ornia, you may get financial help to pay for coverage. to get covered, you've got to get going. open enrollment ends january 31st. visit covereca.com today. a stunning live look from sky 7 right now. just imagine if your home were in this flood zone. this is hollister, where more than 100 people have been evacuated. neighborhoods are looking more like lakes. and we're watching animals left behind. >> cows, horses and dogs. and look at this group of animals, running, many of them going in circles, unsure of where to go and what to do in the rising water. i'm kristen zse. >> and i'm natasha zouves. you feel for the animals and for the people out of their homes right now. 50 houses have been impacted so

farment a far and look at the map. ths is flooding from pacheco creek where lover's lane is there, that is where the evacuation starts. matt keller is live in the flood zone. matt? >> reporter: this is the command post here and they are just talking right now about the rescue operation that has finished. but listen to these, these are the numbers -- 108 people were evacuated from this area. 59 on their own. 49 by rescuers. it was a morning they will never forget. by truck, boat and even back, rescuers were taking people out of their homes this morning in hollister just off of highway 152. the first call was for a stalled car in the water at lovers lane around 2:00 a.m. and rescues from homes started at about 4:00 a.m. >> we can get you out. >> [ inaudible ]. >> reporter: it was frightening for many people. the creek was overflowing and

some spots of lovers lane and san felipe were costed in waist deep -- were covered in waist deepwater. >> my mother said get up, it is flooded outside and we couldn't believe it. i think there was three feet of water. >> reporter: this woman was taken by bus to the veteran's memorial building in hollister where red cross set up a shelter and a few dozen people have been through the doors. >> if they take care of them. if they need something, we'll accommodate them and that is the way it works. >> reporter: it could take a while before people are allowed back home. the ground is saturated, the water doesn't have anywhere to go. >> once the water goes down, that is when we'll go in and start doing the damage assessments and seeing what the real damage is to the individual homes and just to the infrastructure in general. >> reporter: we have a rainbow over the evacuation area. right now the rescue operation has turned into damage assessment. building officials will be sent out here and they will go home by home and see if any of the

homes need to be red tagged. live in hollister, matt keller, abc 7 news. >> thank you. and not just people stuck in the floodwaters as we just saw in the report, it a rural area and farm land there. >> several large and small animals got stuck as well. jessica castro has that part of the story. >> reporter: a tough scene to watch as a rescuer picks up a family from higher ground and drive away in the atv. the dog running alongside through several nearby properties and then even into the deeper water, waiting to be rescued. other animals captured by sky 7 took a more calm approach. cattle stuck on a small island near their barn surround by fast rising waters. then a few moments later, watch as they real is -- realize it is not too deep and huddle together in a corner. we counted seven there. then a bigger herd of cattle seen not too far away, huddled

in a more open area, water reaching half way up their legs. horses had to be taken out of their stables, seeing here being loaded on to a charge trailer that would ultimately take them to safety. you could see the water knee deep for people helping those animals. a hand on a more lighthearted note, we found the only animals that don't need to be rescued. if they've survived more than 200 million years, they'll make it through this storm. and in all seriousness, the good news is that from all of the images we've been monitoring, the water seems manageable for the creatures and walters are already -- waters are already recedi receding. we've reached out to the hollister animal shelter and they are working out a plan of what to do with the rescues. they may need help to house the larger animals. we'll keep you posted. abc 7 news. folks along the russian river are holding breaths as the raging river is about to reach the highest level. flooding fears are having a huge

impact on people's lives today. amy hollyfield is live in guerneville with what is happening there. >> reporter: hi, kristen. i want you to show you how much the river has come up in just 24 hours. see that no parking sign. yesterday when we were here, the water was a foot behind now. now you could see it is half way covered. and people in this area have been watching very carefully as this river comes up. there was a lot of checking in in guerneville this morning as people waited for the russian river to crest. regan drove as close as he could get to his daughter's apartment on church street where the water stood about 3 feet deep outside. >> it is a good story house so they are safe. >> but still that nervous dad part of you did get in the car and drive over here. >> yeah, of course. absolutely. so i just want to make sure they're okay. >> reporter: over on nealy road, sarah stopped by to see how friends were holding up. >> they are in there and yes,

they are okay. they are above flood level but i'm sure is nerve-wracking. >> and this family has friends who live here and didn't evacuate. >> who wants to leave their home. most of the homes are lifted so the living areas won't flood, it is just the basement and the stairs in and out. >> reporter: school was canceled because of the flood. anthony has been trying to entertain his bored friend who is trapped. >> hunter face timed me and we played some games online. he's probably playing a lot of video games. >> reporter: the high water didn't stop everyone from getting around. one man used his kayak to check on his property while a family of five took a canoe from their home to get out. in the end, floodwater did not reach downtown and people were relieved that it wasn't worse. >> it is better than it was going to be. it was going to be up to like 40 feet. so -- i'm good. >> reporter: the national guard did have to help one man evacuate his home. he had a doctor's appointment he needed to get to. he came outside and saw there

was just too much water so they sent a truck in to get him. other than that, the fire department tells me no one has been injured or needed help. no calls for service, everything seems to be okay for now. reporting live in guerneville, amy hollyfield, abc 7 news. >> thank you. and for anyone watching the rivers and creeks, we want you to give you the latest cresting timelines and the rain forecast. >> mike nicco is here with a look at what is going to happen in the next few hours. mike. good news. when we went to bed last night, we thought it would crest above 38 to nearly 39 feet, the russian river, that is and now it will crest at 37.7 which is higher than where it is right now and that is at 2:00 this we'll have to wait until 8:00 tomorrow evening before the significant flooding starts to subside. let's take a look at what is going on -- down -- up north. floodwaters around guyersville and also some near seb aftable and to the rest of santa rosa

and those will last and for the uvas and legas and for the pacheco a warning until 4:45. and still scattered light showers that will aggravate the situation and keep the flooding going for the time frames. unfor t unfortunately we have more rain and this may bull's eye this area. i'll give you that information coming up in the big weather. first because of the rock and mudslides we have to bring alexis in here to give us an update. >> and some flooding on top of all of that. and up to marin, a full closure of highway 37 between 101 andatherton, this is where they got stranded. they may have to bring in special equipment for the cars. no estimate on when that will be back open. in the meantime use atherton. and highway 84 close between sunol and mission and hopefully that will be back open by noon. and they are close to getting that one wrapped up.

a tree down at highway 17 at vine hill so traffic alternating in the southbound lanes and that is sig-alert and highway 17 past the cats restaurant, cleaning up a smaller slide there. we have caltrans on the scene and it will take them a couple more hours to get that totally clear so intermittent collectures. back to you guys. >> crews are still cleaning up after the mudslide or mudslides on highway 9 and big basin way. the mudslides temporarily shut down that section of the highway overnight. downed trees an mud trapped several vehicles, including trucks belonging to fedex and cal fire. they are now cutting up the trees and removing them from the road. now to the latest update out of alameda county, highway 84 through niles canyon is still closed and still plenty of mud and deepwater. officers estimate four feet deep in some places. so far two people had to be rescued from flooded cars. we could show you what it looks like there. the thick mud that is shutting down the highway between sun ol

and fremont has been closed since 10:00 last night and we spoke to a driver who, with his truck, managed to make it through the mudslide. >> it is almost a quarter mile long. and it is all the way across both sides of the road. and it is fairly deep, around 18 inches. >> caltrans is working to clean up the mess. they are aiming to have it open by noon. but that time could easily be pushed back. >> in marin, crews are cleaning up this mess after a tree came crashing down on to sir francis drake boulevard. right now the road is closed. they tweeted out this picture advising drivers to stay away from the area. >>? benecia, there is a state of emergency. there is extreme flooding and downed trees and residential and commercial damage and street closures. lake herman over flowed flooding park and channel roads. police tell us no one was hurt or has called for help. and this is why students

from montera middle school in oakland are at home right now. a falling tree took out power lines, knocking out electricity to the school last night. we reported on abc 7 mornings that cool was canceled today. power has not been restored and we'll let you know as soon as we hear about tomorrow's classes. >> and there are a quite of few schools closed in sonoma county. take a look at your screen. horricon and montgomery elementary are both closed today. so aalexander valley and sebastopol independent. and oak grove and forestville and harmony union and there are a number of districts on the list. we'll have all of the school closures in the bay area at abc7news.com. happening now, power outages continue across the bay area. the latest figures from pg&e show at least 7,000 customers still in the dark. and here is your break down. 2700 in the east bay, 2600 in the north bay and 1600 in the south bay and a thousand on the peninsula and 130 in san

francisco are still waiting for the lights to come back on. and the abc 7 news just a great resource for closures and everything you need to know about the storms. could you track -- you could track live doppler 7 so enable push alerts when you download and you'll get weather alerts sent straight to your phone. next on abc 7 news, president-elect donald trump goes on the record about his ties to russia. what he told reporters this morning about the growing scandal and his plans for the first few months in office. >> and then still keeping an eye on the flooding in hollister. sky 7 giving us a look right now. we'll bring you updates

president-elect donald trump this morning held his first news conference since the election. he denied unconfirmed claims that russia may have compromising information on him. >> and mr. trump also equated the reports to quote, fake news. abc news reporter elizabeth hur was at the news conference. >> it was released and i think it is a disgrace. i think it is an absolutely disgrace. >> reporter: donald trump's first formal news conference since july comes the day after unverified reports alleged that the russians have compromising personal and financial information about the president-elect. >> the thing like that should have never been written, it should never have been had and it should certainly have never been released. >> trump calling the reports fake news. >> it is phony stuff. it didn't happen. it was a group of opponents who

got together, sick people, and they put that crap together. >> reporter: as for the allegations, they are supposedly from anonymous sources inside of the kremlin talking to a former british spy, con contained in a dossier given to the news agency in august and including abc news. among the claims, that trump's lawyer michael cohen was part of an ongoing secret liaison relationship between the new york tycoon campaign and the russian leadership and met with them in prague in august 2016. cohen denied the allegations telling abc news, i've never been to prague in my life. other allegations also resolve around trump's travel to moscow for a miss universe contest in 2013 and whether the russians filmed with his prostitutes to be able to blackmail him if they so wished. >> russia is also weighing in, calling the reports they have incriminating information, nonsense and that reports should be viewed with humor. but some democrats are not

laughing. now calling for a full investigation. outside of trump tower, i'm elizabeth hur, abc 7 news. happening now, controversial secretary of state nominee rex tillerson is in his confirmation hearing. the former exxon-mobil sae is answering questions about his ties to putin. he called russia a danger saying economic sanctions are a powerful tool in the arsenal. and tillerson wants to embrace the president-elect's mission to become friendly with russia while remaining clear eyed about their relationship. >> our storm watch continues. >> over hollister where evacuations are underway because of the flooding you see. mike nicco has more on the rising river levels next in his accuweather forecast. >> the abc 7 storm impact scale and today's storm is level one, that means light rain. so keep an umbrella handy and drive safely. track today's storm any time on

th

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happening now, both squaw valley and alpine meadows are closed because of a power o outage. the report said it is snowing over two inches an hour and the winter storm knocked out power. an avalanche warning is in effect for the sierra. the danger is high for all elevations until 5:00 p.m. today. >> and check this out, chris in san francisco sent us this photo, a tree that came down on his neighbors bmw. you could see it under the trunk there. this is near alta plaza park on pierce and clay. he said the wind in san francisco is no joke. and i think he is certainly

right. >> i feel bad for the car owner but glad nobody was hurt in that situation. we have the [ inaudible ] in hollister. >> the flood warning was extended at the top of the hour until about 4:45 and here is the reason why. let's look at sky 7 and could you see pg&e, you know that bright blue right there, that is one of their tricks. that is assessing the situation right now on one of the many ranches or farms if you will, that flooding down there because of the pacheco creek. and that will continue until 4:45, and unfortunately with the bull's eye of the next system heading this way, we may have a repeat of this. maybe not quite as bad. but still some flooding possible tonight. let's move on and talk about what is going on as far as the rain totals. very impressive. look at lexington reservoir and uvas canyon county park and that is why we saw some flooding in los gatos creek and also uvas and legas this morning and those have since dissipated. danville, 7 inches, more than double what livermore and oakland and san francisco had

since sunday. mt. st. hell owna, santa rosa nearly 9 and redwood city 4 inches there. but when you see what this storm -- we haven't talked about because everything is going here, look at the statewide normal, 135%. now you think that is great. but for the entire snow year that ends april 1st, still at 69% so we still more snow to stay average by april. i'm sure we'll have more by then. the exploratorium, beautiful time lapse and we have hide and seek sunshine and some rainbows are possible as we have a scattered light shower or two and seasonal temperatures. tonight storms quicker and weaker and through friday through tuesday. in santa rosa down to penn grove and sonoma light rain and light showers from about the dumbarton bridge out toward crazy south and -- tracy south and eastward and that is what we'll get to a lesser extent through the afternoon and into the evening hours. in fact, look at my day planner

forecast. you don't see much in the way of a stray shower but it is in there. just temperatures that warm into the low to mid-50s and that are back into the mid to upper 40s by 8:00. storm impact scale, this is light even though we have potential for more flooding, the winds are light. so here we are through time and could you see by 5:00 things quiet until 9:00. 10:00 light rain develops and then moderate rain coming ashore at 1:00. it is not as solid as it was. it is more random in nature. but where you do pick up the biggest one is in the santa cruz mountains and snow down to 3500 feet. it hangs through the entire morning commute and by noon it is over. so my biggest threats are i would think ponding and stream and creek flooding and river flooding and power outages are low. here is my accuweather seven-day forecast. it is a one through tomorrow morning and then it is going to take off -- the sunshine that is -- and really we're going

to -- wow! we're going to see some really nice weather. >> beautiful. >> how about that on sky 7. just kind of popped up there and there is the one of the rainbows we talked about. so just look at that and think positive thoughts that hopefully by this time tomorrow, it is behind us. >> there is beauty and danger. >> that is true. after the rainbow, not the first one we've seen today. >> matt keller showed us this one at the top of the newscast. and if you have weather happening where you live, post

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coming up at 4:00, from robots to wearables, the new class of hardware makers showing off what they make in san francisco. could one of these be the next big thing. >> and has the time come for flying water taxys. yep. tonight on abc 7 news at 5:00, a company looking at customers in san francisco and beyond. >> from all of us here at abc 7 news, thank you for joining us. >> who wants to be a millionaire i next and we still have the rivers that we're watching closely. >> good thing is it will crest at about 2:00, the russian river and then fall rapidly by tomo

>> hey, everybody. i hope your ready for some excitement because when you're playing for a million dollars, drama kind of comes with the territory. this is "who wants to be a millionaire." [dramatic music] ♪ hey, everybody, welcome to the show. are you guys ready to play "millionaire" today? all right, as a starving artist who is very passionate about her work, our first contestant says this money is absolutely life-changing. from atlanta, georgia, please welcome sarah jones. hey, sarah. >> hi. >> how are you doing? >> good, how are you? >> good to see you. come on over. i love that you are an artist, but the operative word is starving artist. >> yes, yes. >> so you are grinding it out for this passion of yours.