hurricane matthew. >> i'm jennifer leigh. >> i'm keith cate. we just got the update of hurricane matthew's forecast track. thank you very much for joining us tonight. >> our coverage begins with chief meteorologist steve jerve. where is it headed now? >> the track looks similar. the east coast of florida. we are on the west so we are on the weaker side. it will track close to the east coast. the eye wall is where it will be the strongest. not much of a storm rge suup th happy to have this online. our million watt radar. you can see shower activity off to the east and inland areas. we will expect over the next couple of days, that should become much more active. here is the latest from hurricane matthew. 120 miles an hour winds moving rnings in effect for the bahamas. hurricane warnings for the east coast of florida all the way up

time early friday morning. 130 miles an hour winds. the strength of the storm being quite significant. though, 4 is the cuto point4 in position. keep anthe cone of po bay area. the storm can wobble. though the computer models have been consistent the last 12 hours or so. high winds expected in and around this area. and the eye wall itself as we io winds that can be right along the coastal areas. the computer models have suggested more of a curve. some suggested a complete loop of it. we are waiting to see if this is a short term trend or a long term trend. for now, the latest european computer model essentially did the same thing and kept it offshore. it is something we will continue to watch, the hurricane center has suggested this could occur, possibly weakening overtime. the warnings in place, tropical

basically means is you could see some tropical storm force wind gusts up to 74 miles an hour. out over 36 hours. starting at 36 hours out. so, prepare obviously for the stronger wind gusts. there is where the storm is relative to the state of florida. the eye which is a bit more rob obscure. there you see the a well defined storm. though we have overcast around the center. we will continue to keep you updated here. we will have more later. >> thank you very much steve. we will check with you in just a bit. schools are closed tomorrow and friday in polk, highlands, and sumser county due to the storm and a special shelter will open in bartow.

consider going to a shelter. and southwest florida is expected to feel the first effects of hurricane matthew tomorrow. but, as you can see, it is beautiful right now. a live look, this is fort lauderdale. definitely, the calm before the storm. this storm is already blamed for at least 11 deaths in the caribbean. >> governor rick scott is urging people to be prepared for the worst. our ian oliver is live in palm beach shores where the storm could be the strongest. >> reporter: the preparations need to be completed tonight as matthew approaches. the conditions are expected to deteriorate throughout the day tomorrow. we want to show you some of the preps underway. check out this giant life guard stand. you notice, it is now chained to the ground. the reason for that, residents tell me, back in hurricane sandy, the life guard posts where it normally lives was tossed up the beach, into the

starting to churn up larger than when we first got here. it will be the second part of the day tomorrow when the seas pick up and we see a potential storm surge of three to five feet. as steve showed you, the track of the storm is precariously close to the east coast. any shift to the west would lead to greater impacts. governor rick scott is asking people to prepare for the worst while we hope for the best. >> please take care of your friends, your family, your loved ones, evacuate if you are ordered to. i have activated 500 members of the national guard. from my direction, they are currently stationed in north, central, and south florida to be deployed immediately. in addition, we have over 6,000 national guard members ready to be deployed if needed. the national guard will be focused on staging for search and rescue efforts. they will radio sister counties as needed. >> reporter: i can tell you

on that advice. as we were driving in, we saw a lot of westbound traffic away from the beach. the gas stations, many of those were completely out of fuel. the ones that still had gas had big time lines as people getting gas for their generators if they are sticking around or gassing up their vehicles as they get out of the way of matthew. back to you. >> ian oliver live for us in palm beach shores tonight. thank you very much ian. as hurricane matthew closes in, newschannel8 crews are fanning out all over the state. ian, jeff patterson, candace mccowan, peter bernard, and ryan hughes wi east coast tomorrow to bring you live team coverage. >> and airlines are preparing to suspend flights from florida up through north carolina. most airlines are letting travelers change to a later flight without a penalty. but, before you head to the airport, you will want to make sure you check the status of your flight. matthew tore through the southern bahamas earlier today after inflicting heavy damage on haiti and cuba.

josh benson continues our coverage with a look at the destruction left in matthew's wake. >> reporter: hurricane matthew was the strongest hurricane to hit haiti in 50 years. they were forced to clean up even staff an earthquake six years ago. but cuba was not spared. it was slammed with 140 miles an hour winds causing major damage there. take a look. >> yes. justify the river. >> reporter: raging rivers washed away roads in haiti chewed through island with strong winds and pounding rain. towns, farmland, and resorts were pummeled. debris everywhere. a boat in the middle of the street as people waded through knee high water. some getting caught in the rushing water. meanwhile ... [ screaming ] >> reporter: cuba, like this house's roof, took its own blows from the storm. like the many shorelines blown up by the powerful waves.

um, as we walk through the streets. you can see this building collapsed completely. >> reporter: the tourist town of baracoa perhaps receiving the worse. residents moved to higher ground. streets now filled with debris including this shipping container hurled there by a massive wave. and to make matters worse, officials say it has been difficult to assess the severity of the impact on haiti and cuba. in haiti's case, the storm knocked out communication and the main bridge that links it to the southwest peninsula. for cuba, some areas are just impossible to get to. back to you. right now, people in at- risk coastal areas in south florida and north carolina are being urged evacuate. this is heavy traffic in charleston, south carolina. they are begging residents not

the highway pro. troopers will be out in force to make sure traffic runs smoothly as people leave south florida. newschannel8's john rogers continues our team coverage from i-75 in sarasota. how is it looking there? >> reporter: good evening jen, well one thing that drivers may notice along i-75 is you won't find a lot of construction work going on around here. construction on i-75 all throughout has been halted for the next few days. state trooper ken watson just canceled a vacation now, he is out on i-715 keeping an eye over the influx of travelers expected the next few days. >> if we are going to be using our interstate to get people to a safe area, those roadways must be clear. >> reporter: with hurricane matthew barreling toward florida, many evacwees will be going away from the storm. construction work has been stopped along i-75 in hopes of avoiding delays and every

clearing accident scenes and stopping erratic drivers. >> reporter: if assistance is need our response time will be phenomenal. >> reporter: many troopers are headed east into the storm's path. these officers are part of the reaction force team. they are specially trained to handle dangerous emergency situations like riots and the busy aftermath of a storm. they provide help when police departments are overwhelmed. >> they are trained. they are efficient. and they are ready to go. will remain halted until the folks are safely back in their homes. officials will be monitoring to find out when to reopen this. it is important to emphasize despite the trooper's best efforts it could still be congested so be patient if you are going out on the roadways. back to you. >> all right, john rogers live for us tonight. thank you john. we will keep bringing you updates on matthew as soon as they come into the news center in between newscasts, you can get everything you need from the latest forecast track to evacuation routes, right on our

on the creepy clowns we have been talking about causing chaos. threats are popping up all across the bay area. >> and law enforcement has had enough. coming up next, the message police have for the hoaxers and the very real cost to taxpayers. >> plus 8 on your side wants to make sure you are election ready. our election phone bank is going on right now. and you can call it. 1-800-538-0808. they have answers to your questions. our volunteers are standing by for your calls. coming up. you're watching newschannel8, the station that is always on

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hospital. this is eagle 8 hd video. they were able to put out the fire in half an hour. they are investigateing the cause now to see what started it. the creepy clown chaos sweeping the country is causing a new problem for law enforcement and teachers. newschannel8's rod carter explains. >> reporter: hey, good evening guys. every day, seems like we are telling you some threat from a random school district officials have to spend a lot of time and a lot of energy looking into these things only to find out they end up being nothing more than an internet hoax. >> hi george! >> reporter: it has been 26 years since we saw that creepy clown pennywise from the stephen king movie it peering out of the storm drain. some say the clown consternation may be because of

seeing quite a lot of reports of threatening clowns online and in bushes. in fact, law enforcement are bushed trying to check out every claim. >> it disrupts the teachers, it disrupts the administration at the school. because, plans have to be made to provide extra security measures there. our sros , we have to beef up the security and bring sros there to keep the kids safe. >> reporter: school districts are dealing with this administrators at the district level and to the schools. when students hear there is any kind of threat, a lot of them stay home from school so they are not learning. >> reporter: pasco county is so serious about it, they are teaching other lessons, clown consequences if you will. yesterday, they charged a 12- year-old with a felony for making a bogus bozo threat. >> you can't ignore it. >> no. we take everyone very seriously. because again, the second you say oh, that is not serious,

forbid, we can't take a chance on the kids getting hurt. >> reporter: they have to look into every single threat they get that people see on facebook and twitter. when you see that, don't retweet it. instead, do a screen grab, send that to them and let them investigate. what happens is they often end up changing those things as if they are separate incidents. rod carter, newschannel8. now, max defender 8. the your storm team 8 forecast with meteorologist steve jerve. >> a peek outside, looks like here. not much in the way of precipitation. there are a few scattered showers. at veteran's ford, 86 degrees. bright sunshine, very different from what is happening in the bahamas at the moment. here at lakeland auto mall, 87 degrees with mostly cloudy skies. polk county, we talk about the

crystal river, 82 degrees, a beautiful day at this spot at the moment. as we look at max defender 8, a few showers are off to the east at the moment. they continue to drift to the west a little bit. this is a live scan from the million watt s-band doppler radar. mostly primarily east of lakeland at the moment. you can see them drifting in a westerly fashion coming out of osceola county. other sections of pasco county seeing showers. this is around bowling green, wauchula, a few showers continue to drift back to the west. further south el see south of englewood, a few showers continue to move westerly. this is almost a live video at that last frame. our alert is in place. we have a tropical storm watch in place for inland counties. that would include hayne city and highlands county. sumter county. and coastal areas. there is a tropical storm watch

wind gusts. wind gusts up to 73 miles an hour, say, are expected in some of the inland areas in 36 hours. 86 degrees the current temperature at temple terrace. 88 seminole. 89 degrees. it is a warm day overall. the convection has not really started though we are getting good heating going. visible satellite imagery shows a few clouds across the state. you will see hurricane maw more of an easterly flow. then northeasterly. across the state, most of the activity is off the east coast at the moment. you can see the flow influenced from the hurricane. slowly start to influence our weather picture here locally. 120 miles an hour winds as of 5:00. from the national hurricane center. these are all hurricane warnings. now, as a category 3 storm will continue to move to the northwest, now, we want to continue to focus on the window of possible movement. we call it the cone of air,

a category 4 storm. also, you can see passing right along the coastline, some computer models suggest that there could be an actual landfall in some possibly even moving inland. we will have to see how they change overtime. because, these computer models do change overtime. a different computer model offers different opinions but we want to focus on the bay area, our influence, and know there is a lot of air in the forecast tracks an it can come a little further to the west. so, just plan for the fact that this storm can change for now. the models have consistent in keeping it on that path for the last 24 hours or so. what hasn't been consistent is the more long term forecast. we saw today, the loop that many of the computer models were doing. now, we is to wait to see run after run to see if this stays consistent. this could be bumped southward by a developing area of high pressure. missing a trough of low pressure. but a lot has to play out. so we will see how this

many models keep it well offshore. some move it further inland at that point. that is why we are seeing the consistent forecast track along coastal areas. you see the curve take place in some models. others keep it offshore. so be patient and we will continue to inform you as to what could happen long term as you see a bunch of scribbling on the map. it could be a lot of different things. just stay tuned. this includes coastal areas. the watches in place. the tropical storm watches we talked about. of course, hurricane warnings over on the there is the satellite imagery. that is where the eye is. the rainfall potential is certainly impressive on the east coast of florida. we are focusing really on friday. now, for the day. and keeping in mind that the eye wall could pass very close ly to the space coast. we watch the forecast the next couple of days. we see increasing chances of rain, especially inland areas. that is where the flow is being

later into the early part of friday. and we watch the movement itself of the hurricane up the east coast. that is the current thinking of the moment. with the tropical situations, if you know, over time, they can evolve and they can change. we will kick our winds up the next couple of days, especially as we head into friday. keep a 40% chance of showers favoring the inland areas. polk county, highlands county, hardy, de soto counties. the greatest chances are inland including higher wind gusts. friday, saturday, drier air moves in on the western si long term, we will see how the storm evolves or doesn't in terms of making the loop. but a lot can happen long term. let's focus on the short term. take the preps now. >> the models look like spaghetti models. >> that is why we need to foe cows on the next 48 hours. >> a reminder, you can get the latest updates on hurricane matthew at your fingertips in between our newscast. download our free weather max

you to be ready. coming up, we will check in with the phone bank. you can call with your

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election ready. our phone bank is open until 6:30 p.m. call the number on the screen. 1-800-528-0808. our volunteers are on hand to answer all of your voting questions. and, coming up at 5:30, we will have an interview with several supervisors of elections. the number, 1-800-528-0808. tampa police are looking for two crooks caught on camera putting a skimming device in a at the 7/11 on nebraska avenue. one is tampering with the atm. the second is keeping watch. the camera got a good look at their faces and we are going to show them to you. if you recognize these guys, call tampa police. an josh benson joins us now with a look at 5:3. >> reporter: hey guys, coming up, a million gallons of spilled sewage stinking up a neighborhood. when this smelly problem will be cleaned up. we'll let you know.

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>> right now on newschannel8 at 5:30. >> could this be florida's future? we are getting a closer look at the devastation left behind in the caribbean. good evening, i'm jennifer thanks for being with us tonight. let's get right to hurricane matthew. the slow moving storm should start affecting florida as early as tomorrow. schools in polk, highlands, sumter counties will start closing thursday and friday. let's go to chief meteorologist steve jerve for an update on matthew's path. >> 120 miles an hour winds for hurricane matthew. lit continue to move on the northwesterly path. warnings in place for the bahamas. we have heard what has happened