Good Morning El Paso 02.01.16

strong winds are back in the borderland today—we have your detailed first alert forecast and what you can expect for the start of your work week. “”get out of bed and caucus! today’s iowa caucuses mark the official kickoff of the 2016 presidential nominating contests—what you can expect from the hawkeye state. plus—the zika virus outbreak is making its way into the united states with confirmed cases now in texas. / a very good morning el paso, las cruces, and juarez. i’m stephanie valle. and i’m hillary floren. on your monday..good morning, everyone. it’s the first day of february and we are off to a chilly and windy start tdday … the potential for damaging winds exists for the borderland on monday. a very strong upper level trough of low pressure along the west coast of the united states…and its associated pacific cold front will significantly impact the borderland. the system will move eastward across southern new mexico and far west texas on monday. the main threat of this storm system to most of the region will be the high potential for strong to potentially damaging winds. in addition this system will bring accumulating snow to the gila wilderness region…sacramento mountains and the mountains in the bootheel of new mexico. a mix of rain and snow and light snow showers are possible for the lowlands of southwest new mexico west of the continental divide monday morning. significantly colder temperatures will follow in the wake of the cold front with temperatures remaing below normal for most of this week. for more on how you can stay safe during today’s winds … let’s send things over to good morning el -paso’s denise olivas. the last time we saw strong winds like this was back in november. we saw several weather related incidents involving 18- wheelers. with winds reaching up to 60 mph through the morning, you’ll want to take extra precautions when driving in close proximity. although txdot does provide signs and warnings about high winds, txdot does not close any highways or overpasses because of high winds. the wait is over… it is decision day in iowa. the 2016 presidential nomination process… kicking off today. the candidates… spending the night crisscrossing the state. hoping to win the first-in-the- nation caucuses. abc’s lana zak is in des moines and has the latest… it’s your voice, your vote. sanders sot it sounds like you want to make political revolution.” clinto nats- clinton sot: “i am a better candidate and thanks to you, i will be a better president, and i want you to know that.” gfx: time is up for the three democrats and the eleven republicans running for president rob sand will be administering a caucus in western des moines “i think a lot of people are going to make that decision when they’re listening to their neighbors.” in fact, on both the republican and the democratic side, the last iowa poll found 5-points or less separating 1st and 2nd place ?and with about a third of voters still waivering in their support, campaigns can influence the results up to the last second. in their final day on the trail, ted cruz attended church, churchgoer: “i’ll vote for you if you promise to run this country like a god fearing christian.” cruz :”you have my word” he sa he prayed for donald trump and marco rubio, who made this appeal– rubio “i’ asking you to caucus for me tomorrow night because if i’m president of the united states, when i’m president of the united states, we will confront the challenges of our time.” rubi fighting hard for an upset second place finish…or better trump “get out of bed and caucus!” and donald trump, long the man in the lead, gave his wife melania the mic to close the deal in iowa. melania sot. “h will be unbelievable.” tag: on th republican side, we will expect results to start coming in soon after 7 central, for the democrats though, the results often take longer since those caucuses are like a game of red rover, with campaigns trying to sway voters from the non-competive candidates over to their side. lana zak abc news, des moines, iowa abc-7 with new information this morning– health officials say they have found six travel-related cases of the mosquito- borne zika virus in texas. the department of state health services said in a statement friday — the six people were infected abroad and diagnosed after they returned home. zika has been spreading quickly in parts of latin america and the caribbean. the virus causes no more than a mild illness in most people — but has been linked to a spike in a rare birth defect in brazil. the c-d-c has recommended that pregnant women consider postponing trips to outbreak regions until more is known. the world health organization is holding an emergency meeting today on the zika virus outbreak. the w-h-o warns there could be as many as four million new infections this year. there’s no treatment for it. w-h-o’s deputy director general talked about when a vaccine may become available: ” “so part of our job, just lik on ebola, is getting the international community together, getting consensus, picking out what are the best possible candidates, getting the money behind that, the trial designs and moving those forward. and that is exactly the role.” “and time frame from where we’r at today to a vaccine?” “we’ve heard a few differen things. we could probably have something in a phase one trial in four to six months and then probably have something available in a year.” now to an abc-7 traffic alert to pass along— starting today—el paso electric will be working downtown for the next 6- weeks. crews will be on the corner of overland and stanton to work on new service to a building in the area. there will be detour signs to guide you around the area. also starting today—el paso electric will be working along montana from 9 a.m. until 4 p.m. crews will be completing transmisison work along the road every day this week until friday. / now it’s time to take a look at the tx-dot traffic cams… on sunday—family and friends gathered to pay their respects to former andress coach allan sepkowitz. / “he had a great heart and everything. that’s how i’ll always rember him. he was a lovely lovely man to know’ sepkowitz coached the andress eagles for 36 years before retiring. he was el paso’s winningest high school football coach. but he inspired countless people both on and off the field. he died last week while recovering from brain surgery. players we spoke with – said coach sep was more than just a successful football coach – he was also a mentor who taught valuable lessons: “life lessons that’s what h would tach. like i said you could go tot him for help he was always there for you. even if you weren’t a player he wa always there…. that’s the kind of person he was.” andress high school is planning on holding a public memorial for sepkowitz. school officials will discuss and finalize details on the memorial later today – and as soon as the information is released we will let you know. no word yet on how a home caught fire in anthony over the weekend. the fire happened around 1 a.m sunday morning at a home on the intersection of poplar and luisa in anthony texas. our ’round the clock news crews were there as firefighters battled the blaze. you can see the home’s roof is partially collapsed. neighbors tell abc-7 they helped family members escape, including a young girl who was taken to the hospital after suffering from smoke inhalation. crews with el paso county, santa teresa, west valley and the anthony fire department teamed up to fight the fire. no word yet on how much damage was caused. . 2-shot we still have much more to come her eon good morning el paso— we told you on good morning el paso on friday about the revolution—so what made the company chose the dramatic ad approach..well tell you coming up. / and later —a rare volcanic eruption caught on camera for the first time in over a decade–well take a closer look coming up. meteorologist krystal klei has your detailed forecast. krystal… and this is abc-7, where news comes first!