good morning. and thank you for joining us on abc. i'm deiah riley. >> i'm dan shaffer. still a lot of clean-up to be done to hurricane hermine. update of weather in a second. >> the weather affecting traffic a little. we have a sinkhole in citrus county. >> crystal river? >> yes. u.s. 19, yeah. >> they got hit pretty hard with the rainfall. a lot of us did, but today another dry day. quiet conditions which of course this time of year may we usually have afternoon thunderstorms. a couple of showers today to the south but that is about it. temperatures now in the mid- 70s. bus stop forecast looks dry with temperatures in the mid- 70s. sunrise there coming up at 7:12. getting later there. 3:00, 89 degrees but the high around 91 for the temperatures this afternoon. generally in the mid to upper 70s across citrus county. crystal river 72, 71. and again the showers will be mainly well down to the south.

chances for all of us increase as the moisture comes back at us here. it starts friday and heads into the weekend. hour by hour forecast takes to us 10:00 with low 80s. and again afternoon highs in the low 90s. we'll talk about the higher rain chances in a few minutes and the tropics as well. for now the roads are dry. it's a good way to start the morning. if you're heading to the interstates no crashes or breakdowns to tell you about throughout the bay area. this is what it looks like i- 275 and busch, these tail- lights here downtown tampa, just five minutes for them. also checking the drive across the bridges looking great on all three bridges. even the sunshine skyway just nine announce minutes to get across there. let's check drive times across all three bridges. from pinellas to hillsborough county.

suffered major flood damage to their homes are about to get a big assist. >> james tully is live in the neighborhood impacted by the anclote river. are some families able to get to their front door? >> it took five days for water to receive off elfers parkway where i'm standing. it's the first day we've seen it like this where it's drivable and you can walk up. as the road took on water so did homes and damaged like this person that put out some computers, even dresser drawers. officials are going to do a debris assessment and see if they can take the items from the people free of charge. if they can -- we'll show you what this road looked like a couple of hours ago -- they will see if they can hire a third party come p to come in and take larger items. we talked to a few people who are ready to take issue for the

protect them. doing things to help this river from overflowing so much before the storm hit. >> at least make it wider or something, deeper, just to alleviate some of it. this gets ridiculous year after year. people getting tired of redoing their house every year. >> reporter: again the river did reach major flood stage cresting just above 25 feet this pa to stay in a minor flood stage at least until sometime tomorrow. reporting in pasco county, james tully, abc action news. pasco county is trying to put together a plan to prevent this flooding in the future. they are co-funding a study with the southwest florida water management district to reexamine areas that flooded including the palm terrace gardens. pasco county emergency management officials also tell us they are looking at a

to improve drainage and flood prevention. that would require buying some homes and major construction work which will all be very expensive. nearly 200 animals severely abused at a polk county animal sanctuary are in the custody of the sheriff's office now. we told you about this last month when they were seized from darlin's darlin's rescue in polk city. found starving and living in horrible conditions. the owners were arrested and face charges for animal abuse. in volusia county hundreds sanctuary are now safe from being euthanized. volunteers removed more than 400 from a sanctuary in time. a bank foreclosed forcing the owners to find new homes for the animals. by yesterday or they would be euthanized. researchers now saying being obese is even worse for you than previously thought. citing 10 years worth of data the international agency for

liver, gallbladder, pancreas, ovarian, breast and thyroid cancers. two simple things you can do to cut your risks. eating healthier and exercising. speaking of what you eat or don't -- the gluten-free diet seems more and more people swear by it these days. a new study now raising questions about whether some really need to be on it. consumer surveys show as many as one in five have eliminated or reduced gluten from their diets. can't process gluten and need to avoid it. researchers at rutgers say while the number of americans saying they adhere to a gluten- free diet tripled since 2009 the rate of celiac disease apparently remained stable in that time. researchers guess that these days many consumers mistake gluten-free for healthy even though there's little evidence to support that conclusion. remember the oscar boycott earlier this year over lack of

changed with minorities, women and lgbt actors. the university of southern california study looked at top films of 2015 and found women had 30% of all speaking roles, that is about the same number as 2007. the study also finds no significant change in the number of black, asian or latino characters in the most popular movies and close to 3/4 of all speaking roles -- or named characters were white and less than 1% of speaking roles for the characters identified 5:36. in democracy 2016 -- it's a big night for hillary clinton and donald trump. the presidential candidates will explain their plan to keep you safe. at a national security forum hosted by the iraq and afghanistan veterans of america. clinton previewed what she might say tonight during her campaign stop in tampa yesterday afternoon. the democratic nominee saying she would not go it alone to battle islamic fundamentalism. >> i will work closely with our

we will do whatever is necessary for as long as it takes to bring isis to justice and end their reign of terror once and for all! >> hillary criticizing donald trump yesterday saying the republican nominee has no real plan to fight isis. trump saying he has a plan to fight isis. last night in north carolina trump said if elected he would rely on his top generals by giving them 30 days to defeat the terror group. trump also attacked ip credibility during a rally in greenville. he says new documents released by the fbi on clinton's handling of classified documents prove she fails to meet the minimum standard for getting a government job let alone the presidency. >> if she applied for a low level job at the state department today, just a low level job! she couldn't even get a security clearance based on

her conduct is disqualifying! >> trump add americans don't deserve a president that can't understand the meaning of confidential or classified. a new national poll finds the presidential race a near dead heat. >> this is among likely voters. >> just yesterday morning we up by 2%. if this looks like fun to you you'll soon get your chance to try it for yourself. that is because zipline is a go in largo. >> not everybody's excited about it though. city commissioners voting 5-2 to approve a tree adventure and zipline park at the highland recreation complex. the decision didn't come without controversy, nearly four dozen residents from the nearby neighborhood attended the meeting tuesday night to voice their opposition to the

bring in 45,000 new visitors a year. most worry about increased noise outside their doorsteps, garbage left behind and risk of parking overflowing on their neighborhood streets but even with the large turnout against the project commissioners decided to move it forward. >> they just decided it was going to be voted in. and, we really didn't have a real say so about it. i think it's all about money. >> officials say that park could be up and running by the end of the year. mid-70s. a lot of sunshine, a few clouds but by the afternoon much of the same. dry still, 86. 91 as we're headed home. there will be a couple showers especially to the south. only 10% coverage so looking pretty good. rain chances though come back heading into the latter part of the week and into the weekend. i'll have the forecast coming up. 5:39. one woman is fighting a big bill for using toll roads in california.

has to pay her $50,000 bill. the high cost of hermine, a look at some of the worst damage further up the coast and

here's a look at cedar key in levy county. hit hard by hermine. remember we saw the dog coming loose and getting in the rough surf? now we see cedar key in

under construction when hermine hit. the sea life facility's elevator shafts are underwater and offices flooded, equipment and computers and furniture all lost. the contractor for the project says the damage will cause some delays but says they will be able to repair everything in a few weeks. just north of levy county the city of horseshoe beach is already getting estimates on storm repair costs >> they are worried it will be more than they can afford just dredgi between $250,000 and $600,000. emergency crews and fema went through dixie county yesterday. estimates made it back to washington, dc. fema officials have 30 days to decide whether or not to contribute money to the relief effort. the city of horseshoe beach by the way using $100,000 from its reserves to pay for repairs. dixie county agreed to match that.

help. ivan cabrera with the forecast. >> today we're in pretty good shape and getting more respect for the tropical storms. you don't need a hurricane to really cause significant damage or a multimillion-dollar disaster, just from the storm surge and water alone. sometimes you don't even need a name as we had last august. quiet now. talking about the tropics in a second. mid and upper 70s. plant city 73. 71 brooksville. we morning. we will crank up the heat today with low 90s, it will feel a little warmer but we rack enough moisture to produce -- lack enough moisture to produce showers and storms. still limited today south of hillsborough, south of polk county. those are the areas 10% to 20% coverage as far as any activity this afternoon. otherwise most of us staying dry. to the north, really dry. can't do much across most of the southeast with the dry air on top of us limiting rain chances.

a few specks down towards sarasota, manatee county and down towards hardee and desoto. that is our 10% for today, otherwise mostly dry and sunny. the tropics quiet in the gulf, quiet in the western caribbean, we like that. we have this feature, a wave on top of hispaniola not much going there. we have this area just off of africa, 70 perts challenge of developing the next few days as it pushes west but then looks like it will head north. plenty of time to watc 87 st. pete for the high. 91 tampa. with mostly sunny skies. again that stray shower or thunderstorm south. then the rain chances come back. we're still in the wet season so we're not going to lock in anything dry indefinitely any time soon. 30% coverage friday. for the weekend 40% to 50%. afternoon thunderstorms, good bet to see those, most of the early part of the day staying dry with temperatures where they should be for early september. let's check traffic on a

tuesday. >> it's wednesday. that wet weather, we got all the rain that caused flooding and seeing a sinkhole in crystal river, u.s. 19 shutting down the southbound lanes at snug harbor road. apparently fhp says that they are using their -- they are sharing one of the northbound lanes to get around this. you can also use 6th avenue that goes around this. either way give yourself extra time. right now traffic light so shouldn't be a problem. we have a closure through sarasota county, completely shut down for road repairs. this is a pretty rural area so the only easy way around this is to head south and take i-75. elsewhere in the bay area looking great. checking the drive through the brandon area. this is i-75 at state road 60, up to speed now in both directions, no crashes or breakdowns. state road 60 also looking great and your drive on the veterans expressway in the

275. imagine getting a bill for nearly $50,000 in unpaid highway tolls. $50,000. it's very real for a southern california woman. she's been driving on toll roads for years but not paying the fines. sherry huton said she had a credit card on file but officials say the one linked to her account changed. she admits it was an oversight on her part but says she never got a notice about the fines. >> i was a little overwhelmed at the time with three kids and working full time and a husband depl garnished her wages. she was part of a lawsuit that reduced the fines. she moved and then the wage garnishment stopped. she thought it was over. then moved back to the area and the garnishment started begun. she said the toll company has gotten $16,000 from her family so far. she says she's willing to pay the tolls she owes but won't pay the extra fines. monday night's come from behind win bumping up the florida state seminoles. fsu ranked fourth in the

rank third in the coach's poll after oklahoma lost over the weekend. >> gators ranked 26th in the ap poll. this hurts behind the miami hurricanes. still six months away from the firestone grand prix from downtown st. pete but tickets go on sale this morning starting 10:00 for the grand prix. only people that bought for the original race can get it today. everybody else can get them november 8th. authorities in the u.s. taking most species of humpback whales off the endangered species list. numbers steadily grown since the global ban on commerce wailing started nearly 50 years ago. the whaling moratorium remains in effect despite the new classification. the fisheries service says nine of the 14 humpback species are

of stealing medicine from students. now that teacher is out of a job and could also face criminal charges. officials say the teacher stole prescription medications from a cabinet in the nurse's office. a administrator says a nurse found the medicines missing. 5:50. coming up -- a textbook on mexican-american heritage is causing a big controversy. >> a mother says the book that should have been racially inclusive is just racist. >> rodents in the inspectors found wrong with one

5:53. on a wednesday. we check in on a -- a moment of zen from ed. nice sunset yesterday. i think we're going to see similar conditions today. a lot for a gorgeous sunset and sunrise. limited rain chances to the south, that is only 10%. we'll talk more about that in the next hour. a popular chinese restaurant is making abc action news anchor wendy ryan's latest "dirty dining" report. ho ho chinese restaurant is shut down for the second time in two years after finding rodent and roaches in the

closed ho ho's again for rodent activity. wendy spoke to the manager on duty and he says he's confident the problem is fixed now. >> reporter: did you know you had a rodent problem or roach problem? >> yeah. sometimes -- we have, i don't know -- we found droppings. >> if you want to see other bay area restaurants that made the "dirty dining" there's an effort underway to stop a controversial textbook on a mexican-american heritage from making its way into texas schools. the book describes mexicans as lazy compared to european and american workers. also says mexicans had a cultural attitude toward work as something to do tomorrow. european industrials developing mexico were driven and harder working. the coalition of education groups is now urging the board

textbook in texas schools. moms of students who saw the book say it's offensive. >> i wouldn't want my child to look at latinos like this. and i'm just -- i'm very shocked that anybody would think this is ok to put in a textbook. for kids to learn in high school. >> the texas state board of education says even if they do approve the book the decision to use it and any other books is still up to local school districts. no talk about literally hitting pay dirt, a man discovered a huge piece prospectors during the california gold rush. 167 years ago. oscar espinosa was searching for small gold pieces in a creek when he found that there. an 18-ounce gold nugget. friends who run a company say they never saw a piece of gold that big before. it could be up to $70,000 for a collector that wants to keep it as a nugget. if you're not near your tv

check out the picture behind us there. >> a tourists from hawaii posting it to instagram hoping to find the newlywed couple he captured at the yosemite national park. apparently there was another photographer who posed the couple and took the shots from a different location. the photographer recognized the photo and told the couple about it. the newlyweds say they would like to >> he took my walker. >> heartless attack on a disabled veteran. coming up at 6:00 -- officers want to catch the guys that did it before they strike again. >> a florida community moves forward with a mosquito treatment despite concerns from the community and opposition

at 6:00 -- a robber on the run this morning after beating a disabled veteran with his own walker. a simple question that attacker asked to distract his victim. >> plus crews are hitting the streets in pasco county today to get a better look at how bad the flood damage is there. the extra help they are considering bringing in for people who really need it. >> thank you for joining us on this early wednesday. we're closely following the search for the robber who beat up the disabled veteran. we'll check that in a second. first a look at and forecast. janelle, how is it looking? >> for most of us heading out now you shouldn't have any issues. looks pretty smooth. >> dry stuff, very little in the way of rainfall today. just a couple of showers to the south. much like yesterday with dry air still limiting rain chances. mid-and upper 70s now. still checking in low 70s. we'll get new numbers soon and may even get journal 60s across the nature coast. showers streaming in from east- to-west.

counties. we're talking manatee to sarasota, hardee, desoto and heading into parts of highlands as well. we'll watch that 10% to 20% but further north still limited with drier air. i think for most of us it will be a dry day with temperatures around 91 later this afternoon. dry air going away though, rain chances increase heading into the weekend. i don't think it will be terrible but we'll get back into our summer thunderstorms. shortly. the roads are dry but that rain we got causing problems for some of you especially in citrus county. crystal river still has southbound u.s. 19 closed at snug harbor road. fhp saying a southbound traffic is sharing some of the northbound lanes there. you can also use 6th avenue which goes around this area, either way give yourself extra time to make that detour. checking the cameras outside, looking great on the interstates. we have no reports of crashes or breakdowns. this is what it looks like on i- 4 just west of i-75.