>> ♪♪ >> "action news." delaware valley's leading news program. with matt o'donnell, tamala edwards, karen rogers and meteorologist, david murphy. >> ♪♪ >> good morning. we continue to follow a developing story on this wednesday june 24th. peco crews are out there working to restore power to hundreds of thousands of residents waking up this morning in the dark. >> the severe weather will cause some major mass transit delays today. there will be no morning service on patco. we've got the very latest. >> and cleanup continues after high winds and rain pummel the area toppling trees into buildings and knocking down power lines. good morning, it is 4:30 on this wednesday june 24th.

matt o'donnell is off. nydia han a here and we have team coverage of the storm damage throughout the tri-state area. dave murphy told us this was coming and karen rogers is taking a look at your traffic. good morning. >> good morning. expect to it take a lot longer to get to work. we have downed trees downed power lines on the roads, on the rails. patco suspended because of power outages, cancellation they expect to last through mid morning. patco suspended, new jersey transit is cross honoring patco tickets so you can take new jersey transit. at this point we expect septa buses to be on time but i expect you'll see a lot of local detours through the area where you have downed trees and debris on the roadway. dart expected to run on time. lots of other delays with problems this morning. delays expected on the media elwyn line. expect that to be suspended until further notice. use the wilmington newark line. airport line expect delays there. paoli thorndale line, suspended between thorndale and malvern. trains are running here

between malvern and center city so part of that line is suspended. fox chase line suspended until further. no lots of problems with mass transit and you're going to find downed trees power outages causing issues with traffic lights wherever you're traveling today. on route 73 between 295 and styles avenue right here you want to watch for that in maple shade, traffic lights malfunctions route 70 at 541 here in cherry hill we've got downed wires blocking two lanes there. in medford 70 is blocked at 541. that's main street causing a downed traffic signal causing the problem there. traffic lights out in winslow township on 73 between kresson road and evesham. we're looking outside on the schuylkill under 30th street, the ramp from the schuylkill westbound to the vine eastbound remains closed scheduled until 5 o'clock this morning. that problem, david you're going to encounter with those downed trees downed wires wherever you look. >> boy what an afternoon and evening it was. take a look at our social media follower gary shows lightning strike right on

william penn's head at city hall in center city. lots of lightning about 12,000 strikes across the region. 70 miles per hour wind gusts with a couple funnel clouds reported and trees down, power outage. the worst hit area was a swath from southern berks county and eastern lancaster county through chester county delaware county, philadelphia, southern montgomery county and then across the river in camden and gloucester county and parts of atlantic county. that's not to say you're not together to run into problems elsewhere but these were the areas with most of those trees and wires down. as we take a look thankfully that frontal boundary is off the coast now. we do have some clouds that are going to be thinning out pretty quickly today and it is going to be a much different and more pleasant sort of day today. 71 degrees right now in philadelphia. 67 in wilmington, 65 in allentown. 74 in sea isle city. much lower humidity today. as we head out the door mainly clear skies with some of those high clouds thinning out. 67 degrees by 6:00, 70 by 8:00 a.m. and again more comfortable. on your storm tracker six app today, no storms.

71 degrees right now. probably down to 70 by 8 o'clock and then up to 81 by noon and by 3 o'clock 85 with a high of 86 today rather late in the day probably around 3:30 or 4 o'clock. we have a couple of more chances of rain in the accuweather 7-day forecast. i'll have more on that coming up tam. >> thank you, david. now let's keep going with this developing story. people waking up to see a lot of damage after powerful storms rake the area. let's go over to "action news" reporter katherine scott. she's starting live team coverage in washington township gloucester county. good morning katherine. >> reporter: good morning, tam. these storms were intense and people in this neighborhood took cover when they blew through yesterday evening. we're by cypress court in washington township and you can see there's power lines in the street there's debris from the trees, napped branches, some of the roads are blocked here. this neighborhood is going to spend today picking up after this storm. >> the trees moving. it was unlike anything i've ever seen. >> reporter: this family took cover in their basement

shortly after 6 o'clock last night. when the family finally emerged they couldn't believe the damage to their house their car their neighborhood. >> it's hard to walk. there's power lines down all over the place. you're afraid to touch anything. but it's hard to maneuver and get through our neighborhood. >> reporter: the winds were fierce uprooting trees and pinning down power lines. in the parking lot of the deptford mall a car flipped over inform cherry hill trees crashed through house roofs and fences. some roads were blocked. in gibbstown more destruction. utility poles mangled. the intensity of the storm took some by surprise. >> it was awful. sky got really dark. all this rain and wind. just devastate backyard. our neighbors the shingles were blowing off. the trees were falling down. >> all of a sudden this huge whoosh of wind pushed me back and i was like oh my god it's here. >> reporter: now, a lot of

people still shaken up by the storm this morning. back here live by cypress court you can see power lines are down, debris in the street, a lot of people without power this morning. latest numbers show more than 100,000 people in this area. we are live in washington township, katherine scott channel6 "action news." >> a dramatic night for a lot of people. thank you katherine. "action news" reporter erin o'hearn continues our coverage from brookhaven delaware county. a lot of cleanup to do there too, erin. >> reporter: absolutely. actually nydia when we were driving up school lane and north gray it was a little eerie. i understand it's still dark out but there is not a light to be seen on this street. obviously everyone in this area out of power and take a look at the scene behind me. this is a tree and you can see the branches have just snapped. it was totally uprooted. it landed on this resident's lawn and it also took town a power line. this is a common scene that people will be waking up to this morning. this on the third dave what is supposed to be the lazy days of summer but these people

have an enormous job ahead. let's take -- we'll get some video from last night. at times it looked like something out of a science fiction movie. ominous clouds moved in and so did the drenching rain and fierce winds massive trees were brought down by strong gusts of wind as you just saw here. residents reacted with a mix of amazement and fear. the intense storm ripped off building siding shingles and rooftops. the damage power outages prompted the mayor to declare a state of emergency. >> and i saw that the lower clouds were moving very fast underneath these -- underneath the top clouds and i ran back to go get the kids and i said -- >> reporter: you knew that was trouble. >> i knew right away that was trouble. you got that feeling. >> and you could see it form and it just came right down right in close to here. >> reporter:. >> reporter: and i think you heard it there. he said he knew it was trouble. peco has made progress. they're down to about 190,000 power outages and that's from

225 at its peak. and the damage was not really widespread but it was very heavy where it occurred. so, that's going to make it even more difficult for the crews to clean up over the next few days. of course we'll have an update from the next half hour from peco. we're live in brookhaven, erin o'hearn, channel6 "action news." back to you. >> erin thank you for all of that. and the storm forced some evacuations across the delaware valley last night. this is new video from a housing authority high-rise in the steve chester. a power loss kept residents of the edgemont senior apartments out of their units. in wilmington delaware an apartment complex also had to evacuate, the lutheran towers. residents boarded shuttle buses while they waited to get back inside their homes. nearly 190,000 peco customers are still waiting for the lights to go on, that's down from what you heard erin say from over 220,000 overnight.

some may not get power back until thursday. atlantic city electric says it has more than 164,000 customers in the dark. pse&g reporting nearly 51,000 customers affected by the outages and delmarva power has 30,000 in new castle county. much more on the storm damage throughout the morning. >> the same weather system brought large hail to maryland as the temperatures climbed into the 90's. outhear caught on cam remark large hail falling in lutherville. you can hear the large chunks of ice hitting the roof and see it hitting the ground. you can also see the hail stripping the trees of some of their leaves. nearly 20,000 baltimore area residents are without power this morning. when severe weather moves into the area check in often at 6abc.com/weather. you'll find the latest forecasts plus live storm tracker six radar imagery matches and our live sky6 cameras will give you a clear first look before you head out. >> it's now 4:39 and still

ahead all new stories you didn't see last night a thief caught on camera stealing beer returns to the same store twice more. >> chocolate lovers beware a shortage in the cocoa supply could mean another price hike this summer. details next. david. >> thankfully we are dry on storm tracker six live double scan this morning. there are a couple more chances of rain in the seven day. i'll have these for you coming up with the rest of the accuweather 7-day forecast. >> ♪♪

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>> "action news" viewers have been sharing photos and videos that they took from last night's storms. take a look. like these pictures of a car flipped over in the parking lot of the deptford mall. a tree came down on a car in pitman new jersey. this is thorofare section of west deptford. the side wall of a building just ripped right away. and then there's this video from honeybrook with gusty winds and heavy rains and one way too close encounter with bolt of lightning. when weather events or breaking news happen in your neighborhood we want you to join the action, become part of the "action news" team by e-mailing your photos and videos to join the action at 6abc.com or use #6abcaction on

social media. >> we appreciate our viewers helping us tell the story. you got to use that hashtag so we can find your pictures and videos. >> yeah, my neighborhood is automobile bigotry branches. as i'm texting my son i'm saying no, i'm not picking you up from your guitar lessons as two big ones came down the as we take a look outside we are looking at sky6 at the airport. things cleaned up pretty nicely at the airport. be careful driving around as karen rogers will be telling you all morning there are tons of trees and wires down especially right through the central portion of the region. still up over 60 but not in the seventies where it was yesterday. with a north wind we'll look at the humidity levels drop today. lots of wind from those storms that came through late yesterday and during the evening. in medford a 75 miles per hour wind gust and really anything around 70 or better is pretty rare. usually we get those gusts in the 50 to 60 miles per hour range from thunderstorms but

this ended up being a real strong system. glassboro king of prussia long beach island all 70 miles per hour gusts. wilmington 67. and we got over a 70 miles per hour gust in philadelphia which is one of the highest on record at philadelphia international airport. however, all of that stuff is gone. you can see all the thunderstorm watch boxes we had last night. a couple of funnel clouds no confirmed tornadoes but still a lot of damage. now behind that sunshine is going to be returning and that's going to be the call for today with lots of sun. still going to be warm but it will be more comfortable overall. 70 by 8 o'clock, 78 by 11 o'clock and then 84 by 2 o'clock with a late day high of 86 degrees. i can see that hitting around 3:30 or 4:00 this afternoon. high temperatures from north to south just 83 in allentown, pretty nice after yesterday's thick humidity and highs in the 90's up in the lehigh valley. 85 in wilmington, 84 in trenton and down the shore ranging between 78 in cape may up to about 82 in atlantic city. lots of sunshine. down the shore 82 to about 81 from surf city down to ocean city. ocean temperature about

68 degrees. getting a little bit better in the water. pretty good beach day overall. looks like down on the point at cape may 78 degrees. low 80's in rehoboth and bethany and 73 in the ocean water right at the mouth of the delaware bay. tomorrow it looks like it's going to be another warm one. we will start to filter in some clouds during the day. there is the slight chance of showers late in the day or early evening. i think most of the day period is dry which is nice 'cause we have the tall ships coming up the river if you want to go down and do that i think you'll be fine but later at night we do have the chances of another shower or maybe even another thunderstorm rocking through probably nothing as strong as what we had last night though. your exclusive accuweather 7-day, sunny and nice, 86 today, lower humidity, nice weather for the union cup match tonight and then sun giving way to clouds on thursday 86 degrees and you just saw the best chance of a shower or a thunderstorm is later in the day or really more likely in the evening. the parade of sail right here on 6abc at 2 o'clock. that should be a good broadcast. mostly cloudy then on friday 79. a chance of some rain

particularly in the morning and then for the weekend it looks breezy and rainy on saturday with a high of 72. i tell you the truth that thunderstorm i put on saturday is kind of an accident. i think it's more going to be just showers on saturday. and then sunday mostly cloudy, mainly dry and a high of 73. so cool and more comfortable this weekend. >> okay, sounds good. >> sounds good. >> thank you david. >> police in atlanta are on the hunt for a brazen thief who walked out of a gas station without paying for his beer twice. video shows the driver putting a trash can in front of the door to hold it opened. he grabs two cases of beer says something to the clerk and walks out without paying. minutes later this same brazen bandit returns to grab some more beer and still wasn't done. the man comes back for a third time and attempts to steal again in front of a news crew. he sped off nearly hitting the store's owner. >> some people, nydia. well we're at the big board this morning to give you a first look at the bills. now, this is not sweet news. chocolate prices are rising.

they're up 12 percent this year and another price hike is likely that's for the manufacturers themselves. dry water in ghana and the ivory coast has limited production some and they produce most of the world it's cocoa. last summer major brands raised prices about 8 percent. we haven't seen the manufacturers pass this hike onto consumers, not yet. lego launched a massive effort to rebuild its blocks. the company wants to manufacture its products using more environmentally friendly materials. lego says it's actually going to spend about a billion dollars on this effort. all major markets had slight gains in and futures are pointing to what looks like a lower open. new startup company will start offering unlimited flights for $1,500. one go says its new app service will start in the fall that will let you take one checked bag and it will use major carriers like delta united and american and others. it will be interesting to see how this works if it's a game

changer. >> depending how much you fly you could save a lot of money. still ahead on "action news," storms roll through the tri-state area leaving widespread damage. we have more new video from delaware coming up. >> new information about the death of a baltimore man that sparked nationwide protests. >> ♪♪ ... to bring you a fresh tasting chicken. perdue. we believe in a better chicken.

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. >> ♪♪ >> took my husband four hours to get home from work yesterday. expect downed trees downed wires as you're traveling. in gloucester county greenwich township route 44 blocked near tomlin road. downed wires the problem. stick to 295. deptford route 44 crown point road at grove avenue malfunctioning traffic lights. you're going the find that really peppered throughout the area. the ramps and this is the big one from 295 to 653 both blocked because of malfunctioning traffic lights there. ly in woolwich township on 322 at meetinghouse road traffic lights malfunctioning there. this really happening throughout the area. on the new jersey turnpike southbound we've got it blocked between exits three and two because of a downed tree. huge downed trees have been all over the place on major highways. 295 southbound is your best alternate and part of the new jersey turnpike still blocked right now. in concorde township in delaware county, route one

southbound blocked between school lane and thornton lane. we've got downed trees downed wires there. downed trees in plumstead township bucks county. river road blocked at point pleasant. burlington bristol bridge remains closed from nine p tom 5:00 a.m. and patco suspended this morning. a lot going on with mass transit and the roads and i'll help you through it for the morning, tam. >> people will be glad to have your help this morning. thank you. developing this morning it was a close call for one delaware family now left to clean up the mess from those destructive storms. the action cam was out in new castle last night where a tree toppled onto a shed had a man inside. as the storm approached christina wright said her father and brother-in-law were trying put lawn furniture away in that shed. she said the sky got dark and the wind started to pick up. >> we heard the cracking of the tree when the wind started picking up and all of a sudden the tree just fell and i just was like where is my dad and where is my brother-in-law and that's all that mattered to me.

>> wright says her brother-in-law was able to get her father out safely though her father as you might imagine is pretty shaken up. >> new this morning a shooting in delaware has left a man in critical condition. a 30-year-old man got shot in the head at sixth and broom streets in wilmington around midnight. it happened on the same block where a delmarva utility crew was making emergency gas lines repairs. police have one man into custody for questioning. >> it is 4:54. all new in the next half hour of "action news" details on the deadly confrontation on the streets of philadelphia. >> music mogul sean "diddy" combs is talking about his arrest on a college campus. that's next on "action news." >> ♪♪

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>> this morning we have new details about the death of freddie gray. he's the man who died in police custody in baltimore earlier this year. baltimore suns account of the autopsy report describes a "high energy injury the kind someone might suffer when diveing into shallow water most likely caused by a sudden slowing of the van. "gray died from injuries after police put nim in a van. >> new details about the arrest of hip hop mogul sean "diddy" combs arrested monday after an incident at ucla where his son is a football player. combs enterprises says diddy was trying to protect himself and his son. combs is accused of assaulting a football coach with a kettlebell. no one was injured. conescombs wasreleased after posting

$50,000 bail. >> an impact on one transit agency especially we have everything you need to know to help you get through your morning commute coming up. >> ♪♪

>> ♪♪ >> "action news." delaware valley's leading news program. with matt o'donnell, tamala edwards, karen rogers and meteorologist, david murphy. >> ♪♪ >> good morning. it's 5 o'clock on this wednesday june 24th. matt o'donnell is off. nydia han is joining us and developing this morning. >> residents and businesses around the region are assessing the damage following that fierce line of thunderstorms. >> power crews have been busy working through the night trying to restore power to hundreds of thousands of homes and businesses. >> if you have plans or ride patco this morning you need to find another means of transportation. service is suspended. >> we have team coverage of the aftermath of the storm. we're going to get going with meteorologist, david murphy and karen rogers. good morning. >> good morning. those severe storms that came through, the power outages affecting you this morning as you try to head to work. patco remains canceled because of this and they're saying it's expected to remain