heavy machinery is moving in to help bay area towns inundated with floodwater, from the north bay to the south bay, rivers and creeks are still rising today. take a look at live doppler 7. you can see that storm is still sitting heavily over the bay area. good afternoon and thank you for joining us today. i'm ama daetz. >> and i'm larry beil. as you know, it just keeps raining and raining and raining. we've had another day with strong winds and constant rain making moving around the bay area rather treacherous. the rain is not done yet. >> we have team coverage of the damage caused by the storm. leslie brinkley is watching the rising river level and melanie woodrow is in marin county.

>> let's begin with spencer christian. >> you said the rain is not done yet. just take a look at live doppler 7. you can see pockets of moderate to heavy rain across the bay area and we have flash flood warnings in effect right now. one here in san mateo county until 6:30 p.m. up in the north bay, several flash flood warnings in effect. a large portion of napa county until 8:00 p.m. southern sonoma until 6:15 and a portion of marin county until 8:30. look at the outbreak of heavy downpours in the east bay out over highway 24 toward walnut creek, over 680 between walnut creek and san ramon. farther north up around concord along portions of highway 4. now, over the south bay and the peninsula it's just one blob of steady rain. it's a mess there. up in the north bay all kinds of flood concerns as pockets of heavy rain continue. this current storm still ranks 2 on the storm impact scale through 8:00 this evening.

we'll see downpours, gusty winds. the storm will weaken in the evening hours. notice as the front sweeps through around 8:00 p.m. or so we'll see lighter rain behind the front but there will still be pockets of heavy rain that will isolate it and downpours that will follow. for the evening rush we're concerned about heavy downpours, ponding on roads and strong winds. abc 7 news was at the floodflood ed park and ride lot near 101 and highway 1. it typically floods during king tides and heavy rain so it's pretty much like a lake right now. just one of many areas seeing flooding across the area. melanie woodrow is live in marin county with a look at what they're seeing there. melanie. >> reporter: yeah, had we been standing here just a few hours ago, i would have been wading in water. that's how bad the flooding was this morning. neighbors here telling me they haven't seen flooding this bad

here since 1997. sea wolf passage wasn't passable for much of the morning. >> i was thinking i could have had a truck to get here. >> reporter: several blocks in this neighborhood were flooded. >> i have learned over the years. >> reporter: this homeowner recalls high-profile vehicles plowing through at high speeds. >> they thought it was fun. >> reporter: pushing water up his driveway. >> you can see where the water mark is. right here. >> reporter: and into his garage. >> i should have learned a little better but i was three sandbags short. >> reporter: his front door delivery is dry. but his backyard is saturated. with a temporary river separating it from his neighbor's front yards. the san anselmo creek near drake high school in marin county was fierce today. while typically busy, miller avenue in mill valley saw a bit of a slowdown due to flooding. once it reopened, cars created quite the splash.

neighbors here telling me that flooding was also particularly bad on sunday night. it's not just the flooding, it's also the winds. just a couple of moments ago i even lost my hat. melanie woodrow, abc 7 news. all eyes in the north bay are on the russian river and the creeks around it. abc 7 news reporter amy hollyfield was in guerneville where flooding is already taking a toll. >> reporter: the russian river and the creeks around it are getting a lot of attention right now. residents and firefighters, all of them monitoring the situation as the rain keeps coming. >> checking the level right here because i checked it yesterday. and i wanted to see if it had dropped so it can take all the rain that came last night. and it looks good. it dropped a bunch. >> reporter: he said yesterday the water came up to this white mailbox, so it looks 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 that point where it doesn't quite do a whole lot of damage. so 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. living areas are built up high in this area. a huge mudslide on santa rosa avenue last night came dangerously close to homes. authorities are worried trees could fall in this area and are advising people to stay away. the river is expected to crest again tomorrow. i'm told that we are looking at a popular beach, johnson beach. you can't see it now. they are expecting the situation to get worse out here tomorrow before it gets better. in guerneville, amy hollyfield, abc 7 news. the napa river began flooding over the weekend.

take a look at videos you see from lodi lane. >> leslie brinkley is live along the napa creek with more on the concerns there. leslie? >> reporter: ama, i'm here in downtown napa. it's been raining steadily and heavily all day long. right below me here, you can see the fast-moving waters of napa creek as they flow into the napa river. there are some safeguards in place to keep the downtown from flooding this go-around, but there are lots of problems all across napa county. >> you can see that there's a fracture between the two planes. >> reporter: this hillside is literally melting in the rain, so this major thoroughfare is closed between pope street and deer park road near st. helena. >> we determined the roadway was not safe because of the mountain, which led to the closure that we currently have. >> reporter: you're worried about more of this mountain coming down? >> yes, yes.

the mountain failed this morning and the geologist told us it's just a matter of time when the rest of it comes down. >> reporter: there are no evacuations necessary, but silverado trail will remain closed in both directions until at least the weekend. other roads throughout napa have moderate flooding that pools up and doesn't drain. later tonight the napa river is expected to inundate this bridge. vineyards are flooding with runoff from the rain. trees are down and debris is visible flowing downstream. but in downtown napa, no flooding is expected thanks to an $18 million bypass completed in 2015. >> for a storm of this magnitude, it was a great test and everything worked well. >> reporter: the napa river hit 26.9 feet sunday night, well above flood stage, and no flooding. the bypass starts flowing as waters rise to 23 feet. i just spoke with flood control officials. they told me their latest projected forecast is that the

napa river will crest at 26.1 feet at 3:00 a.m. that's just slightly below the level on sunday, so they are not expecting extensive flooding in downtown, just on outlying roads and roadways and neighborhoods to be on the lookout. be careful as you drive and stay away from these rushing waters. i'm leslie brinkley, abc 7 news. >> all right, thank you. in the south bay, there's a flash flood warning for los gatos. nancy bailey shared these pictures of flooding on the walking trail near los gatos creek. the waters from lexington reservoir which filled to capacity this afternoon and went over the spillway. a homeowner said it sounded like thunder when a tree fell onto his home in danville. it happened just after noon. nobody was hurt, but the impact ripped open parts of the roof. water is now leaking into the house. the tree also crushed a truck that was parked in the driveway along with two cars inside the garage. this has been a tough

afternoon for drivers on 880 in oakland. this is a pg&e crew getting a police escort to downed power lines that were blocking both directions of the nimitz. that after a big rig hit a power pole just off the freeway. so 880 was shut down well over an hour, frustrating drivers, but leaving the chp actually praising those workers for getting those dangerous lines off the freeway and back up much quicker than they expected. a 77-year-old danville man died after plowing his truck into a vacant house in pleasant hill. the chp is trying to figure out if the man suffered a medical problem. the pickup hit two other cars before smashing through a fence just before 9:00 this morning. no one else was hurt. sky 7 was over oakland after this big rig jack-knifed. it blocked the northbound lanes on interstate 880 near 7th street this morning. the highway patrol officers tell us the truck was the only vehicle involved in the crash and thankfully nobody was hurt.

chp reopened all lanes once the truck was towed away at 10:30. the rain wasn't the only thing causing flooding in san francisco. abc 7 news was on the embarcadero as the king tide came in. port workers had to close off one lane of the embarcadero as the water crept onto the road. king tides will return tomorrow and thursday. highway 1 remains closed in sections along the big sur coastline. thse are pictures from caltrans showing various slides along the highway in monterey county. >> you can track today's storm. just download the abc 7 news app. enable push alerts. still to come, roads that are looking like rivers of water and mud. our storm watch and flood coverage continues. coming up we'll take you live to the south bay where creeks and rivers are rising. up next, president obama gets ready for his final farewell. we'll have a live report from chicago. >> you agree that the issue of same-sex marriage is settled law? >> will you be able to stand up

and say no to the president of the united states? >> tough questions for the president-elect's controversial attorney general nominee. >> as we take a live look at our traffic across the golden gate bridge, it's moving in both directions. you can tell it's still very dreary and windy out there looking at that flag off to the right of your screen wi

all right. let's check out live doppler 7. you can see the storm is heavy right now all the way from gilroy up to ukiah. we are keeping a close watch on this and will have a full forecast coming up in just a few

minutes. we also have some breaking news from downtown oakland. police are searching for suspects following a shooting that took place outside a chase bank. we have some cell phone video taken at the scene outside the chase branch at 14th street and broadway. gunfire erupted there just before 3:30 this afternoon. i want to look live now toward the crime scene. our camera is at 14th and webster streets, that's one block east of where that shooting took place. oakland police tell us one person has gone to the hospital. they have not said what led to this afternoon's shooting. in less than two hours, president obama will give his final address as president to the nation and you can see the whole speech right here on abc 7. >> david ono from our sister station in los angeles joins us live in chicago where big crowds are gathering to hear that farewell address. david? >> reporter: larry and ama, i probably have the best seat in the right now. i'm about 40 feet in front of the podium.

it's tough to see but it's about 40 feet behind me. that's where president obama will be standing in a couple of hours and he'll be delivering that address. in the meantime i want to show you the crowd that has piled in over here. you see this is the vip section here and the masses right over there, they have been waiting in line for the better part of about -- well, hours. they have been here since 6:00 this morning to get in, so they're very excited about this opportunity to see president obama and in fact the president just touched down about a half an hour ago at o'hare airport. here's video of him touching down. he brings with him the first lady, the vice president joe biden, and the vice president's wife, dr. biden, to a great deal of fan fare. this is a community that truly embraces the president because he is a native son. he is from here, his background is here. he started out as a community activist and worked his way all the way up to the presidency. as we come back out live here to

the floor of mccormick place, i want to show you one other thing. that is the video monitor right up here. you see that's been running all afternoon. they have been doing sound checks, et cetera, but one piece of video they ran just a few minutes ago doing a sound check on was quite surprising in my opinion. in that video you see a number of celebrities. you see steven spielberg, and you also see the president himself along with john boehner, and they basically are telling jokes the whole time. it's very light-hearted. so at least when this thing begins tonight in a couple of hours, it's definitely going to have more of a happy, light-hearted tone. reporting live in chicago, back to you two. >> all right, you talk about the tone, david. anything more you can tell us about the speech and what to expect? >> reporter: well, obviously he's going to look back at his last eight years in office and some of his accomplishments, but more importantly they say he wants to look towards the future. he wants to talk about where

this nation is headed and what we as americans must keep in mind. he also wants to motivate people. he wants to get people more involved in the political process. if there is an issue that you are close to, find the politicians that revolve around that issue, support them. and of course vote. be a bigger part of the process and don't let other people make decisions for you. we believe all of that will be in his speech tonight. reporting live from chicago, david ohno, abc 7 news. abc news will air president obama's farewell address starting at 6:00 p.m. abc 7 news will begin immediately after at 6:30. >> a warning today from california governor jerry brown on the state's budget situation. brown unveiled his $122 billion state spending plan and warned of a $1.6 billion deficit. the dollar amount is the exact same as last year. it comes as the state faces some uncertainty about changes to

come from president-elect donald trump and the republican-led u.s. congress. all right. we want to get paback to the weather and the rain that just continues. >> i heard you say we have blobs of green. a new technical weather term. it feels like the old steve mcqueen movie "the blob." >> i feel like we've been blobbed the last three or four days. there's an end in sight, though, i'm happy to say. here's live doppler 7. you can see the blob of green and pockets of orange and yellow representing heavy downpours, which are numerous all across the bay area right now which of course contributes to the threat of flooding. let's take a look at the napa river which is expected to crest at st. helena around 8:00 p.m. or so, cresting at 19 feet, three feet above flood stage. that will produce moderate flooding. let's travel to the town of napa where the river is expected to crest during the overnight hours, just a foot above flood stage but will still produce minor flooding. the russian river at guerneville

expected to crest tomorrow evening six feet above flood stage. moderate flooding at least there. the entire bay area is under a flash flood watch with the exception of communities immediately along the bay shoreline. rammed rises in creeks likely and rock slides and mudslides are possible. a wind advisory is in effect for all of the low-lying areas. winds will gust up to 45 miles an hour in those areas. higher up we have a high wind warning until midnight. gusts may be as high as 65 miles per hour and of course downed trees and power lines, power outages are possible with winds that strong. our current storm ranks 2 on the storm impact scale and through 8:00 p.m. we'll see brief, heavy downpours. flooding is likely, gusty winds, downed trees, a challenging afternoon and evening commute. notice how heavy the action will be up until 8:00 or so. then the front sweeps through. behind the front we get a little weakening. just some isolated downpours and the storm will be downgraded to

1 on the storm impact scale going into tomorrow morning. so let's pick up the forecast animation. 5:00 tomorrow morning we'll see pockets of showers around the bay area tapering off and giving us fair lly quiet conditions unl the afternoon hours but then we get our next storm that comes in late tomorrow night into thursday. expect it to produce showers, maybe a quarter to three-quarters of an inch of rainfall total across the bay area with much lighter winds. here's the animation starting 10:00 tomorrow night. we'll see a few pockets of moderate to heavy rain and into the early morning hours on thursday, but then that system will weaken rapidly and start to taper off. the rain will early in the morning or at least midday thursday. here the accuweather seven-day forecast. so after tonight's storm ranking 2 on the impact scale, we have storms ranking 1 on the impact scale for tomorrow and thursday and finally we begin a drying-out period. that begins on friday. we'll get mainly sunny skies over the weekend. it's a little milder going into monday, which is martin luther

king day. bright and mild for tuesday. we haven't seen a pattern like this for a while. i think we'll welcome it given how turbulent the weather has been the last four or five days. coming up, we're learning more about the people arrested for robbing kim kardashian in paris. was it an inside job? let's check traffic this afternoon. this is the san mateo bridge. you can see the road is pretty slick there. the eastbound traffic heading back to the east bay is very slow at this hour and we just advise you if you're going out, drive slowly and safely because a lot of roadways are a mess. back with more on abc 7 news at

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you totally nailed that buddy. simple. don't let directv now limit your entertainment. only xfinity gives you more to stream to any screen. there's going to be a delay in finalizing the new dog management rules at the golden gate recreational area. members of congress have asked to extend the impact period.

it will allow the park service to conduct a review of records being released in response to a freedom of information act request. the rules will identify places in the park where dogs are welcome both on and off leash as well as areas that are dog-free. a national monument in marin county is closed because of the stormy weather. these pictures are from the park's facebook page. they're also closing tennessee valley due to possible rock slides, stinson beach and point bonita. you can find the latest on weather related park closures on abc7news.com. our latest storms have dumped so much water they have made for dramatic before and after images. >> kristen sze is here with us to show us pictures and just how big of a difference the recent rain has made. >> i thought the best way to show you how dramatically our water picture has changed after years of drought is to juxtapose some before and after images of our recent downpours. i uploaded two recent pictures.

on the left from last september, just look how low the water level was, right? so much of the reservoir bed exposed. i'm going to push it to the right so you can see today the water level dramatically higher and everything is covered. what a difference, right? now let's take a look at the north bay here. there you go. what is this? this is the russian river. on the left, february 2014. on the right, the river right now, almost the same spot at memorial bridge, raging water overflowing its banks. now let's take a look at the transformation in the sierra. this is the truckee river on the left, february of 2015, totally dry at tahoe city. on the right, the same river today. the water fast and furious. you know who's loving it is tahoe's ski resorts. i juxtaposed one more set of images from webcams at sierra at tahoe. let's go in tight so you can see. this is slopes with hardly any snow, right, in march of 2015.

and then on the right take a look at that, i described it for you this afternoon. you see blizzard conditions that will bring up to another 16 inches of snow or something like that before this is all over. so pretty dramatic visuals. i'll do half/half so you can see which one you like better. >> that's amazing. it's just remarkable. >> thank you, kristen. coming up on abc 7 news at 4:00, mudslides and lots of flooding, the problems right now in the south bay. high winds, rain posing challenges for residents and tourists alike in san francisco. plus there's lots of snow if you're heading to the sierra. the blizzard warning under way right now. i want to take a look at live doppler 7. the rai

and here are the stories making headlines at 4:30. the sonoma county town of guerneville has been inundated by floodwaters. rising river levels from the russian river sent water into the community. just look at that. the fire department estimates 500 homes have suffered some kind of water damage. abc 7 news reporter laura anthony is in downtown guerneville where locals are still out and about. water levels in the heart of the city are expected to rise. the downtown area is under threat of major flooding. abc 7 news reporter vic lee is in the santa cruz mountains where mudslides are coming down on roads, including this one

along highway 9 near felton. vic will be live with the impact coming up at 5:00. it's a sight to see in the south bay, storm runoff and overflow being released from the reservoir is causing flooding in some santa clara county communities. david louie is live in morgan hill with a look at the impact there. david? >> reporter: ama, it's not difficult to find flooding both in morgan hill and gilroy areas. just take a look at that on watsonville road. the uvis creek is the principal channel to get runoff out to sea but the creek itself is overspilling its banks. uvas creek has turned into a dramatic spillway as one storm after another exceeds the capacity of local reservoirs to store the rainfall and runoff. uvas reservoir is over capacity. the 1,000 cubic feet per second release is causing the creek to

run over its banks. >> it is what it is. >> it is what it is. >> reporter: along watsonville road, the torrential flow has enveloped trees that normally line its banks. half of the rise can be attributed to the release from the reservoir while the other half comes from the heavy rain. levees protect this subdivision in gilroy, however, the city also put in temporary barricades to protect homes inundated by four feet of water in 1986. the water line is still visible by the front porch of this house while others got flooded out. prked vehicles were also lost. while the raging creek looks ominous, past flood victims are glad water is being released from the reservoir even if it poses a flood threat. >> i'd rather they release water slowly now rather than have that breach and have a whole other mess of stuff to deal with. release it slowly and, you know, do well rather than letting it all go at once.

>> reporter: the santa clara valley water district is responsible for 800 miles of creeks here in the south bay, yet -- and it takes millions of dollars both local and federal money to do flood improvement projects. however, over the next five years there is no money ear marked at this point for the uvas creek for any flood kbrouch improvement programs. david louie, abc 7 news. let's take a live look at the san anselmo creek in san anselmo where it's rising right now. look at all that water. we are live at the nokomis avenue bridge. the creek is currently at 9 1/4 feet, critical flood level is 13 feet. this unrelenting rain is also taking a toll on san francisco. abc 7 news was at the turn-around underneath highway 101 which was blocked off because of flooding. the rain is posing challenges for residents and tourists

alike. carolyn tiefyler is live -- wel trust me, she is live along the embarcadero. hi, carolyn. >> reporter: hi, larry. yes, it was sloppy around here today because of the king tides, which are caused by the gravitational pull of the moon. but the heavy rains did not help. elsewhere around san francisco, another rainy day meant another round of crashing trees. it was a potentially dangerous situation in pacific heights this afternoon when a tree toppled over, taking down power lines. the live wires wrapped around a parked car. fortunately, no one was hurt. there were also no injuries when for the second time this week a tree at the sunnydale housing complex in san francisco's visitation valley neighborhood crashed down. it happened just before 9:00 this morning. the roots ruptured a gas line, causing temporary evacuations. the heavy branches crushed two

cars. the red one belonged to juan gutierrez' uncle. >> it fell down on the cars. the air of the tires just slowly leaked out. >> reporter: along the embarcadero there was flooding, as the phenomenon known as the king tides combined with the downpours to send bay waters washing up and over the sidewalks. nearby it was a soggy farmers market at the ferry building. >> it's good for our farms in the long run. so it's a double-edged sword being so wet and rainy all month. >> reporter: it's a good time to be a tourist if you don't want to wait in line to ride a cable car, as this family from australia found out. >> so excited to be on one. first time bowing in america too. >> reporter: that kind of puts it in perspective. some people don't mind the rain at all. by the way, the king tides here will peak midweek. live in san francisco, carolyn tyler, abc 7 news.

>> thank you, carolyn. well, the rain has everyone keeping an eye on bay area reversion creeks. firefighters at station 61 kept an eye on the colma creek. flood walls along the creek are preventing the creek from affecting businesses and homes. as you might imagine, street flooding is taking place all over the bay area. marin public works tweeted this video from larkspur and they're reminding people once again do not drive through flooded streets. gusty winds pushed a sea boat into a sea wall in tiburon overnight. it was found near gilmartin drive this morning. it's been very windy and very choppy on the bay. it's unclear where the sailboat was oempriginally docked. travelers are dealing with delayed and cancelled flights once again today. airlines have cancelled 144 flights at sfo. many of them are short haul flights, to and from other west coast cities.

delays are averaging about 60 to 90 minutes at sfo. no major delays reported at mineta san jose or oakland international. if you happen to be flying, especially at sfo, get the latest information by contacting your airline. all the rain is forcing state water officials to open the sacramento weir gates. the sacramento weir has been in operation for 100 years and is only opened when the sacramento river hits about 30 feet. it was last opened in december of 2005. this storm is also bringing new snow up to the sierra and you're getting a look at the driving conditions or you will as captured by caltrans cameras. i'm told that is a road. i thought it was a forest. underneath all that snow was a road. here's a slow motion look at snow falling, which is quite beautiful. this is thanks to a video tweeted by placer county. the national weather service has indicated and tweeted a

warning about how dangerous this storm could be up in the sierra. high winds could create blinding whiteout conditions. el portal road into yosemite national park is open again. highway 140 has reopened to traffic today after a rock slide that occurred over the weekend. however, it is set to close once again tonight at 6:00 and they're going to re-evaluate the weather conditions, both highway 120 and highway 41 into the park are open. still to come here on abc 7 news at 4:00 -- >> vladimir putin is neither a registered democrat nor registered republican. >> another round of questions on russian election hacks on capitol hill today. i'm spencer christian. from this view of emeryville weather looks pretty calm but it's anything but calm as damaging wind and flooding rain continue to pound the bay area. i'll have the accuweather forecast coming up in just a moment. >> looks pretty dark and gloomy right there. a little better in san jose. this is 101 southbound, which is all backed up as it usually is, whether it's raining or not.

northbound is better. 880 moving pretty nicely over the top.

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always be real. don't be fake, don't be artificial, but always be sweet. and of course, wear sunscreen. nature valley granola bars. no artificial colors, flavors or sweeteners. just good. san francisco mayor ed lee is calling for more electric cars and trucks in the city's fleet. he joined the mayors of los angeles, seattle and portland in a joint challenge to car makers to produce enough electric vehicles to meet their demands. san francisco is already known for its electric buses, light rail and street cars. mayor lee says electric vehicles are the key to improving air quality and lowering maintenance costs.

here's another look at live doppler 7. as you can see, we've got moderate to heavy rainfall blanketing virtually all of the bay area with our flood concerns. the current storm ranks 2 on the storm impact scale and will continue to produce brief downpours with the likelihood of flooding, gusty winds and downed trees through 8:00 this evening. in the sierra heavy snow has developed and will continue to fall. a winter storm warning is in effect from the sierra from noon wednesday until 10:00 a.m. thursday. we expect 3 to 6 feet, not inches, but feet of snow in the higher terrain. 2 to 3 feet above 4500 feet and no doubt with the gusty wind, whiteout conditions will prevail, producing dangerous driving conditions. back to the bay area, coastal flood advisory until none on thursday. high tide will reach about 7 feet, increasing the risk of localized flooding. here is the accuweather seven-day forecast. after tonight's storm ranking 2

on the impact scale, we'll get lighter rain tomorrow and thursday. both storms ranking 1 on the impact scale. beginning friday we'll have five days or more of dry weather, mainly sunny skies and even getting milder next week. >> we could use that. thanks, spencer. coming up, a jury reaches a sentencing verdict in the charleston church slayings. plus, it's been a big day on capitol hill as senate hearings got under way on the alleged russian election hack. and the first confirmations for the trump administration. >> 7 on your side's michael finney, big deals on airline fares. where you can get a ticket t

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a federal jury sentenced dylann roof this afternoon. he's the first person to get the death penalty for federal hate crimes. it took jurors about three hours to decide between life and the death penalty. a suspect is in custody after an armed robbery at a credit union became a hostage standoff near the university of alabama campus. officers arrived on the scene so

quickly the suspect couldn't get out of the building and that prompted the standoff. they arrested the suspect and nobody was hurt. there are new details on the arrests in connection with kim kardashian west's robbery. they say her driver and brother are among 17 arrested yesterday. the chauffeur was the last person to drive the reality star before the robbery back in october. she says she was tied up and gagged by five armed robbers who took $10 million in jewelry. police are trying to determine if the driver passed information to the thieves. some of the most important hearings of the year are taking place today in the senate. the first confirmation hearing of the trump administration began with multiple protests. the senate is also taking up the question of russian hacking for the first time since president-elect trump's meeting with intelligence chiefs. abc news reporter lana zach has

the details. >> have you ever seen this level of russian interference in our political process? i'll start with director comey and go down the line. >> no. >> i have not. >> no. >> no. >> reporter: the top directors of u.s. intelligence gathered at the senate to answer another round of questions on russian election hacks. >> vladimir putin is neither a registered democrat nor registered republican. neither political party should take this lightly. >> reporter: while at another hearing, the senate considered jeff sessions for attorney general. the issue of russian hacks a part of that discussion too. >> are you aware of the fact that the fbi has concluded that it was the russian intelligence services who hacked into the dnc? >> i do understand that. >> what should we do? >> senator graham, i think it's a significant event. we have penetration apparently throughout our government by foreign entities. >> reporter: senator sessions, the first of president-elect donald trump's cabinet nominees, is also one of the more controversial ones. his hearing constantly

punctuated by protesters as he was grilled by his fellow senators. >> do you agree that the issue of same-sex marriage is settled law? >> will you be able to stand up and say no to the president of the united states? >> do you agree with the president-elect that the united states can or should deny entry to members of a particular religion? >> reporter: senator sessions assured the committee that in all cases he would abide by the rule of law, even if he disagreed with those laws. he also promised that he would recuse himself from any investigation into hillary clinton. lana zak, abc news, washington. republicans are preparing to take a vote aimed at repealing obamacare but some in the gop ranks are growing concerned about the lack of a replacement. a group of lawmakers say they are worried about the political backlash if the gop is perceived as being reckless given that 20 million americans have coverage through obamacare and there's no clear vision or firm timeline

for an alternative. the senate is poised to vote on a budget resolution later this week. consumer news, apple responding to concerns about the batteries used on the mac book pro. >> michael finney has that for us. >> yeah, this is amazing cooperation between these two. i was kind of blown away. just two weeks ago, our partners at consumer reports called the battery on the mac book pro wildly inconsistent. now apple says it's come up with a software fix. evaluators at consumer reports say they will immediately put the fix to the test. cr refused to recommend the laptop saying battery life ranged anywhere from under four hours to as much as 19 1/2 hours. apple says it has fixed a bug and has worked with consumer reports to come up with more accurate testing methods. consumer reports says if the battery's life tests consistently high, it will again put the mac book pro back on its

recommended list. if you've ever wanted to fly to europe, now is a good time. wow airlines is selling flights out of san francisco and l.a. to stockholm, copenhagen,eddin burrow and bristol, england, for $69. the offer is good january 15th through april 5th. the return trip will cost you more but it's still a great deal. the cheapest flights range from $129 to $199. wow's ceo says he wants to make rock bottom fares a regular offering. if you still have seasonal holiday treats you haven't eaten, listen up. hostess twinkies white peppermint and other products with candy coatings are being recalled due to a salmonella scare. the biggest group of products is from the palmer candy company. if you have any, take it back to the store where you purchased it and they'll give you a full refund. i want to hear from you. my hotline is open weekdays from 10:00 to 2:00. the number 415-954-8151.

you can also reach me through facebook on abc7news.com. >> thank you, michael. so what makes your oatmeal, pancake syrup and desserts sweet? for a small but growing number of us, it's not sugar. with more, here's abc news medical contributor dr. timothy johnson. >> low calorie sweeteners in our coffee to our cereal and yogurt, they're everywhere. a new study says americans' consumption is on the rise. researchers at george washington university looked at cdc data from 2009 to 2012. the results, we're eating more of these artificial low calorie sweeteners with the number of adults saying they consume these products up over 50% and among kids, the consumption doubling. the study point to other trends as well. those who are obese reaching for more than those who are not. women also more likely to satisfy their sweet tooth with these low or no calorie options.

so is this rising pattern of consumption a problem? not necessarily, with the emphasis on cutting added sugar from our diets for many americans, it is appear attractive alternative. but with some pointing to evidence that diet sodas and other products don't necessarily improve healthier eating, it could be a reminder, especially to parents, that when it comes to teaching kids about a healthy diet, just swapping the sweetener is no silver bullet. i'm dr. timothy johnson. >> if you like, you'll soon of a chance to own a piece of a southern california theme park. the orange county register is reporting knotts's berry farm plans to sell items at an auction in march. more than 200 items will be put up for sale, including a model t ford. i don't think they're selling you that and i don't think i want to buy it. two hearses from the park's halloween haunt, which sounds kind of creepy, and more than a

dozen coin-operated player pianos. >> oh, those could be fun. >> but not something that shoots you up into the sky. abc 7 news at 4:00 will continue. up next, want to travel the world for free and get paid to do it? apparently a lot of people do. the unusual job opportunity that got nearly twepgt 20,000 applicants. dan is here with a look at what's coming up at 5:00. caltrans crews are removing tons of fallen trees and other debris in the santa cruz mountains. roads are closed, residents are stuck. blizzard conditions in the sierra. cars getting snowed in like this one and san francisco's big plans for the new george lucas museum. a decision has been reached on that billion dollar project. kristen and i will see you

sure, you could sit around all night waiting for a pizza to be delivered. but wouldn't making it yourself be a lot more fun? it's baking season. warm up with pillsbury. protein. protein proteiny protein. proteiny protein? protein proteiny protein. at least 14 grams of protein. 100 calories. new greek 100 protein. from yoplait.

coming up tonight on abc 7 at 8:00, it's the middle followed by american housewife. fresh off the boat and the real o'neals. at 10 catch agents of shield and then don't miss the news at 11:00. have we got a job for you. you get to travel the world for free. not only that, you get paid to do it. >> there is a small catch,

though. absences abc 7 news reporter matt keller has the story. >> reporter: it sounds like an amazing job offer. derrick and mckenzie made this youtube video, offering to pay someone travel with them. but here's the catch, you better like kids. >> when she was born, we just realized, okay, there's two of us and three of them. we wanted to enjoy this as well. >> reporter: about 19,000 people have applied to be the traveling nanny and now the hard part. >> i thought there would be the mary poppins candidate and she would fall out of the sky and be so perfect for our family, but we're finding that everybody is such a great candidate. >> reporter: derrick and mckenzie are planning on picking someone in early february and taking off in late spring or early summer. >> from new york city, we would go to iceland. from iceland into scandinavia and then tour the rest of europe with our family and see places, turkey and croatia. >> reporter: they will return to utah for christmas and then head

west. >> january of next year we'll be in hawaii and then from there we'll travel into asia and the pacific. >> reporter: it's not all play. they still plan on working for their product distribution business and the kids will need to be home schooled, but it's an adventure that has inspired many people on social media. >> i've got a lot of messages that have said you have inspired me to remember what my dreams are and that i can make them happen. >> do you want to apply? they were so overwhelmed by the response, they have closed the formal application process. but they do have a waiting list. if you'd like to sign up, go to a website and we've set up a link there. matt keller, abc 7 news. a utah man has become a neighborhood hero. thomas williams built a 300-foot homemade luge track in his yard. it lasts about 23 seconds from top to bottom. there's a lot of kids so it's a lot to keep them entertained. >> we've got 15 kids and they

shovel lots and lots of snow. so they were stealing snow from the neighbors to build the luge. >> he built it six years ago and has been improving it ever since. >> thanks for joining us, i'm ama daetz. >> i'm larry beil. abc 7 news at 5:00 starts now. so we're losing our home it looks like right now. >> rain is proving to be too much for these houses in the north bay. a family is rescued just as the water was p to reach their home. in santa cruz county, trees are falling, mud is sliding and roads collapsing. in contra costa county, a large tree topple onto a home. and blizzard conditions making driving in the sierra really a scary proposition. upended trees destroying property. back-to-back storms caused widespread damage throughout the bay area. >> a live picture of san anselmo

creek now in danger of reaching flood stage and inundating the downtown area. tonight businesses are taking precautions. >> in sonoma county, heavy machinery is moving in to help bay area towns just inupdated with floodwater. >> in larkspur, cars are going nowhere as they it in several feet of water. and mud is falling and closing roads. it is a very busy day with the weather. good evening, i'm dan ashley. >> and i'm kristen sze, thanks for joining us. of course abc 7 news reporters are all over the bay area but first let's get to meteorologist sandhya patel for what's happening right now on live doppler 7. >> yeah, it's an active scene on live doppler 7. take a look for yourself. we are seeing some pockets of heavy rain coming down. take a look as we go into street level radar in the north bay. river road between guerneville and santa rosa, windsor area, we are seeing pockets of moderate rain, healdsburg as well. we are under a flash flood