right now. >>lauren: and you have a swift water rescue on swannanoa river road. tell us what happened? >> we did. somebody tried to pass through the water, the barricade had not been placed yet, but as we tell people always, even if it's standing water and no barricades don't try to cross it. people were from out of town, not familiar with the area, tried to cross the road and their vehicle got stuck. so, we did have to go rescue them. >>lauren: how are they this morning? >> they are fine. we transported them back to the hotel and i believe they're from kerry, so hopefully, you know, they will have a quiet rest and head back after that. >>lauren: and again the message, turn around don't drown. how much water can carry your vehicle away? >> very little. it is surprising. people totally underestimate the power of water. where they think they can drive through. it takes very little to lift your car and carry it. we are tryryg to get ahead of the river and trying to put up the barricades, but regardless, if you see standing water we highly recommend you don't try to cross it. >>lauren: definitely. turn around, don't drown,,he heavy rain overnight. for now it stopped but still read closures return in place, we will turn to. >>jaclyn: in the traffic center monitoring your morning commute with more roads that are closed. >>jaclyn: tharngs, lauren. transylvania county is another big problem spot this morning. there are five reported road closures due to flooding. we also have a downed tree blocking west main street at rosewall drive so be careful driving out there this morning. for drivers in haywood county, the clyde area is the spot to avoid. these three roads are closed due to high water. turning over to polk county, landrom road is closed near the south carolina border. dot expects the road to reopen by noon. there are also road closures in swain county and macon county, we have it listed on wlos.com under the traffic page. be careful if you are taking tunnel road, there is a new accident reported near crockett avenue. crews are heading to the scene now to try to clear that up for you. that's your latest on-time traffic report brought to you by the wired mouse. now let's go to ingrid with the latest on our skywatch forecast. ingrid? >>ingrid: we have flood watt flash flood but flood warnings still because a lot of rain fell overnight. right here in buncombe county, henderson county, also down into transylvania county. so, please, be careful if you live near some area rivers, especially in the zones prone to flooding. here is good news though. we have not seen much in the way of rain in the last several hours. the heaviest rain is further east, so if you are traveling keep that in mind. flood watching are out, it's dropped for northeastern counties but buncombe county is still in the watch through thursday morning. i will explain why it's such a long extended watch coming up in my full forecast in just a moment. >>holly: we will continue to follow the latest on the flood damage and the roads that are closed. updates will be posted on wlos.com and also on our facebook and twitter pages. >>jay: you can also sign up to get traffic and weather text alerts to keep you informed. >>holly: storms are not only causing problems for us here but for the rest of the country. the death of 46 people. people in the northeast are now bracing for their first major snowstorm. >>reporter: after an unusually warm december, the first snow falls in massachusetts this morning. ice melt and shovel fly off the shelves. >> it was kind of like black fridayish. >>reporter: in new york state, plow trucks are ready. >> first storm of the year there are many accident, hopefully it will be better. >>reporter: weather around the country gave a preview. high winds and icy roads creating treacherous conditions in wisconsin and the death toll in missouri climbed to the double digits. a snowstorm trapped this couple in their car for 20 hours until rescuers broke the windshield to free them. >> my wife was shivering and shaking so i got into the passenger seat, because the driver's seat was full of snow from us trying to dig out. we cuddled together. >>reporter: air travelers also had nothing to do but wait. >> i have been stranding at the airport for 50 hours. canceled across the united states according to flight aware. the weather system spawned more tornadoes, bringing terror to florida and arkansas. >> drive! get on the gas and go! >> that's it! it's a tornado! >>reporter: while cleanup near dallas, a 40-mile scar splintered homes and debris, showing the aftermath of tornadoes that took 11 lives there. >>reporter: white house officials say president obama called the texas governor to get an update on the severe weather and offer assistance and condo lanes for the lives lost. meghan hughes, abc new, waington. >>holly: in other news this morning, hendersonville police name a suspect in the drive by shooting that happened last week. they are looking for tray bradley. a family member said bradley was dating a girl who lived at the home and may have gotten into a fight before the shots were fired last tuesday. police have not seen any sign of bradley since. they did find a gold honda they >> >> this fear is this guy brandishing a dangerous weapon in the community without any kind of police protection was a little . . . it was fearful for us. >>holly: if you have any information about this case call hendersonville police. >>jay: three people are recovering after a car wreck in waynesville christmas eve. one of those hurt was the wife of mayor gavin brown. jackie brown collided with a pickup truck. derry and cindy ramsey were in the truck when it happened. police say they are looking into whether control was involved. >> from the minute i was made aware of the investigation, spoke to the highway patrol supervisor on the scene, we agreed to work the crash in conjunction with each other. i immediately called the district attorney, made her aware of the crash, how the crash is being investigated. >>jay: all three people injuries. no charges have been filed. authorities are awaiting toxicology results. >>holly: in this morning's news reel, nevada police identify a man who fell to his death over the weekend. >>jay: 25 year-old brian tracy of spokane, washington, tumbled 80 feet down a cliff. he was there with fellow hikers. the coroner's office has not officially declared his cause of death. >>holly: ethan couch was found found, after driving drunk and killed 4 people in texas. his attorneys said he suffered from after flew whenza ( ), meaning he didn't understand responsibilities and consequences from being raised by his wealthy parents. food, water and communications equipment. a total of 17 jib sum miners are ( ) trapped in two different locations in a mine collapse that happened monday. the owner of the mine committed suicide on sunday. >>holly: heavy fog in china covered many cities temporarily and closing highways. in some areas visibility dropped prompting a yellow alert. vehicles were stranded after toll gaits were closed in a city. >> >>jay: four republican presidential candidates will speak to new hampshire lawmakers in the final weeks of the state's campaign. >>holly: donald trump, carly fiorina and two others will speak in january, the new hampshire primary is the ninth. trump was already in the state at a rally talking about hillary clinton. >> oh, we wouldove to run against trump. it's her worst nightmare. these people back here, they said, well, the hillary campaign said they would love to run. against me it instead of someone else? >>holly: a cnn poll shows trump with 26% support in new hampshire. >>jay: accordi to an annual survey, hillary clinton and president obama are this year's most admired public figures. gallup released its annual survey. 13% picked mrs. clinton and 17% mr. obama. clinton has been picked as the most add mired woman 20 times compared to eleanor roosevelt, 13 times. >>holly: parts of the u.s. are treading water. >>jay: one area where residents were forced out of their home. >>ingrid: our "harry's on the hill bus stop forecast," starting out today on the day with light rain but by the afternoon maybe sunshine. 60 degrees and cloudy right now at the ashville airport. coming up after the break, we will talk about round 2 of rain and how much is expected to we will be right back. now, in high definition, this is your news 13 skywatch forecast. >>ingrid:. goodgood morning, and welcome back. this is swannanoa river road in asheville. the rain has stopped, but that doesn't mean that the water is any lower than it was a couple hours ago. it will take some time for these rivers to recede, so water is still covering area roadways. please, we say this every time we have a flooding event, turn around. don't drown. it doesn't take much water at all to carry your vehicle away. swift water rescue in that region earlier last night. all right. let's look at the live radar. this is good news at least. you can see we are not seeing the rain right now but what we are seeing is still a flood warning out for buncombe county. you saw that water in that river. that's one reason why. transylvania county, also has a flood warning. also henderson county. so, keep that in mind if you live in those zones, especially if you live near area rivers. now, widening out a few lingering showers across the region, and that's all right now, thankfully. here are rivers we have to watch out for. swannanoa, we just showed you, and biltmore running very high. french broad river here in asheville very high as well. same thing in blantyre, that's in the transylvania county/henderson county region. and also the pigeon river out towards canton. that's not all the rivers running high. that is a short list for you. you know better than i do whether, if you live or not near a flood-prone area. speaking of, this flood we dropped a few counties but still it encompasses buncombe county because we have another round of rain headed our way. our departure, we have a surplus, 8.38," so looking pretty good in that department and look at these temperatures. unseasonably warm. 60 degrees has held steady since midnight. 50s in a couple locations to 40s in our eastern zone, upper 60s down into the upstate. so just a light rain jacket needed this morning. wind is another issue. especially since the ground is so saturated. if we have the ground saturated and the gusty winds, you know how that goes. we have a tree falling over and the power issues could be a problem as well. visibility right now is actually okay here in asheville. we have seen some patchy fog, nothing too severe. watching satellite radar, you might think hey, here is the rain out of here. what will happen is the this front will give us another chance f f rain tonight and into tomorrow. so, the majority of the day you skies actually clearing a bit by late afternoon, maybe some sunshine, warming us back up to the upper 60s. then we start to see the rain begin throughout the morning tomorrow and heavier rain throughout the afternoon and the evening hours. and then we have a big cool-down into the new year. high temperatures staying in the 20s. how much more rain are we region? as we look forward into late day on wednesday, that's when we up. and this model is pulling in further south this time. so, 68 degrees in asheville for a high temperature. cloudy skies tonight, 50 degrees. the foggy start in greenville at 70. and cloudy skies tonight in greenville. so, here is our four-day forecast for you. i shows a 30% chance today. 90 tomorrow. we will drop back down to new year and also turning chilly. >>jay: we are not the only ones dealili with flooding. >>holly: pontoon beach, hundreds to evacuated from their mobile homes. residents received word their electricity and gas will be turned off because of flooding. a few residents stayed behind to tough it out. it's 6:15. the clemson tigers are riding high in thursday night's bowl game. >>jay: what players say needs to happen to secure a win against oklahoma. >>holly: remember if you are on the go early in the morning you can catch us by downloading the news 13 morning news app. >>jay: you will get k a says to breaking news. the app is free. app store. >>luke: it's been a magical season for the clemson football season. the orange bowl, the tigers will take on oklahoma with a spot at a national game hanging in the balance. clemson is ranked the no. 1 team in the country in every college football playoff ranking this year. the tigers found ways to win games every week of the college football season. deshawn watson has been one of the top players in the country. he says he will be ready to play on new year's eve. >> we want to be balanced and be able to, you know, create problems for their passing and running game. if we can do that, it will put pressure on the defenses and that's -- they have to choose what they want to start first. >>luke: clemson and oklahoma kick off thursday 4 o'clock for the orange bowl. holiday break, the unc asheville men's basketball texas a&m will get back on the court later tonight against furman. the bulldogs played well this season with a couple freshman hitting big shots, including dylan smith who showed a natural ability to shoot from the outside. another one, sutton is putting up big numbers this year. i talked to head coach nick mcdevitt to get his perspective on the team. >>coach: the nonconference schedule allows you to see what you have, continue to improve the team, test the players a little bit, either through tournaments or tough competition. a little bit of both at times. >>luke: unc asheville and furman will tip off later tonight at 7:30 from kimball arena. that's a look at sports. have a great start to your day, everyone. i'm luke notestine for news 13 sports. >>holly: we have problems out there? ingrid? overnight. we have flooding issues outside folks were asleep when the heaviest rain fell so. you might not be aware of this. now, right now, the rain the region and throughout the afternoon that will be the case. so, just a few showers throughout the morning hours. then, maybe even some breaks of sunshine. upper 60s in asheville to 70 degrees down into greenville. so, unseasonably warm conditions once again for this time of the year. the flooding is causing several road closures across our area. especially in transylvania county, jaclyn? >>jaclyn: ingrid, there are five reported roads closed across the country including fort road. there are now downed lines blocking jewelry lane at north country club drive and a portion of west main street remains closed due to a downed tree. please be careful in that area. drivers over in haywood county, the clyde area is your problem spot to avoid. to high water. there are also closures in polk county, swain county, and macon county. we have those listed on wlos.com heads up if you are taking the parkway into asheville, there is a wreck with injuries on hendersonville road. we have had a few wrecks reported this morning, so please be careful if you do need to hit the roads this morning. that's a look at your on-time traffic report brought to you by the wired mouse computer solutions. >>holly: here is your live look around the world this morning. this is a shot of times square, new york. >>jay: countdown for 2016, preparations are underway for the iconic ball drop. >> >>holly: 6:24 tuesday morning. totoday's "morning surf," we are looking at earth from space. >>ingrid: astronaught scott kelly has been notorious for posting picks from earth, and we will post them on wlos.com. >>holly: we have will go known for posting pictures and videos. look at that. >>ingrid: wow, it looks fake, idoesn't it? >>holly: it does. the easter bunny. he says it seems sometimes the world shimmers. >>ingrid: beautiful. wow. >>holly: look at that. a lot of these photos you realize these are solar cells. >>ingrid: of the wings. what is that? >>holly: that one is, it looks like bodies of water. a picture of earth. a single ridge of the landscape, a mountainous ridge there. most of them don't look real. >>ingrid: these are rivers and tributaries. wow, look at that! it looks like a painting. >>holly: and shallow water there. let's do one more for you here. they're really pretty. that is honolulu, hawaii. him on twitter, i encourage you to. he's on there pretty often. >>holly: he's up there for another six months of the year. >>ingrid: back here at home we have not so pretty an image if you look outside, cloudy and maybe light rain, but it's 60 degrees. so, still unseasonably warm. headlines do indicate there is still a flooding threat this morning. i will talk more specifically about that. how much rain we could get the second round and just how cold we turn in the new year coming up at 6:30. >>jay: a fire forces a family out of their home, how firefighters got them out. >>holly: a new beginning a. local business is closing their dues but how they plan to now attract customers. >>lauren: several roads across western north carolina remain closed due to flooding this morning. i'm news 13's lauren brigman, live with the asheville fire ahead. giving you 15 gigs of data for just $70! but i wanted a pony. [ gasps ] you're getting data. pony-sized data? u.s. cellular sized data. 15 gigs of good, strong data you can actually use because it works in the middle of anywhere. i'd like $100! you're getting $400 in promo cards! yes! switch to u.s. cellular and get 15 gigs of data for just $70. now, in high definition, from the western north carolina's news leader, this is news 13 this morning. >>holly: heavy rains overnight create chaos near downtown asheville. >>jay: this is video sent to us by viewer amy parish showing a car driving through flood waters near fairview road and sweeten creek road. >>holly: that's also where two people had to be rescued after they drove into the flood waters. weivelg live all morning long with the road closures that commute. >>jay: we continue our live team coverage starting with news 13's lauren brigman who is along the swannanoa river. lauren, it's been a busy night for first responder, no doubt about it? >>lauren: they have been out all night responding to multiple calls. people are actually trying to drive through this high water. they advise you do not do that. their message is turn around, don't drown. of course, high water still at swannanoa river. we are seeing the river levels widen, since we have been out here at 3:30 the rain stopped but it has will take a while for the water to recede. the roads are closed from glendale to biltmore village. we have we are talking to kelly from the dot and tell us what it's been like? >> like most times when it's heavy weather or rough wefter we have a lot of call volume pickup. so, the thing that we are seeing here is we, you know, we know the areas that are likely to we try to get ahead of the game and put the barricades up but a lot of times we can't catch up with it. people tend to think they can drive through that water. and that's what we want to remind people, just because there's not a barricade doesn't mean you should be driving through the water. >>lauren: and the flood event can happen very quickly, too. as you said, you try to beat it but you can't close a road until there's an issue. >> right. we don't close roads until we know there is standing water and it's a danger. so, i would ask that local residents who know the area, who are familiar with the area, they know the areas that will flood around the swannanoa river, around the french broad. a lot of residents had to be evacuated, you know the water was creeping in on their home, actually. so we had to assist them in evacuations. >>lauren: and these issues have been spread even across buncombe county as well. we had a mobile home park situation that was evacuated, right? >> yes, we were sending aid to one where we actually had to use a boat to rescue some people. >>lauren: right. so, kelly, thank you so much for we want to turn it over to. >>jaclyn:, she is in the on-time traffic center monitoring the different roads that remain closedd for your morning commute. >>jaclyn: thank, lauren. transylvania county is another big problem area this morning. i just checked back, there are five roads closed so far because of flooding. we are also dealing with downed power lines blocking joe lee lane, so please be careful in that area this morning. polk county, a portion of landrom road is shut down near the south carolina border due to flooding. dot expects the road to reopen by noon. drivers over in haywood county, please avoid the clyde area. these three roads are blocked due to high water. and heads up, if you are taking the parkway into south asheville on your morning drive, we have a wreck reported with injuries near hendersonville road. crews are just arriving on the scene right now. that's a look at your on-time traffic report brought to you by the wired mouse computer solution. >>jay: it does a i peer the majority of the rain moved out. >>holly: let's go to ingrid with a check of the forecast. are we under any warnings right now? >>ingrid: we have a flood warning out for many regions. the map. it does include us here in buncombe county. also, down into henderson county and transylvania county. so, these are not flash flood warnings, but a flood warning because we have already seen so much rain fall overnight, please, do not be taken off guard. you might not have realized how much rain fell at your house, especially if you live near those area rivers. but, yeah, you're right. most of the heavy rain left the region. and that will be the case throughout much of the day. but then we have round 2, a flood watch is under effect for asheville, including many other areas you can see on your screen. coming up in my full forecast, i will talk more about how much >> >>holly: we will continue to follow the latest on the flood closed. update will be posted on wlos.com and our facebook and twitter pages. >>jay: you can also sign up to get traffic and weather text alerts to keep you informed. >>holly: also new overnight, fire forces a family out of their homes. now firefighterssre trying to determine how it started. that call came in a little after midnight for a structure fire on firefighters say the flames were reported in the basement, but it's not clear if that's where it started. crews had to rescue one woman who was transported with nonlife-threatening injuries. two other residents got out safely. a dog was also rescued. no other injuries were reported. >>jay: we have an update this morning on a kidnapping case that began with an amber alert sunday. tryna weaver of asheville had her very first court appearance yesterday afternoon. she is charged with misdemeanor child abuse in connection with the case. an arrest warrant states one of the other suspects paid her $20 to drive the children to an unknown location. the warrant also indicates she was under the influence of a substance at the time. >> i didn't see the children leave, but we saw the children being taken in. >>reporter: by a woman? >>jay: three other suspected were arrested in georgia charged >>holly: an asheville man is indicted on several child sex offenses is awaiting a court date. antoine miller is charged with liberties with a child, two counts of rape and other sex offenses. miller was in court yesterday morning. he has been given a court appointed attorney. >>jay: a rutherford county ems employee is accused of making fraudulent documents and now the county is out hundreds of thousands of dollars. according to the ems director it started back in 2013. county officials say an employee forged doctor's singtures on documents to get medicare reimbursementooner for nonemergency medical transport. rutherford county will now have to pay back $400,000 to $700,000 to the u.s. department of health and human services. >>holly: the end of the year is just days away and so is the start of tax season. taxpayers here in western north carolina are cleaning out the closets and opening up their hearts to those in need for good will and tax deductions. we caught up with one donor at good will on mills gap road in asheville. he tells us he donates frequently throughout the year. to make the donations around the holidays. >> it just seemed like a nice thing to do. there are people that need that stuff and it provides employment and training for the people add good. >>holly: for more information on tax deductible year-end donations visit wlos.com. >>jay: they say it's better to give than receive, but after christmas, people ask themselves if it's 2019er to return than to exchange? ups store in south asheville handled more than 200 returns yesterday. with on-line shopping on the rise, many people are sending unwanted gifts back to retailers. about half of them offer preshipping returns. which makes it an easieie process. >> if you bring it in already taped up ready to go you will definitely be in and out of the store quicker. >>jay: brick and mortar stars are also swamped. return policies vary so make sure you know before you go. even without a receipt, chains like target will give you store >>holly: a business in west asheville is closing a store front and going on-line only. retore acl factory began as a way to recycle secondhand clothes. the new online version of the store will sell jewelry and art. the owner says she has been working on her next endeavor for months. >> so, i will have a homework shop and studio in fairview and little art parties every once in a while so you can sign up for the e-mail list. it's a community of people that have been, you know, getting closer over time and the creativity will continue. >>holly: the owner says she has not ruled out opening up another brick and mortar star in the future. >>jay: people visiting downtown asheville are getting a break on parking for the holiday. city offices will be closed this friday in observance of new year's day. on-street metered parking will be free since city workers will not be checking them. however, parking garages will rates. >>holly: it's been a year of meeting people and now we are >>jay: coming up, one of the finalists, a police officer who went the extra mile. >>holly: here is your live look on the interstate this morning from our visionexpress.net traffic cam. i-26 is busy out there. >>jay: news 13 will be >>ingrid: this is a live shot to share with you of swannanoa so, near the biltmore region here. and we are gearing up. the river has receded slightly and that is due in part because the rain has stopped falling for the most part. so, good news there. looks like the cars are moving along the bridge there. but, earlier, in the morning, late last night, we had so much rain in that region they even had to have a rescue. right now, we still have a flood warning out. so it does include buncombe county, flood warning is also out for transylvania county and also henderson county. so, if you live in any of these county, just be very mindful. a lot of water across the region in those area rivers especially. here is good news. over the next couple hours, continuing to see the light rain fall, but the rivers are still very high. it will take some time for these to go down. swannanoa and biltmore, french broad river in asheville, also plan tire, this is in transylvania county, henderson county, and also pigeon river in canton is running high. there are several other area if you have not been outside since maybe yesterday even, a lot changed so, please, be very cautious on your morning commute. we urge you, if you see water covering the roadways, just don't risk it. we don't really know how deep the water is. it doesn't take a lot for your car to be taken away. flood watch is out through thursday morning. it's been dropped for these counties. but, if you look at your screen right now, you can see the bright green. it does encompass us in buncombe county, because we have another chance for some rain in the forecast. more than 8" of rain for the montht the ashville airport. temperatures once again unseasonably warm. 60 degrees is as cool as we have gotten since midnight. it's not the case every where. we are in the 40s in morganton and forest city, but upper 60s down into greenville. winds right now are fairly light, 8 in asheville, 10 greer, 10 in anderson. we are not expecting much in the way of gusty winds in western north carolina. visibility is looking good. in greenville.\qy) picking up past dinnertime through the overnight hours and begin to see that rainfall by wednesday morning and and some heavier rain bands through wednesday night. then, mostly clear skies and we are talking a cool-down into the new year. high temperatures staying in the 40s, overnight lows will be back down into the 20s. so it will feeee like winter soon enough. looking through the time lapse, we are seeing very little rain until late day wednesday. and this model, at best, is picking up about a half an inch but i have seen other reports inching a little closer to that 1" by tend of the day on wednesday. 68 for a high temperature in asheville. 64 the low tonight. 70 degrees in greenville. a foggy start with a few light showers in the morning. and 56 degrees tonight. forecast showing a good chance for rain tomorrow. less likely thursday, friday, but then the cool-down begins. we have an update for drivers in haywood county. open. >>jaclyn: ingrid, thompson cove road and pinckney road is back open. hider mountain road is closed due to flooding. polk county and landrom drive is shut down near the south water. dispatch is reporting several other roads that are flooding throughout the county. please use caution in that area on your commute. there are several problem spots in transylvania county. these five roads that you are seeing are closed due to flooding. there are also power lines down blocking jewelry lane. checking back on the parkway, crews are still working a wreck near hendersonville road, so please avoid that area if you are heading the roads in south asheville soon. that's a look at your on-time traffic report brought to you by the wired mouse computer solution. >>holly: as we near the end of 2015, we take a look back at some of our most memorable persons of the week. >>jay: absolutely. year's eve, we will also name our person of the year. our first finalist is a police officer from spindale. >>holly: as john lee found out, one push can go a long way. >>reporter: putting life into words is a struggle. victor whiteside often writes his thoughts. >> i will write something myself. i have a little journal. when i was in prison, i learned to really get an understanding about god. >>reporter: he was in prison for a sex offense, directing his words for a higher power. >> forgive me for the times i fell short of your glory. >>reporter: when he was finally released inmar, he never pictured an incident with spindale police that would end well. victor has polio. a week and a half ago, his mobility scooter broke down a half mile away from home. that's when a reserve officer in >> he got out of the car and he just, you know, he just took it upon himself to push me down the road. >>reporter: officer close snyder pushed him all the way home. the picture posted on the spill spilldale police facebook-page has been shared and liked for thousands of times i. did not prepare him for a humble hero. >> how are you doing? >> i'm doing all right. >> reuniting with the man who never questioned. >> yes, sir. absolutely. >> thank you. >>reporter: snyder says as an officer he has a duty to respond, regardless of rap sheet. >> his past didn't matter. we were going to help him out either way. >> you don't find too many people like you. when you have been knocked down as long as i have and to get out, you -- every where i went for some help, i wasn't able to get it. >> it's important to get out and helm these people out. >>reporter: many people think this is a snapshot of so many good deeds cops are rarely recognized for. no matter what you think of victor's past, so many think what officer snyder did in the present is commendable. >> y'all make sure i wasasll right, you know. i will never forget that. >>reporter: in spindale, john lee, news 13. >> you have a good day. >> yes, sir. >>holly: what a touching story. >>jay: wow. the next story's finalist will air tonight. >>holly: we look forward to that. >>jay: three years in the making. with its family >>holly: welcome back, 6:48. 43 people died from the weather related causes over the past week. a mom moth system wreaked havoc across the u.s. done, as kim hutcherson report, millions of people face threats from the storm. >>reporter: the severe weather system that already caused tremendous damage, bringing blizzard conditions to the west and more flooding to the middle and plain states monday. in missouri, rain continued, sending already swollen rovers surging over their banks. >> i am worried. i don't know what to do. i have been sick to my stomach. i can't take my medicine. i just don't know what to do. and it's just supposed to come up higher. >>reporter: oklahoma residents forced to cope with both flood and blizzard warnings. one man had to walk to safety through freezing water. >> i gathered my things. i make the trek for about half a mile or so . . . >>reporter: the high water and cold temperatures were a bad mixture. >> hypothermya could have set in at any time. >>reporter: the list of likely to grow longer. two men have been pulled from water in georgia, the widow of one, clearly grieving. >> i want my. [inaudible] >>reporter: the storm is expected to continue northeastward tuesday and is likely to leave more misery in its wake. i'm kim hutcherson reporting. >>holly: a grand jury has protestors flooding the streets. >>jay: two ohio officers will not be charged in the death of tamir rice. since october the grand jury has been hearing testimony about the fatal shooting of rice by police officers. police say rice had a pellet gun in his. >>holly: only after the shooting did they discover it was not real. protestors in new york city rallied. the family says they were saddened and disappointed by the outcome. >>jay: two suspects in detroit are in custody after two children were shot. 7 year-old chanel berry was killed in a drive by shooting and 8 year-old ellen was injured. investigators say someone drove playing outside and opened fire. >> i got three other kids. three boys. that was my only daughter! that was my only daughter! >>jay: police believe the shooting was sparked by an argument between chanel's uncle, his ex-girlfriend, and his current girlfriend. >>holly: a theme park derailed leaving passengers stranded. a tour group from korea were among those stranded. emergency crews took them to the hospital, including a child. >> i spoke to another child who was -- she said she was standing and she fell back, or she fell back against the wall and bumped her head. >>holly: fire officials say the throttle got stuck on the train and continued moving and crashed at a slow speed. >>jay: mayhem the dog is back home with her owner. a few weeks ago she was in a a rescue group took her and tried to find a microchip but could not find it. fast forward a little bit and that chip was finally detected in the dog made the journey back home to arizona. may's owner has not seen her in three years. direction a look back at what mother earth has to offer. >>jay: we will show the time lapse around the world. >>holly: first today's mind teaser. which countries are the first to celebrate new year's? >>jay: we have the answer when >> >>jay: we continue coverage this morning on thee veer weather overnight. >>holly: we have been tracking the storms for you and keeping up with the latest road closures and trouble spots. >>jay: news 13's lauren brigman joins us again this morning from the swannanoa river road and, lauren, has any flooding begun to recede there? >>lauren: it has, jay. in fact, at 5 a.m., the water river was actually up to the bottom of the bridge there that runs across biltmore avenue. so, in less than two hours we have seen water levels drop here just a little bit, but, several roads bordering the swannanoa river remain closed this morning. jaclyn has a full list for you up on our web site. wlos.com. earlier in the show, you heard from officials with the asheville fire department, of course, their message for drivers, turn around, don't drown. fire crews actually saved two people during a swift water rescue on swannanoa river road overnight and the driver tried to pass through that high water but was quickly carried away in their vehicle. thankfully those two people were okay but that's just a testament to the fact that just a couple inches of water can actually take control of your vehicle. so, the water may be deeper than you think as well. so look for those barricades. turned around if you see them. even if no barricades are up, emergency officials warn you, if you see standing water, to turn around. again, we have a full list site, wlos.com. one of the main road is prone to flood, swan swannanoa river road, remains closed from the glendale avenue all the way down to village. we have live updates continuing through good morning america. i'm lauren brigman for news 13. >>holly: you heard lauren mention you can find the closures on wlos.com and you can facebook pages. >>jay: we will continue to follow the latest throughout the morning. >> >>holly: here is the answer took.com/news day's mind teaser. we asked which country celebrates new year's first? >>jay: the answer is? the island nations of kir whatty and sa mowwa ( ). >> >>holly: we just learned the rock is part samoan, we were information. >>jay: there you go. >>holly: if you love the color of the sun, here is a gift for you. >>jay: a look l analyst spent 40 hours taking thousands of pictures to create a night sky time lapse. the photos in a two month span september to november, almost all the images are taken in the u.s. with some taken in kenya. >>holly: absolutely beautiful. >>jay: amazing there. >>ingrid: something not so beautiful is the weather. we have had so much rain overnight, we have a flood warning out for buncombe county, henderson county, and transylvania county. but, the good news is, we are not expecting much more in the way of rain, just some light rain expected throughout the day. about a 30% chance. and then we have a second wave of rain late tonight into tomorrow, mostly flood watches out. >>holly: we have numerous problems on the road that could affect your morning commute. >>jaclyn: just to recash closures in buncombe county, haywood county, polk county, swain county, macon county, and transylvania county. and again we have those listed on wlos.com under the traffic page. >>jay: be very very careful out there. thank you for joining us. gma is next on news 13.