Midday when were focusing in right now. Youre never more than seven minutes away from weather and traffic on wbtv news this morning. Here is chris, first alert traffic. Chris al, thank you, rst alert traffic is sponsored by toyota of north charlotte. If youre getting ready to make your morning commute be aware roads in many cases are wet out there. Taking a live look, this is i77, west boulevard, rolling through center city this morning, you can see the dampness, the spray coming off the vehicles. Quick check of drive times, rock hill to uptown, 21 minutes, i85 southbound from concord, kannapolis, 18 minutes. 65milesperhour. Lake norman commute sitting at 15 minutes here. Most of the major highways are running in the green this morning. Yet to see anything that is snarling the Early Morning commute but it was late last night, early this morning on i85 near sam wilson road where we had pretty major accident which actually shut down part of the interstate. Wbtvs Kristen Hampton joins us any word what caused that major wreck . Reporter yeah, troopers are telling me a distracted driver that caused that accident. The driver of that tractortrailer, troopers tell me, he was looking at his gps, that caused him to leave the roadway there and hit a car, a Passenger Car that pulled off on the interstate, troopers say the driver of the Passenger Car was pulling over to take a rest. He got tired driving down the interstate. Troopers saying that tractortrailer driver looking at his gps left the road, hit the car, caused the tractortrailer to jack knife and send the cab of that truck well up a bank. That happened at 12 20 this morning and took until about 4 15 to get the accident all cleared up. The right lanes were blocked there for some time, but all of those 85 northbound in that area are open right now, that tractortrailer is long gone, im told the passenger in that Passenger Car was okay, taken to the hospital but with not very serious injuries. Caused by the rain, troopers are telling me but you can bet it could be a messy commute this morning. Ive been out and about and been through fairly heavy cells of rain as they pop up here and there, kind of a drizzle at the moment but you can expect that might delay your morning commute this morning as the cells of rain move in through the area. The roads still pretty wet right now. Live in charlotte, Kristen Hampton, wbtv on your side. John governor pat mccrory has urban search and rescue teams on standby in case of Severe Weather. And is urging School Leaders too review Severe Weather plans. Christine ann clark says the district is keeping a very close eye on the forecast this morning. She is encouraging parents to keep kids indoors until their bus arrives, if there are downpours in your neighborhood. As we mentioned a few minutes ago, other parts of the south are are cleaning up right now from a string of tornadoes, the storms have been blamed for john Kristen Miranda is live in the alert center with new video, what have you got, kristen . Kristen there are three deaths we can tell you about. Two People Killed in louisiana, one person killed in mississippi, this video here is from pensacola, florida. Look at what the storms have done as they have moved through the gulf states. Severe storms in florida, tornadoes there as well. Several people injured in pensacola. One tornado ripping apart an apartment complex last night. Only the bottom floors remain standing. A very severe storm. Utility poles boat poles boat poles brought down. I have been looking at different videos and the storm damage is severe. Ill bring you the latest the minute i get it. Back to you. Christine you can stay on top of the threat for Severe Weather in your neighborhood by downloading the wbtv mobile news app. The interactive radar can help time. John charlottemecklenburg School Board Member takes a big step forward in coming up with a new plan to determine where your kids will attend schools. The board approved new goals for Student Assignment plan last night. Mark davenport live at the Mecklenburg CountyGovernment Center this morning and mark, board set the ground work for Student Assignment plan last night, right . Reporter john, really did, yeah. Superintendent ann clark told the School Board Members enough was enough, they had to set goals in stone and make sure they could move ahead with the project and start work on the project. That is exactly what School Board Members did. I want to bring you inside last night, video from inside the room. They approved five goals after ninety minutes of debate. The goals will serve as the framework in developing Student Assignment plan in the future. Want to highlight and outline the goals for you, no. 1, provide choice and promote equitable access for all children. No. 2, maximize efficiency in especially transportation to reduce overcrowding. Reduce high concentrations of poor and highneeds children. No. 4, provide School Assignment options to student in lowperforming schools and finally, preserve and expand Successful Schools and programs. Now this is only the first step in what is expected to be a yearlong process. Overnight parents were assured the Student Assignment plan wouldnt take effect any sooner than the 20172018 school year, so parents feeling good about that, they have time to talk about these goals that were set last night and the plan that will be set within the next year. Reporting live, mark davenport, wbtv on your side. Christine mark, thank you. Right now charlottemecklenburg police are looking for two people accused of kidnapping a Delivery Driver near uptown. It happened early yesterday morning on baldwin avenue. The pizza driver was kidnapped and forced to withdraw money from an atm. Police released the photo of one of the kidnappers, if you have information, call police. Were just Getting Started this morning at 5 00 a. M. , a close race in nevada, nevada. The battle for second in the caucus. John a check of first alert weather, live power doppler radar, you can see all the rain across the southeast here, weve had a line of heavy storms headed our way. Well keep you posted on that. Trafficwise, a live look at i77 and west boulevard, wet roads out there this morning, and well keep you posted if there are issues out there because youre never more than seven minutes away from weather john 11 after 5 00. Campaign 2016, donald trump projected to be the winner of the nevada caucuses but the race for second, too close to call. Christine a lot of you waking up want to know who won it all and came in second. Kristen miranda first in the alert center with the details. Kristen were getting a clearer picture the numbers from cbs, that are being updated regularly. You can see the last update at 5 09 a. M. , here are the numbers. Donald trumps 46 win there, in the nevada caucus. Marco rubio at 24 to ted cruzs 21 . A couple thousand votes are separating them at this point. So it looks at this point like marco rubio is taking that second place position in the nevada caucuses, well watch the numbers see if they change this was too close to call truly too close to call all night long seems to be operating quite a bit. Back to you. John South Carolina will hold the primary for democrats saturday and at a town hall last night in columbia, both candidates discussed the issue of race relations. We have serious challenges and i think its important for people and particularly for white people to be honest about those. What i have believed in my whole life, i believed it when i was a 22 kid getting arrest in chicago fighting segregation, i believed it my whole life we are in it together. Today, Hillary Clinton will speak at the Alpha Kappa Alpha sorority luncheon, Bernie Sanders will campaign in kansas city, missouri. Christine Sanders Campaign hope the latest endorsement will help them with black voters. Spike lee says when bernie gets the right thing. Lancaster, South Carolina, has a new mayor. Voters elected john howard in a special election, replaces the previous mayor, joe shaw, who died suddenly back in november. Shaw was lancasters longestserving mayor having been in office 26 years. John 14 minutes after 5 00. Youre never more than seven minutes away from weather and traffic on wbtv news this morning. We know you want the most experienced morningmeteorologist to get you up to date on this weather, so heres al conklin. Al nothing severe now, tracking a couple things to point out. We have rain were dealing with this morning but notice here south of columbia, and between columbia and augusta, we have rain and a big cluster, that is inhibiting a lot of the moisture transfer farther north in the wbtv viewing area. Once that goes by, though, look back to the west. This is what im more concerned about for later this morning and toward the midpart of the day. The showers and these lines of storms that were seeing coming that pushes eastward and we get in more robust instability here as temperatures get to near 70 this afternoon, potential again we could have Severe Weather. So, lets look at it. Right now getting rain, nothing severe, lenoir, morganton, marion, statesville, taylorsville, hickory, south of i40, a decent amount of rain between mount holly and down toward mcconnells, westward toward gaffney, shelby and casar. We have the flood watch in effect until 6 00 this evening. Also a wind advisory. One of the concerns is even outside of any Severe Weather potential, just strong winds out of the south with saturated ground could bring trees down. We saw some of that yesterday. Futurecast here, this is this morning, now watch as the lines come together here, ill stop this at 10 00, a Pretty Healthy line from shelby to hickory to lenoir, that comes eastward on top of i77, give or take around lunch time. That bears watching for potential Severe Weather and as we go through the Late Afternoon really i think by then our Severe Weather threat will be pretty much over with. This morning, 55, up to near 70 by lunch time and early afternoon hours. Late this afternoon, 69 degrees. The threat for tornado is not great, the much greater threat is east of us toward raleigh and the coast. But the flooding, the wind, big concerns here and i cant an isolated tornado cant be ruled out. Something well monitoring a the line comes through midday. Check in with chris, first alert traffic. Chris al, thank you. First alert traffic sponsored by toyota of north charlotte. Were looking live at the john belk, over on the south side toward bank of America Stadium and you can clearly see there, that the roads are wet this morning. Well take the broadiest view, 321, Gaston County down in South Carolina, running smoothly this morning, 601 from monroe up to concord, no problems. Major highways here across the region are running in the clear. Only thing were really seeing are a couple of disabled vehicles, one up on north tryon other one providence at cedarcroft. John, over to you. John next at 5 00, new details in the battle between the f. B. I. And apple over unlocking the phone of a shooter. Christine what apple is asking a court to do now. Well be right back its ah, smell that air. Yeah. Smells good. Really good. Oh, hold on. I gotta stop. Why . I gotta get home and wait for the cable company. K, but we just left your house. Oh my gosh, great workout. No, this is your house we at Time Warner Cable need to apologize to you. We no longer offer an excuse to get out of your morning run. Were making a bunch of changes at Time Warner Cable. Now you can choose a onehour arrival window, and our new tech tracker feature will alert you with a text or email with your technicians name and photo lease a 2016 lincoln mkx for 399 a month giving you first alert weather and traffic every seven minutes, welcome back to wbtv news this morning. Christine in consumer headlines, apple is expected to ask a judge this week to allow congress to deal with the companys fight with the f. B. I. Not a court. As we reported, the f. B. I. Wants apple to unlock the phone of one of the shooters in the San Bernardino attacks. Court documents filed this week for apples help to access the october. John nonprofit groups are calling on the nfl to stop offering Fantasy Sports competition to children. The campaign for commercial free childhood say the league wrongly marketed fantasy Football Games to kids online in the Elementary School curriculum. They believe the games could lead children toward future gambling addictions. 21 minutes after 5 00. When i got up there was thunder, lightning, heavy rain. Then started driving in and it tapered off. Christine a good amount of rainfall getting up this morning. Al very quickmoving showers. I had hardly anything, but as soon as i got down 16 i could see the flash of lightning and boom, big downpour. That what is were dealing with. The cells are moving through at 50 miles an hour, if you get under one, it is brief, they are moving quickly. The five sweeps of power doppler dealing with particularly west of charlotte. In and around the Gaston County, southwest mecklenburg, in the neck of lancaster and back here toward in york county and you can see lighter rain up across the foothills, shelby, decent downpour. A lot more back to the west, as i mentioned while we had decent rains that went up east of charlotte early this morning, that is where the lightning was, this is sort of robbing our inflow. Once this bypasses us, ill turn any attention to discreet lines, these have me concerned as we get in a more unstable atmosphere. Were still in the 40s for many of us. As we get in the 50s, 60s and low 70s, again, that is going to help to fuel some of the thunderstorms. Here we are at 8 00 this morning. We have a line of some of the heavier downpours coming in. Keep in mind any one of these could have thunder, lightning, strong winds with them. As we head toward 10 00, we have pretty intense weather moving just to the east of the charlotte area, and on top of us hour, once we get past that, i think things settle down. Not to say they will dry out but we wont see that threat of Severe Weather i think past the early afternoon hours as the front itself moves through early this evening. By the way, on top of the potential Severe Weather, another half to threequarters of an inch of rain is likely to fall across the charlotte area. Perhaps as much as an inch or two across the mountains. That coupled with the gusty winds has potential to bring down trees on their own. Outside of Severe Weather, simply because the ground is saturated. This is the time frame were concerned, give or take an hour or so around lunch time, temperatures close to 70 in the charlotte area. Warm front is trying to lift northward, still in the 40s,s that lifts northward in the 50s after daybreak, and 60s and 70s and as the cool front moves through later tonight, that will sweep in colder air, snow for the mountains, will start at midnight. The greatest threat for severe that is a moderate risk from coastal plain. In our area, it is a slight to somewhat enhanced risk, you have to have wiggle room, but through the foothills and piedmont and sand hill, im moderately concerned we could have Severe Weather. Potential is small but not zero for tornado. Flooding is the greater risk and tornadoes, i think the greater risk will be east of us. Lets show where we think the low will wind up, noon today you see the bands coming through, then it takes off. Get in the snow later tonight for the mountains, several inches accumulating and High Pressure builds in. A cool shot here for thursday, friday, but by saturday and sunday were warming up and again there is a Winter Weather advisory, almost sort of secondary concerning what is going on today but later tonight and tomorrow, snow showers for the mountains. For today, 70 degrees, a volatile day. Showers, thunderstorms, potential for Severe Weather, 41 tonight, 55, windy tomorrow 53 friday, sunshine, 55 saturday and bring on sunday, 63 degrees. Still in the 60s monday, youre never more than seven minutes away from weather and morning. Here is chris, first alert first alert traffic is sponsored charlotte. Seeing a couple of accidents popping up here, the last five minutes or so. The first one sam furr north of mccord and down to the south old statesville at gilead road at the crossroads to huntersville concord road, accident scene there. Not seeing terrible delays but the roads are wet, allow extra time and you can see in someplaces here the visibilities are also a bit impaired. 485 running smoothly, 77, 85 looking okay. Disabled vehicle up there on north tryon street. Another disabled vehicle down to our south on providence road but again well keep an eye on things here as we roll toward matthews to center city, 12 minutes, providence road from the arboretum area, right now running at 16 minute commute and concord to center city, 20 minutes, 65 miles an hour. That is a check of the morning traffic, john, over to you. John the battle continues over north carolinas congressional maps. Christine a time line a case. Kristen one tree takes out two cars, where this happened, this is related to the storms heading our way coming up from the alert center. Reporter kicking the can further down the street that is how someone scribed the School Board Meeting last night as it relates to the superintendent search. Board members decided. John good morning, thanks for waking up with wbtv news this morning, now 5 30 im john carter. Christine im christine sperow. Here to help you get prepared for the morning and best look at the forecast here is meteorologist al conklin tracking the rainfall were seeing and potential for Severe Weather. Al very little threat for Severe Weather at this very moment, but i am tracking some heavy downpours. Ill show you that in a moment. First off, look at the last couple days, we certainly had our fair share of rain. More than two inches, monday and tuesday, and again so the ground is saturated. With the gusty winds coming in outside of the Severe Weather, there is potential of trees coming down. Im tracking heavy downpours inside the 485 belt, coming up toward steele creek and center city and another band going north toward i85, you can see across the foothills, shelby, belwood, moving quickly. I am more concerned about the line of showers and storms out of georgia and tennessee as we get in a more warmer and more buoyant air mass. This morning, more rain than anything. A mild day at the start, 55 at the bus stop, this afternoon by 4 00, a lot of the stronger storms are moving off toward the east. In between that im most concerned about. Once we get rid of the rain, it is smooth sailing, 100 chance of rain today, calms down thursday, friday and saturday. The seven day forecast in a couple minutes, right now checking in with chris, first alert traffic. Chris al, thank you, first alert traffic is sponsored by toyota of north charlotte. And were giving you a live look here, this is i85 at freedom drive, Kristen Hampton covering the roadways this morning and you can see from that live picture the spray coming off the vehicles. Roads are wet, visibilities are low, allow extra time for your