My life. Her mother speaks out after reuniting with her daughter. And gone to pot . Is the legalization of marijuana driving people to homeless shelters . The unexpected problem in colorado as it goes mainstream today. Monday, july 28, 2014. From nbc news this is today with matt lauer and Savannah Guthrie live from studio 1a in rockefeller plaza. Good morning, everybody. Welcome to today on a monday morning. Weve got willie in here for matt this morning. What a strange situation in california, the Lightning Strike on the beach. How rare these are, al. This is such a tiny storm. In fact, the last time somebody died in california from a Lightning Strike was 2009. So you dont see that this often. And that violent Weather Coast to coast actually is our top story this morning. Lets start with the deadly Lightning Strike on californias famed venice beach. Thats where we find Nbcs Joe Fryer this morning. Joe, good morning to you. Reporter good morning, savannah. One person was killed, another is in Critical Condition. In all, across Southern California, 14 people were injured by Lightning Strikes. Something that doesnt normally happen here on the beach especially this time of year. Complete chaos across venice beach moments after the lightning bolt hit. People rushing to help a victim who was lying on the edge of the water. It literally sounded like a bomb went off. The loudest clap of thunder ive heard in my life. Reporter paul deon was swimming when the shock pulsed through him. You know, i was struggling to get my head back above water. Reporter luckily nearby friends pulled him to safety. Thank god they were brave enough to jump in and not hesitate. Reporter in all 13 people were treated at the scene, eight of them taken to hospitals. One of the victims, a 20yearold man, passed away. The Lightning Strike was produced by a rare band of summer thunderstorms that moved through los angeles on sunday. That big cell right there, ill zero in on, thats where the Lightning Strikes were this afternoon. Reporter another lightning bolt on a golf course on Catalina Island injured a 57yearold man. Hes expected to be okay. And this was the aftermath in Redondo Beach where lightning singed a house and a car. A path of destruction on the ground caused by a sudden jolt of electricity from the sky. This is the 16th death this year in the u. S. Caused by a Lightning Strike and the first in california. Al, as you mentioned the last time someone in Southern California was killed by a Lightning Strike was over five years ago. Thats right, joe fryer in venice beach, california. Joe, thank you so much. And as we mentioned, 16 people generally so far this year have been killed by Lightning Strikes in 2014. Out of that number, six were in florida so far. And as joe mentioned, 2009 last Southern California death. In fact, on average about 52 people die a year due to Lightning Strikes in our country. Weve also had Severe Weather in the east. As you look, this is in eastern tennessee. A rope tornado. And youll see some power lines flashing as you can see them right there. Boom. Transformers blowing as lines get ripped up. A lot of damage in parts of eastern tennessee. In fact, out of the 36 eastern counties, about ten of them saw major damage. You can see buildings knocked down, power lines pulled down. Poles literally pulled out of the ground and that is now making its way to the east. As you can see on the map, weve got more showers and thunderstorms starting to crop up as the warm, moist air makes its way along the eastern seaboard. Well see the humidity levels still hanging in. But behind this, much cooler air comes on in. Thats going to generate more strong storms from new orleans all the way down into wilmington, tallahassee, charleston. Cant rule out tornadoes, damaging winds, and a decent amount of rain, guys. Were talking 2 to 3 inches of rain that may cause flash flooding on top of everything else. Wild Weather Coast to coast. Al, well talk to you in a couple minutes. Thanks. Now to the heavy fighting in the middle east. Israel and hamas exchanged new attacks overnight following a temporary truce. And with the death toll now topping 1,000 people the u. N. Security council is calling for an immediate and unconditional ceasefire. Nbcs chief Foreign CorrespondentRichard Engel is in gaza city for us. Richard, good morning. Reporter good morning, willie. The u. N. Security council held this emergency meeting overnight calling on both sides to stop their hostilities to implement this unconditional ceasefire. President obama in what has been described to us as an especially blunt conversation spoke with israels Prime Minister to stress the same point. Israel has agreed to stop most of its offensive operations in gaza, but this conflict is certainly and by no certain terms over yet. After three weeks of punishing air strikes against the gaza strip, nearly 2,500 palestinian rockets lobbed at israeli cities. And a 12day ground operation into gaza in which at least 43 Israeli Soldiers were killed in close combat. Now the most promising sign yet that this war could be turning a corner. Israel says it wants to trade quiet for quiet. But israel isnt stopping its gaza mission entirely. The army said it will continue to destroy hamas tunnels along gazas perimeter. It gave no time limit for how long that might take. What is hamas getting in return . So far nothing. No deal, no immediate lifting of the closure of the gaza strip. Just a reprieve from israels assault that has flattened entire gaza neighborhoods and killed more than 1,000 palestinians. Many of them civilians, many of them children. The war could easily escalate again. Hamas wants an agreement to end the fighting. Not for israel to unilaterally scale back the assault on its own terms. After this harsh and blunt phone call from president obama, israel said it will stop taking unilateral action and only respond to attacks. Hamas has rejected that. It says that it will probably hold a ceasefire for 24 hours. This is a muslim holy day across the arab world, across the muslim world. But its very likely when this holiday ends, tomorrow or the next day, hamas rocket attacks in israel could resume. All right. Richard engel in gaza city for us this morning. Richard, thank you. Now to another troubled spot. New fighting in the ukraine. Once again slowing the investigation into the downing of malaysia air flight 17. And nbcs keir simmons has the latest from donetsk this morning. Keir, good morning to you. Reporter savannah, good morning. This morning, the u. N. Says the shooting down or apparent shooting down of mh17 may constitute a war crime which makes the investigation even more important. And yet this morning we were with the investigators as they struggled to even get to the scene of the crash. Determined to reach the crash site of malaysian flight 17, a convoy of western monitors and media is forced to pull over. Theres gunfire ahead. The monitors have been stopped in the road just up here further up we heard fighting, tank fire, mortars, clashes between the separatists and the Ukrainian Military. Tense negotiations begin. Finally the two sides agree to cease fire long enough to allow safe passage. But locals are fleeing with terrible stories. We heard antiaircraft guns trying to shoot the plane, he tells me, then it dropped two bombs. And there are reports of both sides using indiscriminate ground rockets like these. Pictures unverified by nbc news. The Ukrainian Military and the rebels blaming each other for the death of 13 civilians including two children yesterday. Most of this unverified video is too sickening to show. Secretary kerry is urging russia to stop arming the rebels. But president putin taking part in a Russian Naval ceremony isnt listening. Vowing to strengthen the russian fleet in crimea, still considered by ukraines leadership to be their country. And this morning the state department has issued satellite images it says supports its assertion that Russian Forces are firing artillery into Eastern Ukraine in support of the separatists. Meanwhile were hearing those monitors in the end did have to turn back, savannah. They are saying that artillery fire got closer and closer to them. And they are describing themselves as sick and tired of it. Savannah. It makes a hard job even harder. Keir simmons in the region this morning, thank. Concerns are intensifying today after a second american tested positive for the potentially deadly ebola virus while working in africa. Nbcs Janet Shamlian in london with that story. Janet, good morning. Reporter good morning, willie. One is a doctor and one is a missionary. They contracted the ebola virus while working in the area. Dr. Kent brantly and nancy writebol, who have been working in liberia to save the lives of ebola patients are now fighting for their own. Despite wearing protective suits, like the one dr. Brantly is seen in here while treating a patient, both have contracted the highly contagious virus. Were all sort of devastated by it, but at the same time we find room for optimism because in both cases the disease was not only diagnosed very quickly, but we were able to begin intensive supportive care. Reporter ken isaacs is with the samaritans purse group dr. Brantly is working for. Writebol is a missionary, also part of the ebola team. Dr. Brantlys wife and two children had been living with him in liberia, but are now back in texas. They are selfmonitoring themselves. Checking their temperature. That would be the first sign is if they had any fever at all. Reporter writebols husband david, also a missionary in liberia, doesnt have symptoms but told his North Carolina church that says his wife is not doing well. Both writebol and brantly are in isolation infected with the virus they hoped to save others from. The virus is spreading quickly. In the countries of new guinea and sierra leone and liberia. And the airports are now tracking and testing passengers after one died. There is not treatment or vaccine. Death rates can be as high as 90 for ebola. Chances of survival are higher when its caught early. Samaritans purse say both americans are getting the best care possible, but willie, again, there is no vaccine. Willie, back to you. Janet shamlian on a scary story out of africa. Janet, thanks so much. Now to natalie. Top stories of the west including a fire. Crews are making progress against the fast moving wildfire in the sierra foothills. The sand fire has destroyed 13 homes and burned 6 square miles of steep, rugged terrain. Hundreds of people have been evacuated. It was 50 contained sunday night but more 500 homes remain in danger. It started on friday when a vehicle drove over dry vegetation. The costa concordias long journey is finally over. This is a time lapsed video of the cruise liner arriving in genoa. It shows the wrecked concordia making its way through a span of seven hours. Its arrival marked the biggest maritime salvage operation costing more than 2 billion. It capsized more than two years ago killing 32 people. Newly released audiotapes reveal a Heated Exchange between a Delta Air Lines pilot. Along with the air Traffic Controller. This happened friday at atlantas hartsfieldjackson international airport. After the air Traffic Controller suggested that the pilot was on the wrong taxiway. Take a listen. It looks like you joined lima. You know what . Well taxi out there any way we want you tell us to. I dont like your attitude. Good morning. There was no attitude. I was just trying to correct you. You didnt tell us how to get there. Next time you can try doing that. Settle down captain happy. A little cranky. At the very end, that was another pilot from another plane saying settle down. Delta now is reportedly investigating. Somebody needs a little timeout, i think. Well, any baseball executive is going to admit during the dog days of summer it could be hard to get the fans in the seats. But a team in south korea has potentially the answer. Take a look. The eagles have installed what they call fan bots into a section of the stadium. They hold up digital signs and encourage fans to cheer and can even do the wave. So who controls the fan bots . Theyre real human fans who are sitting at home. They can rent a digital body and have their face then displayed on its head. No word on whether they can order a beer though. Not quite the same effect. I dont know how to feel about that. Still processing what you told me. I dont think it works. Should we get fan bots for the plaza . We have real fans. Are you real . This was all worth it just for captain happy. You can apply that nickname. You really restrained yourself on that one. I did. Lets show you whats going on, commander smiley. Were looking at a risk of strong storms through the atlantic coast. Wet weather through the southwest and four corners area. Toasty in the pacific northwest. Well look at that in more detail. And weve got heavy showers and thunderstorms through the northeast. Were going to get to your local forecast coming up in the next 30 seconds, captain. Makes you want to dance. 7 16, rain dance. Look at this. We have showers on the radar this morning. But i can tell you, a lot of that Activity Still to our south, its slowly but surely working its way into the bay area. As a result today, bring your umbrella with you. Humid conditions, also hot weather, but the showers will provide some raindoomed air throughout the day today. 20, 30 chance all across the board. 70 degrees in San Francisco, 81 on the east shore. All right, al. Thank you so much. There is a potential break in that awful case in philadelphia. Deadly carjacking and crash. Now two persons of interest are being questioned about the incident. It killed three children as they were on the street selling fruit to raise money for a playground. The mother is now in the hospital. Nbcs Kristen Dahlgren has the story. Good morning to you. Reporter good morning, savannah. Overnight we learned that police are questioning those two persons of interest. One 19yearold man, another in his 20s. They havent released names. There are no charges. As you can imagine this is welcomed news here in this neighborhood left reeling by what happened here. They were a family selling fruit to raise money for a new playground when Police Say Two carjackers who had just stolen an suv lost control and barrelled into their stand. This is like a bomb at exploded. Reporter three young lives taken. Little terrance was just seven years old. He was very sweet and very quiet. Reporter his brother thomas was ten. He was shy, too, but sneaky shy. Reporter and 15yearold keyiera about to start high school. Their neighbor tried, but couldnt save her. You see the kids. Reporter mom Keshia Williams is in Critical Condition. Neighbors say still unaware that three of her children are gone. Thats going to kill her. Reporter tia browns mother selma a close family friend was also injured in the crash. As was the woman who was carjacked. Now after a massive manhunt and Ongoing Police investigation, a Mourning Community hoped they may finally have some answers. Whoever they are did what they did to these people to then get out of the truck and run and leave these people dead. Reporter were told that one of the men turned himself in. He was accompanied by his mother and his pastor. The other man was picked up by marshals not far from here. When you think it cant get sadder, but we learn the mom in Critical Condition also has two other children. One of them has special needs. Kristen dahlgren, keep us updated on that investigation. Thank you very much. Lets take a turn now and swing to carson. Hes back in the orange room with news from nascar. Jeff gordon won his brickyard 400 for the fifth time. He is taking the checkered flag. He got off to a rocky start. Well get to that in a second. However, yesterday it was jeff gordon day. It celebrates the first time he won 20 years ago. Look at the point and shoot cameras back then now all iphones. A lot changed in 20 years. The first pit gas man trying to get the gas in there. That second container. Didnt matter. The traditional kissing of the bricks. Mr. Gordon goes on to win. His family down there kissing the bricks. People on facebook are kissing the bricks. Way to go. Congratulations, jeff gordon. Thats the news from the orange room. Guys, back to you. Gordons been doing it a long time. Coming up, twist in the case of a missing girl home after nine months. Her mother speaks to us exclusively. Plus a reunion that will melt your heart. A dog so incredibly happy to see his owner, yes, he faints. Hes okay though. First this is today on nbc. Coming up, hidden camera investigation. Wait until you see some what gems being sold at leading retailers actually are made of. And we also have a new concern due to the legalization of marijuana in colorado. Is it driving a spike in the of marijuana [ man ]rado. Cortana, when my wife calls remind me to tell her happy anniversary. [ cortana ] next time you talk to caroline, ill remind you. [ siri ] oh no, i cannot do that. Oh, and remind me to get roses when im near any flower shop. Sure thing. Remind you when you get to flower shop. I cant do that either. Cortana, its gonna be a great night. [ beep ] oh wow thanks for the traffi