4:30. under arrest. the woman accused of running down a tow truck driver on the howard frankland bridge is set to go before a judge. this is not alison huffman's first brush with the law. >> severe storms across the florida panhandle. why thousands of students won't be in class today >> a man accused of terrorizing three women by stalking. the reason the mother believes her son is innocent. >> i'm deiah riley on this tuesday. >> i'm dan shaffer. we've get back to ivan cabrera in a moment for a check on the overnight storms but first two stories from overnight. alison huffman, the prime suspect from yesterday's accident on the howard frankland bridge is in the pinellas county jail.

pete after an hourslong search. records show she's been arrested for dui three times since 2002. officers are searching for a missing 6-year-old miami girl. we know many of you have family and friends in south florida so we're asking you to share this picture from our mobile app so that we can bring ashley jade martinez home safe. she's 4'4", weighs 75 pounds, brain hair and hazel eyes. police say she may be in the company of 53-year-old lily hatton -- lily hatton. anyone who knows where ashley may be is urged to call 911. ivan has a look at the rainy forecast. >> it's been raining all night. we had thunderstorms rolling through. in fact 40 mile-per-hour winds. we had some power outages as well. i think those are likely going to be attributed more to lightning. we didn't really have 60, 80 mile-per-hour winds rolling through. older trees on power lines, that kind of stuff. here's the heavy rain

much over for us. still heavy rain bands with embedded lightning across portionses of highlands county. that continues rapidly to move east. we're not under any warnings at this hour. a bit of a close-up, you can see east of sebring plenty of lightning, pushing to the east. there are tornado warnings to the south which is where the severe threat remains and it will end certainly for us. as will the rain. temperatures in the low 60s by this afternoon, full sunshine and low 70s. extended forecast coming up in a few minutes. the morning commute, i-275 at the howard frankland bridge. not a whole lot of problems out there now of course, some of the roads may be slick because of the rain from overnight and early this morning. take care as you drive into work and school today. janelle will have a full look at the morning commute coming up in a moment. meanwhile, that strong line of storms that likely woke you

in the panhandle. it damaged dozens of homes and businesses near pensacola. overnight crews searched debris looking for people trapped. thunderstorms also knocked out power for tens of thousands of people. in fact four pensacola schools are going to be closed today because they don't have power. >> we're all right. we're all right, come on. you all right. >> this is from a pizza hut in alexandria, louisiana, moments after a tornado dropped the roof of a car wash on to that restaurant. customers and staff rushed to help the injured. a woman sitting in a car outside lucky to escape unharmed. the roof crushed the passenger side of her car. the storms moved into our area overnight knocking out power for thousands of homeowners in the tampa bay area. good news, that power is starting to be restored. checking tico's web site, 100 customers without power.

reporting over 1,000 without power. 4:33. three women claim they've been stalked and terrorized by the same citrus county man. identified as william beagle. they tell us his threats got more violent over time. >> he's set to go before a judge this morning. marisela burgos spoke with his mother who claims her son is innocent. >> reporter: on valentine's day tammy watched deputies handcuff her 22-year-old son. >> why are they doing this? >> , he was locked up for cyberstalking three different women. they believe he used different numbers and kept trying to reach out after they blocked him. >> i don't think he would be stupid enough to do this. >> threaten people. no way. billy was already out on probation for felony aggravated his mom claims he was not

ultimately taking a plea deal on the out of state case. she believes this time someone set him up. >> why would he do that to three different women? is he looking to go to prison? i mean -- all i know is -- >> mom stresses he doesn't own a phone because of what happened in the past and she line dating sites. i mean, i don't know what he does, ok? but like i said i -- i mean, i of. i don't know what you does does in his room. what he does in his room. >> marisela burgos, abc action news. hillsborough county deputies continue to search for three gunmen that left a decorated combat veteran fighting for his life. it happened in town n country yesterday morning and in an

it's believed he may have been targeted. a polk county man shoots and kiss his german shepherd's puppy. shoots and kills his neighbor's german shepherd puppy. after straying into his property. the man claims the puppy charged at him and he feared for his safety. polk county deputies tell us the video supports the shooter's story so no charges will be filed. this afternoon bradenton will get the city's first female police chief, when melanie bevin is sworn in at the bradenton auditorium taking over for the current chief. she comes from st. pete, spent 27 years with the st. pete police department where she was an assistant chief. two men accused of kerik out -- carrying out last august's deadly bombing in a

are in court for the start of the trial police continue to hunt for another 15 suspects believed to have helped plan the attack. 20 people including 14 foreign tourists died, more than 120 others injured in the august 17th bombing. two valentine's day burglars are charged with stealing more than $1,000 in electronics and valuables from guests at a popular clearwater hotel. >> abc action news reporter michael paluska explains how detectives believe those teenagers pulled off their crime. >> reporter: we're talking about at least four guest rooms hit in a matter of minutes, burglars had free reign of the entire ninth floor. 18-year-old camry clark isn't smiling in her valentine's day booking photo, because she faces a litany of felony charges. police says clark and a 15-year- old juvenile used a master key from the maid cart to break into four separate hotel rooms. >> we've been here four times,

at the hyatt the next week. the general manager for the hyatt regency clearwater beach and spa says the safety and security of guests is their highest priority and they are cooperating with police. the gm wouldn't comment on their protocols in place for keeping master housekeeper keys secure >> why is it that easy? more times i'm concerned about people coming in, the maid service, i'm more worried about that, i didn't think of someone else. >> reporter: the report shows the duo stole more than $1,200 worth of electronics and valuables. >> it can happen any time, any where. i am from new york. people can steal without you even knowing from your pocket. >> reporter: some of the workers in the shops in the area say this is obviously a high tourism season, and it means it comes with a lot of thefts. they start fahd lock up their most value -- started to locked up their most valuable items. a garbage truck driver lucky to be alive after the truck he was on fell off a

it plummeted 100 feet off i-95 on to the parking lot of a park that is normally filled with kids attending after school programs. thankfully that park was nearly empty because of the presidents' day holiday yesterday. the driver is the only one who suffered any injuries and he's in serious condition now at a miami hospital. investigators are still trying to figure out what caused him to go off the interstate. when we come back we're going to talk about the showers and heavy thunderstorms that are rolling through the area, still have a little rain to get through but the severe weather threat is over. >> also coming up, dog gone good. canines competed for best in show. >> florida panthers helped the bolts last night in the playoff picture and the usf women got beat by louisville.

how you doing beyonce's formation world tour is coming to raymond james stadium in tampa, friday april 29th. texts go on sale at ticketmaster locations and ticketmaster.com at 10:00 this morning. it's expected to take only a few minutes for the show to sell out so you don't want to wait if you plan on going. >> beyonce? doesn't ring a bell.

music's biggest night happened last night in los angeles at the 58th annual grammy awards, all but eight of the 83 awards were announced right before the show aired. >> plenty of time for some memorable performances. entertainment reporter david daniel wraps up the big show. >> reporter: if anyone nodded off during the three and-a-half hour telecast kendrick lamar surely woke them up, with an arresting performance and walked away with five grammys, tops for the night. alexander hamilton >> reporter: before lamar hit the stage the grammy winning cast of "hamilton" got the crowd ready to roll long distance from broadway. >> n the thrill is on >> reporter: some were tributes to fallen stars, all-star guitar jam for bb king.

and lady gaga channeling david bowie. music cars honoree lionel richie joined his own musical tribute. plenty of emotion from the big winners, megan trainor cried when winning best new artist. so did her father. >> my heart is beating a mile a minute. >> reporter: taylor swift who opened the show was a triple winner and the first woman to win album of the year a second time. and the evening's final award, record of the year went to the most inescapable song of 2015, "uptown funk." a fitting end to a show that had people dancing -- in hollywood i'm david daniel. i was checking on the radar and talk about the forecast as

of course we had the heavy thunderstorms that moved in overnight. this is a fast moving system. the rain is clearing out nicely across the tampa area and further to the north and west, pinellas, you're completely out of it, not just out of the severe weather but out of the rain entirely. polk county till moderate rainfall and that stronger band we're pretty much done at this point with the heaviest of the threat as well. that continues well down to our south and east. futurecast showing the northwest winds taking over as we begin to clear out for tonight and into tomorrow. by the way, this will set the stage as we talked about yesterday for quite a stretch of fantastic weather here across our area. low 60s is where we are now. we'll climb to about the lower 70s later this afternoon, perhaps a little warmer south and east and along the coast a little cooler there, otherwise looking good. temperature about 70 with rain early, now clearing by midday. i think we'll be able to take

70s, looks good. for boaters, southwest winds go northwest behind the front, 2 to 3 feet seas, light chop for the bays, high tide coming up this morning, low tide 1:13. the extended forecast takes you into wednesday, thursday with the low 70s. cool overnight lows but very pleasant, in fact this is exactly where we should be for this time of year. low 50s and low 70s. that's the range, about 20 degrees and that is where we'll be. slightly milder, or a little more so by friday and heading into the weekend. yeah, the weekend still looks good, more clouds but nothing that would block the sunshine. mid-70 for saturday and sunday. our next shot of rainfall coming in with a few showers by monday afternoon. live look at traffic, 4:47. here's the interstate, i-4 near 301, no problems to report there. janelle martinez standing by with traffic updates starting at 5:00. in democracy 2016 -- if

month's presidential primary election in florida today's your last day to register to vote or change your party affiliation. because florida is a closed primary state only people registered with a particular party with vote for those candidates in primary elections. go to your supervisor of elections office for your county. we have a list of their web sites on our mobile app to make registering to vote easy. two brazen shoplifters walk into a women's boutique and manage to steal tens of thousands of dollars in designer clothing and accessories. employees say at first a man and woman looked like typical shoppers but after reviewing surveillance video they realized the couple was up to something else. they watched the man swipe a $2,000 dress right off the rack and stuff it under his coat while his accomplice provides camouflage. also they took a leather coat and $1,400 purse from a display case. >> the history of being in business in 30 years we have

>> employees say the pair swiped several brand items, the latest fashion labels from the european fashion runways. the tampa bay lightning back on the ice for a game against san jose. the bolts received help last night to stay in the playoff race. tom korun explains. >> reporter: good morning. hate to have someone in your division give you help that is ahead of you but in this case the lightning will send a thank you to the florida panthers, holding off the penguins last night in sunrise, big for the bolts. looked line the panthers were going to hold on for regulation wins, chris circles after the face-off, hits the crossbar, tied the game at 1-1. this decided in a shootout. the bolts locked out of the last spot in the east, 2-1 final. panthers winning it. folks, the bolts still need to

pittsburgh saturday to take on the penguins. >> we just got to regroup. everyone around us is winning. we talked about the nice little run we went on that brought us back to the playoff picture but we need to get a win here. >> lightning gm did his best to erase a big distraction. he said in a written statement stamkos won't be traded before the deadline february 29th. women's college hoops, 11th ranked louisville playing host to 19th ranked usf. wolves down by two in the second but courtney williams fighting the range, just like that the bulls led by 1. the bulls open up a 5-point lead. from louisville, going on a 9-0 run in the final 1:50. carter with the three and the cardinals led by 4 at the half.

that's your morning sports update. enjoy your day. helping disabled americans. coming up at 5:00 -- a plan to take a florida law nationwide. >> set free. the loveless reason the seattle aquarium let a giant octopus

welcome back. it's dark and the roads are a little wet. i think there will be some issues with the wet roads but you won't have visibility issues with the rain coming down on you. as a matter of fact it's clear across most of tampa. the rest of the interior counties, talking highlands and into portions of polk county, still some moderate rainfall, that has shifted to the east. so at this point we're done for the most part with the heavy rain and certainly with the severe weather threat. excellent news there. power outages but no reports of significant damage. you wouldn't expect it with 40 all that goes to the south and east. we dry out behind this system over. we're going to be seeing some nice afternoon sunshine developing and temperatures by later on today will climb back into the low 70s. so that is nice.

we head through the next coming days. 60 by 8:00. the extended forecast coming up in the next hour of abc action news. 4:55. a giant octopus is now stretching his tentacles in the freedom of the pacific ocean. after he just got too large to be part of an annual mating event. >> the seattle aquarium holds a special octopus mating day for guests every valentine's day but this year's event was called off because "kong" at 70 pounds was too big or the females on hand. there were concerns he would eat a potential mate. >> so staffers gently released yesterday. what is funny, his weight may have extended his life because month of mating. didn't know that. decision day, next at 5:00 -- the decades in prison one bay area man faces for abusing his son so severely the boy died.

we've been tracking storms throughout the night. now clearing out but unfortunately the roads are going to remain very wet for your morning commute. >> we are pinning down those problem spots to get you out the door safely in traffic and weather together. >> it was not as bad as this. >> before it hit here it hit the be panhandle hard. rescuers pulling families from their homes after a tornado touches down there. this morning they share their story of the moment the tornado ripped through. >> the manhunt is finally over but there are certainly plenty of questions. why so many of you are wondering how this woman was allowed to get behind the wheel before allegedly hitting and killing a tow truck driver on the howard frankland bridge. that video you're seeing there of the woman in the back of the police car, that is just coming in to us new this morning. good morning, thank you for joining us. we're going to get that in a moment but first we're tracking that line of storms. a lot of you woke up to it. >> absolutely. >> freezing lightning, lots of