place, inundating towns. >> i've been here approximately 30 minutes and it has risen two inches. >> reporter: major routes and bridges had to be shut down. isolated tornadoes are blamed for at least one death. by the time debby's done, there could be three feet of rain in some places. florida's governor declare add state of emergency. the concern is people in hurricane country might not take a weak tropical storm seriously. >> if you see water on the road standing, you don't drive through it. >> reporter: as for the season, the south meet be getting started. there have already been four named storms. the last time it happened in 2005. it turned out to be the worst hurricane season on record. it's still hard to predict when debby will hit land and what that will look like. the storm is moving fast are and

will -- faster and will get weaker. so imagine visiting florida in the midst of tropical storm debby. we caught up with a local family hop spent their vacation in the not so sunny sunshine state. don harrison ran into them today at bwi. >> reporter: as anxious hands that were not too long ago wrinkled from all the lane, the family reflects on the vacation that is 10 years in the making. >> went for our 10-year anniversary. >> reporter: they were greeted by tropical storm debby. they were looking for florida sunsets and beaches but the anyonest of the family hannah sums up their vacation. >> rainy. >> reporter: oh there's more. >> lightning. >> reporter: it wasn't exactly what you see on the commercials

for a florida crews. >> the winds were blowing and leaves were flying off the trees the. >> we live in a city and it's full of canals. >> reporter: unlike the other family his travel plans came around at the receipt time. >> the see walls are under water. the docks are under water. it's supposed to go on until thursday. we're glad to be in there and she sunlight. >> reporter: whether you were leaving home or coming home, it's a relief to get out of the rain. it was made less enjoyable thanks to debby. >> the kids were tired fast. made everybody wet all day, every day. >> reporter: unfortunately, instead of mickey mouse and snow white, nicholas will remember something else. >> rain, rain, rain. >> reporter: at bwi, don

harrison, abc2 news. >> besides losing a vacation, many of the marylander also not get their money back. the only way to salvage is with travel insurance, and that is not a guarantee. joce sterman has more on what you should consider before buying it. >> reporter: not all travel insurance plans cover weather. this is the case of looking at the fine print before you buy. to be covered, you need to make sure you book your trip early. they suggest purchasing a policy at the same time you book the trip. you need to know what time of weather events are covered. they -- we found plans today that will compensate you if more than a half inch of rainfalls on a vacation day. those plans, of course, more expensive. on average travel insurance will

cost you 4% to 8%. americans are much more likely to ensure cruises and international vacations. plus, travel insurance will cost you more if you're traveling through hurricane season. joce sterman, abc2 news. >> you can check out our web site for a slideshow of some flooding and major damage. you can find it right there on our home page. yeah, debby is a huge rain maker. now you see debby beginning to move offshore of florida, slowly moving out into the area off the area of georgia and south carolina. in the meantime, back here in maryland, it's has clear as it can be, just a few passing clouds, a gorgeous day, breezy

day, gusting to 30 miles an hour, so, yes, breezy. the rest of the evening 70s and quickly down into the 60s. this weather will get a lot hotter and humid coming up. >> another blow from mother nature. firefighters battling the stubborn fires are dealing with record-breaking heat. it's making it harder for those folks on the front line. dozens of new fires have sparked around colorado and utah. central utah more than 30,000 acres are burning. almost 30 buildings destroyed. firefighters blame the high winds for moving the winds, but dry trees and brush continue to fuel the flames. a scary scene in ocean city. two men had to be rescued after being pulled out to sea by strong currents. >> a witness saw the teens standing on the boat. the coast guard said the 18-year-old and 19-year-old fell

off the boat when the water turned result fortunately, both were wearing life jackets and we're told they're both doing okay tonight. a former baltimore city cop convicted in the murder of his neighbor will spend 25 years in prison. prosecutors say charles richter shot his neighbor, mark xander, following an accident last year. today richter was sentenced to 25 years old. he was a baltimore city cop in the '70s and '80s no a pair of anne arundel employees face charges they pulled up the government pumps and -- up to government pumps and filled up their own cars on your expense. >> reporter: they were stealing from the county a few gallons at a time. as you imagine it take last lot of gas to fuel the motors at the

parks and baseball fields. one work are admitted he had filled up a -- three gallon can. another employee had used the five and 10-gallon can to make off with the gas and go to his brother's house to transfer it for his use. he allegedly did it once per week taking as much as $689 worth. >> they were serve with a criminal summons. one had two theft charges. >> reporter: one is preston perry and jodi harbor. they reviewed fuel consumption records and surveillance cameras as part of the investigation.

the county has refused to say if the workers have been disciplined as a matter of privacy. >> up next, two unlikely victims, a church in owings mills and a senior citizens. how a van that was used to transport the elderly was used to rob an 80-year-old man. >> inspired by robin people are working to be a donor match. facebook is make changes again. this time this involves your email dress. if you have copd like i do,

you know how hard it can be to breathe and what that feels like. copd includes chronic bronchitis and emphysema. spiriva helps control my copd symptoms by keeping my airways open a full 24 hours. plus, it reduces copd flare-ups. spiriva is the only once-daily inhaled copd maintenance treatment that does both. and it's steroid-free. spiriva does not replace fast-acting inhalers for sudden symptoms. tell your doctor if you have kidney problems, glaucoma, trouble urinating, or an enlarged prostate. these may worsen with spiriva. discuss all medicines you take, even eye drops. stop taking spiriva and seek immediate medical help if your breathing suddenly worsens, your throat or tongue swells, you get hives, vision changes or eye pain,

or problems passing urine. other side effects include dry mouth and constipation. nothing can reverse copd. spiriva helps me breathe better. does breathing with copd weigh you down? ask your doctor if spiriva can help. harford county wants to make sure you're on your best

behavior while behind the wheel. starting today deputies will crack down on drivers. they are making up a task force. the task force will be checking to make sure drivers and passengers are wearing their seat belts, that children are in safety seats. they'll be looking out for anyone driving agreasesively or under the influence. the task force will target certain high crash areas. >> that will mean that rather than having two or three officers concentrated in an area identified as having a problem, we'll have 12 to 13. >> according to the harford county sheriff's office, there were 23 deadly crashes in 2010. 24 in 2011. and 10 deadly crashes so far this year in 2012. we've been talking about the horrible flooding they're seeing as a result of tropical storm debby. let's check in with meteorologist wyatt everhart.

i know he is tracking the storm here even though we're not impacted yet. this is something a lot of folks are being hit hard by. >> absolutely. we've been watching debby carefully in north florida. you can see the large storm, big blowoff, catching a ride. so an interesting storm to say the least, but really, so far, this has been what most tropical storms are. that is a heavy rain producer that's not producing much in the way of wind damage but flooding across the northern part of the florida. some of the rain reaching into the carolina coast as well. debby will be offshore of florida by midday thursday. after that debby makes her move further offshore, off the carolinas. looks like shell' -- he is -- she will head safely off to sea.

78 degrees. a gorgeous shot of frederick. northwest winds at 10. it has been breezy and dry. let's give you a time lapse photography. dundalk, a crystal clear view of the key bridge as we look high atop ccbc's campus in dundalk. at the bay bridge marina, a postcard shot here, beautiful weather on the island this afternoon. maryland's most powerful radar five sweeps scanning all cleemplet weather overall is a beautiful, beautiful scenario temperature wise, bringing in cooler numbers. i mean people vacationing in deep creek lake are getting low 60s. most of us in the upper 70s. winds northwest 10 to 15. we've seen gusts up to 22, even 30 miles an hour. winds will begin to diminish as

we go past sunset. as we get late in the evening, winds will diminish. look at this humidity,goer shussments the only problem here does give us an enhanced outdoor fire risk, low humidity. we have a rainfall deficit. outdoor burning, be careful. just a few passing clouds. the really active weather is across north florida. that's where debby s as we go forward in time, you can see things do stay clear, nothing more than a passing fair weather cloud or two wednesday or thursday. who knows what debby does offshore. it will take through next weekend to find out. right now it's interesting. a lot of the moisture, a lot of the convection has moved away. but in any case we will certainly keep an eye on debby and how fast she moves. 57 overnight with clearing

skies. tomorrow 86, sunny and dry. tomorrow night down to 62. a mostly clear scenario. here's the seven-day forecast. it will be getting much hotter. be ready for that. >> thanks a lot, wyatt. >> are you looking forward to fireworks this 4th of july? today the consumer product safety commission hosted its annual fireworks safety event on the national mall in d.c. they demonstrated several different firework scenarios. an explosives expert stressed the importance of fireworks. >> they should be aware they are -- there are illegally explosive devices sold from the same locations that consumer fireworks are sold from the difference will be that they will likely be a fuse or a waxy

type item that leads towards the device itself. there will be less likely any type of manufacturing direction or information and the consumer should avoid those. >> if you're planning onsetting off your own, set them on flat and dry surface. never bend over devices while lighting them and don't ever pick up a dud. make sure you have water handy just in case. swallowing knives, eating glass, all part of the show outside the ripley's believe it or not down at the inner harbor. tonight is the official grand opening. rosie? >> reporter: it's one of those cool things to see. it's a beautiful day. a lot of people are walking around. why not stop and take a look at something weird. about halfway down the pavilion is the new auditorium for the

ripley's believe it or not. they've got a little bit of everything inside. they've got all kind of weird, weird stuff. it's actually the frock thing -- wrong thing. they've got everything from a giant elvis, a big, -- big yankee stadiums. you can stand on the platform and he will stand up next to you. one of the things they really try to do is try to make things odd. they try to find the most odd things they can to show them off. tonight what they're going to do is have the official opening, the ribbon cutting. they're going to saw a giant cable in half. that will give you an idea of the things to see.

we'll have a lot more coming up at 5:30. reporting live, roosevelt leftwich, abc2 news. >> all right. looks like a whole lot of fun. coming up next from the atkins to south beach, seems like there's a new diet hitting the market every few weeks. how do you know which one works the best? they broke them down into three different categories. >> and are you a pc or mac user? the answer may have you paying more at hotels and travel deals coming up. i have never encountered such a burning sensation...

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a diet comes out every week.

researchers decided to break them down into three main categories and see which ones work the best. a study published in the journal american medical association examined whether it focused on keeping blood sugar labors -- levels stable. it helped people burn as many calories as a low carb. now however a person costs to lose weight -- through diet, exercise or both, dietitians recommend losing no more than a pound per week to stay healthy. as far as what to eat, try to double the veggies and cut the carbohydrates in half and adding exercise to weight loss ensures that the pounds are coming off in a healthy fashion but getting

stronger and building muscle. >> you might try interval training. it's simply taking whatever you're already doing and adding more intensity. >> weight loss experts also say one thing that's weight for great loss is making sure you get plenty of sleep. sleeping fewer than six hours a night can make you hung dprip and make it -- hungry and make it tough tore control your appetite. researchers from the national center on addiction and substance abuse found only one in 10 people who need treatment for addiction to drugs or alcohol are actually getting the help they need. that number jumps to seven to 10 are getting treatments or other medical conditions. 40million americans, 13 and older, suffer from some form of addiction. we want you to know that abc2news.com is the place for all the health news you need. log on to our page. you'll find the important health

headlines from today as well as other interesting categories that will help you and your family get all the important information you need. coming up, a new twist and murder mystery out of michigan. a man accused of hiring a hit man faces charges, but not for what you might expect. >> and robin roberts' need for a bone marrow prompted many to register. how simple it is to sign up to be a donor.

tonight baltimore county police are trying to figure out who stole a van from a church. it was used to rob an elderly man in pikesville. brian kuebler was inside the processing center when detectives searched the van for

evidence. >> reporter: if you steele steal from a church -- steal from a church and a man, they may find a way to catch up with you. this is the mt. pleasant ame choimp's -- church's van. the suspects stole the keys and then stole the van from the church in owings mills monday morning. directs -- detectives say they drove to this mcdonald's and drove an 83-year-old man's wallet while he was in the bathroom stall. >> he was able to leave. the vehicle was recovered. >> reporter: the suspect was nowhere to be found, nor was the cash, i.d. or other credit cards of the elderly victim. but police have the van and just this afternoon finished processing it for evidence, a

process that could give police a good lead on the suspect. if not, mcdonald's tells us it has surrendered the video which could give detective as good look at who they're looking for. in owings mills, brian kuebler, abc2 news. >> well, the van itself is in pretty good shape and should be released to the church. church members say they're very happy to get the van back in team for sunday services. now to the story of murder mystery in michigan where the plot continues to thicken. the man accused of hiring a hit man to kill his wife has been arrested for allegedly hiring a second hit man to do away with the first. jamie costello untanningles this web -- untangles this web for us. >> reporter: we have a former handy man. his name