"action news" delaware valley's leading news program. with rick williams, sara bloomquist, and meteorologist, david murphy. good afternoon sara bloomquist is off and in the news police are searching for a woman that left her 3-year-old woman at a center city

department store. and a snake at a septa station, the investigation into who left the reptile in a trash can this morning. but the big story is the deep freeze that left the delaware valley in its icy grips. accuweather says it will get even worse over the weekend. meteorologist, melissa magee, is tracking the dangerously cold forecast and is at the big board with more. >> if you think today is cold wait until we get into the weekend, especially saturday night and early sunday morning. currently outside it's 24 in the city and 21 in allentown and a tease north and west in the poconos and wildwood 25 and 19 to the west in lancaster. look at satellite 6 along with action radar we have sunshine around earlier today and sun gives way to increasing clouds and here is part of the reason why. this will ignite the change into the weekend. there is an arctic boundary

setting up across canada and the northern great lakes and this boundary dips to the south and east as we go through the rest of tonight and with that comes the threat of snow showers and even heavier snow squalls on the way. we'll talk about the timing as it comes on in. the key snow squalls are 9:00 a.m. on saturday, i would not be surprised if we had some around before 11:00 p.m. tonight. a burst of snow and possible coating to an inch son the way. check out the windchills currently across the area, philadelphia 15 and 17 in new york city and 3 in binghamton and 7 in pittsburgh but the core of the colder air off to the north and west. pickle lake 43 degrees below zero and thunder bay 29 below zero and as you move into

timmons 41 below zero and we'll tap into a piece of this arctic chill as early as tomorrow. >> all right melissa thank you. meanwhile the freezing conditions created an icy mess in philadelphia. police officials say a fire hydrant connection broke on 46th street and residents found their cars covered in a layer of ice. >> my tires are frozen and windchill is frozen and doors are frozen and i think my window is cracked. some septa service was also disrupted and some homes lost water service. katherine scott has more on the repairs coming up at 12:30. a fire that erupted underground last night is still affecting homes and businesses today. "action news" reporter annie mccormick is live on walnut street with the very latest.

>> reporter: rick, no word on a cause yet for that fire. peco says the first priority is restoring power and 40 people right now are still without power and they are optistic they will get it back by this afternoon. residents are still talking about the rattle and boom inform underground fire that pumped thick black smoke out of manholes last night. >> it was a boom and it shook and a big fire ball and they hustled us all out and down the street. >> overnight into today crews continue to work to restore power. at the height of the outages, 400 customers were in the dark and many waited inside of area businesses last night. even the merion theater had power knocked out. >> i was really cold and not having water this morning was not fun to get ready to work but

got to go to work now. >> reporter: unfortunately for residents without power and peco employees working outside the fire and outage coincided with arctic temperatures. >> bundle up we live. lit a candle. >> several businesses were also affected. peco is still investigating a cause and in the meantime residents are figuring out where they will be this holiday weekend if power is not restored. >> for valentine's day will you spend it here with no power. >> is it valentine's day? >> yes sunday. >> i don't know. i don't know. >> maybe this is a good excuse to get out of town. >> one business is actually a florist, they were too busy to talk to us on camera, they are working without power and without water but still trying to get their orders out on time.

reporting live in center city, annie mccormick, channel 6 "action news." >> thank you. a massive warehouse fire is still burning nearly 24 hours after it started. it broke out yesterday afternoon at an industrial complex in hillsborough, new jersey, it can be seen and smelled from miles away. schools were closed today in hillsborough because of the blaze. one firefighter suffered a minor leg injury. the cause is still under investigation. police continue to search for a suspected shoplifter that escaped from custody and left her 3-year-old daughter behind. a 27-year-old woman was held at the store accused of stealing $1400 worth of merchandise and she managed to free herself from the handcuffs and escaped. she left her 3-year-old daughter at the store and the child is now in custody of family services.

septa is investigating a creepy crawly discovery at a train station in university city. someone found a large snake on convention avenue this morning. animal control was called in to capture it. the presidential hopefuls are back on the campaign trail after trading sharp words in their debate. >> reporter: good morning this was a high stakes debate for the democrats ahead of the next round of voting in states with much different demographics. >> lets not insult the intelligence of the american people. >> looking to keep up moment in the race bernie sanders keeps up the charge against big money influence. >> why in god's name does wall street make huge campaign

contributions, i guess just for the fun of it. >> hillary clinton hammers home details in their responses and pushes sanders for more on his health care plan. >> the american people need to know specifically how this would work and the numbers don't add up and many people will be worse off than they are right now. >> that is absolutely inaccurate. >> a testy exchange to president obama. >> he calls him weak and a disappointment. >> madam secretary that is a low blow. one of us ran against barack obama, i was not that candidate. >> meanwhile the republican frontrunner shows his confidence at a conference in louisiana. >> i am going to be there and do a great job hopefully i get an extra four years and maybe i don't. >> he is changing tactics pulling all attack ads from the air in south carolina but his

challengers are not backing down. >> donald trump has zero foreign policy experience. >> do you want an entertainer and chief. they will both attend a dinner in minnesota, and the republicans face off in their next debate in south carolina. in washington, channel 6 "action news." >> well, back here a sure sign that spring is right around the corner. the phillies are packing up and heading to florida for spring training, at citizens bank park workers were loading equipment and other supplies into a truck that takes off for clearwater this afternoon. the philly phanatic was there helping to load. and thoughts of baseball certainly something to warm us up over the next few frigid days here. >> renovation work is almost finished at a historic curve in manayunk, the gold cross that

sits on top of st. john's baptist church was put back in place. it was taken down earlier when they did work on the tower. a time capsule filled with prayers was put inside the cross. up next a busy restaurant becomes a crime scene, what police say about a man that attacked diners with a machete last night. and the unusual accidents that grounded a jetblue plane in boston. when we come right back. i drive a golf ball.

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police say a man walked into an ohio restaurant and began attacking a man with a machete, witnesses say he ghana tacked people with no rhyme or reason at all. >> he began beating up on a man and then started down the row hitting everybody with something. people were bleeding -- >> employees and customers tried

to stop the man by throwing chairs in his direction and he eventually left and police tracked down a few whiles away while he was shocked to death by officers. investigators are trying to sort through an accident at boston's airport. a delivery van crashed into a jetblue airplane waiting to take off for florida. it starts rolling and hit the planes wing, the passengers felt the shake and then looked out the window and saw people chasing the van. people were put on other flights while the aircraft is inspected. a mass miss bus driver is charged with drunk driving when the bus hit a utility pole yesterday afternoon. power was knocked out to nearby homes.

the 42-year-old driver is arraigned today. pope francis is on his way to cuba, the first stop on his historic trip to latin america, he will meet with the patriarch of the church in havana, later tonight pope francis will arrive in mexico and he wore a traditional mexican sombrero that he received as a gift. a man down on his luck has millions of reasons to celebrate. the moment he found out was caught on camera. the pizza deliveryman is hugging everyone in sight after learning he won $1 million. he plans to keep his pizza delivery job and invest the money. still to come on "action

news" at noon, two big lawsuits against uber have aparentsly reached a settlement. and coming up three teenagers save a bus load of children when the driver loses control.

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and virtually no referrals needed. see why millions of people have already enrolled in the only medicare supplement insurance plans endorsed by aarp. don't wait. call now. i've been blind since birth. i go through periods where it's hard to sleep at night, and stay awake during the day. learn about non-24 by calling 844-844-2424. or visit my24info.com. breaking news now from the kensington section of philadelphia. police are on the scene investigating a dog attack. they were flagged down on east indiana avenue at noon today after a homeowner was said to be attacked by a dog and one

officer is said to have discharged his weapon striking the animal. a number of police officers are on the scene and the yellow crime tape there as well after apparently a dog attack and one officer apparently shooting the animal. we'll bring you additional information as it becomes available to us from the city's kensington section. >> uber pays millions to settle two class action lawsuits, one around an extra safe ride fee, people had to pay extra for background checks on drivers but they never conducted a fingerprinting on taxi drivers. they have to pay the money to 25 million riders from this year. the latest government report showed americans shopping last month despite the dramatic drop

in the stock market. people spent more on cars, grocery supplies and groceries and steady hiring despite the fact that employers are handing out higher wages. ford will roll out four all new suvs over the next four years, the decision was based on the growing popularity of suvs and vehicles, ford has not said if the production will be done in the u.s. or outside of country. >> health check this noon, the possible vaccine for the zika virus is more an a year away. the world health organization says that 15 companies are involved in the research and one company is 18 months away from large scale trials. the zika virus is spreading rapidly in south america and latin america and the caribbean. all right the "action news" team is out working on news

stories for tonight beginning at 4:00. lets check in with alicia vitarelli live in the newsroom with a preview. >> happy freebie friday rick. a few you'll love including one that is fresh out of dinner ideas. we'll tell you how to get a made from scratch pizza for nothing. and other freebies, a rescue dog returned the favor for his owner, their friendship almost never happened. and it turns out to be a lifesaver, and you can take us with you on the go if you have not downloaded the free 6 abc news app, you can watch us live streaming on your smart phone or tablet. and later i'll introduce to you a local entrepreneur that is pitching his product on shark tank tonight. >> thank you that should be excited. accuweather when we come right back.

here is a problem we definitely do not have in the delaware val y. some parents wanted to experience snow so they had to make their own. hancock center created their own winter wonderland complete with sledding and snow tasting. if they want to experience what it's like to live in an ice box come on over to philadelphia. >> it will be frigid this weekend rick. stormtracker 6 live double scan you can see no issue with precipitation but later on this evening into tonight we are tracking an arctic boundary and when have you a true arctic front that moves on through there is likely some snow showers and we'll see that later today and tonight. chopper 6 hd high above the skies giving you a nice shot of the center city skyline as we

get closer and closer to philadelphia. earlier today we have sun and sun gives way to increasing clouds as we go through the afternoon. bundle up it's cold outside, below freezing coming in at 24 in philadelphia and the dew point is 0 and things are dry and winds from the west-southwest at 8 miles per hour, the windchill in philadelphia only 15 and the pressure is falling. currently outside it's 4 in trenton and 14 in the poconos, and the teens as well in lancaster, 25 in atlantic city and 25 for dover and wildwood at this hour. here is satellite 6 along with action radar the clouds continue to build and thicken and what we are tracking, you can see it starting form here, an arctic boundary stretched out across the northern great lakes and this will dip on down to our south and east and with that comes the threat of isolated snow showers. the call from accuweather for the rest of today.

sun and then clouds and brisk and cold. 28 degrees for the daytime high. we'll watch the snow showers that will move on in, could be a heavier burst of snow and a possible coating to an inch is likely and then the weekend and big changes are on the way in the wake of the arctic front moving on through, we'll track this polar vortex coming on through and taking the colder air from canada into the delaware valley. gusts of 40 miles per hour or higher and windchills during the day only near 0. so definitely an ice box overhead. earlier today we have a windchill watch that has since expired and it's updated to a windchill warning, this goes into effect 6:00 p.m. saturday to 1:00 p.m. sunday, windchills anywhere from 20 to 30 degrees below zero. future tracker 6 showing you the cold air rushing on in and feeling like 0 in philadelphia and 10 below in allentown and 25

below zero in the poconos and 1 down the coast in wildwood. not much in the afternoon for improvement, 2 below philadelphia and 10 north and west and feels like 2 degrees above zero in dover. your exclusive accuweather seven-day forecast showing you it's brisk and cold a high of 28 and the arc tom corbett boundary moves in tonight and get ready for the cold air setting up shop over the weekend and the arctic blast is overhead and temperatures falling throughout the day, look at the overnight low, 2 degrees if we hit that we'll tie a record set in 1979. only the teens on sunday with a high temperature of 16 and a little improve into next weekend but get ready for a bitter blast from mother nature rick. >> thank you. more ahead in our next half hour of "action news" at noon, four teenagers in delaware were hurt in a crash this morning happening when they were headed

to school and we have the latest. and royal caribbean's anthem of the seas, is getting inspected to see if it can sale again.

"action news" at 12:30 continues with rick williams, sara bloomquist and meteorologist. david murphy. >> sara is off and here are the stories we are following.

so cold it hurts. temperatures in the teens and it's only getting worse that weekend. and water line breaks overnight leaves several cars covered in ice. katherine scott has the story from south philadelphia and police in arizona remain on the scene of a school shooting and police say that two teenagers have been shot. we woke up to temperatures in the teens today and windchills in the single digits. as we take a live look at sky 6 hd looking at penn's landing, melissa magee joins us at the big board with word of colder air coming this weekend. it's hard to believe. >> reporter: yes but it is coming. and we have windchill warnings in the poconos. 24 in philadelphia, everyone is below the freezing mark 32 degrees.