because police are searching for this man tonight. the brazen attack that has neighbors staying behind locked doors. >> storms are slamming the area all day. here is a live look at the heinz avenue. our live drive camera there checking out the conditions right now. the neighborhood seeing a good amount of rain this afternoon as so many neighborhoods have. let's go over to denis with a look how much rain we're seeing across the bay area. >> that's right. we typically flood in south tampa during this type of situation. we had flooding going on there. and i'll tell you what, you look at the rain. it's not letting up any time soon. now, the heaviest weather is pushing on through. i have to show you what is going on in terms of rainfall totals just over the last 24 hours. this is pretty amazing. you look at these totals, especially around st. pete. well, some areas have one or two inches of rain. then you check closer to downtown and you're closer to

it has been a very, very rainy deiah cross a good portion of pinellas in through hillsborough county. that heavy rain not quite as heavy across the northern counties. we did have severe weather down south with the tornado in the boyton beach area. there are gusty winds moving through polk county. we have big changes in store for the weekend. we will talk about that in a couple of minutes. >> an update to the amber alert we sent out as a push alert on our mobile app. police are reporting that these children here have been found safe in north florida. sarah rosario joins us live with why the deputies thought the children were in danger. it appears we are still working to get sarah to you. we're going to get to her in just a moment. sarah, are you there?

>> i've got you. go ahead. >> reporter: family members are so thankful that the children were found safe. but police were taking their disappearance very serious earlier today because we're told their mother, who took them from this home overnight, threatened to kill herself and her children if she didn't get custody of them. here is a look at the pictures we were sent earlier today. the 5-year-old and her younger brother, 4-year-old fred. police say their mother took them from her parents' home around 4:00 this morning using a key she had. the kids were in the custody of their grandparents after the state took them away from gigi in august. we're told the state ruled that gigi isn't mentally stable. she and the kids' father were only allowed supervised visits. and now we're learning that the state is getting ready to take them away from grandparents which is why they believe she ran away with the kids and threatened to harm them. >> she has made the statements in the past.

you can't minimize the fact that she is their mother because we have parents who harm their children. >> reporter: and, again, gigi and her kids have been found safe in madison, florida just about an hour ago. there are still many unanswered questions tonight. like who is going to get custody of the children now and why were they taken away from their grandparents to begin with? back out here live now, the good news is, again, those children have been found safe just about an hour ago in madison, florida. we will bring you the latest on the story tonight at 11:00. sarah rosario, abc action news. >> thank you, sarah. we want to get to some breaking news in tam what right now. two teenagers with autism are missing and officers need your help to bring them home. we're being told that tpd tweeting the picture of 13 and 14-year-old logan and blake were last seen on 22nd street near the mendez exceptional center.

have special needs and it is raining outside. very dangerous conditions. police. we have an update to a story we have been following all day long. a at that boy hit by a car in his apartment complex parking lot has died. very sad. leonard was running through the parking lot of preserve apartments this morning trying to catch the bus. that's when he ran in front of the suv. he died from his injuries at st. joe's hospital this afternoon. that boy was in sixth grade. grief counselors were on hand today and will be there again tomorrow. auburndale police arrested a suspect in a crash that seriously injured a 5-year-old girl. regina shelton is behind bars facing multiple charges from a november car accident. police say shelton hit the 5- year-old on her bicycle. she ran over her allegedly and then attempted to leave the scene. police say shelton had

she is now being held without bond. the pasco county woman accused of choking and smothering her baby several time at the hospital was found incompetent to stand trial today. violet is charged with attempted murder of her then 7 month old baby son. you see him there. the boy was under surveillance for seizures and sleep apnea when a hospital surveillance video caught her strangling the little boy. she will be released to a group home in st. petersburg. jamison. >> breaking news at 5:00. permanent disbarment issued by the florida supreme court for the lawyers accused of orchestrating the dui arrest of rival attorney campbell. he represented schmidt in the shock jock trial. the three were suspended last week. no word yet tonight if his partners will also be disbarred. manatee county deputies

murder weapon used to kill two people last week. deputies have linked last week's murders to duane kummins. they're not saying what type of weapon was found or used. they were searching the manatee river yesterday. a crime alert to tell you about in tampa. police searching for this man who attacked and tried to sexually assault a woman on her front porch. why police say this man is a danger to the community. clifton. >> reporter: anyone who would commit a crime like this would do it again. that's why they hope this sketch right here helps get him caught. >> this is crazy because i have kids at home. i have a girl at home. >> reporter: terrified neighbors learning about an attack on a woman at her front door. praying that attacker is caught. >> we have a lot of kids in the area. >> reporter: police just released this sketch of the man

in her 20s looking for her keys to unlock her front door. making small talk. he reached out and touched her. she pushed him away and told her to leave her alone. that's when he grabbed her off the front porch and threw her down on the ground. >> reporter: 2:00 in the morning on tuesday. motion light and dogs barking scared him away. >> you can't be relaxed when things like that happen. old. his girlfriend, 24. >> i told her whenever she goes out the door, have her pepper spray. >> reporter: people throughout the neighborhood asking us to sketch. people in case they see it. there's a lot of kids in the area. >> reporter: this woman saying she has seen that man before. >> he wears a hoodie. he stands around at the stores. he be at that store down there and he be right here. >> reporter: tonight, everyone here saying they're on high >> i don't know. people. >> that was clifton french

now taking action for your health tonight. the world health organization says the zika virus is exploding explosively, those are their words, and could soon affect 4 million people in the americas. an emergency meeting is being called to discuss what to do to combat the spread worldwide. and right now the mosquito-born virus has been detected in 23 countries. linked to severe birth defects, a condition of abnormal smallness of the head that causes brain damage. there's currently no treatment for the virus and most people infected have no symptoms at all. at least six states have confirmed cases of the virus. you see them here in red. they include california, minnesota, virginia, arkansas, new york, and florida. that's right. our state of florida. let's take a closer look at our state. we go mode county and then to the state view.

florida, there are actually two different counties that have the zika virus. in one case, going to mode prediction here. we're going to take a look at which counties we're talking about. in fact, hillsborough. that's right. one case in hillsborough county. then two other cases in miami- dade county. we're told that three people had traveled to south america jamison. >> wendy, turning now to deck crass e2016. tonight is the final republican face-off before the caucuses. won't be making an appearance. donald trump boycotting because of an ongoing feud with the month moderator megyn kelly. ted cruz wants to give the donald one last chance at the debate stage. >> he and i are the leading candidates in this state right now. so how about the two of us in a

>> well, the latest poll show trump leading in iowa 7 points ahead of cruz while the other candidates are busy at the debate, trump will be holding a rally nearby for veterans. zanny the nanny back in the news. the woman who sued casey anthony for defamation facing charges of her own. coming up, the vulnerable victim she is accused of stealing from. 30 years ago today, tragedy struck the space program when the challenge exploded. coming up at 5:30 you can the lessons learned from the teacher on board the fateful flight being taught to children

>> authorities are worried special needs and it has been raining all day long. police. investigators are calling

girl was shot this morning a known drug house. tonight that teen is in a coma. eric waxler joins us now with more information. >> reporter: jamison, radioet now here at the pasco sheriff's office they are looking for the three people they say are responsible for that home invasion. they have arrested four people who were inside the house and they are telling us some disturbing details about what happened after the shooting. >> this is a drug house. absolutely. this is not a random house that was hit. >> reporter: it wasn't the first time that deputies have been to this home on holiday. there was a home invasion five months ago. earlier this morning, violence struck again. three men burst in likely looking for drugs. in the confusion one of l people in the home fires a shotgun at the attackers but instead hits a 16-year-old girl visiting.

left arm, shoulder area. she goes down. >> reporter: two other teens including the victim's boyfriend did not stay to help her. instead they ran off to hide their marijuana down the >> that was their first impulse. of their dope. location. >> reporter: residents nearby woke up to deputies pounding at their door. >> i was shaking. i heard banging and my dogs i couldn't check. i called my parents. >> reporter: while deputies continue to search for whoever busted into the home, they arrested two adults and two teens inside including karen clark. she is faces drug charges and child neglect. >> the people who created this we're going to find you. those at the house we arrested garfield drive are at least taking some relief in knowing

three houses down but i don't feel it's just a random invasion. >> reporter: the identity of that 16-year-old who was shot and in a coma is not being released. the 19-year-old who shot her is not being charged because he was shooting in self-defense. eric waxler, abc action news. >> thank you, eric. a florida woman who sued casey anthony for defamation accused of stealing a cancer patient's credit card. gonzales is charged with credit card theft and grand theft. deputies say she stole the card from a motel in tess where a 64- year-old man was living while receiving cancer treatment at a nearby hospital. deputies say she spent about $850 at stores around kissimmee and orlando. now the most accurate weather team in florida. abc action weather. >> everybody is dealing with

a lot of folks are stranded out on a can cal cruz ship. >> yeah. the port is closed because of the fog. it will be two or three more hours before the fog burns off. the carnival paradise can't get in. so the people on there can't get off and the people who are waiting to go the next day have had to bump that down to a three-day cruise because of the weather. it is nasty, cloudy and rainy. we had flooding in south tampa in the last hour. the showers are still coming in from the gulf. the back edge is up there. we will see heavier rain moving into polk county and manatee over the next half hour or 45 minutes. check out the rainfall totals. southern pinellas county, 5 and a half inches of rain in the last 24 hours. an inch and a half to two inches is common. if you look across the metro corridor between one and a half and two inches of rain.

more down south where they had severe weather over the past couple of days. tampa right now, rain and 65 degrees. st. pete in the mid 60s. i'm ready for sunshine. i don't know about you. of sunshine. i think it will continue right in through gasparilla weekend much the timing is good. but the rains continue across the area. if you remember on facebook a couple days ago we posted an arc alert. usually our indication that rains. that certainly came to pass. and now i think a lot of folks are saying, okay, enough. we've got our rain. now let's get sunshine and beach weather. maybe a little cool for the beach the next few days. not early next week. we will talk about that in a second. throughout the evening, mostly cloudy skies. by 10:00, 11:00, we clear out. by friday morning, loo look at that, clearing skies, cool temperatures. nice northwest breeze.

saturday for the invasion, the weather will be nice. now, there may be a little bit of high cloudiness that comes in late in the morning and afternoon vailing the sunshine. a milky look at the sky at times. it won't give us rain and the temperatures will warm up to 70 degrees. on friday, even though we will be clearing, we will be a lot cooler out there, with highs in the low to mid 60s across most of the viewing area. maybe even upper 50s in citrus county. mid to upper 60s down south. it will be sunny. so the weather looks good. by tomorrow night into saturday morning when folks are getting ready for the invasion, it will be a chilly start. it won't be frosty. you're going to see temperatures in the 40s across the northern counties. 50s closer to the metro area and along the coast. low 40s in hernando and pasco county. that extends all down south. by early next week, a quick warm-up and then back up to 80

a lot of folks looking forward to that. i know i certainly am. for the boaters, there's a cold front. northerly winds at 15 to 20 knots. the gulf temp 57 degrees at clearwater. seas five to seven feet early. then the winds will come down mid to late morning and the seas will follow a few hours later. there's an upcoming high and low tide. sunrise at 7:19. sunset at 6:08. so a look at florida's most accurate 7-day forecast. sunny. beautiful on friday. for the invasion on saturday, going sunny and 69. we're back in the low 70s on monday. look at early next week. 76 on monday. 80 on tuesday. and then a chance of rain returns by the middle of the week. >> looks good. be like bill. you have seen these and given you laughs. you could end up with a big

coming up, the three things to protect yourself from getting scammed online. plus this -- >> went from road rage to racial slurs towards me to violence. at 6:00, a bay area student's unbecoming behavior caught on camera.

>> right now at 5:00, a popular gun making with plans to manufacture the assault rifle here in florida. they will start manufacturing it in pop know beach. elsewhere. it introduced the new firearms at a conference last week. ak-47s are the most popular

a warning about this widely popular facebook meme that could cause problems for your computer. the meme is called be like bill. facebook users can click the link and specialize the meme it turns out that could cause major privacy concerns and expose your computer to viruses. so the better business bureau has advice for you. first of all, don't take the bait they say. words like exclusive, shocking or sensational video or photos could all spell danger. they're known as click bait and often linked to viruses. when in doubt, low it out. delete the unsolicited e-mails that raise red flags. and always hover over a link to see its true destination. don't just click on links leading to unfamiliar websites.

development is on the upswing in downtown st. pete. it's data privacy day. how safe is your information? >> how did you get my information. coming up, the top five ways to avoid what happened to

>> abc action news starts right now with breaking news. >> breaking news just into the news room out of tampa. two teenagers with autism are missing. >> tpd tweeted out this picture of the boys just minutes ago. they were last seen walking southbound on 22nd street near the mendez exceptional center. they have special needs and it has been raining all day long. if by chance you see them, call tampa police. now at 5:30, downtown st.