news" tonight is the height of the holiday travel season, marred by wet weather and a record number of travelers drenched in dismay as they try to get to their destinations, this is the soggy scene at the philadelphia international airport a steady rain and thick fog caused heavy flight delays here but along the northeast corridor, and drivers try to get home or perhaps to the mall, for last minute christmas shopping. we have live coverage, gray hall is standing by at the airport but first lets get the latest from accuweather and cecily tynan. >> it has been raining since late this morning, i always say you don't have to shovel rain but this make its many miserable if you are traveling around, and we are getting breaks in the rain of interior new jersey, but at the coast they are getting

pummeled from a rare december thunderstorm, it's beginning to move offshore of surf city and all of that is lifting to the north and east. and farther out to the west we see a steanews" der, heavier ra developing over chester county over maryland, moving into parts of delaware and mon troomery county, and we have several more hours of rain before it begins to taper off, what is going on there say warm front lifting through our region and this is starting to produce balmy temperatures, 65 in philadelphia right now, the same in millville and 60 in wilmington and as the front lifts to the north and temperatures instead of dropping as they do this time ofin they are actually rising, i want to show you double scan live radar what is happening here and across the country, this is the conveyer belt of moisture so more rain here, but aw yoss the midwest and the tenneso valley, a vicious squall line,

there are numerous tornado watches and eight active tornado warnings right now and to the northwest it's cold enough and they are getting snow. northwest it's cold enough and they are getting snow. airport expect delays, especially aw yoss the northeas and miveyest. more details coming up in the full accuweather forecast. thankin now to reporter, gray hall, at the airport with more on the travel picture, gray passengers have hopefully packed their patience there. >> reporter: well rick we hope so, it's the holiday season and we are at the airport and you know the drill here, overcrowding and dela tra and lg lines, take a look behind me this is a check point right ortere, not too bad at all. lines, take a look behind me ortere, not too bad at all. for the most part travellers say for the most part travellers say the best gift but this is what you get if you head to the ai thiort on one of the busiest travel days of the season.

top it off with the other travel frust races, but most are in good l >> don't stress the small details. >> tis the season to bey tyolly unleso airport. >> overcrowded and the flight was super full and when through a lot with my dog on the plane and they were not accommodating with him and it was rinews" ds . >> millions are making a mad dash to see family and friends and not letting travel paieral t the best of hie philadelphia airport employees say make surein lines will be long and many arrived earlier and did not run into problems. >> i and j sur eaised ieps not ortectic, maybe this is a good time. other travelers encountered delays and frustration but the most important thing is they are home for the holidays.

raiy connews" dtions are cau ce ,elays that could cause a domino effect for the country, departure dela tra are averagin 30 miravtes, ifin american airlines, make sure you are headed to the right terminal, there are locatioeraln both sides of the airport, if you haven't flown since ieps suain oer or last holiday seaso and you are looking for u.s. airways, there is no uht . airways here ieps american aies >> and back out live, don't be fooled by the short lines of course, we are talking about the rain causing some delays as you just heard, the best advice is check in within before you head to the airport. i want to pass along another im grrtant website, phme website for the airport you'll find great information. >> gray hall, channeht .6 "acti news." >> thank you.

with rain and record breaking tea geratures stayn'tp to date with 6abc.com/weather. in other news tonight, it was late this afternoon when grlice announced the arrest ofa homeless man in the death of a philadelpha emaravel baez is acs csed of killing dr. howard baker and investigators say that the 75-year-old was strangled in his tote elroom, he was found naked with a belt around his neck and grlice dina not give a pos ceb motive but that baker was robbed before his body was found. and police are investilinting a news" dfferent type of theft to. multiple suspects stole 40 tanks of industra two facilities in the city and caught the attention of homeland security. chad eaadelli has the latest. >> reporter: this is surveillance of the first theft on december 15th, a suspect

organizes the tanks and then a dodge or chrysler min see van pullsn'tp and ieps tera suspect load the vehicles, a lookout vehicle, this light colored ford ight,scape thislls into the pa lot and then pull as way and a suspect emerges and hops the arrirecore and later cuts a hol the fence so the men evan can pull in. >> you talk about quantity taken, b some tanks taken, that is a lot of propane that could last a long time. >> the industra likely for money but with so many stolen homeland security is likely for money but with so many stolen homeland security is wolved as a eaecpnotion. >> some of the size is 100 pound tanks, holding 100 pounds each. what is baftucing it that propae prices are at historically low levels. they stole tanks from jd

morrison construction on pennina ack that same night and they returned there a week later and stole even more tafus. neither compay had a comment and police and homeland security want people to be on alert. >> we are trying to figure out why, we would like to know, police want people to report arl someone is selling industrial size propane tanks on the secondary market irecorome northeast philadelphia, chad pradelli, channel 6 "action news." a bucks county man is charged with molesting a child at a day scare center operated by his ex-wife. 54-yearsyld harry lawrerecore o yardley remains jailed on $250,000 jail, police say he assault aina child at the littl joy's day care, operated out of the lawrence's home in falls toweralhip, ther: ictim an adul says lawrence molested her more than 10 years.

and now they fear there might be ight,ven more. ar there might be >> you can see he manipulated these victims, like a claso pedophile would and had open access to numerous, numerous kids. >> anyone with conceafs should contact fal$2 toweralhip grlic in south philadelphia a septa trolley collided with a stolen car and tera teenagers i the stolen vehicles were critically injured as well. vernon pvom has more tonight. >> ieps devastating. >> to be a part of it and witness it. >> ther: oice of a shomelta paso morning's collision with relative pu minor inf happened at 9:30 at 49th and grays, this suv stolen earlier this morning was traveling at a high rate of speed and slammed

into the front of trolley loaded with coain outers, a lot of pne were injured and everybody fell down and the impact was just loud enough so likein my sister hit her head on the window, it was crazy. many of them children f puing from their seats, i have a f headache -- >> very frightening? >> yes, very dodarpect >> know for m traelf and everyo else a great shock. >> the passenger is only 16, his charecores of survival remaieram and the driver of the suv remains hospitalized in critical connews" dtion at this hour. 7any people are reliving the nightmare including the septa operator seen here after btolng treated at the hos>tal and many victims are treated for physical injuries and emotional trpnoma, as arming he survives the driver will face multiple charges including theft and aso ica difarrirent pnedple and but.

if his friend and passenger does indeed die. from hahnemann holl 6zyaction news." pennsylvania lawmakers have passed down a stroweped down buuriet package but ieps not clear if governor tom wolf will sign it, it's plan is stroweped of funnews" dng for public ejai and the state legislature approved after a larger plan arrill aparuth rund peneralth armvania has been without a budget now for six months. still to come onzyaction neona" tonight, the body of a montgomery county airman killed neona" tonight, the body of a montgomery county airman killed newcas54e air base and police step in to help a family after thtolr christmas presents were stolen days before the holiday. we'll check back in with cecily tynan andof ieff skversky with s grrts. when "action news" at 6:00 continues in just a moment.

f100ily and frienre. and coworkers lined up to pay respects for eli mccarson he was killed when his patrol car struck a utility pole last week, he had just been married in shomeltember. >> the bpvpss of a monphiladelo county airman and five other bodies were floth back to the survs. todapect punder tpnob was a native of wincoat and graduated from high

schooht .in 2004. schos le was one of six wasill department a suicide attack on monday. ce day. trying to help i ces just appeared in court and today's detention hearing for azhen c10 one day after btolng indicted o federal charges, the judge ordered him to stay inof iail calling him a danger to the public and a flight risk and prosecutors say he had a f arggesting he may have been plotting an attack. it was sha>ngn'tp to be a f may fair. burglars broke not home ofof i1s o arch ransacking it and stealing the prepts for 4-year-old twins,

samantha and scarlet. the police that aeralwered the call were not about to let the grinch win and they raised $600 in res4 hours to rhomellace the gis rund donate fpayd as well. e gis >> to find out these officers are doing this ieps pre suiy rumaive ng. is ieps pre suiy ce robbers and lock up bad guys, but to see the lpayk on these li suile gir$2 faces and his fa there is nothing that compares to that. ce that. burglar as well and who says santa always wears red, sometimes they wear a f a claso assignment inspired students to hee a strangers in another country? they raised $2100 to help the people of sudan, to help with

people ondundun, to help with

. jeff skversky with sports, you could say the eagles players have to win this weekend. >> they have to win this game and then beat is the giants next week or they are out. chip kelly is not a ra ra kind of coach and does not plan on giving a speech for extra motivation, everyone knows what is on the line, lose and you are done. jaime apody has more. >> i think -- no -- >> you can't blame newly named pro bowler fletcher cox for his confidence, the eagles have no choice but the beetle red skins

and you can bet that saturday emotions will be riding high. >> you are an eagle playing in philadelphia, you know the passion that the fans will bring and we need to bring in a game like this. >> sam bradford will be playing with amped up emotions, have you to channel them and use them as good energy, obviously everyone is excited if you are not excited to play in this one, i don't know if you would be excited to play football, you can't let it take you out of your game. >> the last time was his rookie year in 2010, the only thing he remembers was he thought it would not take that long to play in another one. >> it's five years and a long time coming, this is why you play and get excited to come to work every morning. and i am excited to play on saturday night. >> and to give eagles a

meaningful move into the new year. guess who can play grinch, for the second straight season, desean jackson could single handledly keep the eagles out of the playoff, the same guy chip gave away for nothing. he is coming back to the linc and jackson is heating up and has four touch downs in his last five games and jackson can run away with the division and eliminate his former team. >> it's part of history, something happening, as far as my career and where i'm at now, i look at it as something that happened and i'm happy to be here and i'm in washington and not looking back, it's in the past and over and done with and i'm happy where i am now, i am blessed to say i have a job and playing at a high level. the giants need a miracle to make the playoffs and this does

not help their cause, o'dell beckham's suspension is up held, he apologized and said he had poor sportsmanship and he is eligible to return against the eagles week 17 and that could be a big break for the eagles, but we'll see, and sixers in milwaukee looking for win number two. >> number two. thank you. and cecily tynan as your forecast for christmas and christmas eve, stay with us.

meteorologist, cecily tynan

is back now with a closer look at the record breaker that is tomorrow. >> a pool party at my house, in the meantime -- the rain we are getting today if this were snow, we would have gotten 6 to 8 inches of snow. >> we would all be saying bah humbug. >> stormtracker 6 live double scan showing some breaks in the rain and some rain intensifying, especially chester county, a wall of yellow, that is the heavier rain westchester and chadds ford and crossing route 202 and route 1, and downingtown 322 and farther down to the south another wave of heavier rain moving out of dover, delaware and portions of south jersey seeing a little more moving across the mouth of delaware bay and north of fortescue and we see the rain gradually tapering off through the evening hours, as it does the temperatures are rising, it's a warm front moving through

and 65 in philadelphia, right now and we are getting warmer overnight. and allentown 58 and wilmington currently 60 degrees, a wide view on double scan showing this is a busy weather day, not only do we have this train of moisture up over the eastern seaboard, they are getting pounded with severe weather, already several tornadoes were reported and especially across parts of mississippi, and western tennessee and northwestern they are getting a touch of snow in minneapolis, what we get is the rain and fog and warm temperatures, future tracker 6 showing 8:00 tonight taking umbrella, north of philadelphia, all tapers off to a few spotty showers, 70 degrees at midnight, fog developing and tomorrow morning, we see breaks in the clouds at 6:00 and some fog and can't rule out the possibility of a renegade

shower, the big news will be this warmth, normal high for christmas eve is 42 set last christmas eve and the all time warmest day 73 in philadelphia, and forecast high is 76 breaking all the records and then a cold front moves through on christmas eve night, mild, 65 when the kid goes to bed and midnight when santa is on his way 62 degrees, and christmas day is cooler than christmas eve, but a high around 70 that is record warmth, 9:00, 62 and by 5:00 some showers and a temperature of 63, so the exclusive accuweather forecast, record warmth tomorrow at 76 degrees and more clouds than sunshine and a late shower and cloud as rising in the afternoon and 70 and saturday it's damp and periods of rain and cooler, 56 degrees and then on sunday another wave of record warmth

with a high of 70, monday it turns cooler, 47 degrees and we are back up to how degrees on tuesday, and baens a lot of clouds with the a high of 56 degrees, i'll have an update of the warmth and rain at 11:00. >> thank you cecily. world news is next on channel 6 and "action news" continues at 10:00 on phl 17 with brian taff, sharrie williams and ducis rogers, and join us for "action news" at 11:00 here on channel 6. for cecily tynan, jeff skversky, ducis rogers and jim gardner and the entire "action news" team, i'm rick williams have a nice evening, we hope you'll join us at 11:00. holiday season's just like football season...

you got your big games... ...and regular games. get it all at a great price... ...and the holiday season is won. everything in one place. my giant.

you got your big games... ...and regular games. get it all at a great price... ...and the holiday season is won. everything in one place. my giant.

breaking news. deadly storms and tornadoes. holiday havoc as extreme weather moves in. tornadoes touching down. whiteout conditions. icy rods. more than 70 million americans facing severe storms. also developing at this hour, thousands of flights delayed or canceled. tens of millions making this the busiest travel day along america's highways. tonight, we're in the middle of the holiday gridlock. off-limits? the political cartoon targeting senator ted cruz and picking on his young daughters. rival candidates calling it disgusting. tonight, how cruz is firing back. hospital outrage. the woman demanding medical treatment, removed from a hospital in handcuffs. collapsing outside, then dying. her family the demanding answers tonight. and, gift card grinch.