in the mountains, we do have heavier rain off to the south and west. but the heaviest rain is back over mississippi. this is part of the storm system that produces tornados over louisiana. it's all slowly moving our way. we can see how much rain we've had so far. over half an inch in asheville. over an inch in walhalla. any additional rain could cause some issues. greer down to 46. clemson 50. we really don't cool down too much more for the evening planner. mainly light showers as we go through the evening. possibly heavy showers by 11 o'clock. and that flash flood watch is in effect all evening long. in the upstate, mid 40s with that rain. the heaviest rain is going to arrive closer to day break.

coming up in a few minutes. >> tammy: a polk county family loses everything in a house fire. now they're making a public plea to county commissioners to make the change they say will make insurance affordable. kimberly king is live. >> kim: the ebbiville fire department has a fire station very close to the polk county house that burned. meanwhile, the closest polk county fire station is more than 20 miles away from that home, making insurance premiums for homes in that area, unaffordable. these are the pictures of jenny and larry stepps home saturday at 4:19 p.m. fully engulfed. ebony fire got to the scene but it was too far gone. the site, three days later, still smoulders. >> were you and your wife living

>> yeah. this was my main home. >> kim: the issue was larry and his wife couldn't afford fire insurance. >> we lived so far from the fire station. >> kim: their fire station was 22 miles away. insurance companies can't offer reasonable rates. >> if you're more than six miles from a fire district, you're considered a class 10, which is no fire protection. >> kim: larry could not afford it. >> the homeowner to be able to get insurance he could afford would have made a big difference than the aftermath of what he's dealing with now. >> kim: a station four miles from the home would effectively lower rates. >> i'm glad that he brought that

i'm now glad that you're bringing it to our attention because it's something we would entertain. >> kim: the stepps hoping their loss with urge the county leaders to make a change. >> we need it to be eboniville. i mean, something needs to be done about polk county. and we're paying taxes there. >> kim: because we made multiple calls on this story, polk county officials are now talking. the county manager told me in is the first time he heard about this unfortunate situation. he vowed he would do whatever he affordable insurance in the future. kimberly king, news 13.

says he didn't walk into a rosemund convenience store planning to shoot and kill the victim. john, along with o'shields, the defense turned to expert testimony that raises questions about his cognitive ability. >> john: today that expert explained why it's highly unlikely in his mind that this shooting was pre-planned. that's potentially vital testimony for the defense. on the stand, defendant richard o'shields wrapped up his testimony maintainly he just happened to see toby mathis at the dollar general before he shot him. >> you knew immediately that was toby mathis, the man that you intended to kill? >> i didn't intend to kill. >> john: prosecutors say he tracked him down to avenge his son's death. dr. george corbin to speak to

leading up to the shooting. describing o'shields as a shell of a man looking for the path out of his grief. >> in his mind, his son was murdered. >> john: surveillance video shows the defendant walking in to the store, pulling the trigger on mathis and calmly walking away. five months earlier, o'shields' son joey fell out of his truck and died. corbin later concluded that the defendant is mentally ill. and that a stroke, ptsd and alcoholism all took away from his cognitive ability. >> this was not an act of a process. this was not a well-thought out,

>> john: in cross examination, prosecutor doug mundy poked holes. >> car problems don't necessarily make you violent, do they? >> no, sir. they do not. >> it doesn't make you want to kill someone, does it? >> no. >> john: quite an exchange there. o'shields' sister pled the fifth. so she will not testify in this case. she's the woman who drove o'shields to that dollar general store. took the stand. she was asked about a web search in which the web search was basically how do you get out of a first degree murder charge. she says she knows nothing about it and does not believe o'shields was home att the time. the case will go to the jury tomorrow afternoon. it looks like at this point. tomorrow morning.

>> tammy: the fbi is looking in to the incident of whether a crime the alleged victim is black and the people charged are white. fbi agents have been interviewing those involved in the situation. naacp president told him they launched an investigation after receiving an anonymous tip about that case. >> darcel: president obama sends a plan to congress to close the prison at guantanamo bay. it's too costly to maintain. the closure plan has four primary elements, including transferring most of the detainees to other countries. those deemed too dangerous for travel, will be sent to a detention facility in the u.s. >> for many years it's been

facility at guantanamo bay does not advance our national security. it undermines it. >> darcel: congress wasted no time in voicing their opposition to the proposal. house speaker paul ryan says it fails to provide critical details required by law. >> tammy: in vote 2016, it's gop caucus day in nevada. trump has been leading in the nevada polling by double digits for the republicans. marco rubio and ted cruz are trying to make up ground. and ben carson and john kasich are looking to do the same. voters start their caucusing in a couple of hours. >> darcel: right now it's time for a check on the road. >> tammy: jaclyn, brevard road is a problem spot to avoid. >> jaclyn: right. we're not seeing any major delays associated with this crash. so that is good news.

driving through that area on your commute. future i-26 east bound, there is some congestion lingering because of an earlier crash. that crash is now out of the roadway and clear. otherwise the roads in our area are in good shape. along i-40 east bound through asheville. that's a six minute commute from brevard road over to charlotte highway. that's a look at your on time traffic report brought to you by debruhl's used car superstore. >> darcel: fighting a newly passed ordinance. why some state lawmakers are not on board with that city council's decision.

number of new >> darcel: the speaker of the north carolina house says he's looking at how the legislature could override the city council decision. >> tammy: the ordinance allowing transgender people to choose bathrooms that speaks to their identity. >> darcel: governor mccrory is also reacting to the decision. we spoke with him yesterday about it. >> people who have the anatomy

a woman's rest room or locker room. in all age groups. and that is not north carolina values. and it's frankly not a subject that's a problem. and i think they're creating more problems than they're trying to solve. >> darcel: mccrory warned council members before yesterday's vote that the legislature could step in and that he would support the action. the legislature can vote to cancel the north carolina government policy. >> tammy: news 13 wants to know, would you support the charlotte's city council's decision to pass the ordinance? go to facebook/news 13 to answer the question of the day. >> darcel: rain, rain, go away. >> tammy: come back another day. i'm telling you, weeks from now, karen. >> karen: it's coming back tonight in full force. that is why we have that flash flood. watch out for the entire region. we're talking storms. and then eventually snow.

future now your news 13 skywatch weather. >> karen: light rain going on right now. but before the night's overwith, we are going to see heavier rain return to our region, along with some very gusty winds. we do have severe storms coming our way.

it's mainly going to be the wind and rain that are the big issues, with the possibility of flash flooding and wind damage. however, we can't rule out the isolated tornado with this system. i'll show you more on when that snow is going to fall coming up. light showers moving across the mountains and parts of the upstate. some heavier showers are in clay and cherokee counties right now. but the heaviest of the rain still well off to the southwest of us. in asheville, 45 degrees. a little bit breezy. south winds. in the upstate, breezy northeast winds. these winds will pick up much more as we go through the overnight. one future cast model we have to show you, showing by midnight. after midnight, we could actually see some of our temperatures begin to rise between midnight and day break. then we have this rain picking up.

very tricky because we are going to have some heavy downpours, possibly thunder storms and very gusty wind. then that front pushes through. then by day, much of the activity is going to be in the upstate. potential for flash flooding is still going to continue through the afternoon tomorrow. then notice by dinner time, a little bit of a rain-snow mix developing in the higher elevations. we could see those light snow showers as we go on through thursday morning in the higher elevations before we dry back out. hour by hour future cast we go closer to home. we can see by 8 o'clock, still mostly light rain. but not so as we go through the overnight in to wednesday morning. 7 o'clock. especially over the upstate, we're going to see those showers

more rain as we go through the afternoon. turning over to a light rain snow mix on thursday morning. rainfall totals before it's all said and done could be an additional two inches of rain around many locations. 42, your low tonight in asheville. 48 in pickens. and 56 is going to be the high in franklin tomorrow. asheville 57 for the high. many of these highs are going to occur before the middle of the day and then things are going to cool off during the afternoon. next seven days, we see how unsettled we are tomorrow on in to thursday. beyond that, though, things will begin to get pretty. nice and dry. here's your upstate seven day forecast. >> tammy: looking forward to the weekend. >> karen: hang in there. >> darcel: still to come, a unique health trend.

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>> tammy: it sounds almost unbelievable at first, women consuming their own placentas after giving birth. but still, it's more than a trend. >> darcel: as news 13's jay siltzer shows us in today's health alert. >> mothers choose to consume

birth of their child for many reasons. >> reporter: you heard right. women can eat their nutrient rich afterbirth. >> we take the placenta following your child's birth. we dehydrate it and put it in to capsules. >> reporter: a typical placenta yields between 75 and 200 capsules. >> once i started taking them, the main thing that i noticed was more energy. >> reporter: mary beth hughy has no regrets. and an increasing number of women report greater milk supply. >> even if it grosses you out, you don't taste it. >> it's a very popular service. and there are a lot of encapsulateors in the area.

mothers are inquiring. >> doula of asheville charges $300. news 13 is hosting the live well expo coming up next month. >> darcel: it's march 19th at the western north carolina ag center. free health screenings, cooking demonstrations and entertainment. >> tammy: admission is free and you can get more details at wlos.com. if you're happy and you know it >> tammy: now those are some happy faces.

program that a. >> darcel: most of us know children learn best when they're acting. >> tammy: in my never stop learning, we visit a library. nothing gets me down because when i'm feeling up >> tammy: a chase away my frown. how about that? that is one of the many songs they sing. she mixes movement and music to

direction, socialization and how to work in a group setting. the programs last about 30 minutes. parents and caregivers say they enjoy the classes as much as the kids. >> yeah, i also like that it kind of brings the stories to life. like, i enjoy the dance. making reading fun instead of something rigid, which i don't think it should be. >> the main reason we started coming is the socialization, because he's the only child. it's fun and he gets to play with other kids and dance and be silly. >> i know, seth, kitchenten, let's play hide and seek. >> tammy: it's offered at every buncombe county library. >> darcel: can we go, too? >> tammy: yeah.

>> darcel: coming up, addressing the affordable housing in asheville. >> tammy: how city officials are trying to come up with a solution. news 13 at 5:30 starts now. >> karen: more heavy rain along with gusty winds, lightning. even more snow. when it all arrives, coming up. >> frank: a woman is found guilty for cutting a baby from a woman's womb. haywood county is hosting the north carolina incident management team academy. >> tammy: emergency workers from across the state gather for the first time in the mountains. the purpose behind the meeting and how it can k kp you safe. now from western north carolina's news leader, this is news 13 at 5:30. >> frank: a flash flood watch is about to go in to effect in the mountains and the upstate. >> tammy: rain is expected to continue through the evening. >> frank: meteorologist karen

latest. karen. >> karen: right, frank. we've had so much rain here recently. we do have more heavy rain on the way. we have that flash flood watch beginning at 6 o'clock this evening. watch. be careful, especially if you are driving tonight. do not try to drive across flooded roads. in addition to that we have high wind warnings going through tomorrow for all of the blue highlighted counties. anybody in these higher elevations, go ahead and secure any loose objects on your property. wind gusts up to 60 miles per hour could cause some damage. right now we don't see much on our radar. but heavy rain off to the southwest now. some of these storms have