>> ♪♪ >> "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

canceled through mid morning. for your morning commute expect not to use patco. you can use new jersey transit. they're cross honoring tickets this morning. septa buses cannot service the chester transportation center because of a power outage there. we see lots of problems with mass transit. continuing with some of the regional rails media elwyn line service suspended until further notice. you got to use the wilmington newark line. paoli thorndale part of that line not running between thorndale and malvern. fox chase service suspended. norristown high speedline suspended between norristown and radnor. and as you're traveling through your communities expect downed trees downed wire malfunctioning traffic lights kind of peppered throughout the entire area. maple shade 73 northbound between 295 and styles we've got traffic lights down there. in cherry hill 70 at 541 which is main street downed wires blocking the two right lanes. also 70 eastbound at springdale road we've got that blocked as well. route 73 between kresson road and evesham traffic lights malfunctioning there. downed trees, 13 southbound

blocked at rogers road here in new castle. we've got problems wherever you look on the main roads themselves. you can see we're drying out. this is the schuylkill at the vine. the ramp from the schuylkill eastbound to the vine eastbound remains closed. it was scheduled to open just a couple minutes ago so we expect to see that momentarily. we still see signs of the cones set up here. david as you head out to work expect delays on the roads and on the rails. >> wow. and the numbers from yesterday's storms really impressive karen. a 71 miles per hour gust at philadelphia international airport. many of you dealing with gusts up around spend and this actually is the top five on record for philadelphia international airport. you got to go back to 1954 to get number one, 94 miles per hour but obviously that 71 enough to do a lot of damage. lots of dangerous lightning. over 12,000 strikes across our area and that would explain why we do still have a lot of power outages. the worst hit areas from the strongest storms started out in lancaster county, the southern tip of berks county through chester county delaware county, southern montgomery county, philadelphia camden and gloucester counties and then over through parts of

burlington county and parts of atlantic county. not that you can't have trees and wires down elsewhere but this is where we saw the worst of those 70 miles per hour plus gusts. had a couple of funnel clouds reported. no tornadoes confirmed but the funnel clouds is a tornado that's forming above the surface and then doesn't make it to the ground. still the indication avenue strong storm. as we take a look at today's forecast, the storms are gone. sun is coming back fairly quickly this morning. we've got temperatures that are fairly comfortable as well. 69 degrees currently in philadelphia. notice how those winds are now dropping down out of the northwest and that is lowering our humidity. as we roll out the door this morning, it does look like it's going to be comfortable under clearing skies. 67 degrees by 6:00, 70 by 8 o'clock and as we look ahead on our smartphone app it's still going to be warm today with a high of 86 degrees late this afternoon, probably around 3:30 or 4:00 but the humidity will be lower and we'll see lots of sun. another couple of chances of rain in the seven day coming up. nydia and tam will have more on that with the exclusive seven-day forecast from

accuweather. >> that's okay david as long as it's not like last night. widespread damage in the wake of the storms. >> powerful winds toppled trees and snapped power lines. at this hour nearly 187,000 peco customers are in the dark. atlantic city electric says more than 164,000 customers are without power. pse&g reporting 51,000 outages and 30,000 delmarva power customers in new castle county are without power. erin o'hearn is lie in brookhaven where the mayor has declared a state of emergency, right, erin? >> reporter: good morning. social media is abuzz with image from last night's storm and some of them are amazing to look at. i looked at one and it actually looked like the sky was exploding but if you look behind me this is the reality of what people are wake up to this morning. we're on the corner of school lane and north gray in brookhaven and this tree as you can see was just uprooted. the branches were snapped in

half. it's laying on a resident's lawn down with a power line and the power on this street is out for nearly every resident. so, the reality of what the storm left behind is devastating to residents in brookhaven here and this street obviously suffered some of the worst damage. let's take a look at some of the video from last night. everyone knew it was coming but just how fast and furious was both shocking and frightening. the sky darkened and a torrential downpour and then fierce winds. massive trees were brought down by strong winds. roots were uplifted and branches were strewn across houses. streets, of course, went dark and the mayor declared a state of emergency here. now, take a listen as residents describe the images from last night. >> poured like crazy and the wind you could see there was -- it looked like fall up in the air. there was so many levers and branches and stuff in the sky. >> it was pretty bad. there were -- the winds were kind of straight line and trees were going back and

forth and then we start losing shingles and we could see them flying over the top. >> reporter: now, of course peco is make something progress. in fact, i just looked down the street and i did see some street lights come back on. so that's good news. that's fairly fast. but again, the damage was not widespread but it was very heavy for where the damage occurred so that is going to make it difficult for crews during this cleanup process but residents are hopeful their power will be turned back on before the heat turns on. >> we hope a lot of people see those flights flick back on and hear the air conditioners click back on. let's go to katherine scott in washington township gloucester county. good morning katherine. >> good morning tam. it is a mess here in this neighborhood. there are trees down, lines down debris everywhere. we're standing here by cypress court and you can see all that debris in the street.

there's blocked roads. expect a lot of them when you head out today in this area. there's going to be delays. there are going to be detours. do not attempt to drive through. these storms hit with a fury and left a lot of damage behind. >> we had minimal damage for sandy compared to this. >> fierce storms tour through washington township last evening. tall trees uprooted, heavy branches snapped. they fell on purchase lines houses and cars. in gibbstown more destruction. utility poles mangled and twisted. the intensity of the storm took some by surprise. >> i grabbed my kids and i ran in the basement and it was terrifying. it was loud and you just saw like something out of a movie when you see the debris going around and around. >> reporter: the rain was heavy, the winds fierce. in the parking lot of the deptford mall a car flipped over. in cherry hill trees came crashing down on houses and fences. some roads were blocked. >> it was pretty scary. it ripped our canopy out of our deck. it was nailed down -- screwed down and it just ripped the

whole thing out and tore all the -- the whole canopy apart. >> reporter: yeah, a lot of people around here surprised by how fierce those winds were. back here live on cypress court you can see that there are lines down. there's big trees down. they've crashed down on cars and on houses in this neighborhood. there are a lot of power outages around here. we have seen police trying to make the rounds. we also have seen people try to navigate through try to drive through some of these power lines and cables that are on the street. do not do it. it is very dangerous so just leave plenty of extra time when you head out this morning. we're live in washington township, katherine scott channel6 "action news." >> katherine thank you. it is 5:08. throughout philadelphia evidence of the storm is hard to miss. the storm completely ripped a giant tree from its base in frankford. the tree landed on the house next door where brandy mavick lives. >> my daughter maggie and i were standing on the front porch watching the winds blow

and we heard this crash and saw the top of the tree just fly pass the front of our faces. >> on parkside avenue in wynnefield emergency crews helped navigate traffic away from trees blown over and blocking streets. along 47th street in west philadelphia downed power lines an broken light posed a true danger. now we've posted dozens of photos showing the damage on 6abc.com and our continuing coverage of the storm's aftermath. remember to send us your photos on social media with the #6abcaction. >> remember if your friends don't have power they can still watch us. they can stream us on 6abc.com or our news app. no reason not to watch. >> right right. fortunately all that of stuff is over with. a local of damage out there to be careful of when you're driving in. storm tracker six live double scan shows you that the active rain is gone. as we take a look outside sky6 with sunshine coming up over the horizon and it's going to be so much more comfortable today than yesterday. of course we were dealing with some problems yesterday.

thunderstorm wind gusts were the big issue bringing those trees and wires down and we actually had a 75 miles per hour gust in medford, new jersey. 70 miles per hour gusts in glassboro king of prussia long beach island and 67 in wilmington. this is usually closer to where we top out and even though 65 miles per hour gusts or so are enough to bring down a lot of trees and wires no, surprise then that we had so much damage with the wind gusts as strong as they were. temperatures now are more comfortable than yesterday sewn is the humidity its lower. 69 degrees in philadelphia. 66 in wilmington. 66 in trenton. winds are genderly gently coming down out of the northwest. that will lower the humidity further as we go through the day. as we take a look on the storm tracker six -- excuse me satellite and radar you can see the watch boxes are gone and we'll transition to a lot of sunshine. already seeing some of that coming up over the horizon. up in allentown today a much different days, more comfortable with a-83 after spending yesterday in the 90's

in the lehigh valley. with that high you can cut it way knife humidity. 82 down the shore mostly sunny skies a pleasant day with most of the ocean water in the mid up to are 60's. philadelphia lots of sun and gradually less humid. winds out of the northwest at seven to 14 miles per hour. if you were like me yesterday ahead of the storms and it was just too humid to go out and get your exercise done you can do it today because it will be a lot more comfortable. 70 by 8 o'clock, 78 by 11 o'clock, 84 by 2 o'clock and then 85 by 5 o'clock. tomorrow we got a warm front coming in that will increase clouds during the day and there is the chance of a late afternoon or evening thundershower. looks like most of the rain holds off until very late in the day which is good news for the parade of sail. 86 degrees is today's high, sunny and nice. most our rain holding off until late in the afternoon or evening. parade of sail starts at 2:00 with the tall ships arriving. might be overcast but mainly dry.

friday 79 with more rain possible in the morning in particular and then saturday breezy and at times rainy. not sure this is going to be a washout but probably a little bit damp on saturday with a high of 72. and on sunday mostly cloudy, some sunny breaks, 73 degrees perhaps a little shower in the morning. and you can see how we start to warm up next week. >> cooler and calmer though. >> yeah, how about. >> we like that. thank you david. 5:12 now. we have more news you didn't see last night. a confrontation turns deadly on the streets of philadelphia. and police are now on the hunt for one of the gunmen. karen. >> we're at city avenue here at conshohocken avenue where we're drying out. downed tree that was closing city avenue has since cleared but we've got downed trees littering the area, downed power lines malfunctioning traffic lights. it is a mess and all of the details are coming up when "action news" comes right back.

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>> welcome back. you're taking a live look across the delaware valley. the ben franklin bridge looks beautiful now but we're still getting over that storm from last night. it is 5:15 and a reminder if you have power but you have loved ones who do not you're talking to them on the phone they can always keep up with what's going on by using our stream app on their mobile devices. >> downed trees, power outages causing lots of problems. >> everywhere. we still don't have power at my house. got dressed in the dark today. was glad we have power here at the station. we want to start with your suburban traffic report. that's where you have so many problems this morning just trying to come out of the suburbs with the issues we have. i want to show you some of these pictures. this was spent in by bill shoot in greenwich township. , see the power lines dangling. you can see how the poles are just kind of halfway covering the roadway. such a dangerous situation. this was one shot where a large tree like a hundred year old tree came crashing dune

right on top of the roadway. crews are out there this morning. this is what you want to expect as you're heading out this morning that you're going to encounter roads that you just can't pass. so give yourself a lot of extra time. in same area in gloucester county we've got lots of problems through the region and so, this is greenwich township route 44 blocked near tomlin road. route 44 crown point road at grove avenue. we have malfunctioning traffic lights here. i know i drove through that myself. you have to treat it as four-way stop when you're traveling through areas with malfunctioning traffic lights the the ramp from 295 to 653 we've got that blocked due to a traffic light that is down. route 322 here at meetinghouse road traffic lights malfunctioning there. we had a problem here on the turnpike a large tree was shutting down the turnpike southbound in new jersey. that has since cleared so now the turnpike is back opened. in concorde township delaware county another area hard hit route one southbound blocked between schoolhouse lane and thornton. downed trees, downed wires. 926 or 322 good alternate for that one. as david has been telling us we had some spots that got

over 70 miles an hour wind gusts. medford 75. that's like a hurricane tearing through your area and. here you can see some of the hardest hit areas with if you think clouds reported, trees down parried damages so you're going to see problems commuting. we're here to help you through it every step of the way. >> power outages going on across the area. >> joining us on the phone is liz williams son from week peco. >> good morning. >> can you tell me when you'll be able to get everybody up and running. >> we have approximately 87,000 customers without service. we have made some good progress overnight at its peak we had about 229,000 customers without service. the hardest hit areas for us were chester county and delaware county and as karen just was talking about the 70 miles per hour wind gusts the lightning the rain we're seeing extreme damage in certain areas. we have all peco employees

focused on restoring service both our field employees and our folks behind the scenes working back office support. in addition to our peco crews we have about 200 local contractor whose are joining to us restore service. and they'll be working with us around the clock to repair damage until everyone is restored. and then in addition, we have about 500 field personnel from utilities in ohio, kentucky, west virginia and new york and they'll be joining us over the next 24 hours. >> so, you guys have all your crews out in full force working quickly to get all that power restored. thank you so much liz williamson from peco for joining us. >> philadelphia police investigating a deadly shootout in west kensington. investigators say a 28-year-old man was shot multiple time chest. he was rushed to the hospital where he was pronounced dead. police are searching for the other gunman. an overnight fire damaged three stores in southwest

philadelphia. the blades broke out overnight around 12:15 in the morning on the 6400 block of woodlynne avenue. firefighters arrived to find heavy spoke and flames. all three of the damaged stores are believed to be vacant. so far there are no reports of any injuries. >> the sixers have lost a legend. long time employee harvey pollack has died. known as super stat, pollack was the team's director of statistical information. he was the longest tenured employee in the nba. pollack a temple grad and a member of the basketball hall of fame started with the philadelphia warriors back in 1946. harvey pollack was 93.

i'm whoopi goldberg and new york is my home. there's no place like it in the world and no better place to lean about the people who shaped who we are today. hear about the lives of slaves in colonial new york and about the fight to abolish slavery. pick a stop on the underground railroad and visit the home and grave of one of new york's most controversial citizens. a journey in new york is a journey through history. plan you next trip at iloveny.com/summer. there's something for everyone.

>> rain and thunder interrupted the pomp and circumstance at egg harbor township. earlier in the evening several people were overcome by the heat and humidity and had to be attended to by medics and taken to the hospital.

>> boy, those storms caused a lot of problems yesterday. >> they sure did. >> and at graduation time the last thing you want to be is outside in a storm like that. you have to have your app ready and be prepared. now we're dealing with the aftermath. right now we're talking about construction near the vine street expressway approaching the schuylkill. the vine has reopened both ways. the construction will clear but it will close again each night this week starting at 11 o'clock. i want to take you to overbrook. city avenue blocked at 66th street due to a downed tree. remmington road or lancaster avenue gets you around that. you'll find the downed trees throughout the area. plumstead township bucks county river road still blocked there dave. >> karen last night i decided to join the action slightly before 6 o'clock looking out my front door, that's my neighbor's tree and watch right there and we'll see the branch come down right on the front lawn. they're actually 250-foot branches that came down across the street from my house. all the storm activity is gone. your biggest problem this morning as karen has been saying is looking out for all that debris downed trees and

wires across the central portion of the region. a nice day, 81 by noon, 85 by 3 o'clock and a high this afternoon of 86 degrees and then 84 by 6 o'clock. not as humid as it was yesterday. quickly if you're traveling today as i know a lot of you are, it is vacation season the southeastern united states north of orlando possible problems there. biggest threat south of chicago in northern illinois and eastern iowa. at the big board at the airport right now it looks like all green aircraft, no major delays just yet but in those highlighted areas i just showed you keep watching your e-mail for updates from your airline. tam. >> will do. thank you david. in health check now a new study shows life saving devices remarkably under used. the implanterrable cardio diverter defibrillator is inserted under the skin in the event of a disruption in heart rhythm it sends a well timed electrical shock to jolt the heart back to its normal beat but in the study duke university researchers found fewer than one in 10 patients actually got an icd in the

year after their heart attack. previous research shows icd's cut deaths up to 30 percent. children who lie young at a younger age tend to have better memory skills. it takes a lot of mental effort to keep those tall tales straight. the study showed lying in children is normal. rocco, momma a can see eight while away. we're back -- see it a mile away. we're back. your senses, seize the day and the night. new flonase. 6 is greater than 1. this changes everything. new dannon oikos triple zero is my go to protein snack. protein from yogurt? yeah, this greek nonfat yogurt packs 15 grams of protein punch. but what else? it has 0 added sugar

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>> from our delaware news room

the first state highway safety has launched a new pedestrian safety campaign. walk smart arrive alive. one of the adds features a chicken crossing the road but the question isn't why he's doing it but how and the answer is he's crossing the road in a crosswalk. a crab on a skateboard urging people to watch where they're walking. staggering amount of money shoplifting costs american retailers. here's abc's reena ninan and kendis gibson with america's money. >> topping america's money petty thefts at stores add up. >> shoplifting and employee theft in the u.s. last year at $32 billion. shoplifting slightly more than employee theft, grocery stores can you believe it see the most loss. >> something strange happened when amazon announced it was going to take down all sales of confederate flags. sales soared. >> some items were up as much as 8800 percent and confederate flags were the top selling item in patio home and garden category.

>> interesting. >> the olive garden found way to seay money. don't clean the carpet as often. >> yikes. >> internal study found many of its restaurants were doing the chore twice a month. >> once a month is enough is the company. besides that it destroys the carpet too. >> i guess the 52nd rule doesn't apply at the olive garden. >> don't do it. >> that's america's money. >> i'm in the hungry anymore. 5:28. coming up in the next half hour we have continuing coverage of the on the storm including its impact on your commute. >> power problems force residents out of several apartment buildings in the delaware valley. "action news" continues.

>> ♪♪ >> developing now on "action news." crews are out there right now working around the clock trying to get the power back on to hundreds of thousands of people who are still out there in the dark after yesterday's storms. peco says some customers might actually not be back online until tomorrow. >> power problems are causing problem for mass transit in new jersey. patco service is still shut down. we're helping you get where you need to be.