tv ABC7 News 500PM ABC December 28, 2023 5:00pm-5:31pm PST
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santa cruz. to marin county. >> high surf and massive waves created dangerous conditions and flood damage along the coast. even triggering evacuation warnings in some communities. good evening. >> i'm ama daetz and i'm dan ashley. thanks for joining us tonight. we have abc seven news team coverage for you. >> that's right. zach fuentes and cornell bernard are live in santa cruz and marin counties, where fortunately, the evacuation warnings have now been lifted. >> all of that's coming. but let's begin with abc seven news meteorologist sandhya patel tracking the conditions right now. sandhya. yeah >> and dan and ama, right now, we have that high surf warning in effect for the coastline. take a look at this live picture from our santa cruz camera. as we pan around, you can see just how rough the waves are. wave heights, bodega bay has reached 28 foot waves. point surge 29. bodega bay that is the second highest at this buoy location since 2008, the highest was earlier in january last year or this year. excuse me, 2023. so
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definitely watch out. watch those waves from back. do not turn your back on the ocean. do not get in the water. it is very dangerous that high surf warning until 3 a.m. tomorrow. large breakers 28 to 33ft, up to 40 footers. still possible, although the wave heights are coming down. bodega bay is at 19ft right now. dangerous swimming and surfing conditions and rip currentrillionisk remains elevated. so you watch the wave heights. they're slowly subsiding as we head towards tomorrow morning, but another storm is coming in, so the wave heights will build again for saturday. flood advisory is in effect until 6 p.m. for carmel lagoon. they've already seen some flooding there due to the surf and the high tides in that area will likely see some more flooding, so keep that in mind. level two storm is headed our way. live doppler seven tracking it. and as you look at that storm impact scale, it's a moderate strength storm. rain will be heavy at times tomorrow. strong winds, rough surf, and a slight possibility of thunder. this does bring with it many
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storm concerns. i'll be back with a look at that. plus those warnings. additional warnings coming right up ama. >> all right, sandhya, thank you so much. in the north bay, it's been a stressful day for residents of stinson beach, where storm surge brought high waves and flooding and prompted an evacuation order for most of the day. abc seven news reporter cornell bernard is live in mill valley and joins us with the latest. hi, cornell. >> hey. what. a wild day. and you know that evacuation order was lifted just a short time ago after high surf flooded parts of stinson beach, taking many folks by surprise. yeah high surf crashing into this stinson beach neighborhood thursday, filling streets with seawater in a matter of minutes. >> right now, uh, we're just trying to keep the houses from flooding from above a clear view of the storm surge enveloping most of the beach. >> flooding about a half dozen streets. the situation quickly sounding the call for sandbags. members of marin county search
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and rescue team were filling them as fast as they could. a front loader delivering the bags to beach berms to try and keep the water out. by 9:30 a.m, firstrillionesponders issued evacuation orders. for neighbors in harm's way. >> we're asking everyone to get out of their our objectives is life, property, environment in that order. so our main, main goal right now is to make sure everyone is out of there safely. we found james ells leaving his home. >> there was a mandatory, uh, evacuation. >> and so what are you doing? >> well, i'm evacuating. um, my house is built up a. story up, so i'm not concerned about the house. i've been through heavier ones in this with no damage. so i'm sure we'll be okay. we're just trying to barricade to make sure that we're in better hands than last year. >> bella bond says last year, a storm left a foot of water inside her home, and this time she's not leaving, hoping some outdoor furniture will help keep things dry. >> and then i was like, oh, we have a picnic table in the back
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in it. we measure it. i was perfect, so by 230, the evacuation order was lifted. >> but lots of ocean water left behind. after a wet, stressful day. >> the ocean is a very dynamic, dangerous place. always as a kid it was never turn your back on grandmother ocean so make sure you know that. >> yeah, really good advice. and the chief says today the town nearly ran out of sandbags. luckily, a neighboring fire department brought more in. but with the new storm on the way, the fire department asking neighbors to be vigilant, be ready for power outages, and possibly more flooding. we're live in marin county. cornell bernard abc seven news. >> okay, cornell. thanks. in santa cruz county, people gathered to watch those massive waves. but near the lighthouse, some got a little too close. and in capitola village, the high surf created swamped roads and businesses. the flooding comes less than a year after storm surge cost uh- surf rather caused major damage in that area. abc seven news south bay reporter zach quintus is in santa cruz county live for us,
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tracking the effect zach, of these high waves. yeah it has been a very difficult day for santa cruz county. >> many parts of it, as they are still working to cope and rebuild from that high surf. you mentioned earlier in the year. we're on the esplanade in capitola, a village that was hit by the surf today. a lot of the oceanfront businesses are right on this road. many of those businesses are once again in recovery mode. jeff lantis is nearly back to square one, and his capitola business, the sandbar. it was devastated by january's high surf, forcing it to close for six months. now almost a year later, high waves are once again flooding the village. the day before. this damaged the city of capitola put in sand barriers trying to protect the businesses. initially helpful, the protection didn't last very long , helped block us a bit, but one day is all it takes for this to be cleared out now. thursday, much of the repairs made by lantis have been undone. >> our floor is ruined. it'll take at least a month to repair. >> i would think the high surf
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forcing evacuation warnings in capitola village. the warnings extended through other parts of santa cruz county. we're seeing widespread coastal impacts from high tides and extraordinary waves coming into low lying areas of the coast. those lower lying areas include rio del mar beach and seacliff state beach. in less than 24 hours, the areas were flooded with debris from high waves that came and went. we are expecting higher waves coming in and it only takes one for you to be washed out. >> we will not be able to rescue you if you go out. please heed the warning. >> the santa cruz county sheriff's office warning people enamored by the beauty of the waves that they could be deadly with the waves being so powerful. >> if you turn your back for even a split second, you can be knocked over, swept away. >> while many felt confident enough to look out at the waves despite the warnings, there's still a sadness among locals over what their county has gone through in a short period of time. >> it's happening, happening a little more often. >> it seems like, despite dealing with hit after hit to his business, lantis says he
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loves his location and has no plans to leave. >> do you want to stay doing your business here? oh, forever. >> never give a place up right on the ocean like this as keeping a very positive spirit there. >> now, i spoke with the capitola police chief who said that despite what you may believe, the january high surf was a lot worse than what they experienced today. but still, the businesses are all agreeing that it's a blow that they did not need as they're struggling to recover right now. live in capitola. zach fuentes, abc seven news it's hard to see that . >> okay, zach, thanks. don't forget, with the rain on the way, you can access the latest weather conditions as well as the same live doppler seven that sandhya and our entire weather team use every day. just search abc seven bay area in your devices app store and download it when you have a moment. >> happening tonight in just about 20 minutes, the oakland police commission will hold a special meeting to possibly discuss the appointment of a police chief. this after oakland mayor shengtao rejected all three of the commission's recommendations. abc seven news reporter melanie woodrow has the latest. >> it's unclear when oakland's mayor will appoint a new police
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chief. the police commission must now return to the drawing board to come up with a new list of possible candidates for the mayor to consider. in an email to abc seven news, the police commission president writes, quote, we respect the mayor's decision to ask for a new list of candidates for the oakland police commission will continue to perform our duty under the city charter to review candidates and provide recommendations to the mayor, the commission will work collaboratively and diligently with the mayor to find exceptional candidates for oakland. while the names have not been officially released, activists and city officials have been talking about the candidates, including former oakland police chief lauren armstrong. the police commission set her up. >> i don't know why you would send armstrong to her. she fired armstrong. she told you she was not going to hire him again. so you actually just wasted a slot for cap brooks, executive director of the anti-police terror project, sees a wasted slot. >> councilman noel gallo sees the only possible candidate, chief armstrong was the best police chief we had. >> and the one that needs to
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continue, robert harris of the oakland naacp shares his perspective. >> lauren armstrong is not only eminently qualified, but is a person who is homebred right here in this community. >> they come here to oakland from outside of oakland. they don't even know where fruitvale avenue is. >> do you think it has to be somebody that has worked or lived in the bay area? >> there's absolutely no data that shows that to be true. and in fact, there are some reports that show that the more localized a police department is, the more violent they are, brooks says. >> whether from oakland or oklahoma, the department needs change. >> we need someone who is willing to blow up the ways in which we do public safety. now the question is when it sets back the search tremendously. >> we need a police chief to today, not tomorrow. today >> melanie woodrow, abc seven news in san francisco. >> police are investigating an assault on a woman in the fifth and mission parking garage yesterday afternoon. it happened just before 3:00 when police say four people punched, kicked and
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even used a broom to beat the woman, according to the chronicle. the suspects are teenagers between the ages of 16 and 18. the victim is 63 years old. she's now in the hospital with life threatening injuries. >> coming up demanding change at the martinez refining company amid growing concerns about recent flaring incidents and the health impact on the community. details when abc seven news
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after a surprise inspection on tuesday into a number of incidents. the letter cites 21 spills or releases of hazardous materials and 46 flaring incidents at the refinery. all of that in the last year. the county is demanding nine safety actions be taken. one of them includes allowing unannounced safety inspectors on site at any
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time. >> i've been involved regulating refineries now for about 25 years and have never seen this number of incidents over this period of time, um, which tells us there's something deeper going on. >> the county says the refinery has committed to the changes in an effort to become a better neighbor in solano county. >> 14 people were arrested today during a protest over the israel-hamas war outside of travis air force base. the protesters claim the base is one of the biggest suppliers to the israeli military, and they want the aid to stop. and they add they also want an immediate cease fire to the conflict. some of them were arrested this morning when they decided to block both entrances to the fairfield base, an ongoing problem is getting a new solution. >> new fare gates were installed at one bart station to help prevent fare evasion, which cost the system millions of dollars. abc seven news anchor karina nova is here with uh- karina. how these gates are different and the plans for adding more.
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>> yeah, that's right, dan. this was a big investment and a big step forward for bart. the system upgraded its fare gates for the first time. get this in 20 years. hoping to prevent fare evasion. and we were there for the big reveal at the west oakland station, the west oakland bart station looked a little different today for riders who got to experience a prototype of these five new fare gates. bart spokesperson anna duckworth explains what people will experience from now on. >> these are seven foot tall gates. we're testing out two different door materials at west oakland. we're testing out a polycarbonate material and then also like a perforated metal type of material, just to see what's going to stand up better to things like, you know, graffiti, vandalism, wear and tear, the doors are kind of swinging saloon style, open and close. it's going to be really hard for anybody to climb over or under or push through these gates. >> for bart, fare evasion has been an ongoing issue and one that abc seven has covered in the past. but these gates aim to address people who choose to get around paying. >> people can't just enter the system without paying. so what
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we want to do is to tier the fare evasion itself, enforce fare payment, and that's going to help our revenue, which does get impacted by people who don't pay to get into the system. >> bart has made other recent changes, which include phasing out paper tickets for clipper cards and increasing fares by 5.5% come january 1st. daily ridership is still down about half this year compared to pre-pandemic numbers. but today, duckworth says bart took a step forward in their goal for a better and safer user experience this morning. >> the initial feedback was very positive. people were happy to see that we're doing something, you know, people let us know that west oakland is a place where they've seen fare evasion happening. so to not see it happening this morning, because of these new gates kind of show us initially that it's working. >> and bart will announce the next eight stations to get the new fare gates at the january 11th board meeting, and all more than 700 new fare gates will be installed system wide by the end of 2025. the entire project is
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led to long lines at tsa. many passengers missed their flights despite arriving early. we're going to miss our flight, but that's all right. >> we see another one at seven, so hopefully we'll make that one. yeah. long line. yeah we got here two hours early like it said. but but just not early enough. >> yeah i expect it to be busy. i did not expect this line. so this will be an interesting day. >> um, it's been crazy. i've lived here my whole life. i come down here every year for christmas and it's never been this bad. and everybody in line is also like, yeah, it's never been this bad. >> at least they don't seem too grumpy about it. yeah, today is
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expected to be one of the biggest travel days after christmas, as some people return home from christmas and others travel for new year's eve. luckily, oakland airport experienced only 27 delays today and no cancellations, so that's good. >> yeah, good for them for having a good attitude. you can't change it, but it is always frustrating when you arrive way early. >> you're like, i did my part and you still get a delayed all right, let's turn our attention to the weather. >> more weather coming in. >> yeah. i wonder how flights are going to be tomorrow. sandhya, with this rain coming in, i think in the morning it will be okay. >> but dan and ana tomorrow afternoon. evening could be some major delays as a storm moves in. right now, let me show you a live picture from our golden gate bridge camera, where it just seems so serene. just savor this because it's not exactly going to be serene tomorrow. we do have a level two storm on the way. the storm concern is for the afternoon and evening, so standing water on the roadways a high likelihood, localized flooding is going to be in the high category. power outages medium and sierra snow also medium, especially as we head towards the latter part of the evening. here's a look at live
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doppler seven. and there's the storm. it is really winding up here. strong, gusty winds are expected. some downpours. so let's get you in first to look at what we have in effect right now. coastal flood advisory until 2 p.m. tomorrow afternoon in low lying areas will see the potential for minor flooding due to the high tides on live doppler seven. although most areas are just seeing clouds, there have been some isolated showers showers popping up here and there just a very moist environment. temperatures in the 50s and 60s below it or not. san jose got up into the low 70s. the high temperatures today anywhere from the mid 50s in places like san rafael to the low 70s in san jose, there's a live view from pier 39 where it is cloudy. the headlines the week ahead, high surf warning in effect with rough and dangerous waves. tomorrow the storm moves in with downpours. gusty winds and new year's eve will be dry for most areas, but still an isolated shower or two in the forecast. so as we go and look at that storm impact scale, this
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is a level two, a moderate strength storm for tomorrow. rain will be heavy at times, strong winds, rough surf, a slight possibility of thunder. a wind advisory has been issued for tomorrow 7 a.m. until 7 p.m. southerly winds 20 to 30. gusts to 50. this is going to likely mean that we do see some damage, so there's a possibility of trees going down, power outages. and one thing to keep in mind is if you do have holiday decorations, you'll want to tie them down as we go. hour by hour tomorrow morning it is breezy to gusty 24 to 30 miles an hour. winds really ramping up over 40 miles an hour and a half moon bay at noontime. you will notice it's still gusty, especially in our inland areas in the early afternoon. going into the evening. timing this storm out for you tomorrow morning. commute time or getaway time. there will be scattered showers at 5 a.m. heavier rain hits at 1 p.m. in the north bay and then starts to spread across the region. at 330. it is going to be stormy for a several hour
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period. 6 p.m. we're looking at still some pockets of moderate rain and then 10 p.m. turning more showery in nature. scattered showers for sunday, saturday morning by noontime, just a couple of showers remaining and it's pretty much gone and out of here by 4 p.m, so definitely not a weekend washout, but rainfall projections are expected to be on the healthy side over an inch for the wettest north bay locations and the coast. the santa cruz mountains. for the rest of you, anywhere between a half an inch to almost an inch of rain. this does turn to snow in the mountains. winter weather advisory 10 p.m. tomorrow until 10 p.m. saturday. looking at 1 to 2ft for the peaks, 8 to 12in above 6000ft. the biggest thing with those gusty winds is travel for the holiday weekend may be very difficult, so plan accordingly. your morning temperatures, 40s 50s umbrellas are needed tomorrow afternoon evening. i would stay off the roads if you can. 50s 60s. it's going to be a rough go out there. accuweather seven day forecast level two storm for tomorrow. it's morning showers
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giving way to a stormy afternoon evening level one with scattered showers for the first part of your saturday. mostly cloudy new year's eve. isolated showers will pop up and then it's dry for the start of the new year. some wet weather returns with a level one on wednesday, so we're in this period here where ama and dan every few days we're getting a storm and we'll take it kind of a typical. >> what we used to always get is a weather pattern. >> absolutely. that's so true. years ago we remember that. thanks, andy.
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new reports. they are getting plenty of applause doing what they love most. now drop what your mama said at independence village. >> senior living in waukee, iowa . that got me in a trance. the residents are international social media superstars. >> it's amazing to me that at 88 years old, i have become famous. >> we're going to do an ootd, an outfit of the day. okay. >> most of the ideas come from sarah. the facility's life enrichment director.
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>> my shirt is from kohl's. >> about a year and a half ago, she realized the potential of asking her residents to star in a couple tiktok videos. >> our goal in general, i guess, is to create new experiences and make connections and get that belly laugh. so i thought, well, tiktok is perfect. mamma mia! here i go again. >> naturally, it was a bit of a scary request at first for barb here and her friends after we did it and all these things happened, then we decided it was fun to do it. >> now we do it. >> well, millions of likes and views later, their tiktok page has now expanded to include the other independence villages from across the midwest. you're like, hey, i'm still the same person, okay? i'm just famous now. no big deal. i like the movie movies i like, but it really all started with sarah and a rule that barb never wants us to forget. >> she brings the child out in
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us. yeah. to have fun just because we're old doesn't mean you can't have fun. >> ah, i love it. that is fantastic. >> oh my goodness. and that was danny. new reporting. if you want to keep up with their dance parties and fun, you can find them at ivy senior living on tiktok. >> i don't think we can keep up with them. no, probably not. all right. that's going
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loving this pay bump in our allowance. wonder where mom and dad got the extra money? maybe they won the lottery? maybe they inherited a fortune? maybe buried treasure? maybe it fell off a truck? maybe they heard that xfinity customers can save hundreds when they buy one unlimted line and get one free. now i can buy that electric scooter! i'm starting a private-equity fund that specializes in midcap. you do you. visit xfinitymobile.com today.
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breaking news as we come on the air. donald trump's battle to stay on the ballot in maine. what we're just learning. first, that record rain in the northeast. flooding highways on the busiest travel day of the season on the roads. in the west, a new storm slamming the coast. waves up to 35 feet. officials ordering evacuations, and warning of life-threatening conditions. the weather not helping the lines at the nation's airports. the tsa screening 2.6 million passengers on wednesday, more than expected. tomorrow likely to be even busier.
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