for strong storms. later gater wildlife teams wrangle a reptile from a north jersey river. good morning everyone, 5:30, tam is off, eva pilgrim is here, david murphy, well you're supposed to be here. >> reporter: and you, too, matt, we have high humidity, we have showers popping west to east, some of them are producing yellow on the radar which means it's a brief but steadier dose of rain. most of it is light though, just making roads wet. no lightning out there. as we look at the wider view on storm tracker 6 live double scan we have a cold front to the west slowly pushing toward the east. ahead of it we are expecting the development of downpour producing thunderstorms. and maybe some severe thunderstorms with strong gusty winds. doesn't look like they will be

here until 5:00 p.m., and later. any thunderstorm that may have the dynamics to produce lightning and heavy downpours and strong damaging wind gusts of 60 miles per hour or better. there's a slight chance of a tornado today and tonight. for now showers 77 degrees in philadelphia. 73 in millville. 68 in allentown. mid 70s down the boardwalk. very humid once again with the dewpoints which have been sitting on this or close to this level all week. we're looking at 70 or above. once again oppressive humidity. it's going to be a cooker, 85 by noon, the high will be 89 degrees at 3:00 p.m. showers and thunderstorms holding off until late in the day or evening. matt i'll show you that on future tracker 6, we have an improvement in the forecast coming up. >> reporter: the morning showers of which you speak we're seeing

them in downtown, chester county, 30 bypass, as the eastbound cars move toward exton, the spray coming off them. the road is wet at this point the rain continues to fall in downingtown, chester county. we're watching a fire location in pottstown montgomery county along shoe maker road at robinson street. 422 wet between pottstown and collegeville area. on the big picture no major issues along the schuylkill expressway boulevard or i-95. on construction on the vine street expressway has cleared out. crews return tonight at 11:00 p.m. to close it once again. if you're out about between cherry hill and moorestown watch out for paving and milling work at camden catholic near 38.

north park drive, as well. let's begin with breaking news, the state house in south carolina has voted to take down the confederate flag from the capitol grounds. this decision came after 1 hours of contentious debate. katherine scott is standing by in the satellite center. >> reporter: mass this -- matt this was an emotion at debate. but after a debate in the house the flag is coming down. it's flown over the state house for more than 50 years but the flag is coming down. the house approved it by two-thirds margin after a compassionate debate that lasted more than 13 hours. >> i cannot believe that we do not have the heart in this body to do something meaningful, such

as a symbol of hate off these grounds on friday! >> from the streets to the capitol building the debate has been heated over the flag. the state was the first to leave the union and raise the rebel flag to protest the civil rights movement house members deliberated well into the night, those who objected to taking it down call it a symbol of heritage and tribute to southern veterans. >> we'll take the people who respect their southern heritage and kick them in the teeth. >> reporter: the bill will be signed by the governor. on facebook the governor thanked the lawmakers for their service and compassion calling it a new day in south carolina. that bill is on the way to the governor's desk the flag will

come down within 24 hours of her signing it. >> a teacher at a school on the main line says she was fired for being in a same-sex marriage. organizers say the meeting is in the response to the mercy academy decision not to renew the religious director's contract. there will be a full report in the next half-hour. police have a new clue in a home invasion case, this is a sketch of one of the suspects. he posed with others to get into an apartment. the trio threatened the 26-year-old ten ant with his weapon and took off with his jewelry and cash. wall street is optimistic about trading today following the computer glitch that suspended trading for 3 1/2 hours yesterday.

u.s. stock futures are up significantly. internal technical issue is what caused it. it does not appear to be criminal. the fbi is investigating. also a few hours earlier another computer glitched caused united airlines to ground all of its flights across the country. this was the scene at philadelphia international airport. more than 800 flights were delayed. another 59 were canceled. >> we were checking in and basically we were told the flight was canceled. she started rerouteing us. >> "wall street journal" homepage went down for an hour, a reporter said a staff received an e-mail that technicians were investigating that cause. >> accuweather tracking strong storms late in the afternoon that will give us a break for the humidity. heavy rains passed throw western

pennsylvania. flash flooding forced people to evacuate. others had to be rescued. residents reported waters reached 5 feet deep. >> you have a line of storms on storm tracker 6 live. >> reporter: right now showers around and more coming later today. storm tracker 6 live double scan currently showing the showers popping through. as we look closer, in some cases they are producing reflectivity levels in orange and red in central county. that means you'll get a steady downpour and behind it fairly quick drawing. as we go in closer some of the heavier stuff, no lightning out of this just yet. but certainly a quick dose of heavy rain coming in, if you're in chadds ford it's coming in two or three minutes. as we go wider there's stuff popping west of news can ale

county delaware. -- new castle county delaware, wilmington, you're looking at the arrival potentially over the next 15 to 30 minutes of slightly steadier rain. as we look outside, we have mainly clothed skies we'll have breaks of sunshine arena we'll warm up. late this afternoon look out for heavier rain and strong thunderstorms. 77 degrees is the temperature right now. dewpoint, 68 in philadelphia. in much of the region we have dew points of 70 or better, so it is rather sticky, and oppressively humid as we get past sunrise. in terms of of this morning, a couple of showers may pop through, might get a rumble of thunder, but in general it's a quick hit this morning and we spend the majority of the afternoon with a mix of sun and clouds baking and simmering with the warm, humid air mass. after 5:00 p.m. we'll be on the

look out for the northern suburbs to develop heavier downpours and strong thunderstorms. as we go through the evening hours, the storms are coming in the northern suburbs and western suburbs close to philadelphia and we have a concern that some of thunderstorms will produce not only drenching downpours and lots of lightning, but potentially damaging winds gusts, but we get up to 10:00 11:00, most of the action is off to the east and things are getting better. in terms of risk factors lightning and downpours and strong damaging winds and the entire region is at risk for severe weather. while we're putting tornado out of a low risk it is not out of the question we get a twitter in spots, as well. 82 by 11:00. the high 89 degrees, very warm and humid. today, unsettled afternoon strong storms, 889 degrees the

high. home the humidity drops tempts up to 86, but comfortable on friday saturday, hot sun high close to 90, but lower on the humidity. stickier on sunday, no chance of a thunderstorm. monday, tuesday, wednesday more humid and more unsettled with thunderstorms working back in. >> that's what happens when we get this kind of weather. >> a terrifying ordeal for a tennessee family after they are kidnapped. we'll tell you what happens next. >> a selfie stick helps capture a daring rest 0 rescue out to sea. >> reporter: we'll see how the construction is fairing on the pennsylvania turnpike after the break. >> a rapper stole the spotlight by breaking the rule at an apple store. those stories when we return.

♪ ♪ one day a rider made a decision. the decision to ride on and save money. he decided to save money by switching

his motorcycle insurance to geico. there's no shame in saving money. ride on, ride proud. geico motorcycle great rates for great rides. hey, honey. day dreaming? [laughing] sorry. about being at the beach? uh... yeah. in the caribbean? that's odd... at our very own beach house? how do you know? you've got the new instant game from the pennsylvania lottery. oh, yeah! $1,000,000 big money with top prizes of a million dollars. [male 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.

>> good morning everyone, taking a live look at atlantic city, new jersey, looks like they have stuff going on on the beach. a few people out there. 75 degrees on city avenue. it's going to be another hot and humid day. look out for more storms. we have rain out there right now. let's check in with matt pellman. hopefully the roads are not looking too bad on this thursday morning.

>> reporter: they are not looking too bad, it is thursday and it's almost friday we're feeling good about that. but they are looking wet in the phoenixville collegeville area along 422. we're seeing a bunch of headlights you may see the midst in the headlights eastbound towards oaks and valley forge national park. the rain is light in the collegeville area along 422. but it is coming down enough to make the road wet. you know how that goes, it will be a slow commute along 422 saturday. in pottstown watch out for a fire location at shoe maker road at robinson street. we have the continued closure of route 23. as of monday you can't use yellow springs road, because a vehicle damaged a bridge in the accident. they are waiting 8 weeks for the materials to arrive to fix the bridge and the repairs take until the end of the year.

yellow springs road out of commission. nearby we have construction this morning on the westbound side pennsylvania turnpike between valley forge and route 29. >> reporter: e-z pass taking out the right lane. northbound and he thinks construction taking out the left lane. tomlinson mill road heavy traffic near the commodor barry bridge, delaware memorial bridge would be a better way. >> a selfie stick helped save a family caught in a rip current. this happened to a teenager and her parents in nantucket. the girl's father grabbed on the

selfie stick to keep her close until a man and lifeguards rush in to help them. >> two crimes against bank workers in an the at any could be connected. police say masked men forced their way into a family's knoxville home they abducted the man and his wife and infant son and forced him to rob the brarnlg. the ceo. a nearby credit union endured a similar ordeal in april. mayor stephanie rollings blake did not give a reason for the firing. the city was rocked by civil unrest after the death of freddie gray. 6 police officers are facing charges. pope francis has touched down in bolivia for the second leg of his south american tour. the pontiff is praising the president for taking important

steps to involve the poor in politics and growing economy. don't forget to get the update on the pope's visit to philadelphia in september. an aspiring rapper in new york said he recorded his entire new album at an apple store in so soho. he transferred his work to a portable drive. >> employees kind of smooth things over with the manager hey he is doing something creative. they would come around and listen to the movie. >> his album is slated to drop later thorchg. if he sells enough copies he'll buy his own commuter. >> a new york giants football

player is on the mend after a nasty accident over the weekend. >> three sisters are lost in the wildness. >> reporter: warm and humid today, 89 degrees, a chance of strong thunderstorms late today and tonight. i'll have the day planner forecast later coming up.

♪ ♪ ♪ you're unpacking already? yeah, help me find some mugs. sure. (beep) hey... o.k. they'll do. wake up to the mountain grown aroma of folgers. ♪ the best part of wakin' up ♪ so, where do you want to start? i think this is a pretty good place. ♪ is folgers in your cup ♪

>> new on "action news," a troubled sweet treat is closer to returning to store shelves. bluebell creamery will test it's production in the next three weeks. the ice cream will not be for sale yet. they will reopen after listeria

problems. >> reporter: traffic will not be moving so well southbound lansdale taking out the right lane. meanwhile, on the roosevelt boulevard still dry at this point by wissahickon. looking good, northbound tail lights heading toward oxford circle don't forget during the midday each day this week between rhawn and strahle they are working on construction. mass transit is on time, we're getting used to the new patco schedules that took effect over the weekend having to do with the construction on the ben franklin bridge. >> reporter: matt, i'm giving the boulevard 15 to 20 minutes before it gets wet. you can see a line of showers coming through delaware county and heading into chester county and heading into philadelphia. some of this highlighted in yellow, it comes and goes fairly

quickly. farther to the north it's west of the lehigh valley. temperatures are warm and muggy. 71 in pottstown saint david and ken net square. 70 in chester. upper 60s in quakertown. across the river in south jersey and down to the state of delaware. if you're running errands 78 degrees by 9:00 a.m. 85 by noon. 89 is the high later today. we're looking at strong thunderstorms late this afternoon. does not look like they will enter the western suburbs until after 5:00 p.m. they may not be in philadelphia until this evening. when they have arrive look out they could produce strong damaging winds. >> the search for three missing sisters continues in the northwest wyoming wilderness. the trio were on a week long trip but supposed to be return tuesday. their suv was found at a

wildness trail head. the sisters ages 25, 22 and 16 are relatively experienced in the back county. >> and eagles rival lost his finger due to a fireworks accident. doctors amputated the right finger of jason pierre paul yesterday. the injury occurred while trying trying to light a firework. he fractured his right thumb. he is still expected to play this season. washington redskins plans to appeal the judge's order to cancel the team redskin registration. it loses legal protections but does not keep the team from using the redskins name.

introducing dunkin's new fruit smoothies. perfectly blended with real fruit and low-fat yogurt. it's a delicious choice you can feel good sipping. discover the goodness of dunkin's new smoothies today. america runs on dunkin'.

people of the coffee drinking world, dunkin' has a dark roast coffee that's deliciously roasted just right for a bold start and smooth finish that's never bitter. put down the dark roast you've been putting up with and reach for the one you deserve. >> new on "action news," this garden state gator will have to find a new home. wildlife officials wrangled the 40-pound animal out of the pasaic river. it is believed that someone placed the greater in the water. the zoo is looking for an educational center tore zoo to adopt it. prosecutors say john and carolyn jackson broke the children's bones and withheld water and forced them to eat hot sauce. the abuse took place in 2005 and

2010. the couple no longer are their adopted or biologic children. they will be sentenced in okay. investigators say the robber walked into a td bank on york road in hatboro and handed the material a note. a dye pack exploded outside and that caught the eye of a hatboro councilman and he started chasing the man. >> there was a number of requests for the suspect to get on the ground. he did not comply with that. he was shot. >> the suspect was shot in the arm. the councilman is licensed to carry a firearm and questioned about the incident. >> the bill cosby fallout continues, president obama is under pressure to strip the

comedian of a prestigious award. new trouble for a gambler who flushed his future down the rain at the borgata.

good morning, it is 6:00 a.m., thursday, july 9. tam is off, eva pilgrim joins us here's what's happening. >> a school community rallies behind a teacher who says she was fired for being gay. >> after a deadly derailment in philadelphia, the white house is taking steps to make sure amtrak trains are safe.