good morning. it is wednesday, july 16, 2014. welcome to "cbs this morning." lightning, wind, and rain slam the northeast, leaving thousands without power. israel ramps up air strikes and warns tens of thousands of palestinians to get out. holly williams is on the scene in gaza. 20 seasons of greatness. an all-star tribute to the captain, yankees derek jeter. >> but we begin today eestoday' opener" your world in 90

seconds. >> in all my 85 years this was a dooz doozy. >> a severe storm hit the northeast coast. >> warnings and watches are posted fromel daware to maine. >> meanwhile idaho, two inches of rain, over a foot of water making mainoa rds impassible. >> they're urging residents to leave their homes. >> nearly 200 palestinians have died in the attacks so far. >> they will identify certain areas and they will attack them. >> i kind of prefer a home office. >> is she or isn't she making a white house return in 2016? jon stewart tried to drag it out ofer. >> do you have a favorite shape for that home office? >> number 2, jaric jeter. >> in the final all-star game the captain was the star of the show. >> you remember every time you put your uniform on, because

trust me, it goes quickly. >> blasting the philippines, packing 93-mile-an-hour winds. >> hershey is raising prices. cocoa prices are soaring. the average increase will be about 8%. >> all that -- >> close call for a pilot in alaska after he nearly landed his upon toon plane on a whale. prenesidt obama got a rare chance to drive a car, even if it was a virtual drive. >> -- and all that matters. >> the first for the fdny, the first female on an all male calendar. >> how old are you? >> i'm not going go there. >> i'm very sad you're not going to be on tv anymore. >> i'm very sad about that. this morning's "eye opener" is presented by toyota. let's go places. captioning funded by cbs

welcome to "cbs this morning." norah o'donnell is off and margaret brennan is here. great to see derek jeter have such a great all-star game last night. >> a great tribute to him. >> we begin with severe weather. severe ran and flooding in the northeast. thousands lost power. >> the storms put on quite a show. lightning hit several new york city skyscrapers including the new one world trade center. don dahler is in fort lee, new jersey near the washington bridge where the storm caused a nightmare for drivers. don, good morning. >> reporter: good morning. traffic is moving now but yesterday traffic was a mess with traffic coming to a screeching halt as water flowed onto the busy roadways. awe caused by a severe weather system that flooded the area. >> this flood was crazy. >> it was a day-long deluge bringing up to 4 inches of rain to the region.

the powerful system brought a nonstop barrage of lightning and thunder, some that took direct aim at new york city's empire state building. on the city streets the relendless rainfall brought water to a standstill including this. >> we didn't realize why we backed up until we got to this one area, an underpass and it was up to the bomb of everyone's car. flooding. this was bad. >> reporter: traveling uchbds ground wasn't easy either. across new jersey the cleanup has already begun after powerful winds knocked down trees i was listening to see if my daughter was crying and she was and when i went up the stairs i could hear wind rushing down my hallway. >> reporter: the wind caused similar damage in massachusetts where tornado warnings were inned. >> it was windy. i said, i kind of like a good thunderstorm and then all of a

sudden a huge bank and all of a sudden the house shook. >> even those living in the area their whole lives the damage was unbelievable. >> in all my 85 years this was a doozy. >> reporter: it's been drizzling on and off, but heavier rain is expected this morning. utility crews are already on the ground trying to restore power to some 13,000 customers. charlie. >> don, thanks. another storm flufter caused flash flooding in eastern idaho. heavy rain and quarter sized hail slammed the city of rexburg tuesday. meteorologist eric fisher of cbs station wbz is watching severe weather across the country. eric, good morning. >> we've had our fair share of storms, no question about that. good morning, everyone. squeezed out just along that i-95 corridor and we'll be done with the storm in the east. still a flash flood threat from

the boston area down toward new york city. another 1 to 3 inches due today. then things are going to shift a little bit. severe weather threat, hail likely and damaged wind gusts and very heavy rainfall. in fact, for the next few day, this is the spot we're going to watch. all that cool air across the midwest combined with low air, brings in the moisture and all that the storms could develop bringing heavy rainfall from denver to oklahoma city. 2 to 5 inches over the next few days. it could cause flash flooding but it's beneficial for the drought that they're experiencing. in terms of temperatures, very hot in the west today, especially the pacific northwest. a deadly storm is forcing dozens of people out of their

home. typhoon rammasun has hit. it could hit china by the weekend. seth, good morning. >> reporter: good morning. this is the strongest storm to hit the philippines. they remember the incredible damage from typhoon haiyan that struck the philippines last fall, so today they were facing for the worst. this typhoon called rammasun, a term for god of thunder, lashed the philippines today with 90-plus-mile-per-hour winds. the capital was spared but more than 70 cities and thousands evacuated. residents tried to reinforce roofing and strengthen filmy homes. some areas received months of rain in just hours and residents

were forced to navigate floodwaters. heavy winds knocked down trees, blocking roadways and causing blackouts. the typhoon nicknamed glenda blew ashore. there were no estimates of the damage in a country that sees roughly 24 typhoons each year. there are still some lingering concerns about this storm surge as the typhoon heads offshore and out into the south china sea where it is forecast to pick up strength and target here in china later this week. charliesome. >> seth, thanks. this morning is real is preparing for major air assaults on the northern part of gaza. rocket attacks between israel and gaza are intensifying.

holly williams is in gaza where they're told to clear out for their own safety. and holly, you just had your own scare. >> reporter: good morning. just a few minutes ago think launch add rocket very close to our position in the field behind me. our cameras were rolling and the rocket made an enormous noise as it passed overhead. and that follows a night of heavy air strikes here after palestinian militants rejected a cease-fire propose by egypt. both sides have now resume third attacks. the cease-fire plan is dead, unleashing another wave of violence. in southern gaza two men were killed by a direct hit on their car. more than 200 palestinians have lost their lives in israeli air strikes.

officials here say most were civilians. the israeli military warned it planned to bombard the area. >> we've all gone mad, said this man. for god's sake end this conflict. i don't know who's worse, the jews or the arabs. yesterday israel suffered its first death during this escalation. man hit by a rocket while delivering food to israeli soldiers near the border with gaza. palestinian militants took fire of more than a thousand rockets into southern israel but many of them have been shut down by the country's iron dome anti-missile defense system. in gaza they have no defenses. israel says it's destroying rocket launches and command centers used by the militants, but in reality many of the targets are homes. the united nations says more

than 500 homes have been hit by air strikes. why does israel have to stop fighting first? why is it up to them? >> because they began and they're targeting the civilians. >> reporter: but as usual in this decades-long conflict both sides blame each other. prime minister benjamin netanyahu says his country has no choice but to expand its offensive first. charliesome. >> thanks. the beginning of his third term in office comes with his regime still waging a civil war. assad vowed to fight what he called terrorism until security is restored to all of syria. a high-profile immigration activist is free this morning. jose antonio vargas is a

pulitzer-prize-winning journalist. he was taken yesterday at an airport for being in this country illegally. anna werner is tracking these developments. good morning, anna. >> good morning. vargas traveled to mcallen, texas, last week in solidarity with the immigrants detained there. after he arrived he was surprised to learn that his immigration status could become an issue when he returned to the airport. jose antonio vargas knew he was taking a risk by trying to fly out to los angeles. a friend who went to the airport with him on tuesday captured this exchange with a border patrol agent at the security checkpoint. moments later he was taken in handcuffs. vargas has been living illegally in the u.s. since he was 1 2 years old. a prominent activist he has testified before congress and

has travel aid cross the country speaking about immigration issues. at most airports they onto check his name. but in mcallen, a 20-minute drive to mexico they also review the immigration status of departing passengers and there are check points along the highways. vargas spoke about his situation. before shortly before he was apprehended he printed this and directed his 15,000 followers to other twitter accounts for updates. reporters say his experience highlights it. >> now the nation is going to know we're trapped and have always been trapped here. >> despite his notability and notoriety he said in 2012 they seem unconcerned about his case.

>> there's 11.5 million of us, right? and most people have not been encountered and so i'm not even in their database. >> on tuesday that finally changed. well, the department of homeland security says vargas was processed at a nearby border patrol station. then after consultation with immigration and customs enforcement, he was given a notice to appear before an immigration judge and later released on his own reconnaissance. >> anna, thanks. a child was trapped on a sweltering june day. this morning the attorney representing the mother liana harris, is blasting the media over her lack of emotion. he said, quote, liana's every word, action, or emotion or failure to cry in front of the crowd is scrutinized for some supposed hidden meaning, end

quote. liana harris is not charged with a crime. ry rikky klieman is with us. what do you think? >> he's doing a spectacular job. he decided he had to go out front and say, hey, wait, what if you were a parent and you lost your child and you were truly innocent, how horrific would this before if you? he has two audience, the public, the potential jury pool, and he also has the media. the downside is the news cycle. we're talking about it today. i know here we try to give both sides of the issue but on certain other stations and of course in social media people can blast people. >> interestingly it did not mention the husband and father. >> it did not. i think this is the time for mr.

zimmerman, who has an excellent reputation to do what he needs to do for his client. he wants to push it back on the media who's taken odd actions, suspicious actions, labored her guilty, labored her a baby killer when she could have been totally innocent. think of what that could do to you if you were a parent? >> if you were liana's lawyer what would you advise her. stay in the spotlight or stay out? >> she needs to stay out. number one i would debrief her and ask if she would take a lie detector test under attorney/client privileges. if she passes the lie detector test, i say, let's look at this. i polygraphed her, i listened to her, she's telling the truth, and i think you should cut her some slack. >> she's in danger of being come

policen't? >> she's in danger of becoming come police aunt. >> two are critically injured after severe turbulence. this photo shows a fwaping hole in the ceiling right above a passenger. the flight from johannesburg landed safely in hong kong. >> it's 7:17. ahead on "cbs this morning" we' we'llhen headlines around the globe. plus hillary clinton enters into the

>> announcer: this national weather report sponsored by toyota. let's go places. an all-star tribute over one of baseball's greatest.

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