area. some very heavy rain around jefferson avenue, middle l field road. as we pan around the bay area, in the east bay, we're getting downpowers from walnut creek to hayward. fremont and oakland. that will make for a very messy evening rush. down towards the santa cruz mountains, moderate rain, as you'll notice. and up to the north, still moderate rain around where our radar is located. you take a look at the loop and continue to see there's quite a bit of moisture and some returns that pretty moderate to heavy still coming into the bay area. which is why urban and small stream flood advisory has been extended for the north bay until 6:45 p.m. many parts of the bay area under that advisory. coastal flooding continues until 7:00 with the creeks continuing to rise. we may see flooding. and almost half a foot.

close to two inches in san jose. just over that in san francisco to livermore. almost an inch. we still have moderate to heavy rain moving through tonight. as we head towards the wee hours of the morning, 1:00 a.m., shifting finally begins. still an isolated richk of thunderstorms. >> sandy, thanks very much. the heavy rain has flooded part of sonoma county. >> let's get jonathan with the latest from there. >> reporter: well, dan, the floodwaters receded in some places. in some spots like down by the river it could get worse before better. the most common casualty, parked cars. some of them half underwater. in a few places you would have better luck in a kayak. it's a brand new lake. well, actually a parking lot. >> i don't know car that is.

they need to get it out. >> as long as you're careful. >> are you going to? >> no. >> why not? >> if it tips over, i don't know how to swim. >> not the best swimmer can handle this. that's why police shut down this park for the first time a decade. >> air mattress. >> how is it working? >> not so great. >> kara and his little brother say the flotation is just fine. >> we didn't have oars on hand. the whole oar situation was i have fi. and so we are using our hands. >> asked why they're not ou with everyone else, the answer was simple. >> our father was a little embarrassed. >> but kara is not embarrassed at all. >> you see her splashing in that dirty, nasty water. that's not the best idea. there could be all sorts of

stuff floating around in there. including, yes, sewage. the most common way to drown during a flood is in your car. so be careful. jonathan bloom, abc 7. >> thanks very much. vineyards also got soaked. these shots are flooding in valley. you can see how much water came down. and a rock side. officials reopened in castro valley. mud and debris completely blocked the road for a while. you can see crews skrooping up the mess with a bulldozer to haul it all away. there were no injuries. electricity is still out in the san leandro area after a tree fell on the power line and snapped the pole like a twig.

the pole fell and crushed it. this took place before 5:30 this morning. electricity is not expected back on until 8:00 tonight. and another car was smashed on tanniger. the red volkswagen was completely covered by a tree. in san jose, the constant rain caused this giant tree to topple onto a truck and the roof of a home on boxwood drive. neighbors say the tree was 200 years old. it was in the parking strip of the nearby road before it fell. scenes like that repeated all over the bay area today. floodwater for seniors out of a cupertino retirement home. it happened at about 10:30 this morning. disstresed seniors had to abandon their apartments when storm drains couldn't handle all the water. as well as some of the senior's apartments themselves. residents say it's not the first time their facility flooded.

police have been helping drivers stuck in deep water. this car on the overpass near el camino. you can see the police officer coming to the driver's rescue there. pushing them out of harm's way. >> oh, a lot of places in san francisco were hit hard by the storm. power outages and flooding. take a look at this video by a tourist in union square. this underground vault exploded and burned. we are joineded live with the impact. >> well, sheryl, this is a sad site. the tree, the union square christmas tree not lit up. macy's completely in the dark. with less than two weeks before christmas, this has been a disastrous day for retailers. now, right now, some businesses have power. others do not. pg&e crews worked to restore

power to shops downtown. some were left in the dark for hours. the economic impact to stores here in union square especially because of the holidays will be huge. john's grill eventually got power, but the damage was already done. >> we lost all the lunch reservations because we couldn't open. obviously. we had to call gas, and then gas also called us and couldn't get into the city. >> no one was more disappointed than shoppers. >> our tradition is to come to union square around christmas time for lunch and shopping. >> but not today. >> we're going to go find a drink somewhere. >> i need an outfit for a party tonight. >> across town in the the mission district, these residents and businesses had to deal with another problem, flooding waters. the area around fulsome and 17th is known for flooding.

crews hired by the city were pumping water out while putting sandbags to keep the water from coming in. >> we have been working with the san francisco public utilities commission, with the department of public works. and trying to be pro active, as much as we could be to minimize the flooding that happened. >> this is the area this morning. >> i'm over here in san francisc francisco. >> that cell phone video was taken as the storm began to move in. back here at union square live in san francisco, pg& e crews were working on this manhole here, and this is an vault. they don't want a repeat of what happened this morning. abc 7 news. >> okay. thanks very much. power problems as well.

a viewer sent us this video of nothing happening when flipping the light switch. fran is hardest hit right now at 66,000 customers without electricity. overall, about 75,000 lost power. that's way down from earlier when 150,000 customers were in the dark. pg&e has fixed more than half the outages. 3,000 remain in the east bay. 2,800 in the south bay. 2,200 in the north bay. >> in berkeley, flooding often happens at ashby interstate 80 underpass. that's what happened today. three cars caught underwater. we hope those folks are okay. leyla gulen has been with us day and night. she joins us with a look at the rest of the roadways. how does it look now? >>. >> yes, indeed. it's actually not too bad. nothing too, too major. we have one big one, though. right before you get to the pass. i'll have that in just a second. right now we have light rain currently falling there. bug a big closure just to the

north. if you're heading from miller avenue, right up to sir francis drake. that entire stretch, northbound and southbound highway 1 completely shut down because of fallen debris and mud and flooding there. now as we're taking you over to liver more, eastbound side of 580, a high wind advisory. as you make it into the pass and finally, hera a look at the bridge. travels there heading to hey toward from foster city. it's slow, but it's still moving. cheryl? >> leyla, thank you so much. >> traffic has been an issue all over the the bay area. setting up flares, putting up stop signs. law enforcement busy trying to keep drivers safe. >> this may look like fun, but there is a warning. >> and for those on the bay, we have a lot more coming up for you today. >> you can track the storms where you live. where you live. >> abc 7

we're for an opens you internet for all.sing. we're for creating more innovation and competition. we're for net neutrality protection. now, here's some news you may find even more surprising. we're comcast. the only isp legally bound by full net neutrality rules.

strong waves caused havoc for several boaters off the san mateo coast. at least two sailboats snapped and were ran aground by the schop pi groupds in half-moon choppy grounds in half-moon bay. another boat was pushed all the way to shore and was stuck near pillar point harbor. well, the he's bay also had a lot of problems from today's big storm. laura anthony is live from the the oakland hills with that part of our storm watch coverage. laura? >> hi, dan. a really difficult day for two families here. let's show you blanden road. this is where part of the foundation, a retaining wall, a large crack took this section, an outdeer patio area with it.

and the whole thing landed on the house next door. it wasn't the way the owner of this car likely wanted to start the day, stuck in about two feet of water in an emeryville parking lot. a block away, the busy intersection a police officer was putting out flares because the signal lights were out. in oakland, this man was getting sandbags in a down power, hoping it wasn't too late to keep water from rushing into his home. >> all the water coming down the hills. flooting the cars. and you look up in the hills and it's like a manmade waterfall. >> for this family, too much water all at once caused a cinder block wall to fail and land on the home of the neighbor below. the homeowners told us they learned it was illegally built by a previous owner and they were trying to get it

>> we're nervous for them and remorseful that this happened. it's unfortunate for both parties. >> especial ly unfortunate when you look at this gap here. this is the the opening creating about three or four feet. this all landed on the house next door. this home has been red tagged. that family needs to move out tonight. this house, restrictive use. meaning they are not supposed to use this side of the house. laura anthony, abc 7 news. >> laura, thanks very much. drivers in south san francisco braved floodwaters. ch one trieded to navigate with hazard lights as several vehicles made their way off the onramp to 280. one driver decided to avoid the offramp after seeing water across the road. smart decision. backed away. work crews closed the ramp and cleared the blockage. >> wow. that gushing water was the least of the problems at the

montgomery bart station. a power outage that we told you about earlier closeded the station around 7:00 this morning. it didn't reopen until six hours later. the zap bruno bart station was closeded for two hours. >> driving across the bay bridge into san francisco this morning was daunting. the wind and the rain slowed traffic to 20 miles per hour, but at least these motorists were dry. not everyone was. >> how is the commute? >> what? >> that bicyclist was on the embarcadero in san francisco. at one point that stretch of road was closed because of flooding. >> also a big problem with our creeks. take a look. typically took a trickle.

not today, as you can see. this is viewer video showing it pouring through a neighborhood near hopkins street. katie marzullo is joining us from marin county. katie? >> cheryl, this is sycamore creek. we been watching it for hours, including around 2:15, high tide. a lot of people curious if that would have a negative effect on the water here here. i talked with people who live around here. some who have lifed here for decades and they say it will take more than this to scare them. for these teenage boys, the the situation is all fun and games, but make no mistake, rafting and floodwaters is a doingous idea. the marin county office of emergency services put out a call to people who live along the creek that it did reach flood stage this average. the city manager and vice mayor were nong those who came to

check it out. >> we put out a lot of preparation for this several days in advance. we warneded everyone and told them what to look for. i think we were spareded the brunt of the storm. >> leslie's home backs up to the creek. she and her husband have lived here more than 30 years and they say they've experienced worse than this. >> you could take a boat out before. not today. >> but they're not counting on luck. they put sandbags around the garage in case the creek does overflow. i talked with the office of emergency services also. they tell me it reached 16 feet and started receding and flood stage is 19 feet. so not as concerned about that area tonight. live in mill valley. abc 7 news. >> let's head to san jose. part of the roof of a safeway

store collapsed in the storm. chris is live near the silver creek area. >> this is the safeway between king and abon. we learned of one possible minor injury here. we're joined by the captain from the san jose fire department. captain, thanks for joining us. >> you're welcome. this happened just before 4:00. a partial roof collapse. zblf that's correct. par of the roop collapsed. the helicopter reported it with a 50 by 50 hole in the roof with cracks running away from that primary will i to east for 50 feet or so. we found out all the employees got out of the store with no injuries. we brought in the use of our task force at the urban search and rescue team. we brought in a task force of them to search the building, and in addition we brought in a second alarm of firefighters in order to have the resources on

scene if we needed to extricate from the building. so at this point, we have a big hole in the roof. we have one minor injury. they were evaluated and chose to not go to the hospital. >> and we see the the police officers blocked off all the entrances to the parking lot and the power has been shot off. that's right. we shut off the utilities so we don't have fire or somebody getting electrocuted. >> and how much more time do you think crews will be out here? obviously throughout the night. but it's going to be quite some time before this store is able to open up again. >> our crews, i can't te as far as wen this building will reopen, that's going to be up to safeway and how fast they can get the building rebuilt. i don't know the extent of the damage at this point.

i haven't been inside. >> captain from the san jose fire department, thank you. we do appreciate it. one person, minor injury here at the capitol express way near silver creek valley. we are told that for now all entrances to the parking lot will continue to remain blocked off for the time being. and again, power currently out in this area as well. >> all right. our weather team told us what would come. part of the problem, therm right, it's rain. >> sandhya joins us weather. as you take a look, i'll remind you of the intensity of the storm 6789 it's still coming down. right now in oakland, very heavy rain is being reported. as i take you down to street level here, you'll see right around red road road and

mcarthur, broad way, definitely downpowers. also heavy rain from strahan towards the coast and the south bay. san jose is getting pretty good rain now in gilroy. morgan hill area. as we show you the wider picture here, the moisture stream continues. if you take a look off the coastline. there's still moisture feeding in here. so we're going to continue to see the rain akroosz the bay area continue to be heavy. urban and small stream flood advisory extended for santa clara county. also for parts of santa cruz counties until 7:00 p.m. the other areas until 6:00 to 6:45. now we take a look at the russian river. this is a concern. a flood warning remains up for the russian river. flood stage is 32 feet. tomorrow forecast to go above flood stage of 34. coming in at 34 feet at 11:00

a.m. and the sierra nevada. chains are required on 80 and state route 88. the blizzard warning has been changed to a winter storm warning. and here's our view. the worst winds are long gone. wood acre, only 70 miles per hour. more than 60 in los you probably heard the winds. a live look from the roof camera. rain turns to showers tonight. there's still a slight chance of shunder and a much needed break arrives in time for all your weekend plans. watching a cold front here just sitting. it will rain will ease later as the rain starts to move. flash flood watch through late tonight. dangerous flash flooding is still possible. ponding of the roadways. high surf advisory remains up until 10:00 a.m. on friday.

breakers may exceed 20 feet. current wave heights, 12 to 19 feet. stay away from the coastline if you can. still expecting visibility near zero. 10 to 10 inches of snow. passes may get shut down. keep that in mind. with scattered showers, 50s, 60s. the worst of it will go through late tonight. and tomorrow you may see brief downpours during that period. not the high winds and heavy rain ls. almost nine inches of rain. the weekend dry. not ads strong. >> almost nine inches. 8.68 at the very latest. >> thank you. goodness. >> today's rain did have a

silver lining for drivers in san francisco. >> plus the problem in the south bay and

drooiing wez treacherous this morning. cars heading southbound had to squeeze buy on the shoulder to avoid all that water. the driver still had to deal with several inches of water. right now the flood is gone and 280 reopened. there may be puddles in the area. >> and a spot in san jose known for chronic flooding. this is an underpass that runs beneath the the cal train tracks. that's near el camino. emergency crews worked to block the underpass. the storm drains were completely swamped by the rising floodwaters. >> well, as the floodwaters kept rising, firefighters urged everyone to steer clear.

it was tough to get around. that did not deter these kayakers. stranded pets were also a concern today. awe, look at them save those animals. photograph posted these great pictures on her facebook page. you see the firefighter here with their newfound furry friends. all safe and sounds. >> thank you for that. this was a good day for uber. not so much for riders. the surge prizing today was 3.8 times higher than normal. very few people wanted to drive themselves. zbr well, good news out of the storm. meter maids are too busy trying to drol traffic so they're not ticketing the expired meters. >> weather watch is not over yet. yet. coming up, the

on brand name mattress sets. years interest-free financing plus, get free delivery, and sleep train's 100-day low price guarantee. sleep train's interest free for 3 event is ending soon. ♪ your ticket to a better night's sleep ♪

coming up at 6:00, a lot of damage from today's storm, but what does that mean for your insurance and recovery? michael finnny has tips to help you know what might and might not be covered. plus, we'll take you live to check on conditions there. is it going to be a good weekend to hit the slopes? and peek picking up their surfboards and hitting the water in a very unusual place. all coming up on abc 7 news at 6:00. >> we'll see you then. zblf today's weather was so bad it forceded the raiders to move practice indoors. >> yeah, the team left its practice facility and moved indoors to the sports and fitness clubs at the old alameda air station. >> translator: that would have made it a lot more comfortable as he threw passes to his back two receivers. the raiders put in an all weather turfd at the the facility a couple of years ago. today's wind and rain made it tough to get a workout in. >> they played the chiefs in kansas city. >> we appreciate your time.

we will see you again at 6:00 as you look at live doppler 7 hd. this storm is not over yet. welcome to "world news tonight." and here in the west, breaking now. the historic storm slamming into the coast. the homes collapsing into the ocean. schools shut down. hurricane-force winds. meteorologist rob marciano reporting from the coast tonight. the reaction pouring in this evening to that unpress danced moment. america's spy chief firing back. defending the cia tonight. did torture really lead to osama bin laden? an abc news exclusive tonight. the iconic and respected model now coming forward in the bill cosby case. revealing why she stayed silent all this time, the most famous accuser yet. and the nfl star, the horrific accident, fracturing his back. tonight, his first message.