and thunderstorms in the region. and the possibility of strong storms will be picking up going into the afternoon hours. that's a live view from cape may. you can see the rain coming down there. in fact, thunderstorms are just offshore of cape may. it's a first alert weather day for the possibility of severe storms developing later this afternoon and this evening, bringing damaging wind small hail and heavy rain to the area. right now the thunderstorms are just offshore. cape may and atlantic city is where the heaviest rainfall is. then inland farther north and west of allentown and reading, you can see the storms that are passing just to the south of hazelton at this hour. so keep an eye on the sky and plan for some wet weather. 45 degrees and scattered showers at 6:00. 9:00 we'll be looking at cloudy skies. by lunchtime, near 60 degrees and climbing. it's going to be much warmer today. that will help to fuel thunderstorms. we'll go through it hour by hour when i'm back in ten to show you when the storms will likely move your way. but out the door christine maddela is watching traffic on a friday morning. good morning and happy friday. the wet weather, we are seeing that in the traffic cameras. taking a look at interstate 95 right at island avenue near the philadelphia international airport, you can see some limited visibility out there. some wet roads. i'm going to be tracking the philadelphia international airport to see if there are delays if you're flying out. in skippack township bridge road and cressman road we have an accident to be aware of. crews are on the scene there. but take a look at the drive times, interstate 95 from woodhaven road to the vine street expressway is 14 minutes. we're giving you a green light on the schuylkill and 422. chris? a trail of destruction to clean up this morning after tornadoes swept across central illinois last night. tracy davidson is joining us now with those pictures. tracy? >> reporter: the twister made a small hit on the town of rochelle eight miles west of chicago and the damage is extensive. one person was killed when the tornado touched down last night. this is what is left behind of one restaurant in a town that was completely demolished. first responders pulled 12 people to safety trapped in the basement. listen as an employee at the restaurant tells her story. >> i looked out the window and saw it it was huge. it was huge and it was coming right for us. at that moment ava just grabbed me, ava's the owner, she grabbed me and just said, get to the basement. >> officials are hoping for more success stories like that in the wake of last night's storm. right now the extent of injuries are not yet known. the same weather system could bring severe weather to the northeast. we'll get an update from him in just a minute. chris? on to this a coup in colwyn. we have been following the fiery exchanges between council members there in colwyn and now it took a heated turn. nbc 10 was at the meeting with tensions boiling over last night. matt delucia is live with details and video of this exclusive exchange. matt, tell us what happened there. >> reporter: that's right, chris. it started with one councilman making a motion to fire the code enforcer and it got uglier from there. >> if you want the keys get a cop. >> reporter: after the fighting there, the council approved the firing and then the president tried to adjourn the meeting. before there was a vote on that the remaining council members held their own meeting planning to fire the borough president vocal as of late accusing council members of misappropriating funds. after firing brown, the council voted in fred lesher as council president. this is not the first time we have seen fighting among council members. there's a history here that we have been following the last few months. paul muser who walked into the meeting last night said as far as he's concerned, he's still the council president. arguing what happened in there last night was illegal. he calls it a coup. we'll hear from him coming up in the next 30 minutes. live in colwyn matt delucia, "nbc 10 news." in burlington county two people went to the hospital after a hazmat situation at an apartment complex at the edgewater manor apartments in edgewater park. investigators say the victims were exposed to some type of chemical. officials evacuated it a apartments and this morning we're working to find out conditions of those victims. happening today a judge will sentence this man, raheed smith, for raping a woman back in 2013. smith pushed the woman to the ground, stole her money and cell phone and sexually assaulted her. and a philadelphia judge will set the date for the third trial for andrew mccormick who is accused of molesting an 11-year-old altar boy in 1997. a judge declared a mistrial last month when the jury couldn't reach a verdict. that's the second time a jury could not render a decision in the case against mccormick. also today a judge will sentence a philadelphia man accused in the case of murder of frank darzicki. tolbert was upset when he beat him to death, cut up his body and put them in the river. the two women also pleaded guilty in the case. and after this philadelphia wedding brawl went viral, two suspects are charged in the 2012 fight between two wedding parties at the sheraton hotel in society hill. one was a brother of one of the grooms while one of the brides died from a heart attack. a police officer suffered a concussion there. and you're looking at the latest video released to the deadly shooting in south carolina. this dash cam video shows the very start of the open counter between a white police officer and the african-american murder he's ed. slater pulled over walter scott on saturday for a faulty taillight. in the video you can hear slager ask for license and registration. scott says he doesn't have it because he's in the process of buying the car. slager walks back to check the license. then scott gets out of the car and bolts. you'll see that happen here momentarily. there's the door opening and there he is running. then slager runs after him. moments later cell phone video we have all seen by now caught slager firing eight shots killing scott. slager's mother expressed her sorrow to scott's family. >> from one mother to another mother i can understand it. so i just -- i just want them to know that i'm sorry that this happened. and that this has made a change in everybody's life. >> michael slager said he opened fire because scott had taken his taser and feared for his life but the video does not show that. charleston police fired him after that video surfaced. a sheriff ordered an internal investigation into this video that shows police arresting a suspected thief. officers tasered him and then kick him on the ground there. they also punched him several times. the sheriff called the video disturbing. crews eventually took to man to the hospital. it is unclear how bad he's hurt. watch the entire video at nbc10.com. nine minutes after 4:00 and we are tracking thunderstorms in the region. won't be an all-day rainfall but occasionally we'll see storms roll through. right now low clouds over the city and a light breeze. it's rain in the pocano mountains. and there has been some thunder and lightning in the pocano mountains. 34 degrees in mount pocano. 39 in trenton. trenton has seen a few scattered showers just tapering off in wilmington where it is 41 degrees. it's a rainy view from little mountain in the pocano mountains. it will be on and off rainfall but a pretty steady rain to start with this morning in the mountains. there you can see it streaming through with some thunderstorm activity just to the northwest of allentown this morning. the chance of thunderstorms, everybody is going to see some activity in the region during the day today. but like we are getting right now, breaks in the rainfall. just steady stuff in south jersey. the steadier heavier showers pushing offshore in atlantic city where thunder and lightning is still happening. now look at what is on the way to the west. that's a strong line of storms. in fact, severe weather with a tornado warning in effect right now for central kentucky phillipsburg, greenbriar, under a warning right now with radar indicating rotation there with storms rolling through kentucky and the ohio valley. that's what is headed our way for later today. in fact the future weather hour by hour shows some scattered showers. a big warm up and then it's going into the late afternoon and evening hours. look at the line of storms at 5:00 this afternoon. that's when we will be tracking heavier downpours with the potential for gusty winds and also some hail as well. we'll talk about the weekend forecast when i'm back in ten. >> suddenly when you see the tornadoes forming there, we are thankful for no severe weather. let's go to first alert traffic reporter christine maddela this morning. christine, what's up? a smooth wet commute out there. with the wet weather, we are seeing precipitation on the roads, but there's not a lot of volume so that's the good news. taking a live look at the schuylkill expressway interstate 95 throughout our area, you may experience some slippery conditions and possibly some limited visibility out there. take it easy as you head out and about. there you can see some of the limited visibility along interstate 95. so right now, though we are not watching any major accidents on the interstates. there is an accident on skippack township on bridge road and cressman road to be aware of. checking the drive times on the schuylkill expressway mostly green with a little slowing down near the conshohocken curve. overall, a 13-minute drive time. chris? deadly gunfire near the nation's capitol. a shooting outside a government building led to a chase and a final gun battle. we'll have more on what happened and how it all unfolded. and more resources now for local people with autism and their families. we'll show you how a special center can now help families more quickly. it is 4:14 on a dreary start this morning. it is 42 degrees in philadelphia right now. this is a live look from the camera in center city. the flags are blowing at a slight breeze this morning. we're tracking storms for later today, possibly severe. meteorologist bill henley has a look at those so pack the umbrella heading out today. it will be warmer as we near the 70s. police in maryland say the man kidnapped his wife and shot a killed a guard at the u.s. census building. for whatever reason the man drove to the census bureau building in maryland and the guards saw him arguing with someone inside the car, so he approached. then the guard was shot sparking a chase and shoot-out. three police officers were hurt. they are all expected to be okay. the man's wife was not hurt. victims of the fort hood shooting will receive purple hearts. the massacre killed and people leaving 32 injured. congress changed the criteria for who is able to receive the purple heart. nidal hassan was convicted of murder and sentenced to death. and the kentucky derby will tighten the reigns on security. spectators cannot reenter the premesis after leaving the ground. they want to prevent counterfeit tickets outside the gate. also changing this year no selfie sticks and no remote-controlled aircrafts. leave the drones at home. watch this year's derby on may 2nd right here on nbc 10. and this morning millionaire real estate real estater robert durst pleads not guilty to firearm charges. there in los angeles he's accused of killing his long-time friend and he's trying to communicate with the outside world. coming up next half hour we'll tell you about a letter allegedly written by durst that was published in a california newspaper. and the relationship between chris christie and jer ji jones is under scrutiny again. a company co-owned by jones owns the observation deck. now they are looking into how the company got the contract. christie controls the port authority that operates the world trade center. now "the new york times" is reporting several indictments in the new jersey bridge case could come by next week. charges could include fraud as political payback. 4:17 and on to the race for mayor of philadelphia. the six democrats lay out their visions to the city's vision during a candidate's forum last night at the community college of philadelphia in spring garden. the forum focused on education, job development and affordable housing. the candidates will meet at two more forums today. one starts at 10:30 at the cast iron building on arch street. the other is at 7:30 tonight at fox chase elementary school. voters go to the polls on tuesday, may 19th for the primary in philadelphia. and then on tuesday, november 3rd, voters will choose the city's next mayor in the general election. there's only one republican candidate, so no primaries for the republicans. and with demolition looming at an old church in philadelphia's fishtown neighborhood supporters developed a new approach to save the building. the arch diocese says church supporters lost their appeal to the vatican and st. laurentis could be torn down in a matter of weeks, but now supporters are taking their fight to the city and state seeking to save the building on historic preservation grounds. >> there are things that they have to live up to. you can't just knock a building down from 1800s without people looking at it. >> i am catholic and would love the see the church remain in some sort of sacred way, but i'm very open to the idea of it being used for secular purposes. it's a beautiful space. >> the archdiocese leaders say the building is in imminent danger of collapsing and the parish doesn't have the money for repairs. but supporters say they have raised half a million dollars so far. happening today, officials in chester county will help open an expanded autism assessment center. a lot of families are excited about this. the devereux autism assessment center will provide families guidance and families don't have to wait so long for diagnosis. this will benefit families just as much as children. >> they need the diagnosis to understand why they are having difficulties with social skills, difficulties in their jobs and to help give them help also. >> the ribbon cutting is set for later this morning. a stormy day ahead at times, especially later this afternoon. this morning we're tracking some showers and there's some thunderstorm activity in the area. but later today a threat of severe thunderstorms developing as warm air surges ahead of the storms and helps to fuel them. a big warm-up of 30 degrees compared to yesterday. and we'll see some sunshine this weekend. the storms will be clearing out. right now some light rain in philadelphia. 42 degrees. and an easterly breeze just 3 miles an hour. the wind has settled down this morning and we could see strong gusts. if severe does happen this afternoon, damaging winds is one of the possibilities. right now just a light rainfall at the shore. this is the live view from cape may with heavier showers offshore. 30s right now for pottstown, doylestown and trenton. while it is 42 in philadelphia international, wilmington is 41 degrees. and you can see 30s and 40s in lower montgomery county. 38 degrees in willow grove. this is where we were most of the day yesterday, but ahead of the storms will come a big warm up. scattered showers in the area right now. nothing too heavy except just to the north of allentown. heavy downpours and thunderstorm activity pushing through the pocano mountains right now. missing allentown, but this line that is to the west is likely not to miss us later this afternoon. that's the line that could potentially give us some severe weather later today. then look how clear it is behind that line of storms. that's our weekend. for today, keep an eye on the sky, especially later this afternoon during the evening commute. that's not only when we'll see the showers but the stronger thunderstorms could develop. temperatures are into the middle to upper 70s this afternoon. and not bad this weekend. the storms will be out of here. we'll have sunshine, the wind blowing on saturday. we'll settle down on sunday. both days in the 60s. the full seven-day forecast coming up in the next half hour. 21 minutes after 4:00. now keep an eye on the roads as you head out the door. christine maddela will show you what you will encounter. christine? >> right now just wet roads out there. you can see the precipitation on the camera lenses but overall things are moving well. we don't have any accidents to report, so that's the good news. just watch out for slick spots, also some limited visibility with some of the low clouds in our area. so the wet roads combined with these, you can see the reflection off the roads there. the wet roads combine with some limited visibility in parts of the area and could be problematic. right now we are not seeing any major problems. chris? we are following breaking news out of university city where firefighters are on the scene of a dumpster fire inside an apartment building. here's a live picture here from the scene. officials say that the fire broke out in a first-floor dumpster and spread through the trash shoot. so a lot of smoke in the building. so far no injuries and it is not clear exactly what started the fire but we just found out that firefighters have gotten this fire under control. a dumpster fire at a university city high-rise apartment building is under control. no reports of any injuries. well, the time is now for a new high-tech time piece. starting today you can get an up-close look at the apple watch and get a step closer to owning one if you want. that's ahead. and get ready to dust off your roller skates. we have to tell when a new attraction is going today buy in philadelphia this summer. starting today, the apple smartwatch is available for pre-order. this is apple's first new product category to be launched in the past five years. deliveries begin on april 24th. and a cost-cutting move. the owners of the walgreens chain are closing 200 stores. prompting officials to say this should save $1.5 billion over the next few years. no word on where or when. and a new attraction is coming to the philadelphia waterfront. yesterday michael nutter revealed plans for summerfest the first outdoor roller skating rink. how about that? complete with a beach theme. and it includes playgrounds for children and a water lodge that will be turned into a new restaurant. >> activities like those that go on the waterfront and those we have been involved with for so many years really do help to not only stress the importance of health and wellness but helps us deliver our mission to this community. >> the roller rink and the harbor park open may 22nd. low clouds fog and some sunshine just to start with today. 42 degrees at nbc 10. but it's going to be warmer day and a first-alert weather day. there's the potential for severe storms later this afternoon. heading out the door right now, christine maddela is in the first alert traffic center. good morning christine. happy friday to you, bill. we are seeing some wet weather and the fog as you head out on your morning commute. it could cause some problems. we'll have a look at the drive times when we come back. i'm matt delucia live in colwyn where at a meeting last night more fighting firing and new leadership. i'll explain what happened and we'll show you right after the break. at work we could come to a stormy end. the first alert weather is tracking storms on the way. powerful storms already hit the midwest. look at this new video of a huge twister and a new look at the damage it left behind. a possibly coup on the colwyn city council. good morning to you, i'm tracy davidson. >> i'm chris cato. what a meeting they had last night. we'll get to that in a minute. but first, bill the forecast today could track some severe weather. i'm tracking showers and thunderstorm activity along with low clouds and light fog. that's a murky view from center city this morning. it's a first-alert weather day for this afternoon and this evening when a line of strong storms potentially severe will come through the area. it could bring damaging wind hail