we begin with breaking news at 5:00. as an overnight crash sends two police officers and six young people to the hospital. >> police tell us that group stole a car, took off on a joyride and then slammed into undercover. abc action news reporter ashley gore is live near the area where the crash happened. any word on how the officers are doing? >> reporter: these officers are expected to be ok. everyone involved went to the hospital. i want to step out of the way and show you why. take a look at the wreckage. you can see how bad this crash was. first you're looking here at that car, that the young people were in. that they stole. then you're looking at the truck that those officers were in. let me tell you the irony of this. these officers, one from tampa, the other from st. pete were

part of a task force set up to stop young people from stealing cars. they were out on a call about another stolen car, when this group in a stolen car broadsided them. and these were all young people in the stolen car. the driver just 25 years old, the youngest one in there, 15 years old. we spoke to the chief about the crash, he says that they average about one stolen car every day. >> we all got together to address this problem. and thank god we are doing something to try to curb this but until we get people to remember to take the keys out and lock their cars we'll be still trying to catch the guys and girls stealing cars. >> reporter: two of those young people were trauma alerted out of here. again the officers stable now but you can see there are still accident investigators out here on scene, we're going to continue to follow this all

morning long and update you on social media and our web site, abcactionnews.com. reporting live in st. pete, i'm ashley, abc action news. another tragedy involving law enforcement. >> that's right. a hillsborough county deputy was killed in the line of duty over the weekend. 30-year-old john cotfila jr. died saturday when a wrong way driver slammed into his patrol car. his family and the community are grieving his loss now as funeral arrangements are being made. coming up today at 5:30 -- reporter corey dierdorff will join us live to share what his sister is saying about his death and her reflection on her brother's life. good morning. hope you enjoyed your weekend out there. muggy, a few showers to end it but for both weekend days in pretty good shape. we lost an hour of sleep. we gained it in daylight but still quite an adjustment always this time of year. temperatures now in the low 70s.

we're not quite done with the moisture, still seeing showers at this hour. i'll zoom in a little closer and you can see all this is essentially headed to the north and east. so we'll have a few pockets of showers that will continue throughout the morning so keep it in mind especially on coastal counties. we'll continue to see that this morning, so we may have to deal with a few wet roads. you see a little more moisture from the south and west. we were able to clear it by later today. so say by 11:00 we're in good shape. staying with a lot of clouds but we'll get rid of the rainfall and look at the temperatures, despite the cloud cover, upper 70s and low 80s and the further you go from the coast temperatures there in the mid-80s. that will be the trend the next few days. we'll be tracking the warm temperatures and also the next chance for rain but so far this morning here's janelle martinez on an early dark monday. feels extra early for some reason. the clock change. most people heading out the door now, shouldn't have any trouble.

county, both directions up to speed pushing 70 from bridge-to- bridge. we have a closure to tell you about, after this story you first heard the officer involved, crash there in st. pete, 54th street north is closed now in both directions, you might want to take 58th street north or even 49th street north until they get that crash cleared. make sure you're following me here and of course on twitter @tampabaytraffic. a quick check of the average speeds, looking pretty good this time of morning. all in the green on the veterans expressway, 275 and 75 heading southbound. back to you. 5:04. breaking news now, 128 people were on board an amtrak train from los angeles to chicago when it derailed overnight in kansas. it happened about 20 miles west of dodge city. you're looking at pictures now from the scene, so far we've learned five cars are laying on their side, 11 passengers have been taken to a dodge city hospital. there's no word now on what caused the derailment.

amtrak says it's going to make sure all of the passengers get to chicago. breaking overnight -- tampa police are trying to find out where and why a man was shot overnight. they got a 911 call just after midnight and responded to the area of west francis avenue. they say that is where the victim went after he was shot in the leg. police say he is not cooperating about why -- where he was prior to the shooting. or what even led up to the shooting. to democracy 2016 -- tampa remains one of the hot spots for presidential candidates. in the final hours leading up to the florida primary today gop frontrunner donald trump will be in the area. as a new poll shows he's the favored candidate in the sunshine state contest. right now he's got a major lead according to the "the wall street journal." marist and nbc. the groups teamed up and found 43% of voters in the state support trump compared to 22% for florida senator marco rubio. 21% for ted cruz. and 9% for john kasich.

the convention center downtown as trump holds a rally again starting 2:00 p.m. this event is free so if you would like to go we have a link on abcactionnews.com. just look for it on the home page, for the trump story, or in story links. police are closing franklin street at 8: 00 this morning ahead of today's event. 8:00. donald trump was in boca raton last night but he won't today. he's cancelled a rally in miami that would have been going on tonight in doral. he decided instead to campaign in youngstown, ohio. his campaign said in a statement yesterday -- if we're successful on election day we will do a celebration at doral after the election. a late schedule change camean trump is more concerned about losing ohio to kasich than florida to senator rubio. rubio will end the day in his

hometown of west miami. there will be two events in ohio today. mitt romney is not endorsing a candidate but encouraged voters to choose kasich in ohio and rubio in florida in an effort to stop donald trump. on the democratic side hillary clinton is getting support of her own in florida. her husband, former president bill clinton is working to bring in votes for his wife. he's going to make stops today in tallahassee, jacksonville and winter park. he's going to be laying out the case for why she's the best candidate to raise incomes and also break down racial, social and economic barriers for florida families. he'll start at tallahassee at florida am university at 12:30, and hillary clinton herself is going to be in illinois and north carolina. into meanwhile, bernie sanders will be campaigning in ohio today. last night he and clinton both participated in a town hall onp cnn. they were both critical of donald trump's role in the violence at his rallies.

tv and tell his supporters that violence in the political process in america is not acceptable, end of discussion. >> what trump has done is - a case of political arson. he lit the fire and then he throws his hands up. >> a protester was arrested on saturday at one of trump's get onstage. at 5:30 we're going to hear from the protester. meanwhile voters in five states go to the polls tomorrow, florida, ohio, missouri, north carolina and illinois. today we're expecting to learn the name of a woman found dead in largo this weekend. police are calling her death suspicious. officers able to identify her by fingerprints. officers say someone spotted her body in some bushes near 145th street north and starboard lane sunday morning. no word yet on how she died. this morning we're learning more about the police officer who was shot and killed in maryland.

the police chief there is calling the shooting unprovoked. investigators have the accused shooter in custody now. the chief says officers were just doing their jobs yesterday afternoon when the suspect opened fire on them outside of a police station. several officers fired back, the officer killed has been identified as jakai coalson, four-year veteran, just days shy of his 29th birthday. hundreds of people gathered overnight in milwaukee, they came together to remember the three people authorities say were shot and killed by a neighbor. family and friends and supporters were surrounded by candles and flowers at that vigil. 39-year-old dan popp is charged with three counts of first degree murder after opening fire on march 6th at the apartment complex where the victim and suspect lived. he also faces a charge of attempted first degree murder pause he shot at an -- because he shot at an 18-year-old. police are still working to determine a motive. did you get a chance to stop by the gasparilla music festival?

if so, you may have noticed the focus this weekend was all about culture in tampa. >> okaynizeers start -- organizers started a new line- up of latin musicians. there were five stages. sounds like cuban folk, salsa and tango have all been represented at the festival. they say fans have shownp recent interest in latin music so they wanted the bands all in one place. >> we really wanted to have it all together here, so we could get synergy off the latin bands together. >> there will be even more latin bands next year. to the weather with ivan cabrera. >> still tracking a few showers from the south and west. you can see this plume of moisture. i'll let you know how that impacts your monday coming up. we'll then talk about the mid- week forecast and whether we can hang on to the summer

preview temperatures. still ahead -- thousands of homes damaged, thousands of people rescued after devastating flooding in louisiana. now we're learning how people from here in florida are helping those in need. >> then an easter bunny stops by at the bay area especially for one group of kids. what sets this furry friend

time now is 5:14. this morning people here in the bay area are joining in to help those dealing with the

devastating flooding this morning. right now more than 1,000 people in louisiana are forced out of their homes along the gulf coast there. especially in harder-hit parts of alexandra, louisiana. the red cross says it's opened more shelters in that state than what it has in the past decade. more than 700 people are staying in those shelters, the red cross is sending in volunteers from the tampa bay area and all across the country do help with the recovery including florida native brenda gatcom. she will be making the journey first this morning to help with the much needed devastation there. more than 5,000 homes were damaged and at least four people killed. the national guard says it's rescued nearly 3300 people. this morning people are being forced to evacuate from the camp site in northern california after days of heavy rain there. a creek is rising, also threatening to trap almost 200 campers in the area. the rain is also creating hazardous conditions on the roads and a growing mudslide is

forcing a few families to evacuate their homes. >> the rain starts coming down in buckets like that, it gets a little out of control. we have to scramble. >> one of the families was forced to leave after the foundation and floors at their home started to buckle. causing the back deck to completely collapse. a utility company owns the area behind those homes, so many of the homeowners are blaming the company for not doing enough to prevent the mudslides. hopefully some of the rain is beginning to stop there. >> still a little more but it's the topography in california because of the mountains that can get them in trouble pretty quickly. they have the drought. so the ground can't get the water going, as far as the soil moisture, it's so dry. let's show you what is going on in california. still some rain. then we'll talk about louisiana as well. terrible scenes there. seeing folks being plucked from their rooftops, images reminiscent of katrina.

continuing to move through. the rain not as heavy but what has already fallen has been pretty significant. on the brighter side excellent use for the reservoirs because in central california is where they are and that is where they catch the rainfall for the dry season which is fast approaching. so etc. good they got some rainfall from it. in the deep south, we had the stuck pattern. last week we had that sunshine here in florida. then they got pummeled with rainfall. that is a much improved situation there. much drier weather coming in for them heading into the next few days. some moisture for us still left over in the form of showers, in fact it will continue with the pockets of heavy rainfall here -- not heavy rainfall but still coming into the south and west and heading to pinellas, you've seen some showers already, that will continue, will be the trend for later this morning. not much left though by the time we get to the midday hour and afternoon. we'll be in much better shape as far as the rainfall. futurecast shows that. with again, pockets of light to moderate showers this morning. then mostly cloudy for the rest of the day.

we'll have a few breaks of sunshine and very muggy. you've been feeling that this morning. so far in the low 70s. and it is going to feel like mid-80s with low 80s despite the temperature there. despite the cloud cover shy say, temperatures warming on up. so quite muggy. only feels like mosquito season already in florida. janelle, as we had a pretty nice weekend, a lot of activity going on. and you ended up at the music festival. i was walking right hand there as well. >> it's fun. >> interesting to hear the spanish music. >> it was fun. the weather was great. can't complain about. that great weekend. as far as the traffic goes, we're in pretty good shape. behind me here at i-275 and bird street. no crashes or breakdowns here but we're hearing reports of a semi crash on the courtney campbell causeway in the westbound lanes, we're working to get more details now. so make sure you keep it here. also follow me on twitter @tampabaytraffic. on i-4 in the lakeland avenue heading out the door

now, it's going to take 23 minutes to get to downtown tampa. 15 minutes from county line road to 75. just 8 minutes from 75 to 275. back to you. pasco county mall is making sure that children with special needs can still join in on the easter fun. >> this is a big deal not just for the kids but their families. gulfview square in port richey hosted the sensitive bunny over the weekend. it's an easter bunny meant for kids with autism and other sensory disorders. families were invited to enjoy a private photo session free of crowds and distractions which can be a problem for kids with sensory disorders. >> they say that the parents are grateful to be able to take part in the tradition. >> they are so happy whether i see them come in and say thank you so much for doing this event, we usually wouldn't be able to with the easter bunny or santa claus. now they can. it's really a special thing they can bring back every year. >> kids who posed with the

bunny even got hand crafts and goody bags to take with them. the sensitive bunny also makes stops all across the united states. still ahead -- we all know that fruits and vegetables are good for us but this morning we are learning which one could actually help in the fight against alzheimer's. >> first this morning, gas prices are rising sharply. we have details in this morning's business headlines from new york. >> reporter: good morning. topping "america's money" -- rising gas prices. ? the national average is now $1.94, up 12 cents in a week. the biggest increase this year, a big reason is that demand is up, we're driving more because gas has been so cheap. with no other family friendly films this weekend, "zootopia." >> it took in $50 million, double the $25 million take of "10 cloverfield lane." it's national pie day.

>> be the first person to answer three tough math questions on pizza hut's web site and you might win 3.14 years of free pizza. >> we'll do this math for you. that is worth $1,600. >> all that math is -- hurting my brain.

time now 5:24. you're going to want to put blueberries in your oatmeal or pack some in your lunch today after hearing this. >> in addition to providing 25% of your daily vitamin c new research now shows they can lower your risk of alzheimer's disease. a team of scientists at the university of cincinnati say the antioxidants in blueberries improve memory and cognitive function in some older adults. >> the group also says that they noted quite a few differences in the studies that already found that blueberries are beneficial in preventing dementia. while potato chips -- different topic, there's a reason you might want to pop open a bag today. >> today is national potato chip day. according to legend a chef invented them in 1853 after a picky customer kept sending back his fried potatoes complaining they were too thick and soggy. >> the only problem is you can't east just one.

your boss when you are at work today. if he finds you catching zs like this baby here, today is national napping day. you node to take a nap today. it's -- need to take a nap today. it's observed following the return of daylight savings when everyone is feeling a little extra groggy after springing forward. coming up, spring break takes a tragic turn in florida. what we're learning about a deadly accident that happened

the final push to win florida is on. it's the eve of the florida primary. we'll show you where the candidates are focusing their attention, some right here in the bay area. >> we're also following breaking news out of st. petersburg. two undercover police officers hurt in a crash overnight. now we're learning more about who slammed into their truck and their condition this hour. good monday morning. thank you for joining us. i'm sarah rosario. >> i'm deiah riley. janelle and of course ivan both here to look at traffic and weather together. we have a little rain overnight. it was kind of heavy. >> it feels muggy out there. a kind of a summer preview. as we get into mid-march temperatures will continue in