that's all coming up. let's get into our continuing coverage about that water main break in downtown baltimore. it happened right in the heart of the city. light street near plume bampletd a 20-inch water main break -- broke sending water gushing. roosevelt leftwich has the latest. >> reporter: this is the first work of what's going to be three weeks of work as they try to reconstruct a good part of light street. take a look you can see they're widening out the hole. this will be some of the first asphalt that you see turned over as they get ready to replace 700 feel the of road and pipe and everything under baltimore street -- under light street from baltimore to lombard to fix the leak and do an awful lot of other stuff. it doesn't do it justice. it's like an e rption of water.

-- eruption of water. what's under the street has been washed away. that means three weeks of work to make it right. >> a contractor will basically dig up this entire street and replace those 20-inch water mains and that 10-inch water main which is parallel to it from -- i think it's from baltimore all the way down to lombard. once we replace those mains, we'll come back and close up the street, repave it and should be good to go. >> reporter: by taking a holistic aproarchtion the city hopes to avoid major problems. three weeks of work means a lot of problems and lot of tie-ups downtown. >> downtown is still open for business. this is a small area of downtown. they have a center of the region but it's still open for business. please come. there are many way tools come

in. downtown is very walkable. we encourage people to explore all our restaurants and our establishments. >> reporter: traffic is moving around light street as folks figure out ways to get around. more than a dozen routes use lombard and light that means frustration for those who ride the bus. >> we'll get transit ambassadors to help direct that traffic so if a bus is diverted, people will know where they clan go to pick up lap route they might normally get. we're also encouraging people to take a look at our website to see those diversions. >> reporter: now if you look down there too, you see a bge crew. one of the things they're going to do, when they tear the street up, the 700 feet, they're giving all the utility has chance to come in land do what work they need to do. bge has been down here all day. you have the cable company, phone company, any lines.

because the road is tore up, this is the best time to repair. this what you're hoping to do is they can fix everything and not have to worry about it again. the last pipe lasted more than 100 years. they don't want to deal with this another 100 years. >> have you stumbled upon anyone visiting baltimore saying what's going on here? >> reporter: all day long people have been walking by. it's been a cell phone camera paradise. there's a hotel next to me. people have been coming out or you see people getting ready to check in. okay. what's going on. why are all the tv crews out here and why is all that work going on. that's one thing they will try to do. they will try to do most of the work in the day until #k or 9:00 at night. that way they don't keep these people away and the spring hill suite is just down the road.

>> the broken water main has taken its toll on businesses along light street. some flooded. some had to close. jeff hager has more on their struggle tonight. >> reporter: water from the broken main left rippled asphalt and a huge crate enter the middle of light street. there are road closures and detours for people who work in the area. >> i had to go through detours to get to where i park. down st. paul to light, that way, but i had to do a detour, come back down around the harbor and charles. >> it took almost an hour this morning. that was funny. usually, i'm like 20 must, 25 minutes at the most. >> reporter: several businesses closed with no water service. even when work on temporary lines restore it, they feerpt ongoing repairs -- fear the

young -- ongoing repairs will enclose them customers. there were broken water main beer specials. >> the local parking garage was backed up. people sitting there breathing in exhaust sthizzing maybe i'll have a beer -- thinking maybe i'll have a beer. >> reporter: in downtown baltimore, jeff hager. >> the water services will forced another to shut down. many people who were unemployed in need of services were turned away. either way you look at it, this is a giant obstacle in the middle of our city. what does that mean for all the special events scheduled to come to downtown baltimore over the next several weeks. the city department of tramtion hopes absolutely nothing. they're urging people to use public transportation.

if you don't, they will use special cops and maybe retime the traffic light. more than 300,000 people are scheduled to lay tend the 31st annual art scape. that's up in station north as well as weekly events like the farmers market or when the orioles get back to town next week. >> when traveling downtown, be sure to allow time. be patient. watch for pedestrian traffic. go around the area or avoid the area all together but this will not have an impact on our event. >> we also spoke with organizers of the -- grand prix and they said it will have no impact. so a big water main break like this someone exact liming what the department of public works said is behind our rising water bills. the system of water mains is really showing its age.

the main that broke is believed to be 123 years old. indown of this year will were already 104 breaks across the system. last month the chief auditor told people to expect more increases in their bills. so until the repairs are made, drivers, you're going to have to put up with road closures for now. here's what the sit hi has closed, st. paul at light street closed from fayette to lombard. redwood closed from calvert to light. lombard closed from calvert to light. the two far left turn lanes will be open. drivers, you should avoid the areas if you can. for the best bet, if you have to get through, use the roads that run east and west in baltimore. to get the latest information about all the traffic conditions downtown during these repairs, just head to abc2news.com/traffic there. you can also check out dozens of

live traffic cameras all over our area. all right. let's get to the update on the breaking news in dundalk. you may have seen the thick black firefighters were called out for a transformer fire a baltimore county firefighter had to go to bayview with heat exhaustion. right now very smart people are looking over the fluent she what was damaged. we told you yesterday the heat is back and we meant this, from people braving the heat from a workout. the people who just wanted to rush back inside where it's nice and cool. let's check in with meteorologist mike masco. mike, how much more of this heat can we take? >> let's go 24 hours. let's get into your forecast. you know, right now we're sitting at 100 degrees. so we hit the century mark. the heat indexes is 104.

99 downtown. 99 d.c. eastern shore not much relief from the atlanta. 96 sals burry. dover 95. hex at 105 -- heat index at 105. 105 is what it feels like in frederick. we'll do this again though. excessive heat, meaning those heat indexes could be dangerous running between 100 to 105. the rest of the evening 95 degrees, a slow crawl into the overnight lows. we'll introduce a term to you -- the ring of fire. this is where we have the core of heat over the ohio valley. those big storms to the north. big storms to the north and east. big storms to the west. this will collapse i'll show you the seven-day forecast coming up. >> bge activated its peak

rewards program. people tried to stay on the cool side. peak reward cycles your air conditioner on days like this. it's a power saving program for both you and the company. >> our abc2 news investigators are working for you f you hunt down the freshest produce, are the meals made at the jfx farmers market. they've got the same rules as an indoor kitchen. >> it doesn't change things. food borne illness, that's our concentration. >> joce sterman is on the story, the common violationings you should know.

all right. do your eyes look cloudy, lost its color. why those on the younger side are seeing more cataracts. >> all right. i'm meteorologist mike masco. you can get our ent active radar -- interactive radar. we have storms to the north, south, storms all around us. we'll time the arrival coming up next at 6:00.

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a look at downtown baltimore. there it is, the water main break. it was a 123-year-old pipe. it broke yesterday. you saw the water gushing out for hours. there are road closures on most of the north-south street around light and lombard. crows are repairing the main and eventually the road. officials are telling us to take alternate routes or public transportation. we often think cataracts only affect older people. abc2's health reporter linda so has more. >> reporter: jason ford knew this was time to see a doctor when his vision started to get hazy. it affected him mostly on the road. >> i would feel lost because i couldn't read the road signs, very discouraging when you're used to being able to see and then everything becomes hazy for you. >> reporter: he is 46.

he has worn glasses since he was a boy. six months ago this got much worse. >> if you were to sit in a room with a bright light it would look like a haze, like somebody was cooking with grease. >> reporter: after seeing a doctor at the eye group jason found out he has a cataract. >> cataract is the clouding of the natural human lens. when you have a clouding of that lens, patients would notice decreased vision. >> reporter: jason got surgery. it took a few minutes and there was no pain. >> it was like hgtv. >> the cataract surgery will take about 10 minutes. it's painless. you go home the same day. the medications are eye drops. >> reporter: cataracts typically affects senior citizens but in rare cases you can get them if you're younger. if you don't get them treated the vision will get worse. >> the cloudy lens will continue

to get cloudy and you'll get blurry land blurry vision. >> reporter: jason is glad he got it treated. >> it's great. i can see the tv clearly. i can see the computer clearly. >> for the latest health news, head to abc2news.com/health or like abc2's linda so's facebook page. listen whether putting off a doctor's visit or coming down with a bush, the july effect is in full effect. experts say july is when new interns fresh out of medical schools work and when more experienced docks take vacations. just don't get sick. >> you think it would be cool,

96 degrees. we're talking about the heat all up and down the state. we'll take you to the time lapse. how about rehoboth beach. notice the flood switching more out of the northeasterly direction. mt. airy a different story. yes, a breeze. that was a dry breeze. that allowed for our drier feel, hot with temperatures into the 90s. 99 downtown. d.c. shares that 99. frederick down to 97. we saw your reading at 100. heat indexes with the humidity feeling like 103. 101, d.c. frederick feels like it's 105. excessive heat advisory will stay in place until 9:00. then we'll do it all over again tomorrow as we're expecting our heat indexes to run between 100 to 105. code red alert.

so the cooling centers an -- and pools in full foamplets 86 -- force. 86 around the 11 hour. that's a launching pad to 98 tomorrow afternoon and we'll keep the idea of a shower or thunderstorm in the back of our mind. here's what's going on. there are storms well off to the west. i want to take you up toward northern new england. that's where we saw tornadoes earlier. rolling through interior new england. tornado warnings. our storm system that we're keeping an eye on is still around 26 hours. it's marching through the lakes. eventually this will come out in the form of a cold front. again, tomorrow evening we are forecasting the chance for a scattered shower. here comes that front, increasing clouds late in the afternoon. we're expecting drenching downpours and addressing the

idea of flash flooding as we go into tomorrow evening, tomorrow night. 85 to start your morning. i do know that these upper 90s to 100 will be achieved before here comes the front that drifts towards the south. that will be the focus as we go into tomorrow afternoon. 92. that's a good recovery from that 100 with the chance of a spotty shower. let's take you through the forecast, 95, mostly clear, hot, going down to 77. that's achieved around the 3:00 or 4:00 hour. we're well into the 80s. 99 tomorrow is your two-degree guarantee. here come the storms, some of which could be strong to see environment wyatt will be here tracking it. lynette will be around. we'll keep you ahead of the storm. 90 degrees on thursday. i wish it were 80. 58 on friday -- 85 on friday.

a mixture of sunshine and clouds on saturday. so this is how this breaks down. heat tomorrow. storms tomorrow evening. unsettled on thursday and a beautiful weekend you will love. >> thank you. a meeting at the governor's mansion didn't produce a thing. they came away without a date to call lawmakers back to annapolis. the speaker said he tried to make an assessment about where people were. miller said it would take some elbow grease to make a special session happen. hey. nobody puts on a baseball cleanic like the ripken boys. if you have a citi credit card you got extra special attention. a day at camden yards and a clabs -- chance to see a future

orioles game. let's welcome sparrow to the maryland zoo. she was born mon june the 9th, weighed in at 10 pounds at bimpleght mamma pearl is all over sparrow. you'll be able to see spar row at the zoo. the harford county farm fair, probably the best we can see starting in two weeks. make sure you make plans. we'll be right back with more in just a moment. what makes the sleep number store different?

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before we go, kelly as what's coming up at 11. >> the red cross needs your help, not another blood drive. what they need folks to do and ho can lefthand a hand. plus, superstars with local ties. we'll tell you were jada pinkett smith and will smith were on capitol hill today and how their daughter willow inspired them to become activists. those stories and a whole lot more and the heat wave. >> what time is the storm coming. >> about 7:21. how about that? hey, most of tomorrow, guys, will be not bad, hot and humid.

here come the storms tomorrow night. >> that's it for us on abc2 news at 6:00. we'll see you at 11. >> have a good one. ♪

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