right now on news channel 8 first at 4:00, as hurricane hermine slammed into the florida panhandle it brought powerful winds knocking out power to tens of thousands. the first storm to make land fall in florida 11 showing the damage left behind. thanks for being here. i'm josh benson. >> this is first at 4:00. tropical storm hermine, the power was caught on camera as it pummeled st. petersburg with torrential rain and damaging winds. hermine was the first hurricane to hit the state in more than a decade. after passing georgia, the storm is expected to move into the carolinas and then up the east coast, creating the

and storm team 8 has been tracking hermine every step of the way. here's meteorologist julie phillips with the latest. >> we've been tracking hermine since invest 99 l. at this point, moving away from us. we still have lingering tropical storm around. here's the view from iness brook. 80 degrees. rainfall totals, 2 inches today. some places not as much. some places have seen significant totals since midnight. here's satellite imagery of hermine. still bringing with it heavy rain and erweather. so it's expected to move up the east coast, winds current, max winds at 50 miles per hour. strengthen a bit and then kind of linger causing issues potentially for the northeast as we head into the end of next week. so this storm is going to continue to create problems. not for us though. our conditions will continue to improve, thankfully, clean up

few days. at this point, the rain is fairly scattered across the tampa bay area. we have spotty showers and thunderstorms north of pine island, you can see north of the shady hills area. and in eastern hernando county as well. farther south, tracking very heavy rain moving into new port richey, spotty showers closer toward the airport in west chase, for the rest of the afternoon and this evening, we'll see spotty to scattered storms but the heavy rain bands are long gone at this point. li it looks quiet as we head into the over night hours, hermine moving away from us as a tropical storm. high tide that's pretty much over for most of us, conditions should improve, and dryer weather will finally return as we head into the end of this coming weekend. we'll have a full look at your labor day weekend forecast in a few minutes. traffic is moving once again over the sunshine sky way. this is a live look from the d.o.t. camera on the bridge.

hours while hurricane hermine came ashore. once again though, it's open in time for the labor day weekend traffic. meanwhile, cedar key in levy county took a hard hit from hurricane hermine. downtown streets and businesses were flooded by a very high storm surge. jeff paterson joins us live, by the looks of your pictures we saw earlier, it was a rough night. >> reporter: good evening, josh, it was a very rough night for a lot of people here in cedar key as they watched their homes, their businesses. and some of their belongings wash away in the storm. hurricane hermine pounded cedar key for hours on thursday. and into friday morning. >> this hasn't happened in years. >> reporter: george sat in shock outside of the history museum in downtown cedar key. >> the museum will be closed indefinitely. >> reporter: he told me people

prepare for the storm. >> you can't keep water out, i don't care what you do. it was fruitless. we had 2.5 feet of water in the museum. >> reporter: other businesses in cedar key flooded too as storm surge from the gulf took over the town leaving destruction and mud behind. >> but this was water, it wasn't the wind, it was the water, the surge. and it wasn't the water was falling from the sky, it was the water that was coming in the gulf. >> reporter: as people in cedar key work to clean up, worries a museum mbig prlem right now is that humidity. we have to keep our air conditioning running 24 hours a day on account of the humidity in this area because of the items we have in there. everything is starting to curl up. the cabinets are starting to swell and bust and everything. >> reporter: you can tell behind me, the condo lost its first floor during that storm surge. the hotel that we were staying

last night, we had to come in with water about waist high. i could tell you it was a bit of a challenge to get to the hotel. but the resilience we've seen from the people in cedar key today is nothing short of amazing. >> aim going to show that picture at 5:30 of your motel lobby there coming up. but back in the bay area. we had some 20,000 people without power. how's the power there on the island? r night. we had power in our hotel. we were on the second floor, we had power throughout the evening. we did not have water. there were some places, some businesses and homes that did not have power. but they are working to restore that today. still it's going to take weeks for them if not months to recover here. >> glad you and the others are safe. it looks like a mess behind you. but we appreciate the report. jeff paterson live in cedar key tonight. from tar pan springs to st. petersburg, people are struggling with tidal flooding

some areas are waiting for water to recede after days of getting soaked. mark douglas joins us live in shore acres, how are things looking there right now, mark? >> reporter: well, good evening, stacy. you can see it's more of a water way than a roadway. we're at the corner of connecticut and huntington. and gwen is waiting for traffic to stop. were any homes flooded? >> to our knowledge our wasn't flooded, or anyone around us, but i can't speak for everyone else. slow down and don't let your kids play in the raw sewage water. >> reporter: two excellent words of advice. and it really is very -- thank you very much. it's very contaminated water. and it's true, you don't want your kids playing here. heros another reason. this is a storm sewer here. you can barely see it. and it would be so easy to walk off this curb and fall next to

child, a small animal could fall into that. you can see the water's not going any where here. earlier today, this morning, the city actually shut off access to shore acres because it was so bad here the roads were so impassable as many people know, this area is actually under sea level, below sea level. so when there's a tidal surge like this, almost always this happens. and this is no exception. it's getting better. passes, about 3:00, 4:00, 5:00, it'll get better. but right now, it is what it is. >> it is what it is. mark douglas live in shore acres. thank you. in hillsborough county, a huge oak tree split in two and came crashing down on a business early this morning. that tree smashed through the roof and knocked down the ceiling on top of sleeping 76- year-old dale collier.

take a look at these pictures. then according to ron, dale had another brush with death. >> so he got out and as he's going out, he crossed over a little fence there and an electric wire was charged and it shocked him up to his elbow. but he just had some minor scrapes but he's all ready now. and praise the lord for saving him. >> very lucky. meanwhile, powerful winds dropped trees on to several homes in the town and country mobile home park they spent the day trying to salvage anything they could from their destroyed home. and hermine knocked down power lines all across the bay area. one viewer in bran on the sent us some pretty dramatic video of downed power lines sparking this fire on state road 60. look how intense the flames are. if you come across downed power lines, you should definitely keep your distance, just like this person did. and we have experienced tens of thousands of outages here in the bay area.

remains in your neighborhood or to see the latest outage maps, go to wfla.com. the story with the links is on the home page. still ahead -- >> fighting a fire during a tropical storm. the challenges that first responders were faced with while trying to put the flames out. plus, despite this wet weather, it's going to be a busy holiday weekend throughout the bay area, an 8 on your side look at the events that are

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several people are looking for a new place to stay after their condo building caught fire in the storm. those flames sparked just before 7:00 this morning at the salt air condos on indian shores. and as janelle shows us, it created big problems for first responders.

out here. you can see the after math. we're told this fire broke out sometime just before 7:00 this morning. an indian shores police officer saw this fire and came banging on the resident's door to warn them, to let them know, there's a fire in this building and to get out. while firefighters arrived on the scene from several different agencies. it took them hours to battle this blaze. fire chief sal 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 shutters that we have up on the building itself. a fire investigator is on scene working to determine what started this fire. there's no official cause. we're not even clear if this

answer to that within a few days. again, for the people who actually live here. now, the only thing they can do is just pick up the pieces and figure out what's next for them. reporting in indian shores, jamel, news channel 8. julie phillips, you've had a busy two days. >> it started as invest 99 l about two in the last 24 hours of it it's got its act together. >> quite a loop it's made. >> it'll still cause other people problems. it's not over yet. for us, i want to show you this dramatic video that someone recorded in the town of horse shoe beach. this is along the gulf of mexico. roads throughout the area had to be shut down due to flooding

why. very impressive, 11-foot storm surge is what we saw in the big bend of florida. thankfully we weren't hit quite as hard. but we're dealing with flooding in places like newport rickie. we picked up three inches owe of rain at that location. here's the view. 83 degrees. we've picked up just over an inch of rain. here's what our rain chances look like the next few days. tomorrow, even though the storm is gone, it's still fairly soggy for us. we'll see on and off rain throughout the day. really the worst part of your we conditions start to uhm prove, and rain chances really start to drop off as we head into next week. 9:00 p.m., still a lingering rain chance in our area, when you wake up tomorrow morning, temperatures will be mild, but we could see showers rolling on shore, about a 60% chance of storms through the day. there's where hermine is now in south carolina. you can see that tail of moisture that's dragging along, and we're still dealing with some of that deeper tropical storm. and still some rain in the area. but few and far between at this point really compared to what

you can see very heavy rain and lightning near the tarpon springs area. farther to the south, some fairly light rain around arcadia. and our winds have eased up a bit from this morning. definitely have eased up. but they're coming out of the south between 10 to 15 miles per hour. more of that southwesterly flow. what to expect throughout your labor day weekend, tomorrow, extra rain about a 60% storm chance through the day. more sunshine returns by suay temperatures get back up close to 90 degrees each afternoon. and really the rest of next week looks nice. a 20% to 30% rain chance each day will give us a chance to dry out. guys ? i think we can agree that it's a less than ideal start to the holiday weekend because of the tropical storm. but the good news is it's not a total wash out. if you're looking for something to do, 8 on your side has answers for this holiday weekend. joining me with the weekend

wflz. thanks for being here. >> i made it in dry, i'm so happy. >> i was out and about this afternoon. and people are moving around as though not a lot's going on. i know there are areas where people are hard hit. i don't want to make light of that. but there's stuff to do. if you're tired of sitting home and weathering the storm. >> we got you on this. this is the opening weekend. this is at disney. of mickey's not so scary halloween party. >> it is fall isn't it. >> i'm all about this. i was like yes. this is at a lot of fun stuff for the little ones if halloween is too intense. trick or treat. and they have a new thing with the sanderson sisters of hocus pocus. >> and ten there's a food truck rally. >> i've been monitoring this. adventure island is good to go tomorrow. they're doing a food truck rally where you can get bacon, chicken, vietnamese food, from 10:00 a.m.

>> the bacon truck was supposed to be here. it was canceled because of the storm. >> where's the bacon? >> all this weekend florida's largest home show. >> it's great inside at florida state fairgrounds. there's 900 vendors, exhibits, anything you want if you're updating your home or you want to check out trends if you're tired of your kitchen. tickets start at $8. >> at shepherd's beach resort. >> we have djs on deck. shepherds beach resort. hopefully the sun comes out at some point. >> i saw the sun briefly today. it's there. it's still around. and after sunset on sunday we have fire works. >> this is at channel side the party starts at 6:00, you can get drinks, there's areas for the kids too. check that out on channel side. >> so labor day won't be a wash out. there are things to do. we can always check the website. >> right.

if exploring the great outdoors really isn't your think, why not catch a movie, there are plenty to choose from. including a thriller and a returning favorite. david daniel takes us in for a closer look at the labor day box office. >> when i first saw you, i felt like i knew you. and i couldn't stop seeing my life with you. >> movie goers looking for romance this weekend can look for the light between oceans. real life couple michael fast bender and alycia star in the drama set after world war i an island off australia. oceans should debut as high as $9 million over the weekend. >> within a month, walking and talking. in six months, it exceeded our wildest expectations. >> morgan about a synthetic humanoid will attempt to take thriller audience away from don't breathe. kate and anya star in the low budget pick expected to snare

family. families looking for a holiday weekend movie can revisit finding dory. the animated sequel is all ready the year's highest grossing movie in the u.s. but disn unitso dory is expanding from a few hundred theaters to 3,000. bringing a whole new meaning to just keep swimming. in hollywood, david daniel. coming up in sports, we have the latest from dan lucas. we do. changes are being made to the buck's roster as we speak. and you can get developments in all holloway, julie phillips, and me. every night on great 38 at

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welcome back. let's check in with first at 4:00 sports. we were talking about football. it's that time of the year. and the weather seems like it's football weather. >> well, for our neck of the woods, here first of all, a lot

tomorrow, around the nfl, and you'll see a lot of switcharoos going on and players coming back later in if season. we'll see guys cut today who will be back on this team later in the season. i know that name from somewhere, but business is business. and the bucks don't have to officially cut anyone until tomorrow afternoon. but their roster is set. at least until other players around the league are let go. a few of the names reportedly let go today, wide receiver kenny bell o preseason game with a concussion. bell was on the bubble in that wide receiver battle. he was hoping to get a shot at returning kicks. now, running back peyton barber who had an outstanding camp is the odd man out in the competition to be the buck's third running back. mike james wins that position battle and tight end danny vitalli. that versatile six round draft pick was hoping to land a tight end spot. a difficult day for everyone.

guaranteed starters. >> no matter how long you do it, at this point, some people you went through a lot with that are not on the team any more. and it's so abrupt and it's not a good time. because of the cuts. it's also a good time because the season's about to start and things like that. but it's a rough time right now. well brent grimes is a guaranteed guy. he's going to have one of his teammates next to him. the bucks keeping as many as ten defensive corner back jude, who was not so lucky this time last year. he waa cut last year. on the offensive side of the ball, wide receiver evan spencer, he survives saturday's cuts well. it's definitely nerve racking. at the end of the day, you never know. and i wanted to go out there and show everybody around the organization and mainly my teammates that i was here for a reason. and i was here because i'm going to give everything that i can. it means a lot. >> i drove to work today like

and it just feels good. this time last year i was packing up my locker and it feels good this year, my main goal was to be on that open day 53. some of the guys that survived the final cuts may still be in danger once other players become available, the bucks can still ma further cuts to sign players that fit their needs. ajay barema was cut last year. brought back to the practice squad. wound up playing on the main roster by the end of forward to seeing this year. good for him. >> do you think we're all set for the bucks then. >> no, i don't i bet there are moves made into the weekend. defensive line depth is still an issue on the team. and always on offensive line issue. they're always on the look out for that. >> the words you don't want to hear this time of year, coach would like to see you. bring your play book. >> a lot of high school football games canceled.

played tonight. >> that are not canceled. >> they're going to be on the friday night blitz tonight. nice job to the eight games and the teams that le and they're to go through it. >> mud ball. >> as long as everybody is safe getting to and from the games we're good to go. >> we'll be right back.

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welcome back. we're gettingo what once was category one hurricane. news channel 8 has the after math of tropical storm hermine. we have it covered. good afternoon. thanks for being here. >> this is first at 4:00, and right now, storm team 8 of course has been tracking this storm every step of the way, let's go to meteorologist julie phillips. >> we're still tracking tropical storm hermine. the last update that came in was at 2:00 p.m. max winds were at 50 miles per

this point. and expected to move up the east coast as we head throughout this labor day weekend. and then you notice, kind of stalling out through much of midweek. so it could cause some problems up and down the east coast as we head through the weekend. and then into next week as well. but our conditions are going to continue to improve here thankfully. we do still have this southwesterly flow in place across the area. slightly breezy winds. scattered storms possible this evening. a lot of lightning within this storm from hudson through bayonet point. some of these areas don't need more rain, but we'll continue to see spotty showers and storms as we head throughout the evening hours. you can see some lighter rain over toward plant city and in the sefner area tracking light showers there. for the rest of the evening, stays breezy. expect to see scattered showers and storms. then a little bit quieter over night when you wake up tomorrow

will all ready be possible and temperatures will be in the mid to upper 70s as we head into the afternoon hours, scattered storms will continue. there's a hefty rain chance, 60% for tomorrow. but better conditions for the rest of your labor day weekend. we'll have a look at that and your college football forecast, that's starting up this weekend, coming up soon. guys. our team coverage of tropical storm hermine continues, let's send it to eagle 8 hd reporter paul, he's over pinellas county right now. today. anything stand out? good afternoon, a lot of it stands out, the power of this storm really stands out. this is sand key. it's a park in pinellas county just south of clear water beach. here's the beach, you can see where the water comes up normally. i want to show you how high it came up during the height of the storm. this is all usually dry. it's all full of sea water. take a look here.

left here. they thought they were high and dry. instead, they're in the water. if i pull out wider and show you down here, here's some more. they left more stuff out here. and it's now covered in water. i'm going to pan down further, here's some trucks that are in the water. they thought they were safe, they are not. if i pull out wide, this part is usually sand, you can see the water. the sea came up that high during the over night hours, if i pan over here again, this usually dry, it's now covered in sea water. the storm surge got up high, it didn't get into these buildings but it came off close. if i pull out back wide, you can see where the water should be and how high the water has pushed up. so it's a big scene out here. a lot of beach erosion. a lot of water still standing. and so this was not the worst case scenario, but it was pretty bad. so we'll send it back to you, josh.

tourists who thought they would get a nice beach weekend out of it. paul, we'll check back with you later on at 6:00, appreciate that. well, dozens of homes and businesses in citrus county are flooded. one first responder compared the damage from hermine to the unnamed storm in 1993. news channel 8's chip joins us live where roads are still under water in places, hi chip. >> repr: out here, stacie, the water has gone down quite a bit. we're just off of halls river road in homassus springs we've seen widespread flooding. the citrus county sheriff's office set up camp at a command post just north of here. they're dispatching crews for rescue operations and assessing the damage. i road along with battalion chief lj white, he told me the

but the fear is if we get any more rain with this all ready saturated ground, we could see additional problems while riding with the chief, i met up with charles ahers, a storm victim with a positive attitude. >> i think my car is totaled. the pickup truck, it's down there at the end. i thought it'd be out of the water enough. but it wasn't. and then i just got a call that my house was two feet so i'm doing pretty good today. yeah. maybe i should go buy a lotto ticket or something. >> pretty amazing the attitude of some people. the sheriff's office is asking citizens to be respectful and use common sense when it comes to flood water. obviously, avoid being in the flood waters unless you're wearing boots. and wayed so flooded areas -- avoid flooded areas, especially if you don't live in them.

sightseeing. >> absolutely not. any idea of the number of homes and businesses impacted? what are we talking a about here? >> i did ask that question, they said vaguely dozens but they're working on getting the numbers together. >> all right, chip, live tonight, thank you very much. meanwhile in polk county, strong winds from the storm snapping trees and causing major damage, melissa moreno is in lakeland where the worst of the damage seems to be for the people in that county. >> reporter: if you take a seeing a lot of, we've been all around looking for the worst hit areas, the areas with the most damage, we've seen downed trees, everywhere, in yards and streets, we've even seen it here on cars, it's everywhere. even on houses. take a look. >> i was like wow. wow. >> kesha pew was in bed at home when this happened. >> i thought lightning struck something. >> until she went outside and

landed on her roof. >> the bathroom and the master bed room and part of the kitchen, there's leaks. it cracked the ceiling. >> she's happy no one was hurt. >> my husband had just walked out and came back in the house. i just thank god that he didn't get hit. >> reporter: if you live in polk county and have storm damage, we have numbers listed on our website for you to report it and melissa moreno, news channel 8. people living in florida's capitol are assessing the damage after hermine walloped tallahassee. sure did. capitol bureau reporter matt was with the governor as he toured some of the hardest hit neighborhoods there. >> the clean up continues in tallahassee in the wake of hermine with neighborhoods all around the city with damage just like this. governor rick scott toured damaged neighborhoods around tallahassee on friday. nearly half of the city woke up

until it comes back on. >> i've talked to an individual that a tree fell on her house, not only that, it fell right to her and her husband. so the tree was on them. they got out. fortunately they said if their dog was left in the same place he would have passed away. >> i became part of the story. this tree right here landed on my house. reporting in tallahassee, matt. >> he kind on that one. >> so many people feeling that same pain today. >> a lot of mess for lot of people. >> more than 60,000 people in tallahassee still don't have power. >> florida state university alerted students that power is not expected to be back on campus in residence halls for another 48 hours. still ahead -- >> tropical storm hermine hit coastal areas hard as you've seen. today 8 on your side checks out how badly the storm impacted beaches in sarasota county. you'll want to stick around

stories. today on better call behnken, these new port richey residents tell me they've been digging to keep this water out of their houses and they blame the county's lack of planning. so i'm here looking for answers. in seffner, a business destroyed, and a 76-year-old

eagle 8 hd coverage brought to you by your sun coast dealers. shop buyhyundai.com. the last remnants of hermine for us. let's check the forecast for the bay area. thankfully, conditions from here on out will continue to improve. good news. we're still going to see rain, but you know, it's summertime in florida. we expect to see that. and tomorrow is still a little bit more than we normally see. we'll keep rain chances fairly high with lingering deeper moisture around. about a 60% rain chance, including the chance to see morning showers on saturday.

temperatures back up to 90 degrees. also, football this weekend. the gators playing in gainesville, a chance to see storms during that game. the bulls taking on towson i think, 83 degrees in tampa at 7:00 p.m. there's a chance we could see rain during that game. the u taking on the rattlers. a small chance of rain in miami for that game. only about a 20% chance though. also we carolina state. 80 degrees in orlando for that game. with scattered rain possible. and if you're heading out to see the fsu game against ole miss and tallahassee on labor day night, expect to see a small rain chance with temperatures staying steamy throughout the game. at this point, now that a lot of us have seen a break from the rain temperatures, we're back in the mid 80s, with the clouds around, not going to expect a warm day, we'll top out in the mid 80s for the most port.

watcheye. we're seeing strong storms rolling through pasco county. places like new port richey getting hit fairly hard. a lot of lightning clustered within this storm. all that bright red you're seeing, that's some pretty heavy rainfall and good down pours coming down all the way toward dade city. a lot of those areas don't need more rain. unfortunately seeing some of that now. and we'll continue to through this evening. when you wake up tomorrow morning, a few showers maybe moving on shore. we have the southwest flow that allows for rain near the coast that spreads inland throughout the day. we're looking at a 60% chance of rain. a great day to sit inside and watch some football. it's not going to be the nicest of out doors days. sunday is looking better though. a small morning rain chance. and then as we head into the afternoon hours, rain chances hold steady at 40%, pretty typical for the summertime months for us.

hermine. you can see the latest advisory just came in, the max winds are at 50 miles per hour. so rain chances dropping as we head throughout this holiday weekend. down to 40% by sunday and labor day, and even lower through next week, guys ? all right, thanks julie, the former hurricane hermine chewed away at coastlines all across tampa bay and the effects are especially being felt et at leto key. >> erosion problems have plagued the island for years now the situation is even news channel 8's john rogers joining us with a look at the damage. >> reporter: right now the wind is steadfast, a lot of people have come out here to look at what's left beheadline. as a reference point, you see that life guard stand there, all throughout the day, we've seen the water hitting that staircase. the life guard stand is not supposed to be that close to the water. it's supposed to be yards away from the water line to give you an idea of how much of the beach eroded many residents here are concerned about this. farther south as you go, the

and going into the swimming pools back there. and they're worried for the safety and also for property values if this problem continues. but along with the erosion. there have been sad side effects as well. we're hearing that a lot of sea turtle nests were washed away. you've heard cases of sea turtle eggs floating in the water. county officials will go around and assess the damage, not only to the sea turtle nests but the shore lis needs to be done. but there are you shall even though it looks calm now, people are concerned for the future because of the erosion. back to you guys. all right, john rogers live. and we'll be back with more first at 4:00 in a minute. thanks john. next at 5:00, with tampa bay in the tail winds of hermine, this over flowing pond has pasco residents very concerned. >> we've been dealing with this

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a lot of sleepless nights in pasco county where heavy rains combined with high tides for a double dose of water. news channel 8 covered pasco

night hours. >> reporter: in pasco county, in that little slice of land between u.s. 19 and the gulf, that's where a lot of folks are having problems today. kind of dealing with a double whammy. they have over flow from small ponds like this one right here. this is what happened at imperial court mobile home park in new port richey. this is actually a tiny pond. but it's full. and so it's over flowing. and then on the backside of the neighborhood, there's some water that feeds in from gulf. and so when we get those high tides, it sends more water in. really just kind of sandwiching folks. we want to show you some video from what it looked like over night, driving wind and rain, as stronger rain bands were pushing through. ponds and streams were over flowing 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 who was not evacuated. but they were up all night

their house. unsuccessful at one point the water was up a foot in their garage. >> it just came in fast. in every room, you know. and then that was bad enough. then when high tide hit, about 2:15, it was, i mean, just inches of water. everywhere. >> so back out here now, folks are just trying to deal with this. and wait for the water down. they're trying to cope with high tides and that circle of rain and wind that's happening, they're expecting to dry out soon, and hopefully no major damage here. in pasco county, meredith, news channel 8. severe weather can cause severe anxiety and in the wake of tropical storm hermine, there is quite a bit to clean up which can be overwhelming. how do you avoid it becoming too much for you and your family. 8 on your side has answers,

i heard you lost power last night. i did as well. it wasn't a great night. not a lot of sleep. >> i was up every two hours. >> first thing, what kind of toll mentally do situations like these take on people and their families. >> it can be considered a trauma. you're going to go through the feelings of shock and maybe a little bit of depression depending on how severe it hit you. and anger and maybe, you know, just, you know, not knowing what to do. so these are the steps th the rolls that that's going to happen to you. >> we saw a few people that lost their vehicles and their home and they have no idea what to do. that's going to take a big toll on them. moving into the storm recovery mode, what are some things that people can do to kind of step out of that stress and try to get -- try to move on with their lives ? >> focus on what you do have. focus on your health. if someone did get hurt, focus on taking care of them and

need to do to get back on track? and i was just talking to jen and she gave me a good piece of advice and wisdom, call on the community. there's so many people out there who will be willing to help you. the community will pull together and will be there for people in need. and for parents who just sent kids back to school. they finally get them into routine. and now this happens. it knocks them out of routine. a lot of schools didn't have school for the last two days for parents what can they do to get the kids back these kids are going to be like are we sleeping in? are we shot in sleeping? i think for the kids they're going to enjoy it. so i would still have them do some reading, some math. you know especially the little kids. definitely don't let them watch tv all day long or be on the internet all day long. have them doing something. make it a nice time to do family things together. >> help clean up the neighborhood a little bit. >> that's a great idea.

and take them there to help them. there you go. thanks for being with us. stacy, back to you. still ahead -- >> surviving the storm, a cat has nine lives thanks to some bay area survivors. look at that sweet thing. where they found this drenched kitten when first at 4:00 returns. next at 5:00, with tampa bay in the tail winds of hermine this over flowing pond has pasco residents very >> this is ridiculous, we've been dealing with this since 2006. >> better call behnken suits up

>> now let's take a look at what's trending online today. >> beginning with makes the most of giant puddles dotted throughout the bay area. several community ins the bay area are dealing with flooding of course caused by tropical

into the holiday weekend, not everybody is crying foul. these little guys are soaking it up an having a blast. the sarasota county sheriff's office tweeted out this video of ducks splashing in the puddles. >> a daring rescue is making the rounds. saint john's fire rescue crews dealt with a variety of storm related issues today, but one of the most uniqued involved the rescue of in the atlantic ocean. rescuers waded out and helped steer the deer back to shore. once on the beach, the deer just ran off into the woods. >> and here is another dose of cuteness on this friday. they say cats have nine lives and this little ball of fur still has all of them. thanks to some bay area first responders. this kitten was rescued by hillsborough county firefighters this morning.

storm water runoff. they dried it off, warmed it up with heat packs. >> how do you even see that little guy? that has to be tough. to see what the trending right now and get updates in between new casts you can always head to our website. we posted all of these trending videos on wfla.com. >> and you'll find the latest on football games canceled throughout the night. all that information on wfla.com. >> it has been busy on the website. >> now it is newschannel8 at 5:00 with jen an rod. >> right now on newschannel8 at 5:00. >> for the first time in 11 years, florida gets a direct hit from a hurricane. >> hermine tears down trees and pours down rain. i'm rod carter. >> i'm jennifer leigh.

nature's fury. rain, wind, and waves pounded florida as hermine made landfall. >> hermine is now a tropical storm and moving away from the state but we are feeling a lot of effects from the storm. meteorologist steve jerve joins us now with a look at the radar. >> the storm continues to move through the carolinas caught in the trough in the upper atmosphere, but boy, the effects last night and throughout the day yesterday from a category 1 hurricane that ultimately wasn't that strong, but clearly because we lin on e stcoast of florida we have been feeling the effect. tropical storm hermine with 50 winds just north and west of charleston, south carolina will continue to drift quickly off to the north. you will see the visible satellite imagery. the tail that feeder bands that would extend off the southern section of it that get out over the warmer waters. find life of their own and