Right now at ten were tracking tropical depression number nine. What it could were tracking tropical depression number 9. What it could mean for the tampa bay area. Been down here 18 years and went through 2004 and got sandbags then. I know theyre helpful. Prepared. Yes, getting see whats being done ahead of the hero. You know, hes always going to be our hero. Three siblings with a big empty place in their hearts tonight after their father, a Tampa Police Officer, dies in a diefing accident. Youre watching fox 13, and the 10 00 news starts now. Mark im mark wilson. Kelly ill kelly. Td9 is the big story tonight. Lets go to paul with the latest. An area of low pressure off the tip of cuba. Once in a while thunderstorms flare up, but it looks like the storm is intensifying and then they kind of wane and the center moves away from the storms. So overall it looks like a tropical depression. Weve had rand bands today move rapidly from east to west kind of caught in the big circulation around the td. I expect more of that to happen during the day tomorrow. So there have been big thunderstorms around the center tonight. We expect that at nighim around tropical systems. The deal is in the gulf, though. Its muddled. You have red back here indicating dry air. Youve got more red off the west coast indicating more dry air. Even dry air northwest of the system, so the environment just doesnt favor any rapid intensification. Thats good. You dont want to see an environment thats perfect for intensification, because with a storm turning and moving intensify, that would be a bad setup for us. Nevertheless, we have some issues. Even with a moderate Tropical Storm in the big bend area, were on the wet, dirty side of the storm with squalling and areas of heavy rain off the gulf. There will be gusty southwest winds also pushing water onshore. We have a 90mile Continental Shelf off the west coast. Its flat, and water kind of builds up east. So i would expect some at least minor coastal flooding, maybe colin and worse than that. Maybe bands of heavy rain, and also with a path like this, we have to watch out for the potential of some tornadoes around on thursday. That makes sense in some of the squalls. So well watch out for that. Models all are picking on a developing trough moving into the gulf. This is the setup you see more usually in august storms move from east to west and move along. This time its a sharp righthand turn moving into the big bend area, and potentially impacts for us as we zoom in. Were talking about winds and rain. Rain is a big factor. In fact, the models predict 4 to 5, 6 inches of rain near the coast. They have lesser amounts inland. That was the case for the most part with colin, and as the storm passes northwest of us, the winds i can up from the there could be some coastal flooding with the storm surge as high as 3 to 5 feet above average tide. The main tide issue on thursday is a high tide coming up midafternoon. As you can tell me, theres a lot going on. Not clearly defined yet as far as the forecast goes, and we m. See you then. Storm preps under way in pasco county as folks get ready for what may come. The m is to prepare now before its too late and dont rush. Josh cascio is there in pasco county. Weve seen residents hit hard with flooding in the past, josh. What are they expecting now . Reporter theyre expecting more of that. More flooding, and thats why folks were out here today trying to get ahead of that. They were filling up sandbags like this one. You see this huge piefl dirt behind me. These sandbags will be available until further notice as that storm continues to be a threat off our as tropical depression 9 continues to make its way towards floridas west coast, residents are moving quickly. P. Ready to run. Reporter to combat the inevitable flooding the storm will bring. I want to get everything taken care of that i can so this way everything is safe. You do what up you have to. The same goes for mike orr. Water flooding is a big problem. Our street, if it rains for two pavement is like an oreo cookie soaked in milk. Reporter pasco county has seen recent cases of flooding like in 2015. County officials are preparing for the potential impact of a cat 1 hurricane this week and want others to plan for that worstcase scenario, too. We want people to be prepared and be aware. Reporter guthrie says one of his biggest concerns is wind. Hes asking residents to secure any loose debris outside so it doesnt becom falling trees will likely be another problem. Trees on home car and power lines. It will knock power out. Were preparing for that already. Even without a direct hit, pasco county likely to feel the impact. Preparations start now before its too late. The lines here will be out to little road if you come to pasco. It wille crazy mayhem. Reporter so get your sandbags he rememb. Theyre being offered at the to 8 00 p. M. As well as other places in the county. No evacuations have been called for yet. If that happens, that will likely be by wednesday. Mark, but none yet. By then we have a better idea what the storm will do. Josh is reporting for us tonight. If youd like a list of sandbagging locations around the bay area as well as updates on the tropics, go to our website. We make it easy for you. Fox13news. Com. Kelly a polk city teenager hit by a car on the way to his he was hit last week. 13yearold jacob scott was walking along the edge of barfield road. Last monday morning he was hit by the car. The driver told deputies the sun was in his eyes and he couldnt see, and he is cooperating with investigators. Were told scott died from his injuries yesterday. He attended lake alfred adair middle school. Nobody likes everybody, but everybody liked fred. That Tampa Police Officer arnold. He died on saturday in an offduty diving acciden actually in nevada. Fred arnold iii was 48 years old. Hed been with the Tampa Police Department since he was 21. Mark wellknown with a lifetime of service. His unexpected death sends shockwaves through the p. D. Tonight. Were hearing from his children as well . By all accounts, the children were the center of the fred arnolds life. One of his colleagues told us hobbies, but if you asked him about his passion in life, he talked about his family. Officer arnold was on vacation on saturday diving in an accident. He had a diving accident in lake mead, nevada. You surfaced unconscious. He was a member of the Tampa Police Department for 27 years. He leaves behind a wife and three children ages 16, 18 and 23. His daughters and son spoke to the media today to share a little bit of their father with and said the bad guys in tampa may not realize it, but theyve lost a friend, too. If he caught the bad guy, and there was a compassionate way to charge the bad guy or there was the were going to throw the book at you way, fred would always pick the compassionate way. Thats just the type of guy that he was. Im going to miss, you know, the playful banters, the bear hugs, the kisses. And i just want to thank everybody for being there for us. A lot of people said her dad was a hero. At the age of 23 he saved a woman and her two small children from a burning home in tampa. They were unconscious when he went in and found them through thick snow and one by one carried them out to safety. Arnold also volunteered countless hours mentoring teenls in the Police Explorer program. As for the cause of his death, trip in nevada, an autopsy should determine what caused him to lose consciousness there, mark. Were so sorry for his family. Tomorrow is primary election day across florida, and officials have been getting busy for weeks and weeks now. Its all coming up tomorrow. Poll workers spent the day today setting up Voting Machines getting ready for those that havent voted yet. They report nearly 2 million floridians have already voted through early voting or mail. The Hillsborough County supervisor of elections anybody voting tomorrow to know your voter polling place. Its on your voter i. D. You have to go to your assigned location if you want to vote. Also, bring that i. D. With you. Theres something on the ballot for everybody to vote on. It doesnt matter what your Party Affiliation is. We have races on here for democrats, republicans and nonParty Affiliations or other minor parties. If youre unsure where to go, check your Voter Registration supervisor of elections. Were mourning the passing of actor gene wilder. Thats coming up. More on him tonight. . In a world of pure imag imagination . We have a look at his life. Crystal, what do you have . Two men shunned a a polk county business. The reason why . Theyre Police Officers. See how the community is expressing their outrage at donald trump facing new criticism he appeared to mock a reporter with a disability. You gotta see this guy. uhhhh i dont know what i said, i dont remember. hes going like i dont remember. Putting a wife to work is a very dangerous thing. Im sorry to say it. Hes a war hero because he was captured. I like people that werent captured. kelly in polk county. Outrage has erupted on social kelly in polk county outrage erupted on social media after two Police Officers say they were refused service at a tropical smoothie location in winter haven. One of the officers posted about it on facebook yesterday. Its been shared more than 8,000 times. Fox 13s crystal clark joins us now. You stopped by there today. What are customers saying about all in . Reporter theres definitely sympathy for the officers. This comes at a time when most Law Enforcement agencies are seeing overwhelming support from their communities, so to see such shocking examples of just plain disrespect for the badge is surprising quite a few people. Gifts and messages of support have flooded every polk county Law Enforcement agency since july. When five dallas Police Officers were killed in an ambush, but a less than subtle reminder that not everyone backs the blue came tropical smoothie restaurant in winter haven. Adam leatherberry posted on facebook that he and a Police Officer from winter haven were denied service. An employee saw them in line and said to another worker, im not serving them. You can. Its the cops. I refuse to serve them. I feel like thats segregation, and i feel like nobody deserves the right to tell somebody they cant be served because of who they are, no matter their race or profession. Reporter ma sentiment posting bad reviews on the restaurants facebook page. It got back to the owner who fired the employee the same day. One bad employee that makes a bonehead Statement Like that, that doesnt it doesnt really show the true character of the businesses or of our community. Reporter also taking to facebook the business apologized calling the employees statement disrespectful and absolutely unacceptable. The Swift Response is leading restaurant online. One woman even posting a picture of her smoothie saying she hopes the former employees bad action doesnt hurt the small business. There are some good cops. Reporter uniform aside, customers say if people arent going to do their jobs, they need to to go. You pretty much telling customers they cant come in and buy food, you know. You wont serve them. You dont need to be here if you dont serve people. Reporter we did stop by the former employees home today, but no one answered. Li clark, fox 13 news. Now, your sky tower radar forecast with fox 13 chief meteorologist paul did he go guardado. Paul this is pretty cool. Watch the bands of rain approach downtown st. Pete today. The rain goes by. Very tropical sky today. Clouds and rain on the move. Lots of wind in the atmosphere today. Watch towards the end. The setting sun is going to illuminate thunderstorms building in the distance right thats pretty cool stuff on the view photos. As the storms move offend the coast, they help to make a great sunset. Check this out. Indian rocks beach tonight from hilda nicely done. From Honeymoon Island check out the reflections. She always has great photos on my page. In from steven watts in south tampa. Great sky, very tropical. Same kind of v from sarah houser. Those photos on my facebook page, check them out. Lets talk about the state. We have wind in the atmosphere today, so the rain that moves by kind of does its thing and moves to the west. Already today many spots have had 1 to 2 inches of rain, and then you get additional showers tomorrow, more wednesday and heavy rain on thursday, so between now and friday, rainfall totals pretty impressive. Thats why in the summertime jipped rain, you see the reina may have missed you during the typical summer afternoon storms. Low pressure moving off the coast of cuba moving slowly west. Now sky tower doesnt have much. Showers inland are dmriiminishi but we have a lot of tropical moisture over us. Tomorrow with daytime heating, showers and thunderstorms build. There could be rain around tampa bay as early as midday as it whips in from the eas southeast. Temperatures now in the 70s and low 80s, and the tropics are getting very busy. Theres a huge wave coming off the coast of africa. That one will be probably developing, and it will be on the map for another week or two. Eventually we turn our attention to this coming off africa. Gaston is here too. Theres a race between td8 and 9. Whole get hermines name first and then ian follows. A wave off the coast of texas, tonight. Theres also a couple of hurricanes approaching hawaii that could be impacting their weather as well. Enhanced satellite tonight shows a flareup of convection off the coast of cuba. A 24 north 84. 8 west and top winds 35. A motion is westnorthwest at 5. Not moving much at all. Theres not much in the way of wind and the pressure didnt drop much today. Wereectiig right han over the gulf of mexico the issue is going to be us watching for any signs of intensification. Normally you get a system out in the gulf in late august shths the water is 85 to 88. Youll be very concerned. Were not too concerned because the environment with dry air and shear seems to limit that potential of any rapid intensification. However, cant write it off completely. Well watch it. A moderate Tropical Storm making landfall some place up in the gives us rain and a gusty southwest wind and gives us coastal flooding. Could be a couple of tornadoes going by on thursday with the squalls and by friday its long gone. This track by the way with the bucs game on thursday, thats iffy as well tlar home playing the last preseason game. An upper level trough is approaching from the west and northwest. Heres the w kind of looks like a heart. Tropical storm force pretty much in the yellow, 58plus in the orange. It does nick some of citrus county. Theres a broad flow and nothing to stop the wind from blowing in off the water. Very gusty winds near the coast. If you watch me inland, we did our Facebook Chat tonight, our facebook live. A lot of you from winter haven and Highlands County have some wind, but your strongest winds are squalls that go by. And the heaviest rain is near the coast as well. The main threat is isolated tornadoes. Im not expecting much wind from this storm to cause any significant structural damage. Thats for sure. Heres the system out in the gulf. This is the issue with rain. Look at all this rust or red. This is about as much water as the atmosphere can hold, and this is going to move pretty much near us or over us thursday into friday. Thats why models are going very aggressive with rainfall totals as high as 5 to 8 i we had two today, so 5 to 8 from a passing Tropical Storm is not too tough to do. Then that goes by, and were left in the soup into friday with additional showers and thundershowers and rainfall accumulations through wednesday into thursday, kind of giving that hint of the heaviest amounts near the coast. Maybe not quite as much inland, and the wave forecast, waves build out in the gulf maybe as cases 15 to 20 feet. Obviously, boating is not a good idea wednesday and thursday. Probably friday either. So tonight partly cloudy for the most part and 78. Tomorrow, rain will start going east of us, and it will whip to the west. So fastmoving tropical showers. If youre caught in one of them, its going to come down pretty heavy during the day near 90. Then on wednesday i think more significant rain will arrive later in the day or at night. 85, kind of a thursday with bands of rain, some heavy, and then we have slow improvement arriving into the weekend. T public schools. And i oppose private School Vouchers that take funds away from public education. I opposed stand your ground gun laws and im against rick scotts hatefilled agenda. I strongly support Medicaid Expansion and i want to increase the minimum wage. Democrat ed narain. Endorsed by floridas teachers and kathy castor. Hey girls wanna be in the commercial . A major step forward in the fight against the kelly a major step forward in the fight against the zika virus. Researchers have now identified two drugs, one which is already on the market, and another in testing that could potentially stop the viruss devastating effects on the body. Of course, theres no cure, but that could change. Lets hope. Break down the announcement. It sure comes at a good time doesnt it. Reporter it sure does. With a large amount of rain this week, its crucial to eliminate any standing water that could become a breeding ground for the zikacarrying mosquitos. Today is a game changer. Its so off, researchers say it could be here before we know it. After months of worry, its increasing reach and Devastating Health effects, finally a this is probably going to be a virus thats cured sooner than later. Reporter a Research Team from Florida State and Johns Hopkins university as well as the nih found a drug used to treat tapeworm could stop the zika virus from replicating in the body. It showed no danger to pregnant women in animal studies. They identified a drug that is tested for Liver Disease that this is a major benefit. We can effectively in the future kind of fasttrack these drugs through