>> good morning everyone, 5:00 a.m., thursday, july 3, tam is off, nydia han joins us,

here's what's happening. >> lightning strikes may have sparked several fires armed the region. act sk -- around the region, accuweather is tracking more thunderstorms today. >> the search continues for a man on the delaware river. >> craft breweries are battling high hops prices. david murphy is here, matt pellman is filling in for karen rogers good morning. >> reporter: let's check storm tracker 6 live double scan we have rain off the coast. a couple of showers popped up in chester county they may move into northern montgomery and southern berks. but most of the rain is gone. we're expecting rain today and tonight, some of it could be heavy. there's a flood watch posted for virtually the entire region. one to three inches of rain total from what we had last night and what we'll get later today and tonight.

we'll get a brush by from arthur, friday morning. this will extend until friday at noon. this afternoon we had a late round of showers and thunderstorms in the overnight hours. now we have a cold front to our west still producing pop-up showers ahead of it, as that moves toward the east and starts interacting with the heating we'll looking at a round of drenching storms. 75 in philadelphia. 73 in allentown, 70 in dover. it's muggy again, as we roll through the day it's a sticky hot one. 79 degrees by 9:00 a.m. 86 by noon, 3:00 p.m., temperature is 89 i'm looking for a high of 90 about 4:00 p.m. if we hit that it will be the season's first heat wave because we've had two days of 90. the other big breaking news in the weather department spelled it wrong, hurricane arthur 75 miles per hour it's just been

verified looks like it's a category hurricane and it will stay that way as it creams up along the coast. it will have some effect of us on the 4th. >> reporter: it is hurricane arthur. as you head of the neighborhood you'll find a few puddles out there. it is better than the overnight hours. there's no southbound construction like there was in the overnight between allegheny and girard. the construction projects are suspended until monday night after the holiday weekend. things are good on the schuylkill expressway, the roosevelt boulevard, as well. watch out for a crash in jenkintown old york road 611 and washington lane. there's flooding to watch out for in middletown township, bucks county. blocking oxford valley road and

trenton woods road at chicken foot park. have you been to chicken foot park? >> no. >> reporter: and absecon we have a downed pole at delay lieu road -- delilah road that's out of the way. >> we have flames on 39th street near high street in pennsauken, camden county. we got the pictures as the flames were really roaring. the fire started at 4:30 a.m. and ripping through the roof. no reports of serious injuries right now. the wave of thunderstorms that swept across the area caused isolated damage and flooding lightning strikes may be to blame for several fires. katherine scott is live in levittown, bucks county, the scene of one of those lightning

strikes. >> reporter: strong storms was the cause of damage across the area. some spots saw flooding others saw fire caused by lightning strikes. in levittown fire tore through this apartment complex. it was a busy night for the red cross here and other fire scenes. thick clouds moved across the evening and soon the sky opened up. in manayunk heavy rain drenched main street. lightning lit up the skies over new jersey and in berks county, heavy downpours sparked flash flooding. you can see the gas station submerged in reading. some drivers risked navigating the high water and got stuck. in levittown lightning flashed while fire crews worked to extinguish this fire at this apartment complex. the fire here broke out around 8:20.

12 families from the orange wood apartments were displaced and getting assistance from the red cross, nobody was injured. in montgomery county neighboring reported a boom before seeing smoke coming from this home. it was around 7:00 p.m. when firefighters arrived they were met with heavy fire on the outside which was spreading quickly. >> we have expensive damage on the roof area. most of the roof is gone. the second floor has expensive damage. >> reporter: and back here live in levittown you can see there's a lot of damage to the roof area this apartment complex the second floor windows are boarded up, investigators are trying to determine if lightnings strikes are to blame for the fire. katherine scott channel 6 "action news." >> our storm tracker 6 live appear can help you track more storms if they break out later today. access our radar and get the hourly forecast from your apple or android device.

>> we have a developing story along the delaware river. the search will resume this morning for the 66-year-old man who disappeared after his sailboat capsized. he and four others were out on the delaware when they were docking the boat when powerful winds flipped the vessel and sank it. the four others managed to swim ashore. they saw the man in the river clink to go a small cooler he was using as a floatation device, and then he was gone. >> they looked back and they saw the cooler floating and they no longer saw the 66-year-old man holding on. >> search crews found what appears to be the cooler on the jersey side of the river, but not the man. >> the son and grandson of an elderly man have been charged with murder.

his son hit him in the head with a flashlight. david senior's son david junior helped his father dispose of the body in a wooded area in susquehanna county. his son faces abuse of a corpse and criminal exposure charges. officials say that is john alberti smoking inside the mariner's cove motel saying he fell asleep on the couch with the lit cigarette and later walked away with the cigarette smoldering in the couch. an hour later it caught fire. he was high on open yalts at th- opiate s.

he is one of people who died in the fire. >> our 4th of july coverage starts at 10:00 a.m. on 6abc. watch the celebration of freedom ceremony and matt o'donnell and tamala edwards host the independence day parade at 11:00 p.m. at 7:00 p.m., rick williams and cesily tynan write you the 4th of july jam count off by fireworks over the philadelphia museum of art. >> 4th of july is tomorrow, we have arthur becoming a hurricane ten minutes ago. david murphy the forecast, throw it all in there, possible storms today. >> reporter: there's a lot going on this week, man. storm tracker 6 live double scan shows you there's rain that came through overnight, most of it is off to the north an east of philadelphia. we'll get that scan going for you. there's just a little bit of a blip showing up in dover and western chester county you might

see precip popping through. there might be a heavy downpour in western chester county. that's basically it for this morning. as we look outside we have cloudy skies out there, maybe a couple of breaks and it is warm and muggy, with temperatures across the region, alarmly in the 70s. 75 degrees in philadelphia currently. 74 in wilmington. 73 up in allentown. and in trenton. 72 in sea isle city, once again it's on the humid side definitely as you step outside. future tracker 6 shows you between now and noon nothing going on. it's later in the afternoon we expect the at to get more unstable and we'll be on the look out for another thunderstorm some of these as they pop through later in the afternoon and evening could bring gusty winds. the big issue will be the heavy town pours and the potential for street flooding and rise in flashing creeks and streams. that, again, would be late in

the afternoon and into the evening as you can see on future tracker. allentown, 88 degrees the high. some thunderstorms are obviously possible at times later in the afternoon and evening. at the shore, not a big chance of storms down there for the major of the day, but later in the day it is possible. noon, 80 degrees, 84 by 3:00 p.m. if you hear a rumble. thunder you want to head in off the beach. by the way the ocean temperature will be cooler today probably in the 60s for the most part. in philadelphia, 90 degrees. if we manage to hit that it will be the season's first heat wave. it will be the third straight day with where we hit 90. afternoon thunderstorms possible later in the day and evening. 77 degrees by 8:00 a.m. 83 by 11:00 a.m. keep in mind we're looking at high humidity levels today and we'll spend most of the afternoon in the upper 80s with the chance of thunderstorm later in the day and at night.

hurricane arthur, about 10, 15 minutes ago turned into a hurricane. you can see an eye forming this is a well-defined rotation coming in close to charleston, south carolina. it does look like it will be turning toward the northeast and continuing as a category one hurricane past us tomorrow. it's well off the coast and the best effect for that will be the rip current danger at the shore. not that we'll see rain, on tomorrow morning's broadcast we'll have a fair amount of shower activity to show you. this will be the outer bands of the hurricane as it passes by. by 1:00 p.m. we expect it to be pushing past us, we'll be well on our way toward drawing in the late afternoon we'll see sunshine. things will be fine for fireworks. a little damp and breezy in the morning. the exclusive accuweather seven-day forecast, 90 degrees today, humid conditions once

again and we have the drenching thunderstorms later today and tonight. tomorrow we have late day clearing and sun re-emerging west to heat. a pleasant high of 79. the 4th of july is going to be nice, this is one of those years where you haven't gone out to see the fireworks in the past couple of years, this is the year today. saturday an sunday, in the 80s, humidity low, just in time for everybody to get back to work on monday, we're back in the soup with hot and humid air returning and chance of thunderstorms. >> summer is on. >> 5:13 new from the overnight, chunks of concrete come tumbling down from the brooklyn sending a shower of debris on the sidewalk -- from the brooklyn bridge sending a shower of debris on the sidewalk. >> a case is made by the georgia father accused of killing his son by leaving him in a hot car. >> reporter: a vehicle fire that just popped up, fire crews on

the scene spraying water on the car we'll continue to watch this and the blue route blockage when "action news" continues on this thursday morning. wo3o3

>> 5:16 we're looking live at the main traffic problem of the morning we have a car fire on the blue route that's still on fire and smoking at this moment. >> reporter: you've been watching this, matt. i have, nydia and matt, let's watch this in the suburban traffic on this thursday morning. feels like a friday. you don't want to head here,

southbound side of the blue route, baltimore pike. all southbound lanes are blocked by all the fire crews and police, you can see a southbound sea of headlights stacking up behind the blockage point, again by the baltimore pike on-ramp to the southbound side of the blue route. if you're heading toward i-95 you're not getting through. let's talk alternates, because this is an area that's normally congested in the morning. many use this spot on the blue route southbound. stay on 320 or 252 to the west as possible alternates, of course, we'll keep tabs on it. we have a crash in jenkintown by the td bank at washington lane. high water from the rain in middletown township bucks county. blocking bristol oxford valley

road. trenton road will get you around that. construction will wrap up along 322 west of 54. time for the commuter report a lot of you are friends are giving us the alert about the situation on the blr. you can see them talking about the heavy volume by media swathmore a complete standstill because of the vehicle fire. >> new video from the overnight a decorative facade collapsed under the brooklyn bridge injuring five people. 20-foot wide section came tumbling down. it wasn't a structural wall that collapsed, so the integrity of the bridge was not compromised. >> a judge is expected to decide if there's enough evidence to keep a georgia father in jail in connection with the death of his toddler who was left in a hot car. 33-year-old justin harris said

after taking to his son to breakfast on the morning of june 18 he forgot to drop him off at a day care center. the car was in an office parking lot in 90-degree heat. the toddler died in the car. he admitted to police he recently researched child hot car deaths online. his mother admitted doing the same research. >> the phillies is redefining what it's like to be a bad baseball team. cole hamels did not show up on the mound last night and saw little support from his batters. the phillies have lost 6 in a row and 8 of their

>> reporter: we are still seeing a who a bunch of flashing lights and headlights on it is blue route. looky here, looks like we're

just starting to move southbound at the media swathmore inter exchange. people are starting to move. 42 northbound is light. >> reporter: if you have errands better to do them early in the morning. 89 degrees by 3:00 p.m. we'll hit a high of 90 around 4:00 p.m. that will be a heat wave if we hit it, third straight day of 90 or better. and back to 88 by 6:00 p.m. there's a chance of drenching thunderstorms coming in later in the day and evening west to east. if you're flying this morning hoping to see nothing but green airplanes on the maps. chicago, newark, new york city still looking at rain, so maybe delays there. nydia, matt. >> thank you,. the number of people with

alzheimers is projected to rise to 100 million worldwide by 2050. yet a new research report shows the disease is lagging. researchers found only 413 alzheimers drug trials were conducted between 2002 and 2012. during that time period, researchers found there were 5,000 clinical trials for breast cancer drugs. there are only five drugs approved for alzheimers treatment. doctors see the possibility of restoring vision by regrowing corneas. the loss of stem cells is the reason for the loss of vision. they put stem cells into mice and were able to regrow corneas.

the season's first named storm has been upgraded to a hurricane. we'll get a live update from arthur from north carolina at 5:50 a.m. "

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theater. the landmark at 14th and chestnut streets will have to close. owners say they only have enough funds to stay open through number november. it has experienced financial issues and lost its chairman and chief fundraiser who died in may. hop flowers are added to beer to give it a bitter flavor. luckily for hop lovers the craft brew industry is competitive and reluctant to lose sales to higher prices. >> we're tracking a storm barrelling up the east coast that became a hurricane overnight and forced some communities to change their 4th of july plans. "action news" continues.

>> developing now on "action news," arthur has just been

upgraded to hurricane status. we'll get a live update on storm preps in the south. >> cleanup begins this morning for residents rocked by lightning strikes that damaged several properties in the delaware and lehigh valleys. >> a bill providing much-needed help for philadelphia schools pass as major hurdle in harrisburg. good morning, everyone, 5:30, tam is off, nydia han joins us, karen is off, we have matt pellman and david, good morning. >> reporter: boy there's a lot going on in the weather today. we have a flood watch posted today into friday until noon because of heavy rain that's expected to come in later today and tonight. and arthur-related rain on friday morning. be careful of ponding an -- and puddling and flashing creeks and streams.