morning drivers on 101 dealing with wet and windy conditions out there. the north bay has been hit hard with concerns over flooding. thank you for joining us. >> our abc 7 news team is bringing you live team coverage of the storm impacting the entire bay area. streets are flooded and homes may be next. >> amy is at the russian river that continues to rise.

jessica is monitoring mudslides. >> we start with mike nico in live doppler 7. >> good morning. you saw how our reporters were dressed. be that way all throughout the evening hours. the heaviest of the rain is right now. you see hayward heading to the east bay hills. we've also got pockets of moderate rain around san rafael. what you see around the radar is hotter than what's reaching the ground. so far this morning it's been mainly light with pockets of mad rat to dry weather in the south bay. here's what's going to happen. storm impact scale. exclusive from moderate to heavy rain. my highest concerns are stream creek flooding, hydroplaning and river flooding. here is a look at what's going on on our roads. >> tough day on the roads.

this is from sky 7 a little over an hour ago. we have a jackknifed semi. this is right around 7th street. before you get there heading that way, that was not good. we had a fuel spill involved this this. about 15, 20 minutes ago they were able to get the lanes back open. they got that a hooked up to the big rig tow truck there. helping some pretty heavy rain in the east bay. we still have about a six mile back up. 580 looking much better. if you're driving a truck you're not allowed to take that. i want to show you how dark it is and windy. a lot of heavy rain hitting the areas. only going to continue throughout the day. that is just due to the wet conditions. back to you. >> appreciate the update. thank you. people are concerned as today's king tide is inching higher and higher. streets are already flooded. melanie is live there.

what are you seeing now? >> reporter: this flooding reminds me a bit of my days reporting in norfolk, virginia. check it out. the thing about flooding like this is it's so difficult to know how deep it is and whether or not you can pass through. see the one home. they have taken precautions. they have sand bags in front of the driveway. we within the sure if our live truck would pass through here. we did see some high profile vehicles driving through. we were able the figure out that we would be okay. a warning sign over here. it says flooded. low profile vehicles not quite as lucky. you can see one vehicle that's parked here. the water coming up on that front wheel. luckily it seems the tide is receding a little bit. it seems to be going down since we have arrived. we did talk to one neighbor out here who says this is north the worst he's seen. he was walking around with a gopro taking pictures and video.

he described to us what he saw. >> not in the immediate area we're not flooded, not into the house. it comes into the driveway, sidewalks and on the lawns. >> reporter: back now here, neighbors saying they are not terribly worried. this isn't the worst that they've seen but the streets here are flooded. of course, you really don't want to drive through here especially because it's so difficult to assess just how deep the water is. >> thank you. all eyes in north bay are on the russian river and the creeks around it. with a downpour this morning the river is expected to crest even higher. abc 7 news reporter is live where folks and firefighters are taking precautions. amy. >> reporter: kri. it's still raining here in guerneville. it has been all day. i want to show you how the river has spilled its banks. you're look at a popular beach.

you really can't see that now. pan over this way and i'll show you a car that the water has overcome. it is still raining. believe it or not, this level is holding steady. we know that because we have been watching it very carefully all morning. we aren't the only ones. the russian river and the creeks around it are getting a lot of attention right now. people are out and about this morning. residents and firefighters, all of them monitoring the situation as the rain keeps coming. >> checking the level right here because i checked it yesterday. i want to see if it dropped so it can take all the rain that came last night. it looks good. it dropped a bunch. >> reporter: he said yesterday the water came up to this white mailbox. it looked better but the street is still covered with water and more rain is coming. we tried to get a sense of what the mood is in town as people go through the ups and downs of living next to this river. >> everyone is pretty accustomed

to this kind of storm. it's going to reach the point where it doesn't do a whole lot of damage. i'm just taking the day off and driving around and checking things out. >> reporter: officials estimate that about 500 homes are dealing with some kind of water damage. it is mostly garages and basements. lives areas are built up high in this area. a huge mudslide last night came dangerously close to homes. authorities are worried trees could fall in this area and advising people to stay away fp the river is expected to crest tomorrow. some residents are all ready looking ahead to summer and what this will mean. >> this area is pretty much the tourism is based on this river. to me, a good flow, wash it out and keep it busy all summer. >> reporter: before they get to the fun times, they have to deal with this. here is one more look at flooding. they are expecting this to get worse. they worried more trees will

fall. the fire officials i spoke to today are happy with today. haven't seen any real problems. they are welcoming it, calling it a break. they expect to be very busy as they expect this to rise even more. >> great perspective. thank you. we're tracking a string of mudslides in the santa cruz mountains. abc 7 news reporter jessica castro is live along highway 9. >> reporter: highway 9 is closed here in both directions. we are at glen gary road. in the past hour we have been here. we have seen more than a dozen cars forced to turn around. the mudslide is actually about three quarters of the mile away from this road closed sign. they actually have there area closed off for miles in either direction out of abundance of caution. dangerous hillsides all across the south bay in the santa cruz mountains. >> i saw where they had dumped a

bunch of mud from a mudslide. >> reporter: highway 9 closed in both directions. >> i love living in the area. the mudslides are inconvenient and it kind of sucks. it comes with the territory. >> normally i would go down highway 9 but i'm going to have to go up and around graham hill to get into santa cruz later. >> reporter: blame that nonstop rain that hampered the morning commute. on highway 17, the more popular route, a smaller land slide was seen near the cats restaurant. the street remained open when we passed through. meanwhile, crews were able to recover from the roadblock at vine hill road. scary land slide there yesterday that injured one of our own colleagues. he's recovering at home today. all lanes reopen around 6:30 this morning. heavy equipment can still be seen everywhere ready to go at a

moment's note. one problem gone and now another one to deal with. to say that law enforcement and cal trans is busy is an understatement. there's no eta on when highway 9 will reopen. jessica castro, abc 7 news. >> thank you. abc 7 news was along the embarcadero a few moments ago. king tide spilled over the sidewalk and on to the roadway. city crews closed one lane because of the backed up storm drains. drivers drove through massive puddles when the tides peaked after 9:00 this morning. highway maintenance workers are starting to clean up this massive mudslide in big sur. cal trans tweeted out this picture. let's give you a closer look at what crews are up against. they stay it stayed active

overnight. >> you can track today's storm with live doppler 7. you can get push alerts sent straight to your phone or tablet. president obama's final farewell. we'll take you to chicago where the crowd is growing ahead of his final speech tonight. angelina jolie

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happying now. it's all about the confirmation hearings under way. one is happening for senator jeff sessions. this morning protesters wearing white klan style hoods disrupted the first hearing before it even got started. senator sessions for attorney general is one of president-elect's more controversial choices. 31 years ago sessions was rejected over allegations that he made racist remarks. he's long denied the charges and did so again today. ten days until president obama leaves the white house and tonight he'll be back home in chicago delivering his final public speech as president. >> abc 7 chicago's diane has more on what's being planned. >> reporter: this line has been building early this morning. it's just getting longer and now wrapping around the section where we're standing.

this is where it all started years ago, before he was president, barack obama started his political career and work here in chicago. supporters know how important this day is. many began lining up early this morning to make sure they got a good spot inside the lake side center. >> this being his final address, i wanted to make it my business to be here to just catch final piece of history. >> reporter: mom, wanted this to be a learning experience for her two daughters. they were part of a long line outside of mccormick place this weekend and made sure to get tickets and now are back here in line once again. >> it was something we needed to do. my girls begged me. i'm like we have to do this. i want them to be engaged. i want them to spread that excitement amongst their teenage friends.

>> reporter: the room is all set up for tonight's speech. we got a preview of that speech in which the president was still working on today. we're told he wants to use this chance to say thank you to his supporters, highlight his success over the last eight years and to offer some thought o s on where we go from here. the chicago's children choir will perform here. >> thank you for that. abc news will air the address starting at 6:00 p.m. next, our storm watch coverage continues. today's rainmaking for challenging commute as we look like at the bay bridge toll plaza. traffic is finally light but still wet and somewhat dangerous. >> meteorologist is up next with what we can expect as the day goes on.

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muir woods national monument is closed today. officials are worried about debris, the risk of falling branches and flooding. they are closing tennessee valley due to possible rock slides. stinson beach is also off limited. you'll find the latest on abc7news.com. you probably don't want to be out there even if they hadn't closed it. pretty muddy and the ground is like jell-o now.

any point it is give way. the worst of it is still ahead of us. let's talk about the rivers first. how about we talk about those. we'll go down to guerneville. the flooding is going to continue until 11:00 friday morning. flood stage is 32. we're at that. we're going to crest at about 38.4 feet. 6:00 thursday evening. when we get to 38 feet in duncan mills, let's head over to the napa river at st. helena. you can stee flood stage at 16. we're going to flood from 4:00 this afternoon until 1:00 tonight or tomorrow morning, if you will. we'll crest at 18.8 feet. that's moderate flooding. that means lower areas of town along the reach. widespread crop losses. many primary roads will flood

making travel difficult, nearly impossible in those areas. napa river, it's going to flood the least. it's only going to be a flood stage about 3:00, 4:00 tomorrow morning when it gets to flood stage. it will be below it by 5:00. it will cause minor flooding, some low lying areas, agriculture land, secondary roads are possible. moderate dabank erosion and sediment deposition throughout the area. this is what i want to throw at you. at any second, this is how fast the flow is through the napa river. it's pushing more than 124,000 gallons of water per second. if the gallon equals 8.36 pounds, this thing is mushing more than a million pounds per second. want to know why water is dangerous? there you go. it's heavy. it's noncompressible and will knock you off your feet. that's some mind blowing numbers there. i thought i'd share that with you. here are some numbers.

we have light to moderate rain and then over in discovery bay, you're just about to get a downpour. some puddles there. some puddles developing if you're heading out. some puddles developing there and also on vasco road. you can see around piedmont up in the oakland hills we're seeing some. san francisco right now. here is a look at san rafael where it just won't stop raining. your day planner, windy by 2:00. moderate to heavy rain. 4:00 to 6:00 and then just heavy spots as some thunderstorms are possible at 8:00. the areas that saw the least amount of rain, the bay shore, not in flash flood watch. this means immediate action when the warning is issued to get to higher elevation. from noon to midnight that's when we have our best chance of wind damage in the same areas we had it before and because of the king tides we'll have coastal and bay shore flooding,000

through thursday. here is my accuweather seven-day forecast forecast. if one of those thunderstorms develop we'll have heavier, intense rain and faster winds opinion we'll have lighter showers tomorrow. it's one on our impact scale. nu thursday evening the drying begins. the worst is ahead. brace for it. san francisco 49ers are suing the city of santa clara over a stadium contract dispute. this is the latest in a saga that started last year. that's when the mayor ordered an audit of stadium finances. the mayor accused the team of using taxpayer dollars on the stadium. it's a violation of voter approved measure. niners say they cooperated in showing documents. the mayor said they failed to keep records. the lawsuit demands that the city sign documents saying the

49ers did not breeach their contract. angelina jolie and brad pitt say they have signed agreements to keep divorce proceedings confidential and preserve the privacy rights of their six children. the update follows months of public mud slinging. they say they have now hired a private judge and will work together to reunify their family. the holidays may be over now but one grandpa's experience is worth reliving. the must see moment that's sure to make you smile. we want to see what's happening where you live. share your weather videos and pictures using the hashtag abc 7 now. we may use them right here on air or online at abc7news.com.

want to travel the world for free and get paid to do it? a lot of people do. the unusual job opportunity that got nearly 20,000 applicants. a game that got a lot of buzz over the holidays is trending today. it's called speak out. one man's attempt to make a splash is going viral. the host of our show is here with a sneak peek. >> have you ever laughed so hard

it hurt? >> get ready. this video will make that happen. he's playing speak out. he can barely spit out anything coherent. if the game wasn't funny enough, it's causing some toothy trouble for the older generation. if you want to see that, you've got to watch the show. >> we'll be talking about that later on right this minute. >> you can catch right this minute today and every weekday at 3:00 right here on abc 7. a lot of folks have been finding out when is the drought over. >> the next drought update will be thursday. some of us are out of it. parts of the coast, at the farther east you go like not out of it yet but possibly. >> more areas by thursday. >> we'll know and post it on social media. >> thanks for joining us today. stay safe. >> bye.

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>> our contestants today are about to experience the most critical 30 minutes of their lives, and if they can handle the pressure, they'll leave here $1 million richer. let's play "who wants to be a millionaire." [dramatic music] ♪ hey, everybody. welcome to "who wants to be a millionaire." you guys ready to go today? [cheers and applause] well, in order to prepare for this show, our returning contestant has been studying at work, but it's who helps her study that's the best part of the story. from arcadia, california, please welcome back jenn salas. [cheers and applause] jenn, welcome back. >> thanks again. >> welcome back. so who helped you? >> well, i work at a retirement community. >> okay.