clearwater, i think you're going to get in on the act over the next 15 or 20 minutes. we'll take a close look at that coming up. good evening everyone. i'm jamison uhler. >> thanks for joining us. right now hillary clinton and donald trump are just four hours away from squaring off in the first presidential debate. one that could attract a super bowl sized audience. here is a look right now at the stage at new york's hostetter university. where the two will go toe to toe this evening. there's a ton at stake with 20% of voters could change their minds based on how the candidates do tonight. here's another gauge of just how the candidates promises tonight could tip the scales. quinnipiac university released these numbers hours ago. the race is still too close to call. clinton is only ahead by one point among all voters and has just a two-point lead among likely voters. the format for tonight's showdown, the debate divided into six segments for a total of 90 minutes. they'll cover three topics. prosperity. hillary clinton will go first with two minutes to respond. the audience is instructed not to boo or cheer for anyone. both trump and clinton's campaigns expressing different concerns heading into the big event tonight. >> [ indiscernible ] >> i'm very concerned that donald trump will be graded on a curve. just because he doesn't fly off the handle in the middle of this debate does not mean that he is prepared to be president of the united states. >> as many as 100 million americans could tune in tonight, viewership that rivals the super bowl. coming up we're looking ahead to the issues impacting floridians that could come up at the debate as for the main event, we will livestream it at our free mobile app. one person who will surely watch tonight's debate hillary clinton's running mate senator tim kaine. the vice presidential candidate making a stop in lakeland today. action news reporter ryan ray shows us the one message he wanted to make sure voters will hear. >> just hours away from the biggest night yet. this political season vice presidential nominee tim kaine paid a visit to the i-4 corridor a spot he himself calls the difference maker. today excitable crowd welcoming with open arms democratic vice president nominee tim kaine. to the hotter than ever i-4 corridor. >> you guys are important. >> reporter: on the bigs night of the season. are you going to be watching? >> oh, yeah. i want to see her crush him. [ laughter ] go hillary. for hillary clinton who is cramming in the 11th hour it tonight's primetime debate expecting ratings similar to the super bowl. >> i'm really interested. i'm going to be on the very edge of my seat. taking notes. because i got to prep for next week. >> reporter: telling supporters that tonight's 90 minute showdown should be about getting answers. like what's really in donald trump's tax returns that he won't release? >> you wouldn't hire somebody for a summer job wouldn't answer a basic question. this is a basic question. donald trump thinks he can get this over he thinks he can blow it by you. >> reporter: 35 minute talk with supporters in his classic laid-back style. resonating with the loyal. >> he's like a normal guy. like my dad or a fireman. >> reporter: can it put them over the edge in what's becoming an extremely tight race? for the white house? >> this is close and we really need you. >> reporter: all eyes will be on that first presidential debate coming up tonight but senator tim kaine will get his moment in the spotlight very debate next tuesday. reporting lakeland, ryan raiche, abc action news. take a good look at this man, they really need your help finding him. after he in a properly touched a 6-year-old girl inside a t.j. maxx store. officers also telling us this guy in the purple shirt right there tried to take pictures of that child on saturday. please help get out the word by sharing this man's photo from our abc action news facebook page. unexpected death of radio host dave mckay. we just got our hands on an autopsy report finding the former wqyk radio personality had a toxic level of cocaine in his system when he died in his st. pete home. also alcohol and cardiovascular disease contributed to his death. medical examiner ruling the case as accidental. toxic sinkhole in polk county, rick scott will be on the ground in mosaic, nicole briggs tells us what's on tap test result families living near that new mosaic facility are waiting for. >> governor rick scott will be on-site a few miles from this private well right here. has not gone into detail about what they will be showing the governor or what time they plan to meet. the rival -- his arrival comes a month after mosaic toward the state about the sinkhole in polk county. homeowners still anxious as they wait for the radioactive results. because company testing private wells said they need more time. they should know more by midweek. those nearby say they still aren't drinking the water or even using it from there well. >> there's a mixed emotion, are they trying to hide something? is something really wrong and they are scared to tell us? >> reporter: another thing, mosaic is still dropping off cases of water. we just saw them bring cases of water to this house right here. we will continue to figure out more about the governor's schedule for tomorrow. for now reporting, nicole greek, abc action news. the lawyer accused of shooting nine people at a strip mall early this morning is described as a disgruntled man who took out his frustrations on innocent shoppers. abc station in houston identifying him as nathan desai. his father told reporters he was upset he had to close his law firm because have enough clients. police say he lived near the strip mall and had several more weapons stashed in his car. officers shot and killed him, one victim is still in critical condition tonight. new information in the washington state mall shooting. authorities say the gunman arcan cetin admitted to killing five people friday night at a macy's. the stepfather says the 20-year- old had mental health issues. while the motive for the shooting remains unclear we do know his girlfriend used to four women and a man died. deputies telling us more tonight about this attempted murder suspect, that they are looking for. they tell us he shot a man outside of a boulevard strip club early sunday morning. deputies tell us the victim is in critical condition right now. take a look at this, the woman inside this pinellas park home, seriously injured when a car came careening through a wall in the mainland subdivision. you can see the impact left several holes in the walls. you see it? police telling us the woman driving that car was actually trying to avoid another driver. no charges are expected. this time it's for good. spaghetti warehouse planned to close earliethbu changed course after an outpouring of community support. tonight the restaurant says it cannot stay open any longer. that's because they were not able to find a new location and the turnaround they were hoping for simply did not happen. be sunday october 2nd. still had our local veterans who fought to keep us safe put in danger when they go to the hospital. the big issue outside one bay area va and what's causing it and the fix that to becoming. survival against all odds. the missing boat found days after crews suspended the search for him. the tragic reason his family is still morning tonight. heartbreak outside the happiest place on earth. a protesters calling for the police chief and city's mayor to resign. this is the fallout from keith scott's death, city leaders handled the investigation into the police involved shooting. are looking at video of protests from the weekend, much more peaceful than what we saw last week. because of that the mayor lifted a citywide curfew last night. a man survived a week stnda t his mother was never found. the two disappeared during a fishing trip. the coast guard rescued 22-year- old nathan harmon yesterday. he survived in an inflatable lifeboat and is in good condition. the family is still holding out hope that his mom linda will also be found. >> going to keep praying and keep putting out positive energy together. hopefully linda will make her way back really soon. >> not clear why she wasn't in the life raft with her son and happened to their boat. learning more about what led to a deadly shooting at a las vegas starbucks. we now know the shooter ordered a water at the window but his credit card was declined. just moments later c the man shot his gun in the air, and then at another customer killing him. witnesses say this incident could have been even more deadly. >> everybody looked at me and the other customers. but his gun jammed. after he tried to reload. so he didn't shoot anybody else. everybody else was safe. >> police arrested the alleged shooter. a gun. veterans in danger at the very place they are going to get help. tonight getting in up close look at the problem that has many worried about when they walk outside the james haley veterans hospital. erik waxler talked with one woman who made it her mission to find a fix. >> they are coming in. >> reporter: mary ellen harlan wants to keep people safe. >> i'm a widow. and i don't want anybody else to be a widow. >> she volunteers at the james haley veterans hospital days a week. piling up more than 32,000 hours here. >> the fellows lost their lives in war and they got injured during the war and they got injured coming back from the war because they had posttraumatic stress. our veterans don't need to be killed coming into the va to get treatment. >> people who frequent the area especially goes -- those walking to usf say the problem really got bad when this apartment complex opened up next to the hospital. >> this is terrible. and out between the complex and the va is nonstop. and there's nothing to protect people walking on the sidewalk. >> you take your life in your hands. >> what do mary ellen and her supporters want? they want a traffic light come across walk, signs to lower the speed limit, anything that can get to make this place safer. >> but it's been many years that they've been fighting this and we're saying we want the light now. >> reporter: mary ellen spoke out about the problem at last week's county commission meeting and help seems to becoming. >> asking you their lives. thank you. >> reporter: the county is working together with the va and usf coming up on a design and cost of the signal. mary ellen will be included in the process but in the meantime it's back to volunteering and making sure veterans get everything they need. in tampa, erik waxler, abc action news. now the most accurate with the team in florida, abc action weather. >> nasty storms out there right now. >> yes have -- just expired 30 there's an opportunity we could see a few more, hail is big thing. a lot of lightning and one .5- inch hail across the area. look at that, great shot from rivergate. looking over on the right side of the screen, rain is really coming down on the left side. some sunshine there and another typical floor today. right? you would think as we head into october things may begin to wind down but you know what? they are going to. without a front coming later on this week. more on that in a second. let's focus on what we're dealing with right this moment. again i'll say this forever, does thunderstorm warning is in effect. lightning is the issue. lightning is almost always the issue in our area. if you hear thunder, you are in harm's way. get out of those storms wait until things begin to wind down. as i showed you the top of the hour, when you start seeing a storm 50,000 feet up which is what we were seen earlier, start looking at the realistic which there is but this is beginning to wind down, coming down a little bit so that is our sign that is weakening. while there's plenty of lightning out there, and more on the way especially across southern pinellas county, still some hail. although now we are not looking at 1.5-inch hail. we're looking at marble to pea- sized hail across part of the area. still looking at him he reigns from pinellas park to st. pete, handful of lightning strikes, a few showers and storms off shore as well. up north, citrus and hernando county, more of the same. this is what's left thunderstorm about an hour and half ago from hillsborough county as they pushed into polk, hardy and de soto. so we're going to be dodging these storms with a lot of lightning across the area for the next several hours. much like we had last night which caused the bus game to be suspended. why is this happening? little area of low pressure up top bringing in cold air giving us the hail that's going to linger for a day or so and then big changes by later on this week. temperatures right now 70s still upper 80s to near 90 where they have not. tampa right now rain and 80 degrees. clearwater 85. st. pete a thunderstorm at 82. satellite picture, as we said we got all that heating going on and then you throw in an area of low pressure into the mix. that's the little pocket of cold air up top. that cold air is the main reason why hail has been an issue. we don't normally see hail in july or august or september. when you have cold air up top, cold enough for hail to form, that's what's going on. later on tonight, into tomorrow things will wind down. atmosphere reloads again tomorrow morning. and we will see another area of storms around lunchtime until mid-to-late afternoon and as was the case yesterday, and today, there will be some spotty areas of hail and very heavy rain and quite a bit of lightning. by wednesday i think it begins to exit out to the north, and then finally by later this week this way. i don't think it's going to give us a huge change but i do think citrus hernando and pasco, you're going to be waking up to cooler drier air friday, saturday. the rest of us should as well the further north you live, the better chance you're going to be waking up to temperatures in the 60s on friday morning and saturday morning. how about that? from tampa south, we'll see how far south the front those. the tropics, we've beentalking about this for a week now. off of africa when we looked at it a week ago. now there's a very high probability this becomes a tropical storm, its name will be matthew. in terms still too early to tell but we're pretty confident it's going to go into the caribbean. most of our everyday models turn this up to the north. there are some that keep it into the western caribbean and eventually the golf. still about four, five days away from knowing for sure. bottom line, anyone from puerto rico, the dominican, all the southeastern u.s. has to keep an eye on this one because there's potential the water there is pretty much the warmest water on earth right now. so you throw that into the mix, could be a very powerful storm over the next five to seven days. we'll be keeping our eyes on it. southwest winds for the boaters at 5 to 10 knots, look at the water temperature. that golf is in the upper 80s. hour by hour forecast, storms wind down, by about seven deck 30. rest of tonight should be -- by 7:30. florida's most accurate seven day forecast. rain chances 30%. mid-to-late afternoon inland, and then by later on this week rain chances now about 30 to 40% but look at the weekend, saturday morning lows in the upper 60s, to low 70s as cooler drier air tries to come in. it was a very sneaky and savvy distraction. but at my family's expense. woman at the center of a scandal that brought down two top generals. now she's speaking on her mission that can affect all americans. a teenager's attempt to turn around her school backfiring in a way she never expected. the reason this seemingly ordinary photo got her in trouble instead. bad jerseys for some youth football programs, others just getting none. the accusations one local welcome back. a massive outpouring of support online for this missouri couple right here, they were killed in an accident yesterday during their family vacation to disney world. tonight we've learned greg and sarah moyers had spent months saving for this trip. they had just visited the park and were heading to the beach another driver hit them. on i-4. friends say the moyers were loving parents who wanted their children to experience disney. a gofundme page to benefit the moyers daughters raising more than $4000 so far. a tweet meant to inspire change almost cost a michigan student a mark on her high school record. the student tweeted this picture after seeing discolored water flowing out of the bathroom sink. she posted this picture on facebook hoping it would get the problem fixed. instead she got called into the office and was suspended. >> it's in a process -- inappropriate use of electronics. everyone, every girl takes selfies in the bathroom and makes it their profile picture on like twitter or facebook or whatever. no one has gotten in trouble. >> dozens of students protested by tweeting bathroom pictures they took without getting in trouble. the superintendent says the school made mistakes by not reporting the maintenance issue and she will make sure the suspension is taken off the disgusting. >> a nasty site in parts of tampa bay. hundreds of fish just rotting away. look at that. the safety details experts want you to know before you head out to the beach. a super bowl sized audience expected to watch tonight's debates. millions of those viewers right here in florida. the two big issues in planning -- impacting floridians that z246gz zy6z live from the station taking action for you, this is abc action news. what happened to me can happen to you. >> at 530 a tampa woman at the center of national scandal telling her story to abc action joe kelly's newfound mission and the reason she says she had to speak out today. beachgoers in for a gross surprise in parts of tampa bay. the growing problem tonight and what you need to know in order to stay safe in the surf. good evening everyone. >> i'm laura harris. new at 5:30 we're getting a first hand look at the red tie blue. take a look at this map, you see that big red bulls eye right there in the shorelines? abc action news reporter isabella rosales showing at the -- showing has made it to shore. >> it may look like a perfect beach but animal island -- and maria island smelling like a dumpster because of the high concentration of red dye pulling hundreds of fish across manatee and sarasota county. >> i thought it was disgusting. >> she says she's never seen -- it's concerning for her family.