evening hours. >> dan: we'll see you again shortly. getting to our reporters. sergio quintana is live in the santa cruz mountains with the story there. >> reporter: it started raining here in the last hour and a half or so but the last few days the series of storms has really left santa cruz mountain community very rain soaked. there are some residents who were bracing for tonight's line of rain. >> drivers who were either on that way to holiday dinner or leaving festivities had to deal with rain soaked roads. storms over last few days have left hillsides saturated like this one near boulder creek. they have been quick to cordon them off to make for safer driving and with today's line of rain storms, some residents took a break from the usual christmas tradition to load up on sandbags in ben lomond.

even a little more rain could mean trouble. >> big concern why you are filling up on sandbags? >> to keep the hill from sliding into my neighbor's house. i have water running off from the top of my driveway. >> they are not threatening to overflow banks even with today's rain. there is no expectation they will pose any problem. if you do have to be out on the roads this evening, especially coming through the santa cruz mountains, keep in mind the storms are passing through and they can cause patches of foggy driving conditions with really limited visibility. if you do have to drive, be careful out there and merry christmas. i'm sergio quintana, "abc 7 news". >> dan: right on both counts. john alston continues live in downtown napa.

we have been watching the river for days, how does it look tonight? >> reporter: it's fine right now after a day of rain it's stopped for the time being. behind me is a bloated napa river but well within the banks. this area is very saturated. the storm has brought some flooding in wine country. water overtopped a levee along sonoma creek where it borders the larsen family winery and this year the creek has been especially high. water is continuing to flood into a portion of the 70 acres of chardonay vines. vineyard looks more like a like in some areas. this is both good and bad. >> its nuisance but not a bad. it's good for the ground and agriculture and recharge our groundwater. it's a pain, you can see there are trees and logs and basketballs and whatever comes

down the creek is what we get. >> reporter: he says it cost about $10,000 over year to remove all of that junk once the rainy season ends. they plan to rebuild the levee but that temporary solution when the air goes into flood. we're having a break in the weather but residents are getting to enjoy christmas without any worries of serious flooding here. live in napa, john alton, "abc 7 news." >> these are keeping an eye on the levees. one of levees couldn't hold and sprung a big leak last thursday during the storms. last night crews worked placing sandbags over those leaks. creek needs to be widened and the levees strengthened to prevent future flooding. a construction project apparently begins next spring. >> south of big sur, a stretch

of highway remains closed after rock slides. these are pictures from caltrans. it happened sunday afternoon. crowds are working to clear the debris and to repair a 60-foot section of the damaged road. no word yet on when it will open. officials hope to have one lane, however, open sometime later this week. the rain here is bringing plenty of snow to the sierra. weekend storm dropped five feet of storm at squaw valley. another storm raging right now could bring as much as 20 inches of snow to the mountain by wednesday morning. of course, it's good skiing and also dangers. alpine meadows a member of the ski reports patrol team that was injured in an avalanche sadly as died. it is the second death connected with avalanches that occurred just yesterday. if you are flying or picking up someone from the airport. call ahead.

sfo is delaying flights by a little over an hour. for up to the minute information check out flight tracker at abc7news.com. stay with "abc 7 news" for continuing storm watch coverage. we'll have the latest for you at 11:00. that is next broad cast. you can get weather alerts on our twitter feed and follow us at "abc 7 news" bay area any time you wish. meantime, breaking news in downtown san francisco where it was not lane falling from the sky but a manhole cover. jonathan bloom is live and third and mission streets to explain what happened. >> firefighters are still trying to figure out what happened after a manhole cover blew out of the ground about 45 minutes ago resulting in loud noises and very scared passerbys. it sounded like fire crackers going off. firefighters are investigating what is going on but assuming it's an electrical problem and

now pg&e is on the scene. nobody was reported to be injured in the incident but it did result in traffic closures that were only minor since christmas is light traffic day. third street was closed in two blocks and mission was closed between second and fourth street. now, we see the first signs that mission street is being reopened as pg&e is on the scene and starting to investigate down inside that manhole. we just saw the smoke pouring out of manhole as they pulled it off. this live picture, they going down to figure out what went wrong, it may in fact be storm related. as firefighters continue to investigate, streets are starting to reopen and light traffic, no at whole lot of impact other than a few scared people passing by. >> dan: vallejo police have

taken into custody and questioned one of the drivers involved in a christmas eve hit-and-run. the accident happened yesterday afternoon. the man was walking across broadway street near hogan avenue in vallejo when he was struck. witnesses tell police the driver was drag racing with another car. >> figure out that the person that we have knew the other person in the other vehicle they were racing with or this was just a look over to the signal light and it was on or pre-arranged. >> the man was knocked hundred feet from the crosswalk. he suffered major head injuries. they are asking for your help to find the car that hit him. they say its black honda civic with front end damage. >> two men are in custody in a san leandro k-mart store. they are charged with commercial burglary. police responded to an alarm at the k-mart about 5:00 a.m. they say a car parked near the

center sped away when they arrived. men were caught later with jewelry they say were stolen from the store. >> a lot more to bring you. still ahead at 6:00, thousands of people in need around the bay area are fed free warm meals this christmas day. >> i'm spencer christian. live doppler a batch of heavy rainfall, possibly a thunderstorm offshore. >> one postal carrier in san jose made some very special christmas deliveries today.

>> dan: roughly 5,000 christmas meals were served at glide memorial church. volunteers were up very early to prepare the food. jonathan bloom has the story. >> there are holiday greetings and festive costumes. the traditional christmas ham, even football players doing the dishes but in this basement dining room where glide memorial church serves 364 meals a year, one thing that isn't different is the people dining. >> we have the same people that we serve year round. we have created a family with

the people in our community where the holidays we spend together. >> greg allen joined the family a year ago when he came up short on cash. >> it's expensive to eat. >> while there are other places to get a turkey, this one feels like home. >> you know where you are at and it's comforting. >> as people stay for the community, sometimes the line between guests and volunteers become blurry as in one case of one man for 20 years. >> when i first came here and they told me about go to glide to eat. >> van johnson started doing the dishes as part of an army of volunteers serving, under one commander. >> the lord. the lord is one, that is the way i feel about it. >> that sexuality at and spirit

the football team as the they played in the kraft hunger bowl. >> how blessed i am and how i am able to come out and help others and help those less fortunate. >> cecil williams says it's teamwork doing god's work. >> you never think you can do it by yourself. it's always with others you can do this. >> dan: so nice of those volunteers and football players in town. thanks to city firefighters and donors that dropped off of toys at lefty o'doul's restaurant. firefighters picked up the rest of the donations and off they went and volunteers took to the streets to make sure that families were not aware of the program had gifts for their children. >> going to different

neighborhoods and find kids without toys and drop them off and be on our way. that doesn't have a doll or bicycle and surprise them with a gift on christmas morning. >> dan: it's the first year that firefighters handed out some of the toys themselves on christmas day. holiday spirit certainly alive and well in vallejo where families are being treated to gifts and hot meal with all the trimmings. the out reach had volunteers helping at the boys and girls club. it's modeled after similar organization that started in richmond seven years ago and that that operation, christmas in richmond is celebrating tonight. volunteers are providing meals and clothes up to a thousand people and more than 500 toys for needy children. without any corporate sponsorship they rely strictly on donations and efforts of so many volunteers. christmas in richmond is providing a holiday meal and

services at the north richmond senior center, as well. we although that santa delivers on christmas day but did you know the u.s. postal service does do. they have been delivering mail on the christmas for the past three years. she dresses the part on december 25th and feels like santa when they answer the door. >> when their children at home, you get to see them. there is those smiles on the face and santa is really delivering on christmas day. >> dan: isn't that great. they only deliver express mail on christmas and nancy has been an employee at the robertsville post office for 28 years. neither rain, nor sleet will symptom nancy.

>> we don't have to feed reindeer either. here is a look at live, it's raining here in san francisco as you can see on the live camera shot. wetter in some areas than in others. much of the day we had most concentrated in the north bay. you can see life doppler despite the fact have an approaching area of rainfall, things have calmed down there quite a bit. santa rosa was getting drenched earlier in the day but you see nice breaks across the north bay. there is more rainfall lurking offshore. down in the central part of the viewing area over to the east bay weed some heavier rain sweep through. most of it is out in it and land east bay. most concentrated reaches from the santa cruz mountains down to the salinas valley. temperature readings, generally in the 40s around the bay area.

we do have 51 degrees in mountain view and 50 at san jose. winds have been gusty in some spots, presenting problems for air travel at sfo. we've got winds down nou diminished at sfo down to 5 miles an hour. strongest gusts at half moon bay up to 45 mile-an-hour gusts. 25 mile-an-hour gusts at san jose and 24 at napa. rain tonight will be heavy at times giving way to showers tomorrow. partly cloudy and cool on thursday. it will be drier towards the end of the week. overnight, chilly but not very cold. we might see temperatures up just above 40 degrees in napa and fairfield and above 40 for most of the remainder of the bay area. satellite image showing the rainfall out ahead of frontal system that is sweeping through the bay area. it's moving in northwest to southeast. we'll see it ending first in the northern part of our viewing area tomorrow and ending later

in the southern part of the viewing area. 7:00 this evening and see the rain become less organized over night giving way to showers. some of those showers could be heavy at times but they will break up into scattered showers in the afternoon hours. we'll see quite a bit of sunshine later in the day. over in the sierra, winter weather advisory remains in effect until tomorrow evening. we expect 8-16 inches above 5,000 feet. chain controls is likely. rain will taper off first in the north bay and later in the south bay. we'll see sunshine in all parts of the bay area by late afternoon. high temperatures tomorrow, a little on the cool side. mainly in the low to mid-50s up to 56 in oakland and 55 in fremont. cooler in parts of the north bay. 53 in santa rosa. looking southward to monterey bay, showers will end later in the day. high temperatures mainly in the mid-50s. here is the accu-weather seven-day forecast.

there is a slight chance of some showers mainly in the north bay on friday. chance of rain on saturday and drying out again on sunday. we'll have sunny skies on monday which is new year's eve and day of sunshine on tuesday with high temperatures in the mid-50s. >> dan: after christmas rain we will be ready for that. >> you are right about that. >> dan: larry beil is off but rick kwan is here. >> sports world is celebrating christmas with lots of n.b.a. basketball. do you hear what i hear? >> jingle bells, jingle all the way ♪ ♪ hoe oe

>> there were a lot of kheevs for world peace today not just because it's christmas. lakers played nost to the knicks and the stars were out. the fans got to see meadow world peace. he had 16 of his 20 in third quarter. anthony led with 34, this put the knicks up by 3. they couldn't slow down kobe who scored 34. ninth straight game he had 30 or more points. l.a. clinging to a 3-point lead and paul throws it down. lakers get back to .500100-the 4. >> detained wade with slams it home. less than a minute left. he'll take it to the hole.

he scored a game high 33. lebron james, this is the chris bosh up by 3. and russell westbrook is off the mark. miami hangs on to win, 103-97. >> for a change, san jose football team is not home for the holidays. after a superb season spartans will take on bowling green in the military bowl on thursday. this will be the first bowl appearance since 2006. a big reason for the team's success has been the play of junior quarterback. he has broken a number of school records including most passing yards, passing touchdowns and total offense. mcintyre heading to colorado, coordinatorer kentbayer will be coaching will the team. >> it's better, we're out here on the field. we still have the same meetings

and doing the same thing getting ready and prepared. >> the hunger bowl is this saturday at at&t park. players from arizona and navy navy were serving meals to the less fortunate. they were at st. anthony's dining room in san francisco. >> we feel very fortunate as a football program to be here at the bowl game but to spend a couple hours on christmas day to help people enjoy their christmas. this is the best bowl event i've been involved in. >> while many of the n.b.a. players were spending christmas ot basketball court. some found time to record hollywood cheer ♪ over the td jump ♪ ♪ dunkin all the way ♪ the way we play the game ♪ is such a pretty sight.

>> sits so much fun to play on christmas night ♪ ♪ jingle bells, jingle bell all the way. oh what fun it is to play a game on christmas day ♪ [ laughter ] laugh. >> and this was brought to you by mercedes-benz. >> no american idols in that crowd. thanks very much. >> we'll be back in just a moment.

first lady michelle obama read to children in washington, d.c. and a creature were stirring. [ laughter ] >> this is exactly what he does at home. he tries.... >> that creature is bo the obama family dog. she read the night before christmas to the children.

that is it for this edition. for all of us here, i'm dan ashley. merry christmas. i hope you have had a wonderful day with your family and hope to see you again at 11:00 tonight. good night.

[cheers and applause] >> hello, everybody, and welcome to millionaire. we continue to raise money for alzheimer's today, which is why this absolutely beautiful audience is wearing purple and giving such great support to all of our celebrities. thank you, guys. hoping to add to our total is best-selling author and one of america's favorite cooks. please welcome paula deen. [cheers and applause] >> thank