one woman almost drove right into downed power lines dangling over a road. i'm ken lemon, channel 9 eyewitness news. >> we're staying on top of power outages throughout the area, duke energy now is reporting more than 112,000 customers without power in both north and south carolina. in mecklenburg county, more than 18,000 outages. in union county, over 2,000 power outages. rutherford county, 2600. in anson county, 1500 outages. we have pictures out of south carolina of a possible funnel cloud there. we showed this picture to our meteorologists and they see rotation. authorities say they have not had any reports of storm damage. now the storms here quickly moved east and brought heavy winds and rain to raleigh and the winston salem areas. >> it sparked tornado warnings and forced unc chapel hill to

erica bryant is in the breaking news center with the latest pictures and videos coming in tonight. >> everyone was told to seek shelter as the severe weather rolled through. we have a picture to show you of students there camped out in the library waiting. waiting this storm out as it blew through. another picture taken from the school's quad as dark clouds started to roll in and move over the campus. in winston salem, you can see heavy wind pushed down trees and also brought down on power lines there. duke energy again now reporting more than 10,000 outages in that area. but so far, thankfully, we've nod heard any reports of injuries. some schools in wake county let the students out early today so they could try to get home safely before the severe weather hit. now let's go to meteorologist john ahrens who says strong winds are causing concerns tonight. the storms are long gone but the wind threat will continue.

ground's been hit so much with all this rain, it's easy. the toppled trees in this kind of environment. later on tonight, it kind of winds back down a little bit. but it's still gusting out there in spots especially at 17 to 20 miles per hour. and over night tonight in through thursday, it picks back up into the 20 to 25 miles per hour ball park. very windy outside again in charlotte tomorrow. meanwhile, out in the mountains, a totally different story, the winds gusting to 40 coming from the northwest. that's snow with cold air we could see some big time snow showers across the high country. right now a little bit of rain in stanley county and out to the west near lake norman. we'll pinpoint how much snow we're in for in the high country coming up. >> you can see a slide show of today's damage at wsoctv.com. and our minute to minute coverage throughout the day. inside our top story on the weather page. a plan could save the city

homeowners and renters extra. the city is considering eliminatinger is tan trash removal services. eyewitness news reporter tina terry is live for us now in north charlotte to explain the benefits city leaders say could come from this plan. >> reporter: that proposal is very fluid now. nothing is set in stone. we know that some people in multifamily dwellings like the one behind us here could lose city trash services. i talked to city leaders who told me this could save the city big money at a time when every dollar counts. it's a proposal that residents in local apartments and town homes are just now learning about and many aren't sold. >> in my opinion, it seems like they're nickeling and diming things to do that. >> today city council member john said a recent study showed eliminating trash removal service for homeowners and renters could mean big savings

>> if we don't have to pay for dumpsters, and contract an outside party for that. i believe we'll save a few million dollars. >> we first told you about the proposal last night. derek green showed us an email exchange with emails of solid waste services. it says the proposed change would effect all complexes with more than four units in charlotte. including those receiving curb side roll out service from city crews. as well as those on city contractor dumpster collect service. >> it's unfair. taking away a service taxpayers are paying for. one taxpayer gets the service. the other taxpayer doesn't. it creates another class system. >> budget woes make the conversation necessary. at the same time, they want to be fair. >> we're in a unique position. >> how fair is it?

i understand that. i live in a multifamily unit so that. >> opponents of this proposal say it could lead to an increase in rent as well as hoa this. the city council will meet with some opponents on friday in a forum to discuss this. reporting live in north charlotte, tina terry, channel 9 eyewitness news. detectives in charlotte told channel 9 today they are still trying to identify a kidnapping suspect caught on atm surveillance cameras. police want you to take a good look at this picture. it's very clear. they say this is one of two people who kidnapped a pizza delivery man at gunpoint in charlotte's cherry neighborhood early yesterday morning. the suspects made him withdrawal cash from atms along 85. they finally let him go in arch dale north carolina. a man accused of shooting

12-year-old son is facing new charges. robert bridges faces attempts first-degree murder, assault, and other charges, previously he faced first-degree murder charges. now police say he shot myla and jeffrey oaks last month as they were taking their son to the bus stop. myla died. investigators say there was an ongoing feud between the neighbors. channel 9 spoke to the bus driver who said she got their son on the bus. she got him to get on the bus and get to safety. and they called police at the next stop. police believe two men charged with robbing a stanley county bank are connected to a second bank robbery. james dillard and nehemiah leek are facing several charges. investigators say they robbed a bank in norwood this morning. and they believe the men also robbed a bank in oak borrow three weeks ago. >> a break-in in greensboro, our affiliate says somebody

firefighters cars at four separate stations. there's a string of cases that happened here. firefighters coming back from calls find their car windows smashed out. the latest happened sunday in fort mill. some departments had security cameras but they didn't catch the thieves. in hurtersville, firefighters began parking their trucks inside the station to prevent them from being broken into. a veteran woody williams said he would stand guard when firefighters go on calls. piedmont airlines will add 300 jobs to its operations at charlotte douglas airport. piedmont is a subsidiary of american airlines. the regional airline handles ramp operations and regional customer service for american. it'll hire managers and entry level ramp and customer service agents. the airline is accepting job applications and we put a link to the application site on wsoctv.com. just click on news and then scroll down to latest links. early trials for a zika

summer. the national institute of health told congress they need more research to better understand the mosquito born virus they think it causes severe birth defects the cdc says no infections have been transmitted by mosquitoes in the u.s. but they're investigating 14 reports of cases that may have been sexually transmitted. two banks agreed to a settlement after authorities say they defrauded hospitals, housing agencies, and governments, including mecklenburg county. this settlement involves north carolina and 21 other states. attorney general roy cooper says the bank sold investments that made it impossible for them to get their savings back. it's not clear how much mecklenburg might get back. president obama and the democratics are blasting republicans for rejecting his supreme court pick before he's even named a nominee. if the oval office today the president said he's not backing down from his constitutional duty to pick a new supreme

senate republican leaders said yesterday there would be no confirmation hearings, no vote, not even a courtesy meeting with the president's pick to replace justice antonin skalia. the supreme court's doctor revealed skalia suffered from extensive medical issues that contributed to his death. coronary artery disease, obesity, diabetes is some of the health problems. it shows there was nothing suspicious about the justice's death. today the tournament shifted the focus from basketball to the classroom. education day encouraged middle school and high school students to consider what they'll do when they graduate with a college fair today at the convention center. it gave them a chance to learn about colleges they may have never considered before. >> you never know what other college haves to offer until you talk to them about it. opportunity. and i think they should do it every year and continue to do it.

from ciaa aa schools in maryland pennsylvania and north carolina. the winds soar passed 40 miles per hour. they're going to bring a big weather change to your neighborhood. i'll pinpoint how cold it will get. spending thousands on a vacation to find out that rental you paid for does not exist. clark howard lays out how to make sure this doesn't happen to you. condemned buildings, abandoned homes, hundreds across the area. neighbors waiting and waiting for them to be demolishes.

all are eye sords. fire erupted inside this historic burke county schoolhouse this week. and it threatened the town hall next door. the abandoned building was approved for demolition last year. but delays left it sitting there. >> a channel 9 investigation uncovered hundreds of buildings on charlotte's demolition list. and john paul asked why the eye sores are still standing in some cases for years ? >> reporter: when vanessa stewart goes for a walk in her east charlotte neighborhood, she doesn't go very far.

i don't walk to the store. especially at night or in the evening. >> she's afraid of this, an abandoned burned out apartment complex on rose haven drive. it burned in september. the roof even collapsed. since then, it's sat like this. >> that right there got to go for charlotte to be a beautiful city, this shouldn't be here. >> we investigated and found this building here is just one of 300 on the city's demolition list. it was slated to come down in october but neighbors say it's been an eye sore for years. it's an absolute mess. i can't even imagine what it looks like inside. >> it's a similar story on morning drive on the city's west side. >> the demolition orders were there. then they were gone. then they're there. then they're gone. i don't know what's going on with it. the door's kicked in. windows are smashed out. there's trash everywhere. it's like a dumping ground it looks like.

it's not boarded up. it's not to code by any stretch of the imagination. that bothers me. >> we wanted to know if it's on the demolition list, what's the hold up. we went through records and found some of the buildings were on this list since 2009. >> are those buildings dangerous. >> they can be. >> why are some of these builds on the list for so long. we work with individuals to say a property is preserved. affordable housing. >> many times the hold up is so the owner can get their property up to code. >> over owner has the right to attempt to repair it. >> sometimes there are legal issues like finding a clear title or errors on the property. demolition is the last resort. on average the city tears down 50 to 100 properties every year and sends the bill to the owner so some neighbors have to wait. but not vanessa.

story, heavy equipment moved in on rose haven and the building started to come down. over on morning drive -- >> i think in this neighborhood, they just don't care to be honest. >> christina isn't holding her breath. although we're told the city could vote soon to bring this eye sore down. >> i'd love to see it gone. >> in charlotte, john paul, channel 9 eyewitness news. now the city council ultimately votes on each demolition. that's done once a month. we posted the city's full demolition list on wsoctv.com. you can look for it on the 9 investigates page and inside john's story. we're tracking strong winds across the charlotte area. even though that pick line of storms is long gone up near raleigh. check this out. right now. it was up as high as 60 in monroe earlier. now at 41. statesville. and out to the east where we might have had a tornado drop down. at least some straight line winds. wind speeds still at 35.

it kind of feels like a tropical, you know, springtime weather outside now. in the 60s in charlotte. but the cold air is trying to get in here. it's starting tommy into the high country at 50. it's 60 in statesville. we're tracking down pours around the community on live early warning doppler 9 coming down at a decent rate near norwood and norwood beach and mount gilead south of troy now. those will move east in the next 15 minutes. lake norman across denver, up through troutman, some showers, we'll push that out to the east and maybe get concord involved but more likely enochville and landis and faith later on. live early warning doppler 9 in south carolina. a good soaker a while ago. now in clover, it's pushing to the eastern parts of york county and lake wiley, tega cay is involved here and possibly steele creek as well. most of it in charlotte seeing just a beautiful sky with that

camera. you see how it's shaking. that wind is crazy outside. i don't think it's going to subside at all later tonight. future cast clears out the skies over night tonight. and don't forget the interactive radar, you can track those strong winds going around. up across the mountains, it's a different story. we'll see snow there. that won't break any of the higher elevations. but instead, we'll get the wind coming off of that. i still think it's going to be a bad windy day as far as tomorrow goes. we'll hold on to some of the mild air. get up to about 56. and then the wind will calm down tomorrow night by that time the temperatures will be dropping down in a quick way. elsewhere, in statesville, get ready for strong wind gusts, and still the potential for cooler temperatures in the lower 50s. but we're not tracking wintery weather in the foothills. it's going to be across the high country. and it's going to add up. posted.

in beach mountain. up to 6 before this is through. friday. we'll have updates on facebook and twitter. tomorrow. here's your five-day forecast, it's going to get cold eventually from all of this. and i think you'll feel it at morning. your weekend is always in view. it's going to be a great weekend. we'll warm into the mid 60s. >> the weather's been crazy. storms. our immigrations officers in charlotte targeting hispanic students on their way to school. >> on their way to the bus stop, or coming back from the bus stop. >> why some local agencies say they are going too far and what

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just into the news room, charlotte mecklenburg police say the inbound lanes of wilkinson boulevard near i-77 in west charlotte will be closed for the next three to four hours the he i have winds are causing these power poles to lean over and that's creating a pretty dangerous situation. it's also causing some outages in the area. cars are driving by with them leaning over. the outbound lanes are open now. all ready planning trips for spring break or summer vacation, a fake rental home listing could leave you without a place to stay. >> there are companies that will make sure the rental is real. >> i've got done a number of stories about people who have gotten ripped off doing vacation rentals. as you look forward to maybe doing a spring break trip or a trip this summer for you, a group of friends, or your family, one of the great ways to do that is to rent a home or

wherever you want to have fun. but the fun can end quickly if there there. somebody's put up a phony they've stolen your money. there are services in a will verify that a place you're looking to rent actually is a real rental and that it has the they thinks that have been promised. if you're going to spend thousands of dollars for a week someone. to pay someone $100 to make sure it's on the up and up sounds like a good idea. i have a list of places to use to check out to make sure a place is okay before you check in. i have it for you at clarkhoward.com. southwest airlines is the latest carrier that could be headed to cuba soon the company's ceo says it submitted an application to be one of the 20 daily road trip flights to the country. if approved, the flights could

the u.s. and cuba agreed to resume commercial flights. this afternoon, charlotte leaders had their first budget workshop to talk about priorities in the next fiscal year, leaders talked about the storm water services and transit budget today. council member john said managing growth and transportation are two of the biggest challenges going into the next year. >> our transportation network. not just cars on streets and roads but allowing people to move around the city in ways that don't necessarily require one person in one car. >> the next budget meeting is in march. oil prices climbed more than 1%.

and the nasdaq gained 39. and the nasdaq now from the news team that's covering the carolinas, this is channel 9 eyewitness news at 6:00. now at 6:00, clean up is under way after powerful storms brought multiple tornado warnings, a funnel cloud, wind gusts of up to 80 miles per hour. the wind was making a strange howling noise. >> and pounding rain, trees crushed cars, smashed homes, and knocked out power for thousands of families. the skies are clearing now. but the damage is all ready done. and the threat of those dangerous winds remains. i'm erica bryant. >> and i'm scott wickersham. in the past hour we've watched duke energy outages jump from 11,000 to more than 20,000 customers without power. since 5:00, our reporters and

every angle of the storm and first at 6:00, brittney johnson is live in meyers park where people are dealing with damage. >> this part of edge hill road is finally back open to traffic after being blocked off for ab four hours because of this. you can see the trunk of the tree that fell around 12:30 today. it's massive. it's still there. crews worked throughout the day to cult it up and clear it as it crossed the road. it fell on the other side. it knocked down another tree and a fence but thankfully no one was hurt. there were close calls in other parts of charlotte. you can see where fallen trees caused quite a bit of damage in the will more area. homeowners there told us that trees came crashing down on a car. also a condo. neighbors told us they lost power this morning and there was so much damage to the roof of a condo that was damaged that it was deemed unsafe.

a tree crashed on his home. it caused minor damage. but no one was inside at the time. we spoke to a man in the will more area who was inside of his home when the tree fell. it fell on top of his tree and porch. the tree fell very close to his bed room. >> i could hear the wind blowing real hard. as soon as i looked out the window is when the loud crash came and i was like that's not just a little tree limb. it kept coming down. now if you pass damage, cmpd is asking drivers and anyone who is out and about to be careful for the possibility of downed power lines in the area. live in south charlotte, brittney johnson, channel 9 eyewitness news. after the storm came through charlotte, it moved east triggering a tornado warnings in chesterfield county. people there spotted this funnel cloud dropping out of the sky during the height of the storm this afternoon. no reports of it ever touching the ground yet. thankfully there was only minor damage in the area. with our dual pole technology, we peeled back the