It is gigantic. It is out here laying across two lanes heading away the city of charlotte. Crews cut down the right hand part of the tree heading queens road northbound lanes. Cars could head in the city but the rest of it, obviously still here this morning. Well have to look at alternate routes because you obviously cant get through if youre leaving the city i want to send it over to chris larson in the traffic center. How do you get around the big tree . Chris traffic is sponsored by toyota of North Charlotte. So again as mark said, if youre heading northbound on queens road, no problems, it is southbound toward more head where we have the obstruction so likely hermitage down to Edge Hill Road would get you around that. Or could you take baxter street through the cherry neighborhood that would get you back over to kings drive. These are outbound heading toward morehead street where we have that block age there. Lets take a live look, i77 at clanton road, volume is light up here in the next 45 minutes to an hour. Looking at the overall charlotte commute, still quite a bit of green, 485 looks good, 77, 85 running in the clear with no problems. Continuing to follow this accident scene on wilkinson boulevard at harley avenue being reported as an injury accident right over by Charlotte Douglas international airport. That is right off the Josh Birmingham parkway, that major entrance route to the terminals at cr t. That is a check of the morning traffic. Youre never more than seven minutes away from weather and traffic on wbtv news this morning. John Live Team Coverage of the Severe Weather turns to the clean up power crews working to restore power to tens of thousands of customers across the state. Ashton pellom joins us with more on what he has found. Reporter good morning, john, this spot behind me, im currently on oak drive you can see the tree that came down yesterday, it still is down in the middle of the road as of right now, you can just see a massive tree, starting from right there, came down across oak drive, actually took out a power line you can see, still wrapped around the tree and that line is still in the middle of the road right now. Take to you video i shot when i first arrived on scene, you see police right there blocking the road and that power line still down on the road, crews did come out and assess the damage but put barricades up and left the scene, hopefully crews will be back out here later to fix that power line and get the tree chopped up. Lets take you to the scene on old potter road, a big tree fell across that road as well, police tell me that a woman actually drove, as cars were backing up to avoid the tree, a woman drove around those cars backing up and ran in the tree and to is doing okay but the road is blocked. Fast forward this is treyburn drive, police tell me a power line was down on that road also, that is affecting thousands of people in nearby apartment complexes is affect and neighborhood over there is affected as well. So, Duke Energy Crews will have their hands busy today full of getting these trees up getting power restored. And they will have their hands busy. One thing to remind you about if you see roads barricaded, i saw one driver try drive through, dont go through the barricades, dont drive through them, they are up for a reason. Go around. Toss to Kristen Miranda in the alert center give you an update on Power Outages. Kristen youre showing us why power is out in so many areas. Look at Duke Energy Outage map has not changed all that much this morning but all over the charlotte region there are Power Outages. Ill give you numbers, burke county, 1700 customers without power. Changed. Caldwell, 1000. Iredell you are doing well, only 143 customers without power. Mecklenburg county is getting a little better we talked about 9,000 customers all morning long, now 7200. Rowan at 754, union county at 1406. One other thing before i get back to john and christine this morning, look at the pictures. Transportation for Watauga County schools tweeted these pictures as he was out checking on road conditions. We have been talking about School Closings and delays. You can see the situation on the roads up in Watauga County. Back to you guys. Christine give goings more visuals. More damage left behind by the storm in other parts of our area. A man and his granddaughter were home when a tree fell on their house in east charlotte. This is on green vista court, thankfully no one was seriously hurt. Car not far from issacs home. Sounded like a big lightning and i came outside to see what was going on and looked across the street and the tree was totally down and took out the power line and also had landed on top of the car right there. John in Gaston County, more of the same, homeowners were happy they werent inside when a tree fell in their living room in mount holly. Straight line winds toppled the tree, took out gas lines in the area. One neighbor couldnt even hear the trees falling because of how heavy and loud the wind was. Inburg county, this free fell across interstate 40. One of many that fell in just a few minutes yesterday. Now, dont forget to download the wbtv weather app. Throughout the storm we sent out alerts to help keep you safe and you can check the interactive radar to see the weather wherever you are. The ciaa tournament and the mens action kicks in full swing as the womens tournament gets a day off. Two local teams in action on the women side johnson c. Smith taking on Virginia Union, they would fall, 8468. Livingstone out of salisbury in a battle with lincoln. Powered by amber curtis 16 points. They would grab the win, 5045 over lincoln. They will advance to take on Virginia Union tomorrow at 3 00. Here is a look the schedule of games. Maybe youll have time. St. Augustine, bowie state at 1 00. Fayetteville and virginia state. The men from johnson c. Smith play lincoln at 7 00 tonight. Virginia union and shaw wrapup action at 9 00. Still plenty ahead here live on wbtv news this morning. John a happy ending for this puppy who was shot 18 times with a bb gun. Well tell you where hes heading now, coming up after the break. Quick check of first alert weather temperatures, 41 in charlotte, 40 monroe, 30 up in boone. Here is a live look at i77 West Boulevard, things moving smoothly. Remember, youre never more than and traffic giving you first alert weather and traffic every seven minutes. Welcome back to wbtv news this morning. Christine welcome back we have several stories brand new in this hour we want you to stick around for. At 6 34, investigate on going issues at Veterans Affairs hospitals. Well hear from one veteran who says despite efforts to cut down on long wait times, he still is having problems. An investigation you will see only on wbtv. Several dangers including risk of exploding. At 6 42, just that, we have video that will make you think twice before buying another one. John the city of charlotte is in the market for a new city manager. Ron carlee will not look to extend his contract when it expires at the end of march. Charlotte city council met in closed session to discussion who should be named as interim city manager. Jennifer roberts had appointed a special committee of five Council Members to consider whether carlees contract should be renewed. It is possible carlee could remain on the job longer to ensure a smooth transition. Christine now a crime alert, police releasing a new round of photos of the man they say kidnapped and robbed a Delivery Driver. So take a good look at your tv, do you know who this is . Officers say he and a woman kidnapped a 61yearold papa johns Delivery Driver in the cherry neighborhood in midtown, drove him to an atm where he was forced to withdraw money. Crimestoppers at 7043341600. Now a happy ending for a puppy that many of you have fallen in love with. Brody was shot 18 times with a bb gun. We have been telling you a the boy the story on wbtv. Weve kept in contact with ebenezer Animal Hospital in rock hill how hes doing. They told us hes been adopted by a loving new family. That family wants to remain anonymous, but they are very excited to take care of brody. And brody had a special reunion with the man at the apartment complex who saved him. The Animal Hospital posting these photos on the Facebook Page saying thank you, darryl. Darryl alerted authorities when he found the injured puppy. John that is such a feelgood story. I love that. A sweet puppy. 6 15, youre never more than seven minutes away from weather and traffic on wbtv news this morning. Here is meteorologist al conklin. Al john, really, pretty close to blizzard conditions in the mountains this morning. Air they may not have quite as much snow as you would technically have using that terms but the conditions are kind of like that inasmuch as we have snow that is going side ways, the gusts of winds are 50 Miles Per Hour. King street in boone from resortcams. Com, that snow just continues to bore down, they had an inch or so already in the boone area, courtesy of the upper level low piling that snow in our mountain counties. And this is going to persist most of the day today. It may pick up as we go through the day today. How much snow are we talking about . Through the day and in tonight, three to five inches. Highest elevations on the avery county line, likely to see the most, probably closer to two or three around boone, may be hard to measure for all that blowing. 41 in charlotte, cornelius, arboretum, 40 Mountain Island lake, 39 tega cay, 34 over toward harrisburg area. 30 with the snow in boone. Wind chill factor 14. 40 statesville, 41 concord, 40 start off at 42, near 50 lunch time and 56 late this afternoon. Heading to the ball games tonight, ciaa tipoff forecast at the arena, 39 degrees, keep in mind the Darren Wilson be around, will be dry but a very chilly wind if youre waiting online. Seven day forecast around the corner, nice warmup down the road, ill have it in a few minutes. Check in with chris, first alert traffic. Chris first alert traffic is sponsored by toyota of North Charlotte. Heads up if youre heading outbound on independence boulevard, trying to make your way toward wendover road, blockage on the exit ramps from independence to wendover, just be aware of that. I77 at the rest area, volume light but we will see it picking up here the next 30 minutes. Looking at the overall commute, slow downs on providence road as you make your way inbound and be aware that we still have a tree down on queens road over near the cherry neighborhood. That may cause slow downs if youre heading toward morehead this morning. Johnston at marvin road, that is highway 521 at marvin road down to the south of providence road west. That is a check of traffic, christine, over to you. Christine the privacy fight continues for apple. John the government shows no signs of backing down the closer look at the details on the fight at cbs this morning at 7 00. Christine next at 6 00, Kristen Miranda hard at work in the alert Center Getting you headlines first. She just learned chapel grove elementary in Gaston County is closed. Chapel grove elementary in Gaston County closed. Kristen miranda getting that in Severe Weather elsewhere a vo you can pass down a subaru forester. dad shes all yours. vo but you get to keep the memories. Its what makes a subaru, a subaru. John good morning, 6 21, we select few, of all the School Closings and delays. Avery, mitchell and Watauga County schools are closed. Ashe county is on threehour delay. Alleghany on twohour delay. If we get more well let you know. Get over to Kristen Miranda she is live in the alert center with details just in on two more school closures. Kristen very important if your kids go to school in Gaston County. We got word from Gaston County schools i want to read it to you so i get it right. Power outages in this area here that have closed two schools. Chapel Grove Elementary School and Stanley Middle School in Gaston County, both closed today for students. Because the schools dont have power. These are the only two schools Gaston County says in the School System without power. So everybody else is going to school today in Gaston County but the students at chapel grove elementary and Stanley Middle School are staying home because there is no power at the school. I want to show you video i got in as well, talking about the Weather Damage in areas outside look at this, this is massachusetts, in both dorchester and cambridge, you can see what that tree did both to the house and that car. They are having a lot of the same problems we are here in the carolinas. Back to you. Christine thank you, kristen for that heads up security. The hornets on a roll as of late. With five straight wins. The team looking to keep the streak alive. Visiting the cavaliers, kemba walker would lead the way with 20 points and 6 assists, but the cavs 12 punch of lebron james and kyrie irving were too much. Next up the pace rs tomorrow night. In college hoops, unc in raleigh to take on the wolfpack. Cat barber had 32 points. The wolfpack lead by double digits early but the tar heels rallied behind Brice JohnsonsNorth Carolina wins 8068. Tar heels travel to take on virginia on saturday. A quick correction if youre following ciaa tournament action, we said johnson c. Smith is going to be playing lincoln, they are playing livingstone tonight at 7 00. Johnson c. Smith versus livingstone tonight at 7 00. John 6 23, youre never more than seven minutes away from weather and traffic on wbtv news this morning. Blizzard like conditions up in the mountains. Al they are getting snow, they have temperatures below freezing and 50 mile per hour wind gusts. Hard to measure because the snow is blowing everywhere. That is why most of the schools are closed up there because of what has happened in the mountains this morning. It is very, very tough. Look at it now, this week we had about three inches of rain in charlotte, hard to believe how quickly things have changed after being so dry there earlier in the month. Things turned around very quickly. You may recall last week i showed you this graphic and we were down both for the month and for the year, now look where we are. A surplus for month of an 1. 5 and for the year now, a surplus of almost a half inch. Im also happy to report were done with the rain for a while, thank you. There is still rain in new york and new england, snow on the backside of the low but as this pulls northward were going to get in a dry flow, seasonal the next couple days, deal with the wind today. But will get rid of that and start to see gradually warmer conditions. A brighter sky off toward the east in stallings. Scott clarks and a gorgeous looking morning out here in charlotte. Current conditions from Scott Clark Nissan honda hd tower cam, clear skies, 41, the winds sustained at 15milesperhour, gusts closer to 30. As we go through the Morning Hours here today, take a look at this, stop it at noon. 44 mile per hour wind gusts in the mountains. Between 25 and 30 miles across will hold until 4 00. The winds die down we should have a prettier day in terms of much less wind. Below freezing in the mountains, 41 morganton, concord, 40 monroe, 38 in lincolnton. Mountains talked about it snow today, just above freezing and very strong winds throughout the day. The rest of us are dry, partly sunny skies, youll be near 50, lenoir, taylorsville, low chances for snow that way. Here in the piedmonts are partly to mostly sunny skies, 56 mooresville, charlotte, monroe and salisbury, and we take you south, looks like a nice day across lancaster, rock hill, chester in the 50s as well. Our rain chances will be low and 50s at first but look at next week, 60s and 70s back in the forecast, and again after today, with the snow in the mountain, all going to dry out very nicely. Nice stretch of weather coming our way, the seven day forecast, 56, mostly sunny, 53 less wind tomorrow. Both days of the weekend are 66, as mentioned, uphill with very little chance for any rain near 70 next week. Lets check in with chris, 6 00 25, first alert traffic. 6 25. Chris al, thank you, first alert traffic sponsored this morning by toyota of North Charlotte. Want to give you a heads up heading outbound away from center city on independence expressway. We have a blockage on the ramp to wendover road. So again, that might cause a few slow downs. Inbound on independence, still running in the green this morning. Over on queens road, tree down, came down yesterday during our storm and the southbound lanes toward morehead still blocked off you might want to think about hermitage or edge hill to get you around that accident scene if youre trying to make your way toward morehead. A live look at i85, northbound going away from you at 485, southbound traffic coming in toward the city and beginning to pick up. But most of our majors are continuing to run in the green at this hour. Highway 521 at marvin road, accident at that intersection, and we are seeing delays there along 521 in both directions. That is a check of your morning commute, christine, over to you. Christine much more to come. John Student Assignment discussions caused controversy in charlottemecklenburg schools. Coming up, the drastic step one local mayor wants to take. Youre watching wbtv news well be right back, its 6 27. Christine next at 6 30, snow moves in the high country overnight. You can see it here live on our power doppler radar, coming in from eastern tennessee. Meteorologist al conklin tracking how long it will last as well as changes for your weekend. John on your side with live Mark Davenport, Kristen Miranda been monitoring some of the damage left behind by Severe Weather here in the area and across the country as well as Power Outages. Christine we want to let you know avery, mitchell and watauga morning. Ashe county schohos are on threehour delay. Alleghany county schools delayed by two hours. John thanks for waking up with wbtv news this morning now 6 30 im john carter. Christine im christine sperow. Get you started in this half hour with a look at first alert weather. Meteorologist al conklin has the most accurate look. Al you mention had weve got School Delays and closures in the mountains and that is a big issue. You can see the snow that continues to fall early on right now. And across the area were looking at temperatures that are mostly in the 40s, although in the mountains, it is colder right now, close to freezing in boone. This is lees mccray college, they will start classes at 9 30 this morning. Snow continues to fall and it is blowing. Close to 40 rock hill, monroe, salisbury, gastonia, hickory, 30 in boone, blizzardlike conditions up there. At the bus stop, 42 degrees, partly to mostly sunny this morning. This afternoon, the wind will be with us all day long, seasonally cool, high around 56 degrees. Gorgeous start out there right now, chris, looks pretty but cool and windy. Chris i was just thinking about that, a cold walk on campus at appalachian this morning. Al sure will be. Chris howling winds. Look at the trees, a lot of damage. This is a live look on queens road, right off morehead street. Wbtvs Mark Davenport has been live on the scene. There was a portion of time yesterday all of queens road was blocked off. They have one section cleared heading inbound toward the city but south going away toward morehead street you can see still in the road and still blocked this morning. Lets take a look at the mapping system point out where this there you have east morehead, looking for an alternate and heading queens road toward morehead you might want to think about hermitage to edge hill or baxter to cherry neighborhood would get you back over to kings drive. Looking live this morning, i77 out toward the rest area, that volume of traffic certainly beginning to increase here across the charlotte area. Current drive time rock hill in uptown, 21 minutes. Coming in from concord, about an 18 minute commute and lake norman, southbound, 17 minutes at 60 miles an hour. Take a a quick look here at the overall charlotte commute, most of the major highways are running in the green with just a few slow downs over toward albermarle and wt harris. We do have one other accident, this is highway 521, johnston at marvin road. We were seeing heavy traffic right now back in the green. That is a check of the morning commute. Youre never more than seven minutes away from weather and traffic on wbtv news this john 6 34, liver team Live Team Coverage of the aftermath of the storm continues in charlotte. Christine Ashton Pellom was assigned to drive around the area overnight and see where the road blockages are. Ashton, where have you found the most issues during your morning drive . Reporter it was evenly spread throughout the city. Went to North Charlotte by north lake, east, west and south as southpark, so widespread damage across charlotte area this morning. You can see this tree down behind me on oak drive. A lot of scenes like this, trees down, debris inroads, if you have to be out on the roads, be careful, the main thoroughfares are clear, debris is scattered across the roads. John have power crews tell you when the power will be restored . Reporter that is a good question, john. Usually a crap shoot on normal severe storm you have things like this, trees are still down and lines out, i was told by one contractor they had to send some worker home because they are working so hard yesterday to restore power they overworked their daily limit, they will be back out here today but as far as cleanup and getting power restored there is no certain time table. No hope to do it early to day and have it finish at least by the end of the day. John that is Ashton Pellom live from charlotte with more on the trees down, Power Outages and more. Christine lets get to Kristen Miranda who is in the alert center with some live pictures, where is this from . Kristen this is a live picture here, information just in i wanted to get you caught up, a live picture off the coast of new york in queens, actually. Authorities say a coast guard vessel overturned after it was sent to assist a fishing vessel that ran aground off queens in new york city. Five coast guard members on board that coast guard ship that overturned, they got to the they were wearing protective gear. So they are okay, that is a bit of good news in this. The coast guard got a distress call from the fishing vehicle, 74 foot called the carolina queen at 4 30 saying they were in trouble the coast guard went out to rescue. The coast guard vessel overturn, this is a fishing vessel you see here they are trying to make sure that ship gets to where it needs to be. That is breaking news right now off the coast there in new york city and ill continue to follow it if we learn anything else, if anything develops, ill let you know right away. John well be back with more weather coverage in a moment. 6 36, on your side investigation shining a light on problems in the va that led to delay in care for veterans. Nick ochsner started digging for answers after several local veterans called wbtv for help. Nick is in the newsroom with details of the investigation all new in this half hour. Created the Choice Program to cut down on the wait time to see specialists. That program allowed veterans to see a doctor outside the va for Specialty Care if they had to wait more than 30 days to see a va specialist. My investigation uncovered new problems with the Choice Program. One veteran we talked with said it took two months before he could see a doctor through the Choice Program. Another said his doctor told him co no longer be treated because the Choice Program wasnt paying the bills. That same veteran had to go to extreme lengths to get help. I had to complain loudly, i had to call my congressman, i had to shout from a rooftops i was being flat out ignored. Watch wbtv news tonight at 6 00 for my full investigation as we catch the va saying one thing while the medical records show another. Nick ochsner, wbtv on your side. Christine new morning the mayor of one town says it is time to split from charlottemecklenburg schools. Tweeted this yesterday, he said he wants town officials in matthews, pineville and mint hill to create a task force to look into creating a separate Suburban School district in response to the controversial Student Assignment issue. Taylor has the support of county commissioner jim puckett. A live look at the commute as were well in the 6 00 a. M. Hour at 6 38, the stretch of 77 at the West Boulevard exit. Were seeing many more cars on the interstates in this hour, so keep that in mind if you are traveling, give yourself extra time if you need to, lets go to meteorologist al conklin who has a look at weather now. Al know in the mountains is a big deal. Go to the beaches nothing but sunshine. Top sail beach from surfchex. Com, water temperatures in the 50s. Wind will be with us all day long, folks, even here in the piedmont will die down as we go through the night tonight. The numale fishing forecast, 50 three hour delay getting snow in ashe county this morning that is where the big catch, Matthew Shephard of jefferson one of the muskies, four feet long. It is still out there, he had it out of the water long enough to snap the picture and now released back in the water. Well be chilly the next couple days but the wind will be gone after today. Looks good going in the weekend, wait until you see sundays forecast. Ill let you know about it seven day planner around the corner, youre never more than seven minutes away from weather and traffic on wbtv news this morning. John next on wbtv news this morning christine do you or people you see every day have a cough right now . Have you ever wondered what it means . After the break, we have a closer look. But first, heres a look at and wbtv. Thank you for starting your day with wbtv news this morning. John all new, a man in kentucky recovering from severe burns after an ecigarette exploded in his pocket. Look at the tv, Josh Hamilton buying snacks at a gas station, you can see the sparks shooting out of his pants pocket. Hamilton runs out the door where he struggles to get the burning pants off. Another customer drove him to the hospital, he has Second Degree burns on his leg. Wow. Quite unexpected there. Lets talk weather this morning because really strong. Al we still have a big area of low pressure to the north of us, that is funneling down cooler air. Pressure gradient is intense. Happen today we wont get rid of the wind. One more windy day, snow in the mountains all day the rest of us decent amount of sunshine, snow on the backside, rain on the front side, everybody is getting in on the wind. Lets look at the seven day forecast today, outside the wind it is a nice day. 56 degrees, again we will have mostly sunny skies here today, looking pretty good across our area, but as we go in the afternoon, again the problem is the wind, so strong, 50 mile per hour wind gusts, the rest of us 25 to 30 Miles Per Hour until we get toward the evening, then they will gradually die down during the overnight hours. And so we should have a much better day tomorrow. Tomorrow, 53 on friday, that is here in charlotte, you notice plenty of sunshine in the forecast for friday, but as far as what were looking at in terms of wind, there should be much less for tomorrow. Looking ahead to saturday, saturday i think is a decent day, there is lots of sunshine in the forecast, but were sunday we go from 55 to 60 and then monday, well in the 60s, and close to 70 on wednesday, so i would say both days of the weekend are going to look really nice but the difference is one day will be in the 50s and one day well in the 60s. Out there right now, our current temperature is at 41 degrees, we have a good deal of sunshine and expecting well have that pretty much throughout the day. There will be clouds from time to time but again the wind will be a big factor as we go through the day today. Will be gust y, could be additional trees and power lines that come down the ground is wet after three inches of rain. Watch out for that. Wind gusts all day long. Lets check in with chris, 6 45, first alert traffic. Chris al, thank you so much, first alert traffic this morning is sponsored by toyota of North Charlotte. Lets go ahead and take a live look at one of the traffic cameras, this is i77 at West Boulevard, volume of traffic beginning to pick up here across the charlotte area. But still running along smoothly overall commute, 485 in the green, beginning to see some volume slow downs. 77 northbound, coming across 485. Heavier around the arboretum area and wt harris and albermarle going slow. Down to our south, this is Ballantyne Commons parkway at elm lane, Traffic Signals are out at this busy intersection, so be aware of that. If Ballantyne Commons is part of your morning commute you will likely see delays there as we get in the heart of the morning rush hour here. An accident on orr at general commerce drive, that is right down to the south of old concord road. But we have an accident scene there, about ten minutes old now. That is a check of the morning commute, youre never more than seven minutes away from weather and traffic on wbtv news this morning. John now 6 47, on your side with health news. A very familiar sound this time of year, that hacking cough. Over in thecan takeover. Not all coughs are the sir. Muriel has had it with her cough. Ill a week or so now i havent gotten any better. Bronchitis. What does your cough mean . Mount sinai doctor says this time of year, most patients have a cold and cough from post nasal drip. What starts out as Something Like a cold with nasal congestion and mild cough, gets deeper in the upper part of the chest and causes a drawn out illness. If a person has a dry cough that end in a rattle may be asthma. When the cough is wet, with colored mucous that is a sign of pneumonia. Coughs concerning that should prompt someone to go to doctor earlier would be coughs that are associated with real difficulty breathing. Other coughs to watch out for, a dry cough that gets worse when someone lies down or eats severe hacking cough followed by high pitched whoop could be pertussis or whooping cough. Muriel suffers from asthma, a chest extra ruled out pneumonia, determined she has bronchitis. Unfortunately, that is not uncommon for bronchitis, it typically lasts two to four weeks. Doctor recommended a medication to open her passageways and dark honey to soothe the throat and cough. Coughing up blood or experiencing pain when trying to breathe indicate as need for immediate medical attention. Keep that in mind. Two more School Closings in caldwell county, gamewell Elementary School and West Caldwell high school are now both closed. Keep it here on wbtv well let you know of any others and after the break another live report on Severe Weather damage for you, and when we switch over to bounce tv at 7 00 a. M. , looking ahead to the american the studio on bounce, to tell us about the event where you can get free diabetes, Blood Pressure and bmi screenings. Take advantage of that. That and so much more from 7 00 to 9 00 a. M. On bounce tv here is where to find bounce based on your cable provide error live stream the newscast at wbtv. Com live. Coming up, severe storms leave flooding and Power Outages along the keys. We are knee virginia where the system spawned a deadly tornado. Why some travel corresponds pay more from f a major airplane re design becomes a reality. More real news coming up on cbs vo you can pass down a subaru forester. dad shes all yours. vo but you get to keep the memories. Love. Its what makes a subaru, the two outbound lanes of queens road remain blocked because of a fallen tree. Christine Mark Davenport live at the scene with the latest on cleanup efforts. Have things started yet for this morning, mark . Reporter christine, no cleanup has started havent seen crews yet. You cant even see the two southbound lanes of queens road under the massive tree that fell, just yesterday when we had the wind roll through charlotte with the big storm that came through. This is a huge, ancient tree on queens road. You know how big they make them out here. There is the root ball, two marks tall, that is a very, very big root ball, that shows you how big the tree is, spans those two lanes heading away from the city. You have to find an alternate route. This person coming up the road are not going the right way. This is northbound in the city, that person is going the wrong way on queens road, you have to be careful and you have to figure out where youre going to go before you leave the house, shouldnt be doing anything like that. Well stay out here throughout get out here and cut it up and let you know when the road reopens as you drive away from the city. This is where this is right now on queens road. Mark davenport, wbtv on your side. John we want to remind you about School Closing and delays because of the weather. Aavery mitchell and bought ga closed. Ashe on three hour delay. Alleghany on twohour delay. Several schools are closed because of Power Outages. Chapel grove elementary, sleep middle. Gamewell and West Caldwell high school are closed because of Power Outages. Youre never more than seven minutes away from weather and traffic on wbtv news this morning. Al snow and wind continue in the mountains. Most of the schools closed up there, different story, the hd tower cam looking good but we have quite a bit of wind out there and that will be with us plenty of sunshine less wind, 53, saturday a good looking day, plenty of sunshine to go around with afternoon temperatures expect to get back to t 55 degrees. High over the weekend to rebound. Well in the 60s, close to 70 next week, very little chance for any rain. Seven day forecast looking good, chris what about the traffic, here is chris larson. Chris al, problems out there, first alert traffic is sponsored by toyota of North Charlotte. Malfunctioning Traffic Signals on Ballantyne Commons parkway. Look at this picture sent in, that is ballantynes common parkway at elm lane the intersection where you enter the target store. Traffic signals are out look at the mapping system, this is just down to the south of rea road. You might find a few delays with the signals out. Looking live at i77 West Boulevard, southbound delays beginning to build coming through center city, northbound as well toward 485. That is a check of traffic, christine, over to you. Here with the three big stories we need to watch. Busy morning. Kristen fascinated watching this coast guard rescue off the coast of new york in queens. Well keep an eye on that. Five coast guard members had to swim to shore after their vessel overturned and had to help the crew of a fishing vessel that ran aground. Ill tweet pictures. State of emergency in virginia, four People Killed after tornadoes moved through that area, were keeping a an eye on Power Outages and weather and stick around for the first hour of the bounce show. Christine briarwood and eastway middle schools closed due to Power Outages. Several schools are closed due the full list at at Devry Universitys college of business, were looking for the gogetters. So if you want to learn whats been businessworld tested today, and make an impact tomorrow, youre our kind of different. Devry universitys college of business. Captioning funded by cbs good morning. It is thursday, february 25th, 2016. Welcome to cbs this morning. A dramatic rescue is unfolding after wild weather cap sizes a fishing boat near new york city. Powerful storms lead a trail of deadly destruction across the east. Is there a bombshell hiding in Donald Trumps tax returns . Mitt romney suggests the billionaire has something to hide. U. S. Soccer legend hope solo is in studio 57 for her first interview since raising concerns about zika at the rio olympics. We begin this morning with a look at todays eye opener. Your world in 90 seconds. A lot of wind whipping. This is just, like, not even real. Powerful storms stretch coast guard vessel cap sized during a rescue mission. They were tending on a fishing boat run that had run aground. This operation is still under way. Winter weather hammered indiana and illinois. Officials say this is some of the worst conditions they have seen. After trumps landslide victory in nevada, mitt romney called on the billionaire to release his tax returns. Mitt romney said every candidate should release their tax returns. Will you do to . Siventthe nice thing i havent made that much money that i need a tax return. Sanders is holding rallies in a bunch of states. Look out, when i look out at this crowd, i dont think there is any way we are going to lose on tuesday apple ceo tim cook speaking out the companys privacy fight with the fbi. To place a back door in the iphone, we believe it does put hundreds of millions of customers at risk. President obama considering a republican nominee. Brian sandoval, the governor of