plans. on this fourth of july 2016 plenty of folks celebrating america's birthday with slows of patriotism, picnics and partying. but local celebrations and fireworks displays could be dampened by wet weather tonight possibly heading our way. we have live team coverage from the city to the shore on today's independence day festivity but first let's begin with meteorologist cecily tynan. she's at the big board with the somewhat soggy accuweather forecast. >> double scan live showing a band of showers moving in as we speak and this is all moving up to the north and the east but this is light to moderate rain, no thunder or lightning with this but a wider view showing that there's low pressure across the ohio valley. that actually has severe weather. that low pressure will be moving over us in the overnight hours and that will bring us some heavy rain with perhaps some thunder as well. that will be well off midnight. so, your fireworks forecast,

there will be some showers around, no lightning. you may wander to take an umbrella an sweatshirt. by 8 o'clock 73 degrees, by 10 o'clock 71. after midnight between about 3 o'clock and 8 o'clock in the morning that's when we get the heavy rain and perhaps the thunder and lightning and because of that the national weather service has posted a flash flood watch for the entire viewing area from midnight until 10 o'clock tomorrow morning. we do have the potential for some localized flooding from this system and ones the rain moves out, i'm tracking a heat wave on the way with a hottest weather so far this year. i'll talk more about that coming up in the full accuweather forecast. rick. >> all right, cecily, thank you. "action news" reporter trish hartman is live in ocean city tonight. trish, the boardwalk and the beach a popular location for many this holiday weekend, hm? >> reporter: that's right. it was a beautiful beach day. we had lots of sunshine earlier. now the clouds have rolled in. we've seen a little bit of drizzle but there's still

plenty of people on the boardwalk. what do you want to say. >> happy fourth of july. >> reporter: guys thank you. we found plenty of people who were enjoying the beach and the boardwalk but they were also remembering the true meaning of today's holiday. >> we've been down here since saturday. we've had fun on the beach it has been great. >> reporter: from the beach to the boardwalk to the water ocean city was packed. >> when the waves came up, we fell down and we didn't -- did not like it. >> reporter: powerful waves aside this group from reading was glad they made the trip after keeping a close eye on the forecast. >> still took a chance and came down anyway. it was really fun. >> reporter: as kids searched for hermit crabs and babies got their first chilly taste of the ocean many took a patriotic pause to remember why we celebrate independence day. >> all the places that don't have these opportunities we have here to be up there with all the people enjoy the day with no problem. i mean, we're family and

friends, that's all that counts. >> i guess it means the day that you know, that we earned ourselves the privilege to be ourselvessism this group from maryland brought their reds white and blue decorations and american spirit saying there's nowhere they would rather be on the fourth of july. >> so patriotic. everyone is here decked out in their red white and blue. everyone is so friendly with each other and it's so nice to be here relaxing and then the fireworks are amazing. >> i love the fourth of july. i love -- it makes me cry. i love our soldiers. i love all the heroes that took care of us and gave us our freedom. >> reporter: we have a nice breeze happening here in ocean city just in time for a kite flying contest that's kicking off at 6 o'clock and everyone is hoping the weather will hold off for those fireworks at 10:00 p.m. i checked in with ocean city. they say they're on for now but they're encouraging the folks to check the city's web site for any changes. reporting live in ocean city trish hartman channel6 "action news."

>> trish thank you. fourth of july celebrations kicked off at city hall. 15-year-old bobby hill sang the star spangled banner. the ceremony featured several philadelphia born and raised celebrities including leslie odom jr. of the broadway hit hamilton. they read excerpts from the declaration of independence. >> ♪ >> freedom ceremony was followed by the old time fourth of july parade. marching bands military groups and floats wound their way through olde city in center city this morning. "action news" reporter wendy saltzman is live along the ben franklin parkway tonight where folks have been celebrating all afternoon long and will probably be celebrating tonight as well. wendy. >> reporter: rick, happy fourth of july to you. now, we're being told that the show will go on here rain or shine including those fireworks that are scheduled for 10:00 p.m. now, the concert started here

at 5:00 p.m. with the sounds of leslie odom and then we will have leon bridges coming up next. the crowds packed the parkway early. it was the best way to get the best seats for the hottest fourth of july celebration in philadelphia. >> we came out early to get a good spot. we going to watch the show and enjoy everything. >> reporter: for some like clarissa smith this is a family tradition. >> i love coming down here for independence day every year. >> others are enjoying their first time. >> all this is new to me. and i'm 56 and i'm just getting out to see this. >> reporter: the people watching flag waving dancing and picture taking are as much a part of the excitement as the big show. >> you can't explain it. it's beautiful. it's a lovely thing. it's lovely to be able to come to philadelphia and enjoy yourself like this inch the main event started with a stunning flyover a reminder of why we're celebrating the fourth. some of the top acts started early. >> there's still tickets available so come on down and maybe you can get a spot right in the action. there's tons of spots on the

parkway. >> reporter: and the rain hasn't scared away these philadelphians and it won't stop the fireworks either. >> you know we have a couple different plans for if it does rain. the fireworks will go off tonight so that's the biggest thing. make sure you're here. might be a little early or might be a little bit late but they will go on tonight. >> reporter: welcome america says their events this year have been pulling in their biggest numbers in their history and they expect this event to be no different. they say the only thing that may impact the fireworks is if there is lightning or high winds but they said they don't expect a little rain to interfere. live at eakins oval, wendy saltzman channel6 "action news. >> wendy keep our fingers crossed. thank you. the rainy weather forecast tonight has forced officials in delaware to postpone their independence day festivity. newark rescheduled its liberty day celebration and fireworks for tomorrow. in dover, the fireworks display is now set for september 3rd. the city of wilmington also canceled its festivities

tonight rescheduled for august 20th. in norristown fire trucks emergency vehicles marching bands and string bands entertained parade goers. this was the start of a day full of if unin norristown an outdoor concert is beginning right now with fireworks at dusk. >> ♪ and the mummers strutted through jenkintown for the borough's annual fourth of july parade. fire trucks old and new bands and boy scout troops also delighted the packed parade route and children riding bikes decorated in red white and blue entertained the crowd as well. if you're looking for fireworks shows tonight head to 6abc.com. you'll find an updated list of local events broken down by state and county along with the times and location also for the fourth of july festivity. defect forced septa to

pull one third of its rail route. they urge commuters to make alternate plans of their own. "action news" reporter john rawlins is live at septa headquarters in center city with the details. john. >> reporter: hi, rick. it's quite a bit of uncertainty here as far as the rail site is concerned. they're going to be on a modified saturday schedule. the goal will be during rush hour at least a train leaving the station every half hour. there will go monday to friday until further notice. now, riders are being warned, however, on inbound trains once they are at capacity they will not stop to pick up additional passengers. that will probably impact people who are in stations closest to center city. septa urging those folks to look at alternatives. >> this is unprecedented. the man who runs septa has never seen anything like you it. 120 new rail cars grounded 13,000 seats. septa says on a normal workday 65,000 people ride its rails.

tomorrow it's possible only 35 to 45,000 will likely find a seat on a train. others could be passed by waiting at the station. >> we do expect crowded conditions and by running a saturday schedule, there will be opportunities that we may bypass people because of the crowded conditions losing 13,000 seats is quite substantial. >> reporter: the message, consider taking a bus a trolley, the market frankford line or drive to south philadelphia and use one of 1600 parking spaces at the old navy hospital. and then hoof it to the subway. >> if you have a railroad pass you can use it on any of the transit services. >> reporter: clarence knight takes the train to his airport job. he's already studied his options. >> i'll catch the 37 bus. i'll just leave earlier. >> reporter: you can adjust and work around it. >> yes, i have to. >> reporter: septa says a structural flaw discovered friday is at the heart of its woes. stress cracks developed in a

critical portion of the wheel suspension system known as the truck assembly or bogey. nine silver liner five rail cars were assembled locally at the hyundai road temp plant in south philadelphia. septa promised it will not put the new cars back in service until they are repaired and safe. at this point the sense is it could take days if not weeks to actually identify the problem and a fix. then several months to get all the fleet back in operation. at least that's the early thinking on that. the first order of business, though, of course is going to be getting commuters from point a to point b tomorrow morning and that could be quite a challenge. live in center city, john rawlins channel6 "action news." rick. >> all right, john, thank you. the "action news" morning team will be keeping a close eye on the morning commute tomorrow. so join matt tam david and karen for updates beginning at 4:30 a.m. and still to come on "action news" tonight, vandals go to extreme measures to get inside of an atm early this morning. we've got the latest.

and the phillies celebrate with an afternoon matchup against the braves. ducis rodgers with the highlights coming up. cecily. >> double scan live showing some rain moving in right now but i'm tracking the potential for flooding rains overnight. i'll have details on the timing, talking about a heat wave on the way in the accuweather 7-day forecast. >> all right, cecily, those stories and much more when "action news" comes right back. >> ♪

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been trying to prepare for this day... and i'm still not ready. the reason i'm telling you this is that there will be moments in your life that... you'll never be ready for. your little girl getting married being one of them. ♪ ♪ >> a vandal took explosive measures to get inside an atm. firefighters and police responded to the strawberry mansion. a blast destroyed an atm

outside of the hair today barbershop. still unclear if any or how much money was taken. a giant mural honoring the founding father of the african methodist episcopal church was unveiled in west philadelphia. a portrait of bishop richard allen transformed the wall into a work of contemporary art. allen is considered one of the country's most influential black leaders. this is the latest work to join the city's mural arts program. one local group used the holiday to spread their message of remembrance. avenging the anne sisters coalition gathered at the president's house on independence mall for a slavery protest. their message is that yes, america earned its freedom on this day but at the same time millions of people were enslaved. and while their message is a serious one they brought plenty of uplifting words and plenty of music. in haverford delaware county the hill top civic association independence day celebration got rolling this

morning. the fun started with a decorated bike and costume parade all things on wheels were sporting patriotic colors and take a look at this young lady dressed up as betsy ross. how about that. always one of the biggest parades in the area is in glenside montgomery county. this afternoon's event was no exception. folks young and old from near and far lined the parade along jenkintown road. plenty of marching units bands bicycles and fire trucks provided a patriotic salute to our nation's 240th birthday. quakertown's communities day celebration got started with pancakes and sausage. after all no one likes to celebrate the fourth on an empty stomach. the action cam was at memorial park on mill street as a family friendly activities got under way here. fireworks by the way are set for 9:30 tonight weather permitting. sweet celebration of independence in olde city this afternoon. the independence visitors center at sixth and market hosted a party to celebrate america's birthday. the festivity included a five

tier cake, cup cakes by termini brothers bakery and an appearance by betsy ross.

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>> ducis here with sports and plenty of fireworks at citizens bank park this afternoon. >> good to see the phillies bats have certainly come alon c. everyone was wearing their red white and blue. phillies first cesar hernandez sixth triple of the season. game tied at one. two batters later odubel herrera a solo home run making it a two-one phils lead. herrera making pace to make that all-star game batting over .300. later in the inning maikel franco wow two run blast. his team leading 15th homer of the season. phillies have seven runs in the inning. right now they lead eight-two

in the eighth. basketball sixers are going overseas to fill their point guard hole. according to reports the team is signing spanish guard search rosergio rodriguez. he spent the past five seasons paying in spain. rodriguez spent time with the blazers kings and knicks earlier in his career. other big story with the sixers takes place tonight ben simmons will make his sixers debut. the team face the celtics in utah summer league play. simmons expects to face a challenge tonight, one that he relishes. >> i'm just going to play hard. i know a lot of people will be coming for me since i got that number one specifically it's always been like that for me since high school. everyone has really wanted to go at me have that shot. it's fun. i love, you know, getting a challenge. >> as the old cliche goes if you can't beat them join them. kevin durant sent shock waves through the nba when he announced he's leaving the

thunder for the warriors. a deal worth more than $54 million. he joins a golden state team that won 73 games last season and finished one with shy of back to back nba titles. durant is nine years into the league. he is still searching for that first nba championship. finally tonight if you ever wanted to be a professional athlete eagles safety malcolm jenkins has you beat. if you want to be on a game show jenkins has you beat again. >> name a homemade gift no one wants to receive. >> macaroni necklace. >> macaroni necklace. >> good answer, yeah. jenkins was on abc's celebrity family feud last night. he and his team of defensive stars won $25,000 which they donated to charity. macaroni necklace. >> cecily has a macaroni necklace.

>> love them. >> she bites them. >> speaking of which, meteorologist cecily tynan and her necklace with the accuweather forecast when we come right back. stay with us. okay, ready?

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>> cecily is here with the latest from accuweather. play want to keep the umbrella handy if you're out tonight. >> good news is no thunder or lightning this evening. so the fireworks we won't have severe weather but it is going to be a little bit on the wet side. storm tracker6 live double scan slowing we have a band of some generally light to moderate rain that's moving through new castle county, chester county and it's all really rolling up the i-95 corridor at about 25 miles per hour. so, chadds ford, wilmington,

newark delaware, it's raining. it will be hitting haddonfield around 6:55. center city right before 7 o'clock. wynnefield and bryn mawr and then there is more rain on the way overnight that could have thunder and lightning and some real heavy rain and that will be rolling in after midnight. right now, though, doesn't feel like the fourth of july. it's a bit on the cool side. philadelphia 75 degrees. down from our high of 80 which is 7 degrees below normal. allentown 75. millville 72. cape may only 70 and wilmington 73 degrees. satellite6 along with action radar slowing this first band of showers that's moving and this is associated with a warm front and this low pressure across the ohio valley, that low pressure will be rolling through in the overnight hours. so, future tracker showing around 10 o'clock for the fireworks displays, there will be some rain around so you definitely want to take the wet weather gear if you're heading out. the wee hours of the morning, though, that's when you'll likely hear that rumble of thunder with some heavy rain around 3 o'clock and then

continuing for the morning commute. so, allow extra time tomorrow morning, around 7:30, some heavy rain, some thunderstorms right along the i-95 corridor and then everything clears out later in the morning and then by the afternoon we'll actually see some peeks of sunshine. it will be warm and humid and wednesday likely will start a heat wave. so, timing out the rain, the heaviest occurring when a lot of us are sleeping and getting ready to go to work, between about 3 o'clock in the morning and 8 o'clock. now, generally we're looking at about a half inch to an inch of rain, much needed rain. the problem, though, is that there will be a narrow band of some torrential rain with two to 3 inches of rain perhaps even a little bit more and that could cause some flash flooding. the latest computer models show that right over philadelphia but it could jog a little bit farther to the north or down to the south. if you are down the shore tomorrow, you'll wake up with some rain. then sunshine by the afternoon. you got that west wind so it's not a sea breeze, that's a land breeze. the jersey beaches temperatures in the low to mid

80's. a moderate risk of rip currents continuing tomorrow. rehoboth and bethany beach reaching 86 and 87. the exclusive accuweather 7-day forecast tomorrow we wake up with rain. clouds break for sunshine. it will be very humid with a high of 88 degrees. wednesday the heat is on. 93 degrees. thursday the peek of the heat. 95 degrees, future tracker showing 3 o'clock in the afternoon the heat index close to 100. we'll likely see some pop-up thunderstorms. friday 93 officially making this the second heat wave of the summer. saturday 92 degrees, another day of it. then a cold front will bring us a round of some gusty thunderstorms. behind it on sunday, it will be less oppressive. 89 degrees, less humid and monday partly sunny with a high of 88 degrees. so, some wet weather for the fireworks. some heavy rain overnight. and then we're starting a heat wave. so, a busy week with the weather. i'll have an update on "action news" at 11:00. >> cecily see you then.

thank you. finally tonight a voorhees man has a lot to celebrate today. not only is it the fourth of july of course it's also philip embree's birthday and he's 100 years young. he worked in the tailoring business and was a guitar player for various bands for over 50 years. his family says he was able to enjoy his hobby of oil painting well into his 80's. philip emma happy birthday to you. you look great. still playing the guitar. abc's "world news tonight" with david muir is next here on channel6. "action news" continues at 10:00 on phl17 with brian taff sharrie williams adam joseph and ducis rodgers. had. i kidding i'll be here at 10 o'clock and join us for "action news" at 11:00 right here on channel six. for jim gardner meteorologist cecily tynan ducis rodgers the entire "action news" team, i'm rick williams. lope you'll join us at 10:00 and 11:00. >> ♪

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tonight, dangerous weather this fourth of july. torrential rain and flash floods slamming the midwest. even reports of tornadoes. severe storms pushing east. will you be able to see the fireworks in your neighborhood? new clues about the blast that rocked central park. now more police than ever taking to the city's streets this holiday. and around the country, authorities tracking millions all at once, looking for sipes of danger. donald trump's tweet at the center of a political firestork. is it anti-semitic? what's he saying tonight. and the 911 call that prompted this aggressive takedown. >> do not move! >> why police are now apologizing tonight.