than an hour ago. ominous clouds turned driving rain and this was the in the midst of a tornado warning for chester and montgomery counties. meteorologist cecily tynan was live at the big board tonight. cecily quite a line of storms that moved through here. what's the situation now? >> and jim, fortunately that line of storms is weakening as it's pushing to the east. the leading edge is moving across delaware and south jersey now. philadelphia and areas to the west you're really just dealing with rain. live zoomed in on double scan live seeing that it's now pressed through wilmington. you're just dealing with rain. the new jersey turnpike, though, we've got some very heavy downpours and a lot of lightning strikes, 21 lightning strikes in the past 15 minutes and this all continues to push to the east pretty quickly. little bit farther up to the north cherry hill right now some heavy rain, haddonfield, marlton, mount laurel seven lightning strikes the past 15 minutes. we do not have any severe thunderstorm warnings. this line continues to weaken.

really quickly. it's booking 45 miles per hour but when it was farther to the west it was really packing a punch. woo he have got storm reports west nantmeal chester county reporting wind gusts of 56 miles per hour in new morgan berks county trees down along i-76. ephrata lancaster county trees and wires down. east vincent wires down on hickory grove road and royersford where we had doppler radar indicated storm that could produce a tornado at 4:44 that's what caused that tornado warning, we do have a lot of reports of trees down. now, this is what to expect. we do have that severe thunderstorm watch in effect until 8 o'clock. so, as we head through the evening hours those storms will continue to weaken. that's good news. we'll still see some brief heavy rains, some gusty winds and then a quick drop in temperatures and then everything will be clearing out by midnight as far as the clouds. i'll talk about much more quiet weather on the way for the weekend in the accuweather forecast. jim. >> all right, cecily.

so has the rush hour been seriously affected by the storms? let's find out? matt pelman has traffic. >> i'll tell you, jim, the only thing that's moving quickly tonight are these storm. not the traffic. lots of really slow speeds as you attempt to head home on a friday night and the storms have now made their way here into bellmawr, camden county. rain is really coming down which means the speeds are only go together get worse as these southbound vehicles head towards 55 along 42. i think you can see the spray and kind of the water that these vehicles are rolling through. there's a lot of it on the road surface. rain also falling here in camden. this is a live look at the ben franklin bridge where westbound traffic is jammed solid coming out of the toll plaza headed towards center city. that's because of delays on the vine that lead to delays on the schuylkill. it's just one thing after another. also njt's river line here in camden suspended at the moment because of high water. some flooding conditions. we've got lots of puddles and a sinkhole here in south philadelphia along columbus boulevard southbound near pier 70. that vehicle, that white car right there partially into the

sinkhole. this is the vine street expressway, a sea of taillights leading toward a 16-mile jam on the westbound schuylkill. extends the whole way from south philadelphia out to the blue route. not a pleasant ride home on this friday night, jim. >> all right, matt. doesn't sound good. now before you make plans this weekend, be sure to visit 6abc.com/weather. just use storm tracker6 live radar to track any wet weather, get expert insights from accuweather and our meteorologists. >> do you have anything to say for yourself. >> no, i do not. >> the which of the county mother accused of injecting two children with heroin appeared before a judge today. 34-year-old jessica riffey waived her preliminary hearing. prosecutors say riffey gave her win to her 14-year-old daughter and the daughter's 16-year-old boyfriend several times over the last month. riffey will go on trial on 34 criminal counts including child abuse and conspiracy.

philadelphia police are asking for the public's help in capturing a serial bandit who has committed at least three armed robberies in olde city. "action news" reporter jeff chirico is on the case and has more on this from front and dock streets. >> looking for the suspect. appears this male is responsible for at least three of these incidents all happening in the same night. >> reporter: philadelphia police want you to watch this surveillance video. it shows one of three holdups saturday night in olde city. one happened at 9:40 at the intersection of front and dock street a popular place for tourists. an man with a handgun approached a couple and demanded their money. he got away with $65. less than an hour earlier police the same guy struck twice on the 300 block of south fifth street. he made off with $80 after holding up a group of foremen. >> this is a quiet area. >> reporter: folks who live around here say it's a family friendly neighborhood and not one accustomed to this type of crime. >> there's always a lot of people out around here so i wouldn't expect there could be

robberies. >> reporter: police say the suspect fled in a dark infiniti suv possibly with a new jersey license plate. they believe he may live outside the city but still warn folks here to be cautious. >> just be aware of your surroundings because this individual seems to approach people quickly but possibly approaching couples, approaching people that are together in groups so he doesn't have a fear in that sense of it. >> reporter: if you know anything about the suspected serial robber, philadelphia police urge you to call 911. in olde city, jeff chirico channel6 "action news. >> and also in philadelphia, republican candidate for mayor melissa murray bailey held a news conference in north philadelphia today to draw attention to gun violence. bailey spoke at a playground at eighth and diamond near the site of a recent shooting. if elected she said she'll beef up community policing and partner with community leaders. >> we are in a time of crisis in our city where we just have violence and murders. people in this neighborhood

are afraid to come out of their house. >> democratic candidate jim kenney says bailey could address gun violence by helping to lobby her fellow republicans in harrisburg to pass gun control measures. he says part of his anti violence plan includes job growth, education and rehabilitation of convicted criminals. two carpenters union workers were struck by a vehicle while picketing outside the dietz & watson plant today in the tacony section of philadelphia. authorities haven't released the extent of their injuries but police are looking for surveillance video of the incident. dietz & watson issued a statement saying it's cooperating with philadelphia police. they say one of their employees was blocked while trying to drive into the parking lot. water service has now been restored to the neighborhood around fifth street between south and lombard. fifth street is still closed as work crews repair a busted water main. needless to say the situation has been a real problem for local merchants.

"action news" reporter trish hartman was there today. >> reporter: as crews brought in the a new pipe and shoveled mud from fifth street silas and mackenzie hair studio were busy rescheduling clients. >> we don't have any water. we had to reschedule all clients. whitney was doing a haircut but that's all we can do at the moment. >> reporter: the tenants water main broke at fifth and south streets just before midnight sending water bubbling up into the street. during the repairs businesses and homes on fifth street from south to lombard have no water. >> a lot. we have lost a lot of business for today. >> reporter: two businesses on south street had water in their basements. this laundromat stayed open to take in laundry but couldn't wash any clothes. the owner of johnny rockets brought in dry ice to preserve his source of food. officials say they're not sure what caused the break. >> we try to prevent them from breaking them by replacing

them through or replacement program but as they break we get out there to repair them. >> reporter: while it was a day of lost business for many folks we talked to say it's rare. >> i've been here 18 years in november. this has never, never happened. >> reporter: officials from the water department say customers don't have to boil their water but they do recommend running your faucet for about five minutes before using any water. reporting on south street trish hartman channel6 "action news." >> coming up tonight ron jaworski has the eagles key to victory against the new orleans saints. ducis rodgers has that story. a south jersey police chief turns to social media to help find the brazen dirt bike riders who confronted his office. >> a line of strong storms continue to push across new jersey and delaware. behind it we have a big change in our air mass. i'll have the details in the accuweather forecast. >> those stories and much more when "action news" continues tonight. vince mazzeo-

fighting to save atlantic county. chris brown's attacks?

the press calls them "embarrassing" political "posturing." the truth? chris brown and will pauls opposed the atlantic city rescue plan, even though it would save thousands of our jobs. we already know they're propped up by north jersey casino interests. and pauls even wanted the vote to allow north jersey casinos "this year." now they brag about helping atlantic county. but there's a word for politicians like that. hypocrite.

>> almost every local community has its own set of problems. often those problems revolve around money and or traditional crime. but in pleasantville, new jersey, they have a crisis, a dirt bike crisis. and they're terrorizing the community. new jersey correspondent nora muchanic has the story. >> reporter: this is surveillance video of four masked riders on dirt bikes and a quad who taunted two pleasantville police officers thursday evening during a traffic stop on woodland avenue coming within inches of hitting them. >> they would rev up their bikes and come straight at the officers but lock up the brakes so much so that they would skid the back rear tire in the direction of the officers. >> reporter: the incident prompted police chief sean rig begin to write a post on the

department's facebook page calling on the community to stop enabling illegal riders who are terrorizing the community. >> tell us when and where that they're seeing these and there are people that know who are riding these bikes. >> reporter: two riders have been killed in dirt bike accidents here and police have gotten over 500 complaints calls during the last three years. >> stop in the middle of the street people come to my house and they ask me what. i going to do about the dirt bikes. >> they zoom down the street and don't worry about nobody. >> reporter: you worry about being out there when they're around. >> they don't stop. they just zoom right past and it's up to you to get out of their way. >> reporter: authorities believe illegal dirt bike and quad riders are emboldened by the knowledge that police won't chase them. state guidelines prohibit a pursuit if there's a danger to the community. >> we talking about human life. we talking about danger to the community, danger to the rider themselves and the officer. >> reporter: that's why they are asking for the public's help to stop the riders before someone else is killed. in pleasantville, i'm nora muchanic, channel6 "action

news." >> lasalle universities has inaugurated its 29th president but at the same time she made history today. yes, "action news" was on the olney campus as officials faculty and students filed into the tom gola arena. they were there to officially welcome dr. colleen hanycz as the first woman and first layperson to serve as a noninterim president since the school was founded in 1863. dr. hanycz is currently president of a college in ontario canada. she starts at lasalle next july. in delaware, governor jack markell led the charge today by rolling up his sleeve to get vaccinated for the flu season. state health officials launched their prevention efforts today with a free flu shot clinic at the new castle county farmers market. the centers for disease control recommends that everybody six months and older receive the vaccine every year. camden's bonita park is a

bit greener today. dozens of td bank employees volunteered with the new jersey tree foundation to planter 130 new trees. the popular park was in need of trees after a recent renovation project to fix flooding issues. the new jersey tree foundation has planted attorne planted mor0 trees in camden since 2002.

>> all right, i'm going to put you on the spot. >> oh, boy. >> oh, boy. did it come out of the weekend two and three or one and four? come on. >> you can't put me on the spot like that. >> absolutely going to put you on the spot like that. >> i'll tell you off camera: it's not worth anything. >> they win. >> they win. >> they win. >> all right. >> who are we talk about again? drew brees is coming to town. if this is was don't want to hear, the eagles will be a bit short-handed on defense, two line backers are out mychal kendricks and kiko alonzo.

jason peter listed as questionable with a quad injury. lane johnson listed as probable with a knee issue. sam bradford and the offense have gotten off to slow starts in games but bradford showed last week if given time he can make the big throws. eagles quarterback says he's getting more comfortable with this offense. >> there's been some things that maybe were relatively new to me but now i feel like i've got a better grasp of what we're trying to do both in the run game and the pass game now that we've got a few weeks under our belt. just feel better with it. >> espn analyst ron jaworski at nfl films in mount laurel dissecting the birds. he has three areas in which they need to excel. >> ♪ >> my keys to an eagles victory over the new orleans saints. they must run the football. so far this season 35 percent of the plays on the eagles rushing offense have not gained a yard.

that knocks your offense off schedule. so clearly the eagles must run the football against the saints. key number two fore an eagles victory contain drew brees. he has thrown 400 touchdown passes. that's a remarkable number. and they'll likely go for explosive plays so the eagles secondary must be aware of the play action and the saints going deep. key number three. sam bradford must give the eagles four quarters of consistent quarterbacking. i saw stretches in the washington game where sam was absolutely tremendous but he must do that for four quarters. >> ♪ >> flyers season a off and running. tomorrow night they'll visit the panthers. last night they dropped a tough one to the lightning. dave hakstol made his nhl coaching debut. his team played hard. the game went into overtime. this year ot is played three on three. exciting for the fans not so much for the goalie. steve mason beat nd by jason garrison. the flyers still aren't a

point in the loss and they feel like there were some positives. >> as the game went on i think we got better and kind of got more comfortable in how we want the play and how we want to look as a team and when i didn't feel that we had a stretch in the game that we were -- we played poorly i think we were pretty consistent. >> into baseball post season cubs and cards meet tonight. mets and dodgers open up their series. astros and royals are playing right now in game two. we're tied at four in the top of the seventh. cole hamels and the rangers looking the take a two-zero lead on toronto. this hit by fellow former fill ben revere gifts toronto a four-three lead. fast forward to the fourth inning alberto puts one in the center field. odure beat the throw home. rangers win six-four. became three is sunday night in texas hopefully prince fieldser throughout big guy hopefully he's coordinated enough to make it to the

plane. >> if the eagles lose, i don't even want to be anywhere near the novacare complex. going to be bad. >> all right. your job, not mine. unique new installation unveiled in center city today that shows what happens when form meets function. this is called a living wall and you can find it at third and chestnut. you can see the plants and flowers hanging from it. those plants and flowers catch storm water which in turn, of course, helps them grow. the wall is a partnership between the philadelphia water department and independence park institute.

>> we want to show you some images being shared by "action news" viewers tonight. these are images of the storm.

we invite you to share your pictures and video on social media using the #6abcaction or just send an. mail to join the action at 6abc.com. some of those pictures show real contrast between the clouds and the sky and they're stunning actually in an artistic sense but pretty frightening at the same time. >> the shelf cloud where you get the squall line advancing can be pretty impressive and it did cause some weren't damage as well but the good news is we're out of the woods in southeast pennsylvania. the national weather service has canceled the severe thunderstorm watch for southeast pennsylvania. it continues for new castle county in delaware and really most of south jersey except for cape may county until 8 o'clock and we did get report from turnsville, new jersey, gloucester county from a spotter of a 53 miles an hour wind gust. so double scan live showing that the leading edge of the storm, it's pushing into south jersey right now.

this is moving very quickly. it's moving at 45 miles an hour to the east and we've got a lot of lightning strikes. this view alone, 34 lightning strikes in the past 15 minutes. it's moving through browns mills right now. it's heading across 72, route 70, medford lakes right now, some very heavy rain. as we continue to push down to the south, wilmington just some moderate rain. really the heaviest is moving through salem county into cumberland county. if you look at the way when this is moving, it's losing some of its vibrant color. we're seeing more of the yellow than the red so that's an indication that line is weakening as it pushes to the east so that's certainly good news. we don't have any severe thunderstorm warnings in effect right now. temperatures show the story. 75 degrees in millville, 76 in dover. but behind that front, it's a lot cooler. 67 degrees in philadelphia. we hit a high of 80 degrees today. allentown 65. and reading also 65 degrees. so, satellite6 along with action radar showing the squall line of storms of the leading edge right ahead of a

cold front and this will continue to push through the east overnight. around 7:30 we'll still see some storms around south jersey, shouldn't be severe. by 10 o'clock, they're off the coast and then the skies will be clearing overnight. tomorrow morning you'll wake up, the sunshine is here and it will be a lot cooler and we'll get rid of that humidity. it's going to feel like fall again. high pressure building in with that departing low pressure, we will get a bit of a wind tunnel effect so it's going to be a breezy day. temperatures below normal for a change with a high of 66 degrees. so, if you're heading out tomorrow, you definitely want a jacket or a sweatshirt. it will be on the cool side. sunday, though, the high pressure pushes down to the south and east and what this will do is bring us slightly milder air with a high of 70 degrees, loads of sunshine and this high pressure will be sticking around for monday for columbus day. we've got a pretty nice forecast. so, the exclusive accuweather 7-day forecast, saturday cool and breezy with a high of 66 degrees. temple homecoming game is

looking really nice, great football weather. on sunday, sunny and pleasant with a high of 70 degrees. great weather for the eagles game. kickoff temperature 67 degrees. by the fourth quarter 69 under mostly sunny skies. go eagles. on monday, warmer, 76 degrees for the flyers home opener, so if you're tailgating it should be great. then on tuesday we have a weak system pulling through. that will bring us some clouds, possibility of some showers, not talking about severe weather like today with a high of 72 degrees. and behind that system, it cools off on wednesday. some sunshine mixing with clouds, 68. thursday sun and clouds, 70 and friday it will be cloudy with a possibility of some rain and a high of 66 degrees. and at 11 o'clock tonight i will have a final report of some wind damage, a lot of trees down especially in northwestern suburbs. >> thank you cecily. finally tonight we want to were issue a happy birthday to a very special young lady in east oak lane in philadelphia. maggie turner celebrated her

105th birthday surrounded by loved ones at the cheltenham nursing and rehabilitation center. miss turner was born in bradley, south carolina on 10/10/10 as in 1910ly she came here to philadelphia at the age of 20 and has been here ever since and from all of us here at "action news," maggie, happy birthday abc's "world news tonight" with david muir is next on channel6. "action news" continues at 10:00 on phl17 with brian taff, sharrie williams, adam joseph and ducis rodgers. then please join us for "action news" at 11:00 here on channel6. for cecily tynan ducis rodgers and the entire "action news" team, i'm jim gardner. we hope you'll join us at 11:00. ññ

tonight, two deadly school shootings in just one day. a student gunman opening fire in arizona, photographed holding guns before. one student killed, several others shot and wounded. the other deadly shooting in texas. the university on lockdown. meantime, the president in oregon at this hour, after the campus massacre there. the protesters, even a family of one the victims saying you're not welcome here. the chaos on capitol hill. tonight, what really happened. the congressman telling lawmakers he had the votes to be speaker. two hours later, shocking everyone. does anyone want the job? the urgent warning in south carolina. they warned this would happen. the waters now quickly rising long after the rain. and more rain