fresh update from ivan cabrera. >> yeah. you are wondering what's going to happen with the storm today. yesterday was the heavy rain part of the storm, right? today we're supposed to have a little more heavy rain spread between two days. it all kind of mostly fell yesterday. today was always going to be the windy day. that will happen at 5:00 hurricane hunter $not find hurricane force winds here. -- hurricane hunters did not find hurricane force winds. that's wind shear wrapping around and that is good news. we hope that continues and makes landfall in the panhandle tonight and early tomorrow as it is a minimal hurricane approaching the coast later today. that would, of course, produce the biggest storm surge right

for us, we are looking at coastal flooding today. it won't be as significant as it will be to the north. still looking at tropical storm warnings. that means winds 40, 45 miles per hour. another thing we'll do today is not just with the winds but we have the tornadic threat that will be with us throughout the day today. on titan doppler radar, we've been seeing a lot of rotating thunderstorms this morning. the good news is they have been parallelling the coast. some of these will be making it onshore. necessity will be tornadoic -- they will be tornadic. you can see what's happening here. that right there, if that were to make it onshore to pinellas, that's awfully close. some have been weakening some have not. that will be the trend for today along with the gusty wind getting us into the 30s, 40 mile-per-hour wind gusts and then again the coastal flooding coming up especially at the time of high tide. we have high tide around 2 1/2 pete. we'll get splashover and

and st. pete. the rain falling from the sky is much better this morning. so the commute should be much better today. >> of course you won't have all of the kids going to school, so no school buses on the road, either. tim jones is behind the road there stuck at a red light trying to get back to 275. he's been driving around out there looking for flooded spots. hasn't really noticed anything significant. we do have a out there. i've posted those on twitter, especially in manatee county. if you are headed to the bridges, we're in great shape. if you are crossing the bay from pinellas into hillsborough, it will take you less than ten minutes. checking your drive times on the veterans expressway, we are in the green. 16 minutes from 54 to 275. have you noticed a better drive on the veterans?

at gunn. why don't you hit me up on twitter and let mae know if you've seen that im-- let me know if you've seen that improvement on the veterans expressway. on your way to work, you might notice barricades in low- lying areas. crews put them out ready to move them into place if they flood. 6 inches of water can stall out most cars. 18 to 24 inches of moving water can force you off the road. remember the around, don't drown. a fire at a hudson hospital late last night forced the evacuation of every, single patient there. some had to be carried down flights of stairs to waiting ambulances to take them to other hospitals. abc action news reporter marisela burr los is live -- burgos is live with why it took so long to move the patients out. >> reporter: there are 290 beds inside of this hospital.

last night. this morning, there are zero patients. the reason for the evacuation is because of an electrical fire in the generator room that knocked out the power to the hospital. once that happened, rescue crews from various areas helped move patients. they had to carry patients down steps to ambulances. it took several hours to do that. the power has been restored to the hospital, but the backup power is the problem now. until they fix that, officials say patients will not be treated here. to recap, the hospital lost power around 6:15 night. the wiring of the backup generator was damaged. >> when the power went off, the generator automatically comes on. there is an electrical switch that realizes the regular utility power is not on and is supposed to click over. the generator kept trying to push it over, and it didn't do it. . i don't know if the swch was stuck or what happened but it caused it to short out. >> reporter: the ceo of the

these generators and their system, and everything worked out perfectly. state officials will be investigating this. reporting live, marisela burgos, abc action news. just a reminder for anyone with a home generator. if your hour goes out it can be dangerous if it operates incorrectly. never use a portable generator indoors, even in a garage. they generate carbon monoxide which can kill you. keep the being electrocuted. gasoline spilled on the hot engine parts could ignite. don't try to power the whole house wiring by plugging the generator into a wall outlet. a homeowner shot an intruder in his port richie home. the would-be thief broke into the home on buchanan drive and somebody inside fired. the intruder suffered a nonlife- threatening injury.

released. now to clearwater where the beach patrol is warning people to stay away. they will be monitoring a surging tide later today. james tully is live on gulf view boulevard where at last check, a section of the road was closed. james? >> reporter: dan, still closed. if you are familiar with the area here, this section we're talking about is between the dream true view hotel and shepherd's beach resort. they say it's not just the drain that's going to fail with heavy rainfall. if that tide surges just a few extra feet, it's going to flood this street as well. that's what we're talking about here. it's all about preparations today. as we speak of the beach, let's take you out there with footage you shot yesterday. you see that the red flags are up. you see the water is choppy and some people are trying to surf or ride the waves in. beach patrol advises against

that tide surf is going to keep the tides up today and conditions will get worse as they move to friday as well. we'll be at the beach to get you live pictures, and we'll join you then. james tully, abc action news. >> thanks, james. it's been more than a decade since florida experienced the hurricane making landfall. hurricane wilma hit in 2005. in the last ten have been 66 hurricanes but none have hit florida shores. it's remarkable no hurricanes made landfall with all of the coastline. the good fortune may end today if hermine strengthens. donald trump surprised everyone with a last-minute trip to mexico. trump focused on the deportation of criminals. he met with the mexican president at his invitation to

work together. how that ultimately would shape up is still unknown. last night, he talked about blocking funding to sink wary cities in the u.s. and adding a bio metric visa tracking system and talked about his extreme vetting of those coming to the u.s. which many have called unconstitutional. >> another reform involves new screening tests for all applicants that includes, and this is so important, especially if you people, and we will get the right people. an ideological certification to make sure that those we are admitting to our country share our values and love our people. [ cheers and applause ] >> hours after their joint news conference, mexico's president took to twitter saying he told trump in no uncertain terms that mexico would not pay for a wall along the border. later, trump repeated his claims that mexico, in fact, would pay for the wall.

courting the votes of veterans trying to win over people who think she's untrustworthy. she spoke in ohio yesterday hammering trump for his contradictism of nato allies. and he berated senator mccain for his capture in iran. >> i will never, ever disrespect gold star families or prisoners of war who endured so much in our name. [ applause ] to insult them is just so wrong and says a lot about the person doing the insulting. >> a new "washington post"/abc news poll shows clinton has her work cut out for her. it's giving clinton the lowest favorable rating in a quarter century of public life. 59% of registered voters have

her compared to 60% for donald trump. it is a sign of fallout for lingering policies on the clinton foundation and the e- mail scandal taking a toll. we still have a lot to get to before this thing is done. look at the rainfall that fell yesterday. that's the chunk that brought us upwards of a foot of rainfall in a short amount of time. this is hermine here as far as the latest from the national hurricane center. we'll share second. today, we've been talking about the potential for rotating thunderstorms. one in particular, we'll watch this closely as it approaches the coast. especially across the north. even where you see the green, we are all green especially along the coast. there's tropical storm hermine's 5:00 a.m. advisory. still a tropical storm, 60 mile- per-hour winds. we will have rain today.

at times. as we head through the afternoon, we'll talk more about that and the potential for coastal flooding. 5:41 and still to come, why hitting the roads could be

traveling over the labor day holiday weekend can be deadly. the national safety council estimates that across the country more than 400 people will die this weekend on the

that weekend get away, establish ground rules for your ride. wear a seat belt, of course, it may save your life if you get into a crash. force a distraction-free zone for drivers. let someone else handle the gps or phone. don't drink and drive. one piece of good news for the holiday, aaa says gas prices are lower this season. $.27 lower a gallon than last labor day weekend. good morning, everybody. we have a much better drive than we did yesterday. not only we don't have school buses or a lot of people driving to school today since schools are closed. we're checking cameras all across the bay area. right at the i-75 overpass. the traffic is up to speed on i-75. no crashes or breakdowns and i- 4 is looking great as well. we had a couple of great spots as far as standing water goes. standing withouter at mcelroy avenue and bridge street right

gandy bridge. as we look at the gandy bridge, starting to see a little bit of slowdown as you come across there into tampa. also checking out a trouble spot and north 12th street. avoid that area if you can. not sure if this is why we are seeing backup on nebraska. southbound and northbound on nebraska is very slow. look at 275. wide open in the green there. let's check in with our live drive camera. tim jones behind the wheel of our camera there. 275, again, the looking great. no crashes or breakdowns on 275. it looks like the roads are drying out a little bit, diven. it's nice having the break in the rain. do you think it will last? >> no. the good news is we needed this break. we still have ponding obviously and janelle's been covering that. we'll continue to see pockets of rainfall there. we're not quite done by any means with hermine. in fact, now today, we've been talking about we add the wind and coastal storm system that

gets pushed onshore. the other threat, the tornadic threat with the spin in the atmosphere now, we're beginning to see the cells. this particular one here is looking pretty nasty as it continues to move to the north. this one should by pass the narrows. we'll watch it closely. i have no doubt that at this hour this is spawning a water spout out there. this is the kind of threat out there that we're talking about in addition to the gusty winds and rain that will be coming in. we're not expecting a foot of rain today we'll talk 2 to 3 inches, which because of the rain that's already falling it could produce additional flooding if it falls in a short period of time. we're under a cat-2. these things can be very fickle here. we've had tornadoes where we've been in a 1 here, but this is an indication where the threat

is a 1 or a 2. the thunderstorms ant ramping around. how many times have we said that about this thing that we've been waiting for it to become a tropical storm. now it's probably going to do the same and we may not get the hurricane. that is the forecast as it heads-up to the north. minimal ramp up to big bend with 75 mile-per-hour winds and gustier -- higher gusts as well. there it is. hurricane warning for big bend. that by the way, will be impacting with the i-10 corridor there. the farther away you get from the center, the less storm surge you'll have with the water coming in. we'll have some, 1 to 3 feet and that will be enough with the times of high tide later this afternoon. you know the areas that flood. so hermine intensifying and heading up to the north. you see the bands here? those are the ones we have to pay close attention to today. they contain strong winds.

3:00 a.m., there is your landfall of the strong thunderstorm and as it heads off to the north and east, look what happens tomorrow. we're not going to completely dry out. we'll still have storms in the forecast for tomorrow but we'll lose the heavy, steady rain. by the way, if you have plans heading up to the northeast, this thing is headed in that direction and will do so with very heavy rainfall and strong winds as well. for us by then, it would have left us alone here for saturday and sunday. holiday plans still look good. a lot of sunshine early on and back to typical afternoon and thunderstorms. i think we'll be in much better shape. still windy tomorrow with the strongest winds later on today as hermine approaches. we'll get back to 40, 45 mile- per-hour winds. that's why tropical storm warnings are still posted for pasco county. a popular snack food from

your health. they may contain pieces of plastic. at least one injury has been reported so far. the recall affects little bites fudge brownies with a best buy of october 8. variety packs with the best buy date of october 24th. all were shipped to stores in at least 30 states including florida within the past two weeks. it traced the problem to a manufacturing failure at a contractor's illinois. 10 until 6:00. coming up, school is closed today, which creates a child care nightmare for working parents. coming up, a free option you might want to take advantage

welcome back. it is 5:53. just a quickup date on tropical storm hermine. still dealing on the eastern the showers and storms are still offshore. these will be threatening today as far as rotating thunderstorms. we've been seeing that throughout the morning. although the morning commute, if you are heading out, will be in much better shape than yesterday. we'll lose the big rain shield. so it's not raining every minute throughout the day. we will have showers and thunderstorms. then the winds pick up throughout the day. if you are watching, this is not what we'll get later on

speeds so by mid-afternoon, we're 40, 45 miles per hour as the storm begins to approach. as that happens, we'll push the water in, so coastal flooding is on the cause for us today. especially at the times of high tides this afternoon and then the additional threat of tornadoes as well. so not quite done with hermine. we'll talk more about the latest track and what to expect coming up in the next few days. back to you. 6 until 6:00. as he pointed out, of course more rain from tropical storm hermine is on the way. >> the rain yesterday from 6 inches to a foot flooded many bay area streets and neighborhoods. in gulfport, we saw one man putting sandbags around his home. he just moved here and just bought flood insurance but it doesn't kick in for a few weeks so any damage that occurs, he'll have to fix. >> one photographer capturing one guy using a paddle board to make his way down the street yesterday morning. >> yesterday's downpours caused

schools in pinellas county. flooding forced her to park three blocks away from the school. traffic pushed wavesch water in- - waves of water inside of that school. >> remember, most bay area schools are closed today. that includes hillsborough county, pinellas, pasco, hernando, manatee and citrus county. area rec sectors are open offering free polk county schools are open today. we have a complete list with all of the information on our web site, abcactionnews.com. we've also sred that on my facebook page, dan shaffer 28. >> this is a perfect time to remind to you download our storm shield app. it is a radio app that's available for both apple and android phones. coming up, a dozen residents forced out of their homes after rushing flood

out. we'll have the latest coming up. >> floodwater up to 4 feet down this street yesterday. the other challenge a clear water community is facing now

captions by: caption colorado, llc (800) 775-7838 comments@captioncolorado.com now at coverage of tropical storm hermine from community evacuations to driving issues and school closures. everything you need to know as this storm barrels toward florida. >> we have team coverage this morning in the hardest hit communities and neighborhoods already dealing with flooding and evacuations as we brace for even more rain today. we'll take you live there coming up in a moment. first, though, ivan is tracking the newest development. >> ivan, when do we expect it

landfall anywhere near us. we'll be looking here today the addition of wind and squally showers and storms as well as a tornado. 60 mile-per-hour winds with the hurricane hunters not able to find hurricane force winds. most of the tropical storms are dealing with the east and wind shears. that will tear it apart. that will come in 65, 75 mile- per-hour winds as towards the tallahassee area. for us, the weaker the storm the better as far as coastal storms like later today. once we get through this afternoon, if we manage to get through this afternoon, it's okay with minor flooding. then we'll be done with the storm here money we'll have to get through that because the water will get pushed in. we'll be dealing with coastal flooding in the areas that

cause problems. the showers look benign here, but these could be a little ferocious. they are rotating as you get any of them rolling through and making landfall. basically, you get a tornado warning. we've got a lot of shear in the atmosphere up above. the speeds are different and that will set the stage for that. winds in general from the storm itself, 40, 45 miles per hour. tropical storm force, not hurricane as we've be about. higher along the coastal course. the flooding will be an issue later this afternoon. we'll talk more about the accumulating rainfall that is still to come. just not going to be the rainful we had yesterday. it was supposed to be within the two days. we got it all yesterday, we'll get some today but not as bad. looking at a smooth ride because school is out in a lot of places. don't have any rain this morning.