line that caused the 6.0 earthquake in napa nearly a decade ago. good evening. thank you for joining us. i'm dan ashley and i'm diane lim. >> that quake in 2014 took the lives of two people and damaged more than 2000 structures. >> and now we're learning more about the risk of that fault line. the west napa fault runs north to south from saint helena to vallejo, nearly parallel to

highway 29. >> scientists say its potential to cause major damage is greater than they anticipated. abc seven news reporter melanie woodrow explains what the news means for people living and working along that fault line. >> the usgs research crews have been working to better understand the fault system. a fault is a fracture or zone of fractures between two blocks of rock. faults allow the blocks to move relative to each other, and the movement may occur rapidly in the form of an earthquake. now one of those researchers, bill philibosian, has discovered that the west napa fault stretches approximately nine miles farther north than previously thought. as indicated by the white dashed oval on this map. steven delong is a research geologist at the usgs, and colleagues with philibosian. >> because we think it's a longer fault, that means it may be able to release more energy in an earthquake, in essence, more shaking. >> yusuf topol owns tala grill in napa. in 2014, he owned napkins bar and grill in downtown napa. he described the damage his business sustained from the 6.0 quake. if the

earthquake happened an hour before, we had hundreds of people living the bar, so it will be it will be giving a huge damage for the for all of our guests and maybe employees as well as for the news. the napa fault line is longer than previously suspected. >> definitely. it makes me anxious. >> still, delong says the west napa fault is considered a secondary fault or a minor fault compared to others in the bay area. it is an active fault. >> it will have more earthquakes, but it's certainly not as big a player as the san andreas fault or the hayward fault. >> delong says. any one of the faults in the bay area can have an earthquake at any time. and while researchers are adept at studying fault lines, what they can't do is predict when earthquakes will occur. >> it certainly is a reminder that any of the faults in the bay area can have an earthquake, and anyone who lives in the greater bay area, really in california, should have a plan to be prepared for strong shaking due to earthquakes. >> delong says the new research isn't a big change in how researchers think about the

hazard of the west napa fault. melanie woodrow, abc seven news. developing news a bad situation could get worse in los altos. >> there's concern tonight that a burned out strip mall might collapse. >> that fire ignited yesterday morning at the corner of west el camino real. you can still see a little bit of activity there from the. there it is. the flames that are flickering among the rubble. abc seven news reporter zach fuentes is there and talked with the fire investigator in charge. zach. so much work is cut out for that investigator and the fire crews that have been working on this building, they're still working on it as we speak. >> i'll step out so you can see this this area they've been focusing in on right now has been flaring up. we've seen smoke coming from that very area, just as little as about two hours ago. and so some work can be done from afar. firefighter and investigators can't do much more until the building is demolished and that's something that might not happen. they say for up to three weeks, the worst of the christmas morning fire at this

los altos strip mall is over. but more than 24 hours later, flames and smoke could still be seen inside the building. once home to at least ten businesses. >> i can't imagine what they're going through. it's just christmas and they're all hard working and i feel terrible for them. >> larry chu and his family have owned chef chu's restaurant for 53 years. they got the call early christmas morning that there was a fire near where the restaurant was located. >> just jumped out just in our pajamas, ready to find out what's going on, chu was relieved to see that their restaurant was fine, but heartbroken to see that the neighboring businesses folks he knows personally, lost everything. >> we're close. you know, we since the pandemic, you know, we've gone through a lot all these small businesses and we've been really supportive of each other. >> one of those businesses is lady m cake boutique. we found manager juan delgado and some staff carrying out what they could from their building, though somewhat separated from the main strip mall, it does share a wall. >> they're like charred. the buildings next door. ours somehow is it's still white. everything in there is still completely fine, though. there were no injuries in the fire.

>> the main building now redtagged is a loss. >> we are going to go through the demolition process for the building. >> fire officials say the full investigation into the cause of the fire can't even start until the demolition. >> we need to demo removed. basically, the second story in the first story. um, and then we can, once that's removed, it'll be safe for us to go in. >> though relatively unscathed by the fire lady. um cake boutiques attachment to the building leaves its fate uncertain. they do have one wall that's shared, and so our concern is we're not going to know if how damaged that wall is until we do the demo. >> so our goal and the city's goal is to keep that intact. but, um, but we won't know until we go through the demo process. >> despite uncertainties, delgado says he's grateful that friends and business neighbors were not injured. >> i do know that some of the residents in los altos that have businesses here, they stay there too. overnight so, um, fortunately, nobody was here >> so we're behind the building right now. where a lot of

activity is going on. but the front of the building is on el camino real, right at san antonio road. that's a very busy area. and the eastbound lanes of that road are going to be closed until this building can be demolished. according to the fire investigator. and again, that could be up to three weeks from now. so something for commuters to know if you travel through this area. while the threat of this possible collapse of the building remains right now live in los altos, zach fuentes, abc seven news okay, zach, thanks a lot in the east bay, oakland police are looking into a liquor store robbery that happened in the middle of the night when a car literally just crashed through the front entrance. >> the robbery took place about 3 a.m. at the intersection of college and taft avenues. the co-owner of the store says the thieves were able to smash and grab everything in less than five minutes. >> a group of guys came in and broke into. they slammed the door with their van. they got inside. obviously, they grabbed a lot of liquors, cigarets. the money we have in the registers. this one is our third time in less than two months. the owner

also says he suspects the burglars are the same people who robbed the store in the past, antisemitic incidents at two south bay schools are shining a light on growing fear in jewish communities. >> the two incidents happened this month on middle school campuses in los altos. swastikas were drawn on lockers at one school and in a separate incident, hateful speech was yelled at. students city leaders say they're hearing more concerns over safety from jewish residents. >> you can just sense it when you're talking to them. how scared they are and how much they question society and leadership and values around them, and wonder whether they're in the right place, a safe place to raise their families. >> a recent survey by the jewish community relations council shows about 61% of bay area jewish residents feel less safe since the october seventh terror attack in israel, and 36% say they've experienced anti-semitism personally. >> all right, beautiful day on christmas. hope you had a nice

day. we barely dried out and more rain is coming. abc seven news meteorologist lisa argen is here with the timing of the next batch of rain coming in. lisa. >> yeah, we've had some nice breaks out there, but it's time for more rain. we need to catch up and as we look out into the pacific, a very strong system there, bringing some high surf after the rain on wednesday. that will be a high surf warning on thursday. but as we get into the details here, it is a level one system. most of the energy focused in the north bay for the morning hours could be a little wet for the morning commute, and then it spreads to the south and east, keeping it wet and windy for the bulk of the day. tomorrow and then by thursday, we've got the waves to contend with and those dangerous conditions at the beach. so overnight tonight, 40s and 50s cloud cover, westerly winds keeping us milder. this is at 7:00 tomorrow morning. you can see the rain just in the north bay. by 11:00 it begins to sink to the south and east and scattered showers with us for the evening commute. rainfall amounts aren't going to be

particularly high. we'll talk about those in just a moment. and also a look at new year's eve and new year's day in a few minutes. >> all right, lisa, thanks. well, we are seeing some rough ocean conditions. this was earlier today at san francisco's fort point. a coastal flooding advisory expired at 1 p.m, but more big waves are expected. the national weather service issued a high surf warning for bay area beaches on thursday, where waves could reach 26ft. we're advised to stay out of the water along much of the northern california coastline, and a reminder you can always check out the abc7 bay area app for the latest on weather conditions and to access the very same live doppler seven that our weather team uses. just search abc seven bay area in your device's app store to download it, and we have some breaking news. >> a reported car fire has shut down part of the caldecott tunnel, and it is causing a significant backdrop. backup. rather, take a live look at sky seven. this massive back up is being caused by a car that apparently caught fire inside.

bore number two, a blocking traffic heading into the eastbound direction that's going toward lafayette. fire crews have put out the flames, but bore two and three remain closed . the passengers of the vehicle did get out unhurt. thank goodness, but you can see the mess is causing live from sky seven, so avoid that area as traffic is backed up on highway 24. all right. coming up here, an instrumental person in making san francisco and international destination is retiring. we'll have a look at how he helped put the city on the map and get his outlook on the doom loop. you hear so much about. and the city's recovery also, happy holiday returns. >> a check on bay area airports as people return from their holiday trips

retiring as sf travel ceo. joe dallesandro spent almost two

decades marketing the city. he spoke with abc7 news reporter cornell bernard about his achievements and what still needs to be done to bring visitors back. >> i loved being able to market san francisco and tell the san francisco story to the world, but it was this time san francisco travel association ceo joe de alessandro says it's time to retire after 18 years of bringing visitors and conventions to the city, including 11 years of record breaking tourism growth in 2019, the last year we had that record breaking growth 63% of all visitors spending in san francisco was by international visitors. >> d'alesandro was instrumental in bringing super bowl 50 to the bay area in 2016, and spearheaded a $500 million renovation of the moscone center. >> i'm very proud of the fact that we were able to expand the moscone convention center and make it much more attractive, much more current, much more state of the art. >> but in 2020, everything came to a screeching halt. >> by far and away. the pandemic

was our biggest challenge. >> san francisco was one of the first american cities to shut down completely during the pandemic. hotels were shuttered and small businesses suffered. the recovery is still happening. >> it's going to take us a few more years to get back to where we were before. and what's unfortunate about that is it hurts the very businesses that we love. so much as san franciscans, he says. >> open air drug dealing has created a real perception issue for visitors around the world. >> i think that the city is trying hard to make the situation better. um in terms of the actual violent crime rate, we're one of the safest big cities in the united states. >> scott beck from toronto will soon take the reins as tourism czar, and d'alessandro has some advice. >> and i think my best advice is stay passionate. um, you know, sometimes you get you feel like you're getting punched a couple of times when you say you're representing san francisco. but the fact of the matter is, if you stay passionate and love it, everything's going to be okay in san francisco. >> cornell, bernard, abc seven news. >> all right. taking a live look at sfo tonight. air travel is actually up this year at san francisco international airport

compared to the previous two years. >> and it's been pretty smooth so far for travelers there. there's also good news for travelers arriving at oakland and san jose international airports. oakland hasn't experienced any cancellations today. that's a live look on the left from the abc seven oakland airport camera. while san jose has registered three cancellations in the past 24 hours, that may change tomorrow as a weather system with strong winds makes its way back to the bay area. >> stay with us.

look from sky seven, where apparently a car fire in bar two has resulted in this massive backup as sky seven pans its camera, you can see it spans at least seven miles. what a headache this is blocking traffic heading in the eastbound direction. this is toward lafayette. however, on the other side, still traffic pretty slow

as well. keep that in mind. no injuries reported, but certainly a mess out there on the roadways . >> well, building a better bay area is something we work on every day here at abc seven news, and this 2023 comes to an end. we're looking back at the best and most memorable stories of the year. we've compiled them together in a special that you can stream on demand. here's a taste of what you can expect from our reporter, tim johns. hi everyone. >> tim johns here. so my favorite story for 2023 is actually one that we did in december. now what it's about is a landfill that was built near a beach in daly city. years ago. i'm talking about in like the 1950s, 6070s. this landfill was in use. it's been built over since then. there's parking lots on top of it, but due to erosion over the past couple of years, it started disintegrating and releasing bits of trash bits of that landfill coming down the mountain and going towards the ocean, which obviously has huge environmental impacts, not just for the beach itself, but also for the wildlife. reason i love

this story so much was obviously it's not a positive thing, but it draws attention to our beautiful environment in the coastline that we really have to protect and something that i'm really passionate about. watching the sunset. over the ocean at mussel rock beach, you'd be forgiven for thinking you found a little piece of heaven. but under the surface of all that natural beauty is a persistent and worsening problem. trash and a lot of it making its way down the bluff and towards the beach and water. >> we can't treat the ocean like a supermarket and a sewer at the same time and expect no problems. the trash issue stems from an old landfill that was in operation in the area from the 1950s to 1970s until it was built over. >> over the decades, natural erosion and other factors have slowly chipped away at the terrain, exposing. decades of old trash. >> the really scary thing is that in many of these old landfills, we don't really know what was what went into them. >> liz taylor is the president

of deep ocean exploration and research in alameda. she says problems with former landfills are popping up all over the country with devastate impacts on everything from the local environment to marine life. >> it comes back to us eventually. in in for people that consume seafood, um, we're consuming plastic at an alarming rate. >> san mateo county supervisor david canepa tells us. local leaders are well aware of the problem. he believes that due to its massive scale, fixing it once and for all will require outside help. >> and the only way we're going to solve it is if we double down with federal and state dollars. >> but even with extra assistance fixing it won't be easy. you're talking not tens of millions of dollars. >> you may be talking 150 million for residents who live nearby, though they say they just want something to be done. >> we won't keep the beach clean for everyone. we want to help build our tourism and stuff like that. that's one thing that helps the community out. we live here. all of our lives and we

like to show people like, listen, you come to pacifica, you're not going to see trash in daly city. >> tim johns, abc seven news. all right. >> that's just an example of what you'll see building a better bay area. best of 2023 is now streaming on demand. you can stream it on our website, abc seven news.com, or from our abc seven bay area apps on your phone, your tv available for roku, amazon fire, apple tv and google tv, as well. >> all right, another check of the weather and my husband, believe it or not, was wearing shorts today. okay, i was too. >> i have to oh i mean it felt seasonable enough. >> no, it didn't bother me too much. >> elise is here to update the forecast. >> yeah, i was out on a walk with my son and he had shorts up. yeah, not me though. yeah, i don't know. maybe it's a guy thing who knows? but it felt cold. you know, the wind is definitely cold and what you see behind me is a storm system that will be sending some energy our way in terms of rain and a high surf warning after the rain exits on wednesday, the high surf warning on thursday as a very strong area of low pressure heads to the north of us. so that's the good news. we are not

going to see those uh- very a very strong system in terms of rainfall. the stronger system comes in on friday, but 25 to 30 foot waves are expected with that high surf warning on thursday into friday. 56 san francisco 55. in hayward, it is 59. in san jose. and a look at san jose right now, the shark tank, where it is a chilly 52. petaluma 56, in napa, 53, in livermore. so our highlights then chilly and cloudy overnight. actually a little bit milder with the south winds and all the clouds thickening up. then for wednesday level one system, we're going to bring a rainy day for you tomorrow with some gusty winds. and then that high surf warning on thursday. haven't seen waves like this in quite some time, so a beach hazard statement and a high surf warning thursday into friday. here's a look at the overnight lows with the cloud cover 53. san francisco 49, in livermore, 50, in vallejo. so mild. the next couple of hours we get into thickening cloud cover and stopping this at about 10:00

tomorrow. so it's already raining in the north bay, so it will be a slick commute in spots north of about san rafael. and then as we go through the afternoon, 3:00 notice we've got the showers all over the place, some downpour hours at times, but overall, the focus of the heaviest rain will be in the north bay. it ends on thursday. maybe a few isolated spotty showers for your thursday, but overall, this level one system is for wednesday and then we are gearing up for a slightly wetter system on friday, keeping it kind of active into the weekend. 700 san mateo not much for this wednesday system. a half inch santa rosa, maybe 2/10. the san ramon valley. it's a warm system again, so look, we're not looking at a lot of snow, but here comes the wind early on wednesday, you can see the winds gusting to over 30 miles an hour . and then it will continue to be quite breezy throughout the day. so highs for your wednesday 60s, a couple upper 50s and we'll be looking at new year's

to be on the dry side for the day. a chance of rain late at night and also into new year's day. the accuweather seven day forecast level in system wednesday, friday and saturday and still showers with us into 2024. we'll

city hall. now, community members enjoyed live blues and jazz bands, a dance performances , a spiritual ceremony and spoken word to kick off the seven day holiday. >> kwanzaa started back in 1966 to recognize african american culture and was founded on seven principles. the first principle is umoja, which represents unity . >> all right. time is running out to get the floats ready for the rose parade on new year's day, reporter christiane cordero from our sister station in los angeles, introduces you to the volunteer hours who are putting in all this hard work. >> inside this irwindale warehouse, thousands of people will spend the next week bringing the next lineup of rose parade floats to life. when people think of a rose parade float, they just think rose is in flowers. but there's so much more dry material that goes into

it. june o'neil is supervising a float designed by a high school student for the city of torrance. each of the floats is creative and design, and beyond it, beans add detail to baskets, sesame seeds at color, tree bark is glued to resemble well, tree bark. >> you have to use anything that is organic, okay? you can't dye anything. you can't change color on anything. >> that challenge is one reason that keeps mike thompson coming back 37 years and counting. >> i love the people they come here, they decorate with their heart and some decorate with the heart of others. >> ask around and you'll soon learn every volunteer here has a purpose here. jacob pane's purpose is in his nephew malachi, who lived a happy life but didn't get to live enough of it. >> in august of 2011, when he was about 16 months old. um, there was a terrible accident and he was declared brain dead. >> in their grief, jacob's family was tasked with a tough question should they harvest malachi's organs? and they decided, yes, we have missed out

on a lot of opportunities of seeing him grow up, but we know that families might not have had that opportunity had he not been able to donate his organs. >> knowing to remember him, honor him. >> so many tributes. that was christian cordero from abc seven in los angeles reporting. >> all right. world news tonight with david muir is next for lisa argen. all of us here. we appreciate your time. i'm dan ashley and i'm dionne lim. >> we'll see you

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get help right away if you have rash, chest pain, worsening shortness of breath, tingling or numbness in your limbs. tell your doctor about new or worsening joint aches and pain, or a parasitic infection. don't change or stop asthma medicines, including steroids, without talking to your doctor. who knows what you can do when you du more with less asthma. ask your doctor about dupixent. the most prescribed biologic for asthma. to tonight, several developing stories as we come on the air. the major storm on the move, and the post-holiday travel impact. and the new u.s. strikes against militant targets overseas. first, that intense storm roaring through the nation's midsection. whiteout conditions, blizzard warnings and winter weather alerts. parts of two interstates, i-70 and i-80, closed for hours. in the northeast, heavy fog blanketing major cities from washington to new york to boston. what this could mean, as millions get ready to head home after the christmas holiday, and