Two of the coin machine tolls along the Garden State Parkway have already been removed in favor of E-ZPass or full service lanes. Others will be removed in the coming weeks.

Clouds have thinned over suburbs, but a cold front is creeping in, with threats of heavy rain and damaging winds, as well as frequent lightning.

A First Alert has been issued for 5 p.m. until midnight Wednesday for severe thunderstorms expected to arrive in southeastern Philadelphia and southern New Jersey.

High winds and lots of lightning are expected, with the possibility of an isolated tornado somewhere in the region, according to the NBC10 First Alert Weather Team.

"It’s extremely humid out there. That high humidity is fuel for stronger storms. When you start to warm up the air, even more so," NBC10 meteorologist Krystal Klei said Wednesday morning. "That’s what’s happening now. We’re starting to fire up our atmosphere."

The First Alert comes a day after a Tornado Warning for parts of Burlington County, New Jersey, and Flash Flood Warnings in other parts of the area for several hours Tuesday.

A severe thunderstorm capable of producing a tornado was located over Tabernacle, New Jersey, according to the National Weather Service and a Tornado Warning was issued for east central Burlington County, New Jersey, Tuesday evening. The warning expired shortly before 7:30 p.m.

A Flash Flood Warning was also in effect Tuesday night for Burlington, Camden and Gloucester counties in New Jersey as well as Bucks County, Philadelphia and Delaware counties in Pennsylvania.

Martin Luther King Drive was closed in Philadelphia from the Falls Bridge to Montgomery Drive due to the flooding, Philadelphia Police tweeted.

SkyForce10 was over heavily flooded roads in South Jersey and Lower Moreland.

The Huntingdon Valley and Bryn Athyn Fire companies were dispatched for multiple water rescues Tuesday afternoon and evening in Lower Moreland.

At one point, officials reported 15 vehicles in the water at Philmont Avenue and Red Lion Road in Lower Moreland. Both companies completed 10 rescues of people trapped in their vehicles.

Two medics who were inside an ambulance that was stuck on a flooded road on North 19th Street and Harrison Avenue in Camden, New Jersey, had to be rescued as well. They were not injured.

More severe storms with damaging winds, torrential downpours, possible flooding and possible isolated tornadoes are expected to hit our region Wednesday.

Stay with the NBC10 First Alert Weather team for the latest weather updates.

Mighty Writers encourages children to get involved in creative writing and promotes childhood literacy. Mighty Writers North program director Amy Banegas and student writer Jalah Green talk about a "mighty" event this weekend.

Qatar Airways has confirmed an 11-month-old American baby died Wednesday morning after landing in the Indian city of Hyderabad from Doha, NBC News reported.

According to the airline, family members alerted staffers at Hyderabad Airport that Arnav Varma was "unwell" after deboarding the three-and-a-half-hour flight. 

Varma was rushed to Apollo Medical Center and pronounced dead on arrival. According to his death certificate, Varma was born in New Jersey and his father, Anil Varma Alluri, is from Hyderabad.

A chemical explosion inside a University of Delaware science laboratory has injured two people, university officials said.

The blast happened Wednesday afternoon inside the Brown Lab at 160 Academy Street in Newark, Delaware. 

A University of Delaware spokesperson said the injuries don't appear to be life-threatening.

The Brown and Drake Buildings have been evacuated. Images provided by a witness shows people evacuated to the sidewalk and police and fire crews stationed outside. Firefighters could be seen putting on hazmat protective gear.

The type of chemicals involved in the explosion was not immediately known.

Classes in the Brown and Drake labs have been cancelled until further notice, a message to the university community said.

This is a developing story. Check back for updates.

As the manhunt for a dangerous sex assault suspect who attacked a police officer continued Wednesday, a woman is accused of helping him hide as federal investigators say he stole a car from a Bucks County home.

Meredith Custodio, 58, is accused of hindering the apprehension of David Hamilton by hiding him in a New Hope home where she works as the caretaker for an elderly woman, Solebury Township and Lower Southampton police and U.S. Marshals announced Wednesday.

On Tuesday night, Hamilton is believed to have stolen a white 2016 Toyota Avalon with Pennsylvania tag PD3759P from the Bobwhite Road home, marshals said.

Custodio, who hails from Philadelphia, is expected to be arraigned Wednesday. It is unclear if she has an attorney who could comment on her behalf.

Other people in the New Hope home cooperated with investigators.

Hamilton is considered armed and dangerous. The 47-year-old was spotted Friday in the woods near Sugan and Stoney Hill roads in Solebury Township, police said.

Hamilton is wanted on a warrant out of Lower Southampton Township for allegedly carrying out multiple sexual offenses against kids, police said.

Police found his 2016 Toyota Corolla in Morrisville and he was spotted riding a bike across the Calhoun Street bridge into Trenton, New Jersey, early Friday morning.

Then, Friday afternoon, a hunter saw Hamilton walking through the woods in the New Hope area. Officers responded and attempted to capture him, but police say he attacked a New Hope officer and tried to steal his gun. Hamilton was able to get away.

Police set up a 40-acre search area on the ground and New Jersey State Police scrambled a helicopter to assist from the air. 

Hamilton, who is five-feet, 11-inches tall and weighs around 180 pounds, could be camping near the Delaware River Canal in the New Hope, Lambertville area using a white tent with a red top, marshals said. 

A $1,000 reward is being offered for information leading to Hamilton's arrest.

Anyone with tips is urged to call the U.S. Marshals Tipline at 1-866-865-TIPS(8477).

Correction: The story has been corrected to accurately identify Meredith Custodio. 

Ten-year-old Giavana, aspiring makeup artist extraordinaire, is looking for a forever family to watch football with. Call 1-800-TO-ADOPT to adopt any Wednesday's Child.

One viewer says he got the runaround when he tried to use a warranty on an expensive television. He has been waiting months for the technician to come take a look at it, but it never happened. So he  decided to contact NBC10 Responds.

NBC10 is one of 19 news organizations producing BROKE in Philly, a collaborative reporting project on solutions to poverty and the city’s push towards economic justice. Follow us at @BrokeInPhilly.

Sherita Mouzon describes her younger self as suicidal, bitter and angry.

Like thousands of other Philadelphians, Mouzon lived in poverty for most of her life and attributes much of the trauma she experienced to her circumstances growing up. She can still remember the smell of mold and mildew in her mother’s house. She can still remember being molested as a child and her mother being physically abused. She still flinches when she hears loud noises or voices.

“It doesn’t go away,” Mouzon said during a Facebook Live interview with NBC10.

The trauma associated with poverty is not new. But a new report released Wednesday by The Pew Charitable Trusts shines a light on the experiences of Philadelphia's lowest income residents and shows how financial insecurity can affect everything from education to health.

Researchers have studied this link for decades, determining that exposure to violent crime, inadequate schools and physical and emotional trauma make it difficult to climb the economic ladder.

In Philadelphia, that ladder is especially tall. Philly has long been ranked the poorest metropolitan area of the country’s biggest cities. The poverty rate hovers at a stubborn 26 percent. Pew's latest study found that 41 percent of those living under the poverty line said their health was poor compared to just 18 percent of wealthier residents. More than half of respondents interviewed for the study said they grew up poor or near poverty.

“With poverty you can never unwind,” Dr. Sandra L. Bloom, associate professor of health management and policy at Drexel University, said. “There are no days off. No weekends. No vacations from poverty.”

Still, a surprising number of Philadelphians who qualified as poor — defined as a single adult under the age of 65 living alone or with a roommate and with an income below $12,752 — did not describe themselves as such. Nearly half of respondents said they were better off as adults than they were as children.

"If people have clothes and a place to sleep, they may not consider themselves poor because they know there is always someone who is worse off than them,” Mariana Chilton, Drexel University professor of health management and policy, said.

For example, one respondent identified only as Lucy said that everyone in her North Philadelphia neighborhood has "to work for things."

"But I don’t think anybody here is really poor," she said. "We have water. We have food."

That Mouzon can now feed herself and her child with relative ease feels like a success unthinkable six years ago when she still struggled with drug abuse. She now works at Witness to Hunger, where Mouzon dedicates her life to educating others about the trauma of poverty and how to more compassionately talk about those experiences.

The cycle appears undeniable.

In their report, Pew researchers also found that 38 percent of people who grew up poor said they had been cared for by someone with drug problems or depression and other forms of mental illness. More than one-third of those reported physical or sexual abuse during their lifetimes.

“To someone who was born into poverty like I was - no heat, no hot water, abandoned houses - it’s a trauma,” Mouzon said. “And then you add on seeing your mom being abused, that’s trauma. Being molested or sexually violated, that’s a trauma.”

This emotional cycle, an unseen consequence of poverty, frequently plays out in schools. In Philadelphia, 70 percent of low-income residents send their children to public schools compared to 46 percent of wealthier residents. Only 2 percent of poor students attend schools with high achievement ratings, according to the School District of Philadelphia.

Antonio Valdes, CEO of the Children’s Crisis Treatment Center, recalls hearing about a young boy who skipped school on a Monday and got into three different fights by lunch on Tuesday.

School officials were ready to expel or suspend him, but one counselor thought to ask the boy what happened recently in his life. His grandfather had died over the weekend, the boy told the counselor. The older man was the primary caregiver for the child and his mother, who was forced to return to work immediately after losing her father.

The boy acted out because he was grieving and didn’t know how to channel his pain.

“It changed everything by simply understanding what is happening in someone’s life,” Valdes said.

Applying that on a broader scale, he added, could go a long way towards ultimately changing the conversation about Philadelphia’s most disenfranchised citizens.

“When a family has experienced a trauma … they keep passing it on to the kids,” he said.

Watch the entire interview with Sherita Mouzon and Antonio Valdes below:

Brendan Tevlin was a college student who was murdered by a convicted terrorist four years ago. At the Jersey Shore, a new playground is going up to honor his life and legacy.

Crews are working to rescue at least five people after a SEPTA bus was struck by a car and went over a guardrail in King of Prussia, Pennsylvania.

The Route 125 bus was traveling on the 600 block of Allendale Road shortly after 9 p.m. Wednesday when it was hit by a car, according to Montgomery County Dispatch.

The impact caused the bus to go over a guardrail into the woods and down an embankment. At least five people are on board the bus and a rescue is in progress, officials said. They have not yet revealed if anyone inside the car was hurt.

SEPTA Route 125 operates between the King of Prussia Mall and Center City.

This story is developing. Check back for updates.

Officials are investigating a reported sex assault at Rowan University.

A man shot and killed his girlfriend and then tried to kill himself inside a West Philadelphia restaurant Wednesday night, police said.

The man and his girlfriend were inside the Studio 7 Lounge on the 5900 block of Spruce Street around 10:15 p.m. The man’s girlfriend worked as a bartender at the restaurant, police said.

The man allegedly shot the woman in the head and then shot himself in the head. They were both taken to Penn Presbyterian Hospital. The woman died from her injuries while the man survived.

Police have not yet revealed the man’s condition or his girlfriend’s identity. They continue to investigate.

DOMESTIC VIOLENCE HELP: The National Domestic Violence Hotline at 800-799-7233 or 800-787-3224 (TTY) provides people in distress, or those around them, with 24-hour support.

SUICIDE PREVENTION HELP: Here is information on suicide prevention from the National Institute of Mental Health. If you are in crisis, call the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline at 800-273-8255 or reach out to the Crisis Text Line by texting ‘Home’ to 741741.

Police are searching for a hit-and-run driver who struck a man and his girlfriend in front of his home in North Philadelphia.

Jacob Ortega and his girlfriend, Priscilla Rodriquez, 27, were outside Ortega’s home on the 1700 block of West Allegheny Avenue back on Sept. 14 at 3:20 a.m. As they were outside, a Jeep Cherokee clipped Ortega and ran over Rodriquez. It then continued east on Allegheny Avenue from 17th Street without stopping.

“I heard her screaming, ‘I don’t want to die, I don’t want to die,’” Ortega said. “She had gushing blood coming from her forehead. She was badly injured.”

Rodriquez suffered a shattered pelvis and shattered shoulder blades. She remains hospitalized in stable condition nearly two weeks later.

“She got dragged by the car while I just got pinned and pushed over the hood of the car,” Ortega said.

Ortega has visited Rodriquez every day, hoping to soon give her the news that an arrest was made.

“I really don’t know what type of person does this,” Ortega said. “Just hits two people and leaves them there. That’s insane. Why would you do that?”

Ortega’s mother took a photo of her son and his girlfriend on the ground moments after the hit-and-run. On Wednesday police released surveillance video of the crash.

The hit-and-run vehicle is described as a Jeep Cherokee, 2013 or newer, with damage to the right side and a missing right wheel opening molding.

The Fraternal Order of Police is offering a $5,000 reward for information leading to an arrest.

If you have any information on the identity or whereabouts of the hit-and-run driver, please call Philadelphia Police at 215-686-TIPS.

A teen watching television wound up in the hospital after a gunman sprayed his home with bullets overnight.

The boy was sitting in his living room in his home on North Taney Street in Philadelphia’s Brewerytown neighborhood around 10 p.m. Wednesday when the gunman fired at least eight shots, Philadelphia Police Chief Inspector Scott Small said.

“We know the shooter was standing outside of the house, firing shots into the home,” Small said. “We believe the shooter was firing intentionally into that property.”

Investigators don’t know if the boy or someone else was the intended target, Small said. The boy’s older brother, mother and a family friend were also home at the time.

The boy was rushed to the hospital in stable condition with one gunshot wound to his shoulder.

After the shooting, the gunman ran off. Police hope surveillance video helps the investigation.

Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh and his accuser, Dr. Christine Blasey Ford, head to Capital Hill for a hearing Thursday. Blasey Ford will testify under oath alleging that the Supreme Court Nominee sexually assaulted her decades ago.

The Boy Scouts of America is recalling 110,000 neckerchief slides over concerns they contain unsafe levels of lead.

According to the Consumer Product Safety Commission, the colored enamel portion of the brass neckerchief slides have lead amounts that exceed federal standards. 

The recalled styles are red wolf, green bear, orange lion and blue Webelos. They contain the P.O. numbers of 200228276, 20023175, 200233281 or 200236630 on the white label attached to the back of the slide.

The brass slides were sold at Boy Scouts of America retail stores, distributors nationwide and online at www.scoutshop.org from February 2018 to August 2018 for about $6.

Parents are urged to stop using the recalled slides, take them away from their children and return them to any Boy Scouts of America retail store or distributor for a free replacement.

Lead can be poisonous when ingested by young children. Symptoms include abdominal pain, vomiting, loss of appetite, developmental delays, learning difficulties and seizures. 

The CPSC noted that no incidents have been reported.

Andrea Constand is the woman who accused Bill Cosby of drugging and sexually assaulting her, but it was attorney Kristen Feden who was responsible in helping to take him down. Feden is now firing back at Cosby’s spokespeople who attacked the prosecution after Tuesday's sentencing.

Students in the Philadelphia area are getting a real-life look at just how big the global water crisis is care of the Road Warrior project.