category four hurricane the rescuers have had little relief. rain bands batter the same area for the fourth consecutive day. half of the country's coast guard helicopters are in texas tonight. crews have rescued at least 2,000 people so far. priority is going to life and death situations leaving many people to fend for themselves. officials have called on neighbors to help neighbors and people have stepped up in a big way. >> just got to look out for everybody. it's overwhelming the amount of rain. it's too much for the first responders. they need help. >> people were screaming out help, help, help. we'll come back for you. next thing you know there's 20 different people you've rescued. >> amy a production manager for the philadelphia orchestra has been stranded at a hotel in houston. she got stuck there en route

to a trip to aruba. >> i have shelter i-have food, i have company if i need it and my stuff is okay. so, it's kind of one of the things that make you go, oh, my god, my stuff is okay but everybody else's stuff is ruined right now and it's impossible to process all of that. >> meanwhile president trump will get a firsthand look at harvey's devastation when he visits storm battered texas tomorrow. the first lady will join him on that trip. late this afternoon, the president expressed his support for the region. >> recovery will be a long and difficult road and the federal government stands ready, willing and able to support that effort. right now the single most important thing is the safety and security of those still in harm's way. >> well, as we mentioned, the remnants of harvey are relatively stalled over the gulf. meteorologist adam joseph is tracking the storm and where

it's headed next. adam. >> yeah its not heading anywhere that quickly. it's moving at 3 miles an hour and has barely moved since friday when it didn't make landfall closer towards corpus christi and you can see the center of what now is tropical storm harvey just south of houston back over the open waters of the gulf of mexico basically hit a wall as it moved inland. there's a blocking pattern in the upper atmosphere a traffic jam if you will so it's stuck here meandering continuing to pull all that water in off of the gulf of mexico inundating houston still to this hour and as far east as new orleans. as we look at the cumulative rain full since friday you can see the brighter colors and really the hardest hit areas is in houston to the north and east of where the center of the storm is because it's a tropical system like low pressure system it's counterclockwise motion around that storm so it's pulling in all that water around the thunderstorm where over 30-inches of rain, nearly 3 feet of rain in and around

houston and more to still come. in fact as we take a look at the track it's not going to strengthen all that much more but because it's moving so slowly it will not be out of the state of texas until possibly wednesday night and thursday as it drifts up towards the ohio valley so an additional 10 to 20-inches of rain total to near 50-inches in and around houston. major flooding for days if not weeks and the recovery, rick, unfortunately is going to take a lot longer than that. much more on our local forecast coming up in just a little bit. >> all right adam we'll check back in later. thank you. "action news" reporter john rawlins joins us live from the red cross center in center city tonight. john a lot of people want to know how they can help and how they can be sure their donations are going to people who really need it in texas. >> reporter: well, rick at the risk of giving the obvious issue you need to know who you're giving your money to. if you're dealing with big charities blue chip charities that would be the red cross salvation army the united way they have long established patterns and long established

histories. as for other charities we'll show you there is a web site you can go to to check their background as well. since it was activated last week, this philadelphia red cross call center has now handled more than 13,000 calls from texas. philadelphia has cents nine volunteers to texas with two more soon to depart. >> right now we've got two emergency response vehicles in texas. we're sending a third out today. >> reporter: the red cross continuing to say to those who want to give something, either give blood or give money. not tangible items or things. explaining. >> those things have to be cleaned, sorted and shipped. that takes personnel and it takes resources that detract us from our dominant mission. >> reporter: which is getting people into safe dry shelters in texas. the need for things like clothing will come later during recovery and resettlement. but for now, money is the need. >> very quickly they can grab their cell phone right now and text harvey to 90999.

and that will make a $10 donation. >> reporter: already there are countless online sites including crowd sourcing sites asking for money. are they all legit? it's difficult to stay. disasters can bring out both good and bad. >> and whenever disaster strikes those scammers come out of the woodwork and they'll come out of the woodwork for days weeks and months. >> reporter: andrew good is with the better business bureau. his advice check them out on give.org. >> which rates and evaluates charities on the basis of 20 standards and makes sure any charity that meets the 20 standards is accredited by the better business bureau. >> reporter: again that is give.org. you needed to have the exact name of the charity you want to check. there are copycats out there we're told. they just change a name or two so make sure you know exactly the charity you want to check. as for the small crowdfunding sites there, the efforts there a bit tougher to vet. according to mr. good make

sure you know who the expected recipients are. if you can contact them and make sure they understand someone is raising money on their behalf and they have an understanding of how they're going to get those funds and even at that point it's a leap of faith. his point a lot of people are going to need a lot of help because of what happened with harvey. your best bet particularly when you're this far removed from houston is to probably give to the big charities that are vetted that you know their track record on, that way you know things will -- the money and other donations will get to those people who are in need. live in center city, john rawlins channel6 "action news." rick. >> all right, john, thank you. once again here is the information to make a donation to the red cross. the number you can call is one-800-red cross. you can also text word harvey to 90999 to automatically send a 10-dollar donation. you can find this information along with our comprehensive coverage at 6abc.com/harvey. you can also watch live streaming coverage from our sister station ktrk in houston.

and world news tonight with david muir will have live continuing team coverage from the storm zone next at 6:30 right after "action news." the search continues for a suspected tire slasher who has vandalized more than 50 police vehicles in camden county. but authorities are hoping a newly released surveillance photo will help in the investigation. "action news" jersey correspondent nora muchanic is live from police headquarters in somerdale with the very latest. nora. >> reporter: rick, police say this tire slasher did $10,000 worth of damage as he tore through this parking lot cutting every tire in it at the time. the detectives say they are working some good leads trying to identify this suspect who trashed more than half the department's patrol cars. >> and that's what gets me. it could be -- somebody could be dying and these guys couldn't get to them. >> reporter: the tow truck operator has been busy all day taking away police cars one by one to get fixed. 52 tires were intentionally

flattened in the parking lot of police headquarters on kennedy boulevard and this is the man they suspect did it seen here first in grainy video, then more clearly in this image taken from a wawa just a couple blocks away. >> somebody is very angry with the police and -- to take the time to do every tire of every vehicle in this parking lot, you know, they -- they had a -- they had a mission and they accomplished itism 13 vehicles were hit, nine cruisers absuv used by the fire marshal. the cuts were deep likely done with a utility knife. >> maybe hates the police, he has something against them but they don't deserve it. >> people do stuff like this just to do it 'cause they get angry or something. it's scary and it's -- it's heartbreaking. >> it's crazy. people have just lost their minds. i don't know. it was very sad for us. >> reporter: when they heard about what happened, sean leak and sons daniel and christopher wanted to show their support for police and brought a basket of goodies to headquarters complete way card

that said sorry about your police cars. >> i feel bad for the policemen and the firemen of course because they -- they protect this town and if their tires are flattened they can't go and help anyone that's in trouble. >> reporter: take a look at this picture again. police say the suspect was roaming the neighborhood around headquarters after slashing the tires. >> they called us and alerted us when they checked their video systems they saw him on their one property. in one house he was actually pieing in a window. >> reporter: police are encouraging area residents to check their home surveillance systems and if you capture the man on camera to let them know. meantime the last of the 52 tires that were slashed here on sunday should be fixed by tomorrow. live in somerdale, i'm nora muchanic channel6 "action news." rick. >> all right, nora, thank you. a one-car crash in mercer county caused a lot of damage today. the car went out of control here in the 1200 block of klockner road around noon. it struck a utility pole bringing down wires then continued on finally coming to rest in a ditch.

no word yet on why the driver lost control. road closures are already in effect ahead of the made in america music festival this coming weekend. drone6 flew over eakins oval this afternoon. two lanes around the oval in front of the art museum shut down for stage construction. spring garden street between pennsylvania avenue and the ben franklin parkway are closed. more closures will take effect throughout the week to make room for the construction of five different stages. more than 60 artists including host jay-z and the chainsmokers will perform during the festival over the labor day weekend. all streets are are scheduled to reopen by 5:00 a.m. on tuesday september 5th. still to come tonight, new school year and some students in montgomery county head back to class at a newly renovated school. and jaime apody is live in south philadelphia where there's a bit of excitement surrounding the phillies tonight. >> reporter: and every night these days because this is the house that rhys built.

rookie rhys hoskins hit 11 home runs thursday far. maybe tonight is number 12. beautiful night at the ballpark. >> perfect night to play a little ball. some clouds moving in. there's a wind advisory going into effect for our shore communities tomorrow, what could be tropical storm irma. we'll talk about it in that accuweather forecast. >> all right, adam. that and more when "action news" continues in just a moment. >> ♪

>> summer vacation officially ended today for students in most suburban school districts. and for many of the youngsters in upper moreland montgomery county it wasn't just back to school it was back to a new school following a summer of

renovation and rebuilding. jeanette reyes has more on the excitement and anticipation there this morning. >> how are you feeling. >> i'm really nervous to be honest. >> reporter: today a whole range of emotions for students at upper moreland middle school. mostly jitters and excitement for incoming sixth graders who are trying to get used to a new routine and responsibilities. >> we have schedules and we have to memorial prize our locks. >> that's very nerve wracking coming to a whole different school but we're getting around. >> reporter: excited. >> excited. >> reporter: why is that. >> because the new school, new things. >> reporter: it's business as usual for eighth grader matt ludlow who is in his last year of middle school. >> pretty exciting. i mean get to see old friends get to make new friends. whole new experience. >> reporter: you're a veteran to this thing. >> yeah, i'm used to it. >> reporter: he's got some sound advice for the newcomers. >> i guess really just say there's nothing to worry about. i mean, as ng as you just like be yourself and listen to

the teachers and if you need help ask because they're always -- there always will be help. >> reporter: mrs. valentine has been teaching for over two decades. she lovers it but boy do those summers seem to fly by. >> it starts slow and then august hits and it flies, yeah, every time, yeah. >> reporter: and though sixth graders are new to the middle school it's everyone's first look at the massive renovation. the completed project includes a brand new library and auditorium. >> this year we had a lot of construction. finished up our seconds year of a construction project so our halls were filled with jackhammers and construction workers but it was well worth it. they did a great job. >> reporter: it's the first a plus on the books this year. >> it was the first class to use the new building. >> reporter: how is it measuring up so far. >> it's pretty good. >> reporter: there's an open house tomorrow night. community members are invited to attend to take a tour of the new school. reporting in upper moreland

township, jeanette reyes channel6 "action news." >> ♪

>> time for sports. ducis is here and the phillies are suddenly exciting again. >> all because of one guy and he's must see tv. rhys hoskins started off slow then he warmed up and now he's red hot. he's hit 11 home runs in his 18 game major league career. tonight hoskins and the phils begin a series with the braves. jaime apody is live at the ballpark with more. jamie. >> reporter: ducis, phillies, braves, yeah, whatever. it's more about rhys hoskins against the history books. that's right. everyone here to get a glimpse at the rookie and see if the kid can do it yet again. hoskins despite the fact he's only 24 years old and has played a whopping 18 games is just larger than life these days. yesterday he hit his 11th home run in his last 14 games. he's homered in five straight and the last eight days the phillies are played he's homered. fastest in major league history to hit nine, 10 and 11

home runs. this despite a 48 and 81 record is suddenly electric again. the manager understandably impressed. >> i'm very happy to see what we saw in spring training his quality of at bats carried over into the big leagues. obviously he's showing no fear to be up here. i told him like i tell every player the sooner you believe in in yourself and believe you belong here it will be easier for you. >> reporter: have you ever seen anything like this. >> no, i -- we've seen players have good spurts but this is unlike anything i've ever seen. it's a lot of fun to watch. >> reporter: he's been in baseball a long time. we've never seen anything like it either and it's happening right here in philadelphia. come out to the ballpark and see it for yourself. hoskins by the way playing first base tonight and not left field. the manager wants to see what he can do at his natural position. live at citizens bank park jaime apody channel6 "action news." ducis. >> jamie thank you. to football now the eagles wrap up their preseason

schedule on thursday on the road against the jets. carson wentz and most of the starters will not play in that one. they'll focus on the september 10th opener against the redskins much the reason there, you don't want to get any of the key players hurt. that begs the question why have four preseason games anyway. >> it's always going to be an argument. what do you prefer? i think the fans love it. it's an opportunity for them to, you know, see guys in person and tickets will be cheaper in preseason games. it has its benefits but for most players they want to get tuned up obviously. there's always that risk. >> eric lindros getting the flyers' highest honor. he'll have his number 88 retired at wells fargo center. u.s. open under way in queens new york. venus williams checked in as the eighth seed. it's a little tougher hasn't that and she may have that -- then -- than she expected.

>> meteorologist adam joseph is back with your accuweather forecast right after these messages. day with us. >> ♪

>> well, tropical storm harvey continues to drench texas. tropical cyclone 10 is churching up surf along the new jersey coast. lifeguards up and down the coast say conditions are too dangerous and they're telling people to stay out of the water until further notice. jersey shore could be finding some trouble tonight and maybe tomorrow as well. >> down there all this weekend and that water was churning saturday, sunday and it

continues to pile up. we'll see beach erosion as well as rip current risks tomorrow. as we take a look at the weather center live in sky6 in cape may pretty sizeable breakers along the shore's etch. some of the sea grass and brush blowing in the wind. over the open waters it almost looks like a washing machine with the some of the white caps that continue to kick up and it will only get worse as we get into the day tomorrow before things change as we go into the middle of the week. what to expect at the shore. six to 10-foot waves, this is for the day tomorrow going into tomorrow night. dangerous rip currents will start to develop. winds gusting 40 to 45 miles an hour and i mean saturday, sunday it was windy if you were right there sitting on the sand but it kicks up even more tomorrow and rainfall down there about a half an inch to maybe an over an inch in some spots especially extreme south jersey as well as the beaches in delaware. temperatures today, they're on the cool side. we stopped in the upper 70's.

right now everyone is basically between 71 and 73 degrees. it is pretty cool out there with clouds that have been pulling in from the south and west. we've got that northeasterly wind and the ocean still warm this time of year at 74. there you can see those high clouds streaming in but then you can see the winds here coming in out of that northeasterly direction. for several days now that's piling up the water that's been churning up the waves and as we head down to the south, this is that area of low pressure just to the south of charleston, south carolina that will slowly push to the north and east and the national hurricane center is giving this a 70 percent chance which is a high risk that it will turn into tropical storm irma maybe sometime tonight or during the day tomorrow and then move off the coast of the carolinas, not move directly up the coastline but we will get some indirect effects from it whether it's a named storm or not. mostly cloudy tonight late showers in southern areas, 57 to 64 degrees. and a really cool almost a raw

type of feeling to the day tomorrow and tuesday. take a look at the temperatures. they barely budge from morning through evening right around 66, 67, 68 degrees with that wind in the city east out of the northeast sustained 10 to 20 miles an hour with a lot of clouds and some showers developing. in fact, 8 o'clock tomorrow morning there's some of the showers to the south as the storm intensifies to the south and they wrap in some bands of tropical downpours from the shore back towards the city and may break even at times north and west of i-95 but it's going to find drier air. this is midnight wednesday as everything starts to move away so it's a quick hit here but the problem, the setup high to the north which is dry air. storm down to the south, winds between the two funneling in out of the east-northeast so you get that wind tunnel effect and that's why the shore communities will take the hardest hit but again it's out of here by wednesday. as we look at the exclusive accuweather 7-day forecast, breezy with afternoon bands of rain developing tomorrow from the shore back towards the city and then it's out of

here, clouds to sun on wednesday improving up to 80 degrees. warm, tad humid, cold front thursday afternoon, 85 with a couple of storms. and that sets up for a beautiful cool sunny friday at 74 degrees. and right now the weekend there is a shower threat. there could be a stand some of steady rain sometime saturday, maybe into sunday morning. still up in the air when that could come through but at this point labor day itself isn't looking bad under partly sunny skies. >> adam thank you. 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 meteorologist adam joseph and ducis rodgers. for the entire "action news" team i'm rick williams. have a nice evening and we hope to see you at 11:00. >> ♪ i'm danny.

you're danny? i'm steve. joseph, i'm steve. how are you? nice to meet you sir. no different from everyone else. they just want a job. they want respect and they want dignity. steve called fairly frantic. you know, he had a premature baby and i think he had just been given the diagnosis that she had down syndrome. lauren brought out the best in me. she made me a different person. lauren's the spark that started the fire. the goal is keep places like this open so all people, regardless of disability, have an opportunity for employment.

tonight, breaking news. disaster in texas. the relentless rain. the flooding catastrophe here in houston. the death toll climbing. the around the clock rescue effort by boat and air. >> please help us. i'm scared. >> families on rooftops, pleading for help. emergency crews and volunteers carrying thousands of victims to safety. and the pregnant mother going into labor -- the baby that just wouldn't wait. president trump flying into the storm zone tomorrow. the new race against time. dams pushed to the limit, water released to prevent them from overflowing, putting even more homes at risk. shelters filling up by the thousands -- families with nowhere else to go. and also breaking tonight -- the new report as we come on the air.