we're seeing 180 to 150 lightning strikes in the last 15 minutes. when you hear thunder, move indoors. don't stay outside if you can help it. things calm down after midnight, but more tomorrow of the same. on days like today, people who work in an air-conditioned office are much happier than the folks working outside. many new yorkers, particularly people in public housing, don't news 4 investigates just found out how hot the unair-conditioned apartment can get in weather like this. >> reporter: natalie, air-conditioning a savior on days like today. for those who can't afford it, it is just a luxury. here in harlem five stories up no ac. harlem apartment, victor sanchez says it gets unbearable. >> i wouldn't be surprised if it hit 97, 98 degrees. >> reporter: he can only dream of cooling off inside. >> air-conditioning is expensive to buy and expensive to run. >> reporter: he is among 10% of new yorkers that don't have air-conditioning. now he is part of a ground breaking study to find out just how bad that is. >> you just click it in and you there. >> reporter: partners are teaming up with groups like we act for environmental justice for the harlem heat project. they're placing heat sensors like these in apartments like victor's. >> we know that twice as many people in harlem go to the emergency room for heat-related stress, and we know that we have a very vulnerable population. >> reporter: take a look at results from a week in july. the oscillating orange line shows the outside heat index. that's heat plus humidity. floor apartment with no ac. look at this point on july 15th. outside it felt like the 70s, but inside the mid 90s. the heat even more unbearable in public housing buildings where nearly half of people don't have air-conditioning because they'd have to foot the bill to install it. >> they're very vulnerable to this prolonged heat stress. >> reporter: as people find ways to beat the harlem heat, victor sanchez >> she always keeps undies in the freezer when it gets hot in the summer. it does really work. >> reporter: victor swears by that trick. those heat sensors are being placed in apartments of volunteers throughout harlem. they'll be tracking the heat throughout the rest of the storm. we'll be tracking the results of that study. reporting live in harlem, rana novini. >> we have another suggestion. those centers located in all five boroughs will be open through sunday with extended hours. people are urged to take advantage of these centers. to find the cooling center nearest you, head to our website, nbcnewyork.com. we'll give you the latest heat advisories, the storm threats, along with tips an how to stay cool. the nypd is looking for a man who brutally attaced 74-year-old man in the bronx. a man followed his elderly victim upstairs in his apartment building so he could attack and rob him. wale aliyu is live with more. wale? >> reporter: police say this is the guy who pushed a 74-year-old man down a flight of stairs before trying to rob him. we have the video. pretends to be on his phone. watch as he then turns around, shoving 74-year-old geronimo down a flight of stairs. speaking spanish, he tells me it is very strange. i don't know him. i have never met him. he already had trouble walking and now that's even tougher. he hit me, he says, a few times. you can see here he kicked me in the face. his attacker even tor after he put up a fight he got away with nothing. the only reason he took these stairs in the first place is because this elevator isn't working. >> the guy game in the building through the front door right behind the old man. the old man felt something wasn't right, so he stepped aside, allow the guy to pass the guy passed him. halfway up the stairs, he turned around and pushed him. he cied super, super, super. the same guy that did the attack is pointing to the old man calling super. you know, diversion. the super came here. he went the other way. >> reporter: which way did he go? well, that's where police need your help. have you seen this guy >> i have never seen him before in this neighborhood. come on, man. we have to get this guy off the streets. this makes no sense. >> reporter: he was treated and released for his injuries. we want to show you a picture of this suspect one more time. police say he is 6'3", medium build, wearing a blue shirt, black shorts, black sneakers, and a dark-colored baseball cap. it was a rough morning on the job for a sanitation worker in brooklyn. the men in this surveillance video are wanted. they are accused of robbing the worker at gunpoint. it happened in sunset park. police say the two suspects there pulled a gun on the victim as he was doing his job, grabbed his wallet, and took off with about ten bucks. zika, west nile virus. battling t because of zombie pools. one town that needs to clean up its water or else. what residents could be drinking. yes, yankees fans here are expecting something epic as we bid farewell to alex rodriguez, but what does alex expect? i'll have that story coming up ??? across new york state, from long island to buffalo, from rochester to the hudson valley, from albany to utica, creative business incentives, infrastructure investment, university partnerships, and the lowest taxes in decades are creating a stronger economy and the right environment in new york state t us help grow your company's tomorrow- today a woman fought back during an attack in riverside park. we just checked and police are still looking for the man who grabbed her, but that sketch of that man who grabbed her and put her in a headlock while she walked her dog in the park last groin. he grabbed her and tried to kiss her. she bit his lip and was able to get away. a piece of concrete fell from the bell tower of that manhattan church hitting a man on the head. chopper 4 was over the 116-year-old broadway church this afternoon. the injured man was taken to the hospital with head trauma. epa has concluded the village violated provisions to test the water for lead. there was excessive lead in recent water samples. out of 31 samples, 4 exceeded the allowable lead limits. you saw it first on 4. pools of stagnant water,ot now with zika fears rising, we uncover more backyard breeding my son has meningitis b. but how did we end up here? his mom thought he had the flu and that he was covered by the meningococcal meningitis vaccine he had received. until 2014 there were no vaccines for meningitis b in the u.s. now there are. while uncommon, meningitis b can lead to death within 24 hours. trumenba should not be given if you had a severe allergic reaction after a previous dose. most common side effects were injection-site pain, fatigue... headache, muscle pain, and chills. ask your doctor or pharmacist about all the risks and benefits of trumenba and tell them if you've received any other meningitis b vaccines. meningitis b can be spread by typical sharing like... a drink... a spoon... a kiss. it all started here... prevented with trumenba. lester holt joining us live now from rio. >> ahead for us, stranded communities and water rescues as punishing rains hit parts of the south. passengers describe the turbulence that injured about two dozen over south dakota. olympics. plus my interviews with simone biles and aly raisman and michael phelps' fiancee. have you ever heard of zombie homes? tonight, we learn what zombie pools are and why become such a health concern. >> reporter: two months ago, we told you about neighbors upset about an abandoned pool on the other side of this fence. they said it was a breeding ground for mosquitos. take a look. someone has gone in and ripped the pool out, but look there's still stagnant water sitting in the basin there. it is a real problem and it's a problem, well, that new yorkers are complaining more about this summer. >> it's dangerous. i mean, they just breed disease. always been bad in annett's backyard. that's why she built this screened in porch, but just beyond your backyard fence is this -- an abandoned pool. you could call it a zombie pool. after the bank began foreclosure abandoned. >> i don't want to have a risk for zika. >> reporter: we first reported on abandoned pools in june when we discovered this pool festering with stagnant water. after our report, the parks department cleaned it up. there's been a 117% increase over the same period last year >> we really need city department of health to come up with a better policy than they already have. >> reporter: in light of our i-team findings, a city council member is calling for a hearing on how the city health department can do more to clean up abandoned pools. state law is unclear on whether health inspectors are allowed to do anything more than toss would you be in favor of draining some of these pools? >> yeah. we have seen other municipalities taking measures to drain pools. the city is giving you a licensed permit to build your pool. with that license comes responsibilities. cover collect water and he paid the price. it's not one he regrets. >> i feel really bad that it's here because i know there's all this going on. >> reporter: behind annett's house, it's still a mystery on who is responsible for cleaning up this zombie pool. we did spot a few tablets of larvicide. >> it's causing a significant problem for neighbors and the rest of the block. the city depar >> reporter: why can't city health inspectors fix situations like that? a spokesperson says it's not as simple as changing state law. you have constitutional rights involved. the city health department is getting more aggressive at issuing fines for stagnant water. this summer over last summer fines for stagnant water are up with a warning just issued here. >> that's for a severe thunderstorm right now over parts of essex and union counties. we can actually see the dark clouds from our top of the rock camera. it is getting dark to the south and west of us. no raining in the city, but watch out in midtown. that same storm could roll close by. we're expecting it to roll over newark pretty soon producing possible hail and damaging winds and quite a bit of rain and lightning. here's a look at the area under the warning it is until 7:00. we have about 40 minutes to go before it ends. here it is right now between bridgewater and hillsboro. it is moving off to the east-northeast towards essex, woodbridge. expect a ton of airport delays again tonight. number of lightning strikes in the last 15 minutes about 83. another smaller storm back that is moving towards mondale, wayne, and hackensack. as of august 11th, there have been 25 deaths in the united states from lightning strikes. last year only 27. we're on target to go beyond last year's numbers because we're still in summer. most victims are either boating or on the beach. the majority are male probably because a lot outdoors and not moving inside when they hear the thunder. if you hear the thunder, the storm is close enough where you could be struck by lightning. humidity sticks around. no break from that heat and humidity until next week or the chance for these pop-up storms. right now lots of areas in the 90s. morristown, the city. some areas have dropped to the 70s because of clouds. this is what it feels like right better for a couple of days, but then we'll see more heat and humidity in the middle of next week. just not as intense as what we're expecting over the weekend. >> thanks, janice. it is day seven of competition in the rio olympics. the united states still has the most medals of any country overall. >> but instead of the athletes, we're going to take a look at some of the people that cover these games. bruce beck is in rio for the games and he is going behind the scenes for us tonight. >> reporter: what did i do today? it headed down to the "today" show. my idea, to give you a behind the scenes look at the show and what makes it tick. what a setting for the "today" show's set with crashing waves in the background and bustling activity everywhere. >> it's billy bush. the mike's on. >> that's you. hoda and matt in rio. what kind of experience has it been? >> it's been a 10. we're talking about how today is a tiny bit of a bummer, but we've had gorgeous days. >> who is the greatest athlete you have spoken to so far, boomer phelps? >> by far. he's the most soft spoken person we've talked to. >> i'm not going to complain all. look it's wintertime down here. we don't have anything to complain about. >> you know, the beach is very appealing, but when you're playing beach volleyball, it's even more appealing. what was that experience like? >> i'm looking for another pick-up game. if you're looking for it, let's do because it's a blast. i love going to beach volleyball. it's one of my favorite olympic sports. >> rio, the olympics, what's going on with you? >> this is kind of home for me. there was so much negativity going into this olympics. to see it's going really great right now. >> reporter: matt told me i had a lot of energy. nothing compared to the energy of billy bush. by the way, i asked lester for a tidbit on stefan, something we didn't know about him at all. here's what he told me. he was a train nerd as a kid. he used to love the train so much that he would ride the new york city subways just to have a blast. that's the story from rio. not exactly sports news tonight, but a little bit of background. back to you guys in the studio. >> that's a good, fun fact. >> a lot of fun. don't forget to join david ushery and me tonight for "the olympic zone." it airs tonight at 7:30. stay tuned for nbc's coverage of the 2016 olympic p.m. john chandler is up next live fios is not cable. we're wired differently. so we wired the wagner's house with 100 meg internet. which means that in the time it takes mr. wagner to pour a 20 oz. cup of coffee, tommy can download 30 songs, and jan can upload 120 photos. 12 seconds. that's the power of fiber optics. and right now you can get 100 meg internet with equal upload and dowloads speeds, tv and phone for just $69.99 per month online. this is it. alex rodriguez says bye in the bronx. a yankee legend with a complicated legacy. he has heard his fair share of he'll try to bring the building to its feet one last time. he took a nostalgic drive into the ballpark this afternoon and took batting practice to cheers from yankees fans. he is only four home runs from 7 700 all time. alex isn't trying to overthink the moment. >> i said on sunday that my horizon is friday and it still is. i'm thinking about the game. who has given me fits in the past. we want to win the game tonight. that's still my approach. after all of this, i'm going to need a long nap and recover. i'll see where life takes me, but right now i value wearing this uniform and wearing the yankees pinstripes is enough. >> reporter: alex says this hasty farewell has been a little bit awkward. he playing third. joe girardi pretty much quashed those dreams because the yankees find themselves three and a half games out of that second wild card spot. the manager has to focus on winning, not waving good-bye. >> you want to give him the proper sendoff. you just hope the situation is created out there where you can do that. we're in a fight. you know, we're in a fight for a spot. that has to take precedent. if this was september 30th and and we could do it anyway we wanted. i could play him in every position. i could pitch him if he wanted to pitch. >> reporter: i don't know if anyone wants to see a-rod pitching, but the yankees are a game better than the mets are right now in the standings. the mets optioned michael to las vegas. this time tomorrow, the yankees will have released alex rodriguez. is he still going to watch the yankees the rest of this season? tomorrow's game sounds like it will be in jeopardy. >> if i wake up on time tomorrow, i will watch tomorrow's game, but i may have a couple cocktails tonight so i may not wake up by game time tomorrow. but i'll definitely watch sunday's game. >> reporter: we'll all be watching at least tonight. stadium. back to you guys. up next on nightly news, severe flooding leads to a state of emergency in louisiana. developing news tonight. deadly flood disaster on the gulf coast. state of emergency declared in louisiana. heavy rain and heroic rescues as rivers overflow their banks up to and donald trump says he was being sarcastic after calling president obama the founder of isis and hillary clinton releases her tax returns, trying to get trump to release his. and the thrill of victory, michael phelps makes history again. we talk to his family. and there's something about simone, we're with