as long the texas-louisiana border. people and pets pulled to safety by first responders and selfless strangers back out in their own boats today saving lives. >> we keep bringing boat loads of people out in the truck and loading them up and out of the area. >> and areas in hard hit houston. the sky is clear but water inundated ing homes. 1700 square miles now flooded. >> people are calling out and stranded for days. and the water receding in some places the death toll from this storm is climbing. police finding the six family members who died when their van was swept away. >> our worst fears are realized. >> today evacuations are happening in port arthur texas as much as four feet of water pouring in. >> water is coming in from every angle. coming in from the bathroom. it's coming in from the back

door. the front door. >> more than 32,000 people are now living in shelters in texas from this overcrowded convention center to churches and mosques, some are reaching capacity. there is still room at this shelter they are not calling people here evacuees but instead referring them to guests and neighbors trying to make people feel as comfortable as possible. so many people are showing up here to help. they have had to turn volunteers away. abc news houston. well, thank you. the rescues still taking place and some of them are happening nearly 100 miles you side of houston. the pictures tell the story at port arthur, texas. members of this nursing home are being evacuated. some are in wheelchairs and hospital beds as they wait to be taken out of that building.

team coverage continues now with chad pradelli. you are live in the bel air neighborhood in houston where tamlies return to start what is a long and difficult cleanup process. >> reporter: yes, that is right. the cleanup is well underway the water has receded and you see piles of this are littering the neighborhood as we speak. a lot of carpet being pulled out and furniture and this is all due to the young men here. 12, 13, 14, 15 years old. troop 222 out of bel air methodist, the boy scout troop. nice enough to help the woman in here that had about 7 inches of aura. i want to take you inside. it was soaking went and they have a drainage ditch in the back and the homeowner was telling me the water was literally coming up through the floor. this is poppy elliot. >> how are you doing? >> hanging in there. sore. >> how are you holding up? >> a whole lot better, the boy

scout as rived. and getting out of vehicles and knocking on my door and i had no idea that was going to happen. and i thought they would help me carry things to the curb. but no they took the carpet, the terrible wet soggy carpet. >> we appreciate you keeping your spirit up. we look around your house, they were taking out the drywall and poppy allowed us in here home to show us the damage. her water line was 7 to 12 inches and these young boy scouts knocked out some of the drywall and poppy sells us this was literally coming up from the bottom of the floor. >> bubbling up through the hardwoods and making a sound. i could hear sounds, it sounded like in the walls and i thought maybe it was the pipes and all of a sudden, the thing started bubbling and it actually make

bubbles in the carpet when it got deep. >> you feel fortunate? >> very. i cannot complain. not at all. >> we want to thank you for letting us in to show you the damage. >> thank you. >> you see one of the many stories here. this is the bel air neighborhood and the cleanup is well underway and there is more of this throughout the entire region as harvey as now moved out. live in bel air. chad pradelli, channel 6 "action news." >> oh my goodness. we are heartened by the help she is getting. >> members of the army national guard in new jersey are heading there. they left from joint base mcguire dix lakehurst this morning. >> we have capabilities just down to moving food and water supplies, it doesn't necessarily have to be picking people off rooftops. >> the helicopters are arriving on friday, they will join new

jersey task force one already on scene. >> all week we talked about the outpouring of support from around the country and here in the lehigh and delaware valleys. one group saw such a large response they had to franticly change their plans. we are live at the elks lodge in marlton with more on the efforts there. >> reporter: this has been an ongoing effort for a couple of days now. you see behind me this is the truck they are filling up and i tell you it doesn't look fill now but that is because items are still within the elks lodge and tonight they expect elks lodges from across south jersey to come over and bring their donations as well. all of this is headed to texas on friday. >> it's what the elk dozen the elks care and they share. >> they got the call from the texas elks on monday. and knew they needed something bigger than an rv because the donations here are pouring in. >> i'm panicking, i found out

last night more people are coming and how to get this down here. >> this morning i called miller trucking and their elks out of mount holly and came up and brought the truck that just got here. >> the response is overwhelming. >> angelo is an elk too. his business, family company and jewellers is one of the drop-off sites and the help for harvey continues in south jersey for pets too. not far from the elks at the animal welfare association eight dogs from texas are up for adoption this weekend and all have names that start with the letter h and one is named harvey. part of a group of shelter animals flown into new jersey from texas last night. "action news" was there as the pets arrived safely. >> this is actually an important part of the process because you are leaving and clearing out shelters that will be inundated and overwhelmed with animals coming in by owners that can't

hold on to them and all the dogs that are running stray. >> back out here live, this is the back of the elks lodge, all the items they asked for like cleaning items and diapers. they have a list on their website and facebook page. they are getting cash donations from other elks lodge, that goes for gas and tolls to bring that truck down to texas. the man that will be making the big trip says he is waiting to find out where his destination will be like everything else it depends on where the need is. channel 6 "action news." back to you. >> wherever they go they are a welcome site. >> don't forget abc is hosting a network wide day of giving tomorrow and 6 abc is join that effort. we'll be hosting a phone bank to collect your donations for the victims of harvey all proceed goes to the american red cross.

that begins tomorrow at 4:00 right here on "action news." >> we have expanded coverage at 6abc.com/harvey. there you can find slideshows and recent rescues and live streams from the sister station in houston and important information on how you it help. >> bringing our attention to the weather here at home. a dramatic improvement to what we saw yesterday. >> adam joseph is outside with a first check of the forecast. >> sunshine and blue skies and a few clouds around, and not a bad day as we round out the month of august. 76 philadelphia and 77 in washington, and we are not tracking any heat or real humidity. anywhere down the south in charles strong. 82 and buffalo and pittsburgh, 77 degrees. satellite and radar the ocean storm continues to move away and creating some rough surf at the shore other than that. you see some high clouds trying to stream in from oef and the

tennessee valley. as we go through the evening showers temperatures step down from the mid-70s back to right around 70 degrees, between 7:00 and 11:00. partly cloudy skies and the low tonight in the city coming in at 65 degrees. as we move forward we are back in the 80s for one more day tomorrow. and then september on friday starts with a fall feeling and then the holiday weekend not starting all that bright. on the rainy side the remnants and rains from harvey and track the rain showers from you and how much to expect here and the rest of the weekend looking good. coming up in the full accuweather forecast. >> sounds good thank you. >> time for the "action news" traffic report. >> gina standing in for matt pellman. >> reporter: it is very crowded out there. you can see on the map behind me we have single digits and teens and a lot of reds. time is needed this afternoon. you see on 95 typical northbound

delays out there and jammed both directions on the vine street expressway and the schuylkill always jammed there and the blue route jaxed. here is the live look approaching montgomery drive, there is a long waiting line of folks making their way to the vine street expressway. with the eastbound delay give yourself times. and the vine street expressway, you can see both directions in and out of center city very crowded now and traveling westbound delays from the parkway to 76 and eastbound side 76 to 95. it's very crowded. but an issue in burlington county, an accident and i am told that all lanes are blocked here on route 540, at sunset road and give yourself time there. if you travel along 63 at 40 foot road to the pa extension ramp an overturned vehicle blocking the exit there.

up next a barricade inside a montgomery county church. you'll hear from parishioners that witnessed it all. and charges are filed for a bus crash in a sent local students to the hospital. and taking a different approach to fighting the opioid epidemic, what a local town is doing as part of the latest effort to crack down on drugs. ♪ leave it to the pros? i am a pro. i made this lawn from seed pride, and less water than you'd think.

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new on "action news" at 4:00, a tense situation played out this morning insized a montgomery county church when a man barricaded himself inside. gray hall is live now. you actually talked to the church members that witnessed this all unfold? >> reporter: absolutely right. we can tell you that so far

police are not talking about this but the church members they are talking and they say they are thankful there was no injuries. >> grateful. grateful. >> heidi knows that wednesday morning could have turned out different. around 7:30 a.m. a man walked into the rectory and was on a suicide mission. >> it was a troubled young man, he was suicidal. father helped the young man and counciled him and talked to him and the authorities responded appropriately and the young man is taken into custody and getting the help he needs. >> they will not say much about the man or if he ways church member and we don't know if the suspect was armed. so far investigators will not release any information about this incident. the church is the only one talking. >> if you look for it, god's

hand is in everything that happens, good, bad and indifferent. i am proud to work for father jerry wild who was here and able to help this young man. our church as with any church our focus is to the community and we want to be a safe place. >> all right so back out live again, we can tell you that we reached out to police repeatedly and have not heard back from the police department and the pastor of this church was not available for comment but this church is just happy there was no injuries. gray hall, channel 6 "action news." >> thank you. we have got some new information about a bus crash along i-95 in maryland dozens of students from a philadelphia school were on board when the bus flipped of in may. the driver is charged with

failure to stay in a designated lane. the video shows the driver trying to change lanes and forces another car on to the shoulder in the process. what happens next is not clear because the video abruptly ends. the earth graders were on their way to washington, d.c. for a field trip at the time. former football trainer tim breen testified in the hearing in center city court today and questions about the alcohol fueled night that led to the death of 19-year-old timothy piazza. 16 fraternity brothers are charged in his death and the hearing will determine if the case goes to trial. leaders in bensalem, bucks county, are taking another step in fighting the opioid epidemic. going after at least six big name pharmaceutical companies and their subsidiaries. including purdue and johnson &

johnson. the township says that the company spent years creating the impression that the drugs are safe to treat for pain. he is leading the plans for the lawsuit in the works. >> we are actually hiring council to go against these companies that manufacturer and deliver these opioids. this crisis is not getting better. >> the mayor says that no taxpayer money is used in this legal battle and in addition to the lawsuit bensalem police stepped up their efforts to combat the epidemic. we are working to confirm breaking news and we have done that. a major loss for the local sports world. legendary coach rolly massimino has died. he led the 1985 basketball team to an improbable championship that year.

rolly was 82 years old. we'll have more coming up at 5:00. we have confirm that rolly massimino has died today. at age of 82. president trump is back on the road today this time kicking off a push to reform america's tax code. the president was in missouri making the case to cut tax rates for businesses and individuals. and mr. trump campaigned on a pledge to overhaul the tax code but has not provided details of a plan and is instead depending on congress to come up with the details. >> if we don't get tax reform. we are looking for the biggest ever jobs in our country cannot take off the way they should. >> this push comes amidst an intense september workload for lawmakers, by months end they have to fund the government and

raise the death stealing and pass spending for the harvey disaster. adam is back and talking about a great day today and getting ready for the holiday weekend. >> the holiday weekend starts out bumpy but then smooth it out. as we look at the weather center over the center city skyline. lots of blue sky today and comfy temperatures and just a few cumulous clouds out there. temperatures running below normal for today and that changes through the day tomorrow and feels more summer like coming in at 84 degrees, if you know someone with a pool a perfect day for that. we'll have a fall feeling in the atmosphere as we start september with the temperature coming in at 71 with sunshine on friday. complete opposite ends of the

spectrum for thursday and friday. mid-70s allentown and reading at the shore the choppy surf water definitely dangerous to be out in but in the sand mid up toer 70s. as we look at the calendar to here for august one more day to go. we have quite the stretch of below normal temperatures and four days with temperatures 90 or above and the month is running a degree and a half below normal. satellite and radar most of the country is quiet with the question of the deep south, there is the spin from harvey and tracking across the ohio and tennessee valley and the mid-atlantic has a long way to go and without moisture source it continues to weaken and fall apart before it quickly passes through here. tonight partly cloudy and comfy and 59 in allentown and 65 in philadelphia and 63 in millville and dover, and tomorrow again the temperatures go into the lower 80s with a mixture of sunshine and clouds and you may notice an uptick in the humidity

tomorrow compared to today but overall a nice way to round out august. >> we do have a new tropical storm, tropical storm irma just formed just to the east of the cape verde islands, winds sustained at 50 miles per hour. and we'll track this for more than a week as it works its way to the atlantic ocean and the lesser antilles as a powerful hurricane, the models are predicting this to be massive and something we have to watch for the lower 4 into next week and the following weekend. the four day at 4:00 forecast over the next four days, pretty quiet and 84 degrees and warm with an isolated shower. and blast of fall on friday and 71 and cool and rainy at times with the remnant, rains from harvey passing through and we'll see a half inch or less, no flooding issues at 68 and we clear it out on sunday with sun returning in the afternoon. we look at labor day itself. coming up in the next half hour.

>> see you in a bit adam. the programming note to pass along. abc is airing a special edition of 20/20. it will look at the devastation houston is facing and the long road to recovery. here tonight on 6 abc at 10:00. if what you see is what you get... then you've hit the jackpot. you can't fake steak. longhorn steakhouse. tonight's special, the great american steak dinner for $12.99. a center-cut sirloin with a side, plus a starter, or dessert. and for lunch, try one of our new burgers. like the bbq bacon burger.

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from our delaware newsroom you heard of the sand lot. take a look at the rock lot in wilmington part of an effort to convert vacant lot in the city for green spaces. this is located on eighth street on west street today. people gathered to celebrate and enjoy this beautiful new green space. darby borough has new expensive police equipment and it did not cost taxpayers a single dime. this is the inside and outside look at the new police vehicles. purchased for the darby police department four police cruisers

and other equipment was purchased with resources taken away from drug traffickers. the police chief and dea made the announcements this morning. it's great when it can be used to provide public safety to the community. still ahead on "action news" at 4:00, including more on the death of villanova coach rolly massimino. and more people are turning to activated charcoal for a quick detox. and is it safe? and does it help to filter out inpurities in your body.

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it is 4:30 now and "action news" continues with more on the sad breaking news this afternoon. that we just passed along. we learned that former mens villanova basketball coach rolly massimino has died. >> reporter: basketball royalty a dynamo of a coach and huge part of villanova's basketball history. he died in his home today. and led vail know of from 1973 to 1992, the defining moment came in 1995 when he led villanova to a ncaa championship victory over mighty georgetown,

a huge upset at the time. jay wright said quote, the nova nation lost a great legend and leader, we all idolized coach mass. and was coaching in florida and amassed 816 wins at the college level and was battling lung cancer and leaves behind five children, massimino dead at the age of 82. >> so many wonderful people saying wonderful things about this man. we'll have more on this throughout the evening here. >> and we turn now not latest and destructive storm that was hurricane harvey. >> officials say that at least 20 people have lost their lives over the past few days and that includes a family of six found today inside of their van that was swept away on sunday. making matters worse even more people are now at risk as harvey moves northeast along the texas louisiana border, although the skies may be clear in houston, 30% of the county is still

flooded and port arthur, texas. the situation is becoming dire with nursing homes under water and shelters being evacuated as much as four feet of water poured in today. >> water is coming in from ever angle. coming from the bathroom. it's coming in from the back door and the front door. >> more than 32,000 people are now living in shelters across texas. at last check more than 13,000 people have been saved in houston and the sounding area. that includes a philadelphia nate of that recently moved to orange texas with her daughter. walter perez is joining us and we got an update with latoya williams. we received a text that the family has been evacuated after a frightening few days in a small texas city near the louisiana border. here is a look at their experience including a phone conversation we had with the

victim in orange, texas. >> it's still raining in orange, texas where char main's daughter and granddaughter moved. and charmaine says they are in trouble. >> they have no power and the food is limited now and everything has to be cooked and they have babies there and the babies need milk. >> we spoke with what toy and saw these views from her living room. she took an entire family into her second floor apartment. after the home was flooded. that means four adults and five children are stranded in her home. >> our parking lot was flooded yesterday. and the roads, the main roads were flooded and a lot of us couldn't get to the markets once they opened. we are pretty much stuck. >> you guys are running out of food basically? >> yes. >> latoya says that making

matters worse rescuers were making their way toward her apartment building and turned back fearing for their safety. we are reaching out to people to come and get us. >> anyone time a boat comes someone comes out. >> the worst part is the feeling of helplessness, knowing she can't help her loved one. >> i hope they get the help they need, there is ale lot of people strapped there. >> we found that latoya williams and her daughter were evacuated. we are not sure where. >> grateful for the happy ending thank you. >> we are seeing more examples of people putting themselves at great risk to help strangers and

a cn in journalist that drove his truck into a flooded ravine. >> monday morning we learned we had to evacuate and i called chick-fil-a and that sounds funny -- >> get out! >> that was the voice of the photo journalist recording the scary scene from the reporter and producer went running over to the truck, they used a power cord to pull the drive toward safety after the truck sunk to the water, the man named as jerry somerall as they went live on the air. >> want to thank these guys for saving my life. >> he evacuated before harvey hit his coastal town was taken back to his motel in a different truck and his vehicle actually floated away. >> an elderly couple in houston is trying to locate jet ski riding heroes that helped them

escape their flooded home. carol and j.c. said they were okay for the first few days of harvey and then their home started to fill with water. >> monday morning we realized we had to evacuate and get out of there. so i called chick-fil-a, i know that sounds kind of funny and ordered two chicken burritos and a boat. and can you believe one of the managers sent her husband to pick us up. >> i will try that next time. they are safe now with their family and the spencers are eturnly grateful and love to thank that manager and their water craft heroes. >> there are more local volunteers on their way to lend a helping hand in texas. "action news" caught up with one of those volunteers at philadelphia international airport before she caught a flight to dallas. major claire ann was with the

salvation army of pennsylvania for 39 years before retiring but still volunteers in retirement. she is headed to the area to provide emotional and spiritual support to survivors of the floods. >> i will just talk to people and see how they are doing and feeling, and validate those feelings because a lots of times especially later on people think okay you should be doing better at this point. where it's going to be a long lon process. >> she says she also served at katrina hit 12 years ago. we know manufacture you want to help the many people devastated by the storm. abc is hosting a network wide day of giving tomorrow. 6 abc will have a phone bank to call in with donations all proceeds will go to the american red cross, again that is tomorrow starting at 4:00 p.m. right here on "action news." back here at home a rather fall like day out there today.

but picture perfect and beautiful out. as we look at date today a lot of sunshine and big difference from yesterday and if you are at the shore and this is your last week to be down there before school starts for some of the students, it was nice on the sand. however, you want to listen to the lifeguards and high risk for rip current as long the shore here including the beaches down in delaware, due to that storm that passed through yesterday ramping up to the east still creating some pretty powerful waves. as we look at sky 6 hd in cape may folks are back in the sand soaking in the sunshine and breakers are meaning business and the period swells of near 10 seconds or so. continue to generate the rip currents, water temperatures, 72

thousand off surf city and atlantic city down to cape may. mid-60s in the bay and down towards rehoboth beach and the water temperatures are inviting and do want to remind you even going into the day tomorrow. the national weather service say that rip currents remain on the moderate side and maybe subsiding during the day tomorrow. when i come back we'll talk about the seven-day forecast and the weekend that starts rocky and gets better. >> thank you. a brand new way of treating cancer, now has the green light from the federal government. it's a method developed with major help from the experts at two local hospitals, rick williams is live now in the newsroom with more on this today. >> hi sharrie, thank you. could be a big break through here the fda approved the first therapy to tackle childhood leukemia, it's new era in cancer

care. penn is at the forefront of this. and we'll talk to local experts making this happen and more details on how it works and who it could help. one of the stories following for you and much more on the passing of coaching legend rolly massimino. until then back to the studio and sharrie we'll see you later. >> thanks rick. kids enjoyed ice cold treats in south jersey courtesy of of the cumberland county prosecutors office. the cops, kids and cones policing initiative held at the chestnut square apartments in vineland, ice-cream and water ice was given out to the kids all for free and how about some beach balls? they were made possible with grants in honor of police officer matthew tar tino who die fire department a cash crash in may.

don't hit the messenger, it's time to hit the books including for college students. at blue bell the returning students are the griffin quintuplets. they all graduated from souderton high school in june and starting on their college career together. >> good to see them the first day of college is here. still to comma mated ice-cream. the role that robots are playing in dessert and vitamins to beauty products, you have likely seen activated charcoal popping up in products is it safe? and does is it work? >> and plus is it a sign of sexism or a sign of respect. that is what one blogger is asking about an age old wedding tradition.