This morning we have Team Coverage. Meteorologist leigh spann is tracking the system for us. News channel 8s mary mcguire is at a sandbag filling location. And our ryan hughes is at ray jay with the bucs big decision to move thursday nights game. We start our Team Coverage with leigh. Leigh, whats going on with the storm . Right now, Hurricane Hunters from Macdill Air Force base right here in tampa left about 12 30. They have been flying around the center of circulation. They found about a 33 Miles Per Hour wind. Again, not just a graphic. This is actually gps tracking where the plane is. It left out of Macdill Air Force base. Once we get the information from this flight, we will have more information and we will get a new forecast track from the Hurricane Center within the half hour. Stay with us. This is the 11 00 p. M. Update, 35 Miles Per Hour winds. It was still a tropical depression. It is expected to become a Tropical Storm before making the turn to the northeast sometime tomorrow. This is 8 00 p. M. On thursday. You can see how during the evening on wednesday and throughout the day on thursday, our weather will get much worse. Look through the entire threat cone, even if its on the far left side here, we will see an increase in tropical moisture and then the system heads into the atlantic and we dont have to worry come friday. But in the next few day, we do have to worry about it. We want to show you a couple computer models. Heres the area of low pressure this morning, and it will drift to the northwest before taking the town the northeast. Come wednesday, the turn to the northeast. And come wednesday, we are seeing downpours on wednesday and throughout the day on wednesday as well. And you couple that with the system coming onshore, adding higher than average tide, another full day of rain, looks like thursday could have the potential of strong flooding before things clear out. This is the european model. The american model is similar but there are small same direction up toward the big bend of florida. Again, this is wednesday evening seeing the rain off the gulf of mexico. This is taking the heaviest rainfall just to our north as opposed to across the metro tampa bay area. Small differences, but what we know is that thursday will be the worst day. So in weather and traffic on the 8s, i will have an hourby hour look at today and how the system will affect the rest of the week. But leslee is going to help us get to get when the roads are dry. It construction in clearwater clearing up. Thats good news. That was at university. All of that is cleared on 75. U. S. 19, collision here. Trying to wrap up no. Delays. Up. No delays. Same at linebaugh at gunn highway. Travel times through ybor, six minutes. And also on the veterans expressway, from ehrlich to 275, looking at roughly a 10 minute commute. Thats a look at weather and traffic. Now back to gene and gayle. Thank you. Our team continues. Many folks already know the drill, especially in at the live in lowlying floodprone areas like south tampa. News channel 8s mary mcguire is live at a sandbag filling location there. A lot of people arent taking any chance, especially after last summers widespread flooding. Reporter they are not. They are adopt thing the philosophy, better be safe to be scooped up here as we prepare for the forecasted wet weather. When it comes to protecting property, sandbags are the first line of defense. Sandbag filling stations are opening up for residents as flooding remains a concern in many areas. Now steve lives on the Hillsborough River and came to load up on sandbags just in case. Well, we want to make sure that all of the debris is water will flow down into the storm drain. When we had the hurricanes, threatened by charlie, i was out there with a rake pulling debris down. I think thats important. Reporter officials are requesting that residents with a storm the drain on the property check to ensure that the drain is clear of all debris including leaves and trash so that water can flow freely. And we have a list of the sandball will be open today and for the rest of the week across the bay area. Its on our website, wfla. Com. But certainly, prepare for this wet weather. We know how bad things got last august. So come out and protect your home. Back to the you guys. Sure, because that kind of flooding can do a lot of damage. The storm is days away but its impacting events here in the bay area. The Tampa Bay Buccaneers were supposed to play the washington and news channel 8s ryan hughes is live at Raymond James stadium. Reporter gene, good morning to you. Team officials are worried about the storm so they moved the preseason game between the bucs and the Washington Redskins here at ray jay from thursday to wednesday night. Team officials feared it would be cancel depression nine likely brings high wind and heavy rain. They spoke to county and city leaders as well as the National Weather service before making the decision to move the game. This is the bucs final pre season game this year. Again, its been rescheduled to wednesday at 8 00 p. M. And you can see it right here on news channel 8. Gene, back to you. Makes sense. Ryan, thank you. Right now, pasco county deputies are still searching for suspect or suspects who shot a 1yearold girl as she recover, her mother linda exile is facing charges. Investigators believe the port richey home was targeted. They tell us that she is a documented gang member and that the shooting was the result of drug activity. Her family is defending her, describing her as a loving, single mom. This morning, Polk County Schools are in mourning t. A 13 yearold student was hit by a car while walking on the styed of the road last week has died. Co the edge of barfield road when he was hit by a car. It was the first time walking to his bus stop for a new school. The driver drifted off the road as he entered a curve. He is the fourth student to die in the past few years while walking to a bus stop in polk county. The public visitation and an Evening Prayer Service will be held today for the priest. Lawrence catholic church. Thousands of people are expected to attend his funeral tomorrow morning. He is one of tampas most respected religious and civic leaders. They passed away last week. He was 87 years old. He impacted a lot of lives here in the bay area. And i know a lot of folks will be showing up to pay respects. Quite the man. All right, 4 38. Lets turn things over to leigh spann. Yeah, right now, all of our eyes are on tropical depression number nine. Its coming the central gulf of mexico. And right now, Hurricane Hunters are in it and i will be getting a new forecast track for that any minute now. And as far as our forecast today, still going to be a relatively steamy day. 77degrees at 7 00 a. M. 80 at 9 00. 87 at noon. And around 90 at 3 00 p. M. And our temperatures will be halted at about 90 because of the increased rain chances so you could see a shower before lunchtime but its a smaller chance. Throughout the afternoon, there our rain chances about 60 . And now the green area that you see there, thats less than an inch of rain. Again, just pockets with the heavier downpours. And now im going to put the rainfall potential over the next several days as the system gets closer to us. The rain today added to the rain we may see tomorrow off and on, widespread area anywhere from about 1. 5 inches up to 3 inches of rain. Pockets where we have more than that and pockets with less but the broad brush over the next two days and then add thursday and fridays rain. And thats where were looking at anywhere from a half foot of rain up to about 8 inches. And thats going the to cause flooding and its going to help keep temperatures down. 84 thursday before rebounding back into the weekend, closer to average weather meaning average temperatures and rain chances. We will check with traffic on the 8s because probably the last morning that i can say the roads are dry. We will take it as long as we can get 9 it. It is a dry commute right now. The Howard Frankland bridge, eight minutes. Bearss avenue to i4 off 75 from pasco and then into downtown, only a 10 minute commute. There are a couple issues out here but theyre not slowing you down at all. Just a reminder, still working u. S. 19 in palm harbor. And then a collision here, linebaugh avenue at gunn highway, a live look right at the end of the bridge. A great drive across the water. Only six minutes to cross it. Thats a look at weather and traffic on the 8s. Back to gene and gayle. Thank you so much, leslee. Outrage over the high cost of a lifesaving drug for people with allergies is prompting change. What the company is doing to help cut cost and by how much. And a not so smooth experience at a bay area smoothie shop. What happened to a Police Officer and how the store is making sure it doesnt happen again. Youre watching news channel 8 i love you so much. Thats why i bought six of you. For when you stretch out. Without you. And thats why i will never, ever wash you. Protect your clothes from the damage of the wash with downy fabric conditioner. It not only softens and freshens. It helps protect clothes. From stretching, fading and fuzz. So your favorite clothes stay your favorite clothes. Downy fabric conditioner wash in the wow. Payday presents salty covered sweetness. How can i help you . Finally ive been waiting forever. Ive been waiting forever. To meet you you sweet baby angel you sound like heaven on earth, on a phone. You sound like love feels. Salty on the outside. Sweet on the inside. An update on a story that has a lot of you sounding off yeah, tropical smoothie employee was fired after refusing service to Police Officers. And now the Police Officer who was denied service says he forgives the employee. Meredyth censullo has an update for us this morning. Reporter well, you know, the whole story began and may be ending on facebook. Sunday the Police Officer posted on facebook that he and another uniformed officer were refused service at tropical smoothie. They left and connected a manager. The employee was fired. He told news channel 8 that he was at the end of the shift and didnt want to serve anyone. I shouldnt have said anything knowing whats going on right now with cops and everything going on. I understand completely why its so big and gone viral so fast but it was a big misunderstanding. Reporter so last night, the officer posted this followup on the Tropical Smoothie CafeFacebook Page, he says, in tropical smoothie for taking the appropriate action. I believe this is an isolated incident. Not sure what his problem was with Law Enforcement or his past history of encounters but i forgive him too. Gayle, gene, he has removed the original post from his Facebook Page saying he feels the issue has been resoled. Resolved. Thank you, meredyth censullo. You can let us know what you think on facebook and twitter. Use th this morning, an 8yearold girl is fighting for her life after being shot over the weekend in miamidade county. Her dad is in stable condition. Police say she was standing by the front door of her grandmothers house when someone in a black sedan pulled up in front of the home and started shooting at her father. However, a stray bullet hit the girl in the head. Police are looking for the shooter. The first commercial flight from the United States to cuba cleared for departure. Cuban officials gave jet blue the final approval monday. The flight will take off from Fort Lauderdale tomorrow and will land. It will be the first of as many as 110 daily flights by u. S. Carriers from the u. S. To cuba. American airlines will start flying to the island in september. The decision is expected to bring thousands more u. S. Tourists to the island. In news across america, firefighters are trying to get the upper hand on this growing wildfire in northern california. The fire has destroyed homes and forced the evacuation of at least 50 families. Firefighters are now working to create a fire line to keep the flames away from other homes in the area. A memorial mass was held in jackson, mississippi to remember two nuns who were found murdered last week. The sisters served the community for decades as sisters of the church and also as nurse practitioners. A 46yearold rodney earl connection with the killings. Imagine driving down the road and ending up like this. This car took a plunge after a water main break near baltimore. Take a closer look. Officials said the water main break created the hole in the roadway. And investigators are still trying to determine how this happened. The good news is, the driver of the car is okay. At least 135 homes and apartment complexes were affected with water service. And now an 8 on medical report. A less expensive option for people in need of of the life safing epipen. The company that sells the device is planning to launch a generic version. They have been under scrutiny for the skyrocketing cost. The Company Claims the generic brand will cost about half that, 300. A new study is raising the question of whether Breast Cancer can be detected in a researchers at bostons hospital found radiologists can correctly identify most abnormally mammograms by looking at the image for half a second. While split second assessments would not be used on real patients its that they are able to pick up on science of Breast Cancer. The healing power of music. A study found that singing to premies helps them thrive. A mother singing live or reed newborns breathing while in the nicu. Those who heard their mom sing were discharged three days sooner. Another added benefit, singing to baby helped alleviate stress in moms. And i loved singing to my children. They didnt seem to care that i have a terrible i cant carry a note. They loved itd anyway. Sounds sweet to them. Right. Well, not so sweet. Were seeing some rain across bay area as we speak but its going to circulate in through rest of the day. Extra clouds this morning, 78 degrees at 8 00 a. M. Showers and thunderstorms at noon. 87degrees. And then the rain chances 60 . And heavy downpours possible through the afternoon with a high of 90. Right now, its 75 in auburndale and lakeland. 74 in brooksville. 77 in fish hawk. 73 in crystal river. This morning, winds come from the east which may pull in some of the rain on the east now. A couple showers before lunchtime are possible. As the day goes on, we will switch the winds and look by about 2 30. We start to see rain thats farther to the south running through our area. So not only could you see pockets of heavy rain, you may see rain multiple times through the day today. This is the first of the deteriorating weather conditions. All right, this happened yesterday. It happened again. The latest 5 00 update has come in while im talking to you. Now we are watching this together the. Still a tropical depression to a Tropical Storm as of yet. Our little graphic is messed up but this would be wednesday morning and this would be thursday morning. If im looking at this correctly. So no, excuse me, thursday morning and thursday afternoon. So again, this is like i said, a brand new graphic coming in as i speak. Thursday morning and this is still the same track where its going to be somewhere along the big bend of florida, as far west as panama city, as far south and east as the nature coast here and of the gulf of mexico and into the atlantic. With the Tropical Storm forced winds starting later today, still expected to bring Tropical Stormforced winds off the coast of the nature coast. This is thursday morning. Counterclockwise wind flow. Unfortunately on thursday, it will bring higher than average tides with the high tide around 2 41 on thursday. The potential of flooding and heavy rain and potential for flooding with the onshore wind leslee, im going to get that graphic fixed but watching it live. I have fingers crossed that my graphic is going to stay. A great drive on the Howard Frankland bridge, only six minutes to cross it. Courtney campbell causeway, looking at 10 minutes here. And that takes from you memorial highway all the way over to pinellas county. Also the gandy bridge and the Sunshine Skyway bridge up to speed. All right, state road 54, New Port Richey area, looks like 19 to the sun coast parkway, 12 minutes on the drive. And also on 19 through palm harbor, we collision. Everything is on the shoulder now. State road 54 to tampa road, roughly 14 minutes on your drive. Thats a look at weather and traffic on the 8s. Now back to gene and gayle. Thank you, leslee. A big parade for little stars. The welcome ceremony for the winners of this years Little League world series just ahead. And also, Mcdonalds Restaurant transformed for a come on duck puppy barks you can do it duck. Hurry up duck you can do it duck. Iams. Helps keep your dog healthy at every stage. After 32 years of hard work, a dons employee with down syndrome is enjoying her retirement. She cleaned tables and refilled ketchup but her favorite task was controlling the fry station. Her coworkers and members of the community gave her quite the sendoff. They filled the restaurant with mickey and mini mouse decorations and showered her with gifts. She plans on returning every what a nice way to show appreciation. 32 years of service. And another big celebration in the northeast. Yeah, this for the winners of this years winners of the Little League series. Family and friends giving them a warm welcome home. They paraded through the town before reaching their home field. They became the first u. S. Team in five years to the win the Little League world series sunday. They beat a team from south korea 21. Way to go. Weather and traffic on the a box is where you keep things safe. Who wants that . Im moving forward. New oikos greek nonfat yogurt helps keep me going. Now with allnatural ingredients with vitamin d and 12 grams of protein. Time for weather and traffic on the 8s. Its dry now but heavy rain through the day today with a high of 90. Notice the rain chance just 10 this morning. Going up to 60 by 4 00 p. M. How about traffic on the 8s . Out there on the roadways roadways, no delays on 19. 14 minutes 54 to tampa road. Great drive across the bay area bridges. And when i come back, we will tracking the the tropings and depression number nine. Its churning in the gulf of mexico, threatening to make a turn toward the bay area. We have Team Coverage of what you need to know to the storm. Good morning. Im gene ramirez. And im gayle guyardo. We have been tracking this area for nearly a week and a half now as tropical wave, now a tropical depression. But even as 5 00 this morning, just now, its the still a tropical depression