there's been several levees that have failed. >> this shows where it's happening in van sickle island north of pittsburg. i'm kristen sze. >> and i'm dan ashley. is the drought really over? >> laura anthony is live at the reservoir in elle sobrante. >> reporter: it looks great and it is but while the federal government says our drought here in northern california is over, governor jerry brown is keeping his drought declaration in place. it's the news that many have been waiting to hear, that california has finally broken free of its historic drought, a declaration made by the u.s. drought monitor. >> it's looking great. >> reporter: andrea is with east

bay mud managing water supply for 1.4 million people in the east bay. >> the amount of water we receive, precipitation that we've received is 196% of average. in january, for the month of january, 470% of average so far. >> reporter: with a snowpack in the sierra also well above average for this time of year, reservoirs like san pablo are brimming. but what about long term? >> we've received all of this snow, this is great. is it going to last? >> reporter: alex is a professor of earth and environmental sigh generals at st. mary's college. she says all of this is great for surface supplies but what happens beneath the ground is even more important. >> all of this precipitation is going to help replenish the surface water, the stuff at the surface, the reservoirs, the rivers. it does very little to replenish the ground water aquafirs.

>> and while things look great in southern california, the drought is still very much in place. laura anthony, abc7 news. the rain is not done yet. more showers fell today. you can see umbrellas popping up in san francisco. >> meteorologist sandhya patel has more. >> we are out of the drought in the bay area. something we've been waiting for for years. if you look at the statewide area down to our south, extreme exceptional drought continues so it's not completely done. 35% of california is drought-free, which is encouraging. on live doppler 7, we're tracking showers in the peninsula as we take you down to street level here. burlingame, highway 101 is slick for the evening commute. also, for menlo park to palo

alto around stanford, we're seeing the wet roadways. really light showers. it's been mixed precipitation over the hill. the pinks, blues, purples indicating snow over the mt. hamilton area and to our north, highway 101, geyersville. so here's a look at the current stage. it's at 32 feet. flood stage is at 32. we're still there. flood warning remains until 2:48 a.m. i expect the river to continue to recede. solano county, until tomorrow afternoon. we have one more flood warning to tell you about. oh, it just expired. it was down to our south. that's encouraging. more storms are in the forecast, plus, a look at what is ahead tomorrow morning. a danger i want to warn you about. details on that coming right up. dan and kristen? >> sandhya, thank you. here's a look at sky 7 in

guerneville. >> reporter: this may be the loneliest man along the russian river. not a lick of business shows on his computer screen. golf on television but not on the golf course where he works as the starter. since the russian river flooded, this famous course has more than a few extra water holes. it's not really a laughing matter. yesterday, the russian river loop hit flood stage and flooded neighborhoods and homes. ann has never seen a flood like this in her first nine years here. >> this was a good starter flood for us. >> reporter: she scooped up mud from her home and driveway into

wheelbarrow after wheelbarrow. 18 inches worth based on the water line. the russian river, which usually flows a few hundred feet away, still dabbled at her back doorstep. operations people told us the worst has passed. >> we're receding, which we're at a good place. we're not going up. >> reporter: and if the sky gives the ground a chance to recover, it will, especially along neeley road, where they have lived like islanders for close to a week. >> i've been stuck up there since saturday. >> reporter: that's the price that the residents pay for what they still call paradise. wayne freedman, abc7 news. and in san benito county, the water district says the water channel couldn't handle all of the rain because of all of the trees and debris. yesterday, the pacheco creek

overflowed foursing a hundred people from their homes. you can keep stabs with live doppler 7 and download the abc7 news app. enable push alerts to get advisories sent to your phone or tablet. another hearing today on san francisco's sinking millennium tower. today it was revealed that city hall has asked the developer to respond to questions made by three independent engineers on the condition of the tower. and the deadline for that information is tomorrow. lyanne melendez has the latest. lyanne? >> reporter: the city needs to know, is that building safe? can people continue to live there, period. then comes the implementing a fix which will not be easy. the state of the tower has been discussed in a number of

reports, including in something called the hamburger report. those reports have now been reviewed by three independent engineers hired by the city. after inspecting the building, those engineers have additional questions for the developer, such as the tilt of the building. predictions of future settlement, stress due to settlements, gravity, earth forces on pile support, weight of the building and perhaps more importantly -- >> how will the building perform if there's any future settlements? >> on december 15th, the department of building inspection asked that these questions be addressed by the developer by tomorrow. the spokesperson for millennium partners e-mailed us to say we are providing all of the information the city has asked for and will continue to do so as we have all along. today, the building has sunk 16 inches and is leaning six inches towards a neighboring skyscraper. it's not anchored on bedrock like others around it. this resident has shown us before how the golf ball rolls

down his condo floor. >> it's time to stop requesting and order millennium partners to come up with a plan for complete stabilization of the building with a timeline. >> reporter: the supervisor says he needs to wait on that independent report. >> i have to get independently verified review of their report that says that the building is safe. that's issue number one. >> reporter: he says the city will then force millennium partners to come up with a way to stop the tower from sinking and tilting. in san francisco, lyanne melendez, abc7 news. the warriors have ended a consulting agreement with the police chief on the same day they announced he had been hired. in just the last hour, the warriors issued a statement saying that the team and sur have cut ties related to the new facility in san francisco. that groundbreaking is next

tuesday. the last thing he wanted to do was cause a distraction for the team. he resigned as san francisco's police chief in may after a series of fatal police shootings of people of color. a san pablo police commander is under arrest for suspicion of domestic violence. authorities in placer county arrested robert dejesus after leaving his girlfriend with visible injuries. this is an interview he did when he was with the vallejo police department. he worked there for 22 years. an old case is raising new questions. tonight, the kidnapping of a vallejo woman and concerns about missing evidence. plus, a skateboarder is recalling a great seller. we're telling you why. and the billion dollar a year crime targeting people at home and at work. and a half billion dollar game changer. a

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there are new issues in the kidnapping case of vallejo police initially called a hoax. the victim's attorney wants to question the city under oath about potentially missing evidence. melanie woodrow has the story you'll see only on 7. >> reporter: when the attorneys asked to see the electronic communications during the critical time police say they believe the couple made up being kidnapped, this is what they received. just a few e-mails. one for an increased visibility patrol. the others from a print reporter who said someone claiming to be the kidnapper was e-mails him. >> and that's why we have no idea why kenny park went on national television. >> reporter: mr. quinn and miss huskins has gotten a lot of

money away from our community. >> reporter: they called the kidnapping a hoax. the attorney says vallejo police interrogated quinn for 18 hours but the interrogation videos the city handed over are incomplete. >> there's a chunk of time missing when the vallejo police department go over the polygraph investigation. >> reporter: he doesn't know if the city needs more time if the e-mails texts and chunk of interrogation videos were not preserved or, even worse, they were destroyed. >> that's why we want to make sure vallejo explains under oath why this is all that we're receiving. >> reporter: a vallejo police department spokesperson tells abc7 news, we have no comment. the attorneys representing the city did not respond to our request but their position is clear in e-mails filed with court documents. were they right? there's no efficient way to search for the requested texts and e-mails and call the discovery burdensome and fishing. melanie woodrow, abc7 news.

now to a new report out about ransomware. the fbi says $24 million in payments was paid in 2015. that grew to a billion dollars for 2016. it's expected to get even worse in 2017 as experts predict that the cloud could come under attack. well, there are ways to protect yourself from ransomware. >> yes, michael finney is here to tell us more about that. michael? >> it's truly amazing. it may seem hard to believe that hackers can hold your computer files hostage and demand money before they give them back. but as consumer reports found out, even its experts can be victims. raul is a computer consultant who is all too familiar with ransomware. he's helped clients and has had to help himself. >> after the first attack, i'm

like, we're ready for them. there's no way they are going to get through to us again. was i wrong. >> reporter: raul says he started seeing ransomware attacks two or three years ago. since then, he's said it's become even more common. if you are a victim of ransomware, you'll see a pop-up window on your computer screen and saying that all of your files have been locked and you'll have to pay a ransom. we suggest that you not click on the window unless you are willing to pay. >> reporter: first, to make sure it's not a phony pop-up, close your browser and if it comes out, you may have an issue. >> if you have recently backed up your data, you probably won't have to pay the ransom. if you haven't done a recent backup, you may have to pay the ransom to get your files back. you may be able to rebuild your system. a computer professional can help with this if you don't have the skills yourself. and to make it harder for hackers to gain access to your

computer, experts at consumer reports say keep your operating system and all software, including security software up to date. even better, turn on automatic updates so you don't even have to think about it. consumer reports says everyone should read every pop-up very carefully before clicking, even on a trusted website. well, the deadline to enroll in obamacare here in california called cover california for the year is the end of this month. now, tomorrow i will have agents here at the 7 on your side office to answer your covered california questions and get you started on enrollment. our phone lines will be opened from 4:00 to 8:00 and you'll be able to get your questions answered on facebook and twitter. as a matter of fact, you can send us your questions right now. just use the #askfinney. we hope to sign up a ton of people. we have in the past. >> thanks, michael. more than 3,000 electric skateboards made by a mountain

view company are being recalled tonight. this is video from boosted. two reports say the battery packs started smoking after water got inside. the company says they will no longer market the boards as water resistant. owners should go to boost's website for information on replacement batteries. pandora is cutting 7% of its workforce. they say the decision will allow them to invest more in product development. pandora also announced today its earnings exceeded expectations and it has now 4.3 million subscribers. a lot has been made over president-elect donald trump refusing to take questions from certain reporters yesterday saying they only covered fake news. now a state lawmaker is hoping to teach kids the difference. assemblyman jimmy gomez introduced a bill yesterday showing high school students how to find real information. they should use reasoning

skills. fake news became a real issue during the election. a leader of the state senate says other nations are focusing on california for climate change leadership now that donald trump is packing his cabinet with people who dispute the science of global warning. the comments came at a weather conference at lake tahoe where it's been snowing heavily all week. senate senator says he's heard from world leaders to see the impact of california's landmark climate regulations. >> i can say this very clearly that california is not going to go back, we won't regress, not one step backwards. we're going to move forward continuously and resolve stronger than ever to move forward our climate change policies. >> california's climate change regulations are considered the strongest anywhere in the country. we're getting an up close look at a damaged contra costa county road damaged during this wek's powerful storm. >> this was over alhambra creek

road which is about 70 feet wide and 30 feet deep. you can see as the drone flies into the gap, the fast-moving creek destroyed a lot of earth. >> the road is closed indefinitely. county public work crews don't know when the repairs will begin. here's a reminder that we get every type of weather pattern in the bay area. snow there at the observatory. this is mt. hamilton in santa clara county today. if we're going to get hills on our local hills, this would be the time of year, january. we're still watching a few showers as we go to the street level radar on the peninsula. you'll notice around airport boulevard, 101, it is wet as we head down the peninsula further, east palo alto, waverly street, stanford, you're seeing the slick roadways and we widen out

the picture a bit. in the sierra nevada, snow showers continue. 80 is requiring chains. no chain controls on 50 but if you're heading to tahoe, you may want to hold off longer. tahoe is under a winter storm warning. al winter weather advisory for the west slope of the sierra until 10:00 p.m. this evening. here's a look at your four-day forecast. we've gotten so much snow recently. chance of snow showers tomorrow morning. after that, you are looking at a beautiful pattern saturday through martin luther king day. dry for you to enjoy. now, 24-hour rainfall totals in the bay area look like this. about what we expected, a little less in some spots. .04. santa rosa, .17. same thing for san jose. we're seeing the skies opening up right now in the upper 40s. san francisco to oakland. san jose, 50 degrees. it's cooler out there and it's going to be chillier tomorrow

morning. from our emeryville camera, 45 in santa rosa and fairfield. it's going to get cold. chilly morning with black ice possible. this is what i want to warn you about. be careful out there. dry tomorrow through martin luther king jr. day. hour by hour forecast, 6:00 tonight, a few showers linger until 7:00 p.m. and then the showers wind down. we head into the wee hours of the morning. clouds part ways and tomorrow morning it's going to be a cold start. 31 degrees in santa rosa. 30 in napa. wind-sheltered valleys could drop down into the upper 20s. san jose, 37. bundle up before you head out the door tomorrow. tomorrow afternoon, temperatures are in the 50s. it's going to be bright. it's going to be a chance to dry out finally after all the rain we have seen. and we'll continue to remain dry as you look at our chances of

rain. tuesday and wednesday, a 1 on the storm impact scale. a light system. thursday, it becomes a 2. our exclusive storm impact scale is at a 1 for tuesday night into wednesday. moderate rain at times and it's going to be breezy to windy. the rainfall will actually increase in intensity as we head into thursday. same thing with the wind. here's a look at the accuweather seven-day forecast. freezing cold conditions. turn up the heat tonight. you're going to need it. tormorrow afternoon and the following afternoon, we look at 50s. sunday, i just want to throw this out there, early in the morning, could see a few drops. nothing to cancel your plans. martin luther king jr. day is dry and then tuesday night into wednesday we have a 1 on our storm impact scale with milder conditions. notice the 60s. on thursday, it's a 2. windy with showers on our storm impact scale. if you carry it into friday and saturday, still looking wet. not as strong as the storm that

hit us last couple of days but certainly looking like a wet pattern unfolding which we can certainly use and download the abc7 news app to track the stories. >> it's nice to get the weekend to cool off. >> it is. the call of the wild. how baboons could rewrite the history books in speech for people. coming up, the bombshell investigating the fbi. the move right before the election, did that break protocol and affect the election just days before? and those allegations against president-elect donald trump unconfirmed and new video of the spy in hiding. coming up. >> david, thanks very much. new at 6:00, 7 on your side michael finney explains why you better act like a superhero if you want to stay secure in the online world. kristen and i will be back with a lot more.

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ucsf is receiving a $5 million donation, the largest donation in california's history and one of the biggest ever in u.s. it was pledged by helen diller. she passed away in 2015 and was a long-time supporter of the university. most of the money will go towards supporting faculty, including new recruitment and help students finish school with less debt. the school put 100 million into a fund that invests in early

stage research that's not funded by the government. coming up at 6:00, jonathan bloom looks at the big research questions that the funds could help answer. human-style speech may be millions of years older than previously thought. scientists in france studied baboon speech and found that they make five distinct vowel-like sounds like we do. it's been thought that human language started within the last 70 to 100,000 years. this new finding suggests it began about 25 million years ago with our last common ancestor to baboons. into still ahead, the dog that was stuck on a cliff ledge that just didn't want to be rescued. >> even after a very long trek to get him by first

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there's never been a better time to come to bass pro shops than right now. bass pro shops is the place for big savings. like savings of 25% on select under armour fleece and columbia outerwear. and save $30 on this mr. heater big buddy heater. i'm ama daetz, coming up at 6:00. >> i just pulled harry out of the river. he tried to ride his bike.

>> the raw power of an avalanche. this slide wiped out a home. and the uncertain future of lefty o'douls that's left loyal customers devastated. that's coming up in half an hour at 6:00. kristen and dan? >> see you then. finally, the story of a fiercely independent dog in utah. >> fiercely. the utah county sheriff's office posted this video showing mary stuck on a narrow ledge above a 50-foot cliff. >> sheriff deputies climbed up to rescue her and tried to lure her with food. >> she ate it but then snapped at the guy trying to help her. when night fell, the team left her with some food and paw warmers. >> paw warmers. >> somehow the next day she made it down on her own. her stubborn determination left

her in tact. "world news with david muir is coming up next." >> for all of us, we appreciate your time and hope to see you again in half an hour. tonight, the bombshell. the new investigation, the focus now on the director of the fbi. did james comey violate policy just 11 days before the election reigniting the e-mail investigation? only later to reveal there was nothing there. pierre thomas standing by. also tonight after the president-elect takes aim at the intelligence community calling those unconfirmed reports that russia has material on him, a disgrace. today, a video of the spy in hiding. brian ross is here. the showdown. mr. trump's picks for the pentagon and the cia. making it clear where they stand on russia. the family tragedy. the fast-moving fire. the six children that were lost. the major ice storm moving in tonight across several states. and the surprise at the white house that left vice