authorities are already trying to assess damage on islands like saint martin and guadeloupe. and taking a serious toll on puerto rico. the big question in this country where will irma hit the u.s.? preparations are well underway in florida. 25,000 people have already evacuated the florida keys and broward county is under a voluntarily evacuation recommendation. there say rush on stores and gas stations and florida obviously is preparing fort worst. lets get the latest on the storm from meteorologist, cecily tynan. >> the focus is on florida but anyone from florida up to the carolinas needs to start preparing for the storm. this storm system has not lost any of its power. it rakes through the northern leeward islands through the british virgin islands and you can see that eye wall still clearly defined and north of puerto rico and continues to push north northwest and this

storm system is still 400 miles across and making the beeline to the turks and caicos island next on its path. the sustained hurricane force winds are compact about 50 miles from the eye. and puerto rico is avoiding the worst of the storm. and turks and caicos is not as lucky they are getting a direct hit and the northeast quadrant of the storm the strongest part they could be dealing with a storm surge above 20 feet and then it gets into the southern bahamas, looks like it will be north of cuba, that is great news for cuba but bad news for the u.s. because the ocean temperature in the upper 80s, it's like jet fuel to a storm and really not weakening much. this is the latest track from the hurricane center, taking it through the turks and caicos

islands as a catastrophic category five and making the turn and hitting near miami. however, you need to look at the cone of uncertainty. 175 miles wide and western florida and eastern florida and even the carolinas could get hit. >> all right cecily lets go to philadelphia international airport and "action news" reporter, sara bloomquist. you met up with passengers what are they saying? >> reporter: jim, they are primarily concerned when they will be able to go home and what they will find. the airports are racing to get ahead of of hurricane irma, they added larger planes to get as many people out of florida as possible. any remaining tickets are for sky high prices and people arriving in our region say they felt lucky to get out ahead of the storm. >> everybody was trying to get out. here at the atlantic city

airport. passengers arrived from orlando this morning. among them students from the university of miami. now back home again in new jersey. >> category five hurricane pretty much everyone evacuated. >> i just started at the university of miami. already a couple of weeks later i'm back in new jersey due to the hurricane. >> janelle is the reigning miss miami. she arrived to see the miss america pageant. hurricane irma is on her mind. >> because of what happens in houston, people are concerned and they have seen the devastation so close and the potential that this has to cause something like that. >> at philadelphia international airport passengers arrived with tails to tell of preparations of the storm underway. >> everybody is buttoning up and moving out and running out of water and gas lines are high.

>> went to the store yesterday to buy some milk and bread, three supermarkets, everything was wiped out. no water, nothing. >> they are wondering when they will get home and what they will see when they return. >> they don't know what to expect. we are suppose to go back on sunday and we are not sure what is going to happen. >> now american airlines is canceling all saturday and sunday flights into and out of miami and ft. myers and sarasota. all of these airlines want to get their fleets out of south florida. many airlines say they are not increasing ticket prices but prices fluctuate even in good weather, it's all based on supply and demand and demand is high on hurricane irma's arrival. >> all right sara. first harvey and now irma.

the affects of an active hurricane season are showing up in the delaware valley in the form of higher gas prices. one bp gas station is selling a gallon of regular for nearly $4 than is on the high end and gas jumped 40 to 50 cents since hurricane harvey hit the gulf. >> the approach of irma means more action for the pennsylvania task force, it's an extraordinary team that has already seen extraordinary duty with harvey and now back to work with irma. vernon odom has the story. >> reporter: 41 more members of pennsylvania task force one answered the call this morning to head south in anticipation of the devastation hurricane harvey is expected to rain down on florida. they are hooking up with the roughly 41 other task force members you saw last week who went to houston in the wake of

hurricane harvey. >> task force one has been to world trade center and rita and katrina. and all the big storms. >> search and rescue efforts will be deployed to missions in florida. >> we'll go assess damage and i'll do search in the water, in the water. and buildings. and after that anything else they need me to do. >> going into irma it's possible they will do your ban search and rescue and water rescue and wilderness rescue. >> that monster is terrorizing the southern atlantic. four k-9s are included with crucial skills. >> they look for one particular odor. like a dog that sniffed out cocaine, our dog sniffs out live human scent and that sauldo.

>> we have seen a lot. and this is bigger than a lot. >> they should arrive in alabama at 6:00 in the morning and then they wait and see what mother nature's fury will do to florida at this time. i'm vernon odom, in northeast philadelphia. >> dozens of new jersey national guard members are deploying to florida to provide emergency response support. 100 members of the 253 transportation company based in cape may are ask expected to arrive in central florida by friday and tracking the path of hurricane irma on the 6 abc app. we'll alert you to any updates as the storm progresses and get the latest from our team of meteorologist can on any possible impact here. the 6 abc app is a free download for your mobile device. >> a reward is now offered in the double murder of a mother and son in south jersey. burlington county prosecutors,

the fbi and local police returned to the scene of the crime today to announce a $25,000 reward for information leading to an arrest. it's 38-year-old and her 6-year-old son. they were stab the to death inside of their fox meadow apartment in maple shade in march. the suspect arrested for the man in haverford township in july has been formerly charged. derek rollins was arraigned today in havertown district court for the shooting death of john lee. investigators are trying to determine a motive. rollins is also accused of firing a gun at people in the over brook section of philadelphia the same day. u.s. marshals captured rollins in decatur, georgia last month. the north carolina woman that admits to plotting to join isis has been sentenced to time

behind bars. she told the judge she is not an evil person but was misled. thomas was arrested in 2015. and she pleaded guilty last year for one count of attempting to provide amaterial support to a terrorist organization. and pennsylvania and delaware were among 15 states including the district of columbia, to file a lawsuit seeking to end president trump's plan to end daca. it protects young immigrants from deportation. josh shapiro says is forced to act because a failure of leadership both by president trump and by congress to fix our broken immigration system. meanwhile, protesters demonstrated outside of local offices of several members of congress including ryan costello's office in wyomissinw. >> every daca citizen i know

consider themselves american too, because they grew up here. >> she moved to berks county when she was 6, from el salvador. and they protested outside of charlie dent's office. and we'll have more on the daca decision fallout and the latest on hurricane irma has is churned towards the united states, that is next at 6:30 after "action news." coming up on "action news" tonight. camden students head back to class and a new initiative to increase school attendance. and eagles quarterback carson wentz talking about why he is more prepared going into his second season. >> it has been a wet and cool day and stormtracker 6 live double scan showing more showers around and i'm tracking another batch of downpours later tonight and i'll let you know when we dry out and the latest on hurricane irma. >> those stories and more when "action news" continues tonight.

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yesterday it was philadelphia and today it happened on the other side of the delaware river. school bells ringing out for the first time in camden. katherine scott was there for day one. >> it's going to go great. >> the first day of school in the camden city school district students were brimming with enthusiasm. >> i got up early and got dressed and went right to school. >> the superintendant and the mayor welcomed arriving families. standing tall a giant poster board and children signed their name making the perfect

attendance pledge. even at their young ages many children know the importance of showingp. >> the kids that are absent, sometimes they don't know too much when the kids are learning more. >> there is a lot that goes on within the school building throughout the school year and our children deserve to be here every day and it's important to get their children here and get the educational process started. >> this is not about legitimate sick days but a part of the ongoing effort to tackle absenteeism throughout the district. missing just two days of school in the month put children at risk of falling behind in reading and math and eventually dropping out. and the program included home visitors for the most chronically absent visits. for different reasons some families need extra support. >> a trauma and care approach,

outside of classroom factors can be quite significant in the trajectory of our students. >> those that make the pledge get free back to school haircuts and gift cards and a chance to win tickets to the sixers game. >> once again this year the district is holding a perfect attendance carnival at the end of the year for kids that missed one day or less. katherine scott, channel 6 "action news." to those who'd say the grass is greener on the other side.. i politely disagree. pennington smart seed. guaranteed to grow with 30% less water. reclaim your turf.

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.

i think the heart of eagles fans are beating faster a little harder because we are getting closer. >> it's game week how can you not? it's exciting, hump day today and closer to the weekend and the eagles season opener, sunday they kick off the campaign in washington and jeff skversky with what it means for their quarterback on the first wentz day of september. >> they are all manufacture

wins. >> time for the eagles to kick it into high gear. carson wentz will be thrown to the fire on sunday against washington. he believes he is much more prepared heading into his second season. >> mentally i'm more kind of at peace and at a good place and a comfort level but at the same time i felt prepared last year. >> carson is more confident and comfortable with what we are doing offensively and comfortable with the guys around him. >> more comfortable and more vocal than he was. and everything he is doing is great for our football team. this is what we need especially from that position. >> to help get ready for washington wentz and the coaches studied the games last year when they lost to have washington. wentz was sacked fine times and it still eat as way at him.

>> the losses are frustrating and you watch the tape from last year, we realize shoot we didn't play too well but at the end of the game we had opportunities but didn't pull it out. >> and the eagles did not have lane johnson he was suspected for both games you about the right tackle is ready to right the ship. >> last season you put the losses and me not being with the team and new year and lets get started the right way. >> coach peterson says they will be aggressive with their play calling that must get them their first win. and the dolphins were here practicing with the eagles a few weeks ago looking forward to their season opener but it has to wait as their game wednesday the bucks is canceled because of the hurricane. and jt crawford back for an encore. he made his major league debut and knocked his first major league hit aande called it a drm

come true. the phillies beat the mets 9-1 and game three of four is tonight. >> and the phillies made a deal, for -- and sixers open training camp in a few weeks and brett brown preparing for the third annual coaches clinic holding at the complex next tuesday. it's for coaches of all levels and ages. and hopes to make a difference for those wanting to learn his tools of the trade. >> everybody coaches different ages and levels and have gym times available to them you hope you cover enough generic fundamentals and philosophical type discussions and give them something to be filing like they are a little bit better. >> go ahead. >> he has a hemingway thing. i was going to say grizzly adams. >> it's his offseason beard.

>> two living philadelphia sports legends were among those honored today at the john juan amaker awards. dawn stanley, three time gold medalist and ncaa championship coach received the award, and former temple coach john cheney received the lifetime achievement award and mayor kenney talked about the tremendous impact they had on the city and the athletes following in their footsteps.

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cecily tynan pulling double duty in the tri-state area but also the path of irma. >> and that really is the big

story. here dark and groomy. and the scene over the ben franklin bridge, the clouds are in place clearing out tomorrow and our weather is improving and the big story is hurricane irma. if you look at this infrared is the light you see that irma has not lost strength at all. it's a record. it's had maximum sustained wins of 185 miles per hour for more than 24 hours, that has not happened in the history of the atlantic basin. the pressure has fallen, it was 920, and down to 914, that is a sign that the hurricane is strengthening and moving north northern west at 16 miles per hour and the maximum wind gusts around the center of the eye 225 miles per hour. this is a powerful hurricane already blamed for two deaths and everyone is asking me where will it hit in the u.s.? i want to show you this.

this is the cone of uncertainty. this shows the track based on when it makes the turn to the right. it could hit the west coast of florida, and could hit the east coast and could hit north to the outer banks of the carolinas, so the southeast united states really needs to watch irma. the best case scenario would be if it picks up and takes it out but the trough looks not to be strong enough or deep enough but broad high pressure over tuesday. this brings us the beautiful weekend and hurricanes take the path of least resistance and a high pressure over us and one over texas and that will help texas, this will help funnel irma to the northeast. this is not a sandy for us. not get here. we don't have that setup but the southeast coast has to watch and prepare for the impact of probably at least a cat four

hurricane. back at home. storm-showing we have rain out there in fact we have heavy rain moving into cape may even a rumble of thunder. it's not over yet. that front has just stalled over us. and it continues to usual up over us through the evening hours, and what a difference a day makes it feels 20 degrees cooler than yesterday. low to mid-60s. satellite and radar shows that the front has stalled and that is the next batch of rain tonight and this front is clearing out tomorrow. future tracker 6 showing by tonight some thunderstorms across the jersey shore and tomorrow morning lots of clouds to start the day by the afternoon the sunshine is back and a lot of sunshine through the weekend into early next week. the exclusive accuweather seven-day forecast, mixture of sun and clouds and low humidity. and friday partly sunny and 73 and nice for the temple game at the link on saturday and bump it up to 74 on sunday and monday

mixture of clouds and sunshine and looks like the clouds will thicken through the day and 74 and wednesday could get some remnant rain from irma. talking about light rain realry going to miss the bigger impact of the storm with a high of 74 degrees and i'll have another update on "action news" tonight at 11:00. >> cecily thank you. abc world news tonight on channel 6. and "action news" continues at 10:00 on phl 17: and please join us for "action news" at 11:00 on channel 6. for cecily tynan, jaime apody and the entire "action news" team. i'm jim gardner we hope you'll join us for "action news" at 11:00.

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tonight, breaking news. hurricane irma, turning deadly. the category 5 storm, 185 miles per hour, headed for florida. new video coming in tonight, slamming into the caribbean right now. tonight the prime minister of one island just reporting at least 90% of the island destroyed, buildings and cars. american tourists huddling in hotels. the new track tonight -- which scenario will play out in florida. ginger zee standing by as several other states brace for impact too. states of emergency in south carolina and now north carolina tonight as well. running on empty. millions of americans heeding the warnings. fuel running out. traffic backed up. airlines canceling flights. and the cruise lines with ships at sea. also breaking tonight, the de