coming up, what is the

tornadoes devastate communities along the gulf coast. damaged homes and buildings left behind. it was the site of this destroyed home where the loss is felt most. a couple, grandparents, killed by the storm. >> i can't believe it. >> thank you for joining us everyone. a past-a path of devastation

through the storms brought winds of 125 miles an hour. smith the victims died after their mobile home was thrown and that's for refined are action news reporter and how community members are coping and cleaning up. smith there is so much going on many hours after the storm you can take a look at the rover the heaviest devastation was seen it is blocked off because utility crews are working on repairing the power poles that were snapped in half and power lines knocked down as a result of the extreme wins. 140 miles an hour, leaving behind a lot of debris like this sheet-metal leaving a lot of cleanup work left to be done along with the process of grieving for those that were lost and praying for the survivors.

aftermath firsthand. kelly and steve wilson, his neighbors and friends. spirit they are gone but never will be forgotten. sunday afternoon. other neighbors and friends started digging through the rubble that the tornado left behind for they found a few personal items and family photos. >> i can't believe all of this. i can't believe it. >>reporter: the couple son came to their house looking for help after the storm as she drove him back here to the family's property. she could hear the grandkids inside. this barn scared and screaming. moments later they found kelly

as katie. first responders said she actually died of an apparent heart attack and the ambulance heading to the hospital. friends found her husband dead and buried beneath the debris. those here are grateful that the couples adult son, three kids and denise survived. >> our community comes together for a family that not a lot of people knew but we did know their hearts and their love for people and their generosity. >>reporter: generosity the hope will live on with survivors and loved ones to clean up the mess left behind. >>reporter: the kids in the adults are in the hospital recovering and are expected to make a full recovery from this incident. the red cross has been out here offering assistance to the

that have been set up to help this family recover with cleanup costs and to pay for the funerals of the grandparents. reporting live in manatee county abc action is. >> we posted links to those pages. see you can help out that family. you can find them on our website. just head over to abc action news.com. what is to come. as we see more severe weather? >> we have been here for over 20 years of that has been the worst tornado i can think of it in our area during an el nio year we should not be that surprised. it's a classic set up. this is what the radar look like as we started to broadcast live for 3 1/2 hours straight and we watched a series of tornadoes move through the area

duette had winds of 127 miles an hour, stayed on the ground for over 9 miles and it was two or 300 yards wide as we mentioned there were a few fatalities and more injuries and significant damages to homes from the siesta key area to sarasota as well and we go from there, this pattern is not going anywhere. a few minutes we will talk about how the el nio can have a drastic impact on our weather what we have seen in the last 20 for hours is going to be sticking around. they look at your forecast in a couple of minutes. we had to sarasota county. you can see with these pictures that region saw. the governor touring the county deciding if to declare this a

vacationers and siesta key. some parts and runs after one tornado ripped through the area. this complex among the most heavily damaged. >> i woke up at heard a loud noise like i'd never heard before. duette the force of the star -- >>reporter: the force of the storm quieted this community around 3:30 am. a few hours later, gov. and listened to residents as they tried to pick up the pieces. swimming a lot of water damage, a pipe let loose. >>reporter: in this community alone. early estimates of damage $3 million , that could climb with the loss of future rental income. the snowbirds forced to evacuate. a rental managers scrambling to find homes and telling us they are losing thousands.

put them. >>reporter: residents are trying to deal with mother nature's wrath in sarasota. >> 10 to 15 seconds of unbelievably loud noise. >>reporter: the roof of this home collapsed at crews got the people inside out. they suffered minor injuries and thankfully they will survive. for this entire community. it will take some time to try to not think about a system that in a matter of minutes. changed lives. zach i live on an island. so i will--i have seen a bunch of her kids but i will take hurricane all day long. this was bad. >>if you need help, you can stop by edison keith mansion between 11 am and 2 pm you will find county officials and representatives from the red cross file-florida power and light in the sheriff's office.

posted on abc action news.com. similar gov. rick scott saw the tornado damage firsthand today telling victims. he will do whatever he can to help. he is still waiting on declaring that region. a disaster area per that would make them eligible for more help, allowing state funding to assist gov. scott said it's too early to know if he will make that declaration that those affected hope it is sinner rather than later. >> hopefully we can get some relief like you often hear about to offset some of our expenditures. spirit business manager said it will take months to fix the damage per the community is relying on crews and neighbors to do the best they can.>> people in that community said a cell phone warning system alerted them to the approaching storm.

action news storm shield app for letting them know before the twister structured it wasn't long before they heard the roar of the storm and have this message for others. >> take those cell phone warnings seriously. i was awake and i heard a. not awake enough to pay serious attention to it. it was three minutes later that that happened. >> you can download the storm shield to your mobile phone through the app store. we will send you an alert when there is severe weather on the way included tornadoes and hurricanes. they also stream storm coverage live has a tornado warnings came in for you can count on us to keep you informed on severe weather@abcactionnews.com. similar to hundred thousand homes were without power at one point, according to florida power and light. they added crews and treat tremors around-the-clock trying to get power restored to a majority of the people by the end of the night.

utility and there are 1000 outages in sarasota county, but 120 in manatee. the florida power and light pres. and ceo was touring the worst areas of sarasota county, and he said, 99% of people should have their lights back on tonight. , versace a long and tiring clinic process and government leaders are urging caution when it comes to where you discard the debris from your property. leave the debris next to the road, not in the street so it doesn't-emergency vehicles and crews will pick up the debris as soon as possible. three workers have been out in the communities to clear storm damage from the roadways but if you don't properly prepare the debris, you could be held responsible for the county said do not stack debris by utility

cars, mailboxes or fences. and don't block fire hydrants or storm drains and they also recommend separating garbage from branches. >> we are getting some of the images coming into the social media wall that we are posting on facebook and twitter showing the path of destruction. we continue to share all of the images you are sending in. just had to our facebook page or follow our coverage and we have a photo gallery set up on the website showing these photos that you sent in. you can see that by going to abc action news.com. some of the bay area was not the only region that was hit. the damage a stretch us out to collier county. where getting a first look at what was left behind. the sister station capturing these images of trees, science power lines and flooded parking

this is about an hour south of cape coral where a tornado touchdown last weekend. thankfully that community was spared this time only seen minor wind damage. still ahead, tensions were higher than ever at tonight's democratic debates. timing and location shaping the battle between candidates. tonight tornadoes could be the beginning. what could spawn more storms later this year. we are breaking it all down

of the three top democrats squared off tonight. it was the last debate before the iowa caucuses. charleston. that debate just wrapping up. this comes with tightening poll

for the debate happening a few blocks from a church where nine worshipers were shot and killed over the summer. putting gun control as one of the biggest topics. we are one of the local teams with pull it affects nations. they hold these politicians accountable so the first fact check focuses on statements clinton made wall talking about gun control. she made accusations on bernie sanders on the issue that we wanted to check. take a listen. >> he voted for the charleston loophole. he voted for immunity from gun makers and sellers that the nra said was the most important piece of gum legislation in 20 years. >> our team did some research and dubbed that accusation true. sanders did flip-flop his stance

makers and sellers back in 2005, sanders voted for a measure that provided broad liability exclusions after months of defending the vote. his position started to evolve in october 2015. three months ago he said he would take another look at the liability question and on saturday, his campaign said he would support changes. that sounded like a flip-flop to our team so we rated clinton statements as true. this is not the only fact check up tonight's debate. our team will be working long candidates. truth ratings on abc action news.com and tell you what we found out tomorrow morning when you wake up with abc action news. estimate the latest attempt to land a space rocket on a platform in the ocean taking place in california today.

>> 321. liftoff. some of the private company launched the unmanned rocket that put a satellite into space today. things went downhill and that rocket attempted a secondary goal to land upright on the platform in the pacific. they did not elaborate on want went wrong but the rocket hit the platform too hard and broke a landing leg. space excellence to reuse the rockets were can cut cost of spaceflight. another weather concerned, prompting action. officials were activation alters for those seeking a warm place. their locations in clearwater, st. petersburg in south park. these will be open starting

warm meals around 6 pm until 6 am. our chief meteorologist joins us now they look about what happened and you barely have a voice now. you stayed all night long. >> i have been talking on the phone with ivan and we saw the storm coming and people were following on social media. they did it. notice, but still. so make it happened so fast. >> a hurricane. you can see coming, but with tornadoes and so fast. some make you look outside right now. everything changes so quickly. we were warm and stormy last night and now we are cooling off dramatically. we are waking up to temperatures across the area primarily in the 40s and 30s with a freeze possible tomorrow

north and on average close to 200 colder right now than it was this time yesterday. to. mid-40s across the metro and tampa skies are partly cloudy 52 clearwater 55 and skies are clear. satellite picture after all of the tragic storms that barreled through the area this morning. the rest of your sunday turned out to be sunny and breezy and definitely cold and this is something very common. you see things change so quickly from hot to cold and few days we will average 100 clear. later on this week. another area of strong storms on friday into friday night.

cooler than that when you factor in the wind. speaking of, they went out of the north tomorrow, 10 to 15 kn pretty rough out there for boaters with a moderate chop on the bay. sunrise and sunset and a look forecast. on monday and 60 on tuesday with a freeze on wednesday mid- 60s and by the end of the week, especially friday into friday night another chance of very rough storm switch is another sign of el nio. >> we heard a lot about el nio and how rapid the weather can change. >> it has a drastic impact and in summer it is a good thing but in the winter time in florida. it typically brings very quick changes to the weather and very

you have this energizing jet stream we're going to have this january, february and march. no changes at all. every five or six days somewhere and a southeast will be dealing with a chance of severe weather. it's not over by a long shot. >> we are lucky to have you here. thanks. >> bless your heart and your voice. so the conference championship games are set for next weekend and a battle for stage bragging rights. we have the highlights next in

thanks for stopping by the last five years dominating the rivals panthers running 14 out of the last 20 games but none of those matchups were more important than two nights per the panthers that the lightning by seven points. no one saw that coming in january. in the second period, a 17th goal. 14 minutes later,

jason garrison his shot is deflected off the glass andre schuster clears up the missed shot and lights the way. lightning takes a lead. bishop gave up one goal but had 26 shots they go on to win their fifth straight win over the panthers. bishop improves 27, one and one in his career against florida. >> i don't care what team you are back. he's win two and a road we think you can win every single game in the war. we have one, that's what has helped us so far. >> the cardinals beat the packers and overtime after at aaron rodgers hail mary pass

game. it's less than an interesting. second-half nonetheless. cam nation all over seattle racking up 31 points second half. here comes the seahawks. russell wilson eludes sacks and scrambles in the end zone combines jermaine kirch. three touchdowns and two interceptions for wilson. seattle goes for the kick a carolina recovers it. panthers go on to win. to join their lead. the first conference title game since 2005. they will face-i think steelers in broncos. denver drove down the field. the touchdown, broncos take the lead. broncos have 19 seconds left in the steelers need a miracle.

win. the conference championships are set. the final for next weekend. broncos in the afc and cardinals and panthers in the college hoops. some of those number 13, money. some levels down at the break. second-half getting the hoop and they can--physically. they are loving it. finally, green and gold struggled in the first half. courtney williams brings them back, she cuts the lead by three and later piling up from

williams dropped 21 points into

thanks for choosing abc action news. have a great night. we will see you back here tomorrow night and dennis will rest his voice.