hurricane center as a strong tropical storm or minimal hurricane late tomorrow night or early on friday. what does it mean for us? there are still watches and warnings out. these get pulled by tomorrow morning. power outages a possibility because there will be a few spin-up tornadoes. how are we shapin up? heavy rains and coastal flooding. high tide about. winds up to 40 miles per hour. nowhere near hurricane force across our area. that would be tomorrow afternoon as well. lastly, there is a slight tornado threat. we will talk more about that and extend the forecast in a couple of minutes. >> we will see you shortly, denis. an intersection shut down after a transformer caught on fire. some businesses in the area are without power. the pinellas county sheriff's office tweeted this picture in the past hour from the there. the fire is out. duke energy is on the scene fixing the pole. it will take four to five hours to fix. if you can avoid the area, please do so. facebook late this afternoon activating the safety check feature in the bay area. you can let your friends and family know that you're safe as hermine moves on shore over the next few days. be careful where you walk during this rain. pasco county deputies tweeting out these pictures of an alligator late this afternoon. take a look. deputies found the guy under flooding in port richie. the downpours causing problems for parents and grandparents trying to pick up children from school this afternoon. our cameras capturing this scene outside of an elementary school in largo. this grandmother had to park three blocks away and walk to pick up her granddaughter. >> you never know what is going florida. fish or snakes. that's all you can do, make the best of it. >> cars driving through the flooded streets caused waves at the school. our cameraman aging to capture a guy using a paddle board to make his way through the streets of indian rocks beach this morning. families forced from their homes. the flood waters so deep that it left inches of standing water in their apartments. lauren rozyla is conditions continue to get worse. >> reporter: tonight this tropical storm drops even more water on largo. this morning, at least six families were forced from their apartments after all of this powerful rushing water made its way into their homes. and you can see just how powerful it is, rushing over this storm drain. it's loud and it is rushing fast. and it is moving extremely fast, worrying the residents >> it's sad. it's sad. it's real sad. like you say, you know, some here are on a fixed income. now they may have lost everything. >> reporter: again, all of this water continues to rush downhill. it is extremely powerful. now, as for the residents who had to leave their homes this morning, we are being told that they are safe tonight and they are staying with family or friends. but it's unclear if they had insurance able to return. in largo, i'm lauren rozyla, abc action news. a recurring nightmare playing out for pasco county neighborhoods who have dealt with major flooding in recent years. eric waxler is live in new port richey with one of the biggest causes for concern out there. eric. >> reporter: yeah. we're at mitchell park in new port richey. we're seeing heavy rain. the sand bags though are being they can to protect their homes. they're used to this drill. this particular station has given out about 2500 sand bags so far. and people keep coming. when the tropical storm comes, the storm surge is expected to be one to two feet from hud san, jasmine estates are at risk for flooding as well. the real worry for many is the river. when it spills out, it really causes trouble for so many. the river flooding could end up causing issues even the storm passes. >> when that storm surge and that tide comes into the river, it's going to create basically a bathtub effect. it will come into the river but it won't be able to get out. that will increase a lot of water in a short period of time. >> reporter: yeah. you see these residents here filling up sand bags. of they were helping someone they didn't even know, a stranger, a woman fill up her as the rain comes down, it makes it even harder. people doing whatever they can to protect their homes. eric waxler, abc action news. >> thank you, eric. hernando county leaders closing pine island park because of tropical storm hermine. the potential flooding could make the area just too dangerous. impending weather forcing officials to postpone the alive ride. it is now being pushed about being to next 8th -- pushed back to next week, september 8th at 9:00 a.m. how is it looking out there sarina. >> reporter: jamison, we are here because it is one of the intersections that have been designated as areas that have a tendency to flood. that's why the barricades are set up. they're also set up across the street so police can shut down the roads if need be. we spent all day today with drains. we went to east tampa and davis islands. all of the residents who live on these flooded areas were grateful to see the crews. even more grateful that the app that they can use to request help worked. >> right here in front of the house is a bus stop for the school. i don't need the kids out here stepping in ankle to knee deep water. >> i'm glad they're being proactive about it. the flooding is south tampa as you know. it's nice that they're trying to take preventative measures out here. >> reporter: now, here is a closer look at that app. the city actually launched it last year after all of the problems with the flooding. citizens just need to download it. if you need help in your neighborhood, you just request the help right on that app. now, back out here live, the upgrades to the pumping station city officials feeling confident. they want to pass it along to you. they think the flooding can be handled much better than last year. i'm sarina fazan, abc action news. >> thank you. this is causing a mess on the roads. check out the live picture from the monitor. i-275 at 54th avenue in st. pete. a couple of cars getting stuck in the standing water at the avenue ramp. it is still out there. several people were gulf port were putting sand bags around their homes today. this man just virginia he told us. to make matters worse, he just bought flood insurance. it probably won't be kicking in for a couple of weeks. so he will have to pay for the damage if the water goes into his home. >> we look at this right now. what is going through your mind? >> i can't believe i moved here. it's a great neighborhood and we have a lot of fun. i was account expecting a tropical storm or downpours like this and have to worry about flooding. down in manatee county. officials tweeted out this this afternoon. all routes are suspended for today and they won't be in operation tomorrow either. conditions are too dangerous at the beach. lifeguards urging the public to stay out of the water. the red flags went up today meaning that the current is a serious risk for anyone in the gulf. lifeguards warning many people tend to overestimate their ability to stay in control during the hazardous conditions. we found one family from indiana who is following that advice and staying out of the water but they do say they're not letting this tropical storm keep them from the actual beach. >> well, here we are standing in the rain, doing some sight seeing and going to the shops and walking on tno bt an issue right now. the concern is a lateral current thldpeople to slam into pier-60 out there. couple of days. school closings have been coming in to the news room all day long. you can find them by downloading our free mobile app right now. a reminder that you can have weather warnings sent straight to your cell phone or tablet by downloading the storm shield app for android and iphones. deatstop for gas. the freak accident putting two children's lives in danger and the quick reaction that saved their lives. and brand-new charges for a former tampa the new accusations facing this once trust lookg nasty night as we have flood warnings across part of the area. believe it or not, a stronger storm tomorrow might mean better weather for ing >> we're monitoring a lot of rain. current conditions on i-275 at denis will have the latest in a minute. frightening moments for a mom in connecticut. take a look. an out of control car knocking over a gas pump. the collision set the car on fire with the two children inside. she managed to quick regrab them out of the car before they got hurt. new at 6:00, abc action news confirming more charges for a former tampa city employee who is accused of molesting a young boy. he is charged with molestation and he is accused of inappropriately touching a boy in a football league. we first told you about durham's initial arrest in the spring. durham was employed by tampa in 2011 and promote today recreation leader in 2014 before being fired earlier this year. hillsborough county deputies giving us a first look at the man who escaped custody this morning while in here is his pictures. deputies stopped him and another man near 22nd street. they found marijuana and heroin in the car and put both men in handcuffs but this man ran off. if you know who he is or where he is, call crime stoppers. the national center for missing and exploited children releasing an age progression photo for a bradenton teen who disappeared in 1977. this is what she may look like at if you recognize her, call authorities right away. new tonight, the southern poverty law enis enter filing a complaint against pinellas county school. they claim the district is discriminating against black students and students with disabilities. the complaint says black students are nearly four times as likely to be arrested in school as white students. and students with disi cans are be referred to law enforcement as students without disabilities. now the most accurate weather team in florida, abc action weather. >> there's a lot of rain out there today. the rain is not over. we have a little bit of good news with the new track. >> if the storm gets stronger, it will bring the moisture in. this is a good reminder. we talk about hurricanes and how frighten they are. but a lot of times we say it's just a tropical storm. >> but it can be >> yeah. we get flooding with tropical storms sometimes more often than with a hurricane. even though it's a ragged system, you can see how nasty the suffer is going from the main sail. the rain continues to fall. as the storm gets to get stronger, we are seeing more spin going in off shore. so i would not be surprised if all of a sudden we start seeing reports of a water spout or two, maybe a quick tornado. and that is something that deal with through tomorrow night. as jamison mentioned, the bright spot, believe it or not, might be the fact that this is trying to get better organized. if it does, it will help to draw some of the moisture closer to it, which the forecast track is well to our west. that could come into play in tomorrow's weather. not tonight. tonight, you've got heavy rain no matter where. now, the outlook for severe weather, notice the highest risk is across our northern counties. so they have backed off on the severe threat, especially tornadoes just because that is now well to our west. and we believe it will be even more so as it gets stronger. still though, the possibility of power outages along the immediate coastline. moderate to likely tomorrow, especially as the winds begin to pick up. even though it may be well off shore, we could easily see hurricane force winds along the shoreline. lots of rain and clouds right today along pinellas county from tropical storm hermine. it was an outshoot of moisture plume as it was getting its act together. very common for ragged tropical systems in our neck of the woods to give us monument rain totals. it was across much of pinellas county. unfortunately as you see, there is plenty more on the way. the only good spot here, we're at a low tide as opposed to a high tide. at least there is place for the water to drain as opposed to today you're at high tide, you get a lot of rain and it takes longer because eventually the water has to go out to the bay or the gulf. if you're at high tide, it takes longer for that to happen. rain continues in the overnight hours. 2:00, 3:00, we're back at another high tide. we could be talking about more flooding if we get a shot of heavier rain around 3:00 a.m. it certainly is possible. there's really a possibility at tomorrow there could be periods of heavy rain. as i said, look at what the models are trying to do tomorrow. this all depends on whether this storm gets stronger. if it gets stronger, it will tighten up and make it a little less likely to have widespread heavy rains like today. if it stays ragged and weak, then we will have another day similar to today. it won't be the same spot. it never is. there will be more training rains popping up tomorrow if we are in a round for gusty winds, heavy rain and coastal flooding tomorrow afternoon, especially as the center passes north of us and helps to draw in and push that water into the bay in the spots that very often flood this time of the year. by friday, things start to improve. finally better by the weekend. look at overall rainfall totals. they're still impressive. not as high as we had today. european is hinting that the heaviest rain stays off shore. shore because it too is bringing this low off to the north. recon flying in. i think it just found an 59 miles per hour wind a couple minutes ago. there is the track way to our west. so as long as this verifies, i would not be surprised -- in fact, i would really anticipate the hurricane center to watch the hurricane watch for our counties, maybe not by 11:00 but by tomorrow. they're just making sure this doesn't make an adjustment to ragged and the storms can change their mind. at this point, most of the major models are going in this direction as a strong tropical storm or hurricane overnight tomorrow night into early friday morning. again, for us, believe it or not, the stronger it is, the less rain. it would also give us a higher risk of coastal flooding and surge and also the possibility of a tornado or two. look at that spaghetti model. very, very close. tightly knit. because of that, we don't the right. stay tuned. the tropics we all know can be rather fickle. here is a look at florida's most accurate 7-day forecast. the rains continue tonight and tomorrow. there are flood warnings in effect. we continue to be under a tropical storm warning for the northern counties. a hurricane watch as well. friday, early in the day, lingering storms. we improve a lot by the weekend. back up near 90 with sunny skies returning by then. still ahead, this is a big night for the bucs sitting on as an excuse. we will hear from one player who needs a big night next in havertys furniture helps your home look perfect even when life isn't. pretty! hey. i do! thanks sweetie. the labor day sale is on now at havertys. >> hello, folks. no turning back now. it's game on at raymond james tonight. the field conditions will obviously be wet. but they're going for it. this is a catch 22 for both teams. nobody wants to see injuries suffered in the final preseason game. for the few still on the bubble trying to make the team will have to fight the elements. imagine how kenny bell, number 88 here, he is on the bubble. and this night is everything to him. >> you're talking about trying to make the team as a receer is coming that will mess with the field and it will be a wet football. that's tough. you have to laugh at it as life throws punches your way. you have to dodge them. that is a big one. >> let's head over to a much drier fenway park tonight. the rays and the red sox. they had a 3-run lead before logan forsythe tied the game in the top of the 8th. this turned out to be the winning run. the rays lose this one. looking forward to this game tonight. >> how many people will be there. >> two or three. >> yeah. >> there's a look at the hour by hour forecast tonight. perfect example. there will be periods of heavy rain and then a break and more rain as it comes through tomorrow. >> we have continuing coverage of the top stories on z23ppz zy6z breaking news tonight. donald trump's surprise trip to mexico. the high-stakes gamble. traveling south of the border.e. the gop nominee standing by building a wall, but what about mexico footing the bill? >> is there any chance mexico pays for the wall? >> what trump said, coming up. state of emergency. florida's gulf coast on alert. the tropical storm on the move tonight. and in the pacific, bracing for impact. families boarding up, closing schools, as two hurricanes target hawaii. breaking news. midair collision. the search for survivors after two planes crash into each other. plus, dangerous turbulence injuring a dozen. tonight, we'll take you inside

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