the coal that spilled over from the derailed trains went into a parking lot and it was a mess. it has been a mess. some of the cleanup is underway. so many have questions about what happened and remembering the lives of these two young ladies. let's check in with jamie costello. we have a crew on the scene. bring us the latest. >> reporter: you have two families, two families at home tonight explaining how their daughter, smothered in coal here at 12:02. it is an unbelievable outcome. if you've ever been to main street in ellicott city, we've had floods. we've had fires but nothing, nothing like this. they were sitting after the bars had emptied out and went to the bridge, hanging out on the bridge. their bodies were found seated on the edge of the bridge and they're facing baltimore, facing

east as they were on the side where the train came right behind them. that's when the train derailed and smothered them in coal. it drifted down below and on top of cars. about 21 cars were ruined. some of the trains went overboard. it's just an amazing scene. this train was heading from grafton, west virginia and it was on its way to baltimore to empty out the coal there. it's been here since our grandfather's days and this bridge is one of the first from ellicott city to baltimore. so a lot of --

>> reporter: we're trying to hear what they heard last night. we're live in ellicott city. [ poor audio ] >> we'll check back in with jamie costello. such a tragedy as the community mourns and investigators continue to determine what happened. people living near the derailment are sharing their stories. manny locke has more on what they hard and saw. >> reporter: the thundering

crash of nearly two dozen csx cars derailing brought people out. >> a big ole rumble, big boom and come outside. i look up the street, down the street, didn't notice anything until i looked up the bridge. that's when it all became real. >> reporter: by daybreak ellicott city residents flocked to the area to see the damage and learned two young women had died. >> i was getting a glass of wart. the train goes by a couple times every day. this time it was so loud. and the table that i was near was shaking. it was unreal. i figured that it derailed. >> it sounded like gunshots going off and the house was shaking. i didn't know what it was. i can look down the point of view where i could see everything falling over. that's when i know it was mass

mayhem. >> reporter: as the massive cleanup begins, maryland's department will be on the scene assessing the environmental impact. ellicott city, i'm manny locke. >> this derailment has caused a major traffic night maimplet -- nightmare. the best alternate route is to take route 40. last night's derailment was not the issue in howard county. in march two csx trains collided causing two cars to slam into a telephone pole. no injuries were reported in that derailment but we'll bring you more about the victims, the lives lost and the nasty scene that it has caused. let's check in now with wyatt everhart with a look at the

first forecast. wyatt? >> the good news is we have had clear weather today for all of the cleanup efforts in ellicott city and across the state. if you look carefully we did have the fog to deal with, especially in the northern part of the state. that burned off quickly. temperatures bouncing up. into the mid-80s. to the west generally clear, a few showers through the ohio valley. unlikely they will impact our weather much. 70s, warm with a few clouds and little bit on the humid side. there are some changes into the weekend. we'll talk about that and the latest on tropical storm isaac. baltimore city police arrested five men in connection with a scam targeting the elderly. police say two women and three men were all involved in planning the scams which in some cases turned violent. one victim said she got a call from a woman claiming to work

for the city's tax collector's office. the woman demanded a cash payment for a late bill or she would be evicted. in one case the scammers threatened or attacked people when they didn't pay. police believe the five people arrested are the only ones involved in the scam. baltimore county police arrested rest rest and charged -- edwin inglesias-reyes and charged him with murder of his roommate. officers were called out to scars dale and found -- victor portillo. there was a trail of blood through the neighborhood. >> police recovered the car that two prince george's county

offices were chasing. it was recovered in washington. investigators are still questioning the occupant of the car but have said -- have not said whether that was the person involved in the suit no charges have been filed. the officer killed was 23-year-old adrian morris, a two and a half-year member of the force. the other officer was treated and released. the car was believed to have been involved in an auto theft. a derailment overnight in ellicott city left two college students dead. we'll have more into the investigation. and he survived two tours of duty in iraq but lost his life on the most recent mission to afghanistan. his father talks about his dedication to the country. and she tried to swim from cuba to the florida keys, but diana nyad had to call it quits.

that's coming up.

all right. the very latest on that breaking news we have been following all morning and all night. it's been 17 hours since that deadly train derailment killed two 19-year-olds from ellicott city. yore yawrp and -- rose mayr and elizabeth nass were near the csx tracks. that's when a train carrying coal derailed and killed the two of them. the two had been tweeting moments before the crash. what we don't know is what caused the train to derail. investigators are looking at that right now and will be looking at that throughout the evening.

verizon said the train derailment is disrupting some service. we'll continue to stay on top of the story throughout the newscast and on abc2. all right. start off with a lock at baltimore. a very clear looking and pleasant looking afternoon and a good looking summer day. average temperature. 51% the humidity. dew point at 51. show you some of the weather as it has unfolded. boy, it was gorgeous. you can see passing cloud cover. just fair weather cumulus clouds. towson, a blue sky with some of the clouds bubbling up later in the afternoon and a mighty fine day down on the severn river.

you have to love it when you see that type of scenario. temperatures low 80s and upper 70s north and west. we'll keep an eye on that as temperatures should cool slowly this evening. it's dry air in pennsylvania but most of maryland of what i call moderate humidity with a dew point of 60, muggy, nonetheless, muggy. the wind speed direction is out of the east at 5 to 10. there's bay wart and -- water and ocean water temperature. any breeze off the water not exactly a cooling one at least not on a day like this with temps in the low 80s. you can see this stalled front just offshore continuing to keep the clouds around maryland, at time as hit and miss shower.

the front will push far enough offshore that we'll be left with mostly sunny skies. there may be a shower in the morning but i think most of us will be dry. thursday looks even clearer and less active weather wise. so that's a good thing. we continue to watch clear weather to the north and west, still some showers in the carolinas. of course all the news and all eyes focused on this, our next large tropical weather maker, a lot of the tracks bringing it up the next six to eight days toward the florida area. it's several hundred miles east of the lesser antilles. so isaac getting better and better developed. a tropical storm from a trod throed we're watching td -- tropical depression that we're

watching td number nine. a new one coming in behind africa. so it's turning very active. we're getting right no the heart of the hurricane season. we'll watch this closely over the next five to eight days. tonight 63, partly cloudy mild and calm. we'll stay 85. sun and clouds, bright and warmer. here's the seven-day forecast, a morning fog. that will be a concern over the next few days. after that conditions turning favorable. you can see the outlook shows temperatures hovering in the upper 80s toward the weekend and noticeably dry weather, so basically i heard someone say it earlier today now might be a good time to do that wash and wax. when there's rain in the outlook we don't do it. now may be a good chance to do it. wash, wax, let the pros do it.

the threat of thunderstorms and the pain of jellyfish steenings -- stings, forced diana nyad to end her swim. >> reporter: sharks, squalls and jellyfish doomed diana nyad's latest 103-mile swim. it was her third attempt in a year. she was pulled from the water one day shy of her 63rd birthday. >> she's severely sunburned. she got multiple hits. she has a strained by seps must -- biceps muscle. >> reporter: her face and suit were smeared with black paste to

stave off hypothermia. this time nyad faced more treacherous waters, sharks encircling parts of the day. her support group saying all hell breck loose. that squall dumped so much rain that it put her back six hours. t.j. winick, abc news, new york. >> a trooper. katie's new show is set to premier here. we know plenty of people want a chance to see the show in person. right now the folks at katy are running a contest to win a trip to see the show. this is when she was here and we talked to her. the premiere is on september 10th. here's how you cannen -- can enter. like the page and tell them why

you're katie's biggest fan. one person will win a trip for two and attend the premiere. you want to be there. all right, coming up, if upfind your child -- you find your child staying up late to study for a test, research shows they may do bet are if they just head to bed. >> and college students who binge drink, are they happier? why they're more satisfied with their lives. why don't we play a game of hide and seek? right now?

yeah go hide. one, two...

[ son ] come and find me! three! [ male announcer ] bite-sized chicken's grown up. new kfc bites. freshly hand-breaded in the colonel's original recipe. try 10 bites with an 8 piece meal for $19.99. today tastes so good. students heading back to class should be careful about stud deeing over sleep.

staying up to cram is counter productive. when study time cuts into sleep time, students perform more poorly in class. this is a study that parents are not going to be happy b -- about. new research shows that binge drinkers are happier. they found binge drinking associated with social power and most students who binge, do it to feet in. one of the biggest changes your child will see in the school year will be in the lunch room. they're trying to improve nutrition and new government standards are in effect. schools must meet the new standards in order to receive federal reimbursement. >> you will see a lot more fruits and vegetables, whole

drains, lower fat protein choices as well as appropriate portion sizes. >> if you look at the menu, you may not see all the changes implemented right away. dietitians recommend packing extra fruits and veggies. you can try talking to your child's principal if you'd like to see things added. pick up a few extra school supplies for kids in nee.d abc2 is teaming up with preston mitchum foundation and the celebree learning center. we need the backpack, the pens, pencils, wide ruled paper and composition notebooks. you can drop off the supplies at any celebree learning center through friday. for more information you can go to abc2news.com/school supplies. two college students are

dead after an overnight train derailment. and he was on his third tour of afghanistan when he was killed. his father talks about his son's commitment to his country. the republican national convention kicks off in days. how both parties are narrowing their focus in preparation.

we have been covering this story since last night. the train derailment in ellicott city that took the lives of two local college students. it happened in a matter of moments at the csx tracks in ellicott city. we have live team coverage. i know a news briefing just wrapped up in the last hour,

jamie. what can you share with us. >> reporter: ken ulman will join me in just a second. this runs through the main street. you can see main street, all the old buildings on the left. the main drag is cut in half by his railroad track that was built way back in the 1800's. you can see the train right there and that's where the spilling of the coal on that side. if you go above and over the tree line, that's where the patapsco river runs. it's running this way this baltimore, to your right. it was coming from grafton, west virginia. i want to bring in roosevelt leftwich. >> reporter: here's what we know. 21 cars derailed. it was coming from grafton, west virginia, into baltimore. what they've done is all the train cars that have flipped over, they cut the wheels off. they put the wheels back on the track and flip the train back

over, put it on top of the wheels and roll it out. it will be a long slow process. they're having issues. part of it derailed on the bridge. they have to figure out way to get them off the bridge, back over and out of the area. so it's going to be a long process but they will work overnight. that will not include the pole that fell off. according to the ntsb, they want to get the track open. as far as the investigation, they're not shower what caused the derailment. they did say this, according to jim southwood, the lead investigator here. he said as the train was coming through ellicott city about 12:02 last night there was an automatic brake triggering. when those hoses preak, they trigger the hoses on the car. one car went over followed by

others. at least that's what they think right now. they're still trying to figure out what happened here. then the two girls on the track. they don't know why they were on the track but they were identified as elizabeth nass and rose mayr of ellicott city. what they say happened is the two girls were sitting on the side of the track that faces the baltimore county side. they were sitting there as the train was passing. the trains derailed. the coal cars flipped over and they were covered in coal. they're not sure why they were on the track or how they died. they said they will perform autopsies. at this point it's closed from the howard county side to the baltimore side. no traffic can come through here. everybody is being forced