad, they tell me, as it has been the last couple of days. so it's actually receded a bit. we don't know what's going to happen as the tide moves in. this is right next to a creek, a tidal creek where the water runs in from tampa bay when the tide rises. so we're going to be watching that today. let me direct jamie to pan left here. you can see e parked in the dry spot. but hiking up their shorts a bit so they can maintain as much dryness as they can in their clothing at least. again, walking through water that in the distance we see manhole surging with sewage, basically. there's no really nice way to put it. this is definitely contaminated water that these people are walking through, just the sort of thing that again and again we keep warning people against doing.

get back to their homes. the property manager told me there were 10 or 15 mobile homes like this that had water problems surrounded by water, and the power here in addition to everything else, they turned off the power here at 7:00 wednesday night as a precaution for the obvious electrical hazards, and that's creating some problems, even the nearby industrial park, which is high and dry, has lost power because of this problem, and those folks are complaining to us as well. so just right in the heart of pinellas county. it's not getting any better, at least not rapidly. so far we hope bithe end of the day maybe that will happen, stacie. >> we feel for those people. that is just rough up there. but did you bring up a good point we haven't touched on much in that zika, we're not going to be able to get rid of the standing water so it's

protection, dressing properly, making sure you're wearing repellent. >> reporter: absolutely. frankly, the folks that live in this mobile-home park, they don't have a lot of resources to begin with. so the idea of going to the drugstore and loading up on $10, $20, $30 worth of mosquito repellent is not really practical. let's turn our attention to the car. you can see how deep the water. these folks making trips back and forth to their homes pick up necessities. the road is closed. they're in the supposed to be driving back here, but they do anyway out of whatever sense of necessity they have. but, yeah, the zika problem, that's going to be coming in days to follow. we haven't noticed any mosquitoes here right now but come nightfall i'm sure they're buzzing. >> awfully deep water out there. right now we want to check in with melissa marino on the phone now from polk county where the damage from hurricane

where you are at? >> reporter: hey, so i've been all around looking for damage in the worst hit areas what. we have seen, and i believe what we're looking at now is a tree that went into a house on west 10th street in lakeland. it's incredible because the tree is mass eve and the wind literally just snapped it in half. the homeowner, she said she was in bed, she heard a loud noise. she thought it was thunder but she went out and saw this tree. just a bit age was at another home in andrew, over by lake coulings worth -- lake collinsworth. in both of these incidents the homeowner said the damage could have been much worse. in looking at the damage you definitely would agree. around polk county that's what i've been seeing a lot of. downed trees, branches, and i just spoke with an emergency services spokesperson. he is going around and surveying is all the damage.

few cases of damage this extreme. he also told me he was checking out a few cases of flooding. but in all of those cases when he arrived the water had dispaid before he got there. so again, just a lot of debris, branches around a few spots with some more severe damage. josh, stacie. >> melissa, we're take a look a some of these pictures. what's complicated about this storm is that it made landfall at night when everyone was asleep. i know at hardest at 4:00 a.m. did the home owner say what she experienced? >> reporter: when she went outside she said she was overwhelmed because she was so scared of seeing what it was this big tree that landed on her house. i believe it happened earlier in this case because she said her husband was just outside in the yard for something, came in, and then that happened.

worse. then in the other case, the lady, she was at work. she works 7:00 to 7:00 and came home to the tree on her house. she was thankful that it wasn't much worse. >> these stories about trees landing on homes, people getting out unscathed, that's the very best news of it all. melissa, thanks so much for the update. >> we're going to take a quick break, then we're going to be back with our continuing live coverage of tropical storm hermine.

welcome back. gene ramirez is keeping track of social media. we want to encourage you to keep sending your images. >> we want to share them with all of our viewers. christine posted this picture on our wfla facebook page. we haven't talked much about the brandon area. this tree fell just a few feet away from a home. you can see scattered around. even brandon feeling some of the effects of hermine. check out lake mcgory. this bench, you're supposed to be able to walk out to the bench to enjoy the view of the lake. at this point if you're on that bench you're practically in the lake because you can see how much the water has come past its banks. in fact, it looks like the photographer was standing in the water, or right at the edge

this, for those boat lovers, this one is going to break your heart. a tweet from the sarasota sheriff's office. this is the wild something. right new at least half of it is underwater. this is in osprey. it's in the just property damage. some boats being affected bithe rough conditions. i put this picture here just for leslee lacey because we we have to thank all of our first responders. not only are they out there trying to prect our property but also our pets. our meredyth tweeted this picture so we're happy to see that cat is doing okay tanks to the efforts of hillsborough fire rescue. the mayor is taking a look at continuing and inspiring the

these scenarios to try and help out. he says he wanted to thank the men and women of the public works department. you can see them here. looks like they're doing some work with the tree debris there somewhere in tampa. of course, cedar key is the area that saw the brunt of the damage. we've had a live report from there. this is supposed to be a retention wall. this wall, of course, supposed to close to the building. you can see the wall itself came apart. you see the cinder blocks scattered and some of the patio furniture blown around because of the winds from hermine and, of course, lots of reports of downed trees. i know in st. pete alone there was like 60-something trees that were reported down. a report from pasco sheriff's office here. this is at counsel square on little road, some damage there.

tree that came down inches away from a parking spot. no cars there so no big damage except for that tree that's now down. we want to see your pictures and videos. post those to our wfla facebook page or tweet them. >> thank you very much, gene. many people across the bay area are dealing with flooded homes. >> that's right. we want to go back out to pasco county where shannon behnken is standing by. you were telling us that people ditches near their property to keep the water away from their property. >> reporter: that's right, they were digging their own ditches to keep the water from going inside. people here have lots of sandbags, some as many as 80 sandbags in front of their house, desperately hoping to keep the water out. but they're concerned that if another rain comes, it could

here, russell. he was awakened early this morning. you came out here and you started digging with another homeowner. you and another man, you may have saved all of your residents from water. >> yeah. it did probably. i don't know. nobody else wants to do anything about it. it's just me and my neighbor. >> you said you made a county call at 3:00 in the morning. >> eoc, talked to them said, hey, we need some help, bring a i have to put my on the part barricade out because they don't even show up. it's all because of that retention pond over there. it don't go nowhere. >> tell me about that retention pond. i understand the retention pond was put there a couple of years ago. it's supposed to keep water in the pond. >> it's their water drainage. in turn, we don't have no drainage. they took our drainage. our drainage used to go in that swamp. they dug it out. at first they blocked it

done. so they shut off, boom, now we're stuck with all this. it don't go nowhere. >> reporter: so even those fixes didn't do anything. >> we need one more fix. the water needs to go somewhere. >> rorter: what woul ?? ta? >> they need to put another drain down there and put it over there on main street. we're not asking to n it completely. we just want some safety valve down there so we can sleep good stressed out. it's just getting crazy. that i understand there's a lot of flooding all overpass co county, and they do have their hands full. but what do you say to them about what you're dealing with today? >> a lot of them have their pumps already so a lot of them lucked out. so far we haven't got nothing. i know there's a lot on the plate here. there's a lot of fires to be put out. this is a small fire. so i understand they've got bigger fires, but they can put

us kindling not so out of control. it's getting agonizing. i'm cranky, my wife's cinky. you don't sleep good. got to have your sleep. >> reporter: right. we're awaiting a 1:00 press conference at the eoc with the county where we're dog 0 ask all these questions and find out what they're going 0 do to help these homeowners and all of the others. back to you. >> shannon, thank you very much. >> rain is still moving through the bay area but the sky has cleared enough for us eagle 8 hd. >> we flew over the pinellas county coastline where the surf is rough and dangerous right now. >> reporter: this is eagle 8 reporter paul above indian rocks beach. we are still experiencing the effects of hermine. here is a kite sailer riding will you the rough seas that are churned up. they're continuing to churn up. if i pull out wide lucy how rough they are and the waves

there's barely any beach left. we've seen signs of beach erosion. if i pan down you can see just how far the waves are crashing up. good news is the water is not up on the streets. the bad news is this beach, which has been renourished over the years is continuing to chip away. if i push in you can see the erosion in the sea oats right here. i will pull back weighed and give you there are people in the water. this is not recommended. the water is extremely rough, and the currents are extremely strong. so this is not a recommended activity. a rot of people now with the rain bands past for now are trying to come out here to check out the beach which is fine, but again, when you get in that water, the water is continuous to push and rock up on the beach so be careful in the area.

hermine. so we will continue to check up and down the beach and we will give you more information as we get it. in eagle 8 hd, paul lamison, news channel 8. >> back over to leigh spann in the forecast center. >> i don't like seeing those swimmers out there. a high risk of rip currents all day. please be careful. we do have tropical storm hermine, 50-mile-per-hour winds as it races to 18 miles per hour. continuing to keep its tropical storm status through tomorrow morning when it exits off the north carolina coastline, and then puts on the brakes for the mid-atlantic seaboard. sunday, monday, tuesday, wednesday, this thing is just sitting there spinning, bringing rough rain and weather for them. but for us it certainly will be leaving us alone. here is a better look at where this system is now. you can really pick out the center of circulation coming

south carolina. all the heavy rain wrapping around it, through north carolina, even still back into georgia and here in florida. this is a pretty massive storm system still drawing that up moisture from the gulf of mexico. so yes, it's a lot less rain than we've seen over the past couple of days. but the problem is we've had so much rain over the past couple of days that now any rain on top of that just doesn't have anywhere to go. so we've got places ke rpon springs, palm area. it won't last long. we just don't need any more rain basically. going south of i-4 most of the places in southern pinellas, southern hillsborough, most of polk county pretty dry. but going even further to the south, that's when you see lake placid, sebring, arcadia, north port, this is this one band of rain. this is between manatee and sarasota county.

of the camera lens. south winds at 8 miles per hour. officially we are no longer under a flood watch or tropical storm warning, but flood watch specifically, although i think we should still watch for some flooding conditions even though the official watch has been discontinued. these are your high tides this afternoon. again the tide is basically coming in right now. so any water that was standing, will you notice it creeping higher and close ire to homes and things like that. the crystal river area, you're one of our later tides. 6:00. here it is, hudson, to the long from now at 2:15, another high tide just very soon if not -- 10 minutes from now. clearwater beach, you will have your high tide. that's what paul in eagle 8 hd was showing you, how high that tide was. bayshore boulevard around 3:20. these tides are going to be higher than normal, too. the water is just piling up off

port manatee, your high tide is coming up just after 2:30 this afternoon. so it's still coming in. unfortunately would lead to some more flooding. it may not be as significant as what we've seen but it's something we want you to be aware of, that the water may continue to creep up. sarasota between 1:00 and 1:30, that's when your next high tide. winds are still breezy. 21 miles per hour sustained wind in tampa. a sustained wind more of an average over time so when we look at the strongest gusts, we're starting to see them going up to 25 miles per hour in tampa, 24 in sarasota. certainly the wind speeds have come down. during the newscast earlier this morning around 5:00, 6:00, i had a 53 miles per hour wind gust clocked in st. petersburg. so, yes, things have certainly calmed down although it's still quite gusty as tropical storm hermine continues to weaken ever so slowly as it pushes

carolina. flooding today, that's really my last issue for you, the higher than average tides along with any rain that continues to come down today. i know you are looking forward to the weekend already. i do expect because there's still a lot of tropical moisture around on saturday that there will be some heavy downpours. i think it will look like a prettier day tomorrow in the fact that we'll see some breaks in the clouds and some sunshine. but that unfortunately will help destabilize the atmosphere. soes storms tomorrow, which is unfortunate with the saturated ground, but it's sunday into monday when i do believe we finally say completely good wii to tropical storm hermine, the rain chances come down to 30%. next week is going to be basically dry, 20 to 30% rain chances. plenty of time to let the ground drain and dry out, which is good news because roads have been basically impassible in some cases. >> especially if you are in the

around jasmine road. today around ranch, we showed you pictures earlier, about 19. still have a lot of water. let's talk about the dover area at this point. a little while ago i showed new and we actually had the right lane that was taken away. they were doing some road work out there. i have a live picture of it now. it looks very good because everything has cleared. the workers who were out here have actually rest the scene so eastbound i four, we've go you see how it goes from yellow the orange to red. it was all red. soon hopefully it is going to be all green as that residual congestion starts to move out of the way and as you start to head into the plant city area. we were down at 10 miles per hour. let's talk about the skyway bridge. i hate to break it to you but you are not going to be able to cross it. it's still closed down. so would you are going to need to do is take that long route around it on i-75 to loop around. it's a good extra hour for you

let's head over now to south tampa. bayshore boulevard has been coved for a long time. oh, it just reopened, thank you stacie. breaking news. i have been telling that you tpd was on scene cleaning it up, and they said it was going to be reopened. so that's great especially for those who commute through that south tampa area and like to go on bayshore. very great news. u.s. 41 is up to speed. let's look gulf boulevard was completely shut town both directions as they continue cleanup from that earlier condominium fire. the shore acres area, still a lot of water and ponding in that area. that's a look at weather and traffic. back to josh and stacie. >> thank you much. still a big warning. if you are out on the streets and you see water, you don't want to drive through it because you do not know how deep it is. >> and with high tide coming

to keep an eye on all those areas that have been closed. >> and with bayshore open now, we'll see what happens when the tide pops up. >> we'll be back with more

welcome back. we have eagle 8 video -- this is actually a live picture in st. petersburg. it is quite a mess on the banks of that lake. that water has seeped into the neighborhood. as our photographer will look around that neighborhood, you are going to see ho roads. >> boy, that's just rough to see how high that water is rising. so many people affected by this. a lot of sleepless nights also in pasco county where heavy rains combined with high tides for a double dose of water there. >> news channel 9's meredyth covered pasco county starting in the overnight hours. take a look. >> reporter: in pasco county in that little slice of land between u.s. 19 and the gulf,

kind of dealing with a double whammy. they have overflow from small ponds like this one right here. this is what happened at the imperial court mobile-home park in new port richey. this is actually a tiny pond, but it's full. and so it's overflowing. and then on the back side of the neighborhood, there is some water that feeds in from the gulf. and so when we get those high tides, it sends more water in, just kind of sandwiching folks. we want to show what it looked like overnight. driving wind and rain as stronger rain bands were pushing through. ponds and streams were overflowing their banks, and that of course, coupled with that high tide, made some roads impassable. more than a dozen homes were evacuated in the hudson beach area. we did talk to one family what was not evacuated but they were up all night trying to keep water out of their house. unsuccessful. at one point the water was up a fat in their garage.

every room. and then that was bad enough. then when high tide hit, about 2:15, it was, i mean, just inches of water, everywhere. >> reporter: so back out here now, folks are just trying to deal with this and wait for the water to go down. they're trying to cope with those high tides. that circle of rain and wind that's happening, they are expecting to tray out soon and hopefully in pasco county, meredyth serks n sulo, news channel 9. >> goff rick scott had this to say about storm safety. >> the storm has caused a lot of downed power lines. do not touch them or approach them. call your utility power company and report any downed power lines in your area and let them

more than 253,000 people lost power in the state of florida. >> governor scott will be touring areas impacted today at 12:00. he landed up in tallahassee. that's where he will begin his day. 253,000 floridians losing power. schools in 35 counties were closed today. 6,000 guardsmen are on the ready but 00 are ty at this point so there is a plan in place. the governor will be going throughout the >> and a fallen tree at a business injured one person. this happened in sefner. >> quite a story. let's check back in with steve andrews. any updates? >> reporter: well, let me tell you. we are at florida avenue, just north of mlk in hillsborough county, and i just to have ask you, ever seen the inside of a 100-year-old oak tree? this baby split in two this morning at about 4:00 a.m.

lawn mower business. you might be able to see a lawn mower handle just beyond the tree here. this section of the tree crashed down on the business, the structure of the business. look at the size of this tree. it is just immense. it is just incredibly large. inside that business, asleep, 76-year-old dale collier. the tree crashed through the roof, smashed through the ceiling. the ceiling he was trapped there for a few hours. his brother ron showed up at about 8:30 this morning, tried to -- obviously didn't know what had happened, tried to get in, couldn't get in, couldn't hear his brother. in the meantime, dale had managed to crawl out from underneath that ceiling and somehow get to a fence. but unbelievably the fence was being -- a live wire was on that fence, and he was shocked.

hillsborough county fire rescue showed. they got here about the time that dale came out. he was a little bloodied, a little bruised, a little battered, but oins pretty good shape. he refused transport to any local hospital. now, ron collier, the owner of this business, has been here 18 years, and he tells me he's really not sure what the future holds for collier's sharpening. the place looks like it's just incredibly damaged, possibly a tol he said this might be a sign from above to move on, but the good news is, he still has his brother with him. >> and that is the good news what. an uneasy feeling. we all know in that our area these huge oak trees are dotted across the landscape. they're beautiful trees, but at any given minute in any one of these storms this can happen. it's a scary feeling. >> absolutely, yeah. on the way home last night i

think it was bell shoals road in branden. you can't tell from looking at them whether they're rotting from the inside or the roots have issues. you just don't know until something like this comes along. unfortunately something like this happens. but fortunately no loss of life here. >> that 76-year-old a very lucky man. steve, thank you. one of the hardest hit areas was cedar key. the destruction there is >> water made its way into homes and businesses, tossed around furniture, knocked down walls. we've been on that island since yesterday afternoon, and news channel 8's ryan hughes gives aus firsthand look at the damage. >> reporter: we hastily left the beach front motel at 1:00 this morning as waves pounded the front office. the parking lot was covered with debris-filled murky water, that water at least knee deep.

motel management. the 11-foot storm surge on cedar key pushed water into every first floor room. it tossed around beds and chairs. it obliterated a seawall, the pool area partially collapsed. >> very scary. >> reporter: chris and his wife manage the motel. they've been at it for just three months. this scene is almost too much to bear. >> i can't believe it. it's overwhelming. >> reporter: the worst came when high ti storm surge. he and his wife surveyed the aftermath this morning. a lot of buildings on cedar key sustained damage overnight. we were lucky. we stayed on the second floor. as you can see the first floor th condo complex a block away is still standing even though all first floor units were gutted by water. the backyard is visible from the front. these residents weren't deterred and spent the morning

back at the motel chris hembree is in awe of hurricane hermine. >> reporter: what does this make you think when it comes to the power of mother nature? >> the force of mother nature and water alone is powerful. there's no stopping it no matter what you do. >> windy conditions putting a -- making it very difficult to put a condo fire out on indian shores. >> lanee' is at the scene. >> reporter: you can see the aftermath here of this fire that broke out just before 7:00 this morning in indian shores. a police officer saw this fire and came banging on the residents' door to warn them to let them know there's a fire in this building and to get out. firefighters arrived on the scene from several different agencies.

battle this blaze. fire chief deangelo tells us that firefighters had a hard time fighting this fire because of the current wind conditions from the tropical storm. >> you can see the aerial devices, what they're dealing with in respect to the wind conditions which is also assisting in fueling the fire. plus the building conditions with regards to some of the storm shut theres we have up on the building itself. >> fire investigators on scene working to determine what started this . we're not even clear if this was weather related. but we are hoping to get the answer to that within a few days. again for the people who actually live here. the only thing they can do is just pick up the pieces and figure out what's next for them. reporting inindian shores, jamel lanee', news channel 8. st. petersburg's mayor says while the city was prepared the aftermath is still very bad. >> he had a strong safety

let's take a listen. >> keep out of the water. don't let your kids play in the water. there could be power lines in the water. there could be snakes. in this area there could even be alligators. and the water could be contaminated. >> we actually did spot a gait tour in one of our live shots yesterday near lake mcgory. the mayor urged people to stay off the roads unless absolutely necessary. no storm related deaths have petersburg, but you have to be careful out there for sure. >> and there's a whole lot of damage in the panhandle as well. >> our capital borrow reporter matt went to one of the neighborhoods in tallahassee cleaning up this morning. >> reporter: we're here on delqaid drive in tallahassee, a five or 10-minute drive away from downtown. two trees came out of the ground last night while hermine was wreaking havoc on the city.

you can see where it snapped right from the ground. it came across the road. thankfully did not land on any houses. there's a mailbox in there that was completely crushed, but i think if you ask people around here, that's the extent of the damage from this, they'll take it. there are scenes like this all across the city. we want to show you video of when we first arrived here. obvious until is blocking the road. there have been people coming by to check out the damage. and all of these people you right now, they're good neighbors just trying to help utility crews that are obviously overworked all over the city. >> this is probably the best possible scenario that this tree could have fell. it took out the power cable, and that sucks, but at least it didn't hurt anybody. it didn't take any people's houses out. >> it was alleges scary but we went around and hugged all our trees so i knew my yard was going to be safe.

trees down, power lines down. many people without power. utility crews are saying it could be a few days or more before a ought of people get their power back. we will continue to update you guys throughout the day but for now back to you. >> all right, let's head back over to leigh spann in the forecast center for the latest on hermine. >> that's right. you can see it's still a huge. it's a tropical. it has weakened from when it made landfall as a hurricane at: i had just been at work a half- hour when it made landfall. the first hurricane to make landfall in florida in 11 years. hard to believe even though now it's a tropical storm. we'll keep that tropical storm status as it moves along the coastline. eventually end up putting on the brakes as it stalls off the mid-atlantic seaboard. you can see this center of circulation there but we're feeding it back here from the gulf of mexico. some of that in this feeder band is actually drifting down to the south.

you can see how much rain is falling from raleigh to charleston, back over towards savannah. for the most part we're drying out. there will continue to be these pox of rain that come in off the gulf of mexico. they're seeing one here around the keystone area, heading towards lutz. most of pasco county and hillsborough county are basically dry. there may be some drizzle. the heaviest downpour, the southern portion of highlands county, arcadi county. i continue to show you this picture. i think there's a kite surfer. don't do that. that's bad. very, very dangerous. but this is also nearing high tide. i keep showing new picture because it's a great vantage point. another kite surfer. don't do that. it's bad, it's dangerous. so winds are pushing the water even closer to land than what normally happens. there's bare al beach left out there and there's still about two hours before this is actually high tide.

on through 2:00 there will be some pocket of heavy rain. there will be some strong winds. by 4:00 p.m., scattered downpours. but not that widespread rain that we've seen over the past couple of days. 85 degrees at 4:00. bi7:00 p.m., lighter wind, less rain. that's good news for your friday evening. let me show what you one computer model is showing. yes, there will be some scattered rain but it will get less and less as the time goes on. and the wind speeds will also decrease. the problem is any rain at this point because we don't have anywhere for that rain to go especially in the next few hours when we're at high tide. so you've got the saturated ground, 60% rain chances for the rest of the day today. i am keeping that 60% chance tomorrow, too, because a lot of tropical moisture around -- we'll see more scattered rain, even some sunshine, but finally drying out for next week. it has been about 12 hours since this thing made landfall, and it has affected a lot of

and our coverage is not over. we will bea back with you in a half-hour and every half-hour after. that. >> have a great day. now at havertys furniture, it's our labor day sale. where you can create the perfect home.

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