skyscraper is forcing the evacuation of at least ten buildings nearby. we also just learned that a crane connected to the building is unstable. the fear here is that this structure on the roof could collapse and fall over the side of the building to the street below. this is happening on tehama street at 1st street and has forced evacuations of at least 12 buildings in that area. >> right. we want to show you exactly where that loose concrete slab is. it is on the top. sky 7 giving us a bird's-eye view of the 30th floor under construction. now this here is the $2,000-pound concrete slab that has become loose and started to lean. fire officials telling us that what happened was crews removed wooden forms that were used basically as molds to shape the concrete before it sets. right now from this wider angle, you can see how the entire floor is now just lopsided as a crane there on top. that could fall, too. and that's 30,000 pounds.

i'm going to pause to show you why this is so dangerous. such a busy area in the south and market. it is 30 stories up. also howard street, which you see right here, very busy, closed now from 1st to 2nd, shut down along with tehama. lots of businesses in the area including the nasdaq building right there and you can also see the fremont street off ramp there. so just a tense situation there. and abc 7 news reporter lillian kim is live at the scene. >> reporter: we're at 2nd and howard street. behind me is 33 tehama, the residential tower under construction that has an unstable concrete slab on top of the building. that slab is leaning outward. it's part of what was going to be the north wall of that floor. it's 2,000 pounds, as you mention. and if it falls, the fire department says it will likely damage the surrounding buildings, which is why this area has been evacuated. the area is full of office towers. so businesses had to cut short

the work day. as to how this happened, the 911 call came in at 2:45 p.m. crews were shoring up a crane at the center core of the top of the building during that process one of the struts holding up the 30-ton crane failed, which is why then the crane started to lean, which then put pressure on the concrete slab which is now leaning outward and at risk of failing. who a here's what the assistant chief of the fire department had to say. >> unknown at this time what's going to happen at this point here. the contractors on site are fairly confident that the crane is not going to fail. if anything was to happen, we might get some debris that is going to get kicked off to the side of the building towards the northeast of the building. >> it's unclear how long this situation will continue to be. as it stands now, the city has called in a city engineer and a structural engineer to take a look at what's going on and to figure out a plan of attack.

they've also called in the company's engineer. he's being blown in from washington. as i said, this entire area has been evacuated, so as you can imagine, this is causing likely traffic tie-ups in the surrounding area. howard. we are on howard street. closed off. 2nd street closed off. and many of the other streets in this area are also closed off. it's important to relay that the fremont off ramp has been shut down for now. that's the latest from 2nd and howard in soba. >> thanks a lot. again, as lillian said, this is a real mess for the commute. take a look at the effect it's having on drivers. howard street is closed to traffic right now. you can see all of the red. look at the bay bridge as people are coming into the city or trying to get out of the city are really held up. this situation is going to persist for quite some time as they try to figure out what to do at tehama and 1st. >> here's background on the

building. it was 41 tehama but the architect tells us they're undergoing an address change to 33 tehama. that's why you see the two addresses. it's becoming 33 tehama. it's a project of the hines real estate development firm based in houston with an office here in san francisco. construction began in 2015. when complete the building will be just a little more than 278,000 square feet. it will be 35 stories high with 403 apartment units total. supposed to be luxury units and leasing was set to begin this year. so that's what's going on in the market. now to other news on this busy news day. debris clogging the waterways all over the bay area. these channels clogged with junk. some can do real damage.

>> in san francisco seals and storm debris are the new reality at pier 39. the recent storms are bringing more than just rain. for more let's go to abc 7 reporter lyanne melendez. >> reporter: they were calling it storm junk. even tourists here at pier 39 are taken aback at the debris in the bay. but let me show you my friends here, the sea lions. the fish they feed on aren't liking the quality of the water, forcing the sea lions to swim further away to find them. from sky 7 you can see a carpet of debris at the vallejo harbor. that's where a crew from the u.s. army corps of engineers started its day. >> the first thing we saw was this, this weighs about two tons and is approximately 45 feet long. >> reporter: you're finding a lot of big trees? >> very big trees.

>> reporter: the dillard also towed in two seven-ton trees floating down from the sacramento delta. their second boat was also doing heavy lifting. >> really high tides and a lot of rain. they're just coming off the bank. you can actually feel the water with your fingers squish out when you push. doesn't require a lot of pressure to do that. >> reporter: this saturation allows the trees to float close to the surface. sometimes boats don't see them because they're covered with hyacinth, an invasive, nonnative aquatic weed. >> that can get sucked up into the engines and seize up the engines and you'd have to change your props. >> reporter: this morning crews from the gemini ferry boat were fixing the po peler, damaged after hitting debris. ferry boats are reducing their speed and weaving in and out to avoid anything that can cause serious damage. not since el nino have people seen this much litter in the bay. people swimming today confronted

several obstacles. the beach at aquatic park was covered with twigs and larger pieces of wood. >> there's also big logs out there. you have to watch, be careful. >> reporter: most of the big trees will be hauled away and eventually reused. in san francisco, lyanne melendez, abc 7 news. now, sediment from the recent storms are turning the bay brown. you can see in these images from nasa, april last year, and two days ago, same spot, very different story. let's check in with meteorologist sandhya patel. >> this storm is going to soak your morning commute. let's check out live doppler 7. you are just seeing the clouds. the rain is well to the north. this storm will bring a brief period of intense rain. it will kick up the surf. when you take a look at the high surf advisory, from 9:00 tonight until 9:00 tomorrow. watch out for the breakers at 20 feet especially at west-facing beaches and rip currents are possible. on the impact scale, this is a

level one, a light storm. heavy rain expected for the morning commute. minor flooding is possible with the ground saturated and wind gusts from 30 to 40 miles per hour. i'll have an hour by hour look at your morning commute and beyond because it's not just one storm that's going to arrive here in the bay area. all those details are coming up. tonight crews are working to shore up the area around a mud slide on highway 17. you see the santa cruz chp that posted this video to twitter this afternoon. it's all hands on deck to get the mud slide under control before the next round of rain. highway 17 in the scotts valley area is open to traffic tonight but only one lane in each direction. thbt nbt reporter david louie is live in scotts valley with the story. >> reporter: we all know that highway 17 is an important commute route but it's also an essential supply line for auto parts businesses and grocery

stores. now, they are very concerned that the next wave of storms and potential damage is going to end up having them all start to groan. commuters complain their daily drive over highway 17 can be two hours because of the choke point where a slide is still blocking the two northbound lanes. that means the two southbound lanes must carry two-way traffic. back roads are no longer an option due to similar storm damage. >> where are you going to go? you have to stay on 17 which means everyone's on there, or you go down 101. you can't go over hecker pass because that's closed. you have to go down to 129 which they're building down there and limp back into watson and commute up. >> reporter: they're not the only ones suffering, so are the delivery trucks and those who depend on the on-time delivery is also hurt. winchester auto uses shelt shuttle vans to provide parts to shops. customers are waiting much longer for those parts. >> we'll say two hours and

they'll say 17's closed, suddenly it's four hours. then these shuttles go back and forth. they don't get back and they come back later on then we're down to four, maybe three runs a day. >> reporter: a driver for crystal springs water company says he has to clock on 1 1/2 hours earlier to service customers in san jose. the trip takes him three hours instead of less than one hour. caltrans contractors are working on a berm on the slide side. this is where a mud slide damaged a news van and another truck in two separate incidents. in scotts valley, david louie, abc 7 news. we're keeping a close eye on that breaking news in san francisco. sky 7 over the high-rise under construction in the south and market where a tilting concrete slab and heavy crane are prompting widespread evacuations. >> putting the brakes on or speeding ahead. whether to store rail tankers

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back to the breaking news. a concrete slab may collapse at any moment. and falling from the top of the building at tehama and 1st street. we learned that a crane connected to the building is also unstable. the street below is now closed and at least 12 buildings are evacuated. you see those highlighted in red. all this around tehama and 1st. the building's highlighted in yellow, 33 tehama is where this situation is actually happening. it's surrounded by a number of buildings very close by. so those buildings have been

evacuated as a precaution. >> those south of markets workers who are being forced out of work early evacuated from nasdaq because of the safety issues at 33 tehama. let's take another look. conner here posting when galvanize, that's a high tech company, gets evacuated, look what they did. class continues in the street. so they actually took their work outside writing on the windows there. and lillian kim, our own reporter out on the scene says employees of evacuated building told to leave the area and make room for emergency vehicles on howard street. but this is just a glimpse of all the people standing outside on the street right now. and another picture, you can see people took a snapshot of the crane in question right there and also a wider view taken by alexandra seierra of 33 tehama and the evacuations and the crane as well as the concrete slab that you can see are

tilted. you can share your pictures. post them with the #abc7now and we'll feature them on air and online. but let's move on for the moment. the sonoma marin area rail transit district just unanimously voted to approve an agreement with the north coast rail authority that addresses safety concerns, but not everyone is happy about it. abc 7 reporter melanie woodrow has the story. >> reporter: several months ago the excitement over smart rail service from downtown san rafael to sonoma county airport came to a screeching halt when the rail transit district became aware of an unwanted guest on the traction. freight cars carrying liquid petroleum gas. >> it was an issue because we hadn't been notified that they were going to show up. >> reporter: nearby residents worry about their safety. >> it's kind of scary because one time i thought i was seeing smoke coming out of them. >> reporter: smart owns the rail in certain areas but the freight cmpany has areas where it's allowed to operate over smart's

rail system. >> these cars are proven to be safe. any accidents that have happened have happened because of high speed derailments. >> reporter: smart along with local responding agencies like the fire department will be notified about the freight cars' location. from sky 7 you can see the cars being stored in shellville. they'll also assume the risk and liability for transporting and storing the hazardous materials. the agreement has the support of smart's board of directors. >> this really eases smart's safety concerns about them being located in that area. >> reporter: but not from sonoma county supervisor susan gorman. >> it is destructive to a tourism economy, to the businesses that operate there, to agricultural folks. >> reporter: today it was standing room only at a public hearing held before the board voted. of the 12-person smart board of directors, 11 present voted in favor of the agreement. a 12th board member had to leave the meeting early. in petaluma, melanie woodrow,

abc 7 news. federal agents raided a house in san francisco in search of illegal drugs. abc 7 was in the outer sunset as drug enforcement agents looked over evidence seize t from a home on 22nd avenue. one person was detained. dea agents in protective gear entered and exited the house. odion is receiving a fine for not giving customers what they paid for. it served customers tilapia when they had ordered petrale sole, the more expensive cut of fish. this went on from october 2015 to march 2016. they've been ordered to pay $120,000 in fines and restitution. there's a new effort to extend last call at bars and restaurants in california. state senator scott weiner introduced legislation that would allow alcohol service as

late as 4:00 a.m. businesses would still have to get the proper businesses and approval. some bars say it would significantly help business but the director of the nonprofit alcohol justice told the chronicle the bill prioritizes alcohol revenue over public safety. it's been a good year for air travelers. >> absolutely. but you might have a different option based on your own personal experience. >> michael finney is here with the latest report from the department of transportation. >> a good year for air travelers. how often do we say that? last year just a little more than one out of every 100 flights were canceled. that's the lowest number in 22 years. fewer of you also had problems with your luggage. just under three passengers for every 1,000 passengers reported their luggage lost. overall complaints show the transportation department by airlines dropped more than 11% compared to 2015. when is the last time you haggled over the price of a

computer or other electronics? the new survey from consumer report found if you haggle, you can save some money. but give this only 16% of in-store shoppers tried to negotiate the price. however, 64% of those people who did spend an average of $81. online shoppers saved even more, an average of $93. the easiest way to negotiate is to be straightforward and ask for a discount. if you're driving to a store or anywhere else, slow down because it's dangerous out there. more people died on the nation's highways last year than any time since the great recession. 40,200 people died in fatal accidents. that's up 6% from last year. the national safety council is calling for a stricter seat belt law and enforcement of speed limits and increased restrictions on cell phone use. >> surprising that those cars are so much safer. >> that's a shocking figure. i was really surprised. you're right. >> it's the distraction.

sobering. hi there, everyone. let's check out live doppler 7. the storm is just hours away. we're seeing cloud cover right now and the rain is not far behind. here's a lovely look from our east bay hills camera, this sun being filtered by high clouds in advance of our storm. pretty mild out there this afternoon. 60 in san francisco. mountain view still at 70. 69 in san jose. most areas were down a couple of degrees. here's a beautiful view. you still see blue sky from mt. tam cam. another live picture, just want to frame this one from our emeryville camera. it's just gorgeous. the next storm arrives over. it will be wet and unsettled into next week. we bring in a level one system. a light system tomorrow even though it's going to produce some heavy rain for several hours during the morning commute. minor flooding is possible and

winds will be gusting briefly 30 to 40 miles per hour. so as we look at your hour by hour forecast, the heaviest of the rain with the storm arrives at 3:00 a.m. in the north bay. it starts to get wet, lighter rain around the east bay, san francisco peninsula. you see the downpours there in oranges and yellows, this continues at 5:00 a.m. 7:00 a.m. a dicey commute. allow extra time. 8:00 a.m. long delays due to wet roadways. but scattered showers by 9:00 a.m. it quickly turns over to lighter scattered activity through the lunch hour, then the afternoon hours just isolated showers going into the evening commute. rainfall totals for most of you will be between half an inch to an inch. santa rosa will pick up more and the higher sierra could pick up to two inches of rain. for the seierra this turns to winter snow. there's a risk of mud slides. low visibility with the snow

coming in. it does become a winter storm watch late saturday night through thursday morning. up to two feet over the peaks. now, with those winds gusting, it is going to be treacherous traveling. if you want to head out there for this long holiday weekend, you'll need to time it so that you're in between storms. there won't be much of a break between tomorrow's system and friday. here's a look at tomorrow morning. stormy in the bay area but comfortable in terms of temperatures as the cloud cover will be thick, numbers in the 50s. temperatures will be lower than today. upper 50s to the mid-60s. one thing you can do is download our news app if there is an urban and small stream flood advisory or wind advisory issued we'll send you the push alert and it is free. accuweather forecast showing you a one on our storm impact scale every single day for the next seven days. yes, we have three storms coming, first one's tomorrow, wet and windy. another storm friday.

saturday morning some showers and then you get a big break between saturday afternoon and sunday afternoon. sunday night into monday which is president's day we have our fird storm coming through here. and that will linger keeping scattered showers going tuesday and wednesday. so i suspect that as we get into the weekend, we're going to have more and more problems as the ground is saturated. you keep having rain on top of it. mud slide risk will go up obviously and flooding potential will be higher. >> nasa may add astronauts to a test flight moon mission. we're going to tell you about it next. and another look from sky 7 with that unstable construction site in san francisco. one engineer says it could take hours to shore up a tilting concrete slab

a new survey tonight shows millennials are the worst drivers. a study by aa shows 19% of

aadmit to speeding and driving while texting. and 79% of 25 to 39-year-olds also reported dangerous behavior while behind the wheel. nasa astronauts may fly to space using the agency's brand-new mega rocket. a lot sooner than expected. according to the blog nasa watch, nasa's administrator asked employees today to start looking into what it would take to lauchlg people on the first flight of a giant space launch system rocket. this is animation of the system. of course, it's generally considered risky to put astronauts on the first flight of an untested rocket. >> sure. >> astronauts have not been expected to fly with the sls until the early 2020s. one more note about nasa, a cyrus-rex spacecraft took its first picture of jupiter and three of its moons. >> well, back here on earth, the

san francisco based nonprofit digital library is up for a major honor. the internet archive is one of eight semifinalists for the macarthur foundation's grant challenge. the digital library offers access to books, websites, software and a lot more. it's thousands of years old, that's next. a quick programming note. david muir will be a special guest on "jimmy kimmel live" at

i'm ama daetz. we're keeping track of that crane that's at danger of falling. new information will be coming from the fire department at any moment now and we'll have it for you at 6:00. also -- >> i was on hold and i'm not exaggerating, for 43 minutes. >> on hold horror stories. 7 on your side shows the

staggering amount of time we spend waiting and a way to speed things up. that's coming up at 6:00. finally tonight 2,000-year-old treasures that have never been seen outside china before are now on exhibit in san francisco. >> that's right. abc 7 news was at the asian art museum for a preview. a look at tomb treasures. it's made up of 160 burial pieces recently found in a tomb from the hong dynasty. >> but the show stoppers are a tomb and a burial suit both made out of jade. >> jade is a material chinese mostly identify with for its beauty but also for its protective power for protecting one's afterlife. >> tomb treasures opens thursday and runs until may 28th at the asian art museum. >> we'll definitely check that out. that's our report. world news tonight is next. >> we'll continue to follow the breaking news in the south of market area with this crane and

concrete slab still in danger. tonight, breaking news. president trump fires back after the bombshell headlines. the investigation underway. authorities now pouring through communications, phone calls, between several of president trump's associates and people suspected of being russian intelligence. why were they repeatedly in touch with the russians before the election? also tonight, the president lashes out after firing his national security adviser, general michael flynn. tonight, the president does not blame the general. instead, taking aim at the u.s. intelligence community. the controversial cabinet pick who suddenly pulled his name today. after video surfaces of his ex-wife once on oprah talking about domestic violence. the passenger plane and the emergency landing. what did it hit on the runway? and here in california tonight. the new storm hours away. and new concern over america's tallest dam.