. . . good morning. i'm eric thomas on december 11th. mother nature has her own time clock. >> she is coming in a little bit faster and a little bit sooner than what we saw yesterday. >> in an hour, we are going to be getting pounded almost the same time as yesterday. so far, santa rosa, where you can see we have heavy rain falling 1.75 over the last three

hours. rona park as you head down 1 towards petaluma. this is moving to the northeast. since it is moving to the northeast, places like st. helena, napa, all of you are going to get it here in the next 20-25 minutes. those areas haven't received quite as much rain as the 101 corridor has. about .5. no flooding yet. windsor still an issue. we'll talk about that when we get back. >> a hit right in the middle of the commute. let's check in with leila. >> right now, the rain and the wind is a major factor and that contributed to this alert. knoll valley road. see this here. a big tree toppled on top of a big rig outside of 80. the sig alert is blocking three lanes. you can see the slowing. westbound traffic unaffected. all of this shaded in green as

we track weather and traffic together. that is indicating where rain is affecting your commute. farther to the west, a look at the richmond toll plaza. the lights glistening off the wet pavement. flooding in some areas. i'll let you know where they are coming up in a few minutes. >> storm watch. the storm has arrived in the north bay, a little early, which is expecting a lot of flooding today. we saw that in last week's storm. amy holing field is live in santa rosa. >> yes. there is rain coming down in santa rosa. we are here downtown where you can get a sense at this interception where it is starting to pool here alongside the curb. it is steady, soaking, not sheets of rain, not blind cing rain. wind is going to be something to deal with in this storm. we have a nice visual. a big tree with the holiday lights on, just jiggling away.

those lights look like they are dancing here. are they excited about the rain? i don't know. they are moving for sure. we also have a couple problems being reported in petaluma sha we want to show you. first, some power lines that are arcing that they are dealing with there. they are waiting for pg&e to come and help them with this situation, badly arcing. the seventh street home is crossing. no obvious reason, no cause for this, officials are telling us. possibly, the moderate winds. a tree down in petaluma. it came down about 2:00 this morning out of someone's yard t was blocking two lanes. they did get that cleared. obviously, rain and wind creating some issues in petaluma. this is for anyone that needs any support. is it being impacted at all by this storm? they are not accepting donations. they are just accepting people who need help. they do encourage you to bring

your necessities or prescription medication, your tooth brush. anything you can grab. if you need any emotional support or shelter, they are there for you. that's on maple avenue. i did check in with the sheriff's office here in santa rosa for sonoma county. no problems reported at this time. i checked in for trees, flooding. no reports of problems. the shelter is open if any do pop up. the rain is coming down here. it is very steady. it is coming down. it is soaking us pretty good. reporting live in santa rosa, amy hollyfield, abc 7 news the storm will put an improved flood control system on the napa river in napa to the test. we are during the peak of the storm. the city spent $15 million to make the waterway less prone to overflowing its banks. as of now, parts of the napa river could approach flood level, 25 feet by tomorrow afternoon. >> watching creeks in the south bay and the peninsula.

they have been placing sandbags along there. they have passed out fliers to make sure businesses and residents are prepared for possible flooding. >> at golden gate bridge, officials are keeping an eye on the high twoinds determine whether they need to shut the span down. you are looking live at the bridge, which is girning to take a pounding. it is almost empty. one car coming through the picture there. the bridge has only been closed due to wind three times before. the last time, 1983. >> the bridge has a long history. many school districts have taken unprecedented steps to keep students and staff safe by canceling today's classes. >> in san francisco, some parents at gala lay yo academy of science and technology were worried as the storm approached. yesterday, the superintendent made the call to cancel classes at 131 classes after learning the storm had not weakened. >> we want to make sure kids are safe. we are going to err on the side

of safety. some may be inveend. no one wants to see a child hurt on the way to school. >> that's great. we have to protect our children. we never know what could happen. >> the school district central offices will remain open. they expect classes to resume tomorrow. city col lidge of san francisco and san francisco state have also canceled classes for today because of the weather. >> north bay residents have been diligent to a fault to try and protect their homes from flooding. >> marin county is out of sand for sandbags. our camera has found one of the three piles of sand. >> the department says san rafael went through 100 tons of sand in the past 48 hours. officials hope to have a new delivery ready for distribution at 6:00 this morning at the marin civic center. in pacifica, people are watching the waves and winds in addition to the rain.

nick smith is there. joins us now with a live report. nick. >> eric, this is the deal. the wind is high. i can barely hear you. i want to make sure that wind and rain is hitting its head like little rocks. i have already lost my hat. the strong winds are out here. i want to see how these winds are crashing out here. i am not the only one out here. i have been out here this morning since about 2:30. when i tell you, there are others who have been out here too. i want to know why are you out here. this is not your first storm. talk to me about why it was important to come on out and see this. >> we just decided. my buddy called me and we decided to come out and chase the storm, basically. we have been out here since 11:00, 11:30. >> you felt these winds? >> i saw some of your friends over on the pier. they have been blowing you back and forth. sum it up for us. people at home. >> basically, i can pretty much -- it is holding me up.

i am a 170 pound guy. off the cliffings, s, it is str. >> reporter: i want you you guys to see how strong these winds are as it rushes back and forth here. what i am experiencing right now, our winds we are going to see are maybe 30-40 miles per hour. we are going to check out our little gauge a little bit later little gauge a little bit later and give you a

couple hours after that as we head into the south bay. then, we will have showers and scattered thunderstorms as we head throughout the evening hours. the heaviest of the wet weather is coming through. we are still going to have plenty of wet weather through the afternoon hours. let's take a look at the wind. 37 miles per hour at half moon. up in the hills, gufsting to 40. i happened to drive the mini-van to, would. as i was going across the bay bridge, it was being tossed about like a ship on the ocean, back and forth, back and forth. it is the east/west bridges that are going to be more affected. the winds are running parallel to the golden gate bridge i don't see it being closed. the leading edge offer rain, .01

inches of rain. anderson drive, fairfax towards san pedro road. navatoe all the way over. you can see it moving through american canyon, redden book parkwaand georgia street, downtown downtown vallejo, a little lighter. a look at the winds along the east bay hills. you have to watch out in a high profile vehicle today. it is going to be a white knuckler. >> the wind is really tremendous out there. we have high wind advisories for all the bay area bridges. the golden gate bridge coming in for marin. traffic there is light. it certainly is wet. we have slick conditions all across the bay area. we are looking at some flooding

already. this is farther to the north. flooding along linten state road. a little farther to the north and west. this is right at highway 128 at wasson lane. that's where we have more flooding. this area of yellow indicating where rain is coming down pretty darn hard. we also want to watch out for this. we have branches, tree limbs, falling into the roadways. significant alert here. eastbound side at panol valley road. it fell on top of a big rid and has stopped traffic. the traffic in the westbound direction moving along without any problems so far. we will keep you updated. kristen and eric, over to you. >> our storm watch coverage continues. live doppler is tracking the rain and wind hitting us. >> we are going to keep these pictures up throughout the entire commercial break. a look at traffic at the bay bridge toll plaza. bridge toll plaza. it gets pretty windy.

a live look at sfo where travelers are facing delays and cancellations because of high winds. airlines canceled 135 arrivals and departures at sfo, most of them short-haul runs. no major delays at oakland international or san jose international. if you are traveling tomorrow, the airlines are urging you to call ahead. >> we want to show you something new this morning. how challenging the storm is making the commute. a unique camera mounted on a van. leila is here to show us. >> here is a look right now. we are looking panoramic view. it looks like there is someone outside. >> it looks like snow more than rain. >> they expect high winds and

rain, certainly have been keeping some freeways closed. the great highway in san francisco as well as a precaution. >> it was shut down at 10:00 last night. it is not expected to reopen until 10:00 tonight. work crews will also have to soften erosion today. they have been moving sand from the northern part of ocean beach to shore up the seawall south of slope boulevard. >> we want to see the weather where you live. where you live. you can e-mail them to us ureport san francisco.com. we have been telling you the storms are moving faster than first projected. let's check in with mike and see what's going on right now. >> we will start with live doppler 7. the storm stretching all the way to the north. the cold front, you can see the back end of it. right there with a clearing out over the ocean but that is not going to come through until a couple hours from now. look at this. this is an area of some pretty

heavy rain. so let me zoom on in to that. this is all -- let's put that in so you can see exactly where it is going. it is moderate to heavy rain. the key is where it will pick up. most of that is going to just clip san francisco. looks like it is going to stay just north of it and keep pounding the north bay. you can see the yellows, the oranges, the reds, moderate to heavy rain. let's go down petaluma and we can stop the loop and show you, petaluma. downtown, lakeville street, adobe road, mcdowell, as you head up towards east katadi avenue, a heavy shower there. roaner park expressway going east/west. stony point road on the western side getting heavy rain. right now, light to moderate up where amy is. it is santa rosa all the way out towards montgomery drive as you start to head up into the hills to your east.

so let me zoom on out and show you other areas. if you are coming in from the east bay, look at that. right there on 24, it is west this morning with some light rain. same thing with 580 and 880 as you head from oakland down to san leandro. san mateo bridge starting to get a sprinkle, maybe some light rain there. the rain is starting to make it across 92 from half moon bay up to 280, skyline boulevard down to san mateo and redwood city. a few light showers also making it through the santa cruz mountains. 17 in the summit right now as you descend into los gatos and saratoga and campbell all the way into san ho sdpla. light showers there also. the storm or the brunt of it is still in the north. the rest of us are getting wet. here is a look from our san rafael camera. you can see moderate rain falling here but good news, not much fog because the rain is falling. let me take you through time and show you what's going to happen. there is the big shape of the system as we head towards 4:00.

right now, this morning, you can see heavier rain up in the north bay. by 8:00, it is starting to pull out of the north bay and head through the heart of the bay from san francisco through va from san francisco through va lay owe. out of the south bay by about 2:00 or 3:00. look at the cellular nature of the radar return. those are scattered showers and thunderstorms. locally, heavy rain, more potential for flooding and wind damage out of these as we roll through the evening overnight hours and into tomorrow morning. they will they will return tomorrow afternoon. locally heavy rain and gusty winds there. as we head towards friday night, this system is out of here. precipitation totals are looking

about the same as yesterday. about the same as yesterday. as we head deeper into the mountains. scattered showers and thunderstorms for friday. we will have dry weather saturday and sunday and another chance of wet weather monday and tuesday. it is about an hour ahead of time. most of the heavy rain is most of the heavy rain is falling in the north bay. we do have gusty winds as you have been mentioning just about everywhere else. that is what is causing a lot of problems across the bay area freeways and streets. first, i want to show you the san mateo bridge. we are looking at the drive we are looking at the drive coming out of hayward and foster

city. it is not so dry in east bay. if you are traveling eastbound, sig alert, our first of the morning so far, we do have this. it was a big tree branch that fell on to lanes. we have three lanes shut down. one is open. that is letting traffic squeeze by. a bigger picture of what's happening through the east bay if you are taking a look that the drive along i-80. moving along at top speeds. maybe some folks have heeded the warning and decided to stay home today. portions going to be on the dryer side as you head along 24. it is going to be spotty there. oakland, that is also looking wet and slick. be careful there. when we have a lot of rain, you want to drive in those center lanes, because the far right and left sides, those tend to pool and become very dangerous. you don't want to hydroplane or find yourself skidding in any of that water. more information coming up in a few minutes. we'll send it back to kristin and eric. >> it is now 4:20.

you are looking live at doppler 7 and 8. nobody is going to escape the heavy rain and powerful winds it is bringing. >> you can keep tabs on weather and traffic throughout the entire commercial break with abc 7 news now. 7 news now. the big picture of the

it's 4:23. live doppler tells the story. it is tracking the powerful storm that's drenching the bay area, specially in the north bay right now. meteorologist, mike nikko and traffic reporter, leila gooland are following the impact where you live. they will be here to tell you some more. we have power outages to tell you about. pg & e is reporting 3400 outages in the east bay. 3,000 on the peninsula. in the north bay, more than 1,000 customers are without power. 230 in the south bay and 35 here

in san francisco. >> as we've been telling you, dozens of school districts have canceled classes today. many state and national parks will also be enclosed. the additional closures could include muirwood and stinson beach in marin county and at four point and baker beach in san francisco county. just to name a few for you. if you are near the beach today where waves are expected to be huge. you are urged to be extremely careful. >> the sierra, as much as 8 inches of rain is forecast. at the higher elevation, that will turn into snow. between 2-3 feet of snow can be expect frd this storm. that's terrific news for ski resorts. many of whom were not open this time last year. good news for state reservoirs, many of them at record low levels due to the drought. getting to the slopes could be treacherous, however. you will want to check in with the chp to make sure your route is open and safe.

you will find useful tips to make sure you are prepared for any trouble the storm might bring under our website under prepare norcal, a red cross safety list, and supplies you will need. keep your cell phone fully charged. >> 4:25. when is the wettest of the storm expected to be >> right now, it is in the north bay as we expected. look at the red offshore. that's about an hour's worth of heavy rain headed for the heart of the north bay just north of the golden gate bridge all the way up to about cloverdale. the next hour, moderate to heavy rain. we could see localized urban flooding out of that. windy here. windy through the central valley, up into the mountains where today we are going to have snow in tahoe and we are going to have blizzard and whiteout conditions starting at 247 morning through 4:00 tomorrow

morning. leila? >> yes. i could say, bring the chains. you really are not advised to travel during those conditions. let's start by taking a look at the san mateo bridge. i want to show you the bay bridge where it is looking pretty damp there as you make your drive in from the east bay and towards san francisco. it is not terribly drenched. we are already experiencing flooding here. a little bit farther to the east. 128. farther to the south where it is quite dry in san jose. we see some areas spotted with green. heavy, gusty winds as well as some damp winds. so far, no accidents in this area but we will certainly keep you posted.

>> there is a live picture of the golden gate bridge. >> mike and the rest of us are keeping a close eye on live doppler 7 hd. get a good idea of how huge this morning's storm is and where it is and where it is gonna be. >> as we head to break, we leave you with abc 7 news now. live from our camera already live from our camera already starting to get wet there.

4:29. a live picture right now. this is how windy it is from our camera shot. it is just being brutally punished by the winds out there

this morning from the storm that is hitting the bay area right now on this december 11th. thursday, at 4:29. thanks for joining us. i'm kristin. >> i'm eric thomas. leila monitoring traffic. you wondered if it was going to be extremely breezy at higher elevations even crossing the bridges this morning. that was kind of fun. east/west bridges running perpendicular to the the lower the car is to the ground, the easier to control. here is the leading edge of the wet weather, right here, sfo all the way over to san leandro. that is light to moderate rain. the heavy rain, you can see it. it is all the way up in the north bay, santa rosa, roaner park, specifically right there. it was just light to moderate a few seconds ago. now, it is becoming moderate to heavy. that gives you an idea of the waves of moderate to heavy rain that's going to roll through. you can see