homes this morning and crews are going to each apartment looking for anyone who may be trapped. >> and this same line of storms left a path of destruction in other southern states. two died in louisiana where preliminary reports indicate a tornado touched down in convent. you can see a mobile home park there completely destroyed. the storm ripped apart buildings and tossed around cars. an incredible scene there. emergency crews estimate more than a hundred homes and rvs are damaged or demolished. and let's get straight to leigh spann because this storm is headed towards our area. >> yeah, it's knocking on our door at the this point. and now the tornado watch which means that conditions are setting up that we could see an isolated tornado and strong wind, that goes until 10:00 a.m. for sumpter, citrus, hernando and pasco counties. i talked about it. during the early morning, things would be dry. it passed through the panhandle florida and up toward the carolinas. in fact, right around the gainesville area, they're under a severe thunderstorm warning right now meaning wind gusts up to about 60 miles per hour. and here's citrus county. again, just coming in to our area. i'm going to time this out for you. going forward into the future, this is 8:00, citrus, hernando, pasco, that's when you will see most of the rain. the rain could start in about an hour. and going forward another hour, 9:00 a.m., that's when places like hillsborough county, pinellas and pasco county will see the heaviest of the rain begin. and even farther into the day, 10:30, polk county starts to see the rain including manatee and sarasota. and by 1 , almost all of the rain is south of i-4 and will quickly be spreading south as a cold front comes through and really clearing us from north to south through the day today. so what i'm going to do coming up in weather and traffic on the 8s at 6:08, i take you hour by hour through the day because >> i'm loving it right now. >> yeah, it won't last though. >> no wet roads. it's a little windy but traffic is moving. now we're seeing more vehicles on the roadway. that's why i'm showing you 275 at fowler avenue because there's about twice as many vehicles here than 20 minutes ago. people are starting to get up and out and on the roadways and get to work. all right, let's go ahead and look at travel times. brooksville to brandon, that's cortez road down to the highway 60 on 75, that's going to the take roughly 44 minutes. that's a look at weather and traffic. and now back to gene and gayle. breaking election news. the votes are still being counted over in nevada but trump is once again on top. >> yeah, some are saying with sweeping numbers. nbc news projects trump will win the nevada caucus. and right now, our florida senator marco rubio and senator ted cruz are neck and neck. news channel 8's lindsey mastis mast has been following the results all morning long. lindsey, what are the latest results. right now, the results are still coming in. we have 96% reporting. these are numbers from nbc news. and they're showing that donald trump is at 46% right now. that is better than the polls predicted. and then when we come over here to marco rubio and senator ted cruz, these two senators were neck and neck. when i got in this morning, senator rubio was on top and then it slipped and then senator cruz. and now it's flipped again. senator ted cruz is only 21%. senator marco rubio on top with 24%. these two are battling it out for second place but they're still far behind trump who is celebrating his third win and part of his statement is now trending on twitter. >> we won the evangelicals. we won with young. we won with old. we won with highly educated. we won with poorly educated. i love the poorly educated. 46% with the hispanics. 46%. number one with hispanics. is also ahead of senator rubio in the polls here in his home state of florida. but we don't vote until mid- march. super tuesday is what candidates are focusing on now. that includes texas, senator cruz's home state. and now candidates, to have a chance at all against trump, tuesday. away. and the former florida governor jeb bush is on the nevada ballot but he dropped out. he has yet to endorse a candidate. and we are going to have to see whether the other candidates drop out because it's been disappointing for ohio governor john kasich. he only has 4%. and dr. ben carson only has 5%. i will keep my eye on the results and keep you updated online. gayle -- >> some serious momentum for trump though. thank you so much, lindsey. there's speculation donald trump could choose a florida politician as his running mate. writer predicts that governor rick scott could be a possibility. neither trump nor governor scott are commenting on the report. well on the democratic side, hillary rodham clinton and senator bernie sanders are counting down to this weekend's south carolina primary. each candidate took part in a town hall in columbia. it was a chance for senator sanders and clinton to make a pitch to the voters of south carolina. senator sanders is hoping to regain some momentum after losing to clinton in the nevada caucus. clinton now has a new endorsement heading into the south carolina primary. she met with a group of mothers who lost their children to violence. all of the victims were black. in the group, the mother of trayvon martin. the unarmed florida teenager killed by george zimmerman. 8 on your side will keep questioning the florida department of transportation about what it's doing to stop dangerous wrong-way drivers. and we report on this deadly problem. this time there's video that shows that incident. and news channel 8's adrienne pedersen is live on i-275 this morning. adrienne, this puts so many incident people at risk, people who are out doing groceries, taking the kids to school. something's got to be done here. >> reporter: good morning, gene. that's for sure. honestly i think about this every day on my way to work, especially with our crazy hours. and fdot promises us that they are trying to put this to a stop. one thing they are doing, we are on bearss on the exit ramp to 275. look at this wrong way sign. and now just on the bottom, you see this black area. that will start blabbing if someone is driving -- start flashing if someone is driving the wrong way. this is bart of a pilot program. f -- this is part of a pilot program. about drunk drivers. we have to show you the latest attention. according to deputies, this is 21-year-old ryan flurry driving sarasota county for six miles. he even almost hits a deputy. not shocking here, he had been drinking. and now according to the sheriff's office, his blood alcohol level was nearly four times the legal limit. amazingly, nobody got hurt in that one. unfortunately not the same story in another crash. you remember this one at the ashley exit earlier this month. two drivers killed, one going the wrong way. we covered this extensively when it happened as breaking news right here on news channel 8 today. then just monday, another wrong- way driver about to head on to i-4 when thankfully tampa police were able to stop him. he wasn't even drunk. instead, just confused. and that's what these signs are for, in case people are confused and. we will keep asking fdot if they feel like they are working because it seems like we keep hearing about the wrong-way drivers. >> yeah, thank you. we want to get a check on the storms. >> that's right. at this point, almost every one in the tampa bay area dry. it's windy but the tornado watch for citrus, hernando, sumpter and pasco goes until 10:00 a.m. and notice the rain just knocking on your door. here's the hour-by-hour forecast. about a 50% rain chance between 8:00 and 10:00 this morning, especially for areas north of i- 4. and that goes up to a 70% chance between 11:00 and about 2:00 today. so your lunch break could be wet for many of you. take the lunch to work with you so you don't have to get back out in it. and through the afternoon and evening, the rain chances and the temperatures go down. and now here's a really rough estimate on when the rain will start and stop in your area. yellow shaded area, that is citrus, hernando, pasco and even northern pinellas from 7:00 a.m. to 11:00 a.m. that's when you will see the most rain. from the tampa area into eastern hillsborough, western polk county, and even owner it's 9:00 a.m. until 1:00 p.m. and until 11:00 this morning into southern polling and highlands county. the strongest storms between 7:00 a.m. and 2:00 p.m. with the storms, you could see individual strong wind gusts that could bring some damage. obviously some lightning and downpours. there's just an outside isolated risk of a tornado but it's there and it clears out this evening. we will check on traffic on the 8s. >> we'll take it. leave the house now. get to work early if you want to avoid slow down thes or slippery roads or when the weather gets really bad. right now, it looks really good. and more vehicles are on the roadway. kennedy to ashley, four minutes. bearss avenue to i-4, about 10 minutes. great drive across the bay area bridges. and traffic building 275, hillsborough avenue, already starting to see a lot more vehicles out there into downtown. >> all right. thank you so much. well, it is your chance now to win universal tickets. right now, we are giving away a pair of tickets. be our eighth caller to win. 1-855-420-9352. call right now if you're the >> 1-855-420-9352. the 855. it's a free call. good luck to you. if you don't win this time, you will get another chance in the next half hour. don't get tricked by the facebook quizes. >> yeah, an 8 on your side warning about why you should resist that temptation. and then a sex scandal heats up at a bay area fire department. the city official now demanding change to cool things off at the office. you're watching news channel 8 developing this morning, sex scandals in the clearwater fire department are prompting big changes. the latest, two employees suspended for having an ongoing the job. ryan hughs is live in clearwater this morning. this kind of activity may not slide going forward, according to the city manager. >> reporter: gayle, good morning. not for long. the city plans to put in a number of measures to make sure and the city manager, well, he's not happy. >> this is just an example of a complete break down in discipline and leadership and it's just not a reflection of the quality of the firefighter personnel that we've had in this department. >> reporter: sweeping changes are coming. cameras will be put up inside each and every fire house to watch over firefighters. cameras are already mounted on the outside. and fire chiefs and other leaders plan to make unannounced visits to see how things are going. this comes after the lieutenant and medic were suspended and a 19-year veteran resigned in 2014 after he appeared in a sex video that was apparently recorded at a fire house. back here live, you can count on 8 on your side to monitor things here and let you know once those measures are put in >> all right. i know a lot of people are watching this story. thank you, ryan. it's 6:15. an 8 on your side alert about those the tempting facebook everything from testing your grammar to finding out your spirit animal. >> i'm pretty sure i'm a zebra. >> i don't even know what that would mean but okay. >> they seem harmless but the quizes could put your personal information at risk. and 8 on your side's lindsey mastis joins us with a closer look at the risk we are taking. >> reporter: i'm an owl. a beaver, owl -- >> i haven't taken the quiz, for the record. >> reporter: and it's probably good that you don't and that's because some of the facebook quizes could be putting you at risk. that's because hackers are using quizes to get to your personal information. afterall, there's a reason. cyber security perts call them click bait. like a lot of us, katy hays can't resist. >> if my friends took it, i usually take it. >> reporter: but be ware, hackers can use the quizes to hijack accounts and use them to gather more information. >> you never know who is really asking you for the information. >> reporter: hackers will use quizes to disguise malicious links, some will 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: so how can you tell whether the quiz you're taking is safe? he recommends being cautious of quizes and polls that want you to sign in. the same goes for email addresses. he urges, treat them like cash. don't click on links just because a friend posted it. and only participate in quizes from reputable sources that protect your data. hackers. some might ask for the street you grew up on or the name of they're security questions. >> that's the scary part gets your attention. like for marketing purposes so they can recommend products? >> some quizes might be that way but some might be hackers that want to find your friends. and another thing, if you want to take a quiz, buy a magazine that includes quizes. much safer. >> old school. why take the chance. we have some weather that could affect us in the next few hours. >> exactly. we have the tornado watch until 10:00 a.m. and we told you it would take a few hours before the rain moved onshore. and we are seeing a light rain along the coast of the counties, citrus, hernando and pasco. heavier downpours in the yellow farther out in the gulf of mexico and that extends off of pinellas and sarasota counties as well. and this is part of a huge storm system on the backside, plenty of snow. this is the same system we have shown you video that's brought deadly tornadoes. and the area of low pressure where i expect most of the widespread severe weather to go and east which is why the storm prediction center has put a bullseye on the threat for severe weather today in north carolina, virginia and south carolina. but notice how this threat extends all the way down here, south of i-4. this is light green area placing us in the slight risk which is still a risk but not a stronger risk. so we have this strong winds that we could see with the individual storms. wind gusts that could bring down some limbs and even small trees and. then the isolated risk of tornadoes between 7:00 a.m. and 4:00 p.m. i urge you, if you don't have the weather max app, it's free for your iphones and droids. it will wake you up and alert you to storms. a 40% rain chance at 8:00 this morning. 70% at noon. again, that's when the most widespread rain will happen. by 3:00 p.m., a 40% chance. and watch here, by 9:00, most of the rain in citrus, hernando and pasco. polk county, pinellas county. by 1:00, 2:00, the rain gets south of i-4 and then quickly exits to the south by the evening. and then maybe just a sprinkle or two tomorrow morning. for the chillier air. taking a look at the roadways. 275, traffic building. more vehicles but still flowing at speeds of 55 miles per hour. here's 275, hillsborough avenue in the distance. downtown tampa in the distance. and let's look at the skyway bridge, a good drive across it. i want you the to remember, it is very windy out there. and we've got a travel advisory on the skyway bridge. great drive throughout lakeland. back to gene and gayle. >> thank you so much. well the music world is going to the dogs. >> sure is. ahead, we will show you the newest piano prodigy that's barking up a new tune. and then blasting off, today the launch that could light up the night sky over florida. it's 6:20. ( soft, calm music ) hi, you've reached emma. i'm out of the office right now but will get back to you just as soon as i possibly can. your call is important to me. join princess cruises for exclusive discovery at sea experiences. 6-day caribbean cruises from just $549. call your travel consultant or visit princess.com princess cruises. spacex will attemp its next falcon 9 launch. keep your eyes peeled for this. the rocket is attemping to put another telecommunications satellite into orbit. when it goes into orbit, the rocket will attempt an experimental landing on a drone ship. this mission is so unique, engineers do not expect a successful landing. the launch is scheduled for 6:46 this evening from cape canaveral. and if it's dark enough, we may >> so cool. how about this for a piano prodigy, he doesn't have fingers because he's a dog. >> shadow not only plays on command, he sings too. >> do a little song. [ dog barking and howling ] there's no business like show business >> well, he tried. he seems to be a fan of his own tunes. hey, he puts tricks like rollover and speak to shame. weather and traffic on the 8s is three minutes away. new in the next half hour, flu season hits the bay area with a vengeance. ahead, a look at new data from state health officials on how it's impacting hospitals. and asleep at the wheel, what happened when a delivery truck driver dozed off while on the road and the reason he did not end up in handcuffs. you're watching news channel 8 ba da ba ba ba all right, it's 6:28. i'm tracking a strong line of thunderstorms that extends from south carolina into the gulf of mexico. and we do have that tornado sumpter and pasco counties but the rain itself just off our shoreline. and the strongest storms will be making it to hudson at 6:45. new port richey at 6:47. temple terrace by 73:00 1 . morning. i'm gene ramirez. >> and i'm gayle guyardo. right now, part of our area is under a tornado watch. check this out, it's our top story this morning. look at the destruction left behind by the same system that spawned at least 1 tornadoes in louisiana, alabama and mississippi. at least three people are dead. another 30 injured. eight of them are reported to be in critical condition right now. there you can see the destruction left in the path. this very same system caused some damage in pensacola. we're told it's really rough there as well. the national weather service is >> yeah, and that same line of storms is now moving closer to the bay area. this is a look at the storm on our storm team 8 max radar. the line of storms is inching closer and closer to our area so we really got to pay morning. >> we do. meteorologist leigh spann has been following this all morning long and looks like it could be pretty rough but most of the really intense weather is going to stay north. >> the type of weather that came through louisiana and pensacola is going to stay to the north. but we have a trailing cold front which is why we have the risk of tornadoes. i will zoom in closer and show you the tornado watch shaded in red. citrus, hernando, pasco, sumper there until 10:00 this morning and you can see already light rain along the coast of citrus, hernando and pasco. but the heaviest downpours and strongest storms offshore right ahead of the cold front. in fact, offshore right now, there's 308 lightning strikes. i've already heard on facebook from people in hernando county strong, very loud thunder and lightning in their area. so again, that is coming onshore as we speak. and then the storms will slowly push to the south. so as the day goes on, the farther south that you live, that's where the storms will be exiting out of the highlands county area this afternoon. a high today of 76 degrees. still gusty. and now coming up in weather and traffic on the 8s at 6:38, i'll not only run down the timing of this rain but also the threats the storms could bring. and we do need to take this seriously due to the history of this system. lindsey mastis joins us now live in the tampa news center the north and west. so sad. it is. sadly the storms proved deadly and now the destruction spans four states. in louisiana, two people are dead after the storm passed through the mobile home park. the state's governor believes several people are missing. and tornadoes touched down in mississippi, alabama as well as here in florida. cars are upside down. and an 18-wheeler got tossed. roofs were ripped off. survivors describe a heroing experience. >> all it was, we hear a loud noise. and the wind looked like it just come down and went up. funniest thing i ever saw. >> just a lot of whirling wind. the house started shaking. lifted up and started flipping. >> reporter: the governors of louisiana and mississippi are declaring states of emergency. and here in florida, several counties north of us and in the panhandle are canceling classes as storms roll through. more storms are expected including in states already hit hard. a lot of clean-up happening today. leigh. >> yeah, unfortunately for those folks and again our threat continues through the morning hours and even into the early afternoon for places south of i-4. but at this point, most of us are dry on the roadways. that will not be the case long. it's just windy. >> it's windy on the skyway bridge. you will want to use caution. if you're leaving the house, enjoy it while you can. we have a collision southbound u.s. 19 near the new port richey area north of holiday. it's at state road 54. fhp tells me it is tying up the center lane southbound on u.s. 19. let's hop over and you can see traffic building south 275, got a good drive i-4. and here's a quick live look at it at hillsborough avenue. that's a look at weather and traffic. back to the gene and gayle. >> thank you, leslee. 6:34. 8 on your side will continue pressing several agencies today about wrong-way driver dangers. you have to see this incredible and terrifying video again. take a look at the driver going the wrong way for miles. news channel 8's adrienne pedersen is joining us live on i-275. you know, adrienne, unfortunately we report on these stories all the time but now we actually have the video. >> reporter: good morning, gayle. i know that video is just crazy to watch. it really puts it in perspective. say someone comes over here on the bearss exit ramp and gets on the interstate, you really don't even have a chance to get out of the way. again. it's unbelievable. according to deputies, that's 21-year-old ryan flurry driving the wrong way on i-75 in sarasota county for six miles and he almost hits a deputy. no shock here, he was drunk. and according to the sheriff's office, the blood alcohol level was nearly four times the legal limit. amazingly though, nobody was hurt. unfortunately though in this next piece of video you're looking at, a deadly crash. you remember this one at the ashley exit in tampa earlier this month. two drivers killed. one of them going the wrong way. we covered this extensively for you when it happened as breaking news right here on news channel 8 today. and now as for flurry, the guy going the wrong way in sarasota, i just checked and he is out on bond this morning. and 8 on your side continues to about this. so take a look right here. you see a wrong-way sign. we are on the bearss exit off of 275. if a car does start going the wrong way, that sign will light up and start flashing. now this is only a pilot program. we're trying to figure out if the signs work. of course, gayle, we will stay on top of it and let you know. >> yeah, something needs to be done. we point to drunk drivers a lot but this is happening to people sober. thanks, adrienne. and more disturbing this morning. this one of a fedex swerving all over the road. you see the driver behind the wheel. the guy who shot the video says this guy was asleep. you can see the truck here, over the median, right against incoming traffic and swerving all over the place. that driver that recorded the video on ehrlich road in hillsborough county got the fedex truck to pull over eventually. and deputies think the driver was impaired but they couldn't charge the guy because the keys weren't in the ignition and the we can clearly see him all over the road in the wild video here, going against traffic here. and you can watch the entire video on our web page, wfla.com. and now 8 on your side did contact fedex after we got wind of this incident. they gave us this statement, quote, safety is our highest priority at fedex ground. we are cooperating with the investigating authorities in determining what caused this accident and will take the appropriate action once the investigation has concluded. flu season is hitting hard right now in the bay area. state health officials report an increase in cases. recent numbers indicate outbreaks at a polk county elementary school, a child care facility in hillsborough county. in manatee county, the flu set a record-breaking number of people in the emergency room at manatee memorial hospital. they saw a record 310 patients. well developing this morning, 14 new cases of zika government health officials are investigating and they involve men who may have infected their female partners who had not traveled to countries known to be zika hot spots. this news comes as congress zika outbreak. florida's top health officials will testify about our state's handling of the crisis. rite now, there are 29 reported cases of zika here in florida, three of those here in hillsborough county. police in ontario arrested a man in connection to a deadly test drive that killed a car salesman. police charged him with vehicular manslaughter. they believe he was high on drugs when he was on a test drive with a car max salesman. during the drive, he lost control of the corvette and crashed into a tree. police believe the driver was going at least 70 miles per hour at the time. a 43-year-old died. well the time right now is 6:38. and weather is making news across the state this morning >> exactly. and now i'm starting to hear from more and more people, especially in citrus and hernando counties about the loud thunder they're hearing. we have the tornado watch for the red shaded areas, citrus, hernando, pasco and sumpter but now the lightning strikes and downpours starting to come-on shore in those communities. as the morn -- to come on-shore in those communities. as the morning goes on, more will see the rain come onshore. between 11:00 a.m. and 2:00 p .m., if you can, take the lunch to work with you. after 3:00 p.m., the rain starts to exit to the south and we cool down. and in fact, let me time this out for you. between 7:00 a.m. and 11:00 a .m., in the yellow area, citrus, hernando, western pasco and pinellas. by 9:00 a.m., portions of hillsborough county, you will see the heavier downpours east and to the south, highlands county, it will take you until 11:00 before the rain comes through. and as far as the storm threat, lightning, obviously hearing the thunder. that's a threat. heavy downpours. i don't think hail will be an issue. i'm mostly concerned with individual, stronger damaging wind gusts in these thunderstorms and of course it's a low risk but a risk nonetheless of tornadoes. and now let's check on traffic on the 8s. more areas starting to see the light rain north of i-4. that's right. and more vehicles on the road. actually more than usual. so what i'm thinking is people are listening to you and leaving the house early. let's look at what's going on right now, 275 at fowler avenue, busier than normal, folks. this is southbound traffic. starts to build here and you can see people exiting at fowler. really starting to get busy. and all right, let's look at the maps here, bearss avenue to i-4, already up to 17 minutes. and that's part of what i just showed you right at fowler avenue. and we've got a crash in lanes here. looks like the map just u.s. 19 in the new port richey area at state road 54. slow bearss to i-4. the other back to you. >> thank you. it is your chance to win tickets to universal studios. >> all you have to do is be our eighth caller. 1-855-420-9352. if you are the eighth caller, you win. >> the number once again, 1-855- 420-935 2 . remember, you have to dial 1 before the 855. it is a free call. good luck and if you don't win this time, don't worry, you will get another chance tomorrow. good luck. new hope for those of us who often lose our car keys. it happens. >> the new technology that could let you start your car from your smart phone. and then -- >> i'm significantly embarrassed. so is the entire organization. >> clearwater city manager demanding change after a steamy sex scandal at the fire house. coming up in the live report, the changes the city is developing this morning, steamy sex scandals in the clearwater fire department. the latest, a fire lieutenant and medic suspended for having a sexual relationship on duty. >> and now the city manager is demanding change. 8 on your side ryan hughs is morning. fired up. to you. he is sad. he is disappointed. he is upset. he said one incident is bad enough, let alone two. >> very embarrassing. i haven't met anybody who condones or feels good about what has happened. >> reporter: both people in the latest incident were suspended between 15 and 30 days. an investigative report shows they lived like a married couple and had sex often at work. decade veteran of the department resigned after a graphic sex video of him and a woman taken inside a fire house surfaced. and now back here live this morning, city leaders plan to improve relationships between those at the top and paramedics. one thing they plan to do is install security cameras in each and every fire house to watch the actions of personnel. back to you. >> they might get an eyeful there ryan. thank you. we know human trafficking is a serious problem, not just in florida but right here in tampa bay and many wonder what they can do to help. this week there's a sex industry outreach program happening in tampa. it's a three-day workshop that starts tomorrow where volunteers are trained to help people who might be trapped in the sex industry. >> reporter: if you go into a strip club, you're going in to you need me? >> absolutely. it's about support and letting them know that there's resources available. >> by the way, the woman you she's going to be leading the charge with a lot of other big speakers. to sign up for the workshop, head to wfla.com. after 17% cuba tourism growth in 2015, the government is forecasting a cool down this year. right now the island is seeing record tourism growth. it's pushing hotels to capacity there. americans are still only allowed on officially sanctioned visits and the capitol is dense with them. making hotels a challenge to book in havana during the high season. and because tourism growth is still at record numbers, trip adviser is sharing the most popular destinations in cuba. at number one, varadero, a beach town with a dreamy sugary sand and less than two hours from havana. number two spot, havana itself where tourists can experience spanish colonial era vibes. include cayo santa maria and caro coco. getting rid of key sets. volvo wants to replace them with smart phones. they claim smart phones can become digital car keys. your phone could start the car and also unlock the doors and the trunk. volvo will test this technology this spring at the sweden headquarters and we should see the digital keys coming our way in 2017. well car wash vacuums are known to suck up loose change and other beigy the testimonies. >> yeah, but what -- big items. >> yeah, but what one worker found shocked him. >> i was looking for change but i come across out of the dirt, there was a big ring, just diamond shining in every direction. >> that is roy morgan. he found a diamond ring worth more than $3,000. he turned it in to the car wash lost and found. however the manager didn't realize it and told a woman who asked about the missing ring and now they are hoping that she will return to claim it. >> wow. >> all right. honest people over there. >> yeah. let's get a check on weather and traffic on the 8s. especially weather this morning. >> yeah, things are changing as we speak now. so we've had this tornado watch but now, the rain has actually moved onshore. i'm getting a lot of reports on facebook and twit their the strong, heavy downpour, gusty winds and plenty of lightning, all these light dots here, those are lightning strikes and well. now. and it extends, maybe drizzle in pinellas county and western portions of pasco county. this is ahead of a bigger storm system from the great lakes to the gulf of mexico. and the area of low pressure is going to bring the worst and most widespread severe weather in places like eastern north carolina and virginia. but we are in the slight risk of severe weather today. which is why we have the tornado watch. the threats in this slight risk through manatee and sarasota and hillsborough is strong gusty wins that could do some damage and bring limbs down in the individual stronger storms. and the isolated risk of tornadoes is there between 7:00 a.m. and 4:00 p.m. watch what happens each hour. we go from a 30% rain chance at 7:00 a.m. to a 50% chance at 9:00. and temperatures in the low to mid-70s. middle of the day, best coverage of rain at about 70%. and then the storms taper off during the evening hours. timing graphically. this is about 8:30, now into the future, storms start in northern areas where they are southeast. so by 11:00 this morning, pinellas, hillsborough, polk heavier downpours. and just about everybody south of i-4 seeing the rain through the early afternoon hours. and it will be breezy as we clear out tonight. and maybe sprinkles tomorrow morning and then after the storms today, the bigger news i'll tell you what, i'm convinced that people at home are paying attention and heeding your warnings on the bad weather later on because we are already seeing heavier traffic than normal. usually these speeds happen about 20 minutes from now. so i believe that people are going ahead and leaving the house early because they don't want to get trapped in the wet weather. ybor city, 301 to 275, a 10 minute commute now. and slow on the veterans expressway from ehrlich to 275, 15 minutes. so traffic definitely getting heavy out there. and south 275, bearss avenue to i-4, in red, 21 minutes. still good off the howard franklin, northbound absolutely no delays. about eight minutes across the howard franklin. and look at this, this is 275 at fowler avenue. and again, usually not this busy at this point. i don't have an accident, just people on the roadway trying to get to work and maybe trying to avoid what's to come with the weather. so southbound 275 at fowler avenue, heavy. and look, skyway bridge, a so use some caution. that's a look at weather and traffic on the 8s. back to gene and gayle. >> busy. >> yeah. thanks,less. what you need to know before you walk out the door next. >> including the deadly storms across the southeast. coming up, the path of destruction left behind as we brace for storms right here in the bay area. it's 6:52. you're watching news channel 8 well we are keeping up with the latest on a destruck the tiff and deadly line of storms. >> and they are headed for the bay area right now. part of our area is under a tornado watch. >> this morning, pensacola residents are waking up to a big mess after severe storms moved through escambia county. and this is what it looked like there, heavy rain and high winds. a tornado there too. well, crews are now going to damaged homes and apartments looking for anyone who may be trapped. states. two died in louisiana. one in mississippi. the storm rip add part around. hundreds of homes and rvs are and now let's get straight to meteorologist leigh spann with a look at what we're expecting. and we won't see that kind of damage but we are under a tornado watch from citrus, hernando, pasco and sumpter counties and points north until 10:00 a.m. in fact, we are seeing the heavy downpours, especially along the coast. some lightning embedded in this. and even a few light sprinkles in pinellas county and western pasco county at the moment. so the timing of this, for citrus, hernando, pasco, you will see rain until about 11:00. and then things dry out for you, hillsborough, western polk county, the rain starts at 9:00 and goes until 1:00. and highlands county, it will take until 11:00 just to see the rain. at this moment, strong winds ahead of the cold front. behind the cold front, significantly colder for the >> all right, thank you. winning, winning, winning. donald trump beamed with victory in front of a rejoicing crowd in las vegas. he took the nevada caucus win with finesse. and now hiss back on the campaign trail to continue with his momentum. and you have to see this incredible and terrifying video again. according to deputies, that's 21-year-old ryan flurry driving the wrong way on i-75 in sarasota county for six miles. he even almost hit a deputy. he was drunk. flurry is now out on bond. all right, looking at the roadways, we have definitely got traffic that is heavy. heavier than normal for this time of the morning. people are leaving the house early. and they want to avoid the bad weather we're going to see. ybor city, 301 to 275, 11 minutes on the commute. 18 minutes ehrlich to 275. and starting to hit brakes on veterans expressway. and 275, bearss avenue to i-4, almost 20 minutes now. and still good coming off the no delays there. no delays there. we do have a collision southbound u.s. 19. it's tying up the center lane at state road 54. a little bit of a delay there coming away from new port richey area. and let's take a live look now. this is 275 at fowler avenue. so you're already hitting the brakes, folks. coming on at bearss and this continues into downtown tampa. let's flip over now to i-4. as you move in, say from ybor city, starting to the get slower but i-4 looks better than 27 2. >> okay. the next newscast is first at 4:00. but you will keep everybody up to speed on facebook live. >> yeah, i'm going to walk everyone through behind the scenes. >> we will be watching. take a mountain of beads, an ocean of screaming fans, an ice cold coca-cola, and you've got florida's biggest party. universal orlando is mardi gras. select nights: february 6th thru april 16th. grab a coke and get up to three months free on any annual pass. you'll enjoy amazing mardi gras concerts at universal studios. plus fun in both universal theme parks. so grab an annual pass and catch all the fun of ba da ba ba ba good morning. three-peat. >> we're winning, winning, winning. >> donald trump cruises to victory in nevada, his third straight win in the republican presidential race. super tuesday is a week away and he's ahead in nearly every state. does hehink the nomination is his to lose? we'll talk to him live. tornado outbreak. >> it's crossing the road. look at that! >> a string of twisters across the south, entire neighborhoods wiped out. the damage stretching from louisiana to florida. at least three people killed,