business later this winter but apparently speeded up plans after the flood evacuation. the council will vote on the deal on october 11th. demolition could take place next spring. fear of the unknown before the cedar river crested spurred worries of a massive flood with wide-spread damage. now, some school teachers in cedar rapids are helping their students process the kcrg t-v nine's phil reed joins us live from roosevelt middle school. phil, teachers are using a creative project to address a issues about the flood? teachers say some of the students don't understand what happened last week. so a language arts and math teacher are combining their classrooms for an in depth look at the flood of 2016. i the seventh graders are split flood. some are studying how floods happen, others covering how the city prepared for it, and there are also groups focusing on recovery and prevention methods they will then put together a different presentations like posters or youtube videos to explain what they learned teachers say the project will be a good learning experience and will help students open up. "in this community we face some tough stuff. and we don't want that to be a separation between i experienced it, and i didn't even know anything happened. we want them to all are apart of something more when they come to school" the project does not have a due date yet. the teachers say they want students to spend a lot of time on it so they can dig deep into what happened tonight at 10, hear from students working on the project, including one who was affected by the flood. live in cedar rapids phil reed kcrg tv-9 news let's turn now to meteorologist joe winters. joe, today's winds are blowing after a dry evening shower chances move in overnight. lighter amounts of rain are expected into wednesday morning. more showers and storms develop on thursday, particularly in the afternoon and evening. these will be stronger with some areas receiving over an inch of rain. friday is a cooler and windy day with highs falling to seasonable levels. have a great night! tonight: scattered showers develop, mainly after midnight. wind: se 10-15. low: 61 tomorrow: showers possible early, then clearing. wind: sw 5-15. high: 75 hurricane matthew is tearing four hurricane slammed into haiti's southwestern coast early this morning. this is video from the island. officials in the dominican republic are reporting at least four people died when heavy rains damaged their homes. so far, the total death toll from the storm is at least seven. today the funeral took place accidental shooting. ireshia parks was just 13. the shooting happened a week ago today in the 800 block of 15th street southeast. police say a 13 year old boy was handling a gun when it went off, hitting parks. the boy faces several charges, including involuntary manslaughter. police can't release his name because of a new law protecting most underage offenders. two other boys, ages 15 and 18, each face charges of former arizona congresswoman gabby giffords was in cedar rapids today, encouraging people to vote for candidates who support gun control measures. giffords survived an assassination attempt in 2012 that left her with a severe brain injury. since then, she's been a vocal advocate for laws to prevent gun violence. today, she met with local politicians and community leaders at greene square in downtown cedar rapids. courage. the courage to do what's right, the courage of new ideas. i've seen great courage when my life was on the line. now is the time to come together. be responsible. " giffords' appearance was part of a national bus tour that's focusing on reducing gun violence. the tour continues until candidates are just a few hours away from their only debate during this campaign. with the presidential election just a little more than a month away, polls in some swing states are still tight. and a-b-c's lana zak reports the stakes are high. in this election- which is unlike any other in american history-the vice presidential debate tonight may have a greater impact than ever. cokie: ...especially undecided voters might be taking a look and saying "maybe i can make up my mind based on vp candidate." farmville tonight- republican mike pence, gov of indiana-and democrat, tim kaine, a virigina senator -are surrogates for their presidential candidates, they are relative unknowns to much of america?an abc news washington post poll found that 40% of americans couldn't name either vp candidate?. but tonight may change all that. kellyanne conway he'll go out there in a fiery performance. especially for someone so lowkey.trump campaign manager kelly anne conway on cbs promising a debate performance to remember througly prepping for tonight's match-up, holding mock debates and arriving early at the debate site today. nats pence walks into this debate behind in the polls and following a week of controversies for his running mate, donald trump, including the revelation trump may not have paid income taxes for nearly two decades? meanwhile, hillary clinton's running mate, has her full confidence- nats kaine looking casual touring the debate hall. his team releasing a new ad, painting trump and pence as one and the same. nats leading up to what may turn out to be important moment in this campaign? law enforcement says some people in rural communities have a false road. and that's leading to unbuckled seat belts and more fatal crashes. we explain how clayton county is working to reverse the trend. chances move in overnight. lighter amounts of rain are expected into wednesday morning. more showers and storms develop on thursday, particularly in the afternoon and evening. these will be stronger with some areas receiving over an inch of rain. friday is a cooler and great night! tonight: scattered showers develop, mainly after midnight. wind: se 10-15. low: 61 tomorrow: showers possible early, then clearing. wind: sw 5-15. high: 75 tom. night: chance of showers and storms late. thursday: showers and storms likely, especially in the afternoon and evening. high: 76 friday: mostly cloudy. cooler and a bit windy. high: 59 low: 54 saturday: mostly sunny. high: 60 low: 41 sunday: partly cloudy. high: 65 low: 41 monday: slight chance of showers. high: 67 low: 48 tuesday: mostly cloudy. high: 70 low: 51 wednesday: partly cloudy. high: 69 low: 46 still ahead, justin gehrts is in to explain when we changing colors. thanks, joe. stay with your 24-hour news source, kcrg-tv child with a health condition that affects her appearance has been a challenge for courtney westlake and her family. their daughter's skin condition has prompted comments and stares from children, and in response their parents often shush the kids and rush them away from her. courtney sot: we had just had a couple of really awkward encounters at the playground, and at the mall and ya know, i was just thinking about what i wish parents would do instead of what they usually do embarrassed to pull their kids away to tell their kids to stay away from her. brenna is just a little girl who is playing at the playground... and so i wish parents would help kids relate more to that. ya know, what's her name? ask her name, what does she like to do, how old are you? and yeah, we can answer questions about her skin and then we can talk about other things and they then get the chance to realize she is just like them.cheryl on cam: westlake has written a book called a different beautiful. part of the book addresses differences and uniqueness without pity and fear. to hear more from courtney, visit momseveryday .com.. i'm cheryl hackett fall started this year on september 22nd. and usually we start seeing fall colors here in eastern iowa not too long after that. but we're now into october, and those colors are meteorologist justin gehrts joins us now to explain some of this. justin, why no fall foliage so far? and when can we expect to see it? bruce, the lack of cool weather so far this fall hasn't helped. however, the weather is just one factor in the fall color change. the shortening days start the process - chlorophyll, which gives leaves their green color, is constantly replaced when there's lots of sunlight. as nights grow longer, less chlorophyll is produced, so the green fades away and reveals the yellows and oranges that were always there to begin the leaf. cool nights help prevent these sugars from leaving the leaf. a combination of dry, sunny days and cool nights can help produce the greatest color. cloudy days or warm nights mean the chlorophyll breaks down more slowly. heavy rain or strong winds can make leaves drop early, leading to a less vivid show of color.on average, northern iowa peaks around now, while central iowa has its best color through much of october. southern iowa comes latest, generally in the second half of the month. the iowa d-n-r reports that week behind in northeastern iowa, with the maples just beginning to change. the next two weekends are expected to be good times for seeing peak color. in southeastern iowa, only scattered color has shown up, with the best colors coming in a couple of weeks. bruce? for decades, states have been urging people to wear seat belts to stay safe on the road. but iowa's having a hard time getting everyone to wear them all the time, no matter how short their change years. so far this year, 285 people have died on iowa roads. at this point last year, that number was 245. right now iowa's on track to have more fa any of the past five years. and the state department of transportation says 72 percent of those crashes are happening on rural roads. the state says saving lives on rural roads comes with its own set of challenges... challenges a state program called high five tries to address. kcrg t-v nine's katie wiedemann reports on the program's progress in clayton county. after years of patrolling the quiet country roads of spot someone skipping the seat belt. blue oldsmobile. driver not wearing a seat belt. he also knows why some drivers choose not to buckle up. "they fail to put there seat belt on because they believe in their own ideology that they are going to be safer. " gets out, closes door. on average, 92 percent of people in iowa wear their safety belt. but in clayton county, that rate is closer to 85 percent. "sometimes they get a little lacks in a small town. if they' office or something like that. " using funds from the governor's traffic safety bureau, the iowa state patrol and clayton county sheriff's deputies are working together to catch people not buckling up. "we're not out to necessirily write out as many tickets as we can. we just want to get the word out, 'hey if you're not wearing your seat belt we are going to enforce the law. " a partnership aimed at making more people think with the "what if?" mentality. "a deer could pop up out of the corn right now and you and you're ejected and you're dead. " in clayton county, katie wiedemann kcrg tv-9 news now here's a look at some of what you'll see at 5:30 on a-b-c. world news tonight with david muir is next with the latest on hurricane matthew. the category four storm has already struck haiti and now the east coast is bracing for impact. several states are declaring states of emergencies and enforcing evacuation plans. how will your area be eastern iowa and several other states are receiving reports of clowns spooking people. we check it out. and the iowa state patrol warns drivers to be extra careful with farm equipment out on rural tonight's forecast. after a dry evening shower chances move in overnight. lighter amounts of rain are expected into wednesday morning. more showers and storms develop on thursday, particularly in the afternoon and evening. these will be stronger with some areas receiving over an inch of rain. friday is a cooler and windy day with highs falling to seasonable levels. have a great night! tonight: scattered showers develop, mainly after midnight. wind: se 10-15. low: 61 tomorrow: showers possible early, then clearing. wind: sw 5-15. high: 75 thank you for joining us for world news with davi tonight, breaking news. a direct hit. hurricane matthew strikes. the category 4 storm, deadly already. 700 miles wide. and here in the u.s. tonight, states of emergency declared in several states. massive evacuations planned. and the new track, showing it moving right up the coast, florida, the potentially right through philly and new york. also tonight, the massive gas explosion. two homes leveled. authorities had a 22-minute warning. donald trump, after reports he might not have paid federal income taxes for nearly two decades, tonight, trump in his own words. what he says is unfair. and the vp showdown tonight. late developments. the man who showed up at the white house with a gun, shot by