let's talk about sarasota. we have a collision and a little bit of a back-up, southbound 75, right by fruitville road. you see the tiny slow down there approaching the accident in sarasota. aside from that, over in manatee county and the rest of sarasota, looking good on the interstates. mcmullen booth south of sunset point, a collision here. this of course in pinellas county. and be on the lookout for this one, hillsborough avenue at hanley road, although it's blocking lanes. that's a look at weather and traffic. back to gene and gayle. >> okay. >>> the schools right now, six bay area school districts are closed because of tropical storm hermine. they include hillsborough, pinellas, pasco, as well as hernando, citrus and manatee public schools. hillsborough district offices are also closed this morning. all,sf camses arall usf campuses and st. leo university western michigan university tampa bay and pasco hernando state college. >>> and our coverage of tropical storm hermine continues now with a hospital evacu

sarasota police say since july first, 43 people in sarasota county have overdosed on suspected heroin and other unknown drugs. eight of those people died within the sarasota city limits. and police think part of the problem selling drugs like "fentanyl" and "car- fent-a-nil" and claiming they are heroin and cocaine. police say most users probably have no idea what they're buying... and it's contributing to a lot of deaths. so today, law enforcement is making a plea for change. a news conference is set for 9-30 this morning with sarasota police, sarasota county fire and emergency services and "first step of sarasota." that's a drug recovery center. fox 13's shayla reaves is also covering this story for us. she'll bring us a live update from sarasota coming up in our next half hour. if you're going to commit a crime... tampa police have some advice for you: brag because it just makes their job a lot easier. one man learned that the hard way this week. police arrested "cameron cox" after they say he burglarized a store. surveillance video shows him inside "oh whatever" -- a home decor sh

at this point, it is a light drizzle here in sarasota. so a bit of a reprieve and perhaps that's why things here have gone down significantly. but gayle, we will remain here and bring you the very latest information from the city of sarasota. back to you for now. >> i just worry that people wake up and think, oh, it's over. but there's more rain on the >>> and we are following some breaking news now as we come up on 4:43. a major power outage in south tampa happening right now. tampa electric is reporting more than 3,000 customers are without power. and they are aware of the situation. they are working to fix that right now. crews are hoping to have power restored by 8:15 a.m. we will keep you posted. >>> this morning, be sure to check our free news channel 8 app before you hit the road. h to avoid the flooding. >>> clearwater police are searching for a woman that set a man's car on fire. >>> plus, an update on tropical storm hermine. including live picture. and a live picture right now of downtown tampa looking wet this morning. you're w

and we also falling in the sarasota county as well. brandon, and some in sarasota. look at the rain in the gulf of mexico though. that's rotating around hermine and that's going to wrap around into our area. the saturated ground plus high tide equals more flooding problems. as far as the wind threats, isn't a big wind event for us but we could see isolated tornadoes, high rip currents and it won't take much with the ground is so wet and we get isolated stronger wind gusts. be careful of that. by the end of the day today, another 1.5, to 323467s is possible. and then -- to 3-inches is possible. we will check with traffic on the 8s because at least the roads aren't as bad as yesterday. >> weeding is easy right now. i have tons of weeds. you can just pull my mom taught me that. >>> good news traffic-wise. a good drive across the bay area bridges and on the bay area interstates. on i-4 between the paul buchman highway to 75, 11 minutes. and then mcintosh to park drive, seven minutes. i-4 through lakeland, a great drive here, 13 minutes between each entrance of the polk

a to sarasota county. coastal manatee county, sarasota. includes all the way up to citrus county and hillsboro and pinellas county. the hurricane warning would be further north. this is a tornado watch in place. you can see the red area indicating hillsboro county, pinellas county, and polk county northward. but look offshore there. that's a nasty line of thunderstorms. within these areas, that justifies the tornado watch. we can see the wind sheer rotation that may include the you may have seen us on the air earlier. it's bands off the center where you'll find a lot of sheer and potentially tornadoes. that will come ashore here in pinellas county within 15 minutes to a half hour. this is where we're looking for high winds but also the possibility of a tornado. it's always remarkable to see a tropical storm in the gulf of mexico, just west of the bay area. you can see that center of location really coming and now clearly a formed eye as a category 1 hurricane taking aim. we're on the eastern side. we have to watch our high tides coming up

. >>> and this morning, resi sarasota county. an entire neighborhood on the move after a bayou overflows. we are live there with the latest on the evacuations and new concerns of more flooding. >>> a break if the rain at this hour but don't let your guard down, tropical storm hermine is gaining strength. the latest forecast just seconds away. >>> good morning. and welcome to news channel 8 today. i'm gayle guyardo. and i'm gene ramirez. thank you for joining us. we have team coverage of tropical storm hermine. meteorologist leigh spann is news channel 8's meredyth censullo is in pasco county. jamel lanee' in pinellas county. and our ryan hughes in sarasota county this morning. we want to start with leigh to get the latest from the tampa studios on the storm. >> it's still a tropical storm and still has winds of 60 miles per hour. but look how big this is. this is the center of circulation and seeing rounds of rain coming in near the coastline from it. and the latest advisories remain. hurricane panhandle and northern portion of t

bridge and down into manatee and sarasota. in fact, just a few minutes ago, as the biggest portion of this was moving through sarasota, their winds were gusting close to 50 miles an hour with winds sustained at about 40 miles an hour. obviously inside these individual cells, you can get some very strong winds, and that in itself can cause damage as well. in these purple shaded areas, that's where the rain is coming down heaviestve per hour. so those heavy tropical downpours will continue across pinellas county. remember much pinellas yesterday between 7 and 9 inches of rain. so there's just nowhere for this water to go. and already, we're starting to see some significant flooding across portions of pinellas county. it's going to continue throughout afternoon. down into sarasota there you can see that one cell that worked through there. just a little bit ago. racing on to the north. and more of this is kind of mexico. there you see the winds currently winds gusting up to 31 miles an hour in sarasota. but inside, those stronger

a woman charged with animal cruelty after she tried to pull a fast one at a sarasota shelter. good evening everybody, i'm josh benson. >> i'm jennifer leigh. let's begin with a check on hurricane matthew. meteorologist steve jerve joins us now with the latest forecast track. >> this was upgraded at 2:00 as of 5:00, not much of a change in strength. it is much stronger than 24 hours ago. let's look at the satellite and where it is located. eastern and central portions of the caribbean before too long. cool cloud tops. bright red color indicates a healthy growing storm. thunderstorms around the center. 75 miles an hour winds, moving pretty quick west at 17 miles an hour. but, note that sharp northerly turn that the computer models have forecast. the final position, about 450 on tuesday afternoon. and you can see why the hurricane center has decided on this track. the consensus of the computer models have shifted a little further west, back toward florida again today. as we always tell you, the forecast tracks change as well as the spaghetti models. we will continue to update you

pete. 91 in lakeland. 95 the high today in sarasota. tampa right now is sunny and it's at that afternoon high of 93 degrees. the humidity is still tolerable at 49%. the dew point back in the 70 range. yesterday we had the dew points in the 60s. that was a breath of fresh air. what mother nature does with us. it gives us a day of dry air and then the humidity returns. it hit 93. 90 is about right. we almost hit a record today. sarasota tied one at 95 degrees. 89 right now in saint pete. humidity 61%. as i said, sarasota, sunny and 94 right now. the winds are calm. satellite, no changes. looks identical to this time yesterday. the mornings will be dry. most of the afternoon will after 4:00. i think tomorrow we see the dry air retreat a bit. and some of the moisture returns this way. it won't be a problem tonight or most of tomorrow. i think by late tomorrow, not so much in the morning, but in the afternoon hours, we begin to see a little bit better chance of showers. now, it's always an issue for high school football games on friday eveni

and let's pop over to sarasota. we have one of the eastbound university lanes, the left lane actually right at 75 taken away due to overnight construction. that's a look at weather and traffic. back to gene and gayle. >>> in breaking news, detectives are investigating a death in a quiet neighborhood in brandon. >> they are trying to the figure out how a person at a joins us live from the scene. ryan. >> reporter: good morning once again. deputies have been at this home in the brandon area for the past several hoursful i will step out of the way and give you a live look at the home. you can see at this hour -- several hours. i will step out of the way and give you a look at the home. you can see at this hour the crime scene tape. someone called around 12:15 to 911. when deputies got to the home, they found a person dead inside and. at this p, saying what led to the death. several people have been interviewed giving investigators some idea of what may have happened. at this point, we're told investigators are waiting

you've seen tropical storm wind sarasota. possibly not as intense but still very brief wind gusts are possible. tropical storm warning for the west coast of florida. we'll continue to track this thing and watch the high tides now the next 24 hours. that's around 3:00 in the morning and then tomorrow, 3:00 in the afternoon. guys? >> all right, steve. thank you. >>> right now, mandatory evacuation orders are in place for coastal communities in levee county. you can see hurricane hernando is slamming the area with -- hurricane hermine is slamming the area storm surge, the big concern out there. we're live in cedar key just south of where hurricane hermine is expected to make lands fall in about 6 hours. -- landfall in about 6 hours. >> reporter: the winds have certainly picked up in cedar key. it's been pounding us the last 20 minutes or so. i had powerful facts tut my hand over my -- i had to put my hand over my head just to hear that crisscrossed across florida around 2004 and every storm since then. we were measuring winds su

let me use the sarasota case. the first response by the fbi to the freedom of information act, oh, we're protecting privacy. we can't release these 28 pages. the judge asked the obvious question, the hijackers are all dead. the saudi family is back in riyadh. whose privacy are we protecting? the fbi didn't have a very good answer to that. so he rejected that argument for non-release. then the second defense was, well we don't have any records. we conduct ad six-months investigation. interviewed scores, if not hundreds of people, collected many documents but we didn't write anything down. well, that was so absurd that the judge rejected that. and so sheepishly on the third round, the fbi came into his office with 80,000 pages, that they said this is the sarasota investigation. this one judge with a couple of young clerks down in fort lauderdale now has had this as his roommate, these boxes, for over two years. i'm hopeful that soon, to answer your question he is going to begin the process of releasing the documents

mainly south of us in sarasota through bradenton. you can see i-75, so if you're traveling i-75 through sarasota up through bradenton just be

we're on a tropical storm warning coastal areas through sarasota county. there you'll see the tropical storm warnings in place. now, here's where we're talking about. the tornado warning in effect for southwestern hernando county and also central pasco county. it's in effect until 6:00. so the next half hour. there's the line we're talking about. just a few light strikes in there. but it's a lot of wind sheer within here. itself. that's dangerous part of the storm. over to vipir, you can see the path and where that effected area is. this may not be the last tornado warning. we had two others earlier today. that was another line that came through with this. g ar velocity relative to the radar site. you can see the sheer, little less than 60 mile-per-hour it's moving rapidly north at 45 miles per hour. we'll zoom in and see some cities on that if we could to see what's in the path of this storm. right along 41 there. you can see east of 41 and west of i-75. this is west of land of lakes and the aaron area. also obviously land of lakes region. that's the high

great drive as you move across it the maps in sarasota county, and there's road work going on here. state road 72 is actually closed to cydell work. they are doing road the alternate will take you upsidedown on the clay gully, and that's a nice alternate for you there. no construction at i-75 and university. that's a look at weather and traffic, and now back to gene and gayle. >>> an 8 on your side consumer alert this morning. check your bank statements. authorities discovered another skimming device inside of a pump in tampa. it was on west candy boulevard, mcguire. i understand this is not the first time they have been hit? >> reporter: we are dealing with brazen criminals here. it was hit by skimmers back in april, and they are back at it again. we have accident collusive video i want to show you of tampa police taking the skimmer out of pump number one. kevin brown is a suspected skimmer victim. he lives in tampa, and when the bank called d charges he made in miami, he knew he had been scammed. >> it made me wonder how they got my number and used it in miami. i would be cautious

let me use the sarasota case. the first response by the fbi to the freedom of information act was, we are protecting privacy, we cannot release these 28 pages. the judge asked the obvious question. the hijackers are all dead. the saudi families are back in riyadh. whose privacy are we protecting? the fbi did not have a good answer to that so he rejected that argument for non-release. the second defense was, we don't have any record. we conducted a six-month investigation, interviewed scores, if not hundreds of people sarasota investigation. his one judge with a couple of young clerks in fort lauderdale now has had this as his roommate, these boxes, for over two years. i am hopeful that soon, to answer your question, that he will begin the process of releasing the documents, building on the drumbeat that will come out of this press conference with that hard information that the case will begin to move forward again. >> somebody who has a foia outstanding for about five years, i understand your question. we have a m

and it was spearheaded by a sarasota man. newschannel8's john rogers joins us now live from the sarasota police department to show us how it works. hey john. >> reporter: good evening guys. considering the target attacks we have seen against police officers in the summer, even the sarasota police chief told me this is the program that is desperately needed. in the past few months, the danger factor for police like targets. >> it is the reality of what we are dealing with in law enforcement. >> reporter: and it is important to warn the public when credible threats are made against officers. that is the national blue alert system. it is a program spreading nationwide sending out emergency notifications when an accused cop killer is on the loose. it is in 27 states including florida and it was started by sarasota resident tom berry. >> if he is willing to kill a sworn officer, he will kill a civilian. law which will allow the states to share these emergency alerts with each other. think of this like the amber alert system. soon,

in the 1,800 block of rita street in sarasota. deputies explaining to us they are not ruling out the shooting being drug or gang related despite that activity not usually as soon as i got here that -- about an hour ago i spoke to a neighbor who says he's lived here since the 1970s and can't recall any time there was any type of shooting incident in this neighborhood, period. we're waiting on more information from sarasota county sheriff's office but when we get that to you we'll bring it to you on air and on- line. james tully, live in sarasota, abc action news. mostly cloudy, a lot of clouds today. and the rain is on the way. tropical moisture on top of us will help us out with that. temperatures now mid and upper 70s. we already have rainfall that is moving in across eastern part of the state. well defined tropical wave. that moisture associated with it will get us with afternoon storms and also the wave itself will be generating some pretty good rainfall to our north and east. so our central and northern counties will be gettin

from sarasota county all the way up into pinellas... several beaches have had "no swim" advisories the past few days. that's because they tested positive for high levels of bacteria after hurricane hermine blew past the area. and this morning... at least ?two of those beaches is finally in the clear. sarasota county lifted its advisory for siesta key late monday afternoon. but there's still one in place for sarasota's n beach and the venice fishing pier. despite the update... many people on siesta beach still chose to stay out of the water monday. red flags flew from life guard stands warning people to the potential danger in the water. the bacteria comes from pet waste and storm water run off. it can be dangerous for the young, elderly and people with weakened immune systems. many people we spoke with said, despite the ?clean water test... they weren't going to take any other beaches that have the no swim advisory include "honeymoon island", "sand key park", "indian rocks beach avenue west. and more problems for sarasota beaches... tha

the way it looks now, south of sarasota, it's probably going to stay muggy and then north of sarasota is going to be drier, meaning dew points getting back in the 60s and feeling nice for a couple of days. that's the way it's set up now, but obviously a 50-mile shift north or south will make a difference. that will be come thursday or friday. at the same time, we need to be going to enter the caribbean. the computer models are all in agreement for the development of this but of course, when you're talking about something aeven, eight, 10, 12 days out, where it's going to end up in the long run is up in the air. we'll get to that in a second. we're actually kwie oat radar for a couple of hours, and now we're popping up storms. but in general, it's going to be more afternoon and evening storms for us around here. 77 from clearwater to tampa to plant city. i citrus county. it's nice now. dade city, wesley chapel, 75, 76 degrees. also sarasota in the mid 70s and i've got low to mid 70s polk, hardee, de soto and highlands county. here is this big tropical wave and you know what? it really

sarasota sarasota hosting booker. it is a great play. we love you. 7-0. brionce adams. this time a strip, a fumble. takes it scores. >> there he is. >> this was all sarasota tonight. watch this hit. stays on his feet. gets to the end zone. sarasota a winner 49-6. >>> more friday night blitz >> we are about to do the whisper challenge with jennifer leigh. >> sandwich. >> our friday night blitz play of the week, tyler hunter from bloomingdale knows he is going to get crushed. drops the perfect little throw into the arms of d.j. william who turns on the jets. >> give up your body. make a play. >> 70-yard touchdown for bloomingdale tonight in a three- point win. >> prop to the rays. alec cob in his first win. >> team of the week. >> thursday, we crown a new [ cheers and applause ] ? >> steve: from studio 6b in rockefeller center in the heart of new york city, it's "the tonight show starring jimmy fallon." tonight, join jimmy and his guests -- meg ryan --

>>> sarasota county now. a big closure on state road 72 from the state park road over to seidel road. completely blocked. repair that's being done. so you can come up seidel, take to fruitville or take 75. quick live look. here's 275 at kennedy, traffic looks great in tampa on the >>> talk about low. a discuss abled veteran beaten and robbed outsided a local walmart. >> got on top of me and grabbed me around the neck and starting hitting and >> the key piece of evidence police hope will track down the thug. >>> dozens of guns stolen from a bay area store and out on the streets. where the investigation stands and why investigators believe the thieves are now amateurs. >>> plus, another milestone in the changing relationship between the u.s. and cuba. what is taking flight from south florida making it easier to visit the island. >>> good morning. welcome to news channel 8 today. i'm gene ramirez. >> and i'm gayle guyardo.

so, coming up later this morning we know sarasota police are going to be partnering with sarasota fire, ems, and some of other community partners to talk about the drug issue that they are dealing with not only heroin, but in cases people taking drugs they think are heroin, but they are actually taking something much more dangerous. this all gets under way coming up a 9:30 this morning and we'll have crew here inside for all of the events and we'll keep you information, guys, back to you. all right, shayla, thank you. >>> thank you. >>> at the pasco county the profoundly disabled have found a home. they are happy. for some it's the only home they've known. and the only place that will take them. but now, the families of these children and adults are for the time, for first time, having to consider the thought of life without it. >> new medicaid rules put group home on state watch list and on notice that it's future may be in we angela founder pauline shafer here to talk about it. tell me your name again. joe el. good morning, thank you both for being here. thanks for having us. so let'

sarasota seeing some showers and thunderstorms. what along the sea breeze in the western part of sarasota county, filling in with showers and storms. that whole area. sebring and lake placid, some showers. the showers if you didn't see them, are at lower temperatures as a result of the storms. there is a closer look at the ones around inglewood. a chance to cool off on this hot day. 90 degrees for a high temperature officially. these are the temperatures as we stand righ 70 slick -- 70 degrees. there is that. will talk about the potential for cool air in the 80 forecast coming up.>>> still ahead, dead fish are washing up on bc -- on beaches all across sarasota and manatee counties. what is causing this and how we are one nation under god. that black and white, we are one nation indivisible. that republican and democrat, we are all americans. i'd like to punch him in the face. you know what they used to do to guys like that? they'd be carried out in a stretcher, folks. i could stand in the middle of 5th avenue and shoot >>> dead fis

we do have light showers in manatee and sarasota counties. and we did have about .20 of rainfall at the hyundai of new port richey. now 76 degrees. julia, still 40 miles per hour winds but it will be a tropical south carolina and basically diminishing and become nothing by the end of the week. for us, showers near the coast at 8:00 a.m. 85 at noon. 88 at 4:00 p.m. and storms push inland during the day. right now, low to mid-70s across the area. julia heads north. we see a south to southwest wind. that's why i expect the showers along the coast northerning and more of the rain inland this afternoon. and then i bring the rain chance down to 40% for the week. and how about traffic on the 8s? >>> all right, well, starting going on here as i zoom in. we have a little problem spot, a fatal crash involving a motorcyclist that hit a pole eastbound ridge road past airway boulevard. they are routeing you through the pasco hernando college to get around it eastbound. westbound, not affected. meanwhile, pasco road, north of state road 5, the an accident,

more spotty rain as you head over towards sarasota. so big picture wise, there's hurricane hermine, expected to make land fall tonight. for the rest of the even, what to expect, cloudy skies and the chance to see more heavy in winds are going to continue to strengthen. tropical storm-force winds are expected ifer the tampa bay area as we head throughout tonight and into tomorrow morning. and when you wake up tomorrow morning, we could still see strong storms still around. still looking at strong winds as well. so breezy conditions, rain possible for your commute tomorrow. as we head throughout the day though, i think conditions will slowly improve. winds will gradually ease up some as we head into friday afternoon and friday evening as the storm pulls farther away. the rain. so it's not going to rain all day on friday. but a good chance you will see more rain at your house. saturday, some isolated rain possible in the morning hours. and then into the afternoon, scattered storms will continue. so as you start your labor day weekend, abo

just got word of a sarasota southbound 75 around state road 72. that one is taking up lanes. 275 looks great, i-4 to the howard frankland bridge, five minutes in and out of downtown through pasco county. hooking up with 275, not seeing any delays. and a great drive on i-4 from lakeland all the way through plant city into ybor and the veterans expressway is up to speed as well. overall, a good drive out there. especially on the veterans expressway. when we come back, we will look traffic on the 8s. back to gene and gayle. >> thank you, leslee. >>> today is a special day for the youth of tampa bay. this afternoon, city leaders, buccaneers and local kids will celebrate the opening of the family field. it's happening at the jackson heights nfl youth education town center. the yet center is home to youth football, school and sports leagues and summer camp events. a $200,000 grant not only allowed the creation of a turf field but upgrades to the rest of the facilities. >> very nice. >>> a 2016 heart walk is right around the corner and news channel 8 is

between now and 9:00 tonight, potential of rain, sarasota, highlands county, far to the south. and more moisture is around. we keep it nice and sunny for you with the sunglasses today and tomorrow at 91. 92 friday. and 91 on saturday. and 90 on sunday and monday. and by the way, we are right at the peak of hurricane season. officially call it around september 10th. and here's some good news, most of the atlantic basin pretty quiet. there's one wave off africa, a 70% chance of developing in five days. but nice to only one thing. and we will check with traffic on the 8s because i'm sure there's more things you're watching. >>> it's not a perfect morning but it's good. bay area bridges look good. good news first, a great drive through lakeland, i-4 no delays, roughly 14 minute commute here. and in and out of pasco county, looking good. wesley chapel, state road 52 to 275, 11 minutes on the commute. this road construction project closures here and the northbound lanes. that's not going to be wrapped up until the middle of september. so take starkey or ridge road instead seminole ju

what sarasota police want people to know. good evening i'm stacie schaible. >> i'm josh benson. thanks for being with us tonight. well sarasota officials are finding a disturbing case of heroin laced with elephant tranquilizers. it's an effort to get a high, but having deadly results. news channel 8 john rogers joins us live from sarasota to tell us about this growing problem. john? officials are desperately getting that warning out there because a lot of the users don't realize how dangerous it really is. for years, trisha bailey is trying to help her big brother, sean. but ultimately his life was his responsibility. >> it was very hard to watch him and to see him on the streets at times. >> reporter: sean was addicted to heroin. he would get clean and then relapse. >> the last time i saw him, i was angry. i never thought him. >> reporter: heroin later claimed sean's life. sadly local officials say that others are dying because of a new version of heroin laced with carfentanil used as an elephant tranquilizer. it is 10,000 times more potent than morphine. >> it is actually kill

sarasota at 77. mid 70s inland locations. dew points are high. honestly forecast not much different than it was yesterday. we'll a beautiful start to the day. few cumulus clouds. and maybe one or two isolated showers. the overall rain chances today going to be around 20 percent. they are down there high temperatures near 91 degrees. tonight, few clouds, muggy, 78 for a low. then tomorrow back to 90 degrees. again the will stay lower than normal through the weekend. by next week, we will bring them back up to around 40 percent. vanessa. >> all right. thanks, dave. >> we'll check out pinellas county right now. seeing some slow downs along 275. northbound and southbound seem to be centered around area 38th avenue north. we will go ahead ask check some speeds in area. you can see they all kind of seem to merge in this general location. but back ups northbound direction i objected the trop it southbound as well approaching with averaging speeds around 43 miles per hour. look at some other interstates, and conditions there. i-4 westbound looks like we'

and it was created by sarasota artist 'dave gordon." it focuses on the intimate moments from the tragedy that gordon captured on his camera when he toured ground zero. while other photographers focused on the ?big things.. he focused on the little moments. the exhibit has already toured several museums around the country. and it's now at the manatee library in bradenton. the opening reception is at six p-m and it's ?free to attend. artist dave gordon will also be there... to answer your questions. bigger and ?greener. that's the new motto for carnival cruiselines. the company just announced plans two of those ships will be built for the "carnival" brand... and the third for a cruiseline in england. the mega ships will be the ?largest in the carnival fleet, able to carry more than five ?thousand passengers. they will also be powered by liquified natural gas... considered the cleanest burning fossil fuel. the ships should be completed in about four or five years. and the ship ?attractions still not revealed... but this could be a sneak pe

just a few moments ago, we had a wind gust in sarasota of 46 miles per hour. continues even though the center of the storm is up in georgia. plus the heavy rain continues as well. you see it there on skytower radar. don't go away. we'll zoom in and out of radar now at havertys furniture, it's our labor day sale. where you can create the perfect home. from now until september 5th, you'll find huge savings on stylish pieces. get free delivery, plus an extra hundred-dollars off every thousand-dollars you spend. with havertys, your home can be perfect, even when life isn't. mom? have you see my iguana? the labor day sale is on now, at havertys. ((russell- while you were sleeping. hurricane >>russell: while we slept, hurricane hermine came ashore stronger than we thought. >>laura: and it is causing a lot of problems along the coast. we have team coverage. let's start with the roads and vanessa. it is a mess out there. >>vanessa: certainly is. lots of flooding we're dealing with, handful of crashes and lots of reports of debris in the roadway. live look here skyway

sarasota, the latest wind gust, 33 miles per hour. you don't want to be out with heavy rain, frequent lightning and wind gusts. that will be the case throughout the morning and midday hours. there after, some improvements certainly by the weekend and into early next week. we'll talk to bill logan about that. >> we do get a little bit of clearing, and it's not going to come any o soon. these bands moving onshower throughout the day and more showers and storms moving through the central hillsborough and even through the evening commute, very heavy rain. that's what we're goto be expecting today. by 6:30, 7:00, we'll begin to see just a little bit of cl, but still going rain, the flood reats d y cond we go through the day. gusty winds at will be with us throughout the afternoon before we start to see things once again, here is the storm lifting out of the picture but still with those feeder bands very much in the picture across our region dumping tons of rain on top already saturated ground. this is through yesterday. 10 inches in st. pe

one in citrus county, a couple light rain areas in sarasota and western portion of sarasota and manatee counties and it's near the coast. and 85 at noon. 88 at 4:00 p.m. and we have a 50% rain chance later today. and let me show you what's going to happen, showers along the coast this morning with the south to southwest flow and it's going to push the showers farther and farther inland. and it will give us about a 50% chance. and after that, julia basically leaves us alone, 40% chances for thursday, fred and the weekend. thursday, friday and the weekend. >>> traffic looks great away from lakeland and plant city and through ybor city. here's i-4 around known as u.s. 41. all right, a look here again at pasco county. quick reminder to you, ridge road eastbound completely closed down. a bit west of little road just past airway boulevard. and all the eastbound lanes are blocked due to an investigation from a fatal crash. and you are routed into the local college that's right there. and that's how you get around it. and we have a good drive on state road 52. we still have lanes blocked here w

travel times through manatee and sarasota county. out in the suncoast area state road 64 to fruitville 9 minutes. up to speed plant city and the new tampa area on i-4 and i-75. that's a look at weather and traffic. with sad news this morning, a local high school baseball star turned pro pitcher was killed. jose fernandez was killed in a boating accident in miami. he was just 24. he got his start right here in tampa bay. ryan hughes is live at alonzo high school. he led the school to two championships. people are reacting this morning. >> reporter: exactly right. he helped the a team win state championships his sophomore and senior year. they can want believe he's gone so soon. >> he had this thing on the field. he glowed. everyone looked at him because he was so aggressive and he put all his heart into the game. you know, i think that really says a lot about a player. >> reporter: fernandez and two others were killed in a boating accident in miami early sunday morning. their boat hit a jetty. were speeding. fernandez fled cuba at 15

city of sarasota, there have been 44 overdoses just this year. fox 13's shayla reeves explains what officials there are doing to raise awareness of the danger of this drug. just imagine someone taking a drug, strong enough to tranquilize an elephant. sarasota police seeing it right here in the community, there are people taking what they think is heroin but what they are actually taking is much more potent. right now a lieutenant is describing to us two drugs that they are seeing and larger and larger quantities here in sarasota. one of those drugs is car fentanyl. people around selling it a heroin can and cocaineusers there have any idea what they are taking much more potent. artist prince. it is about 50 to 100 times more powerful. car fentanyl is about 10,000 times more powerful that morphine. it's bad drug on good people. we can't lose sight of that again, it doesn't know where you live or who you are, how much money you make. this drug is, it is a killer. and it's going to continue to kill until we can get this under control. right now we're

and up through sarasota, that's a look at weather and traffic on the 8s. back to gene and gayle. >> all right. thank you, leslee. >>> a sneak peek behind the scenes of sunday night football's new theme song. >>> and what we're spending our money on. a new survey that reveals what americans are saving for. it's 4:20. you're watching news channel 8 >>> a look at what people will spd next five years. no surprise here, technology. according to an intelligence firm, sales of things like smart phones and watches and smart tvs are expected to skyrocket. by 2021, people will spend about $45 million on high-tech gadgets you can wear. >>> and another sign of our penchant for technology, a time we spend online. smart phone & eclipse all other digital media platforms cool byneed. >>> we are getting a -- platforms combined. >>> we are getting a sneak peek at the musical open to sunday night football. take a listen. ? nbc sunday night about to the happen ? >> i don't know if i hear the words: i see the dress. it's gorgeous. open. it will hear the open every sunday night

and today, sarasota police are going to do something about it. (wally fox-13's shayla reaves is live at the sarasota police department right now. shayla: this is a dangerous and deadly trend.. how do they plan to combat it? blue bell creameries is recalling two ice cream flavors due to a possible listeria contamination. the recall affects half gallons and pints of "chocolate chip cookie dough"... as well as half gallons of "cookie two step". if you have the ice cream.... check the code dates on the bottom of the carton. if they match any of the ones on your screen... return it to the store for a refund. blue bell says the cookie dough in those flavors... which comes from a third-party contaminated with listeria. no illnesses have been reported. sarasota detectives busted a marijuana grow operation inside an englewood home. they found more than 59 pounds of marijuana inside a concrete building detached from the main house... this was on keyway road. 25 plants were set up with irrigation, lights, fans, and electricity. officials charged ronald orti

investigators finding she was dead in a sarasota jail. she was a key witness against walsh, but too early how this will impact his trail. back to you. >> jack. >>> the palm him in a car. he's a firefighter and he's charged with aggravated manslaughter. investigators say whitaker dropped his daughter off at school and supposed to drop his son off at daycare and forgot and drove home to prepare for a firefighter exam. later in the afternoon, whitaker said he took his dog for a walk and went into the grocery store realized that lawson was in his car seat. >> it's not intentional. you can't leave your child in the car for 8 hours and -- >> whitaker called 911 and did cpr on his son, but it was too late. heat stroke is the 4th leader cause for children in florida. in 18 years, 690 children have died in hot cars in the u.s. and 75 deaths were heading to south tampa. bay shore boulevard is closed for the fall stampede 5k. you'll find blocks from howard to -- we do expect bay shore to open around 11:00 this morning. >>> we're learning information

plus: fox 13's shayla reaves is live in sarasota... following a deadly epidemic: also in the next hour: it could be the perfect app... for parents. how it could speed up and simplify... the school pickup line! we'll meet the inventor. come into steak 'n shake for hand-dipped fall milk shakes. better yet, come into steak 'n shake for hand-dipped fall milk shakes at half- price... ...during half-price happier hour, weekdays, now two to five... another violent, volatile night in charlotte... the one thing that could bring calm to this city on the edge... and why police... aren't willing to do it. ((vanessa no rest for the recovering... the scary phone call to a bay area hospital... that almost forced patients... out of their rooms. ((walter and... starstruck for streisand... barbra... is coming to tampa! cue the chill bumps! ((walter)) its now 5:?? thanks for joining us. i'm walter allen((vanessa)) and i'm vanessa ruffes... jen epstein will join us at six. let's start off with a check of the forecast, with dave. (dave partly cloudy with a

a steer clear of this area to sarasota or i should say manatee sarasota. southbound 75 disabled vehicle blocking a right lane near university parkway. causing jams back toward state

. >> why one sarasota neighborhood is thinking it's more than the rain causing water to rise there. >> reporters are spread out with up to the minute information on how the storm is impacting your neighborhood. >>> good morning and thanks for joining us on abc action news. i'm deiah riley. >> the tropical storm warnings just came down. ivan? >> it's still a strom. if it had been upgraded, still the same forecast for us. 60 mile-per-hour winds still struggling hermine out there. that has been the history of this tropical feature here. of course, we can continue to see the wind shear there. notice it's not wrapping around the center of circulation. is better and better news for our friends up in the big bend, which is where it will take the brunt of the storm. it's not a huge deal as far as the wind and storm surge locally here. we'll still have to deal with issues. 65 is the hurricane center forecasting to makelandful late tonight. it -- make land fall te matter as far as the rain is concerned. they are under a hurricane warning. still a watch for us. we're going to have strong winds,

in sarasota, 82. heading for the 90s once genitor today that we do bring the rain chances back in the next few days. we will talk about that in a little bit. >>> a developing story out west. authorities in washington state continue to search for a gunman wanted in a deadly mall shooting. the shooter walked into the hunting rifle and started shooting. four men were killed. a man was air-lifted to the hospital as well, and he was also announced dead. witnesses say the gunman was last seen running to a freeway that runs parallel to this m mall. >> a pretty rural part of washington and plenty of places to run to and a big commercial area and spots for him to >> alcides: police are asking people to stay indoors and lock their doors before they catch that man. we will bring miles per hour information as it becomes available. >>> in charlotte, north carolina a curfew was lifted the second night in a row after protesters were there. the shooting of keith lamont scott. streets were kept under control. the nati

and in sarasota. back to jean. >>> i'm to show ground several roads are impacted in pinallas county. water continues to rise in this neighborhood. this is in st. pete along mlk. that road blocked off between 38 avenue south. the roadway remains flooded and it looks like the water is continuing to go up. has going to. we have been here for about 3 hours in that area. the situation is not getting much better. especially with garsg ound. some have been spotted. >> we have had that happen before. we see the gators occasionally going up there when it's dry. even down the street, they will sun themselves. florida living. >> we do have a crew there right now. we are told by this crew that there are a number of we remind safety you do not want to be walking in the water. you don' or what else is in the. there could be snakes and gators. >>> you are probably very aware of the school closures. 6 bay area school districts are closed. you see them on your screen. right now we are waiting to hear about the school

and then we have heavier pockets into sarasota coastal communities. and i looked at a 20% rain chance this morning. mostly for areas west of 75. as the day goes on, we heat things up. again, it is a tropical air mass. 30% at noon. 50% rain chance later today. inland. not a lot of effects from tropical storm julia. at 5:08, i will take you hour- by-hour through your day and leslee lacey has the commute. >>> that's right. we have some issues. first of all, construction here, that's the name of the game, westbound university parkway underneath 75, right at the manatee county, sarasota county line, we have overnight construction tying up the left lane on west university. and also, a big hole in the roadway southbound macdill. it's just past azeele. the left lane is blocked. a lot of cones on the no delays because traffic is light overall. kennedy looks good. so does 275. and of course, out many pasco county continuing to keep an eye on the fatal crash. it's tying up the eastbound ridge road lanes at airway boulevard. that's a look at weather and traffic.

parking meters downtown sarasota. the city had them once been before then took them out they say they are needed again regulate traffic and bring more people to area. but as fox 13 reports, many storeowners are worried they will actually keep people away. >> driving through downtown parking spot daily struggle for many. including justin williams. it is really hard to find a spot. and then metre made are like constantly on you so you are always nervous on on to of that. lot of it private parking. trouble any time coming down ng- here. >> city police parking metre will solve headaches. parking division general manager stud studies prove. they are needed in terms of the turnover. and to make sure that accessible and downtown. is there in and available any one but city has tried this before. and in 2011 park meters installed. only to be taken out few months later. when storeowners and shoppers complained they weren't user friendly. if you make sure there are some sparking spaces open you also make the other peripheralal s

just a little bit of light rain in southern sarasota county. a couple sprinkles up in the bradenton area. yes, brief rain, just spotty light showers at 8:00 a.m. and more heavy downpours are expected. 81 at noon. 82 at 4:00 p.m. temperatures aren't a big deal today without much sunshine. we don't warm up. the biggest deal will be the rain. and we are getting the brief that we had yesterday. thank goodness, it allows some of the puddles to ease up before more rainfalls on it thanks to tropical storm hermine. and we are already seeing at least rounds of rain as early as lunchtime. this is about 1:15. they'll continue to rotate around in the counterclockwise fashion. at any point today, you may see heavy downpours. keep the umbrella with you. i don't think it will be all- day rain but rain and tomorrow morning, possibly a category one hurricane coming onshore in the panhandle very early in the morning, before sunrise in north florida. and we think that should be it, right? well, it draws in more tropical moisture for us. so i expect to see a lot o

inverness, 84. 91 sarasota. lake tas id 85 degrees. a lot of sunshine around the area. a few popup showers. we didn't see the big thunderstorm activity on the east coast, so we the same outflow that helped to create late showers. the red color, drier air. mid and upper levels of the atmosphere. stabilizing things across the southeast. you can see not much going on in the way of weather at the moment. fairly stable atmosphere. some of that will filter its way further south, especially across the northern part of florida. the rain chances will drop the next couple of days and favor is southern spots because they won't be as dry high above. we have karl and lisa. two tropical storms out in the into potentially a category 2 hurricane at the hurricane center. scooting off to the northeast. no effect it looks like at this point for the city of tampa, or tampa bay area. tropical storm lisa, 45 miles an hour winds. should have problems with dry air and wind shear, probably won't strengthen into much over the long haul. certainly won't affect the u.s. rpm forecast computer model

abc action newre sarasota high school to explain what this means for other students or anyone who makes similar threats. michael. >> reporter: jamison and wendy, the student was expelled over the tweets that are outlined in this appeal, but according to this appeal, and the judge's ruling from yesterday, he didn't break the law because there is no law against a tweet that student sent. in 2014 this tweet with the was sent by a 16-year-old sarasota high school student. >> to talk stupid is not actually a violation of that statute. >> reporter: the teen's attorney says getting arrested ruined the student's life and that sarasota police overreacted. >> i would sure hope that if a student says something that is alarming but not criminal that they would go talk to him before they arrest him. before you come with this s.w.a.t. team. >> reporter: but it wasn't just the one twee. wait to shoot up my school soon. school getting shot up on a tuesday. ." >> it caused alarm, 59 tear vein with criminal sanctions is not permitted. >> reporter: the second district court of appeals says the law the tee

. >> a sarasota restaurant owner wanted to make his political opinions known so he put it on a sign. >> today on better call behnken, i have heard your requests for updates to some of our most popular stories. so i'm czeching in on three >> sarasota restaurant made a public political statement sirring up controversy. he placed a message on his marquee outside expressing his view on politics and guns. as john rogers shows us tonight, not everybody is a fan of the message. >> reporter: bill davis, the owner of barnacle bill's is not shy in sharing his opinion. and this week, he was fed up. >> you can put half of trump supporters into what i call the basket of deplorables. >> reporter: after hearing hillary clinton say this, he >> reporter: it reads nra member, concealed carry okay. not a deplorable. vote trump. >> i usually sit on the fence being in public business, but i just got to a point where i couldn't do it. i had to make a statement. >> reporter: in less than 48 hours, he heard from thousands of people both here and around the country. >> i think it is insulting. i think that i