crews are now going to each apartment looking for anyone who may be trapped. >> and that line of storms that caused damage in pensacola also left this path of destruction in other southern states two. died in louisiana where reports indicate a tornado touched down. a mobile home park there completely destroyed. and you can see the storm ripped apart building, tossed cars around. emergency crews estimate more than a hundred homes and rvs are damaged or demolished. let's get straight to leigh spann. a tornado watch in our area. >> yeah, within the last 45 seconds. they extended the the tornado watch down into our area. and you can see why. this line of storms in the gulf of mexico already bringing a threat for severe storms right now into the tallahassee area on the big bend in i-10. see the red shaded counties, that's citrus, hernando and just a minute ago issued the tornado watch. the watch means that conditions are setting up that you could see tornadoes. we have been expecting the worst weather to be north of i- 4 closer to where the storm system is. let me go into a forecast mode because it's going to take it a it's 4:00 now. this is the forecast for 7:30. that's when we will start to onshore. this whole thing is going to the push to the south and east. this is 9:00. that's when we see the tampa area, downtown st. petersburg getting rain but citrus county, already starting to dry out. by about 11:00 this morning and then by 1:00, 2:00, it's much weaker and the system is exiting to the south. now i will give you a better look at the hour-by-hour forecast coming up in weather and traffic on the 8s but it's going to be a traffic issue starting about 7:00. >> yeah, get to work early or maybe work from home today. >> that would be nice. we can't do that but that would be very, very nice. traffic right now, you do have some dry streets. southbound i-75 just past state road 70, lanes taken away in manatee county in the bradenton area. windy on the skyway bridge so use caution. good drive from plant city into down the town tampa. that's a look at weather and traffic. and now back to gene and gayle. >> thank you. breaking election news. votes are still being counted in nevada but trump is once again on top. >> nbc news projects trump will win the nevada caucus and right now senator marco rubio and ted cruz are neck and neck. news channel 8's lindsey mastis has been following the results through the early morning hours. lindsey, what are the latest results? >> reporter: gayle and gene, right now the results are still coming in. and let's look at trump's numbers. he is at 45%. that is better than those polls projected. and now we also have marco rubio and ted cruz. and now this has been neck and neck all morning. early on, marco rubio was slightly ahead and then ted cruz was ahead. and now marco rubio is at 24%. senator ted cruz is at 22% but they're still far behind trump who is celebrating his third win. >> we won the evangelicals, we won with young, we won with old, we won with highly educated, we won with the poorly educated. i love the poorly educated. 46% with the hispanics. number one with hispanics. >> reporter: right now, trump is ahead of senator marco rubio here in the polls here in his home state of florida but we don't vote until mid-march so candidates are focusing on right now. that includes texas, senator cruz's home state. candidates have to show a chance against trump on super tuesday. that is now less than one week away. and our former florida governor jeb bush is on the nevada ballot but he dropped out. we will have to see whether any candidates are dropping out. it has been a disappointing morning for ohio governor john kasich and dr. ben carson at 5% and 3% here. i'm going to keep my eye on these results and keep you morning long. >> thank you so much. and of course you can follow the morning alerts each day on facebook and twitter. just search the #8alert. hillary rodham clinton and bernie sanders are counting down to this weekend's south carolina primary. during a town the hall, senator sanders defended president barack obama's leadership. >> look, you can disagree with obama all you want, but to say united states who won an election fair and square was not a legitimate president really underminds what we are as a nation. >> senator sanders is hoping to pull off a win in south carolina after losing the nevada democratic caucus. meanwhile, hillary rodham clinton is trying to appeal to minority voters. she met with a group of mothers who lost their black children to violence including the mother of trayvon martin. clinton explained the victims of violence represent young lives cut short. >> my friend, we need real justice and accountability across america. we need to face racism and break down all the barriers in our economy and society that hold people back and disproportion yachtly hold back african-americans. >> and the mothers endorsed clinton. well, this morning some scary video of a wrong-way driver. check this out. a sarasota deputy captured the driver going against traffic on a busy interstate. as news channel 8's paul mueller report, police claim the driver was drunk with a blood alcohol level nearly four times the legal limit. >> reporter: well, good morning. this video just jaw-dropping. the guy behind the wheel going against oncoming traffic in the break down lane for miles. and it doesn't end there. you are looking at what could have been a major accident. the 21-year-old driving the wrong way down i-75 in sarasota county for six miles. nearly hitting a deputy. >> he stayed in the break down lane and luckily no vehicle was in the break down lane. >> reporter: but it didn't stop there. he then got off an on-ramp, driving six more miles. how could this not have been deadly? >> luck. >> reporter: but it was deadly here on the ashley exit in tampa earlier this month. two drivers killed, one going it's one of dozens of wrong-way crashes here in the bay area since 2008: >> oh, my gosh. holy. >> reporter: we showed the video to an attorney. he lost his wife to a drunk driver who had five dui convictions. >> that brings back tough memories for me. >> reporter: painful to watch though. >> it. is it's painful and shock. >> reporter: and as shocking as this, the sheriff's office says he later admitted he did it, that he was sorry. so what does he have to stay about this? well, we called him several time last night. and each time his voice mail was full. paul mueller, news channel 8. >> all right. thank you so much, paul. right now, he is out of jail on supervised released. all right, it's 4:08. and the weather is really making news this morning. >> it really is. we just have the tornado watch for citrus, hernando and pasco counties. that goes until 10:00 this morning. this is going to be a the storm system affecting mainly the big bend of florida. citrus, hernando and sumpter and pasco until 10:00 a.m. but notice the rain is well back to the west. i'm going to bring the rain chance up to about 50% starting at 8:00 this morning. so most dry for the next two hours. going to start warm and breezy in the low 70s. only climbing up to about 76 at 1:00 p.m. the bigger story today are the storms and that's a 70% chance right around lunchtime. if you have to go to work today, you may want to bring your lunch to work. that's when the storms will be the strongest. the rain chances taper down and the temperatures as well. so here's a break down of the timing. between 7:00 a.m. and 11:00 a.m. that's when i expectancy trust, hernando, western pasco and pinellas to be dealing with the most rain. 9:00 a.m. to 1:00 p.m., it takes it until about 11:00 a.m. southern polk and highlands county. the strongest between 7:00 a.m. and 2:00 p.m. threats gusty winds that may bring down some limbs or maybe even some smaller tree, plenty of lightning. and there's the outside risk of tornadoes. and this all clears out with chilly air by the end of the week. and now let's check on traffic on the 8s. it's dry now so people need to get going. >> certainly do. and you don't want to be on the road during lunchtime. it's windy on the skyway bridge. and now the bridge is still open but use caution going across it, folks. only going to take about 10 minutes between the toll plazas between manatee and pinellas county but overall, a good drive. and let's take a live look at the howard franklin bridge. this is only going to take six minutes to cross and you are looking at about seven on the courtney campbell causeway. bradenton area, overnight construction, southbound i-75 past state road 70. and we have a couple lanes taken away. and there are no delays. that's a look at weather and back to gene and gayle. >> thank you. a startling investigation into the kalamazoo shooting spree. >> what detectives learned about the suspect's past. and don't get tricked by facebook quizes. up next, an 8 on your side well this morning alert, those tempting facebook quizes. there's everything from testing your grammar to the finding out your spirit animal. >> i'm a zebra. >> i would have thought more crazy. >> these quizes could put your personal information at risk. 8 on your side's lindsey mastis joins us with a closer look at the risk when we click on the quizes. >> reporter: and i feel like i have to tell everyone, i'm an owl. so -- spirit animal, right. but when you take the facebook quizes, you could be taking a big risk. that's because hackers are using the quizes to get to your personal information. afterall, there's a reason cyber security experts call these things clickbait. >> reporter: like a lot of us, katy hays can't resist. >> reporter: but be ware, hackers can hijack accounts and use them to lure in more victims. the manager director at the florida center for cyber security explains hackers just want one thing, money. >> you never know who is really asking you for the information. >> reporter: hackers will use quizes to disguise malicious links. some connect to your facebook account to extract data. >> the more they know about you, the more ways they can trick you into doing something like clicking on a link that you should not click on. >> reporter: how can you tell is safe? he recommends being cautious of quizes and polls that want you to the sign in. addresses. he urge, treat them like cash, don't click on links just because a friend posted and it only participate in quizes from representable sources that even quiz questions themselves can help hackers. some might ask for the name of your first pet or the name of the street you grew up. oftentimes these are questions that banks use. >> i didn't think of. that are there quizes that are safe to take? >> reporter: there are. try to go to the source. if you want to know which disney princess you are, disney has the quiz. think about the motivation, why is the quiz available to me, what are they getting out of it? and when you think about it, oh, maybe i'm giving them too much. >> and you see that sign that says you will share your friends with the application and all of that, so i was wondering what do they do with the information but i do it anyway. good to know. thank you. time now 4:16. fidel and razl castro's older brother is dead this morning. he did hold several government positions. moving forward with plans to close the detention facility in guantanamo bay, cuba. he sent his plan to congress. the president argues keeping gitmo open threatens the promotes terrorism. >> it's counterproductive to our fight against terrorists because they use it as problem recruit. >> -- as propaganda in their efforts to recruit. 8 on your side's keith cate will travel to cuba to cover the president's trip. stay tuned to news channel 8 and wfla.com for complete coverage. developing this morning, new information about the suspect in the kalamazoo killing spree. at one point, jason dalton wanted to become a police officer. in the 1990s, he started the process to become an officer. he graduated from community college with an associate's however, he did not go to the police academy. dalton is accused of going on a shooting spree, killing six people and injuring two others. we're just seconds away morning. and boy, it could get rough out there. >> yeah, and it will be. it will just be another couple hours. we have this watch in place until 10:00 a.m., a tornado watch meaning when these storms come-on shore, there's the potential for them to have some winds. and now i believe that this area of low pressure that's been causing most of the tornadoes across the southeast is going to head up to the north and east and look where the storm prediction says. this area from south carolina up to virginia has the potential for the worst weather. we're down here in the slight risk. again, strong storm, isolated threat of a tornado between 7:00 a.m. and 4:00 p.m. so i urge you to go ahead and get your weather max app. if you're awake, it might be rain chances go up to about 40% at 8:00 a.m. most widespread storms around a 70% chance at lunchtime and back down to a 40% chance by the afternoon. by 7:00, 8:00, first storms in the northern areas north of i-4 where i believe the strongest storms will be. by midday, tampa and polk county and quickly exiting to the south. once it exit, we're cool and breezy for the rest of the week. leslee, let's check on traffic on the 8s. and looking at the roadways right now, lakeland, things look great. and a fast commute between each entrance to the polk parkway, just 11 minutes. bradenton, south 75 past state some lanes. downtown st. pete, injury accident, central avenue at 119 street. that's a look at weather and traffic on the 8s. back to gene and gayle. >> all right. thank you so much. well, the music world is >> straight ahead, the newest piano prodigy that's barking up a new tune. and then a 9-year-old who packs quite a punch. coming up, we will meet this pint-sized fighter whose future is very bright. move over ronda rousey, this little girl is making the rounds and winning fights. but has the heart of a seasoned fighter. she has been boxing since she was seven years old. her dad took up the sport to lose weight but all she wanted to do was get in the ring. >> i won my first match and i felt so good when they pulled up my hand because it was my first match and i won. and now i'm undefeated. i can't wait for the next fight. >> you go girl, right? she is now training for the golden gloves and her coach is a former pro boxer. he claims he has never seen such young talent combined with such strong determination. >> look at her jump rope. >> boys better watch out. >> stand back. this next video will get your attention. take a look at this beached fin whale in denmark. it's almost 50 feet long. my goodness. over the next few day, the whale will undergo an autopsy to the find out how it ended up dead on the beach. they rarely beach on danish the last time was in 1945. wow. and how about this for a piano prodigy? it's a dog. this adorable terrier named shadow not only plays piano on command, he sings too. well, he tries. that's what i sound like too. he puts tricks like rollover and speak to shame. >> stick to the playing. weather and traffic on the 8s is three minutes away. plus, the sex scandal that's rocking a bay area fire department. in the next half hour, the city officials demanding change to cool things off at the office. and asleep at the wheel. what happened when a delivery driver dozed off on the road and the reason he did not end you're watching news channel 8 now time for weather and now we have a tornado watch for portions of our area associated with this big storm system across the southeastern united states. again, citrus, hernando, pasco and sumpter until about 10:00. notice we have a couple hours to track this. ahead of the storm, winds are really strong coming out of the south, 22 miles per hour in sarasota. 10 to 15 miles per hour in most places. and now i expect 76 degrees today. but behind the cold front, we will actually drop into the low 60s into the weekend. leslee, the roads are dry, let's check on traffic on the 8s. they are dry. and it's windy right above the road over here in the skyway bridge. use some caution. it's still open but gusty out there. fhp issuing a wind advisory just for the skyway bridge area. and bradenton, southbound i-75 past state road 70, a little bit of construction tying up downtown st. pete. overall, it is a good drive but we have a collision here, street. accident. and it is right by tropicana can't wait till spring training 4:30 on this wednesday morning. good morning to you. welcome to news channel 8 today. i'm gene ramirez. >> and i'm gayle guyardo. right now, part of our area is under a tornado watch. and that is our top story this morning. take a look at this destruction left by the similar system that spawned at least 11 tornadoes in louisiana, alabama and mississippi. at least three people are dead and another 30 injured. >> wow. >> eight of them are reported in critical condition at this hour. the same system caused some damage in pensacola where the national weather service is confirming at least one tornado hit. >> yeah, and just take a look