>> blowing snow and whipping winds, the snow is dumping in the sierra, but not everyone is heeding the warning to stay off the roads. >> it can really make the roadway literally disappear in front of your eyes. >> what it's like for locals riding out the storm. >> hey, juliette, i'm here in south lake tahoe and the wind has picked up. from snowshoeing to the grocery store -- >> have like an hour and a half to walk, so -- >> to selling girl scout cookies. plus brand-new housing sitting empty because pg&e hasn't turned on the power. >> all that needs to happen is we need to connect the building to the electrical grid. >> how the utility is accused of making the bay area's housing crisis even worse. plus burglars didn't care that cameras were rolling, the mess left behind for a string of small businesses ransacked in oakland. >> so it's really hurting the

business owners here. this is cbs news bay area with juliette goodrich. here we go, heavy rain, even thunder hitting the bay area for the friday commute and an intense winter storm is pounding the sierra for a second day. the blizzard conditions expected to last until sunday and you can see just what they are dealing with. in fact, this semi truck driving slowly through donner pass along interstate 80 through the blinding snow and hurricane force winds. and the people who are on the roads aren't getting very far. caltrans cameras show a line of big rigs just parked. look at them. no cars there. this is at castle peak. traffic is held for a couple miles east of baxter to the nevada state line because of multiple spinouts. we bring it back here to the bay area. it is a wet friday commute with rain falling heavy at times. we've even had thunder and lightning. the rain was coming down and the wind

was whipping in hercules. this was at highway 4 and interstate 80. the wet weather already causing problems in santa clara county. a section of highway 9 is shut down because of a mudslide. this is just north of sanborn road at south saratoga creek. crews say it's going to stay closed through tomorrow. let's get right to chief meteorologist paul heggen for the latest on our weather. hey, paul. >> jules, we've had some ponding and water on the roads in the bay area, but that's a far cry from the issues in the mountains. this is the view of the four webcams from the central sierra snow lab and the snow continues to fly, winds whipping, wind gusts reported over 160 miles an hour at some of the peaks over palisades tahoe. the snow is really going to intensely fall at least for the next 12 hours or so. the blizzard warning continues until 10:00 sunday, but the maj

majority of the snow will fall the next 12 hours. many inland parts of the bay area the wind advisory is in effect through 10:00 saturday with the strongest gusts up to 55 miles an hour. the high surf advisory is through 4:00 saturday afternoon, waves 15 to 20 feet and plenty of rain this evening, locally heavy downpours, another batch through marin and sonoma counties and the batch in san francisco resulted in another cloud-to-ground lightning strike south of hercules and east of richmond in contra costa county. these downpours are moving along. that's the good news. that helps us avoid significant flooding threat, but watch out for standing water at intersections and on the sides of the roads. the heaviest rain, the strongest winds we'll experience through this storm system will happen the next few hours. this evening is kind of the peak of

the storm, but it's still wet and cold heading into the weekend. we'll track it all coming up in the full forecast. our kelsi thorud and her photographer jim flanagan spent the night in truckee and woke up to a scene that looked like something out of a snow globe. you can see jim there. he's had to do some shovel work just to get the snow off the live truck van. kelsi is joining us live now from truckee. what is it like there now? >> reporter: it's definitely snowing. it's very windy. i would say that's kind of the big thing that's changed from yesterday to today. we're seeing a lot of wind. the roof of that gas station behind me, you can see the wind kind of pushing the snow off that. that's kind of been the big thing here today. there's been a lot of snow accumulation really throughout today. jim and i were driving around truckee earlier today just checking out the scene, seeing how people are really coping with this storm. so far we've

seen a lot of snowplows, a lot of snowblowers. we ran into one guy shoveling out his business and then he went around to different businesses near his and helped them shovel theirs. he said that's just what people in truckee do when a big storm like this hits. they help each other out. of course, everybody is saying this storm is only supposed to get worse the next couple days, but we did see in town here for the most part business as usual. a lot of businesses remained open. we saw some of the city buses going through here, but conditions on the road were pretty sketchy all day. we went over to a local grocery store and we ran into a woman who didn't want to drive to the store. so she snowshoed there instead. here's a bit of what she told me. >> i had to come to safeway to buy some stuff and now i'm going back, have like an hour and a half to walk. so i thought it makes sense to put

on the shoes. >> reporter: how far is the walk? >> it's like two miles away, but yeah. with the snow and all it's going to take about an hour and a half. >> reporter: now that woman is very tough walking all that way, but we also met a group of very tough young girls at that same safeway. there was a girl scout troop there selling girl scout cookies. they did not care there was a snowstorm going on. they told me today was the very first day they were allowed to set up a booth to sell their cookies. so it didn't matter if it was going to blizzard. they were selling their cookies. here's what they told me. >> it turned out to be a snow day. it was originally going to be 4 to 6 i think, but it turned out to be 12. >> reporter: you guys were dedicated like we're not going to let this snow stop us. >> they'll say since you guys are so brave, we'll buy a box or two. >> reporter: that's stop good

sales tactics right there. jules, i don't know if you were ever in the girl scouts. i only made it to about the brownies and kind of bowed out, but those girls are tough and they are some serious saleswomen. they were pulling outhe stops, shivering making people feel bad just so they'd buy cookies. i'm pretty sure they sold out today. i don't know if they'll be there tomorrow. the weather is just supposed to get worse. man, did they do well today. >> brave girl cookies. i was a bluebird. that was way back. thank you. see you soon. a friend of mine, denise holt, lives in south lake tahoe and sent this video to us. someone got stuck in their car. neighbors gathered to help give them a push. denise says they've gotten a foot of snow or so so far and looks like they're still getting their mail. hats off to that mail carrier. they're expecting another four feet. thing is, she's worried about losing power now. >> hey, juliette, i'm here in

south lake tahoe and the wind has picked up. my neighbor is blowing snow and we are expecting quite a storm, as you know. my biggest concern is these trees. all that snow at one time gets very heavy. these branches get heavy. they fall on the power lines and then we lose power. >> i hope that's not the case for denise. thanks for that video. we'll get another update from her. palisades tahoe is one of several ski resorts that shut down for the day. this he got 17 inches in 24 hours and could have more than 100 inches by the end of the storm. heavenly in south lake tahoe was one of the few tahoe resorts with some lifts still running. you can see the line of skiers and snowboarders who braved those conditions. >> we're on school vacation, yeah, super excited to have a storm. >> just here to have some fun, explore, just have a positive twist on it. we have new pictures in of

a large tree that came down in san francisco injuring four people in the fillmore district at golden gate and laguna. four people were injured. they were in a car at the time. sf fire is evaluating them right now and drivers are asked to avoid the area. we have a crew headed to the scene and will bring you more information as soon as we get it. throughout this storm be sure to stay with us for the latest updates. you can head to kpix.com or download the free cbs news app. let's get to other news. it is the newest roadblock to housing in the bay area. pg&e is accused of stalling new construction by taking months to turn on the power. da lin on the demands for the utility to do better. >> turn on the lights! turn on the lights! >> reporter: at a san francisco city hall rally on friday construction workers and housing advocates demand pg&e to provide power to dozens of

buildings that are almost move-in ready. one of the buildings is the former grenada hotel at 1000 sutter street. >> we lose our power a lot, like i have to throw the breaker a lot because the power in this building is not good at all. >> reporter: brian bowers was homeless. he's now living at the sro hotel that's now being renovated and transformed into low income housing. advocates say because pg&e can't provide a new transformer to the building, it's delaying the construction work. they say overall it's hurting housing affordability and people like brian, waiting to move into new units. >> me and my wife, we have separate units. we've been together 20 years. so we're taking up two rooms and someone else could have a room. >> there are currently 75 projects, including housing developments, that are being delayed because they cannot be connected to the grid because of pg&e. >> reporter: the mayor's office also points to this 100% affordable housing project at 4840 mission street. contractors say it took months for pg&e to supply power.

>> these delays are costing the city and county of san francisco almost $35 million additional on top of what we're already paying. this is criminal. this is neglect. this is dysfunctional. >> when buildings are completely done, people are ready to move in and all they need to happen is we need to connect the building to the electrical grid and pg&e is literally taking months to do this. >> reporter: corey smith is part of the fair california coalition which includes housing advocates and union workers. >> it delays new housing coming onto the market, which means there's lower supply which will continue to drive up prices. >> reporter: pg&e said they're running out of subsurface or underground transformers, no transformers, no power. in a statement pg&e wrote, "the wait for electric transformers is a nationwide supply chain issue that is not unique to pg&e." a 2023 report from the edison

electric institute found 75% of all investor-owned utilities were experiencing similar shortages and were likely to continue to do so through mid-2024, but the longer it takes to finish the grenada, the longer brian will have to wait. he's been promised a new unit in the building he would share with his wife. >> pg&e needs to get on it, do their job and they could finish theirs and we could live happily. >> reporter: the state has been pushing cities to approve and build more housing, but electric leaders say this pg&e transformer shortage is adding to the problem. >> da tells us there are a couple state bills in the works that would mandate timely utility connections to ease the housing crisis. still ahead, burglars ransacked a string of small businesses in oakland. we'll hear from some of the owners who are left now picking up the pieces. >> they cleared out a lot

i launched our campaign at this union hall. let's go win this thing! then we hit the road and never stopped. you shared with me your frustration at working harder to barely get by and afford a place to live. your fears for our democracy and freedoms and your dreams for yourself, your family, and the future. it is not too late to realize those dreams. i'm adam schiff, and i approve this message because together we can still get big things done.

security cameras didn't do much to scare off burglars who ransacked a string of small businesses in oakland overnight and the thieves targeted the trendy tennis gal's shopping alley in north roman. we spoke to some of the business owners who are unfortunately getting used to the crime and lack of punishment. >> yeah. so, you know, just another day for an oakland business owner. >> reporter: for liz thayer today's order of business isn't her usual day of making and selling custom outerwear and goods. >> they cleared out a lot of the inventory in my shop. most of it is things that i make by hand that take a lot of time and work. so super bummed. >> reporter: super bummed is an understatement for three shop owners in this popular east bay location as they were broken into early this morning. watch how thieves scaled this fence and nonchalantly patrol

this alley. here is a good look at one of those suspects. >> keep happening, happening, happening. >> reporter: you've seen the scene play out many times before. property manager danny paritis had to think hard about how many times the shops have been broken into. >> i say more than seven times. we got police reports and all that stuff, but there's nothing being done. >> reporter: for these shop owners that rings true. at the time of this interview police still hadn't arrived. >> oh, here come the cops right now. >> reporter: over two hours late, but here in the city of oakland that's not unusual. >> one day i call around 10:00 in the morning. they show up around 4:00. >> reporter: but at this point the best police can do is take a report. fortunately, for wes allen, we'll call him victim number two, it's a tight community here. >> everybody supports each other and we'll look out for each other. >> besides the broken window,

it looks like they stole all of our jewelry. >> reporter: the owner of myra flores vintage clothing and victim number three is out of town. boyfriend isaac starr is dealing with the mess. >> we're not quite sure what else is not here yet. so we're going to have to do some inventory. >> reporter: to say it's frustrating is stating the obvious. for these three shop owners, it's more like reluctant acceptance. >> this has just become a regular part of leaf for everybody that owns a business in oakland. >> reporter: but whether or not to stay in oakland is increasingly becoming part of the conversation. >> i don't want to cash in my chips quite yet, but, you know, the conversation has happened. >> possibly. i've lived here my whole life. i was born and raised in the east bay. it's definitely something i consider. so yeah. >> the latest crime report from

oakland police shows commercial burglaries city-wide are down 60% over last year. auto and residential burglaries also saw a significant drop. the exception? robberies are up 40%. the city has been without a police chief for a year now. the last few hours mayor sheng thao confirmed she did receive a list of four candidates from the police commission. the candidates include san leandro's former police chief, introduced themselves at a public forum last night. earlier today the mayor talked to us about her next steps. >> once they send that to me, then i will set up one-on-one interviews. i will also be hosting different other kinds of interviews that i have as my process and if i were to choose one of them, then i would move with, you know, expediency to actually announce that. >> so the mayor emphasized she wants to find someone who can lead the department out of a federal oversight which it has been under for more than two

decades. the snow is flying in the sierra. we've got raindrops falling across most of the bay area, some locally heavy downpours, but they're on the move which minimizes the flood potential. there have been a few what do i see in peter dixon? i see my husband... the father of our girls. i see a public servant. a man who served under secretary clinton in the state department... where he took on the epidemic of violence against women in the congo. i see a fighter, a tenacious problem-solver... who will go to congress and protect abortion rights and our democracy. because he sees a better future for all of us. i'm peter dixon and i approved this message.

when peter dickson led my platoon into combat in afghanistan, he cared about two things: completing the mission, and making sure his marines came home. and we all did. pete's always fought for what he believes in, and i know he'll do the same in congress for affordable housing, the rights of women, and the democracy he swore to protect. because helping people who need it has always been pete's mission. and i know he'll get it done. next generation veteran fund is responsible for the content of this ad. "overflowing with ideas and energy." that's the san francisco chronicle endorsing democrat katie porter for senate over all other options. porter is "easily the most impressive candidate." "known for her grilling of corporate executives." with "deep policy knowledge." katie porter's housing plan has "bipartisan-friendly ideas to bring homebuilding costs down." and the chronicle praises "her ideas to end soft corruption in politics." let's shake up the senate. with democrat katie porter. i'm katie porter and i approve this message.

on this first alert weather day, we will start with the situation in the sierra where i-80 is now closed in both directions. this is the current view from the caltrans camera at donner summit. you can see the flashing lights of a tow truck trying to move some kind of obstruction out of the way. this is the time when my newsroom application shuts down and blocks the view exactly of that. let's look at first alert doppler over the last few hours, the intense snowfall indicated by blue. that's the kind of snow continuing through this evening and most of the night. this is the point at

which we'll add up snow at the fastest rate between now and 11:00, at least a foot, some places close to 2 feet of snow heading up near the donner summit. through the rest of tonight, a couple more feet of accumulation. going through the day tomorrow, there will still be bursts of heavy snow, especially late in the day. it continues to pile up, another 6 to 8 feet on top of what's already accumulated for some of the higher peaks and at lake level another at least 3 feet of snow is likely, plus the winds gusting over 100 miles an hour, exceptionally dangerous situation in the mountains. let's look at the radar loop around the bay area. we have locally heavy downpours, standing water on the sides of the road, problems on 101 earlier this evening and there have been a few cloud-to-ground lightning strikes producing some rumbles of thunder. all this activity is on the move. the most intense rainfall is happening this evening. through

tonight we'll see showers continuing, some locally heavier downpours, one more burst of really heavy rain likely late evening into tonight associated with the cold front that will push across the bay area. once that moves through we get back into our pattern of light to moderate rain showers with the heavier downpours much more isolated. it's still a wet day saturday even though there will be more breaks in between the showers. it's a wet day for dog walking purposes. adoptable dog, gracie from the east county animal shelter, we've been doing this every friday in 2024 and now seven of the nine weekends we've had to say well, you can go visit an adoptable dog in the indoor play areas because it's too wet outdoors. i'll put up a link if you're interested in adopting gracie after this newscast. there is more rain on the way next week. let's add up the rain over the course of the next five days. rain chances should finally taper off wednesday next week. despite the five-day stretch of wet

weather, the amounts are fairly modest. 1 to 2 inches of total rainfall which isn't enough for significant flooding threat. localized problem, always a concern, especially flood prone intersections, standing water on the side of the road, always something you have to watch out for. in terms of widespread significant flooding, it doesn't like like we'll see nearly the level of problems we've had with atmospheric rivers. let's talk about the wind energy. rain chances continue through the middle of and taper off. 58 miles an hour, 62 miles an hour winds on top of mount diablo, oakland hills over 45 miles an hour. at the lower elevations the winds have not been strong enough to result in a significant threat of widespread power outages. going through tonight the winds will

gradually diminish, but it's still breezy saturday. the hour-by-hour gusts saturday will be in the 20 to 30-mile-an-hour range. finally on sunday i think the winds calm down and we should be down to a few lingering off-and-on showers, not a dry day, but the dryest day we can find until we get towards the back half of next week. a lot of rain tomorrow with breaks in between and showers sunday, back into a rainier weather pattern late monday, monday night and tuesday, no flooding threat there, lingering showers wednesday and then mercifully finally dry weather returns, sunshine returns by thursday and friday, even back to normal temperatures by the end of next week. we'll see how long we can keep the dry stretch of weather going. >> thank you. we want to get to new details on our breaking news. a tree falls on

democrats agree. conservative republican steve garvey is the wrong choice for the senate.

...our republican opponent here on this stage has voted for donald trump twice. mr. garvey, you voted for him twice... as your own man, what is your decision? garvey is wrong for california. but garvey's surging in the polls. fox news says garvey would be a boost to republican control of the senate. stop garvey. adam schiff for senate. i'm adam schiff, and i approve this message. let's get back to that breaking news in san francisco where a falling tree smashed into a car injuring four people inside. the tree came down on the car at laguna street and golden gate avenue. we're getting our first look from the scene. here are live pictures, the fire department saying all four people in the car were sent to the hospital with minor injuries. you can see where the tree fell. it went onto the sidewalk there, came down onto some cars when the car was

stopped and that's when the four people in the car got injured. right now fire crews are waiting for public works to get that tree out of the way. we'll make sure there are no live wire lines there and also that area certainly shut down to traffic. be forewarned. we'll have more on an update at 7:00. you see traffic moving there. we'll follow up on this. the cbs evening news with norah o'donnell is next. we're back in 30 minutes with cbs news bay area at 7:00. thanks for joining us!

i launched our campaign at this union hall. let's go win this thing! then we hit the road and never stopped. you shared with me your frustration at working harder to barely get by and afford a place to live. your fears for our democracy and freedoms and your dreams for yourself, your family, and the future. it is not too late to realize those dreams. i'm adam schiff, and i approve this message because together we can still get big things done. "overflowing with ideas and energy."

that's the san francisco chronicle endorsing democrat katie porter for senate over all other options. porter is "easily the most impressive candidate." "known for her grilling of corporate executives." with "deep policy knowledge." katie porter's housing plan has "bipartisan-friendly ideas to bring homebuilding costs down." and the chronicle praises "her ideas to end soft corruption in politics." let's shake up the senate. with democrat katie porter. i'm katie porter and i approve this message. ♪ ♪ >> it's tremendously lucky that it didn't go over. >> norah: tonight, the daring rescue. >> we are willing to risk a lot to save a lot. >> norah: the dramatic scene after a multicar crash leaves a semitruck dangling off a bridge. how the rescuers brought the driver to safety. >> you saw these were serious heroes here. they were able to get her back up here to safety. >> norah: the "cbs evening news" starts now. ♪ ♪ good evening. i'm norah o'donnell, and