in effect for citrus, hernando and pasco until 10:00 a.m. 4:30. trump takes nevada. >> danger in your bathroom. the multimillion-dollar judgment saying baby powder caused one woman's ovarian cancer. i'm deiah riley. >> i'm dan shaffer. breaking moments ago the national weather service issuing a tornado watch for bay area counties. pasco, hernando and citrus under the gun for possibility of severe weather. >> sadly other parts of the state already feeling mother nature. a tornado ripped two miles through pensacola destroying an apartment complex, town homes and tossed cars around and ripping trees from the ground. 24 units in one apartment complex all destroyed. >> so far no reports of serious injuries in florida but that same line of storms spawned

people in louisiana and one in mississippi. and injured dozens of others. one twister ripped through a louisiana rv park. that's the video there. destruction so bad the local sheriff says it looks like something exploded. ivan cabrera has the latest. what is the timing for the storms? >> 6:00 a.m. but i think we have a couple of hours before the storms arrived. tornado watch issued a few minutes ago. in effect through 10:00 a.m. counties. the rest of the counties are under essentially the threat for severe thunderstorms. more straight line winds, the further north you go the more spin there is in the atmosphere which is why they've issued that watch. several hours. we'll keep you posted. here's the watch box, near the storms off-shore. they are a couple of hours away. we'll loop this for you.

some of the cells are indicating some spin and so that is why the storm prediction center has decided to issue the watch box. certainly conditions are favorable for that. all of this headed to the north and east, by the time we get into 9:00 that is when i think the storms hit the tampa bay area and then pushing down to the south and east. but for all of us here it's a weather alert day. we'll keep you posted throughout the morning as the storms approach. we want to look at the morning commute. i-4 just east of i-75, there's not a lot of problems to report now. of course that could change as the morning goes on. janelle is watching the traffic cameras and will have a full look at the morning commute coming up at 5:00. this morning we're working to learn the name of the person who was killed in a crash last night in polk county. deputies say two vehicles collided at the intersection of state road 60 and rifle range road. that crash left one dead, several others injured. so far there's no word on their

even caused this crash. breaking overnight, donald trump wins his third straight state in the race for the white house. final caucus numbers are still not official now but trump sailed to an easy victory in nevada taking 46% of the vote. >> marco rubio and ted cruz are fighting for second place now in what appears to be a three- man race for the republican nomination. voters were asked why they voted for trump. >> reporter: gop voters choosing who should represent republicans. >> the reason i'm for trump is, he's really saying what everyone is thinking. of course. >> we love you trump. >> abc news projecting donald trump won the nevada caucuses as expected. >> if you listen to the pundits we were not expected to win too much, now we're winning, winning, winning the country. [ cheering and applause ] >> reporter: trump made his

tuesday hurling inassumption at rival ted cruz -- insults. >> this guy ted cruz is the single biggest liar i've ever dealt with. i met tougher people than ted cruz. he's a baby compared to some of them. he's like a little baby. >> reporter: cruz responded. >> i'm not willing to gamble my daughter's future with donald trump. >> cruz telling abc news he thinks trump's insults are a barometer for how rattled the frontrunner is. cruz taking jabs of his own. >> the truth of the matter is donald became president, no one knows who what he would do. he doesn't know. >> reporter: marco rubio escaped the attacks but launched a few himself. >> i didn't just become a conservative a year and-a-half ago when i thought of running for president. >> reporter: ben carson and john kasich still in the race too despite low poll numbers. and super tuesday, 11 states

delegates at stake. on the democratic side, bernie sanders and hillary clinton participating in a town hall in south carolina last night. each addressed race. sanders notes he's gaining support among blacks for his plan to reform the criminal justice system and help historically black colleges. >> we started with no support. support has grown and grown in the african-american community to the degree i think we can get our message out. >> we have serious challenges and i think it's important for people, particularly for white people, to be honest about those. otherwise we are never going to be the nation we should be. >> south carolina holds its democratic primary this saturday. could the baby powder you have in your bathroom vanity cause cancer? jurors think it can. a missouri jury is ordering johnson & johnson to pay an alabama family $72 million for causing jacqueline fox's ovarian cancer.

fox used johnson & johnson's talc based baby powder and shower-to-shower forires. jurors held the company liable for her death. >> the whole fight not just for her -- but so many other women. that's why i continue -- that's why i continue this fight. >> finally the truth has come to light. the jury rightly exposed the conduct of johnson & johnson and has made known the fact that talcum powder does in fact cause ovarian cancer. >> this case is the first time a u.s. juror awarded monetary damages over talcum powder. johnson & johnson says it will appeal. the 18-year-old west palm beach man accused of posing as a doctor faces more trouble. a del ray beach auto dealership claims malakai love robinson

payment on a $27,000 2016 mazda 6 the teen bought in june. love-robinson is also facing criminal charges for practicing medicine without a license. a teen is charged with molesting a young boy, it's not the first time this teen has been accused of molestation. >> we first told but the crimes in 2013. abc action news reporter marisela burgos spoke to the previous victim's mother who is now outraged she was never told the teen moved back to pinellas county. >> why are we protecting this kid? >> reporter: this woman who we are not identified said her son was attacked in 2013. and in six months that same student had been placed in a group home and was accused of sexually assaulting another child. she says in her son's case the suspect was sentenced to an out of state program which required 18 months of intensive therapy. >> maybe he has completed it, wow. that would have been nice for

maybe let us know. my son was a victim of a heiness crime. >> reporter: she says she never heard anything else about the suspect so she was surprised when she found out he was in trouble again for something similar. what makes her more angry, no one ever told her he was placed in a new school close to her own home. >> it's five blocks from where i live. this is a big county. i find it just -- i'm outraged. >> reporter: it was here at pinellas secondary that investigators say the suspect recently lured a student off- campus and tried to assault him. the school system says they can't comment about this because it's confidential student information. and they also add they are not legally obligated to inform a parent when a student is transferred to another school. >> it's not right. again, i believe that the administration is more concerned with protecting the privacy rights of this child than they are with the safety of the students. >> reporter: marisela burgos, abc action news. >> the pinellas county school system tells us the safety and

is something it takes very seriously. we're checking with the state attorney's office now to get a response. strange case out of california. a man is accused of using instagram to steal underwear from college women. authorities say arturo galvan used gps locations embedded in instagram pictures to track his victims. he's also accused of stealing electronics and jewelry. if convicted he could face 50 years in prison. this case is an important reason to make sure you turn off the location settings on your phone's camera. for apple devices go to settings, privacy, then location services. the hard rock hotel and casino in tampa is looking to hire dozens of people now. they say there's an overwhelming demand for male beverage servers in particular. if you're interested in applying the casino has a hiring event today, 11:30 to 2:30 in the cafe. there's more information on an article we have on our abc

ivan has a look at our forecast. >> reporter: we'ring strong storms off-shore. a tornado watch in effect for citrus, hernando, pasco, the latest coming up. >> wrong way driver. a sarasota deputy barely escapes getting hit. the efforts now underway to prevent more wrong way incidents on florida road. >> tampa bay lightning win their fourth in a row, a big one over the coyotes.

good morning. 4:43. protesters gangered around the -- gathered around the country yesterday regarding the apple order to hack i-phones. the protesters claim the judge's order would compromise their own safety. apple says it would have to create new software and customer security would be at risk. >> any time a bank is told hey, turn over a bank account information, as soon as they do that on one person they are admitting he can -- they can do it on many people. and so yes, they are waiting for a high court to make clear what they should do. >> fbi officials have previously gotten permission to break into the shooter's i- phone but the current apple

data after 10 wrong password attempts. accusations of racism and in tampa's police department is sparking change. the new citizens review board met for the first time last night. >> abc action news reporter cameron polom spoke to the members that believe they can make a difference. >> reporter: >> -- i solemnly swear. >> reporter: with those words 11 people make up the tampa citizen review board. it followed a report that found more than 80% of the tampa police department bike tickets go to black cyclists. >> people are tired of the policemen having their way. >> reporter: it sparked outrage in the african-american community and spawned a u.s. justice department investigation. >> the first thing i want to do is get us sworn in, appropriately trained and figure out exactly what we can do. >> reporter: that's what is on everyone's minds. the board will review a variety of closed internal affairs cases including use of force cases. this week the lawyers, judges, businessmen and women now

police in action firsthand with the series of ride along. >> no question i got a better understanding of what they do everyday. >> i saw what happened in other cities. i don't believe we have a problem here. but, i want to be a part of making sure that those things don't happen here. >> reporter: carolyn collins believes this group has the right makeup of people to do just that. >> that vast knowledge of experience and myriad of opportunities will give me an opportunity to listen, to be attentive, to try to evaluate what i see, and to try to make a difference. >> reporter: to in tampa, cameron polom, abc action news. it's a weather alert morning. heads up, across the nature coast especially but really all of us need to pay attention today. all of us have the potential to see strong thunderstorms and damaging wind potential. however, across the north, citrus, hernando, pasco, you're under a tornado watch through 10:00. that just means conditions are

of the stronger thunderstorms to get some spin on them here. the rest of us don't need storms to rotate to cause damage. so all of us need to pay attention throughout the day. there's the box, here are the storms. they are going to be moving in, not really moving that fast, because there's a northerly component to it. if they were moving due east we would get them quicker. the timeline would be across the north no two to three hours, the rest of us heading of storms. i'll show that to you on futurecast. it's doing a pretty good job as far as the timing, 6:00 a.m. to 7:00 a.m. the rain moves, in stronger thunderstorms continue to push to the south and east by 9:00, 10:00. by the way we continue with this mess through the midday hour. there's your clearing line there. it won't move in, until later this afternoon but we do clear out in time for the evening commute so this is going to be an issue for the morning. midday and then we'll begin to see the front roll through.

been talking about all week, much cooler behind the front, windy thursday with plenty of sunshine and we continue with the dry pattern right through the weekend. highs well below normal into the mid-60s. chilly overnight lows in the 40s. the check of traffic here at 4:48. live look at i-4 at kingsway road. janelle martinez will join us live with traffic updates starting at 5:00. so far -- so good. a train slams into an 18- wheeler. a driver apparently ignoring red lights and train's horn. no one was injured but the train dragged that semi for about a quarter mile before it was able to stop. troopers cited the driver for failing to stop at a railroad crossing. a former star lakewood high school player and nfl wide receiver apologizing this morning after a troubling video shows him apparently standing by encouraging two women to

the nfl is now investigating dante fowler after tmz posted this video on-line. fowler who plays for the jacksonville jaguars says he's embarrassed about this video which shows him refereeing a fight between his girlfriend and the mother of his child. "sometimes emotions get the best of all of us." this morning the tampa bay lightning are continuing their push towards the playoffs. last night the bolts won their fourth straight game. sports director tom korun has more. >> reporter: good morning. it was closer than the lightning would have liked but it was a win nonetheless over a desperate arizona team, finishing back-to-back nights. steven stamkos has been on a role since trade pressure ended and returned to center. the shot is 1-0 after one, with time winding down in the second, shorthanded no less, cedric with the penalty from

shot and that made it 2-0 bolts. vasilefksy did a very good job last night, defense much better, bolts beat the coyotes, final 2-1. in port charlotte, desmondgenings not -- desmond jennings is not late, just the latest to report. >> we were very confident these guys would come into spring training, we didn't necessarily know early but we knew they would come in shape ready to play. now that they are here this early it's going to make us better. >> reporter: finally in college hoops last night vanderbilt beat florida 87-74. that's your morning sports update. enjoy your day. coming up, golden state shakes. the powerful earthquake striking central california. >> smoking danger. up next the serious injuries

ecigarette explodes in his

it's wednesday, a weather alert day. we're going to keep you safe and posted throughout the morning hours. what we have now is a tornado watch in effect for citrus, hernando, pasco counties. remember a watch means conditions are favorable for tornadoes to develop.

so it's more of a be alert with the watch. a warning means conditions have already deteriorated and we possibly have a tornado on the ground. that is when you need to take action. so be alert, we're tracking the storms with you here. they will arrive between 6:00 and 7:00 a.m. especially across the north. some could be on the stronger side. i still think the main threat for all of us is damaging wind potential with straightline winds. the further north you go, a bit more spin so we could be looking at isolated tornadoes but it's not going to be, i think an outbreak like we saw across the panhandle where conditions there were certainly more favorable for that. nevertheless here's a line of very showers and storms. here's the lightning associated with it. we'll see it throughout the midday hour as it continues to move north and east and then eventually we'll clear our area by the evening commute. we'll have a lot more coming up at 5:00. comedian jeff dunham brings his perfectly unbalanced tour

known for his ventriloquist act is playing amalie arena. ticketmaster shows there are still a few seats available. tickets are $46. if you or someone you know uses e-cigarettes here's video you need to see. >> a man probably wishes he had stuck with regular cigarettes. this happened at a kentucky gas station, he's standing there and watch what happens. you see the flames shooting from his pants like fireworks. it was started by an e- cigarette in his pocket. the video stops there but we know he rushed outside, tried to take his pants off before an employee put otothe flames with a fire extinguisher. he suffered second degree burns on his leg. coming up next at 5:00 -- the latest on thunderstorms heading in our direction bringing potential for severe weather to the bay area. and the widespread damage and deaths tornadoes caused from louisiana to the florida panhandle. >> breakfast freebie.

a tornado watch in effect and going to stick around for several hours. it has a recent history of death and destruction along the

ivan cabrera tracking the storms. we're all interested in course in the timing. >> 7:00 to 10:00 a.m. that is why the tornado watch continues until 10:00 a.m. i want to emphasize despite the fact that only citrus, pasco, hernando are in the tornado watch, all of us are under the gun for the potential of severe thunderstorms with wind gusts in excess of 60 miles per hour as we head through the remainder of today. but in these counties, across the nature coast we have conditions more favorable for severe thunderstorms to take on rotation. that's what's going on up here. in fact the rest of us may get a watch box as far as the severe thunderstorms, that hasn't happened. i'll let you know if it does. we'll have to wait for the evolution of the storms as they continue to move from the gulf. all the lightning associated with it. my concern is more for the cells that develop ahead of it. we'll watch that. but the timing, again for the nature coast, after 7:00 a.m., we'll see a line of showers and storms move in. 6:00 to 7:00 and then we'll see heavier showers and