as we talk about 275 being impacted to the skyway as well. very heavy rain continues to move up from south-to-north. that will be the case throughout today. on and off rain, heavy at times. we'll talk more about td9's track and eventualliual up. >>> two clerks send a would be thief to the hospital. >> the man leaves without paying for drinks, a clerk blocks his exit and that leads to a fight. both men appear to hit each other with bottles before a second clerk steps in breaking it up. the accused thief tried to run but ended up collapsing on the sidewalk. he had to be flown to a hospital. >>> coming up -- singer chris brown now facing charges for dramatic standoff. his on-line response. >> bizarre prank creeping out some subway riders. the woman who carried it out says she was just trying to >>> 6:15. we're raining buckets this morning. the updates this morning, we have a tropical storm warning that has been extended now further inland. we'll talk about that in a second. i want you to see the position. it's moved further west, nothing has cha

looks great from the skyway up to the howard frankland bridge. drive across the howard frankland bridge is 6 minutes. >> thank you, meredith. >>> today tampa firefighters will honor their brothers and sisters in blue. they will host an appreciation lunch for tampa police officers. they decided to put on the lunch to show their appreciation for them. vent planned to thank police officers for their service today. a group of citizens will also present huge thank you cards to ana marie police, bradenton beach and manatee county deputies as well. a nice way to appreciation. >> that's for sure. >>> tampa bay comicon. >> university professors do not want guns on their campus. what the attorney general thinks about that. >> first george zimmerman punch in the case. the 911 call he made just ahead. >> it's 5:450 and you're there is a grocery store, it is right down the street like 2 miles, and i will drive past it... ...every time i go grocery shopping, because right past it there is a publix. i wouldn't shop anywhere else. they always go out of their way

but the rain off the sunshine skyway bridge. spotty rain throughout manatee and sarasota counties as well. and that's why the forecast called for overcast and showers through 8:00 a.m. and gusty at times as the wind speed increase, 82 degrees at noon. clouds keeping temperatures down, 85 degrees at 4:00 p.m. and a 70% rain chance. as i mentioned, rain is coming onshore, it's still a tropical depression at this point. update to see if it's been upgraded to a tropical storm. winds from the south, gusty at times so the rain at 11:15 this morning, still dealing with pockets of heavy rain and while it probably won't rain on you all day long, it's going to be raining somewhere all day long. off and on rain, heavy at time, again, this is tropical system so tropical downpours. tomorrow morning, that's when the tropical storm is just off the coast. and tomorrow morning, batches of rain will continue to rotate off the gulf of mexico. and with 48 hours of trop flood willing be a concern. now there is a hurricane -- hours of tropical floodi

skyway in the northbound lanes with some roadblocking. i've been checking several cameras on the bridge. i haven't been able to see the crash but we'll watch it and still showing just 10 minutes on the sunshine skyway. >>> 5:50. the department of health is investigating where two new cases of the zika virus were transmitted in florida. three cases in total. detected from florida mosquitos. we know that the third one came from miami-dade county. 16 new travel related cases were detected as well, one in polk county. three of the cases involved pregnant women. >>> there is a new recommendation for unborn babies exposed to the zika virus. the cdc suggests testing the newborns' hearing right they are born. studies show some babies with microcephaly and zika are born deaf. >>> millions of dollars going to states to curb opioid abuse. funding will focus on overprescribing painkillest and increasing access to drug treatment. the money will also make sure the antidote is widely available in case people accidentally overdose. >>> these might come i

and the overnight construction has been cleared on the sunshine skyway bridge. of course, over here in sarasota, it remains. a couple lanes taken away eastbound on university. and the ramp is affected both northbound and southbound on 75, the transition on to university parkway. if you come by and it's still blocked, go down to clark or if you're headed north, go up to fruitville. so keep that in mind. back to gene and gayle. >> thank you. office in tampa. today you will see quite a few police car, fire trucks and other emergency vehicles at the main office. they are participating in an emergency preparedness drill beginning at 8:00 a.m. it's designed to test how well the post office and local agencies like police and fire crews work together in a crisis. the post office will remain open and mail will be delivered. >>> president barack obama gets back to work as he closes out his presidency. >> of business. >>> and a kitten in surgery. how the 4-week-old found abandoned on a bay area road is doing. >>> and keeping up to date on what's going on in school. a new a

southern pinellas county a bit more patchy right ruined the skyway bridge, though. this is were we have an intense batch of storms. so if you don't need to be driving in this area any time soon. i give it at least another half an hour before things start to clear up. and this also includes desoto. so if you are in that area there's a potential there for water spouts. so we'll continue to monitor this. but at this point, this is the strongest batch of storms that we have in the area. we do have more storms from sarasota north across 301. just abou corridor. so things will be carrying up there but moving across the beaches of manatee and sarasota counties here over the next 45 minutes or s. tar pun springs, new port richey heavy town pours. this is all -- downpours. this is all exiting across honeymoon island. >> you can see even father to the north. hernando beach, we have that heavy rain all up and down the coastline of pinellas -- that into pasco and hernando counties. as we look at the lightning strikes they were around 600 in a half an hour period about 20 minute

let's look northbound on the sunshine skyway bridge. fhp tells me this accident out here tying up lanes. not seeing slow downs. oh, behind the icon there's a slow down. bridge. also due to an overturned vehicle. and look at this, slick roads here and fhp is telling me there's a lot of water on the roadway right here, 275 folks. and then that's in downtown st. pete. and then also southbound. still only got the left lane getting by on 275 at 28th street south. and now back to paul and gayle. >> all right. thank you, leslee. >>> an emotional reunion between a mom and her daughter who lives in cuba, yeah, so beautiful. coming up, you don't want to miss the it's 6:41. you're watching news channel 8 %f0 >>> happening today, a historic flight to cuba. jetblue begins flights today. it makes it the first american airline with regularly scheduled flights from the island. it will take off from fort lauderdale. jetblue one of several airlines transportation for round-trip flights to the island. >>> now an update to a story we first told you about i

beforehand that will take you to sunshine skyway lane. to pinellas pount go on destination from there and exit beyond that and exit at 26 the avenue south. southbound drivers wanting to avoid that exit ramble the exit beforehand in southbound direction would be 2 south. as always we'll keep you updated on road conditions with another report in a few minutes. >>> all right. vanessa, thank you. there is still time to pick up sand bags. we have full list of locations and hours on our website, just look on seen on tv section as this storm developments we're watching it remember we're not on the air we're always online. all you have to do is head to www.fox13news.com. russell. thanks. almost 8:34 today people from remember an important member of catholic church and the community. monsignor higgins died last week. this morning is his funeral he may be gone he leaves behind quite legacy alled is live in st. lawrence catholic church on himes where the funeral will be held. where monsignor higgins spent most of his time, right? >> oh, yeah. 49 yea

and looks good on 275 on the sunshine skyway bridge. but coming together, you hit the brakes moving into manatee county through palmetto, down to 14 miles per hour. and stop and go, even slower in the area. all due to a crash before 301 that's tying up lanes. got you backed up to southern apex. this crash is off to the shoulder, 301 at whitfield avenue. and in pinellas, remember this one, 38th avenue at 5th street. and out on -- avenue at 25th street. and polk county, an accident in lanes trying to clear. that's weather and traffic on the 8s. back to gene and gayle. >> all right. >>> talk about putting the pot in a port a potty. these folks took literally. potty filled with marijuana plants. investigators don't know how the pot ended up there. >> yeah, big plants in there. >> yeah. >>> a squirrel found knits trouble when it stuck its head where it didn't belong -- fund itself in a little bit of trouble when it stuck its head where it didn't belong. >> he is jumping and flipping around. this is critter. he ran away. the squirrel slipped

here at the skyway bridge. the howard frankland bridge. the showers now moving into hillsborough county. certainly seeing that here. we do have an accident in pinellas at 19 and roosevelt. a couple nasty ones in hillsborough county, linebaugh and sheldon, and also still working a crash at memorial and kelly road. and a new accident now at 579 at the i-4 ramp in the mango area. gene and gayle, back to you. >> thank you. >>> we are following breaking news right now. delta airlines flights because of a computer outage. >> it's affecting flights around the world. news channel 8's lindsey mastis joins us live from the tampa news center this morning. so lindsay, any word on when things get back to normal? >> reporter: not yet. i spoke with a delta representative just 30 minutes ago and they're not giving much information at all right now. right now, all flights waiting to depart are delayed. this say live look at tampa international airport. you will notice that line is getting longer and longer. this all morning here. and now one person there a

we have a crash northbound sunshine skyway bridge is i'm unable to find it on the rames. minutes to be safe and this crhe fuel. we had full westbound lane blockage and now fhp says that the right center lane is going to be ed the roadways throughout the morning here on tv as well as on twitter at fox 13 traffic. >>russell: thanks. talk a little bit. it's almost 6:08 and developing hunting for a man who escaped a car around midnight. deputies pulled over an s.u.v. for a traffic violation, found marijuana and 20 bags of heroin. while they interviewed one of the men, another one vo marco rubio of the vote. >>russell: now, during his failed presidential campaign, rubio had said he would not run for re-election but with the republican majority in the senate on the line, he changed his mind. his victory speech last night, >> i just couldn't be at peace with the idea we were going to not just potentially lose a senate seat but the balance of power in the senate at this critical moment with the potential that chuck schumer of new york would be the majority leader. with all the is

first up looks like anna maria island over the sunshine skyway as well. we have a few tropical downpours there. it's nothing significant but it's still dark out. so we have to watch out for showers. we're sitting at 80 degrees in tampa. southeast wind at five and projecting rain chances today around 60% with highs going back to the upper 80s. >>vanessa: thanks, dave. if you're just joining us, we have a crash carrying over lane blockages from the last hour affecting the upper deck of the selmon expressway. we're not seeing any major delays on the road sensors but as a safety concern, make sure you're using caution, keepi eye out for troopers or tow trucks you see on site here. >>walter: 6:01. tampa police are looking for a missing 12-year-old. he disappeared last night around 10:00 after getting in an argument with his mother. he's known to hang out in the belmont heights area. tampa police.n him, please call- >>laura: and developing this morning, a motorcyclist is recovering after he was shot in an apparent case of road rage. it happened last night at th

this is a look near the approach to the sunshine skyway accident free this morning, and sarasota county, accident free, but you have construction in the lakewood ranch area, and the ramp to southbound 75 is blocked from university parkway, and you want to use fruitville road as the alternate. >>> right now a horrifying murder of a 13-day-old baby, and a 6-year-old boy is accused of killing his sister while their mother left them alone in the car. the mother is expected to appear on aggravated murder charges and is in jail today. ryan hughes is live from the pinellas county jail. this is an unbelievable case, ryan, so disturbing. >> reporter: really in every sense of the word. what is crazier, this woman was on a tlc program about getting pregnant late in life. the boy she had during the taping of the show actually sister. >> i'm kathleen, and i'm pregnant, and i'm 55. >> reporter: that's kathleen steele when she appeared on the show i'm pregnant and 55 years old. fast forward to this year, and it start in the parking lot of a cell phone repair shop in pinellas earlier this week, and inv

we've had some wind gusts reports near the skyway on that southern end gusting already up to 40 miles finance hour. that's obviously being caused by some of the squalls which are working there way along the coastline. now you look some rainfall totals, this is basically since last night. you can see throughout hillsborough county, one, 1.7, 1.8 nearly two inches of rain in fact into western hillsborough county. but then along the coastline, this is pinellas county. and you can rainfall estimates right near the coastline and we've got several more days to be dealing with this kind of weather. here's the view, the enhanced satellite view action you can see this system is certainly been producing some very vigorous storms through overnight hours. still has been dealing with some wind sheer. but wind sheer has been in that moderate level which i say lewd for center to basically kind of get underneath. some of thunderstorm activity. now, hurricane hunter plane has down there later on this afternoon. and that's when they will get a better idea of exactly what's going on with this system. bu

this is near the skyway bridge. just a couple of sprinkles right there but it has not impacted -- oh, there we go meredith -- downtown st. petersburg. that's near the tropicana field area. 275 looking good. one accident in pinellas county on u.s. 19 at mlk. you're going to find an ambulance but traffic is no accidents so far in tampa. gene and gayle. >> thank you, more eredith. >>> in breaking news this morning, tampa police need your help finding a missing 12-year-old boy. take a good look at maleek beard. police tell us he ran away after an argument with his mom. he was last seen wearing a white shirt and basketball shorts with black slide on sandals and white socks. beard is known to hang out in the belmont heights area usually with friends. if you know where he is please call police. >>> right serious charges this morning after police tell us he shot a motorcyclist in the back during a heated argument on the road. this is just the latest road rage incident in the bay area that we've covered this year. ryan hughe

. >>> the heavy rain has already begun and we have lightning across pinellas, skyway getting hit now. all this will continue to move south-to-north throughout off as the system approaches. i'll show you more watches and warnings coming up. >>> phones ringing off the hook with emotional calls like that one after the mass shooting began at pulse nightclub in orlando. coming up next, hear more desperate attempts to get help for the people inside. >> chris brown goes to jail after a long standoff with police. what one woman claims she did to set him off. of theses >>> good morning. we're waking up to slick roads. this is a crash we're following on 275 in the northbound lanes around roosevelt in the st. pete area. this is where we're seeing the heaviest rain that passed through so most of the wet roads are right there. we'll have a live report coming up. >>> 5:14. we are hearing some 911 calls from the pulse nightclub shooting and the sounds of loved ones desperate for help. >> in one call a frustrated man is asking his girlfriend who he was hiding in the club. he says he called five times

i-75 south of the skyway bridge and right around the exit of the skyway bridge in the manatee county as you head south through sarasota and all through manatee county hit or miss heavy downpours. not the best place to be driving around right now if you store and you live in this area may want to wait another half an hour, 45 minutes. you can see a wider look of the showers and storms that have been developing on the east coast of florida then working their way across to our coast here over the last couple hours. tampa, 81 degrees, so definitely a cooldown from those showers and storms. clearwater at 90. and st. pete right now at 87. winds fairly calm across tampa bay at the moment as those showers and storms through, expect the winds to pick up. the futurecast, at 5:00 showing the rain just about where we're seeing it right now. and by 8:00, most of the storms are right along the coastline or right along the i-75 corridor with the inland areas drying out. all of us dry by midnight. very similar pattern lately tomorrow morning blue skies and sunshine. fair weather clouds but by 2:00,

and let's hop down here, a great drive across the sunshine skyway bridge. and overnight construction in sarasota that was tying up the eastbound lanes on university parkway as well as the ramps to i-75 from university. that's all cleared. and everything is back to normal. that's a look at weather and traffic. back to gene and gayle. >> all right. thank you so much. >>> and breaking news overnight, a fire at a condo complex in palm harbor. the flames broke out shortly after midnight at palm harbor condos on coral landings boulevard. fire crews report the condo is unliable. you can see through a -- unlivable. you can see through the burned out window some of the damage there. no other units were damaged. investigators are now trying to figure out what caused the fire. >>> and happening today, local leaders plan to address concerns over the zika virus. several non-travel related cases have been confirmed in the miami area in the past spread to state's west coast, our area. 8 on your side's ryan hughes is live from tampa this morning. ryan, the mayor is hoping

the sunshine skyway bridge. use caution. but at this point, still only going to take you about 10 minutes between each of the >>> breaking news overnight, gunfire erupts in a tampa neighborhood. we are live as investigators work to determine what sparked the deadly shooting. >>> and here in florida, today the zika vi bay area. how usf researchers leading the way. >>> caught -- researchers are leading the way. >>> caught in a lie? a new report on the u.s. swimmers that reported being robbed in rio. why the u.s. olympic committee is apologizing this morning. >>> happy friday to you. i'm gayle guyardo. >> and i'm gene ramirez. we made to it the end of the work week. >> yes. >> weekend's just a few hours away for many of us. hopefully we can get out and have fun on the weekend. >> i think we will.

everything on the left and and debris on the sunshine skyway bridge near the hutch on the northbound side. just use caution but no delays. that's a look at weather and traffic. back to gene and gayle. >>> in breaking news, one person is dead after a shooting in tampa. >> yeah, right now, police are on the scene investigating. news channel 8's meredyth censullo is live. meredyth, what's happening out there? >> reporter: just a really sad scene out here. let me tell you where we are. the apartm nassau and monroe, less than a mile from downtown. and right now, officially what we know from tampa police is that one person was shot and killed overnight. there's no word at this point on a suspect. we do see a couple of different crime scenes here. there's one area where windows shot out. and another where car windows are shot out. and like i said, an apartment unit. there's a lot of people gathered around here. mom is here. on what caused this. still an active investigation. the call came in just before 2:00 this morning. investigators are onscene as well as the forensics team. and like i s

looks like -- at the sunshine skyway bridge, looks like we do have an accident. no delays but i am watching it for you. most accidents have cleared. that's good news. and u.s. 19 at tampa road, i'm seeing delays here. with injuries and that of course out towards the palm harbor area. that can get busy very soon. so i will be looking that throughout the morning. and this accident here over in the lakeland area, kathleen road at galloway road in lanes. hi, i'm henry winkler and i'm here to tell homeowners that are sixty-two and older about a great way to live a better retirement... free dvd and booklet with no obligation. it answers questions like... how a reverse mortgage works, how much you qualify for, the ways to receive your money... and more. plus, when you call now, you'll get this magnifier with led light absolutely free! when you call the experts at one reverse mortgage today, you'll learn the benefits of a government-insured reverse mortgage. it will eliminate your monthly mortgage payments and give you tax-free your home and here's the best part... you s

keep in mind, the skyway, as everybody knows, is closeed down. this is your way to the holland tunnel. let's go back over to our maps and talk to you about our had trains 4 trains. expect delays and service changes. metro north, 35 minute delays. and our street cleaning rules over to you. >> it's 6:49. new york's hometown burger spot is celebrateing its 100th location by serveing up free lunch. my two favorite words. the new location is at the boston sea port, but every location plans to give away 100 free burgers beginning at 10:30 this morning. the deal ends at noon or when all the burgers are gone, which i'm sure will happen very quickl y. >> good stuff though. fios is not cable. we're wired differently, which means we can fix things differently. thanks for calling fios. this is ryan. you can't tell me this cord isn't in. i know it's in. it's in, but it's not working. i'm sending you a link to the my fios app that going to let me see what you're seeing. really? yes, mr. mcenroe... see that cord? just plug it into the connector on the right. so

let's take a look at the sunshine skyway bridge. debris reported northbound but not seeing delays in the area. quick live look, this is i- looking good in lakeland. that's weather and traffic on the 8s. back to gene and gayle. >> charlie's angels. >> yeah. >>> harry potter fans can expect more magic. >> still ahead, what author jk rowling is working on. >>> also, ache a cheesy twist to wedding cakes. a new trend taking the sweetness out of cakes. you're watching news channel 8 >>> well the wizarding world of harry potter is getting a new addition. jk rowling is working up new ma'amic in the form of three new ebooks. they are $3 a piece and you can pre-order them now. they are expected to be published september 6th. >>> this may be too cheesy the traditional wedding lovers. >> i have a sweet tooth. brides in wisconsin are starting to and for cakes made of cheese. >> i like it but man they're ugly. >> not beautiful. they stick wheels of cheese to create a savory memorable tweet. >> that could be the something blue. >> that's true. it

sunshine skyway, can't really see it because of the raindrops on the lens. also hearing of a stalled car blocking one of the southbound lanes on the sunshine skyway. as for the howard frankland, looking pretty good, not real wet there. drive times across all three bridges not too bad at this time of morning. nine across the courtney campbell, six across the howard frankland and seven across the gandy bridge. of course we are still watching this crash in hillsborough, memorial highway blocked now in both directions, at kelly road. you're going to want to use the veterans expressway and hillsborough avenue to make your way around that. >>> 6:20. there's a meeting for people who will be impacted by upcoming road construction. >> the project along mlk boulevard east of i-75 and hillsborough county. there's a meeting set for 6:00 tonight at the mango seffner public library, will focus on the $5 million project to improve traffic flow and safety. if you go tonight you can let public works representatives know what you think of the plan. construction is set to begi

and then, right over the sunshine skyway. i mean the whole bridge unundated with third or fourth rain with heavy rain. plus in downtown bradenton i ever got very heavy rain for you. you can notice the circulation emergency moving south to north. and that's the direction that we expect everything to come in from today. >>nd boy, this, cloud mass has just expanded overnight. i mean it really has. i mean still in the western side. and by the way the center is right here. you can see it with visible satellite. you see the spin in the clouds. the western side obviously does not look like the eastern side. so it's still developing. but i think it is strengthening as we're beginning see even theeing bands of clouds try to wrap around this. sheer for now. so this isn't developing this is strengthening system. how much? we'll know when plane gets out there in next couple of hours. i think, today, ask at 11 o'clock, if they don't upgrade it by then, they would as soon a plane gets out there in general. really just me appearedering drif

by the skyway this is a big one here. this is a break over pinellas. and the heavy rain and moving to the we'll start a west wind pattern. the highest rape chances ultimately should be across our inland county t is because of the ridge starting to shift a little bit to the south and when that happens. you start seeing them burning to the west the tropics are active. you have another strong wave and this one may actually develop week or so. they will be tracking that storm is fiona a wave. watching both of them but for now. fiona is stranger but at this point does not look to be a threat. and slow moving storms will not be extensive. and storms the high near 90. and the 7-day forecast chances between 30 and 40% with a couple of days of a west up in jacksonville. >> ed and getting ready and ever bank field you know what we had a happier head coach. dirk koetter liked the effort he saw out of the bucs. that. and it man tested itself in the first scuffle and the former gator donte fowler. he was ejected out of practice by his own coaches because of the scu

by the sunshine skyway bridge is a mess. it's all due to an accident involving an overturned vehicle here and that's got you backed up. take 75 instead. and we have some southbound back-up as peek are starting to the look at what's going on. and let's mountains over here, a lot of standing water on 275 ? >>> 7:30 now wednesday morning, the 31st of august 2016. we say good-bye to august, hello to the crowd. we are ready for friday. alicia keys will be here in she'll perform live on the plaza to close out the summer concert series. >> that girl is on fire. >> she is. >> first a quick check of the headlines. donald trump making a last-minute trip to mexico today to meet with the president there ahead of his highly anticipated speech on immigration later this evening. his campaign manager kellyanne conway told us earlier they will have productive conversation but trump will not reverse his strong stance on the issues. on the hudson river tuesday after their kayaks were hit by a ferry pulling away from the pier. at least five peo

a little wet out there on the skyway good shape. >>> people driving carefully so far this morning, because we don't have any major crashes or breakdowns slowing things down. we are going to start off with your drive across the bridges this morning. this is what if looks like as you come across the howard frankland into the tampa. let's check your drive times to see exactly how long it is taking get across. 9 minutes across the courtney campbell, 6 minutes on the howard frankland and 6 minutes on the gandy bridge. the area. i-4, 275 over in pinellas county all in the green this morning. dan? >>> george zimmerman claims he was attacked in a sanford restaurant sunday. >> the while row zimmerman claims his alleged attacker did it because he recognized him. there is another side to this story. zimmerman called 911 to report he was punched for from reason. witnesse martin in 2012 and another customer overheard him and got upset. >> i'm not going to approach him. he told me he was going to kill me. he told me he would shoot me. he punched me in the face. >> police pulled over a car, full of peopl

sunshine skyway. about 9 minutes to get from toll booth to toll booth. but we still have congestion on 275, this is southbound around busch and taking a little bit of time, a little longer than usual to get into tampa. checking the average speed, still down to 28 there in the middle on 275 heading southbound. also still pretty slow on the veterans expressway, 31 the average speed there. and looks a little better but not much, 58 the average speed on i-75 heading south. >>> 9:05. we're learning the conditions deputies say two children were living in landing a brevard county mother behind bars. deputies say this cocoa beach home was filled with trash and roaches. and investigators say the on floors covered can dog feces and urine. they say one child was forced to sleep on the couch because trash in his room was higher than his bed. both those children are now with relatives. >>> troopers want to know why a tampa man was riding his bike on a raised median before he was hit and killed in a crash. that 21-

your drive time on the sunshine skyway starting to improve. we had a crash a little earlier, that seems to be moving out of the roadway. now down to 15 minutes to get across in the northbound lanes on the sunshine skyway. dale mabry at gunn slowing things down quite a bit but check the veterans expressway, a smooth ride there up to 64 the average speed there. >>> following the heavy rain as it continues. you can see the rivergate tower tampa camera there, that continues to see heavy rain if you're traveling from tampa, maybe heading to lakeland our vice versa you're going to run into a good shield of rain. it's when you get right along the coast we're talking about torrential downpours and frequent l through clearwater. heads up there. it's not just heavy rain but bad enough. also lightning thrown in as well into the mix. and again we've been talking about 2 to 5-inch rainfall tallies, just this morning so. we'll continue to see more heavy rain on the way throughout today. then of course tomorrow we're going to add the wind to it as our tropic

this tend to work its way over the sunshine skyway bridge. and probably about 30 minutes. so fury going to be driving along southern 275, especially over the skyway, for down along 75, and manatee and sarasota, you're going to be dealing with heavy rain as times then light to moderate rain as you get central and southern sarasota county heading all the way down reallyasically down towards naples. now there is that flood watch out for our northern counties. rightnow. wvead days o rain northern coties.cross our from trci, hernando and pas coun. we do hav atlood watch which goes until tomorrow evening. going to start to transitn we're not going get rid of right now here inampae' grees. stpe. rsburgas . down branton you're 76. sarasota currently sits at 77 degrees. that's that area of low pressure which is really helping to stir things up and pulling all of that moisture out gulf of mexico. that will slowly start to grate to the westver the next coupl of as it eso it pll that deep trocal moistu away from us. that willl wilyouai r chances already had. we can be seeing another a

we're starting at the top of the sunshine skyway where traffic is looking great. headlights coming at me are heading north up through st. the southern side of the skyway in the northbound lanes, fhp reporting a minor crash off to the side. not causing any delays. you're still looking at just nine minutes to get from toll booth to toll booth. we have a crash here reported at hillsborough avenue and falkenburg. look at the backup it's created in both directions. you might want to leave extra time. we have reports of the crash blocking at least two lanes, one in each direction so again give yourself extra time if your drive takes you through there. to she down a little bit, and i- 75 starting to slow down as well. captain al is flying over a stalled bus on the selmon expressway. what is happening out there? >> good morning. it's a hart line bus, westbound selmon expressway, that level that goes through downtown so not exiting to madison as you can see on the upper left. it's backing up cars a little, maybe a couple hundred yards, not so bad. road they have a crew try

completely forgot about the scheduled for this weekend but some overnight roadwork on the sunshine skyway on the southbound lane, 1 to 2 lanes to take it away. for more updates follow me on twitter@tampa bay traffic. >>> if you fly internationally you will want to download this new app called mobile passports and helps you skip the line. helps you put in the declaration information and right now this is only available at 16 us airports including international. >>> this is a collectors dream. a chance to bid on jewelry and claims and pricey baseball cards . if we do today of the unclaimed property auction that will happen tomorrow at the tampa marriott. all the stuff someone else's unclaimed property that the state that the hands-on. they were trying to find the owners but after a certain amount of time state law says they can put it up for auction. we talked to a man at their who is looking for rare coins. >> when you bid you think you might see something there so you sometimes overpriced and sometimes you find treasure. >> if you don't like to this is the states websites call florida tre

no accidents, no delays and all of the bridges including the skyway up to speed. gene and gayle. >> thank you, more death -- meredith. >>> a neighborhood grieving after 2001 girls die after being left in a hot suv. >> what neighbors did in hopes of saving the little girls. >> what >> first tax free back to school shopping. get schooled on which items are tax free and which are not. >>> a 8 on your side health alerts this morning. it's a race against time as more cases of zika pop up. there's two new travel related cases and 15 locally transmitted cases. news channel 8's lindsey mastis joins us live from the hillsborough county health department this morning. so lindsey this is something that pregnant women are really concerned about and we're having some technical problems but we can tell you it's a huge concern because zika can cauhe -- defect and effect a baby's brain and development. the florida department of health want pregnant woman who visited an area where zika is spreading to get tested. many others are doing what they can to keep from getting the virus.

this is the sunshine skyway bridge. nice star burst from the light. it's only going to talk about six minutes to span across the water. about 10 between the toll plazas. and over to the howard to cross too. courtney campbell causeway and gandy up to speed as well. back to gene and gayle. >> thank you, leslee. >>> your vehicle may be at a risk of stalling unexpectly while driving. >> a recall alert you don't want to miss. you're watching news channel 8 >>> ford is recalling several vehicles that could stall unexpectedly. it involves flex wagons and the ford taurus for model years the problem is with the fuel pump control module. it if fail, it could stall while you're driving. >>> prices of newly built homes have dropped and sales reached a high because buyers are opting for smaller homes. people who need mortgages are coming back to the home buying market which means more demand for smaller homes. the average size of a home built this summer was 70 feet smaller than several months in the tech race, the swiss put their name on the postal map. >> yes, a

right now the howard frankland and all the bridges are up to speed including the skyway. one accident to pass along now. southbound 75, a mile past big bend road, and florida highway patrol is on the scene, and the crash saw to the shoulder, shoulder, and -- crash is on the shoulder, and currently there's no delays. right now, no issu road 0 through the brandon area. >>> coming up, nickelodeon is cashing in these days. >> the old tune getting a modern movie coming up. >>> can one of these movies knock off suicide squad from the top of the box office? some analysts say it could be possible. we will run down the latest we could brag about what's in new light & fit yogurt. but we'd rather talk about what's not in it. like no artificial colors or preservative ingredients. and with 70 calories... maybe we're kind of bragging? >>> it's 4:53. let's talk about movies. pete's dragon is swooping in this weekend. the 1977 original combined live action with handdrawn animation, and that's pretty eat. the 21st century elliot is here now. >>> and the first r-rating for and a new york s

still pushing 70 from the sunshine skyway all the way to the howard frankland bridge. and checking your drive across the bridges, looking good, 9 minutes across the courtney campbell, 6 across the howard frankland and just 8 to cross the gandy bridge. >>> you were it's a little plah out? >> you're not going to feel it but temperatures are maybe two degrees lower in cases. nothing that is that noticage but certainly a beautiful start to the day as you just saw on the rivergate tower tampa camera. plenty of sunshine today and that is how we get up to 93 degrees as a high. so we're starting off in the mid to upper 70s this morning. feel like 100 because of all of those dry hours today, combined with the humidity it's going to feel steamy. our showers and storms don't really start to bubble up until after noon today. they will be more widespread across tampa bay between 2:00 and 4:00 and continue through sunset before tapering off off- shore. this is a very similar pattern to the weather as what we've seen lately. then we're -- so based on that, we're continuing into tomor

if you're going down the coast, straight through the skyway over towards the northwest manatee county. and, south towards bayshore gardens, northport, anywhere that is stacked up along the west coast of florida from northport, siesta key, he's still getting the storms. or so before things wind down, a lot of these games kickoff around 7:30 pm, you're going to be okay i 7:30 pm. -- by 7:30 pm. i would wait for another half hour or longer before things wind down. everything else is good to go. temperatures right now are in the lower to middle 80s, the middle 90s today. this was the previous record. right now, storms are popping. all of these initial reporting stations with storms in the lower 80s. there are no changes here, this is east to west wind, meaning sunshine in the mornings and storms in the afternoon. this makes it a lot easier to make your weekend plans. you are good to go until 3 pm. and by 10 pm, the things wind down. and, maybe possible. but i think the bulk of arguing area will be rain for you by 10 pm. -- 10 am. by middle to late afternoon, the timing starts. the heavy s

we'll start off with a live look here at sunshine skyway bridge. we are looking towards the north so this is northbound traffic approaching the top of the bridge where we have that reported overturned vehicle. lots of delays, only one lane is passing so if you can easily get to 75, please do so. it could save you some time. we want to get to this as well. travel times right now look bad. heads up for folks coming from maybe pasco county and north trying to get to the hour to get from 75 to i-4, taking 275 southbound. not a whole lot quicker, by the way, if you're taking 75. southbound travel times between 275 and i-4, 27 minutes, 21 minutes the drive westbound to i-4, buchman to 75. you can see the picture here, make sure you're leaving early no matter where it is you're going. we have wet roadways out there. we want folks to slow it down. we're starting to build bigger delays in the area. traffic crawling at 15 miles an hour northbound direction so keep that in mind. you have to leave early here and use caution. speaking of standing water, we want

sunshine skyway bridge out into the bay. that's going to work its way up into macdill air force base, south tampa, also, more of this activity, working its way over north and northeastern hillsborough county. places like temple terrace, up in new tampa back in tampa palms seminole heights, some of trech stretching back carrollwood with lighter rain in those areas. once you head down to sour south where we're really seeing heavy rin. basically everywhere east or west of i-75 across manatee county. you can see that heavy rain is coming down. that stretches down into sarasota. all the way down towards say about venice or osprey right now. you can see lightning count as well. we're seeing about 33 strokes of lightning over the past 20 minutes. so thunder and lightning in these cells working there way further out into the gulf of mexico, you are seeing a few breaks. so the trend is going to be as we head into say mid afternoon hours, we won't see as much activity along the coastal areas, we'll start to see some more scattered sho

westbound 80 west of the cummings skyway. we will keep tabs on that for you. now we will take you outside and show you a look at what we have in the pittsburg baypointe area. westbound highway 4 busy, but not as bad as it could be here. give yourself plenty of extra time coming out of that area. and finally here we are going to show you the situation on 101 in san jose. you can see from that shot right there we have some slow traffic. an earlier crash 101 northbound at matilda that cleared out of the way. you may encounter residual slowing in that part of the south bay. steven? >> alexander, good day. >>> a fog bank is helping out many situations as far as cooler tempts for the firefighters. that's good news. humidity's up. if you don't like anything over 75 and you are inland, today will be more to your liking. low clouds and fog and a westerly breeze. some of the smoke from the cold far made it in to napa, lake barryessa. we are picking up more of a westerly breeze. the humidity's higher because the fog bank has some roaring in. it will be with us probably t

this is the sunshine skyway bridge this morning, no problems out there to report, janel is watching her traffic cameras and will have a full look coming up in just a moment. >>> now to the latest in the presidential election. a new national poll finds hillary clinton now has one of her largest leads yet over donald trump. has declared his support for trump. >> reporter: donald trump campaigns today through speaker paul ryan's home state of wisconsin, yet he still refused to endorse ryan for reelection in congress. although he did say, paul ryan is a good guy actually. no he is a good guy. and ryan, while he stands by his endorsement of trump, still has his own concerns. >> he has had a pretty strange run since the convention. you would think we ought to be focusing on hillary clinton and all of >> reporter: trump's running mate mike pence is left doing damage control. issuing a blanket endorsement for all republicans in congress seeking reelection. hillary clinton, staying on message during a campaign stop in las vegas. bashing trump and his business practices. >> he has cheated contrac

and meanwhile, a good drive in bradenton, nice drive across the sunshine skyway bridge. and looking at the other bay area bridge, four minutes on the gandy. six to cross the howard frankland bridge. and seven minutes to cross the courtney campbell causeway. that's a look at weather and traffic on the 8s. back to gene and gayle. >> thank you very much, leslee. >>> moms and the door on time each morning. >> leigh spann shares ways to improve our morning routines. >>> plus, going underwater with our gadgets and a tattoo to control our smart phones. up next, the technology we may soon see. >>> big developments in smart phone technology. future generations of the iphone might be great to take to the beach. our transition to becoming cyborgs is becoming reality. >> reporter: underwater selfies with the iphone could be a thing in the very near future. so take a look at this. apple has been granted a patent for a technique that let's its mobile devices take pictures properly underwater. that suggests apple is working on letting the des water safely in the first place. and other

s here's a live look at the sunshine skyway bridge. only going the take about 10 minutes to each toll plaza. howard frankland bridge up to speed as well. that's only going to take six >>> the search for survivors. live pictures from italy where at this hour, emergency crews are searching for survivors of a the latest on the situation just ahead. >>> and donald trump is coming to tampa. we will tell you about the rally today and why the presidential candidate wants a prosecutor to target hillary rodham clinton. >>> tracking the tropics. tropical storm gaston cons to gain strength in the atlantic -- gaston continues to gain strength in the atlantic and could become a hurricane later today. >>> good morning, welcome to news channel 8 today. i'm gayle guyardo. >> and i'm gene ramirez.

and roughly 10 across the sunshine skyway bridge bridge and that's between the toll plazas. and the courtney campbell as well. 75, state road 64 to fruitville road, bradenton, sarasota, up to speed here. and look at this, clark road to >>> fighting the zika virus. governor rick scott will be in the bay area for important meetings about the virus. plus a new warning for pregnant women. >>> plus, a fatal crash in hillsborough county. >>> and tracking the tropics. there is a lot of activity in the atlantic the this morning. overnight, tropical storm gaston gained strength and is not the only tropical system that we are tracking this morning. the latist advisory just ahead. >>> -- the latest advisory just ahead. >>> good morning. welcome to news channel 8 today. i'm gayle guyardo. >> and i'm gene ramirez. a big day for burger lovers

this is near mile marker 16 on the skyway bridge in st. petersburg. we're trying to gather more information. as soon as we do get that information, we'll pass it along to 0 you. >> tonight hillsboro county deputies are investigating shooting at an apartment complex on english hills court. a machine walked up to an apartment, knocked on the door, and told the people inside he had been shot. got a say his injuries are not life-threatening. >>> right now, there are nearly 500 cases of the zika virus here in florida. most of them in united states and broward counties, part -- miami-dade and broward counties, but key centerly related to transmitted by mosquitoes right here in the state. the mayor will be outlining steps tomorrow to tell you how to protect yourself here in the tampa area. we'll have that information off our newscast at 11:00. >>> a funeral for a music teacher was held today. caroline she and another teacher were in tampa when they were hit by a drunk driver who ran a red light. hankins at last check, is still in critical condition. >>> toni

it is only 17 minutes from the maze to the skyway.ecking in on some other spots if you have to use the east short freeway this morning it is friday light there is some minor crowding headed toward ç it isbkonly 17 minutes to get t highway 4. not bad at all. 24th looks goodxd it's a quick minute trip and i will keep an eye on the fatal motorcycle accident. >>> good morning everybody and happy friday. for travel far here is a live look at sfo dealing with the fog. we have a delayed that is running an hour half or so cloudy, fog and the wind at nine miles per hour. travels elsewhere they are pretty much green for now but remember some spots will be held in the deep south and they will get hit by some afternoon thundershowers. we have the embedded fog covering the entire area and it did so overnight producing drizzle. once we get the sun out the fog and the low-lying clouds will mix out in most areas around the coast it will be more problematic it looks like that will be hard to do. as we go out for tonight to see the east bay shoreline

pushing 70 from the sunshine skyway all the way down to the howard frankland. let's check the drive times on some of the major roads, starting off, u.s. 19, tampa road to east bay 11 minutes. still in the green on the veterans. fletcher to waters. >>> authorities in rhode island are investigating this crane that tipped over on a bridge. the accident left two workers stuck in a bucket under that bridge. 100 feet above the river below. those men were inspecting the underside of that bridge when their truck tipped over. another crane was used to rescue both men and that bridge was shut down during the rescue as the rescue boats waited on the river below. both workers did not appear to be hurt but were taken to the hospital as a >>> a california man who loves being a pilot is now teaching his young daughter how to make her career out of it. 1995 jeff boyd created a message in his family's rice fields near sacramento. it spelled out "i heart southwest" along with the airlines 1-800 number. the message was visible to pilots landing in sacramento, it helped jeff land

and the same from the skyway on south through for the desoto. bradenton, into sarasota we have another batch the strongest of which are right over the sayway right now. creating some heavy downpours and some gusty winds. with a slight potentl move west. but, again, most of what we're seeing out there, is just the typical summer-like variety. this is going to be tapering off over the next couple hours and we'll be dry between 10:00 and midnight as the temperatures fall into the 70s. the 7-day forecast and a look at a changing weather pattern and the timing of the rain coming up. >>> we're continuing to follow breaking news. tampa police looking for this man. carlos core dare row a person of interest after an 81-year- alfred watson found unconscious in his own backyard and his car stolen. his family telling us tonight he's still in the hospital with a head injury. they're looking for watson's 2014 red kia just like this one right here. police say he was the last person seen with watson. if you have any information about this call tampa police. >>>

little bit of police activity, and right lane taken away, and again, no delays. 275 is looking good skyway bridge, no delays moving from pinellas to manatee county, and howard frankland bridge, roughly a 6-minute commute, and there's the section near the kennedy side. that looks great. now back to melanie and gene. >>> turn down the volume. some homeowners are claiming the bars on south howard avenue are too loud. i'm not here to criticize anyone, but the same people who oppose this, they are gonna get old and get a taste of this, too, to see what it's like. >> it's just really loud, and it's kind of thumping. >> the homeowners packed tampa city council to talk about the problem, and an ordinance under consideration would require bars to keep the volume 55 decibals. >> that's questions about the entertainment district that this has grown into. >> city council members will now put together a workshop p to work out a compromise on the noise level. >> you can see both sides there. if you move in now, you know what the neighborhood is all >>> it's safe to say most teens are addicted to social