>> ♪♪ >> 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. >> and toppled trees crashed

into homes. cars are buried under heavy branches. we are surveying the damage across the delaware valley. i was trying to make my regular way to work and came upon a massive tree in the road. you just got to pay attention this morning. good morning, it is 5:30 on this wednesday june 24th. matt o'donnell is off. nydia han is joining us. we've got live team coverage for today's storms. let's get started with david and karen. >> expect you're going to encounter these areas where you don't have the pour working in that area, no traffic signals, downed trees. this is causing problems with mass transit. the power outage at patco. patco remains suspended and expect to be suspended through mid morning. expect you're not going have patco through the morning rush. you could outside new jersey transit. they're cross honoring patco tickets. septa buses cannot service the transportation center. problems wherever you look. atlantic city rail line canceled at this point. watch for that. septa buses we mentioned no service at chester but also you'll find detours through

the area where you've got downed trees. media elwyn line canceled at this point. no service until further notice. use the wilmington newark line. also thorndale paoli no service between thorndale and malvern. you can get between malvern and center city. fox chase line canceled at this point. norristown high speedline suspended between norristown and radnor. lots of problems with mass transit and on the roads themselves lots of areas where you're talking about that downed trees. in overbrook city avenue blocked at 66th street due to a downed tree. stick to remmington road or lansdale. david i'm going have just lists of areas of closures with downed trees downed power lines causing problems coming up. >> city avenue in the vicinity of lankenau hospital three right across it. that's going to be a mess, too. lots of viewers joining the action overnight. one of them was margie my twitter follower from center city walk argue round showing trees down on cars there. this is the sort of that you know karen has been talking about. gary snapped this shot in center city of lightning

striking william penn last evening as those storms started to move in. this is the main area of concern, western lancaster county, southern berks county, most of chester county, philadelphia, southern montgomery county, camden county, gloucester county and the top half of atlantic county and about half of burlington county, this is where the strongest swath of storms came through with 70 miles per hour or better wind gusts. a couple of funnel clouds reported. always a sign of a strong storm. trees down, power outages. not that you can't have problems the elsewhere but that's the seat of the action last evening and where you're going to have most of your blocked roads. now we've got the storms out of here, we've got sunshine coming back a plenty dan it also looks like it's going to be more comfortable. your current temperature 69 degrees. winds riding out of the northwest bringing lower humidity into the region today. as we head out the door, over the next several hours by 6 o'clock, 67, 70 under clearing skies and comfortable conditions by 8 o'clock. and as we roll through the day, looks like 70 by 8 o'clock. by noon we're up to 81. and then 85 by 3 o'clock with

a high today of 86 degrees sliding right in there around 3:30 or 4:00 before dipping back to 84 by 6:00. we have a couple other problems coming up in the seven-day forecast. some more chances of rain and maybe some thundershowers. that's all coming up in the seven day. >> we'll come back to you shortly. let's go live to south jersey. "action news" reporter katherine scott is in that washington township gloucester county and katherine you have been telling us the damage is justest. >> reporter: it is tam. the storms are really intense last night. a lot of people around here took cover in their basements and when they emerged from the basement they looked around and this is what they saw. you can see there are downed trees, heavy branch that is have dropped to the ground, damaging cars and houses. you can see lines in the streets. there's a lot of damage left to do today. >> the trees moving. it was unlike anything i'd ever seen. >> reporter: this family took cover in in their basement shortly after 6 o'clock last night as severe storms hit washington

township. 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. in 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. the sky got really dark. all this rain and wind. just devastate order backyard. our neighbors, shingles were glowing off. the trees were falling down. >> office all of a sudden this huge whoosh of wind pushed me back. i was like oh my gosh, it's here. >> reporter: and back here live by cypress court you can see there are a bunch of cables in the streets. some lines were down in this

area and yet we have seen quite a few people try to come through here. some have actually driven over them. just a reminder that's very dangerous. one guy earlier got briefly stuck. the police came down to help him. really avoid all of these blocked roads. turn around, take a detour. it's just not worth it. we are live in washington township, katherine scott channel6 "action news." >> real good reminder thank you katherine. "action news" reporter erin o'hearn is live in brookhaven delaware county. you can really see the power of these fierce storms where you r-too. >> reporter: yeah, absolutely nydia. now that the sun is up we can see more of the damage on this street school lane and north gray in brookhaven. take a look behind me. if i was the owner of that ford explorer i would not be very happy this morning. that tree is enormous and it toppled on top that of car. it also took down power lines with it. obviously none of the residents in this area have power right now. this morning on this third day of summer they will wake up with an enormous cleanup task.

at times it looked like something out of a science fiction movie. the ominous clouds moved in and so did the drenching rain and fierce winds. >> and i saw that the lower clouds were moving very fast 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. those skies -- you got that feeling. >> and you could see it form and it just came right down right in close to here. >> reporter: the intense storm ripped the siding of an apartment building off gray lane and shingles off rooftops. >> it was pretty bad. the winds were kind of straight line and the trees were going back and forth and then we start losing shingles and we could see them flying over the top. >> reporter: the storm left its mark along chester heights, too. there was this span that toppled trees along baltimore pike and this tree came crashing into a house on the 2100 block of lenny road. the damage and power outages

prompted the mayor to declare a state of emergency. >> we called in extra police officers tonight to patrol the area make sure everything is done. we've got ahold of all of the emergency people that we can possibly get ahold of. >> we have every available peco crew in the fieldworking to restore service. in addition, we are going have 200 local contractors joining our efforts again working with us around the clock to restore service. >> reporter: all right, back here live take a look at the root of that tree. it was completely uprooted and actually it was just bordering the fence of this home and it obviously took down the power line along with it. so, this is a huge cleanup task for this neighborhood and it will be at least a couple days before residents in this area have power. in fact, peco says it will utilize crews from other states. but delaware and chester county were the hardest hit. so some residents may not even get their power back until this weekend.

luckily i think david will tell you that temperatures are supposed to go down over the next few days. so that will make it a little bit easier. but a very difficult few days of cleanup ahead. we're live in brookhaven, erin o'hearn, channel6 "action news." >> and very soon we'll hear a lot of chainsaws going. >> that's right. it was a close call for one delaware family after a tree toppled onto a shed in their back with regard in new castle. as the storm approached christina wright says her father and brother-in-law were trying to put lawn furniture in a shed. she says the sky got dark and the winds started to pick up. >> i actually heard the cracking of the tree when the winds started picking up and all of a sudden the tree just fell and i just was like, you know, 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. she said as you might imagine her father is still pretty shaken up. >> the storm has forced evacuations across the delaware valley last night. new video from a housing

authority highrise in chester. power loss forced residents outside. in wilmington delaware power problems caused another apartment building to evacuate the lutheran towers on the 1400 block of north franklin streets. residents boarded shuttle buses waiting in front of the building. >> we want to remind you you probably have friends and family with no powering they feel completely disconnector. you can talk to them on the phone though. remind them they can use their phone or mobile devices to stream "action news" there through the 6abc app or through 6abc.com. we'll keep you updated on the progress to fix all of these widespread outages. >> yeah, it could take awhile. more than 12,000 lightning strikes. >> a great time to reach out to your neighbors. during sandy we lost power and people in the next block offered to charge our cell phones and computers. storm tracker six shows you we're without any rain. the storms are gone and as we take a look outside we have sunshine up over the horizon and any clouds appear to be high and thin so it is going to be a bright day and

fortunately dry and feeling a lot more comfortable. 69 degrees right now in philadelphia. the dewpoint continuing to drop as we do have that north-northwest breeze bringing in drier air and over the next hour or two we'll be back in the 50's which is officially out of the humid range. winds not all that strong. different story last night though. we had strong wind gusts late yesterday and last evening in medford, 75 miles per hour. it's pretty rare that thunderstorms produce that strong of a wind gust around here. of course with all the trees we have across the region a 60 miles per hour gust is enough to cause major problems while no surprise then that we had the problems we had yesterday with 70 miles per hour gusts in glassboro. king of prussia long beach island and 67 in wilmington delaware. satellite and radar showing you the action last night. a lost thunderstorm watches of course. all of this getting off the coast and you just saw on sky6 the sunshine returning. as we take a look at temperatures today, it's going to be a warm one but fortunately not nearly as humid as yesterday. by 11 o'clock, 78. by 2 o'clock, 84. we'll spend the majority of

the after into the in the mid 80's with a high of 86 degrees under mainly sunny skies probably hitting that 86 around 3:30 or 4 o'clock. high temperatures across the region 83 in allentown much better than yesterday's cut it with a knife humidity and high of 91. are you a lot better. 86 in philadelphia. 84 in trenton. 85 in wilmington. down the shore 78 in cape may. and 82 in atlantic city with lots of sun on the beach and pretty nice conditions overall. in fact a closer look at the shore shows you low 80's from surf city all the way down to ocean city. ocean temperature about 68 off the jersey shore. 73 at the mouth of the delaware bay and low 80's in rehoboth and bethany on those two beaches. tomorrow we're going to start out with sun but clouds will increase as the day goes on. fortunately it look like we won't see a whole lot of shower activity until very late in the afternoon or evening and that's good because the parade of sail with those tall ships is coming up the delaware river tomorrow afternoon. i think you'll be mainly dry. later tomorrow night there is the chance of thundershowers reemerging probably not as strong as what we just had. in fact most certainly not.

your exclusive accuweather 7-day, sunny and nice today 86. sun giving way to clouds tomorrow. mainly dry during the day with those showers and thundershowers at night, a high of 86. the parade of sail right here on 6abc starting at 2 o'clock tomorrow afternoon. mostly cloudy then on friday, 79, some showers around particularly in the morning and then saturday looks breezy and at times rainy. not a total washout but a high of 72 and a chance of some rain at times. mostly cloudy and mainly dry on sunday, a high of 73. good for me, i got phillies tickets. i'm actually going to the union saturday night. that's a 6abc game saturday night. might be a little iffy saturday night. >> mr. social. >> i know, mr. sports social. >> all right. it is 5:43. next before arriving here the wild weather wreaked havoc for tens of millions of people across the nation's heartland. karen. >> we're looking live at the blue route. we're drying out. no problems approaching the mid-county tolls but can you get to the main roads? downed trees, downed wires all kinds

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it's chocolate and fruit flavors like you've never experienced before. discover brookside. >> ♪♪ >> welcome back. it is wednesday morning. it is 5:46. sky6 hd taking a live look at atlantic city. south jersey really hit hard by some of these storms. wind gusts up to 75 miles per hour in places like medford.

12,000 lightning strikes causing major problems. >> let's go over to karen rogers. a lot going on for the commute. >> yeah, when you're talking about in one spot 75 miles per hour winds that's like a hurricane tearing through your area. that's the kind of damage you want to expect as you're traveling through work, not just a regular thunderstorm. severe weather we had and we're still dealing with it this morning. we want to start right now and look at some of the areas that are hard hit through the region here. route one southbound is still blocked between schoolhouse lane and thornton road. use 926 or you can use 322. this is concorde township delaware county. that's the kind of problem we're seeing everywhere, do you understand trees, downed wires, malfunctioning traffic lights. another downed tree causing a big closure, route 13 blocked southbound at rogers road. new castle avenue will help you around that. lots of problems as you mentioned in new jersey. i want to start by showing you some of the pictures in new jersey. bill chute sent this in in gloucester township. here you can see kind of the downed power lines just dangling over a roadway here

in gloucester county. here's another one. there's a hundred-year-old tree that came crashing down and as you're trying to drive to work these are the kinds of closures you'll be bumping into. really causing a problem there this morning. looking at some of the other issues in new jersey here, look at the area we have with downed wires. cambridge drive near hunters lane. downed wires. mount laurel road near elbo lane, 70 eastbound, ma itch injury highway in cherry hill, 70 eastbound at springdale road downed wires blocking two lanes at this point. route 70 at 541 another highway here that's causing problems with downed wires. traffic lights aren't working on 73 between kresson and evesham road. the trouble is the downed wires, downed trees with over70 miles an hour wind gusts, if you think clouds sighted, trees down, power outages it's a lot to deal with as you're traveling this morning, tam. >> thank you karen. that storm system that tore through our region is responsible as well for at least a dozen tornadoes in the

midwest. officials in the town of cold city illinois say it's a miracle that no one was killed. the weather service says the ef3 tornado had winds up to 160 miles per hour and was the strongest twister in the chicago metro area in the past 25 years. and also this morning new a shooting in delaware has left a man in critical condition. the 30-year-old man was shot in the head at sixth and broom streets in wilmington around midnight last night. it happened on the same block where a delmarva utility crew was out there making emergency gas line repairs. police took one man into custody for questioning. also new this morning, a stabbing victim showed up to a wawa in philadelphia's mayfair section overnight. police say the 35-year-old man was slashed at sheffield avenue around 1:00 in the morning and then managed to walk himself to the 7700 block of frankford avenue. he's now in stable condition. no arrests have been made. >> happening today the coffin of south carolina state senator clementa pinkney will be on display in the statehouse rotunda.

the pastor of the emanuel ame church in charleston was one of nine people killed last week when a gunman opened fire during a bible study at the historic black church. president obama will travel to charleston on friday to deliver the eulogy at pinkney's funeral. >> there's no reason...

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>> welcome back. trying to get to work today is a challenge. >> yeah. >> let's take look in plymouth meeting. this is allen wood road. it is blocked. police on the scene at ridge pike. this is an accident just coming to us. take industrial way as your alternate. this is in plymouth meeting a new accident causing a blockage. let's go to the boulevard at ridge avenue. hard to see right here but

traffic moving okay at oxford circle a traffic light is malfunctioning. not really finding a lot of problems with fog in the area but we're seeing low visibility at that one spot. bucks county river road blocked at point pleasant pike due to a downed tree. this is the main problem you'll find throughout, downed tree david. >> big storms coming through last night. viewer picture from my twitter follower constance in cumberland county new jersey showing low clouds with a little bit of cloud cover dropping down. we did see some funnel clouds yesterday. no tornadoes but a lot of straight line wind damage and of course now it's all gone and off the coast and we are in for a much better day today. as we take a look at the temperatures across the region, we are looking at another warm one. 73 by 9 o'clock, 81 by noon. 85 by 3 o'clock with a high of 86 around 4 o'clock today. lots of sun but much lower humidity than yesterday. nydia. >> david thank you. "action news" viewers have been sharing photos and videos they took from last night's storms. this is honeybrook chester county. gusty winds and heavy rain

came down during one extremely close encounter with a bolt of lightning. the homeowner quickly ran inside to take cover. we'll be right back.

>> there are now two $10,000 rewards attached separate multiple shootings in philadelphia. police are looking for the man who opened fire on the 700 block of east hilton street in kensington on monday. seven people were injured there. on saturday 10 people were shot at a west philadelphia

block party. an 18 month old girl and two boys were among the wounded. the rewards are for the arrest and conviction for the people responsible. >> new details emerging about how two escaped killers got their hands on the tools they allegedly used to break out of the new york prison. authorities say prison worker joyce mitchell admits she hid hack saw blades and other tools inside hamburger meat which was then placed into a freezer at the prison. from there corrections officer jean palmer gave the meat to one of the inmates. palmer has not been charged. the search for richard matt and david sweat is centered about 20 miles from the prison right now. dna evidence places the two at a cabin in that area as recently as this past weekend. >> that story gets more and more interesting. >> like right out of the movies. >> 5:57. our team coverage of the cleanup of the storm goes on. there are hundreds of thousands of people this morning without power. we'll get an update from utility officials about the progress that the crews are making. >> there are reports that a tornado touched down when the storm tour through new jersey.

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>> ♪♪ >> "action news." delaware valley's leading news program. with matt o'donnell, tamala edwards, karen rogers and meteorologist, david murphy. >> ♪♪ >> good morning it's 6:00 a.m. on this wednesday june 24th. matt is off, nydia han is joining us. developing this morning. >> residents and businesses around the region are assessing the damage following that fierce line of thunderstorms. >> power crews have been out there working through the night trying to restore power to hundreds of thousands of homes and businesses. >> and if you have plans to ride patco this morning you need to find another means of transportation. service is suspended. >> it is going to be a rough go for a lot of people. we have team coverage of the aftermath of this storm from across the region. let's get going with