Having classes tomorrow. Several have closed schools because of the weather. Parents will have to make other plans for their schoolaged children. Now, tracking Tropical Storm hermine. That was upgraded from tropical depression 9 this afternoon. Hurricane hunters were out investigating this area. And they found we do now have max winds at 40 miles per hour, making it a Tropical Storm. Still moving very slowly off to the north at just 2 miles per hour. So the forecast track storm strengthening into a strong Tropical Storm. As we head into thursday night, you can see, as a strong Tropical Storm, Tropical Storm warnings in effect for our Northern Counties at this point. And quickly moving out as we head into friday and this weekend. But really, the next 36 hours or so. Were going to continue to deal with some very heavy rainfall. Look at the rainfall totals from aint pete beach. So no wonder were dealing with flooding with rainfall totals like that. Always remember, dont drive through the flooded roadways. That will save you a big mess for this afternoon. 75 degrees at this location. We were also just put around a marginal risk of severe weather, not too surprising. Could see some high wind gusts in some of the storms were seeing today. Cant rule out an isolated tornado. Pretty much the entire tampa bay area in that marginal risk of severe weather. We have storms lifting from tampa bay area. Raul the red and orange all the red and orange. Still at this point, you can see heavy rain, towards brandon, towards south tampa. Downtown tampa. St. Pete, seeing more rain. Pinellas county is being hit hard with all of this. And this is where youll likely run into more street flooding today. Inland spots, not quite as much. And some towards fort meade, lifting towards dundee. And you can narrow in on what were dealing with, the check out the rainfall totals, anywhere from 4 to 7 inches of rain. And as you head closer to the coast, thats where the worst of it is, when you factor in high tide tomorrow, could be dealing with coastal flooding as well. So far as the intensity, tropical depression 9 was upgraded to a Tropical Storm today. Primary threat will be the heavy rainfall. So just dont drive through any flooded roadways. Stay off the roads if you can, the next two days. Could see anywhere from 5 to 8 more inches of rain. And tomorrow afternoon, as the storm moves closer, when we see high tide in the afternoon hours,y we could deal with coastal flooding as well. Guys . Thanks, julie. Well, people are evacuating their apartments after this first round of heavy rain in Pinellas County. And the same flooding left many cars stranded. Jameljamel lanee joins us with where the pond is overflowing. Right . Yeah. I can only show you. I have no words for this. We are at the autumn chase behind me. Were not going to move the camera around too much. But this is in the middle of an apartment complex here in largo. This pond has been overrunning since 9 00 a. M. This morning. And a lot of this water has gone into several units of people who actually live here who have already evacuated. Again, Pinellas County, dealing with a lot of rain. A lot of flooding. And lets go to some dramatic rescue video of a car that actually went into a ditch. This happened around 8 30 this morning. This man, the driver, actually telling me that floodwaters swept his car up and pushed him into a ditch. His wife was trapped inside. And emergency crews had to come out here and rescue her. Fortunately, i spoke with that driver. He said that his wife is doing okay. She was taken to a hospital to be checked out. Again, very dramatic video. And this is why officials out here are telling people, flooded streets do not go through them. And even out here at this apartment complex. Back out here live, they dont want you in this water. You do not know what is in this water. We have seen people on rafts in this water, playing around. But again, this is a very dangerous situation. The people here are very upset about all of this water. Threefeet of water into their homes. So again, this is an ongoing situation. And a sation that has a complex this evening. Josh . And the rain is just starting as well. I mean, that video you showed us, unbelievable. That suv was buried, almost to the top of that vehicle. So you see about 3 feet out there, and its still rising, right . Reporter its still rising. And i can tell you that we passed that corner again. Thats just around the block from us. That water is starting to come back over in that area, which and georgiana road, i believe it is. But again, yeah. The water is continuing to rise out here in largo. So just be very cautious. And again, if those signs are out, those road block signs are out, you dont want to go down those streets, a lot of these roads are being swept away with rocks and dirt. And people are very, very worried. All right, jamel lanee, live for us. Get out of that rain. We appreciate it. Communities are still handing out sandbags to prevent flooding. Our web team put together a list of road closures. Its right there on the home page. Polk county is not expected to get hit as hard as coastal counties, of course. But the area is no stranger to severe weather. Thats why officials there doment people to be prepared do want people there to be prepared. If you recall back in 2004, Mother Nature took aim and hit the area hard. Gene all hit closely. Residents should be ready for anything. People who were here and experienced it realize and remember how bad it can be. So when i go talk to groups, i say, dont take it from me. Talk to your neighbors who lived through it. People should have 3 to 5 days worth of supplies onhand to get them through. Meanwhile, Florida Power and light invested billions into its power grid statewide to prepare for Tropical Weather like were seeing today. Fpl placed concrete power moles near 911 centers. And Police Departments and other buildings. These poles are better able to withstand hurricane forced winds. And fpnl is able to quickly repair and detect those outages. Now to your vote 2016. Republican Vice President ial candidate, and indiana governor mike pence stayed in the area once on stage, pence gave supporters insight into what they will hear from trumps highlyanticipated immigration speech in arizona tonight. When he talks in arizona tonight, youre going to hear about security. And you know, we have a saying back in indiana, that good fences make good neighbors. [ laughter ] hes down there talking to the president of mexico, as well as an incoming leader of the United States should. The truth of the matter is, i real clear. Were going to restore the borders of this country. Were going to build a wall. Pence is now headed to arizona for trumps rally later tonight. Well, a final goodbye. One of tampas most respected religious leaders has now been laid to rest. This is the funeral mass for monsignor lawrence higgins. Higgins was a Catholic Priest who dedicated his life to serving tampa bay since moving he founded st. Lawrence and served there for 39 years. He will definitely be missed by this community. The National Hurricane center weighs in on Tropical Storm hermine. And if you lose power, this may seem like an odd thing to explain, but what should you eat first . Our Storm Team Coverage continues. And then this woman is accused of setting a bay area car on fire, and casually walking away. Take a look. Well have more details on this Hillary Clinton im Hillary Clinton and i approve this message. Bob kidder, owner, new England Shirt Company this factory has been here since eighteen eightythree. We have over sixty people here making shirts labled made in america. Suits from mexico, his coats from india. Trumps products have been made in twelve other countries because he says theres no place in america that he can make them. Well there is. You know donald trump says hell make America Great again while . Give you the knowledge to adjust for the best sleep ever. The time is now for the biggest sale of the year, where all beds are on sale save 50 on the labor Day Limited Edition bed. With this storm looming out in the gulf, we wanted to check in with the experts at the Hurricane Center for forecasting assistance. Storm team 8 meteorologist lee span leigh spann spoke to them a few minutes ago. Joining me to talk about this system and other parts of the Hurricane Center in miami. Dr. Dab,ip know its busy down there. Thank you for joining ncc. Thank you for joining us. Thank you having me. This torm storm is likely to strengthen to a Tropical Storm later today. Earlier, the storm was looking a lot more organized. What do we think the reason was for getting org niedinized here in organized in the very near future. Very warm waters in the gulf of mexico. And the atmospheric giving a little more conducive for strengthening. We still have the hurricane watch, along with the storm warning in effect, starting just north of the tampa bay area, and around the big bend. Because just not exactly certain what the strength will be when it comes ashore tomorrow night. But the hazards that we need to be concerned about are going to be the same either way. Including the potential for very heavy rainfall. And flash flooding in the tampa bay area. Really want to urge folks to stay safe on the roadways, not weve lost a lot of lives in the past due to the heavy rainfall and inland flooding. And. And you know, weve already seen some that rainfall coming. And we are still two days out from the system, actually even heading towards the shoreline. Really, with the latest updates from the Hurricane Center, were seeing this thing actually slow down a little bit. Were not expecting it to make landfall, until midnight thursday and into friday. What has slowed it down . And what kind of impact is that for . Threat . Yeah. So important not to focus on what it is now and what it is doing now and focus on what we expect to happen. We do think it is going to strengthen. We also are pretty sure its going to start moving. The steering currents havent been well defined overnight. But that will change. This shpick this up, bring it northeastward. And again, Tropical Storms are not just points on the map. Neither are depressions. And the heavy rainfall threat peninsula, at risk of getting locally, 5 to 10 inches. Isolated spots, maybe to 10 to 15 inches. Then also, some modest storm surge, one to two feet in vulnerable areas. Then we could see a bit more storm surge, pulling to the north, where we could get 3 to 5 feet, of storm surge flooding around the big bend area of florida. So the water hazards. Really gotta remind yourself, it doesnt take a really strong system by the wind to ea dangerous water hazards am. Dr. Rick, we certainly appreciate you joining us. Get back to work, tracking this system. Okay. Thank you. All right. So lets see you lose power sometime over the next few days. What happens when its meal time and your family is hungry . Do you eat the food that is still sitting in your fridge . 8 on your side has answers to that. This is real questions people have to think about. Abigail, joinings now with the very latest. What is the plan here. You suggest eating the fresh foods first. You have the fridge. But you dont want to open it too many times. Grab the things that are fresh first. So if you have any fresh vegetables, and type of leftovers, youre going to want to eat that first. Just to make sure to be able to eat it. Get that Good Nutrition from it. And be able to have the rest of the stuff that is in the pantry. Maybe the hurricane kit. The pantry is the goto place, too. Tell us about some of the things you brought that good ideas. Yeah. So the really great thing is all of this stuff is shelf stable. And its really good in hurricane situations. You want to make sure to have things that are going to give your Body Nutrition, you and your kids. So things like canned tuna, canned salmon, canned chicken. Those will have good protein. Doesnt need to be a bag of chips. Exactly. You can eat healthy, even through a hurricane. If you think about it, none of the things that are good cold are going to be that make sure to have better. Make sure to have canned vegetables. Some some sort of grain. Here is a great one. You can usually find precooked rice. Heres a kin wa brown quinoa brown rice. Another thing is if you just want to put a pbj together. Bread, peanut butter, jelly. And you have a method for putting this together, too is. Yes. Think one grain, one protein, youve got a meal. Granted, maybe not going to taste the best. But will provide your Body Nutrition when youre dealing with this time. Although the kids stuff, you want to make sure to have bars on hand. And also trailmix. This is super simple. Cheerios, raiseips, peanut raisins, peanuts. Well send you back over to the weather with stacy and julie. And stacie and julie. Its all were talking about schools in many of the bay areas, canceled for tomorrow. So be sure to check with your district. And we havent seen the worst of it yet . No, the rain has just started. Its going to continue for the rest of today. And they will pile up and eventually runs out of places to g. Lets take a look outside now. We have video of a rough surf out in the gulf. This is pretty much the sight across the entire tampa bay area. Of course, all associated with Tropical Storm hermine. Winds havent picked up much yet. Expect that to happen. As we head into tomorrow. Of course, definitely not today, not tomorrow. You do not want to be out on the water, dangerous situation for sure. Outside at sun city center, you can see the rain coming down at this location. Ive picked up just about 2 1 2 inches of rain. This is so far today. Hula bay in south tampa, weve picked up nearly 2 1 2 inches of rain at this location as well. Cloudy skies, heavy rain. This is what we have been seeing. The heavy showers and storms, across the tampa bay area. Cloudy, overcast skies. Even our inland spots, seeing a little rain now. Although you havent seen as much, of course, as our coastal areas. Some steadytoheavy rain coming down across west chase. Downtown tampa. You can see heavy rain across south tampa currently. Gibson. All of you dealing with heavy rain right now. And as you head over towards Pinellas County, we dont need to be seeing more rain there. And were still dealing with heavy stuff. Indian rocks beach water area. Pretty nasty conditions at this point, from Whitfield Estates through sarasota, venice, inglewood. All dealing with heavy rain on the coast. This is lifting off towards the north. And its just training over the same area. And thats why were going to see the rainfall totals continue to increase. Haines city, towards winter haven. Lifting through polk county. What to expect for the rest of this evening. The clouds, of course, staying with us. Heavy down pours. Going to be staying with us through the evening hours. Round after round, move on shore, all the way throughout the overnight hours, into tomorrow morning. This mornings commute, a mess for some folks, going to be the case again tomorrow if you have to go to work. And by thursday afternoon, tropical downpours continuing. And our winds do shift as we head into thursday afternoon as well. You can see the Tropical Storm hermine, off to our north and west. You can see that southwesterly flow. That is what could bring us a little coastal flooding tomorrow afternoon. By friday morning, the storm system moving off to our away from us. But we could still see some showers and storms friday morning. And possibly even into friday afternoon as well. Still a decent chance of rain in the forecast. Going to be a while until we can dry out. Tomorrows rain chances, look just as high as today, if not even a little higher. And its really not until we head into this weekend, until we get back into more of a typical summertime pattern for us. Latest advisories. Tropical storm warnings in effect for citrus, fernando, and pasco counties. Heres the latest track of found max winds of 40 miles per hour. Well make landfall, thursday night, in the big bend region of florida, slowed down a bit. Thats why were not looking at thursday night. Its really going to be overnight thursday and the biggest threat continues to be the heaviest rainfall that is going to keep piling up as we head throughout the next couple of daves. By friday, we start to see a little improvement. But its not until Labor Day Weekend until we get back closer to normal. Just be careful. Dont drive through any flooded roadways. Because flooding from heavy rainfall, goto of it. Guys . Okay, julie. Thank you. Right now nsarasota, a woman in sarasota, a woman is accused of stealing 85,000 from the girl scouts. 42yearold stephanie person handled finances. Sarasota county deputies tell us over the course of 8 months, she funneled the money into an unused account. Then used it to pay bills and buy lottery tickets. Shes now facing multiple felony charges. And Clearwater Police are very clear video, who casually sets a mans car on fire and walks away. You can see her feeding the flames as fire engulfed the trunk that was car. This morning or actually this happened on sunday morning. But police just released the video today. If you know who she is, youre asked to call Clear Water Police department. And coming up on first at 4, more on Tropical Storm hermine. From flooding to a water rescue. Thats at 4 30. First other theres this. Its time to start pairing off. The tarp is out. Two sports guys right here found them. It is raining hard. Right now at the stadium. Theyr