>> ♪♪ >> developing now on "action news," crews are out there working around the clock to try to get that power back on for hundreds of thousands of people who are still in the dark after yesterday's storms moved through. peco says customers might not be back online for days. >> power problems are causing truck for mass transit in new jersey. patco service is still shut down. we're helping you get where you need to be. >> and let's take a live look now. chopper six is over some of that storm damage. this is gloucester township camden county in new jersey and as we look down, you can see that tree just split. it looks almost as though lightning has hit it. there were a lot of strong straight line winds many people seeing downed power lines, trees in the road, debris everywhere. going to be a day for cleanup and trying to get this power

back on. good morning, it is 6:30 now on this wednesday june 24th. matt o'donnell is off. hopefully he doesn't need his chainsaw out in his yard. nydia han is joining us. we have team coverage of today's storm cleanup. let's get going with david and karen. >> it's a rough commute because it's not only affecting the roads but it is with the rails as well. patco has a power outage. suspended service. they don't expect it back until mid morning at the earliest. new jersey transit because of that is cross honoring tickets so you can use your patco tickets to get on new jersey transit. atlantic city rail line also canceled. septa buses no service at chester transportation center and certainly you want to expect detours as you're traveling on the septa buses throughout communities that have downed trees, downed wires. media elwyn line is canceled. use the wilmington newark line instead. thorndale paoli is not run at this point between thorndale and malvern but you can get between malvern and center city. so, trains are operating there. fox chase line is canceled. norristown high speedline canceled between norristown and radnor. so lots of issues with mass

transit and lots of issues on the roads as well. although your main roads aren't too bad the issues are with downed wires. in overbrook city avenue is blocked at 66 street. a large downed tree causing the problem. stick to remmington road or lansdale. lower merion, bala avenue at bala circle downed wires. new issue on the boulevard at oxford circle. traffic lights malfunctioning. we have been finding that problem a lot. treat it as a four-way stop. i've been on twitter updating everything as it's happening and also hearing from you as to what you're reporting here. so we've got todd pierce who showed me some of the damage in clarksboro trying to get to work. we've got downed trees littered throughout the area. high people in gloucester county tell me it was like a war zone trying to come out there. lots of issues as well as i-95 southbound this accident here approaching academy road creating a real slow go there as well but david we see that sunshine. the weather's changing but we're still dealing with the problems from yesterday. >> yeah, lots of problems including in center city, karen. take a look at the photo that

was tweeted to me from my twitter follower margie. this is center city. trees down here and lots of the central portion of the area unfortunately the most heavily traveled areas dealing with downed trees and wires across the region. william penn also got a hit right on his i guess it's cast iron lid of his hat but gary our social media follower gave that you say from late yesterday as the storms were moving in. the worst of the damage and strongest of the storms started out in lancaster county came through the southern edge of berks county virtually all of chester county affected, northern new castle around wilmington, all of delaware county, most of philadelphia, southern montgomery county and then in new jersey it was mainly camden and gloucester county with the northern half of atlantic county and the southern half of burlington county. 70 miles per hour plus wind gusts, a couple funnel clouds reported. no actual touchdown tornadoes confirmed yet. trees down and power outages across that central portion. doesn't mean you might not have problems elsewhere but that's where most of the issues are this morning. the storms are gone. satellite showing you how the

clouds are clearing out lots of sunshine and behind that storm system lower humidity. 69 degrees right now in philadelphia. much more comfortable than it was this time yesterday. 61 in allentown. 70-degree readings up and down the works and this afternoon we are looking for a warm one 81 degrees by noon, 85 by 3 o'clock, a high of 86 around 4 o'clock. lower humidity, lots of sun but it will be awhile before we get all of those trees and wires off our roads sidewalks and front lawns i'll be back with a couple of more chances of rain in the seven-day forecast. tam and nydia, i'll be back with that a couple minutes. >> thank you david. let's switch lie to south jersey. "action news" reporter katherine scott is live in washington township gloucester county. katherine as the sun has come up we've really been able to see the damage behind you. >> reporter: you can tam. there's quite a lot of it. when these storms started coming through yesterday people saw the heavy rain, they saw that wind and felt and heard the wind and so they hid in their basement. they were worried about the flying debris and if you take a look at some of the damage it left behind this morning

we're at cypress court and silver birch and you can see there's debris in the street. heavy branches have fallen down o onto cars and houses in this neighborhood. some of the roads are blocked. there are lines down. power is out. it is a mess. there is a lot of cleanup left to do today. >> the trees moving. it was unlike anything i'd ever seen. >> reporter: this family took cover 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 and 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. it devastated our backyard. our neighbors the shingles were blowing off. the trees were falling down. >> and 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 in washington township you can see that tree branch is weighing on those lines and that's a very common sight here this morning. we also see some cables in the street here. some people have been coming and making u-turns, others have driven over them. we actually saw one guy this morning get stuck. do not drive through this. be sure to go around. expect a lot of delays this morning. expect detours. leave plenty of exare a tray ex-- extra time. >> thank you katherine. >> erin o'hearn is live in brookhaven delaware county where the damage is so severe and extensive the mayor has

issued a state of emergency. erin. >> reporter: yeah, nydia in the moment you're going to hear from one man who said last night he took a look at the sky and he knew it was going to be trouble. and trouble it was. this morning residents here in brookhaven are waking up and navigating these streets by car and by foot very gingerly as they should because it is likely in this area that they are going to encounter damage like this. take a look at that enormous tree that came crashing down on that ford explorer and took the power line with it. many residents here may have to stay home from work today so they can work here at home after last night's storms have given them a tremendous 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 me -- 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 were this span that toppled trees along baltimore pike and this tree came crashing into a house in 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 to

have 200 local contractors joining our efforts again working with us around the clock to restore service. >> reporter: now we've switched our shot to the adjacent corner and you can see another tree was uprooted and there just looks to be a giant crater almost next to this house and again another power line down on this side of the street. now, peco says it will utilize crews from other states. it is hoping that most residents will get their power back on by friday evening. but some of the residents in the more isolated areas may not get power back on until this weekend. so, it is going to be a long few days after those immense -- enormous storms that we saw last night. now we're live in brookhaven, erin o'hearn, channel6 "action news." back to you. >> erin thank you. cleanup is not going to be easy or quick. >> no it will not be. 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 get the lawn furniture back in the shed out of the rain. she says the sky got dark and then the winds just picked 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. as you might imagine if you were in that shed when that tree came down like that, he's still shaken up. >> you had a good reminder to check on your friends and family members. >> yeah, a lot of people without power but there may be people with power a couple blocks over. i was saying during sandy we lost our power but neighbors offered to charge our cell phones which were pretty important to have when you're trying to get things done and you don't have power. that's something to put in your head if you've got neighbors who need your help, help them out. storm tracker six live double scan right now shows you that we are dry. that's the best news today

right? as we take a look outside, lots of sunshine up over the horizon. humidity levels are on the way down and it feels much more comfortable this morning than it did yesterday when we were dealing with that so thick you could cut it with a knife humidity. 69 degrees currently in philadelphia. your dewpoint has slipped down beneath that 60-degree threshold for humid air and it will that couldn't to go down. this afternoon this afternoon will be warm, sunny but not nearly as uncomfortable and humid as yesterday. that's because that northwest winds behind yesterday's storms now popping down out of the northwest which is a dry source region for us. boy, the winds did more than just pop last night and late yesterday, right? medford a 75 miles per hour gust. glassboro 70. more typically we will get gusts around 60 maybe 65 miles per hour from severe thunderstorms around here. so, no surprise that these gusts in glassboro king of prussia and long each beach island of 70 or better brought down so many trees and did so much damage. wilmington a 67 miles per hour gust and just within the last hour or so the national weather service bumped up the

top gust at philadelphia international airport last flight to 72 and that is number four all time on the wind gust list. the top gust 94 a little before my time in the mid-50's. i'm kind of glad i missed it frankly. we have a lot of sunshine on the way with the storms off the coast. it is going to be a more comfortable day although still warm and you'll probably still want cool drinks. 70 degrees by 8 o'clock, 78 by 11 o'clock and 84 by would clock with that late afternoon high of 86 probably hitting around 3:30 or 4:00 this afternoon. high temperatures only 83 in allentown after spending yesterday in the low 90's. 85 in wilmington, 84 in trenton. down the shore ranging from 78 in cape may up to about 82 on the beach in atlantic city. ocean temperatures running in the upper 60's along the jersey coast lines. in fact i can show that to you. 67 in the water right now. surf city to ocean city lots of sun, low 80's. down to the upper 70's on the point in cape may. and low 80's off the coast of rehoboth beach and bethany beach. 73 the ocean temperature right as you start to turn into the delaware bay. tomorrow we're going to start out sunny t it will be warm. but then clouds will increase during the day. we are looking at rain but the

model wanting to hold off any significant showers until after the dinner hour which is good news for the tall ships coming up the delaware and those who want to see them. later tomorrow night a chance of thundershowers not as strong as what we just had. your exclusive accuweather 7-day sunny and nice 86 degrees. tomorrow sun giving way to clouds 86 degrees at 2 o'clock parade of sail takes to the airways on 6abc. if you want to go to penn's landing it will cloud up but should be dry. later at night a shower or thunderstorm. mostly cloudy on friday, 79 degrees. damp at times. showers around particularly in the morning. then saturday mainly cloudy and kind of damp. breezy, cooler, a high of just 72 and rain at times. then sunday some rain in the morning. otherwise i think mostly cloudy with some late day sunny breaks and a high of 73. nice and comfortable numbers this week. maybe even a little cool for some of you. >> i like it. >> yeah. >> getting through yesterday. >> it is 6:43. more new stories are still ahead. a leaked autopsy report sheds new light on the death of freddie gray. karen.

>> we're live right now in south philadelphia and you can see at penrose avenue at 26th street still problems right here. traffic moving a little better but fire police are directing because there's no working traffic light. we have this problem repeated everywhere and i just got off the phone with state police. a big problem in new jersey. all those details coming up when "action news" comes right back.

>> and we're back with breaking news. karen rogers, we have trouble on the new jersey turnpike in new jersey. good morning. >> chopper six live on the scene right now. you can see it's a serious accident. they're loading someone into an ambulance right now. i just got off the phone with state police and they're telling me that this accident scene there called for a medevac helicopter for two

individuals. a serious accident scene. we're seeing traffic getting by as chopper kind of pans back. we can see we've got a number of emergency vehicles on the scene right there. this is northbound new jersey turnpike in woolwich township in new jersey and we can see some debris on the roadway with this accident as well but it looks like some of the vehicles may be in the woods at this point as we see some activity there. when i talked to police you can see some people kind of walking through the woods currently through the area. i talked to police and they told me they were just responding right now. this is all just happening and we can see that going on right now. so, you can see them working through the woods right now. so a terrible accident scene. a serious accident scene. right now traffic is getting by on the new jersey turnpike northbound but they tell me they'll have to close the turnpike if they land the medevac helicopter and that's the plan for it right now so you can stick to 295 southbound through this area of woolwich township n let's talk about some of the other problems through the area. we've got so many issues with downed trees, downed wires that are kind of spread throughout the area. we just mentioned a terrible

accident in new jersey turnpike southbound was closed for awhile in new jersey in this area of the turnpike because of downed trees. 44 is blocked near tomlin road. crown point road at grove avenue downed traffic light the issue. 322 at meetinghouse road no traffic lights working there. new jersey turnpike northbound that's that terrible accident scene that we've been talking about right now. some people have been tweeting images and sending them. this one from bill chute in gloucester county new jersey. you see the downed wires just kind of dangling right on the roadway. it's that kind of morning where you need to travel so safely and anticipate these kind of problems. black horse pike near greentree road major highway where the traffic lights aren't working treat it as a four-way stop. delsea drive blocked as well. the list goes on and on nydia. >> karen thank you so much. a medical examiner has determined that freddie gray suffered what's called a "high energy injury while riding in a baltimore police van back in april." the examiner said it most likely happened when the van suddenly slowed down but according to the autopsy

report obtained by the baltimore sun. because the fatal injury happened when officers failed to follow police procedures. a grand jury indicted six officers. they have pleaded not guilty.

right now verizon is offering unlimited talk and text. plus 10 gigs of shareable data. (yeah, 10 gigantic gigs.) for $80 a month. and $15 per line. more data than ever. for more of what you want. on the network that's #1 in speed. call. data. and reliability. so you never have to settle. now also get $300 or more when you trade-in your smartphone and buy a new one. stop by or visit us online. and save without settling. only on verizon. 14 irresistible flavors. one for the mood. one for the moment. each one can make every day more delicious than the last. the taste could only be baileys. the experience could

only be yours. baileys coffee creamers. this is the one. >> delegates from philadelphia are in rome to finalize details for the pope's upcoming visit. they attended a blessing by the pope. brian taff is also there and filed this report. >> reporter: and good morning from saint peter's square on this majestic roman

morning that's seeing a little bit of everything weather-wise. sunshine, rain but none of that much mattered. the philadelphia delegation focused instead on this singular moment. take a look at this video from moments ago. pope francis wandering down from the altar just in front of saint peter's basilica and greeting the delegation. they were all smiles. extending their handled with the hopes he might touch it. in fact he did for many of them. myself included right there up front this morning and what a moment it was. come on back out and take a look right over here as you can see the pope is still making his way around saint peter's square greeting some of the groups that have come from around the world to meet him he's an enthusiastic man a tireless man and this is part of the reason he's generated this reputation as a rock star. because he's there for the people as he will be in philadelphia just three months from now. much more to come throughout the day here on "action news." but for now in rome brian taff channel6 "action news"." >> great experience touched by the pope. >> my god i'm so jealous right

now. you'll be touched by the trees downed wires and the messy morning. >> try not to touch those wires. >> all issues in mount laurel, cambridge drive near hunters lane downed wires causing a problem. mount laurel road near elbo lane downed wires as well. cherry hill 70 eastbound two right lanes blocked. david this is a problem everywhere. >> my twitter follower tracy in pine hill new jersey points out that yeah it's another area that got trees down so do be careful. today is going to be a pretty nice day overall though. warm 81 by noon, 85 by 3 o'clock, a high of 86 degrees best of all sunshine and lower humidity than yesterday ladies. >> all right, david thank you. this is new viewer video of what appears to be a water spout. it formed during yesterday's storm in the brant beach section of ocean county new jersey. look at that. you can see the storm coming across the bay. winds ripped across the water and tossed debris around boats docked at the bay. we'll be right back.

earth to tom! just day dreamin'. about an in-ground pool? yeah! i am! with a hot tub? uh-huh. and a waterfall! how did you know that? you've got that new instant game from the pennsylvania lottery. oh yeah! super $1,000 frenzy. with top prizes of $300,000. [announcer] want to see your dreams come to life? you could scratch your way to instant winning.

the pennsylvania lottery. bring your dreams to life. >> power outages still causing major problems with your commute. patco still suspended service of not running. new jersey transit cross honoring tickets. atlantic city rail line canceled. fox chase line has been restored isn't karen satellite and radar shows that you storms from last night are gonely we have plenty of sunshine heading for a sunny high of 86 degrees today. the areas that were worst hit

with storm damage last night are right in the center of the region. if you're in those red areas that's where you have the best chance of seeing blocked roads today. >> we'll be back in 30 with updates. we're updating 6abc.com. you can always see us here on the web site or through the app. we'll see you in 30. >> ♪♪

good morning, america. and breaking overnight, violent storms slamming the northeast. winds up to 75 miles an hour causing major damage. this car flipped on its roof. the nightmare aboard one amtrak train. >> we were on the train for about 5 1/2 hours. they weren't able to give us anything. >> stranded for hours with no food water or ac. 500,000 without power and another bad storm on the way. also this morning, abc news has now learned the woman accused of helping those killers escape now being investigated for inappropriate relationships with other inmates as authorities reveal how she might have smuggled those tools into the prison. in the ground beef. head-on. take a look at this. a motorcycle coming around a blind curve crashing into a fire truck. the biker's gopro camera