reporting live from colorado springs, colorado i'm rebecca stevens abc 7 news. >> and how is weather there now? >> there is as being see, winds will die down, then picking back up, again we've been able to hear thunder into the distance and have been able to see lightning strikes which is just not good news and absolutely no one else but firefighters. >> and from fire to heavy rain, debbie may no longer punch the pack of a tropical storm, and may spawn tornadoes and flooding more, it had been down graded the situation is changing, it heads out to the atlantic. debbie spent several days in the gulf of mexico causing record rainfall in parts of northeast florida and sink holes that swallowed up stretches of roads. and forecasters say storm surge and tide could bring more flooding to coastal areas. there is spencer christian tracking debbie. >> you're right. this has changed directions many times. so this is down graded earlier. the florida peninsula and this went out and regained just enough strength to be upgraded again to tropical storm status, it's tropical storm debbie. and this is

rebecca stevens reports from colorado springs. >> it happened. it's coming over the hill. >> it has now engulfed more than 24 square miles after it doubled in size overnight. >> it is starting hundreds of not thousands of little fires in front of itself as it goes. >> it is spreading as fast as 14 its miles per hour at times. >> i have never seen anything so scary. >> it is bearing down on colorado's second largest city, colorado springs. 10 acres at the academy's campus has burned. so far no reports of injuries or damage to buildings. others have not been so lucky. >> just to think of going back to my house and finding it in ruins -- >> fire fighters are calling it an epic battle. >> if the wind would go a way they could get this under control. >> shifting winds is making the fire almost impossible to fight. >> bob ryan will have more on what is feeling these fires coming up in a few minutes. also coming up, apple sets a trend and microsoft jobs on board. duel comes out with its tabla. the miami face attack and the surprising discovery. -- googl

abc 2news rebecca stevens joins us live from the fire line. >> reporter: hi. you know this weather out here we have an old saying, it's if you don't like the weather wait a minute this is changing every five minutes. i sound like a broken record. it goes up, gets hot, goes back, the shade comes, temperatures cooldown a little bit. have you to ask yourself are these firefighters ever going to get a break? this is what is left of the franklin family's colorado home. >> our front door. kind of see the welcome mat. >> reporter: 18-year-old emily who just became a firefighter watched as the flames destroyed her house. >> i looked through the trees and i see the fire and i was like i think that's my house and then it just went up and i was like that's my house. >> house. >> today was pretty much the scariest day of my life. >> reporter: are he hopes his home is intact. he can only watch it from afar. >> that was a little alarming to see. looks like all of the neighborhood is intact. >> reporter: hundreds of homes have been destroyed by the out of control fire. a pho

the fighter is heading right for colorado springs colorado where rebecca stevens is with the latest. >> that wildfire is already here in colorado springs. we will be visited by president barack obama on friday as abc news has confirmed. you can see the year force academy behind me. one of the things the president may encounter on his way and is lightning, thunder but very little rain. the devastation and destruction continues to grow as multiple fires burn across the state. a >> fire fighters are focusing on a massive blaze on the outskirts of colorado springs. it exploded overnight doubling in size. it is now burning more than 24 square miles. >> it is not even remotely close to being contained. >> it is threatening colorado's second largest city. >> assessment teams do not know how many homes have burned. conditions are too dangerous to survey damage. more than 32,000 people fled to safety when the wildfires jumped to homes on tuesday. >> we saw fire coming down the road. >> you could not see the sun anymore. asch was falling. it is the scariest thing i have ever seen. >> forecaste

i'm rebecca stevens. >> i'm sure firefighters are thankful. how do people respond to having the president there? did it seem to make them feel better? have more hope? >> it did. there is a convenience store that hasn't been able to open and this is indictive of the mood of the town. pechl are really taking this in stride. they're helping and just seem to be okay with whatever happens. it's just a great coming together of the community. >> rebecca, live in colorado springs thank you for that update. >> still to come on abc 7 news at 4:00 a flight attendant caught talking tough to passengers stranded on the tarmac and one person says the guy is doing what he had to do and michael finney is taking your questions and going to answer them here live a little bit later, you can contact michael on m finney. >> we have limited fog along the coastline. that is about to change. tomorrow moshing cloudy skies for everyone, and drizzle near the coast. i'll have the forecast coming up. >>> there is more breaking news to bring you. a fire in san jose. you're

. >> cenk: all right now to bring in two people to talk about this rebecca stevens is the reporter on the ground in colorado springs, and brenda is in washington, d.c. a climate scientist. let me start with you rebecca with what is the situation on the ground here. have you ever seen a situation like this in that area before? >> absolutely not. i've lived in this state since 1979 originally from detroit michigan, bottom line, this part of the country is very dry this time of year. we get what is known as dry thunderstorms where you get more thunder, more lightening than you do actually rain. but the bottom line is here. these winds have been so erratic and you can see even as we stand here you can see the smoke. it's drifting towards the air force academy. it gets more intense. it gusts to higher speeds. 40 mph we've clocked some of these windy gusts. the bottom line is it just doesn't stop. it continues to hamper the firefighting efforts closer to the mountains. >> cenk: rebecca, let's talk about the conditions on the ground that might have helped to make this worse unfortunately hav

rebecca stevens, abc news, colorado springs. >> i heard a scary stat on the evening news last night this 3, 4 miles away from downtown colorado springs. it is moving at a rate of three to four football fields an hour. think about that. why it doubled overnight last night here. this thing eventually is going to get to the heart of that area. they will get a better handle on this today some time. could be seeing images from downtown colorado springs. >> 60 mile an hour wind they mentioned. dealing with the excruciating heat. terrible conditions. so intense were the flames, so thick the smoke, rescue workers are not able to tell the residents whether or not their home is still standing. and they're now starting to look into, there are so many fires and so many different areas of colorado starting to work with law enforcen't, local and state, to determine if these were started naturally or if some were arson which would be so terrible to think. >> heartbreaking, from some one playing a prank that led to awful this too. we'll keep an eye on that story throughout the day as well. now we move o

rebecca kleefisch staying in office winning her race by a sizable margin. steve brown live in madison for the last couple of days with more on this historic race. good morning to you, steven. >> good morning, steve, gretchen and brian. it's the morning after the recall election, the fourth bitterly, fiercely, partisan election that wisconsin has weathered in a short 18 month period. can both sides put the political armament down and move it along? well, that's what both governor walker and mayor tom barrett asked their supporters to do last night. tom barrett thanking his supporters both in the state and out, busloads trucked in to help his effort yesterday when fell a bit short and after he said his thank yous, he did ask his supporters to get out of campaign mode at least for now. >> now, we must look to the future. and our challenges are real. we are a state that has been deeply divided. and it is up to all of us, our side and their side to listen. to listen to each other. and to try to do whaetsz right for everyone in this state. >> governor walker offered similar sentiments in his victory speech last night asking folks to lend a hand, to try and mend fences. >> momen