but this is the first time we have covered an inaugural event. - and if this "year one" is any indication, you can tell it's just going to get better and better, and bigger, if that's possible. - i know. they did such a fantastic job. there was so many elements. but i'll tell you what was really cool about this. we wouldn't have been here had it not been for madge, one of our viewers, who sent this story in. - that's right. so take a hint from madge. go to smalltownbigdeal.com. submit your story idea, and who knows? we might be in your town next. - i'm rodney miller. - and i'm jann carl. - join us again next week when once again we celebrate the great stories from across america. - you're using your other hand now. (upbeat music) - lick my fingers here. - from the red carpets of hollywood. - [rodney] to the cow chip wagon. - to the cow chip wagon of missouri. - even for a farm boy this is a little different. - i don't know. you're digging in there with both hands. we're not sharing french fries for dinner. that's all i'm saying.

now, new york's number one news. channel 7 eyewitness news. i didn't think it was going to keep coming, so i took my shoes off, jump out of the car, ran across the street to the gas station to take cover. >> drivers bailing out as the waters rise. tonight, cleaning up from flash floods that brought down brick walls and drenched people's homes. i'm rob powers in for bill ritter. >> and i'm sade bederinwa. left a mess. a viewer posting this picture of the rain pouring down. tonight, the pictures of the aftermath. >> eyewitness news reporter, jim dolan in scotch plans for

the tour of all this destruction. jim. >> yeah, rob, this water came down fast. take a look. they just now opened up the westbound lanes of route 22. all these hours later, the eastbound lanes are still being cleaned up. there's permanent damage. they will have to fix down there after the water came fast and for a little while, it was scary. >> margarita diaz was looking for high ground. water got into a lot of cars on route 22 today. and the sad sound of car alarms filled the damp, heavy air. big dump trucks couldn't make it through the high water, so smaller cars never had a chance. >> the car in front of me drives right through it. >> like john's bmw, that's it after the water receded a bit, but this is earlier when you could only barely see the roof of this car. he escaped without his shoes, but came back minutes later. >> the car is completely covered with water.

it was about 6 inches left. the car that you can see everything else. >> you can barely see the roof. >> the car was about 40 to 50 feet from where i left it. >> so the current had actually, the water had taken it away. >> utility polls became in the water and had to be wrangled later. nearby, a retaining wall collapsed. parts of 122 saw pavement buckle as water poured in beneath it. >> everything floated away. >> donna ellis came home to a flood on the first floor of her home tonight. >> a lot of mopping. gll michelle was home with her young daughter when the water came in. >> my walls were shooting water. my daughter was here and we were getting towels and buckets and doing damage control. >> when we left, michelle still hadn't tried to start her car.

i'm not sure she wanted to know the answer of how much damage was done. one last bit from scotch plains here. take a look at police officer, david lavery who waded into the water hip deep tonight to make sure people were not stranded in their cars in that water. when he was even reached into the muck to try and open up the storm drains. not sure how much success he had. he was giving it his all and all the police officers and first responders did a great job rescuing people from their vehicles tonight. it was actually a police officer's daughter's first birthday. but he stayed late to try and help folks out tonight. reporting live, jim dolan, channel 7 eyewitness news. >> neighbor helping neighbor, jim, thank you very much. what we saw today was rough at times and this pattern may not be done yet. meteorologist, jeff smith in for lee goldberg with more of what is still headed our way. jeff.

>> we have such an incredibly muggy atmosphere. it didn't take much to produce these thunderstorms. without much wind upstairs a few thousand feet, the storms didn't have an opportunity to move. check out this radar review from earlier this afternoon. this is western union county here. not too far. the storm sat over that location for hours on end, producing rain fall rates of 1 inch per hour. you extend that for four hours and check out these radar estimated rain fall amounts. upwards of close to 4 inches right along this u.s. 22 corridor. and that's why that road got washed out in places. those storms and showers have weakened significantly, once we lost that daytime heating. a will the of moisture off to our west. and this band of rain fall will become more intense, more consolidated as it heads toward the tristate area. in the meantime during the day tomorrow, we expect most, if not all of shower and thunderstorm activity to remain west of new york city. but again, if you fall under

one of those isolated storms, you could be getting heavy downpours. we wait for this for friday. this could be a more widespread downpour and flooding situation. we'll talk about that in your full accuweather forecast coming up later. rob, sade. >> jeff, we'll see you in a bit. breaking news in washington state where three firefighters have been killed battling one of several wild fires raging in that state. they died near the town of twisp. 115 miles from seattle. the fires have grown three square miles. entire towns have been evacuated. residents grabbing whatever they can and fleeing. fast moving flames. >> also breaking tonight, a manager of topless women in times square who pose with tourists for tips. under arrest, that arrest comes one day after mayor de blasio promised to crack down on on

-- bare breasts are still legal in new york city. a tourist who snapped an illegal selfie is on his way back to new york city to face charges. he's expected in court tomorrow. 21-year-old, david is being extradited from his home state of tennessee where he was arrested on an nypd warrant for wreckless endangerment. police say he climbed a beam on the bridge in june, snapped a selfie, then got down before officers spotted him. a water main break causing quite a mess tonight. the main broke at the intersection of mcdougal. several basements in the immediate area were flooded, including two buildings on the campus of nyu. work crews are still on the scene making repairs. >> the new jersey dozens of people without homes tonight after a destructive fire there. a row of five homes catching fire along patterson earlier this afternoon. officials say that fire started at 175. then quickly spread to the others.

some residents scrambling just to escape the flames. others rushing home after getting frantic calls from relatives. >> i wasn't home. i was out on a job interview. my mother called me and says my house is on fire. pj's and no shoes. it's gone. that's all she kept telling me, it's gone. >> 31 people are displaced. officials are still trying to figure out the cause of this fire. no one was seriously hurt. we do have new details about another massive fire. this one, yesterday, in mont, we learn tonight a through way electrician was arrested and charged with arson. police say 54-year-old, richard cass, was in this shed after work hours and recklessly started that fire. the flames also destroying several pieces of heavy throughway equipment and no one was injured. new information tonight on the child porn charges facing former subway spokesman, jared fogle.

he will plead guilty in exchange for a 5 to 12 1/2 year sentence on 4 million of restitution to his victims and register as a sex offender. tonight we hear from one woman who helped authorities catch him. carolina leid at the plaza hotel where fogle allegedly set up an illegal encounter with an under age girl. carolina. >> reporter: women in florida, georgia, and washington state all reported their conversations with jared fogle and handed that information to fbi agents. tonight, that woman says that she did everything in her power to get the evidence the fbi needed. >> jared fogle to you is what? >> is a monster. >> she waited for years to see jared fogle get what he deserves. federal prosecutors say the subway pitchman has been charged participating in a five-year criminal scheme to exploit children. >> i'm numb, i'm shocked.

i'm relieved most of all. >> herman first met fogle in the mid 2000s when he took a trip to sarasota, florida. she spent more than four years recording her conversations with fogle for the fbi. after he allegedly made comments to her about having sex with minors in the past. court documents show the feds also got the same story from several other women. >> why would i be the only one? he had something compelling him inside that wanted to reveal what he was doing. did he want to get caught? i don't know. >> investigators allege in 2012, he met a 17-year-old prostitute at the plaza hotel in new york city and asked her to find him another under age girl. saying the younger, the better. then allegedly abused those two minors. investigators claim they also found pornography involving children as young as six after raiding fogle's home last month. he faces 5 to 12 years as part

of a plea deal. herman believes he should get the most prison time allowed by the law. >> he's caused a lot of pain. pain that will never go away. >> subway has severed all ties with fogle. his wife and the mother of his children said that she plans to file for divorce. reporting live in midtown, i'm carolina leid, channel 7 eyewitness news. carolina, thank you. federal rules say you can't fly drones near airports so why are drones being sold in airports? that's exactly what the port authority wants to know. eyewitness news reporter, josh is live tonight at laguardia. josh. >> reporter: well, rob, you know, you can buy anything at the airport these days, but just symbolically, this does not seem right. the port authority trying to figure out if hudson news was selling drones at its store here in the terminal building across the street the tower to keep the skies safe.

>> the order by the agency governing new york area airports bans retailers like hudson news and brookstone from selling drones. port authority spokesman telling eyewitness news that quote, shares the aviation community safety concerns about the growing presence of drones. and strongly opposed to the sale of drones at terminal shops. this, after the star ledger found these items for sale at outlets of both stores at newark airport earlier this week. >> we have a mile back, there was a drone flying just under southwest side of this abandoned airport here. >> what altitude would you say that is? >> 100 feet below us. >> it has been a scary year in the skies over airports across the country. among the most recent incidents, a delta flight from orlando to kennedy airport, a drone 100 feet off its wing. as of august 9, the faa logged 650 close calls in controlled air space nationwide.

compared to 238 in all of 2014. for months, new york senator, chuck schumer has been called for geo fencing, which would require software in every drone's gps, preventing it from flying into areas where it could do any harm. >> it's just a matter of time for one of these drones hits a plane, gets sucked into their engine, and there hundreds of lives that could be lost. >> the two retailers involved here, brookstone and hudson news both immediately pulled these items from the shelves at kennedy and at newark where they were being sold. they are investigating to figure out if they were for sale here. we're live at laguardia, channel 7 eyewitness news. josh, thank you. a hotel blows up. tonight, new video of the blast and how a quick-thinking manager saved everyone inside. it's a lesson we can all learn from. and a long line, all these people waiting for days and willing to part with a couple hundred bucks, but for what?

and a live look outside. more storms in the forecast. could your weekend be a washout?

jeff smith stunning pictures tonight of what is called add firenato. a funnel of flames kicking up in idaho. it forms when heat from a wild fire caused an updraft that can spin up like a tornado. 280,000 acres. we also have new video of a powerful explosion that leveled 16 rooms of a motel. surveillance video showing this blast near seattle last night at a motel 6 from various angles here. the explosion critically injured a gas company worker. no one else was seriously hurt, thanks to a manager who quickly evacuated minutes before. two people initially unaccounted for, but no bodies have been found in the rubble. >> happening tomorrow, jimmy carter will speak for the first

time since revealing his cancer diagnosis. the 09-year-old former president will hold a press conference tomorrow morning in its offices in atlanta. carter released a statement saying the cancer was detected during liver surgery. it has spread to other parts of his body. there's a new beer and wine bar in williamsburg. it is actually the local starbucks. the starbucks on north 7th street began serving four craft beers and 10 kinds of wine. location got a beer and liquor license last year despite opposition from the local community board. it is now one of more than 70 starbucks nationwide to serve alcohol. meanwhile, on manhattan's west side, why were all these people waiting in line tonight? how about a pair of sneakers? kanye west easy boost black edition, part of his collaboration with adidas. they go on sale on saturday. hold a raffle to prevent people for camping out for days.

just a handful of winners will get the opportunity, the luck to drop $200 on the knitted kicks. >> so they couldn't get the tennis shoes tonight. >> this is just the lottery. >> wow. >> in demand. >> well, sun is in demand, but we're not getting it. >> we'll have a little bit of sun tomorrow, but we watch the potential for downpours. today was unbelievable. it was so localized to western union county, eastern parts of somerset county. newark is not that far and they barely registered a trace of rain fall and in central park, we got zilch, nothing. a live look down at the southern end of the park over toward midtown, the sky looking very tropical. low clouds streaming in. 79 humidity is way up there. 77%. the wind is calm. the high on the day getting up to 87. after a morning low of 77. that's all it got down to last night. 83 is your normal high.

the sun coming up tomorrow morning around 6:10. any thunderstorm or shower will stay spotty through tomorrow and it's mainly west of new york city. but the problem is, if you fall under one of these storms as we saw today, you can get drenching downpours. more widespread downpours develop by friday morning from west to east across the entire region. some of that rain may be heavy enough to cause flooding over a wider area during the day on friday, including metro, new york city, right now you're 72 at morristown. a pair of 7's on the island. we've had a couple showers weakening over north western parts of new jersey. obviously all that activity that was over western union county weakened after the sun went down. we zoom things out, there's a front located close to chicago. this is heading off to the east. the problem is, it's going to run into a roadblock in the atmosphere and it is going to stall out right over the tristate region during the day on friday, maybe into the weekend as well. so, you start with a little bit

of sun tomorrow, clouds increase. most, if not all of the shower and thunderstorm activity tomorrow should stay west of new york city. and then we watch this more consolidated band of downpours move in by late tomorrow night and into the day on friday. so showers and storms around on friday, maybe some heavier downpours. the high getting up to 81. this front hanging out over the area. that can act as a focusing mechanism, a couple showers. won't be a complete washout. pleasant air is not that far away. humidity will try to surge back by the weekend. there's a high risk of rip currents at all of the ocean beaches. so keep that in mind. accuweather forecast overnight, partly cloudy, warm, sticky. down to 74 at 7:00 in the morning. 75. warm and muggy out there. sun followed by increasing clouds. again, most if not all of that thunderstorm activity stays west of new york city. maybe a spotty shower or storm early tomorrow evening and steadier rain developing after midnight. that develops into downpours by friday morning.

and showers and thunderstorms at any point on friday. the weekend variably cloudy. clouds and sun, there could be a shower or storm. doesn't look like a washout. bill evans has an important update tomorrow morning. >> up next, it turns out happiness is contagious. we're going to tell you how you can catch the happy bug. and a determined crook

desperately trying to drag incredible video. a barn burning in maryland amish country. it suddenly explodes. a diesel truck getting caught in the flames. nobody was hurt here. you see everybody running from the blast. holy cow. determined crook caught on camera. pulling off a bold smash and grab robbery. the thief seen pulling up to an atm machine. this is in houston. he wrapped it up with a chain and then tears it away with the pickup truck.

follow the action here. the thief unable to access the cash. police did get a good look at the truck's license plate and they expect an arrest very soon. >> it was on display. in tonight's health alert, go ahead, be happy. it's contagious. researchers in england study 2,000 teenagers found mentally stable, happy people help lift the boots of those that are depressed.

>> see if baseball yankees in the afternoon, mets at night. who comes home happy? >> that's a good question. they don't play very often, but the mets and orioles series has been a one sided affair with the mets winning the last nine minutes. nets starting on a high note. second batter of the game, daniel murphy going deep in the baltimore, as new york jumps

out to an early 1-0 lead. we move to the bottom of the 6th: cruising, then bam, blasts a two-run shot. tieing the game at 3. it was about to go way wrong, but juan lagares made a defensive jump. stealing a possible double from j.j. hardy. game tied gives up the winning walkoff home run. the o's finally beat the nets first time since 2009. final 5-4. when mark teixeira went down with a shin injury, figured the mets offense would also take a big hit. but who thought it could help them tackle the twinkies this afternoon? come on down, rookie first baseman was flying high against the twins. his heroics began in the 4th when he blasted a two-run homer. into the 6th with the yankees trailing 3-2. byrd is the word. his second two-run homer and

that was the difference in a 4- 3 victory. a three-game sweep of minnesota. yankees now two games up on toronto. >> it was a good day. like i said, we are just trying to win games here. anything i can do to help, that's all i'm trying to do. so, nothing more, nothing less. >> we have news from the local football training camps. the jets officially signing journeyman quarterback. eli manning was playing defense. the giants quarterback in the final year of his contract strongly denying reports that he told the giants he wanted to become the highest paid quarterback in the league. >> never been said. never come out of my mouth. you know, agent, never said it, so i don't know what the reports are coming from. >> elsewhere, tom brady was at practice with the new england patriots today, even as lawyers from the nfl and player's union

came to town for a hearing in the infamous deflate gate case. urging both sides to find a settlement and propose a four- game suspension. if a solution is not reached. name me another new york first place team other than the mets and yankees? time is up. it's the liberty. new york with the best world record in the wnba taking on the stars in san antonio, tina charles turning this pretty fade away, leading all scores with 18 points as the liberty win 73-45. and finally for kicks, let's go to columbus, nyfc took on the crew and on fire, blasting two goals for nyfc. game ended in a 2-2 draw. and that's it in sports. >> not a bad night for them.