there are fewer places with water and birds are forced to move to other locations. so now we are seeing a lot more birds concentrated in overpopulated areas of water. now, once that bocculism spreads, fish and wildlif wildlife officials start seeing a lot more dead birds. they have already identified dead birds in the area near the oregon border, and also in sacramento, and they anticipate this will spread. and it's really sad to see the birds once they have this disease. they become paralyzed, unable to lift their heads, and it's often fatal. >> with the current conditions, we may see a lot more birds dying, and it may repeat year after year until the drought starts to abate. >> reporter: and this will continue to spread, so fish and wi wildlife is asking that if you see such symptoms or dead animals, report it immediately. now, people are usually

resistant to this type of toxin, but they have been known to see a few cases among humans. i'm live in palo alto, leanne melendez, abc 7 news. a fast-moving house fire jumped from house to house, destroying two homes and damaging a third today. it was in an upscale neighborhood on hampshire place. you can see the smoke just billowing into the air. there was immediate concern that embers would spread the flames, and it did not take longment barbara stafford's house was damaged. she was not home at the time. >> we got a call from our alarm company that there was some glass breaking in our house, so we came back to see what was the story and came back to find it in flames. nobody told us ahead of time. so seeing it with flames shooting out of the roof was pretty hard. >> about 90 firefighters battled the flames for just over an hour. 18 people are out of their

homes tonight after a devastating early morning fire in oakland. one home was destroyed, another heavily damaged. this fire was on melrose avenue near 46th. it began just before 4:00 this morning. downed power lines created an added danger for firefighters, forcing crews to wait for pg&e to shut down the power. the homes were so badly damaged, they were both red tagged. >> look at it. there's nothing left. my husband and i, we started our marriage there. >> it was a little hard. we had to make sure everyone was out of the house. >> my dad woke me up, so we all started running out. >> they had to run for their lives in the middle of the night. everybody inside, though, including those eight kids, escaped the home. by the time the firefighters arrived, fortunately, no one was injured. a group of homeless people who are enticed with money to leave one east bay encampment are now moving to another location. nearly two dozen hoecmeless wer living in an area called the

albany bulb near the east bay. now nick is live in berkeley tonight where, nick, some of those same people are camped out there. >> reporter: that's right, dan. as you remember, we brought you this story first in april showing the evacuation of the bulb. they had to leave. some were given $3,000 to do so. well, unfortunately, they're not too far from where they started. now residents here say ca cash went to their new encampme encampment. >> this is how we do it. >> reporter: he was one of the victims evicted when they told the community they had to pack up and move. what has happened confused some and angered others. many homeless, like ohio, are still on the street and not far from where it all started. >> the problem is not people living on the streetlight.

>> reporte -- street. >> reporter: well, that depends on who you ask. business owners say they notice the trash piles started to grow when a homeless encampment popped up on jones and 2nd. and that's not all. >> there's definitely not a safe element at this point. >> reporter: this woman worked and lived in the area. she did not want to show her face. >> since they disbanded the hoec homeless people around this neighborhood, it's gotten to where they just set up camp on the sidewalk. >> reporter: nicole amaguer is the city assistant manager. they've been successful tackling the large problem with limited resources, and giving some as many as $3,000 to help with their transition. >> albany's pay-up is a misnomer. what occurred was the settlement of litigation filed against the city. >> reporter: nicole says even though some of the homeless have moved to neighboring

communities, albany is not to blame. >> what occurs with the homeless population from one area to another is uncertain. >> reporter: as is, the way to stop new homeless encampments from appearing and others from growing. an out of control driver is under arrest tonight after tearing through san francisco streets earlier, leaving several dan damaged cars in his wake. police said the man stole this truck and hit several cars as he drove through the city. police spotted the man driving the wrong way on 11th street. >> he stopped the car here at polk and grove. he jumped out and ran eastbound here on grove where two officers gave chase, and he was actually tackled by a fire department member over by the children's playground. >> a firefighter just happened to be in the area and she saw the chase. nobody was injured, a amazingly, in that series of crashes.

crews in fremont are trying to replace this fire hydrant after a car accident had water gushing in the air. you can see the suv on its side just completely flipped over on its side. fortunately, no one was hurt in this. that accident happened just after 2:00 p.m. on southbound mission boulevard between stevenson boulevard. it took the fire department about 15 minutes to cut the water. a water leak like nothing else. ucla said the city's department of water and power should pay for all this damage caused by yesterday's massive water main break. water is still leaking 24 hours later. cleanup is under way, but it is obviously going to take quite some time. cars are still stuck. sunset boulevard is still closed. abc 7 news reporter robert hogan is live in los angeles. the pictures we shared with viewers yesterday, hard to

believe. >> reporter: yeah, it was a pretty dramatic scene out here in westwood. the dwp now telling us that as much as 20 million gallons of water were spilled after that 90-year-old pipe burst right underneath sunset boulevard, setting up that geyser. they say they will probably be working on this repair job for at least another 48 hours. water continues to flow out of a broken water main that until recently was buried underneath the sunset boulevard. now the street is closed. a giant sinkhole remains and the cause of the break is under investigation. >> a lot of times it is corrosion related, but i can't tell you that for sure on this case. >> reporter: jim mcdaniel is the director of l.a. power and water. he says the water main break in the 90-year-old pipe caused 20 million gallons of water to spill onto city streets. >> this is one of our big eru

eruptors. it's a big event for us. >> they toured the sinkhole this afternoon. >> that's one hell of a pothole. >> reporter: and while water breaks are not uncommon, this won't be your typical repair. >> normally we would just cut out a section of pipe and replace it real quick, but this is located where two pipes come together and create a problem for us. >> reporter: the break occurred yesterday along the 10000 block of sunset. the water sent a huge geyser shooting 30 feet into the sky. it took the department of water and power several hours to bring down the water pressure. they say an immediate shutdown would only have created other problems. >> even though losing water is a terrible waste, one thing we did not want to do is have the system go dry because that could lead to contamination. we were able to keep the system pressurized the whole time. >> reporter: this normally busy street will remain closed for at least another 48 hours, creating

heavy traffic backups alongside streets. but there was some good news for residents. >> currently there are no homes or businesses that are out of water. this is a larger trunk line for a major distribution. >> reporter: and back out here live, you can see the crews are still on the scene. they'll be on the scene around the clock until they get this thing fixed. right now again water continues to leak out of that pipe, that broken water main at a much reduced rate, of course. it's losing about a thousand gallons a minute right now. it was at its height losing more than 75,000 gallons a minute. right now they can't get the valves to shut that pipe down. they will use an inflatable device to plug the pipe, they will pump the water out of the sinkhole ask thnd then get to wn the repairs. ge again, they're estimating 48 hours but that might be optimistic. >> robert, thank you very much. as robert said, that first pipe sent as many as 20 million gallons of water onto the ucla campus in the middle of

california's decades. the amount of water lost by the break could serve 150 homes in california for an entire year, just to give you an idea of how much water was lost yesterday. coming up, some changes to our weather. here's our meteorologist. >> yes, cheryl and dan, and those changes will involve less humidity and slightly cooler weather. the man known as shrimp boy heads to court. coming up, the corrupt case against raymond chow and why his lawyer says he can't wait to testify. no high chairs and no booster chairs. >> i think it's ridiculous. >> i think it's not fair. >> a popular restaurant is just saying no to little children. while another restaurant is feeling the fallout. and amazon's new smartphone. it has five cameras that go way beyond taking a

an out of control wildfire in central california has more than doubled now to 5600 acres. the french fire, as it's been called, is burning in the sierra national forest. 500 firefighters are battling this thing. the fire has closed 12 camp grounds. in the meantime, some campsites and roads in yosemite are closed from the fire there. they have strengthened containment lines. they are trying to keep the fire away from a grove of sequoia trees, which are the oldest and biggest things to grow on this planet. a former gangster which was indicted with corruption charges was back in federal court today. raymond shrimp boy chow pleaded not guilty to new charges of

racketeering. the fbi said he did e launderring and taking bribes. >> he's going to testify. we're not going to hide behind any fifth amendment. he's dying to tell, you know, the truth. >> state senator leland yu will also face criminal charges fiore lis ting donations in exchange for a political favor. the san francisco municipal transportation agency board today approved the new deal. it ends the labor dispute that led to a three-day stakeout last month. the new contract gives operators a 14.25% pay raise over three years and requires workers to pay into their pension plans. the contract goes into effect in

october. the case of mistaken identity has a san francisco restaurant facing a series of complaints. monterrey's fisherman's wharf posted signs prohibiting strollers, high chairs and children making noise in the dining room. the iconic number 9 fisherman's grotto at san francisco's fisherman's wharf is getting angry phone calls from people who mixed up the two restaurants. monterrey is not making any apologies. >> if that's the rules, that's the rules. either you go in and abide by the rules or find somewhere more suitable. >> the owners of monterrey says the policy has been in place for two years and business continues to grow. over 100,000 hyundais have been recalled because drivers

continue to shift the car into park. >> it involves 2011 to 2014 sonatas. they say the shift gear can make problems shifting the car into park. it comes out of the shift lever pin. regulators say there's a chance the vehicle could roll away as the driver or passenger exits the car. there have been 1100 warranty claims in seven incidents related to this issue. owners have been asked to bring their car in for inspection and free repairs will be made if that's necessary. tired of your batteries dying? a student at stanford has made a lithium battery that can last four times longer than a regular battery. amazon is betting that its new fire smartphone will catch fire in sales. the phone comes with five cameras, giving users a unique 3-d view.

here's why you may want that. >> if you look at a map and you just tilt it -- i'm searching for coffee restaurants here. it will pop up the name and also give you the yelp reviews. >> how cool is that? this is amazon's first entry into the smartphone market. it also comes with a free year of amazon prime. it retails for $649. not cheap, but you can get it cheaper depending on your service agreement. >> smartphones are smarter than me. of course, i could say that with flip phones, too. thanks, michael. all right. well, starting tonight the golden gate bridge is closing various lanes every night this week. from 9:00 p.m. to 5:00 a.m., the northbound curb lane and southbound curb lane will close. why? because it's part of the preparation for the installation of the barrier.

you saw some fog out there. >> right behind that, sunshine. >> you gotcha. cheryl and dan, we like to keep it bright and sunny here. it can be fogged in at the golden gate. as i look north, i can see the fog coming in. looking south, of course, there is plenty of sun. we are still going to be seeing some interesting weather here. i'll show you in just a moment, but let's check out live doppler 7 hd, and we'll talk about something we're keeping a close eye on. of course, we're watching the fog. the marine layer is about 20 feet deep. in the sierra it's been an active pattern. so far over 990 lightning strikes. thunderstorms have been developing. and will continue if you're heading to the tahoe area going into thursday. there is a flash flood warning that has been issued for the lake alminore area until 7:15 tonight. they've already seen some flash flooding there. and a flood warning for the

donner lake area with good reason. almost two inches of rain has fallen there and that's the very latest. that's going until 7:00 p.m. some thunderstorms are producing rain which, of course, is good in the middle of this drought, but there is a red flag warning for fire danger in northern california until 11:00 p.m. tonight. the potential for dry lightning creating, obviously, some new fires. lake cam showing you a beautiful view there, some clouds there. if you are headed to tahoe tomorrow, his laisolated shower thunderstorms. half moon bay, our cool spot at 59 degrees. good reason never to get tired of this shot. the fog rolling into san francisco over our tower camera. 78 in napa, 90 for fairfield, concord, livermore. our hot spot was 101 in antioch, our cool spot in pacifica, 71 degrees. partly cloudy and hot tonight, hot inland the next few days and

we're looking at slightly cooler weather for the upcoming weekend. subtropical moisture from that once tropical storm is still streaming into central california and parts of southern california. we have a new development just to the west of us, west-southwest, that we're keeping a close eye on. it could pull up some of that moisture so we'll keep you posted just in case anything develops. 50s to mid-60s out the door tomorrow morning. a lot of high clouds and a mild start. we will hang onto the humidity in the morning hours, but i think it's going to get dryer as we head toward the second half of your day and really going into friday. 90 degrees thursday in the south bay and coopers bay. 96 in gilroy on the peninsula. 70 degrees in half moon bay, 71 in downtown san francisco. the fog lingers at the coast, and then the north bay, 88 in santa rosa, 90 in napa, triple digits out toward the east bay.

78 oakland, 86 fremont. 99 in livermore, 95 in concord. the summer heat continues with 98 in walnut creek. accuweather forecast, near triple digits inland. we will see a little bit of a cooldown for the weekend. low to mid-90s inland, mid-60s coast. temperatures will moderate. we will also definitely notice the difference with a dryer air mass. not as muggy as it has been. the ocean temperatures have been running well above average for a while now, and that's the case right now which, of course, is contributing to the humidity in the air. for the time being, our typical sea breeze back here and it feels grateat. dan, cheryl. why the laptop is making a bit of a comeback. snagging a foul ball the hard wa

only one small car earned a top rating of good in a new type of crash test. the insurance agency for highway safety said the new country cooperman did well in protecting drivers and passengers when the front end hit an object at 40 miles an hour. other cars' cabins collapsed during tests. you can see the full results at our website at abc7news.com. the ceo for best buy says the tablet market is crashing. hubert jolie said a lot of people bought tablets early on but want to replace them with something a little lighter and faster. pcs are making a comeback partly because people want to replace

their aging hardware. they are reportedly in talks with ali baba. it's an e-commerce company in china. a student founded the company in 2011. singer and actress jennifer hudson, part of a new campaign to fight cancer. >> a million things come together. >> when we search for cancer's secrets. >> the public service announcement is for the non-profit group stand up to cancer. the campaign showcases the important work of cancer rese researchers who are developing new treatments and therapies. they're trying to figure out which animal takes the longest time to hatch its eggs, and it's a long time. you ready for this? the deep sea octopus can guard its eggs for four and a half

years. that's twice as long as the life span for other octopi. the mother octopus goes without food that entire time. >> oh, my goodness. there's a first time for everything. >> and this is my first time being able to come here with my daughter. >> and they're not the only ones. why today was such a novelty for so many families at the giants ballpark. you're looking at the faces of some of the young people who received disney awards to recognize their volunteer work. >> 10-year-old alexander who collected nearly 2200 books for people and took his time installing and maintaining little free libraries. >> children 5 to 18 are eligible to receive a thousand dollars for the school or organization where they volunteer. the application deadline tomorrow at midnight.

>> we have more at [ female announcer ] the internet gets more exciting the faster it goes. that's why, coming soon, xfinity will double the internet speed on two of our most popular plans. xfinity continues to innovate, bringing you the fastest, most reliable internet, period. [ heart beating ] xfinity internet from comcast. double the speed.

[ heart beats ]

coming up new at 6:00, the effort now under way to keep a northern california river wild and scenic. but some fear it will leave the bay area high and dry. and from 7 on your side, the cab ride home that cost a san francisco woman more than $900. that's all coming up in half an hour on abc 7 news at 6:00. a big shoutout this afternoon to the pleasanton national junior all-stars. they won their first game in the western regional 12-2 in nevada. if they win the tournament, their next stop will be in the junior world series. going to a game could have left them seriously ill.

>> kids who suffer from peanut allergies, and like other ball parks, they're littered with a peanuts. >> i'm just glad to be here because i've never been able to go to a giants baseball game because of my allergies, and it's really great that i can come. >> it sure is. it's wonderful they could be there today and the giants got them into a ballpark from a special entrance that was washed down of any peanut debris so they would not see exposure. another meaning to the phrase splash hit. over in the left field fence into a woman's beer. >> she was startled for a few moments but it did not appear to hurt anybody. we hope someone bought her another beer, however. maybe it's cooled her down. sdp >> that's going to do it for us.

>> we appreciate your time as always. we will see you again at welcome to "world news." tonight, ebola alert. two more americans placed in quarantine. the peace corps pulling out of areas, caught in the largest outbreak in history. and the scare at one hospital here in the u.s. outrage, another civilian shelter hit in gaza as our terry moran takes us into the battle with israeli forces. and limits of forgiveness. kelsey grammer, his murdered sister and the decision about the murderer tonight. a good evening to you on this wednesday night. as we come on the air there's urgent new concern about the deadly ebola virus. tonight two american peace corps workers in africa are in quarantine, possib