Two people were struck by a car on lockwood drive. We just noticed paramedics taking patients into an ambulance there. Were told they suffered some minor injuries. The screak stayed on the the vehicle stayed on the scene after the accident. We dont know if weather played a father a factor but well keep you posted. This tree toppled into a home on woodmore drive in Silver Spring. And there are similar scenes all over the area. Horace holmes is live in bethesda where a tree went down across a busy road. Were here on bradley boulevard and you can see with those heavy winds and the strong rain, what it did to this tree right here. It just snapped late this afternoon. It came down, all of bradley boulevard, closing it down for a short period of time. The county crew came up and they were able to move most of it to the side and they just reopened bradley boulevard. Now were going to talk more about the;yn problems that we he here, just a couple miles from here, another big problem on river road. Huge problems on river road. Northbound lanes are shut down as they repair a power line that went down in the storm. And on the beltway at river road, the two left lanes of the inner loop are shut down because of high water. Thats causing huge backups all the way around the beltway and all the way down river road into the district. Look at these pictures captured by news chopper 7. Power line went down on top of trees near daniels run apartment complex. As you can see that caused a small fire on the lines and the trees. Fire and power crews on the scene right now and they are working in that area. Back here in bethesda on bradley boulevard, the traffic is moving now, but those branches as you can see, are still on the power lines there. Theyre waiting for pepco crews to come down and finish up this job and restore the power and get those power lines right here on bradley boulevard. So when they get here, likely at thisapoint, they will shut down at least a portion of bradley boulevard while they work there. Very eventful afternoon. The good news is there are no reports of any injuries. Reporting live in about bethesd, horace holmes, abc~7 news. Speaking of power lines, downed power lines have closed part of New Hampshire avenue in Silver Spring. This was the scene from newschopper 7 a short time ago. Were told traffic is still being diverted. New hampshire avenue closed from adelefy road to Silver Spring. Make sure to download the abc~7 weather app. A new report reveals what caused a train to derail two years ago in elicate city elcaught city killing two young women. They were sitting on a bridge when the train derailed and many wonder if their presence was what caused the crash. We now know that is not the case. Brad bell with what the National Transportation safety board is saying. This is a truly bizarre story and as you said, people have wondered for two years now what happened up on that bridge. Now they have the answer, as well tell you, it was a cracked track that killed these two girls that were just hanging out and telling their friends about jdth twitter. A look down elicott citys main street. A shot of their feet as they sit on the landmark railroad bridge. The last tweets from two High School Classmates and close friends. They died minutes after they took and tweeted those photos in august 2012. Incredibly a train crossing the train derailed right behind them. They were buried in spilled coal. I heard a loud boom. We come out and still see sparks flying. Nobody in elicott city has forgotten that site. So much so that a park bench memorializes them. One of the girls used to shop in here all the time. Whats not known until now is why the train crashed. Suspicious lingered. A lot of people thought it was down. National Transportation Safety board investigators say no person is to blame. It appears a fiveinch break in the track hundreds of feet from where the train sat is the cause of the derailment. There were also soggy conditions on the rail line due to heavy rain as a contributing father. Track maintenance met federal standards and it was inspected just days before the crash. Wrong place wrong time. Repairs to the tracks were made long ago and trains have been rumbling through town here. But one big change we just showed you on top of the bridge, is that the fencing has been improved all around this area to try to prevent anybody else from getting up on that bridge again. Now as for the parents of the girls, they have so far declined comment and they say theyre aware of the report but they really dont want to talk about it at this point. In elicott city, brad bell, abc~7 news. Thank you very much. Tomorrow we have new developments in the case against Charles Severance. He is the person of interest in those three mysterious shooting deaths in alexandria. A trial date is now set in his Loudoun County weapons case. Stephen tschida live in the alexandria neighborhood where these killings occurred with the reaction of one of the widows of the victims. Were in the heart of alexandria, you come across a number of people who knew at least one of the victims. People tell me they were hoping for more serious charges. Tonight they express their concern a serial killer could be out there. Charles severance bears a strong resemblance to the composite of the killer. More than a decade after the killing of nancy donerun in her home. And months after the shooting death of ruth amadatto when she opened her front door, severance is charged with weapons offenses. Thats it. I guess its better than nothing to get him on something, but if he did do the crime, then he can pay for it. Reporter he allegedly broke the law by acquiring a gun. Hell remain behind bars while he awaits trial and while investigators continue to comb through evidence to pin him with any of the killings. They shot him here and here, and here. Andre hanes didnt expect much from the Loudoun County courtroom. They havent connected the bullets. They dont have any fingerprints or dna that matches. My sense is hes a crack pot. 53yearold Charles Severance goes on trial in late october. Now it is expected to be a twoday trial. However if he is convicted he faces a sentence between 25 years. Reporting live, Stephen Tschidaerse abc~7 news. A number of children who crossed the u. S. Border by themselves are now in Prince William county. The children are staying atout for tomorrow, a nonprofit facility in bristo. Local lawmakers are demanding answers to questions such as how many are at the facility and whats being done to care for them. The pentagon said no children are being housed add National Guard armories despite rumors of that. More on that coming up at abc 7 news at 6 00. Police are treating graffiti on a building as a hate crime. No undocumented democrats, thats on a former Army Reserve Center wall. As you can tell illegal, spelled wrong. The department of health and Human Services considered using the site to house children from Central America and they have since dropped the idea. Tonight federal funding for state transportation projects is in trouble. But today president obama appeared in the claim to push for this funding to continue. Suzanne kennedy in our newsroom with whether the president can keep this funding intact. Suzanne . The future of the nations roads and bridges is in limbo as Congress Works to hammer out a deal to keep the Highway Trust Fund in business. Today president obama went to a Highway Research facility in mclane where they learned about developing technologies tested on a virtual car and then pushed for congress to see the Highway Trust Fund. If Congress Fails to fund it they run out of money. That could put 700,000 jobs at risk including 17,000 here in virginia. More than 100,000 active projects across the country. Those are pending in the house and senate but a august deadline is looming. One option a temporary stop gap measure. The bill before us will provide enough funding to get us through may 31, 2015. Thisivation is the only this legislation is the only history of getting bipartisan votes in the house and senate. Travel around even in metropolitan washington, you see the roadsways are deficient. Look what happens to the metropolitan area after winter with potholes big enough for your entire car to fall in. So yeah, i think we should continue to fund for transportation issues. The trust fund has been on the brink of bankruptcy for a half dozen years. One longterm solution would be to raise the federal gas tax, an idea many find unpopular, especially during an election year. Suzanne kennedy, abc~7 news. Montgomery county schools will have new laptops and tablets to use when they get back to school this fall, but is that going to cost the county too much money. The story on that coming up. Also why police are cracking down on pedestrians at one busy metro stop. Flooding, lightning, and hail up and down the east coast. A look at storm damage around the country, plus steve is back with our search teams have recovered the body of a boater. David franzen has been missing since sunday. His body was found near the Francis Scott key bridge. Investigators have not determined a cause of death for either person. We turn to our storm watch coverage and were not the only ones experiencing storms. People in other parts of the east coast and even colorado bracing for more bad weather. As Marci Gonzalez reports, for many of them its day deja vu after yesterdays storms. Another stormy evening for much of the east coast. Still cleaning up and drying out. From yesterdays Severe Weather. Peoples roofs are gone. Torrential downpours stranding drivers in parts of new jersey. There were waves hitting us. Those storms bringing lightning, striking the Freedom Tower the library of congress in d. C. And hitting a teenager in philadelphia who is recovering today. More storms farther west in ohio, a familys car hydroplaning and then flipping. The man and his daughter inside escaping and holding onto a true until they were rescued while his wife was carried four miles by the flash flood before she was saved. Pretty happy reunion when we got them both together. More flooding in phoenix and in colorado. So much hail it almost looked like winter. More confused seasons in the midwest where today it feels kind of like fall with temperatures as much as 25 degrees below normal. People bringing out the jackets in colorado, but not too many complaints. I dont have a problem with this weather. On the east coast along with rain and possible hail, some areas could get winds up to 70 miles an hour. Marci gonzalez, abc news north w york. This is that polar vartex. Were vortex. Were not supposed to say that. The worst of the weather is to the east and improving conditions overnight and tomorrow wait until you see the forecast for tomorrow. Im excited. Im going to make you wait until the very end of this one. Outside we have some clouds and storms well to the east at this point. They are racing off toward the east at 2530 miles an hour. For the district at this point were pretty much done with the worst of the weather. 79 degrees and dew points are still in the lower 70s so the actual cold front has yet to move through. College park, earlier this afternoon, wind gusts at 44 miles per hour. Rain totals round. 25 inches and the temperature has dropped to about 70 degrees. An inch of rain and wind gusts earlier, and winds have settled down. The final stop is reston. They are the jackpot area in terms of rain totals. A little over 1. 25 inches. Wind gusts not so bad for this afternoon. For the most part their storms have come to an end. On the severe thunderstorm watch map, frederick, loudoun have been dropped. Areas in pink including the district and all of Southern Maryland until 9 00 tonight. I suspect most of this will cancel well before them as the strong storms are now to the east of us. That Flash Flood Watch has been canceled out. Take a look at doppler radar. Its quiet and dry across the beltway at this time. The heaviest showers now acrossz Southern Maryland, california, over toward lessbe and long beach. Another batch beginning to form but not forming to a lot around luray and flint hill. This is all moving toward the north and east. Widen the view out a bit. Lightning, that was a big problem earlier this afternoon. Look at all these lightning strikes associated with that initial line of strong storms, now quickly racing off toward the east and for us, i dont think a whole lot more as we move through the evening hours. This is our temperature range from the upper 70s to lower 80s. 81 degrees at dulles. 79 in quantico. Still hanging onto 83 in fredericksburg, but that cooler air, that cooler air we were talking about earlier. Look at minneapolis at 68 degrees. 70 degrees in chicago. This cold front will move through overnight and then well see a Beautiful Day tomorrow with the showers quickly coming to an end and lower humidity levels. The best news of all, highs around 80 degrees and well repeated on thursday and even into the day friday with a chance of showers for the upcoming weekend mainly in the mountains. But they will be west of d. C. Showers and storms gradually end and temperatures in the 60s overnight. Then for tomorrow, northwesterly winds, lower humidity, lots of sunshine. Upper 70s to lower 80s. The extended outlook looks fantastic for the day on thursday. Middle 80s and well hang there too on friday. Saturday and sunday you see the chance for the thunderstorms less than 30 , and were talking west of d. C. , mainly in the mountains. If you have beach plans, they look excellent with temperatures upper 70s to around 80 degrees. So the worst of it is over with. We still have that severe thunderstorm watch until 9 00 tonight, but that will be gone before then. We had such a pattern going. We did. Glad to change it. These evenings are going to feel great. For july in washington. Not very often. Well take it. Coming up a abc~7 watchdog investigation. Why a small d. C. Election is costing the city hundreds of thousands of dollars. Plus the reason behind a d. C. Residents licenseu]u rejected a florida airport could have you shaking your head. Commuters here at the vienna metro could pay a steep price for ignoring the rules of this crosswalk. How much a jaywalking ticket here will cost you and the Message Police say they are sending with these tickets. And a look at the abc~7 lineup. Well be right b tickets are now being handed out to jaywalking pedestrians near a busy metro station. Fairfax county police say too many people are walking in the vienna metro station and not using the crosswalk which has led to a number of accidents. Joce sterman at the station with whats being done to keep people safe. Fairfax county police told us they would have officers out here for three hours every morning this week and three hours during the evening rush, although it appears tonight commuters are going to get a pass on this because we have not seen an officer out here so far. But officers did tell me this morning they gave out at least 25 citations to commuters who either crossed against the light or didnt use the crosswalk at all. Theyve got bright red brick and florescent yellow signs to mark your way, but here at the vienna metro people are color blind. Run to cars or run across the street. Monica johnson sees it all the time. The 5 00 free for all where people press their luck instead of pressing the button to get safely across the street. Everybody has a place they want to be. They want to get home. Its late so they probably just run and go for it. But Fairfax Police want to stop this bad habit so this week theyre giving jaywalkers a lesson in safety, which happens to come with a 50 ticket and 60 in courth5 fees. At least give you awarning. They already a warning. They already did. Last week they gave out more than 1 1,000 fliers about 1,000 fliers about pedestrian safety. Some people do need that to get the point across otherwise theyll keep doing it. Theyre too caught up in their life listening to their iphones, crossing the street. But Police Officers handing out personal reminders with a price tag will make anyone snap to attention. Even though supporters of the tickets say getting one is a road they would rather not cross. Keep this in mind, you can get a ticket even if you just cross the crosswalk when there is no traffic coming. Thats still considered breaking the law. They dont want to do it, but this is a safety measure, one police think is very, very important. Its not something that is going to cost you a lot of time. We repeatedly tested the buttons today. It never took longer than 13 seconds to get the lights to safely across this intersection. Joce sterman, abc~7 news. Still to come on abc 7 news at 5 00, the president could get a new address . If one d. C. Councilwoman gets her way. A diamond in the ruff found at one local store. The purchase that has some students excited and youre watching abc 7 news at 5 00 on your side. Lets get another check of where the storms are. Our meteorologist Stephen Tschida is tracking it all from the Weather Center tonight. The strongest storms now well to the east of d. C. You can see them moving across the delmarva peninsula, however a few more storms beginning to develop just to the west of us. Look at marshal. These are stronger thunderstorms. Nothing thats been warned on, but likely to contain some very heavy downpours as they move to the east. It will eventually impact manassas, and if they hold together, the corridor. We have the Flash Flood Watch for the district and the surrounding counties. Everything shaded in pink until 9 00 tonht. But i think it will come well down before that. Already knocked down for loudoun and the panhandle of west west virginia. Coming up well look at the next seven day