They are pushed over, some snapped on the base here. And leaning towards the roadway. There are numerous power crews here at this moment trying to assess the damage. They even brought some power poles to replace a number of these here. Power is out for many in the area. We found fpl reporting about a thousand customers in Charlotte County without electricity right now. At this apartment complex, theres a lot of people milling about. They have nothing to do, just assessing the damage. And i want to show you the path of the storm that came through here. We have a car in the way here but there are snapped branches. And you see a lot of extensive roof damage on the homes in the area. Officials tell me that the storm impacted numerous areas across Charlotte County. I was over off of u. S. 41 earlier today where we had damage at a sun trust building. A lot of damage on cars, debris a man over there told me that he was driving down 41 and he saw what looked like cyclonic activity. Spinning winds and debris in the air. He was okay. And thankfully thats one thing to point out, Officials Say that there have been no reported injuries. But you can see theres a large mess to clean up. Power crews are here and starting to work on restoring the power. And we have emergency crews over there directing traffic. And its going to be a mess. It will take a while to clean up. So you think youre in the worst of it right there . Were going to go to steve jerve and talk about, but is this the epicenter or is it more widespread . Reporter seems to be like different spots throughout the counties. Almost as if the tornado may have tapped a couple different areas. We are blocked off. Be done. John rogers live in Charlotte County down there. So eagle 8 hd is getting a extensive the damage. With a look. Reporter good evening. We are over Charlotte County and lets look at the damage. And the damage is widespread. Heres two houses, three houses side by side with damage to the roof. Theres also downed trees and if i pull up and push this way, you will see where the damage goes. You can almost draw a line and follow the damage. Heres damage to this house and if i move up here again to this house, this is some of the more Severe Damage that we have seen. And this one, these two cars look like they were pushed up towards the garage. And you can see a tree down in the front yard. Actually thats a power pole. And if i look up here and show you the roof, you can see a lot of the roof has been torn away. In this whole area in Charlotte County down off of rampart boulevard. And back here, more trees down. We will have more information as we get it. Back to you. Paul in eagle 8 hd, thank you, paul. Yeah, i think were going to start seeing more blue tarps. Every time you have a big storm, the blue tarps come out. Throughout the afternoon. In fact, we saw multiple tornado warnings in the bay area. Particularly in the south. Around sarasota and charlotte counties. Warnings would expire and then be renewed moments later. Steve jerve continues our team coverage. And steve, our entire weather team was live on the air for hours with this storm. Yeah, we were tracking this rotation offshore and sometimes it can touch the ground and sometimes it goes back up into the clouds. We saw that several times this afternoon but we were tracking the rotation well offshore, some 40miles and that indicates a tornado or water spouts in there. Most of it has cleared the area. The rain that is. Threat is essentially over for today. And we are headed to quieter weather this week. And today tomorrow report, tornado reports up in the southern part or the northern part of Charlotte County. This one, this tornado moved through open fields. That was observed by some of the plant workers there. And farther south, you can see the tornado reports there out of murdock. Again, trees down and obviously you saw the damage from eagle 8. Those legitimate tornadoes. But we track the rotation. As we mentioned, sometimes this can be at the upperlevel and tornado. We saw the same area crossing several counties and well over the gulf of mexico. So wind damage and possibly a weak tornado. Brian and i were talking, maybe a strong ef0 or an ef1. Certainly the National Weather service will do a site survey. This one here most likely a tornado indicated with the high mode. We did see pictures of the as the storm moves to the east, the rotating storm dissolved through the area. And even debris was indicated on the radar this afternoon which also shows that there likely was some damage, even out in areas where there was not a populous. More on the forecast, cooler and drier coming up. All right. Thank you. And we will check back for the cooler forecast in about 15 minutes. In the meantime, you folks at home can track Severe Weather any time by using our storm team 8 weather max app. Its free to download in your app store. And now breaking news, a missing child has been located at a Pinellas County day care. His Mother Told Police that he was that he was in the backseat of a car that was stolen. Lets get to paul mueller. This had us jumping around for a while, paul but now the mother may be facing charges . Reporter yes. Right now, police are telling me the mother will indeed Face Criminal Charges after she told police that a guy stole her car happening in clearwater downtown around 1 30 this we are here and this is where that guy crashed the car, wrapped it around the pole. And look in the grass right there, fresh tracks in the ground. The car towed away about 30 minutes ago. I want to show you a picture of that child. He is 3 years old. And a frantic search this afternoon for that boy for several hours. The thing is, cops say he was never even in the car. The whole time he was safe at day care. The mother said she made up the entire story. Why . Well police say it could have been a drug deal. Yes, a drug deal gone bad. And more video right now. This is from about a half hour ago. Here is the car. Detectives dusting for fingerprints and trying to find evidence for this case. And the tow truck took eightway a short time ago. And again, cops arrested the driver here at the scene. And he told police that there was never a child in the back. And it turns out that he inseed was right. The mother and the driver are being questioned. Clearwater police, the mother we know will Face Criminal Charges and most importantly, the 3yearold little boy is safe tonight. Paul mueller, hughes news thank you, paul. And more breaking news. Three pregnant women in florida have the zika virus. All three testing positive america. Governor rick scott is asking the cdc to send morsi cantbody tests to the state. More antibody tests to the state. Emotional testimony today from the father of sports erin andrews. 8 on your side lead investigator Steve Andrews took the stand in nashville. And josh benson is live in the Tampa News Center with more of this emotional testimony. Reporter steves daughter is suing National Marriott claiming they were negligent and allowed a stalker to film her through a peephole. Felt when the video of his daughter was posted online. Steve andrews says he first learned of his daughters situation in a phone call from erin. She was hysterical. There was no understanding. It was just, you know, she was telling me hysterically criming, screaming out of her mind that images, video of her were up on the internet of her changing, her naked in hotel rooms. Reporter andrews says the family went right to work on the situation. She hired an attorney and started to learn what her options were but as a father, he had helpless questions he just couldnt get answered. Whats happening to my daughter . I didnt know if she was safe. I didnt know if who was doing this. I didnt know if somebody was reporter the next hours and day, andrews explained how they couldnt respond to inquiries because they didnt know what was happening. All they wanted was to get their daughter home so they could protect her. He remembers a call from her asking if everything was going to be okay. He painfully admits he didnt know. First time in my life as her sorry, as her father where i didnt know if she was safe or not. I feared for her life. Reporter the man pleaded guilty to shooting and selling the videos. Andrews is expected to take the stand and tell her side of the story. You know, josh, we know steve very well. He is a friend and coworker and he is a tough journalist. But this case has unfolded for him as a dad. And that makes this so much us to watch on his behalf. Absolutely. To see him in this position. We know steve for getting answers, digging for the truth and we have seen it. And he said on the stand that he went to work asking questions in her case just like a journalist. But when its your family and you dont have anything to go on, thats unimaginable for a feeling. And we saw the emotion on the stand today. Josh benson live in the Tampa News Center, thank you, josh. Again, erin takes the stand tomorrow. And still to come in this newscast tonight, flu cases are on the rise across the bay area. 8 is on your side with what you need to know including which people are at the highest phone ringing you cant deal with something, president ial candidates seem to be dealing with social security. Americans work hard, and pay into it. So our next president needs a real plan to keep it strong. elephant noise donkey noise hey candidates, you may have noticed this, people coughing more, sneezing, perhaps someone in your office or home is not feeling so good. 8 on your side looking into the rise in flu cases. And we are live from the Health Department with more. Reporter getting flu is not cool. In fact, they have seen an up tick in the number of people getting flu in florida and specifically here in hillsborough county. And thats why theyre urging people to go ahead and get the vaccine. Its not something most people want to do, get a shot. But health Officials Say this is necessary. Last year i got it and i didnt get the flu. Reporter she stopped by prescription and while there, decided to get a flu shot. Im not worried that much before. I just did it because i dont want to get the flu. Reporter folks with the Florida Department of health lead, especially now. We are experiencing a flu outbreak here in the bay area. Its in an Elementary School in polk county, a day care facility in hillsborough county. Its the time of year for florida. Reporter steve with the department of health told me today people need to take precautions. The elderly, pregnant women, children under five, people with a compromised immune system and those with chronic medical conditions definitely at risk. Theres a lot of other things that we can do to help ourselves. Get a good nights sleep, eat well, get exercise. When youre feeling bad, when you have a cold or possibly the flu, stay at home. Keep flu at home. Reporter as for maria, she has never had the flu and she does not want it. But this new increase does concern her. Because thats bad. Reporter so i chatted with the folks at walgreens and they have a good deal today. If you go in and get a flu shot shot to a child in an underdeveloped country. And its not a good way to pay it forward. And other places are still doing flu shot, right . Reporter the Health Department says the vaccine is still available. So get out there and get the flu shot. No shortage of it. Thank you, rod carter, live in tampa. And now more breaking news tonight. Right now investigators are on the scene of a plane crash in south florida. The single engine plane was forced to land in the driveway of a home in hollywood. Can you see it there . The tail stuck in a white picked fence. Firerescue had to bandage up the pilot. Looks like hes going to be okay. No word on what the problem was forcing the plane to go down. Now a preview of an 8 on your side story were working on for you tonight at 11 00. Mark douglas is put together a piece that may make some peoples skin crawl. Reporter well, we spent the last month or so chasing snake, dangerous and deadly ones and this is the story about the are everywhere. And now naturally we had to get up close and personal. And i think we have video here. Theres a constrictor. People keep these as pets. And frankly i got to like them a little bit. Not a fan of the venomous ones. But you would be amazed where they are, they are everywhere in neighborhoods and we knocked on doors all over the tampa bay area looking for rattlesnakes, cobras. There i am, my favorite her name was serna. Up their names. I look at that video and my question seems sort of werent bothered. I was initially but you get over that a little bit. I still wouldnt go close to a cobra or a rattlesnake. Not a big fan of those. Better idea. And we will have an interactive map where you can see whether when you knock on the door, hey, can i meet your snake . How did they respond . Some are friendly and some didnt want anything to do with us. They didnt come to the door and that was okay. Well, i am eager to see the story. Thank you. Sure. Tune in tonight at 11 00 to see marks story on where the wild things are. Oh, my. The name of the snake. That was a closeup. Had to back away a little bit. Thats at 11 00. Mark was teasing he was gong going to bring in a snake and he didnt. Yeah, he asked in advance if we were okay,. Yeah, but other employees were calling in sick suddenly. More of that at 11 00. Meantime, weather is a big issue. Yeah, the storm damage, the tornadoes we had and a long day of covering that Severe Weather. Right now, still clouds left around over the next 24 hours. We will see a wind switch as the cold front slips through the area. Current temperature in new port richey. 66 degrees, a northwesterly wind, that is strong. And the winds starting to switch as the cold front will slowly come through the area and then cooler and breezier conditions for tomorrow. Thats the view from freedom plaza. 69 degrees. About. 40 of rain. About. 50 of rain in some areas. We did see some local flooding. Thats not unusual locally. But the powerful storm system, this area of low pressure, thats been moving across the country and has created quite a few tornadoes from north to south. 76 tornado warnings overall but just in florida, 17 tornado warnings is what this prompted. Not unusual for an el nio generated storm. We see enhanced weather as the storm track during el nio phases like the one were in. Thursday, friday, saturday, you can see temperatures are definitely cooler. And by tuesday, wednesday and thursday, back up again, temperatures above 70s. But going to be a cooler forecast for the weekend. Plenty more sunshine and mostly cloudy skies throughout day but windy, especially tomorrow. And temperatures in the 60s. Still remaining showers this evening and a lot of that is starting to go away. Northwesterly winds into the area may generate cloudiness off the gulf of mexico and mix in sunshine for the early part of the day. 54 degrees the forecast low. 70 macdill. 62349 brandon and riverview. Pinellas park now 69 rise. 70 lakeland. 72 in north port. The winds are strong and changing direction out of northwest at some locations but some westerly breeze but gusts 24, 22, 28 miles per hour. Breezy and that will be the case for tomorrow. Area of low pressure to the north and tornado watches up and down the eastern seaboard. And cold front ahead of the front of course. And showers and thunderstorms, but the rpm forecast model says all is clear. Yeah, we will see more clouds thanks to the breezes and certainly cooler conditions this the forecast for thursday afternoon. And sunshine, highs in the mid 60s. Sunny for friday. And the breeze will likely continue. And just going to be a cooler feel in the forecast because the northwesterly winds bringing in cooler temperatures. Remember we have been in the upper 70s the past couple days. Overnight low temperatures are chilly, low 40s through the period. Thats cold to start the day. And especially considering where we have been. And we did add moisture back into atmosphere but we drop that too. Looks like we jump back in the 70s next week. Looks like it. Except for the cleanup. Unfortunate. Thank you, steve. Facebook users now have feel about posts. Move over like button, you have competition on facebook. Starting today, the social network will give users more users. If you hover your mouse arrow over the like, you can choose from a list of emotions including like, love, haha, wow, sad or angry. Whats that one, haha . Haha. I was looking at the actor and trying to figure out what that was. Thats angry. Anyway. Speaking of facebook, josh benson thumbs up. Speaking of social media, facebook quizes can be fun. They seem harmless, right . To get your personal information. Plus, 8 on your side gets answers about dangerous condo construction flaws that the president race takes an eyeopening new turn. Florida governor rick scott floated a possible running meat for donald trump, temperaturing up two big time business men in the race for the white house. Good evening. Im jennifer leigh. And im josh benson. Thanks for being with us tonight the. Floridas governor has showed his support for trump recently and now with trump surging in the president ial primary race, some are wondering if a