Force when it goes back over the atlantic. So by 2 00 on thursday, this has still not made landfall. Not that it is slowing down, it is moving more northwest. Because of that, taking a closer look here, this is a great view, 65 Miles Per Hour winds approaching the big bend area. But notice where we are. Does this change our forecast . No. It doesnt. Because we have said from the beginning this is event. That wont change. Definitely gusty winds. This does not pose a threat as a significant wind maker for us. Gusty winds, absolutely. Tropical storm . You know, Northern Counties maybe. Some coastal flooding, definitely. And that is something that we will follow up on coming up in a couple of minutes. Thank you, denis. As we speak, preparations are underway in pasco county to avoid major flooding like we saw right here back in 2012 how could you forget that. County officials urging families in the most flood prone areas to voluntary evacuate. Eric waxler reports tonight past problems is why so many people are taking this threat so seriously. Reporter its a long line of cars and trucks. People waiting for sand bags in west pasco county to protect their homes from a storm that is coming. Im nervous. I just remodeled my house and i dont want reporter inmates are helping fill the bags and hand them off. Kays home flooded earlier this year and she wasnt going to wait until the last minute to prepare for this. Im not playing. I cant. I cant afford to. Reporter goodwin is disabled and uses a walker. So lifting the bags is not easy for her. Thats the way. Reporter Officials Say will go down on structures. We will have trees go down on cars. We will have trees going into power line snooze the county has had pumps like this going since thursday of last week to prevent the major flooding we have seen in so many neighborhoods during a serious storm. Im in a no flood zone but my backyard floods all the way to the back door. Reporter kay was only able to get ten bags. It is not enou a out. I think were just going to get rain. I really do. But thats the problem. The rain. Yeah. Reporter pasco officials will make the decision on Closing School thursday by tomorrow evening. And if schools are close, government offices will be too. In new port richey, eric waxler, abc action news. Now we checked up on other Big School Districts to see when theyre making the call on whether to cancel school. Hillsborough county will decide tomorrow and they will make a decision about thursday at a later time. The district met with Emergency Management earlier today but says its too early to make the call. This is an important time to remind to you download our storm shield app. Its available for apple and android phones. You still have two hours to vote in the florida election which could help determine which major party gain or lose line up to cast their votes. Everybody can vote today on amendment 4. When it comes to partisan politics, democrats and republicans are choosing which candidates will be on the november ballot. We kick off our coverage in kissimmee where marco rubio is hoping for a win tonight. Michael. Reporter jamison, a big day today. But it has bigger implications for what is coming up in this race. This primary. Carlos is the closest competition. After spending millions of dollars, he ran out of money leading up to the primary. So rubio needs a big win to gather momentum to the november election. He was running for president and dropped out of that race. He said he was going to run for reelection here for the senate seat late which caused a lot of people to be concerned about that and question what his motives were. But the big issue is that Hillary Clinton has been here heavily for patrick murphy. As you know he is the democrat that rubio is expected to face in the november election. And as Hillary Clinton puts boots on the ground here, thats more endorsement for patrick murphy. That means that rubio has to do a lot more campaigning and he has a big night here. But this is just a precursor for what to expect for the november election. Despite what has been happening, the polls show he is so rubio expected to win handily here against carlos. He is expected to talk around 9 00. And the doors open to the public around 6 30 to the public. We will have election analysis and coverage and the live speech from marco rubio who he expects to be a victory speech. Thank you, michael. Right here in Hillsborough County, voters are deciding if they need to shake up the serve as judges. Lauren rozyla is outside of a polling location in tampa. Lauren, how is it looking out there . Reporter its been pretty good so far, guys. They have few problems here in hillsborough counselyand they have had more than 22,000 people come out just today alone to precincts like these where the workers have been out here since 7 00 this morning making sure that everything runs the right way. Hillsborough county is using when your ballot is accepted. Coming up at 6 00, we will show you poll watchers. They say theyre out here to stop voter fraud but also why some say this is simply not necessary. Again, as jamison just mentioned, you still have about two hours to come out and vote. Remember for anybody who wants to come out after work, you already have to be a registered voter. Lauren rozyla, abc action news. Thank you, lauren. Lots of activity at polling places across Pinellas County. Our the coliseum in st. Petersburg where officials are dubbing today a successful election day. Ryan. Reporter thats because election officials, jamison, calling this not only a big day for a primary voter turnout but the largest statistically since 2002. Take a look at the live scene outside of the coliseum in downtown st. Petersburg. People urging people to come inside and vote. When you include the early votes already tabulated, that is more than 25 of all eligible voters. A lot of eyes on the republican side watching the 13th district congressional race. On the democratic side, voters out here are deciding who will carry the partys ticket nomination for a couple of state seats in the statehouse and the state senate. Thats the latest live in downtown st. Pete, ryan smith, abc action news. Thank you, ryan. We will be here all night watching the Election Results as they come in. We will update during prime time and on facebook as we get the word of major wins or losses. You can get instant results on abcactionnews. Com. Right now, were still piecing together exactly why a Hillsborough County deputy shot at a man this morning in the palm river neighborhood. Now, we do know that deputy fired a shot as the s. W. A. T. Unit served a search warrant on 22yearold wiggins. The Sheriffs Office tells us monthlong investigation into the sale of Illegal Drugs but wont say if he actually made any threats or attacked deputies. I can tell you that our s. W. A. T. Team was asked to serve the search warrant. Due to the suspects lengthy criminal history and he was known in the past to carry firearms. The firearms charges, he is not a threat. Listen to me, he dont carry no gun. I saw deputies have not said if he was armed. He is still in the hospital with lifethreatening injuries. A suspected home burglar recovering in the hospital tonight after Tampa Police Say a homeowner caught the man in the act in real time by watching him rummage through the home from his cell phone. Adam weiner found out a relative was alerted and a confrontation ensued. Reporter so the homeowner saw the intruder on their cell 911. But the second call they made was to a Family Member who lives in this neighborhood. That Family Member then went into the house, confronted the intruder and shot them in the upper body. The breakin and shooting happened on west b street near the university of tampa. Ut student Corey Thompson was surprised to wake up to police activity. You usually dont feel unsafe. But there has been a little more crime in this neighborhood recently. So its been a little scary now. Reporter across is samuel sanders. The 90yearold was startled by what he heard. I heard a pow. I just went when i came out, my neighbor and i were trying to see where the shot came from. Reporter the homeowner tells police she saw the intruder through her home Surveillance Video in her bedroom with socks on his hands going through her property. King, approached the intruder as the burglar was leaving the house. The intruder had something in his hand that put him in fear so king shot the intruder in the upper body. The suspected burglar, michael king, remains hospitalized. As for the home surveillance technology, this homeowner used to protect her house, tampa police encouraging people to look into it for themselves saying it can make a difference. In tampa, adam weiner, abc action tampa firefighter tests positive for the zika virus. The big question that has our i team looking into this case. And theres a look at tropical depression 9. Even with that depression, there is now a hurricane watch in effect for part of the bay area. The Health Department says the patient was bitten by a mosquito. We confirmed that person is a tampa firefighter. We still dont know where the firefighter contracted the virus. Jarrod holbrook joins us now with what we know now. Jarrod. Wendy, the state department of health is tight lipped on this case. We left several messages trying to get more information. It took hours to get a generic answer our questions. Theyre not saying where the mosquito that carried the zika virus was from. Due to the fact that the person is from pinellas but worked in Hillsborough County, we have more questions than answers. We did catch up with the mayor. Every precaution has been taken. Every treatment has been deployed. Reporter bob buckhorn reacting to the news that one of his firefighters tested positive for the zika virus. Tampa firefighters at station 3 were tested and tested negative for zika. They also made sure no standing water exists at all of their fire stations. The firefighters family in Pinellas County also tested negative. The firefighter in question is cleared and back on the job. No other firefighters are at risk. The person is not contagious. Its not going to spread as a result of this particular situation. Reporter what is still unclear is where the firefighter contracted zika. We asked the department of theyre not commenting. We also asked when were they first aware of the case. No comment. They do say it came from a mosquito. And the firefighter has not recently traveled to an area of active ongoing zika cases. Mayor buckhorn deferred the timeline questions to the department of health. But just know that that firefighter has s been treated medical professional and he is or she is just fine. Reporter the States Department of health answer any timeline questions. But fire officials first learned of the zika case august 19th. The media was alerted august 23rd. Im jarrod holbrook, taking action for you. How are you doing, everybody. There is a look outside. Over the next couple of days, we will see a lot of this. Threatening clouds. The rain, the wind. I think the wind is going to be the Biggest Issue say late tomorrow night and into thursday. Time to lunchtime is when things will get the nastiest. Theres a lot of very volatile changing information over the last ten minutes literally. And it all started with what the Hurricane Center did at the top of the hour. You still see the rains coming in. Shay mention this had over the last hour. Of late, we had east to west flow. That is now changing. Everything is coming in from the south. That is our tropical connection. This is the leading edge of what is going to be a very wet stretch region. Temperatures right now anywhere from the upper 80s to the mid 70s. We will have just a ton of off and on rain pretty much from now right on through thursday afternoon and into thursday evening. But the big question is going to be how much wind and what kind of effects are we going to have from what is still just a tropical depression . This is getting very, very interesting. And im sure a lot of folks when they heard me say theres wait, we dont even have a Tropical Storm. Exactly. How many times have you ever seen that . I dont think in my 30 years of doing this i have ever seen the Hurricane Center issue a hurricane watch before. I will tell you why they did it. Here is the satellite. Here is the rain. It will keep on coming. If youve never gone through a Tropical Storm before, it happens like this. You get torrential downpours. Not a ton of lightning. Ironic enough, earlier today had plenty of lightning activity. Tomorrow and thursday, more wind and rain, less lightning. But we will have breaks in it. You will get torrential downpours and breaks and you will even get sunshine as well. That comes into the mix tomorrow. And i think even again on thursday. Probably the second half of the day on thursday though. So overnight tonight, partly cloudy skies. You will get some breaks, some clearing, and then another round will start to come in from the south. Now, its pretty much each of these bands, full. At this point theyre not even bands because this is an unorganized system. The bottom line you have to play this tonight, tomorrow, tomorrow night and early thursday rain at any time. Now, the question and the biggest concern for us will be along with the wind and the tornado threat. That will not be tonight. It will not be tomorrow morning. I dont even think it will be in the afternoon, even though you will continue to see this heavy rain stacking up. Most of our models are hinting at about 6 inches of anywhere near the coast. Some as high as 10. Some as low as 4. So 4 to 10, thats a broad range. But unfortunately thats where we are right now because we still dont even have a Tropical Storm. Youre looking at your rain that will fall right through tomorrow afternoon. Models even hint at a break tomorrow for a period of time. And then things get cranking again. Thursday morning, i think even before sunrise is the highest probability that we will have to start worrying about the tornadoes, some gusty winds. But it still all boils down to the track. And thats where things get rather interesting. Here is your overall rainfall totals through early next week. Obviously a ton of rain for most of everybody. If you live east of i75, your rain totals will be less than if you live west. This is what i think is going on. Most of the models have been south of this low center. Look what has happened over the last hour or two. You have a up more to the north and east. Thats not to say thats where it is developing. But i really believe the Hurricane Center saw this and thought we better be better safe than sorry on this. While the forecast track doesnt have this actually coming into the area that is under a hurricane watch im going to give you a closer look to show you that, there is now a hurricane watch in effect from anclo key, the area in the pasco county border north. But yet the track is north of there. So i believe our forecast has not changed. The path is even a little more to the west. And forecast to become a hurricane. This is a better safe than sorry mode. I dont think anything is wrong with this. If this went more to the south, we dont want anyone to get caught off guard if it stayed over water longer. Obviously things are changing dramatically t day or two. Keep it right here, whether online or on air and on facebook. The storms clear out for friday and were looking good for the weekend. Right now a south Florida Middle School teacher out of the classroom after this video children with emotional and behavior issue at homestead middle school. The teacher lifts one of the boys up and throws him across the room there. That boys mom says her son had bruises and she did not find out about what happened until another student posted the video to facebook. If youre going to restrain my child, do it the proper way. Dont fling him like he is trash. The reassigned. He has worked for the district for nine years and has had a clean record up until now. We see it all over tampa, standing water. With this storm, it could be a bigger problem. Live from the station taking im paul lagrone. And im ashley glass. Were going to go to Denis Phillips to talk about when the worst of the storm will arrive. A lot of buzz popped up at the top of the hour. Instead of a Tropical Storm watch for our Northern Counties, the Hurricane Center pulled hurricane watch. I think the reason is a couple of the models are hinting this could be stronger. At the same time theyre also bringing it to the west. The irony is even though were session eye better organized system and i think the other concern is its a little more to the north and maybe a bit to the east. So because this really hasnt had a well defined center, theres the outside chance that maybe a new center could develop. More to the north and more to the east. If that were to happen, all of east and south. At this point, folks, that has not happened. Nothing has changed. Even though you hear that term hurricane watch, which kind of gets you pretty nervous. But all you have to do is look at the track here. The projected track still is way to our north. I mean, were not even in our area isnt even in the cone of uncertainty. Yet, they have still extended that hurricane watch into pasco and hernando county. They have actually shifted the path more to the north, more to the west. And it will move into the bend area late. For us, impact will be by far the heaviest late tomorrow night and early thursday, with some wind although not a huge deal at this point. Definitely an issue with coastal flooding and high tide on thursday. The tornado factor could definitely be an issue early on thursday morning. Outside of that, i think the bulk of the heaviest weather stays to the north and rain is our biggest factor. We will take a closer look at that and tell us how much we expect for your neighborhood coming up. Thank you, denis
comparemela.com © 2020. All Rights Reserved.