. >> we have a reporter eric waxler is on the scene. we'lltake him up live coming up later in our newscast. >> continuing our severe weather coverage is jake peterson, he's in sarasota where he's been all morning long. >> two people had to be rescued from the house e. house. >> firefighters told you earlier today, they have not seen damages like this in years. >> reporter: good morning. you go across the weather hereis this is the worse that the fire department have seen more than 20 years. this homebasically levelled. two people were inside and they weretrapped inside around 3:30. fortunately, they went to the hospital with minor injuries. neighborhood, you will see more up houses and trees are down and power lines are down as well. morning who says she has not seen anything like this. >> it happens so fast. >> i grew up in an island so i have been through a bunch of hurricane. >> this was bad. >> look at all this. >> again, we are safe. >> reporter: and again, the clean up is happening right now. we have seen sarasota county folks goi

. >>> tonight abc action news reporter eric waxler shows us how soldiers who fought for our building this car for four months now. >> reporter: racing for vets is gearing up for a 14-hour endurance race in daytona april 2nd. preparing for the track just got more difficult. ten days ago, thieves broke into their garage, stealing racing tires, tools and equipment, about $5,000 worth. >> when you're taking a veteran's tools, those tools are there to basically save their lives. they laid their life on the line overseas for us and they come back here and the people they are protecting are stealing from them. >> reporter: racing for vets mission helps veterans get involved in motorsports careers. >> some come to learn to weld or fabricate. some come to learn the race. >> reporter: for former army mechanic jason houston, it's been ideal. >> it gives me a place to come when i need to release stress, which is quite a bit. >> reporter: the theft is being while there are no arrests yet, they have strong leads. racing for vets was able to recover two of the tires and they continue to get the rid

in pasco county, eric waxler, abc action news. >>> breaking news in st. petersburg. a woman shot her boyfriend after the two got into an argument. it happened on 17th avenue south. the man was taken to the hospital. we're making calls to get his condition for you. we have a crew on the way to the scene. we will bring you more information as soon as we get it. >>> a police chase into ohio ends in flames. the one thing that a 13-year- old girl feared as she ran to call police. if he is treated like i was treated. >>> the reason the man who alerted police says he is being punished by the catholic church. >>> florida's gulf coast known for its beautiful beaches. now some of the quiet beach communities are starting to become known for something else, designer drugs. we will tell you a little bit about what one community is >> an abduction leads to a fiery crash in ohio. a 13-year-old says the man pulled up asking if she had seen his lost dog. she had a bad feeling and told her dad to call 911. the van took off reaching speeds of 100 miles per hour. this fire forced the dr

eric waxler, abc action news. >> thank you, eric. >>> a florida woman who sued casey anthony for defamation accused of stealing a cancer patient's credit card. gonzales is charged with credit card theft and grand theft. deputies say she stole the card from a motel in tess where a 64- year-old man was living while receiving cancer treatment at a nearby hospital. deputies say she spent about $850 at stores around kissimmee and orlando. >>> now the most accurate weather team in florida. abc action weather. >> everybody is dealing with a lot of folks are stranded out on a can cal cruz ship. >> yeah. the port is closed because of the fog. it will be two or three more hours before the fog burns off. the carnival paradise can't get in. so the people on there can't get off and the people who are waiting to go the next day have had to bump that down to a three-day cruise because of the weather. it is nasty, cloudy and rainy. we had flooding in south tampa in the last hour. the showers are still coming in from the gulf. the back edge is up there. we will see heavier rain moving into polk county and m

. >> eric waxler is taking action for you. revealing the steps that could save you thousands of dollars >> i opened up the door, water comes streaming out of the apartment. >> reporter: she came home to a shocking surprise. >> water so high it was ankle deep. >> reporter: it happened in july of 2014 after investigators say this man, michael evans, replaced a water heater in the apartment above. he claim today have proper credentials but he wasn't licensed at all and didn't use the right pipes for hookup. what scared her dogs were alone >> everything is okay. >> reporter: before it stopped, the massive leak rained down on goldman's apartment doing $50,000 in damage. >> the kitchen was destroyed because all of my cabinets were warped. the ceiling, i had holes in the ceiling in the living room and in the hallway. >> reporter: goldman was forced to live in a hotel for six months before repairs covered by insurance were done. experts say there are many them. >> whether it's doing your roof or a plumbing job or electrical or even so

. >> eric waxler shows us the latest victim of this scam. >> i was looking at the security camera and i was like it's that guy i saw on the news. >> reporter: they are known for great food and clever signs. they also trust their customers. >> we tend to believe the best. and we don't want to accuse anyone. >> reporter: but thursday when the register came up short, tony checked surveillance video and found this, a man ordering a drink at the dessert bar. he is given change. watch him slip 20 of it in his and polite. >> reporter: the slight of hand the extra cash. it's got to be the same person brandon two days earlier. because his sister-in-law's >> same hand motion. same everything. really sneaky. >> no doubt in your mind. >> no doubt. >> reporter: at the end of the day it's not just about the money but he wonders how many other places this restaurant robber hit. >> we want people to understand that 20 bucks, it's out of someone's pocket. the repercussions, he's probably not thinking about the person on the other end. >> reporter: tampa police are investigating. but now that there's e

in new port richey, eric waxler, abc action news. >> and if you would like to join keith's cause, we have a link on this story on our facebook page right now, as well as our website, abcactionnews.com. . >>> looking outside, we definitely have a lot of clouds out there. those clouds aren't going anywhere for the next 24 hours. we've seen more clouds of late over the last several days, but eventually late tonight into tomorrow, first we get some rain, then we potentially get heavier thunderstorms. that is still in terms of the timing, we're pretty solid on that. it is going to be a morning into the early afternoon thing. the bigger question is severe chance of some isolated severe storms, maybe even a quick tornado, much like what happened in the naples area last week. but in terms of a widespread situation, we simply don't see that happening. what we do expect, though, will be some heavier rain, some strong storms, more than likely midmorning through early afternoon, although i do think our northern and coastal counties could pick up storms just a little bit earlier, even possibly ar

we start with eric waxler in duet with family members that escaped injury -- late this afternoon. tornado were here, going through the rubble, helping with the cleanup, steven wilson, who is parents died in the tornado, he was there sifting through the rubble. he has a major cut on his tag. his young son was here, bruised up as well. it all happened when the mobile home they were sleeping in early yesterday morning was ripped from its foundation. >> >> an american flag hangs in the barn that turns out to be a sanctuary. steven wilson and four children wilson's parents did not survive. his father, steve, crushed in the debris. his mother, kelly died from an apparent heart attack on the way to the hop. yesterday, a neighbor talked to us about kelly's final moments. >> she kept trying to get up and we kept telling her to lay still. >> reporter: today crews were here recovering the transformer that fell to the ground when the tornado snapped the utility pole. the wreckage is still everywhere, family and neighbors have worked for hours >> so many personal items that including shoes, books and

but as abc action news reporter eric waxler shows us, it serves aa warning about who could be knocking on your door. >> reporter: ron donnelly says these two guys picked the wrong place to come looking for money. one of four retired police officers who live on this seminole street. there's also an active pinellas county deputy right next door. >> they better be more careful. >> reporter: investigators with the partnership lass county sheriff's office say they arrested the two for door to door sales without a permit. but they are also suspected of fraud. investigators say they were hitting neighborhoods all over the county. in some cases selling what appeared to be bogus magazine subscriptions. on ron's street they were collecting money for high >> he said to some people hockey and some people soccer. >> reporter: it turns out they are both 21. after their arrest, deputies found collected cash from so- called customers and documents from the magazine subscriptions. ron says his neighborhood might have been targeted because there are no working street they think they were casing the cash

abc eric waxler is showing you how to protect yourself and your property. >> reporter: the fbi calls it the fastest growing crime in america. a scam where someone files a fraudulent quick claim deed to steal homes. in one case reported by the miami harold the woman was forced out of a house that the family owned for decades, leaving her homeless. >> the judge ordered that the house go back to her. in the meantime everything that she owned was thrown out. it was six, seven months of unnecessary pain for her. >> reporter: scammers often target homes belonging to owners who have died, using a fake notary and forged signatures to transfer ownership. the home is sold to a legitimate buyer who is not aware that anything is wrong. paula o'neil is hoping a new fraud alert system will keep those types of scams from something is being recorded in their name in the official records, they can check it. >> reporter: you will be notified with any official record is filed in your name. it could be liens or power of attorneys. >> one of our employees got married and she received an alert. what is go

eric waxler, abc action news. >>> now the most accurate weather team in florida. abc action weather. >> how are you doing, everybody? we had a frosty start to the area across sumter county. we think there will be another very chilly start with the chance of some frost up north. cloud cover out in the gulf will roll in overnight. maybe bump temperatures up a bit compared to this morning, which was 33 in brooksville and 34 at crystal river. and 40s across the rest of the area. the cloud cover will not bring us rain. but it will by friday. the chance of strong maybe one or two severe storms in the forecast by friday. not right now. clouds will build. that will blanket out the temperatures a bit. not allowing them to drop too close to freezing for most of the area. we will give you a closer look at that coming up in a couple of minutes. >> thank you, dennis. >>> clay allred was expelled after pleading guilty for threatening a gas station clerk and shooting a gun in the air. the college was urged to to ptsd. they replied saying expulsion is permanent. he can appeal wit

eric waxler, abc action news. >> red light cameras are one step closer to being turned off for good. a bill that would barlow cal governments from using red light cameras to cite drivers blowing through the red lights. jeff brandis has filed a similar bill. critics argue that they don't improve traffic safety and governments rely on it as a source of revenue. and a recent state report seems to back that claim. it says the number of red light violations were up last year. in that same report, almost every bay area jurisdiction surveyed crashes at intersections with red light they only say that the cities that saw a decrease was brooksville. >>> tonight two brothers are behind bars for a dangerous crime that is becoming more aircrafts. helicopter. hitting their chopper repeatedly with red and green lasers. charges. >>> scary new numbers from the federal officials saying they caught a record number of airline passengers with guns last year. the tsa says more than 2600 firearms were found in carry-on bags and 80% of them were loaded. we spoke >> now the most accurate weather team in flor

. >> eric waxler for the now tampa bay. >> you can see them at the strawberry festival on march 5. >> that was your first concert? >> right. >> mine was smashing pumpkins. >> in the realm. they were right in the middle of the arena. the stage slowly rotated. sort of like this. it was nice. one of my favorite bands back in the day. >>> we are touring for the some changeable weather out there. this is a live look from franklin. isn't that a pretty picture. don't get used to it. it's a steaming, muggy start with partly cloudy to mostly cloudy conditions out there. you are actually seeing a glimpse of sunshine off the buildings downtown but this is as nice as it is going to get today as we continue to see the cooler weather make its way through. we are seeing some showers right now on titan doppler radar from boca grande their inglewood and back up toward venice. watch ella is seeing some rain along us 17. -- and we are seeing some of those showers continue to the green swamp area over into pope county and all of this is moving to the east. and mostly off to the south as we got that cold

live in lutz, i'm eric waxler for the now tampa bay. >> let's look at current conditions outside right now. not a bad looking day at all. a few more clouds today than yesterday. it was chilly this morning. in fact we woke up and we had the frost advisory for citrus and hernando counties. cold air with temperatures in the upper 30s this morning. the rest of us in the 40s. tampa just under 50 degrees at 49. st. pete at 53. certainly below average for this time of year. so the cold air this time around has hung out with us a little longer than the last series of fronts that have rolled through. right now temps in the upper 50s to lower 60s. temperatures won't be as cold tonight because of the cloud cover. we have to look upstream. look at this shield of clouds over the gulf of mexico. there is a low that will develop here. we will talk about the potential for severe weather happens over the weekend in just a few minutes, laura. >> thank you, ivan. >>> a bus carrying 31 involved in a crash. right now. breaking news story when we >> we continue to follow that breaking news out of river view

eric waxler, abc action news. >> take a look here. this is jake's page right now. he almost has $3,000. just about $7,000 short of his goal to get the chair. you will be able to find his story and his link on the new tampa bay's website in just a few minutes. >> yes. this is a fabulous perspective from the international space station. he has been up there almost a year now. a year in space for scott kelly. he has taken -- i look at my twitter feed to see if he has new pictures. he has cataloged earth from above in spectacular fashion in the last year. this is in the pacific northwest. we're going to stay with the space theme as we check in with nasa and noaa. they have made it official. 2015 is the warmest year on record. in fact, nasa going as far as to put together a warming trend of the earth starting back in 1880 when records started being kept. 2015 was 20% warmer than the previous record year which was 2014. the record-breaking heat there was aided by one of the strongest el ninos we have been talking about of course on record. responsible for the severe weat