>> i was just utterly shocked that a $200 toy almost destroyed a house. carol: a christmas present blame for starring a house fire. not the first way of its time to make a mesmichael: we begin with weather, flash flooding affecting the south and midwest. severe weather has killed at least 45 people nationwide over the last week. tonight, all eyes on the mississippi river. it is expected to reach close to 15 feet above flood stage on thursday. carol: and closer to home, because the rain let up this morning, sky 4 could give us a view of what the storm left behind. the clean-up is just beginning, today, people were out cleaning up a muddy mess in biltmore village in asheville. michael: meteorologist chris justus, in tonight for john. chris, more rain tomorrow? chris: one more day of warm temperatures and one more day of rain. it is starting to set up towards the west. the front that gave us the torrential, driving rain last night is over columbia.

-- out to sea, we will get a lot of rainfall tomorrow. we'll have had flooding reports at home, landslides in the mountains, and because of the saturated soil and the rain tomorrow, we have a flood watch in effect until thursday at 7:00 a.m. let me's -- let me timeout the rain for you. rain free now, but by 4:00 a.m., scattered showers move in burien the rain will pick up as the day goes on. some showers will be heavy. a blanket of rain across anderson. by lunchtime, solid, driving rainfall. the yellows and reds indicate one-two inch rain rates per hour. very wet out there throughout the day. then it gets cold. the next eight hours in greenville, weibel stay dry -- we will stay dry.

more on the forecast coming up. michael: in asheville, flooding, power outages, and several rescues. the rain overnight took a toll. firefighters had to save a family in a minivan after swannanoa river road flooded. they were able to throw the family life jackets, and help bring them to safety. there was flooding elsewhere as well. sweeten creek road, part of lyman street, and dupree circle, among others also flooded. in a mobile home park, a man had to be saved by boat. >> the fire department and city of asheville came out, and got me out on a raft boat. they came around and put a jacket on me, and got me right out, no problem at all. michael: although the water has receded, the asheville fire department will keep barricades expected. receding. this morning, folks at caroland overflowed, spilling onto the land around it. thankfully, all of the farm's cattle were moved to safety, so far, it doesn't look like any equipment was damaged, either, but farm manager matt rainey

the crops here were affected. >> everythiung is early planted. we won't really know what kind of effect it has until later in the year. most of the pastures for the cows will be fine. so, yeah, it's a waiting game now. hopefully, the rain that's coming tomorrow doesn't cause too much more flooding. carol: other properties around landrum, and just over the line in north carolina, had significant flooding, too. a portion of highway 14 had to be shut down while crews worked to clear it. michael: tonight, the national weather service confirmed a tornado yesterday in union county, north carolina, this is just east of charlotte. winds were at 80 to 85 miles per hour. now, we're getting a first look at the damage. it made a mess, but no injuries are rererted. carol: and d when bad weather hits, you can turn to the wyff 4 mobile app for the latest weather updates, including live radar. the app is free to download, and available in both apple and android stores. michael: here we are less than

and tonight, there's breaking news out of florida. carol: we are hearing reports that a few players have been sent home. for the latest on this development, let's turn things over to wyff news 4's sports director, brad fralick. brad? what happened? brad: that is the case tonight. around 9:00, we learned three clemson players have been sent home from south florida for what is being reported as a failed drug test. they will not play in the orange bowl. dabo swinney will meet with the media first thing tomorrow morning, so we will hear from him on this first thing out of the gate tomorrow. here's what we know. freshman wide receiver deon cain, senior placekicker ammon lakip and junior tight and jay jay mccullough have been sent drug test. clemson will be without them thursday against oklahoma. what does that mean? deon cain has lost some did to a productive receiver.

he has become a threat for the team and has contributed a lot. he caught touchdowns in five games. ammon lakip missed the first part of the year due to a drug infraction. since coming back, he has contributed extra points. jay jay mccullough has not played much this year. the untamable make an impact. clemson will miss him on the offensive side. ammon lakip has not made as big of an impact as last year. ammon lakip will be out, then jay jay mccullough has not contributed much this year. that is what we know so far. they will not play in the orange bowl. today was media day. we had a little fun this morning at the stadium. you will see more of that coming up in sports. live in south florida, brad fralick, wyff news 4. michael: the big clemson playoff

and before that time, wyff news 4 is airing an hourlong special covering their playoff appearance. it's called "road to the title." it is airing wednesday night, at 7:00. carol: our sports team will be live from miami with a preview of the game, and a recap of the clemson tigers' undefeated regular season. if you're a tigers fan, this is something you don't want to miss. an upstate family is dealing with thousands of dollars in damage, after a hoverboard exploded in their home. michael: it happened this afternoon, on windrush lane in greenville. fire officials say, if the family had not been there at the time, the whole house would have likely burned to the ground. wyff news 4's liz lohuis has the report tonight. >> we got there, it was black smoke. we couldn't see in front of our faces. liz: an upstate family is thanking local firefighters tonight for keeping this house standing. crews arrived just two minutes after a call came in that a hoverboard, identical to this one, exploded in the living room.

the batteries went in one area, 15 feet. it blew to 25 feet. it blew apart. it disintegrated. liz: the family had two smart wheel balance hoverboards. they were christmas presents. after the fire, they handed over the second one. >> i personally do not think they are safe. there has not been enough testing on them. any friends i have, i am going to g ge them a phone call, and say they may want to return them. liz: lieutenant christopher walker with the mauldin fire department says, these hoverboards have the same battery power of a golf cart. >> i was just utterly shocked that a $200 toy almost destroyed a house. liz: the owner of the home did not want our crew to take pictures of the damage, but we were allowed inside to look at it. a chair had exploded into a big ball of feathers, and soot covered the walls. >> had they not been home, with the intensity of the electricity that came out of the hoverboard, and the furniture that was burning, they probably would have lost their home. liz: there have been at least 22 other hoverboard fires reported in the nation.

first one for south carolina. liz lohuis, wyff news 4, in greenville. carol: republican presidential candidate george pataki has ended his presidential bid. he made the announcement during a commercial that aired tonight, right here on wyff 4. pataki received less than 1% support in the most recent wmur-cnn granite state poll. and later in the newscast, who south carolina representative trey gowdy has endorsed for the 2016 republican presidential nomination. michael: in anderson tonight, police tell us to dogs attacked three men. police say it happened at the intersection of osborne avenue and shirley street, just before 7:00. the men were on top of a truck when the officers got there. police say the dogs then chard at the officers. the 2 dogs were then shot and killed. police say one man suffered extensive injuries, and may need surgery. minor injuries for the other two. tonight police are looking for , the owner of the dogs.

rabies. carol: a man was found dead inside his easley home today. pickens county deputies found him inside his home on planters way, around 12:30 this afternoon. they say a neighbor called 911 after seeing the victim through a window. deputies say he suffered a gunshot wound to his chest. the coroner has identified the victim as clarence holcombe. his death has been ruled a homicide. michael: in greenville county, deputies say a woman was shot at mountain trace town homes on buttercup way in taylors. they tell us she was taken to the hospital with non-life-threatening injuries. deputies say former roommates had gotten into a fight that led to the gunfire. authorities have not yet released the identity of those involved. carol: chicago police officer jason van dyke pleaded not guilty in court today. you may recall, he's been charged with first-degree murder. van dyke shot 17-year-old laquan mcdonald 16 times in 2014. he's been free on $1.5 million bond. van dyke was arrested in november. it came just just hours before dash cam video of the shooting went public.

both are accused of plotting eve. investigators say they planned to target several places, including brussels' busy main square. searches turned up isis propaganda material, and military-type training uniforms. no explosives or weapons were found. the arrests are not linked to last month's terror attacks in paris. carol: a "glee" actor is in trouble with the law. mark salling was arrested today on suspicion of possessing child pornography. this morning, officials served a search warrant at his home. the 33-year-old was booked into a downtown los angeles jail. salling is best known for playing noah "puck" puckerman on "glee." michael: the fbi has joined the investigation into a deadly plane crash in alaska. investigators say the plane hit a building, and then crashed into another building. one person was killed in this. officials say the small plane belongs to the civil air patrol. they're a civilian auxiliary of the u.s. air force.

volunteers who help in search and rescue efforts. officials say there were high winds at the time the plate and down. florida. it shows an 84-year-old woman's purse being stolen, while she was praying. you can see the thief standing sunday. he then sneaks up to the woman, who had her eyes closed, and grabs her purse. the crook then quickly ran out the door. cemetery, but the victim's money and wallet were missing. the thief has not been caught. michael: some frying pans do not belong on your stove. they could prove dangerous to you and your family. a recall to tell you about. chris: 20 degrees warmer today than we should have been. 52 the average high. we tied a record set in 1984, 72 degrees. more of the forecast in the

announcer: one candidate tough enough to take on the bully... jeb bush: donald, you'rereot going to be able to insult your way to the presidency. that's not going to happen. (applause) announcer: one candidate tough enough to take on isis. jeb will destroy isis... and keep america safe. jeb bush: the united states should not delay in leading a global coalition to take out isis with overwhelming force. announcer: tested and proven leadership matters. jeb bush.

south carolina representative trey gow michael: south carolina representative trey gowdy has announced who he's endorsing for the 2016 presidential nomination. he announced his support for marco rubio today. gowdy was campaigning with the freshman senator from florida, in south carolina. >> nationasecurity and public safety are the most important issues to me. and there is nobody better on those two issues than marco rubio.

give us a commander in chief to fill out march madness basketball brackets, or to sample every golf course on the eastern seaboard. michael: gowdy is a key member of the republican party. he is the chairman of the select committee on benghazi. carol: a close call between a drone and president obama. officials say this man flew a drone near president obama's motorcade. the incident happened yesterday in hawaii. the president is on vacation with his family. he was ordered to ground his drone. officials say the man did not know the motorcade was in the area. he will not face charges. michael: macy's is recalling more than 120,000 martha stewart frying pans. rivet covers on the 8 and 10-inch pans can pop off, and literally fly across your kitchen. that's according to the consumer product safety commission. they say at least three people have received minor injuries from all this. if you have the frying pans, you should return them to macy's for credit.

for you to give back this christmas. we're once again partnering with the greenville health system for the children's hospital virtual toy drive. you'll find a link on wyff4.com. you can give any dollar amount you can afford. every penny makes a difference. you can also donate other items that help in the care and treatment of children. michael: if you love the colors the sun brings to the sky when it sets, here is a gift for you. a google analyst spent around 40 hours taking 5,000 pictures. in the end, he created this night skies time-lapse. absolutely beautiful. he is in and's -- and astronomy enthusiast who took the photos through november. almost all the images are taken in the u.s, with some taken in kenya. >> now, your live super doppler 4 hd weather forecast. chris: check out the low we bottomed out at 58 in

had recently. in fact, this morning was warmer. these lows were an hour ago. it is cooling down with clear skies. we had a muggy kind of warm air out their earlier. that is where we were this afternoon, 70 everywhere. 20 degrees above where we should be. clouds are trying to movovinto the area. another system moving back in. you can see the rain setting up to the south. this is headed our way tonight into tomorrow, especially i lunchtime tomorrow. the front that gave us rain yesterday is set up towards columbia. instead of moving up to see, it got hung up in columbia. we will see rainfall as another system rides along the front. the live super doppler scanning the area, not picking up a drop of rain. we do have a few watches and warnings across the area because of the rain that has fallen. in hendersonville, a flood warning for clear creek, french

then, that goes to saturday. towards anderson, we have a flood watch for areas everywhere else there, from asheville to anderson to greenwood. the flood watch goes until 7:00 a.m. on thursday. no rain and laurens, but that will soon change. currently 63 degrees. cooler than we have been dealing with. the low in greenville, 50 four. 54 and spartanburg, 53 and asheville, 45 in franklin. temperatures warm slightly by tomorrow with clouds and warmer air moving in.tomorrow morning, temperatures in the 60's. a backwards couple days. 55 tomorrow morning in in spartanburg. tomorrow, we will see clouds and thunder.

in spartanburg, starting off into the 60's, warming into the middle 60's. anderson, we warm up to the upper 60's with a clap or two of thunder. in asheville, heavy rainfall from time to time, low 60's. the highs will be warmer the further south east do go. 69 for laurens and greenwood, upper 50's for asheville. nationally, a lot of cloud cover across the country. nothing like what we saw yesterday with a dynamic system, blizzard like conditions in the midwest. ricky tame right now -- pretty tame right now, but it will get juiced up by moisture from the gulf. 46 in nashville, 58 in greenville. cold air is coming. it has held off for a long time. it is bottling up and about to head our way. there is the front getting

by 1:45 tomorrow, heavy rainfall across the area. a soggy afternoon and evening. the rain continues into south again. the only problem, the front doesn't want to go too far south. we will see clouds linger thursday into friday, new year's day. we should se for -- stay rain free, though. but not before a lot of rainfall tomorrow. two ages the further south you head. an inch in greenville. no rain for the clemson-oklahoma game, temperatures 80 and sunny there. 64 degrees tomorrow, 100% chance of rain. new year's day, colder. 52 the high. upper 40's over the weekend. cold heading into next week. it is the pattern change we have talked about. winter is coming. carol: we hope you were wrong. no offense. michael: we talked about it earlier. 3 clemson players have been sent

ricardo: they failed a drug test . we had to south florida with more on the breaking news. but it wasn't all serious news at the orange bowl today, there was a some fun at media day.

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>> now, wyff news 4 sports. ricardo: there it is. take a look at sun life stadium in miami, the home of the miami dolphins. but this week, it plays home to the capital one orange bowl, and national semifinal game of the college footall playoff. -- football playoff. the end zones being painted today, as we get closer and closer to kickoff thursday at 4:00. three clemson players have been sent home early from the orange bowl. wide receiver deon cain, kicker ammon lakip, and backup tight end jay jay mccullough will not play in the orange bowl on new year's eve. for more on this breaking news tonight, we head back to south florida, where we join sports director brad fralick and marc dopher . gentlemen, good evening. brad: ricardo, how are you? you mentioned the three players that are no longer in south florida.

the orange bowl. deon cain, ammmm lakip and jay jay mccullough. let's talk about what this means. the big myths, the big guy clemson will miss, is deon cain. marc: deon cain is the second leading receiver on the team. it took him a while to get going, but once he did, he clicked off touchdowns in five consecutive games. he scored in many games. ammon lakip was suspended for the earlier part of the season points. jay jay mccullough has not played this season much. the big loss is deon cain. today. be going home. brad: they were all three at media day. i saw all three of them. deon cain did multiple interviews. let's talk about media day. florida.

brad: hundreds of media, tv cameras and reporters everywhere. literally, for a full hour, we had access to every clemson player. we talked business, but we had some fun with clemson offensive lineman eric maclain. he commandeered our microphone and talked to a quarterback about their trip to the beach. >> we can see that you are terrifically pale. did you get to tan? >> absolutely. i looked like a class of mayonnaise. >> you look good. you have the flow going. and the shoes. shadow to lebron james for the shoes -- shout out to lebron james for the shoes. good having you on the show. brad: that is just a little bit of what you can expect. marc: we have been laughing about this all day.

whole thing tomorrow at 7:00, on "road to the title," our hour-long special. you will see eric's trip around the room with our microphone. marc: it is amazing, so funny. brad: we have some news to talk about. dabo swinney will address the players sent home in the morning. but we had some fun today. we will have more on that tomorrow. ricardo: thanks, brad and marc. the georgia bulldogs completed another bowl practice this morning in jacksonville, the team also having fun in florida, visiting beaches, and taking part in a welcome dinner tonight. the taxslayer bowl against penn state takes place on january second. a top 20 matchup in the russell athletic bowl. tar heels trailed7-18. williams scores a touchdown. cuts into the baylor lead.

a record, 645 yards, jefferson with a record 299 of those yards. unc, asheville. carol: another look at the

spring. chris: if we can get one more -- get through one more day of rain. thursday will look more like winter. as the new year comes in, whether or not you want to come, it is coming. 40's for highs. january is the pattern flip. we will typically -- we will see what we typically see this type of year. carol: thank you for watching. the news continues at 4:30 in the morning. michael: we are always on wyff4.com. carol: have a good night. [captioning performed by the

caption content an announcer: one candidate tough enough to take on the bully... jeb bush: donald, you're not going to be able to insult your way to the presidency. that's not going to happen. (applause) announcer: one candidate tough enough to take on isis. jeb will destroy isis... and keep america safe. jeb bush: the united states should not delay in leading a global coalition to take out isis with overwhelming force. announcer: tested and proven leadership matters. jeb bush.