at once. >> i basically swam my way out to the sidewalk. >> and tonight officials say the water was faster and higher than anyone expected. good evening, i'm dan ashley. >> and i'm kristen sze. thanks for joining us. some people should be able to go home, some evacuations have just been lifted. we are still seeing some incredible pictures. >> we really are. this morning a pickup was seen driving through the flood zone. you can see just how much water remained. elsewhere a man stepped out of his car right into more standing water. >> as another man gingerly stepped through the area just to get to his home. take a look at that. it appears he ignored the evacuation order. and here's the top of a gazebo. >> typically they're about 12 feet tall so this gives you an idea of how deep the water is. later today the water receded. you can see the markers on this car from just below the windshield to the hood line. >> now let's show you the new smaller area under mandatory evacuations. it was just reduced this past hour. the flood zone is just east of

downtown san jose. coyote creek is that blue line running down the middle. >> a news conference just wrapped up. here's the latest. some evacuations have been lived. the floodwaters are receding. in some areas the water will still have to be pumped back into the creek. the city has started the damage assessment process and is developing a debris removal plan. >> the main focus is going to be assessing the areas that have been evacuated and safely returning people to their homes. >> now let's bring in abc 7 news reporter david louie live in san jose with more. david? >> reporter: well, kristen and dan, the waters are still high, several feet deep here in the rock springs area of san jose. this seems to be the biggest trouble spot right now, which means residents cannot go back in yet, at least not until the city says it's safe to do so, and they'll have to be very patient until this water does recede. in the meantime people are wondering why they did not get an early warning to evacuate. it wasn't just residents of rock springs and two other flooded

neighborhoods caught by surprise. so were city officials who spent a week planning for the possibility of rising waters. but the reality is there was a failure to notify people of a pending disaster. >> if the first time that a resident is aware that they need to get out of a home is when they see a firefighter in a boat, then clearly there's been a failure. >> reporter: san jose's emergency operations director said coyote creek wasn't supposed to flood like this at rock springs. >> the breach of that creek happened at a flow level much below the capacity of the channel, and so that's the issue that we need to investigate. >> reporter: a series of storms caused the anderson reservoir to fill up faster than it could be drained. >> we have an outlet at the base of the dam and that has been opened fully since january 9th. we have been letting out as much water as we practically could. >> reporter: the flooding hit working class and upscale neighborhoods that line the creek, including rob souza's house that sits on the bank. the water flooded his basement, causing a refrigerator to tilt and float.

out back a 60-foot oak tree became water logged and fell onto a garage and storage building. while all flood victims wait to find out when it will be safe to go home, souza is worried about tall trees that threaten to fall. they sit on water district property. >> now, there's two more eucalyptus trees right in that same area and that was my concern because one of them is point at my house. so when they're saying it is safe, what is safe for me? i don't know. >> reporter: we do have a race against time here. rock springs waters are not receding as fast as people would like, but there is only a limited time window here because, as our abc 7 weather team will tell us, there is another storm coming to this area this weekend. we're live in san jose, david louie, abc 7 news. >> david, thanks so much. we appreciate it. we brought it to you live on abc 7 news at 4:00 about an hour ago. san jose officials announced some flood evacuations had been lifted. at one point 14,000 people were in the evacuation zone. >> yeah, there are four

evacuation centers open for them. about 300 people have gone to the shelters, including keith thomas, who is moving out of his apartment when floodwaters came rushing toward it. >> i never saw the water as high as it was there. it was pretty high. and it brought -- i thought -- >> thomas was able to take his son and cat to one ofthe evacuation centers. he hopes they can return hope later today. >> several homeowners are back and are dealing with a big cleanup job. >> kate larson is live on 17th street in san jose with that part of our coverage. kate? >> reporter: kristen, dan, we were here 24 hours ago and we showed you how the water in coyote creek was up over the shingles above that window. now you can see it has receded probably five or six feet, but unfortunately as that water recedes, the neighbors here all along 17th street are now dealing with a mess. caked in wet mud and soaked in

dinghy water, julie small's backyard is unrecognizable, from the colorful garden that it was just a few days ago. >> very like scary. like you can't stop it. so you're just sitting there going, well, we lost the yard, we lost the patio, we lost our basement was completely flooded. >> reporter: now instead of roses, smalls is picking crawfish out of her garden and wondering what's next. >> the saddest thing to me is my son was getting marrie in my backyard in august, and i don't know if that's going to happen now. >> reporter: next door the powell family is cleaning up after coyote creek destroyed their backyard, basement and a bedroom yesterday. >> we went to get sandbags. by the time we came back, the water as already here. so in a matter of 45 minutes, our basement was flooded. >> reporter: she bought this house a few years after the flood in 1997, so she was expecting some water damage, but not this much. this photo shows the water rising in her yard on monday. then by tuesday, sky 7 caught

the water covering everything but the hot tub and then this morning, another photo before the water began to recede. >> we weren't given from my perspective a lot of notice as to what was going to happen and the impact that it was going to have on us. we definitely would have done some things differently if we had known the extent of the water that was being released. >> reporter: smalls expressed a similar sentiment. >> i don't feel like there was adequate information. >> reporter: now, i spoke to the santa clara valley water district an hour or so ago and they tell me they were in close communication with the city of san jose throughout the week providing them information about the water levels and the flows but they had no way to measure exactly when the floods were going to come. they say it is up to the city to make any specific notifications or evacuation orders. reporting live in san jose, kate larson, abc 7 news. >> kate, thank you. san jose's mayor is asking people to donate to the san jose flood victims relief funding. it will support nonprofit organizations providing immediate and long-term recovery

to flood victims in san jose. we posted a link on our website, abc7news.com. if you want to help, the red cross is also making it easy to donate. just text the words "red cross to 90999 to make a $10 donation. it will show up on your phone bill. the red cross also needs volunteers to help. our coverage of the san jose flooding evacuations continues online. for the latest information and updates, make sure to download our abc 7 news app and enable push alerts. let's move on now. a terrible accident this morning outside the alameda county santa rita jail. a prison transportation bus hit a sheriff's deputy in a parking lot. the driver was a co-worker. the deputy hit has been identified as 60-year-old mike foley, and he is in critical condition, we understand. we interviewed him in 2006 when he worked for the concord police department. abc 7 news reporter lyanne melendez is live outside the jail to explain exactly what happened there this morning. >> reporter: dan, this accident happened at around 6:08 this

morning, so imagine it was very dark outside. the asphalt black and the victim, we are told, was wearing dark navy blue clothing. now, the driver says he did not see him. now let's show you from sky 7 that scene. the deputy, mike foley, was hit by that bus. he fell and hit his head on the pavement. he was conscious at the time but on his way to the hospital, he was no longer talking. they were both starting their shifts. now, the driver was on his way to pick up some bag lunches for the prisoners before taking them to the court in oakland, so that bus was empty. the family of the victim is with him at the moment. doctors were trying to reduce the swelling in his brain. a son living in southern california just flew in to be with his dad. the driver, we're told, has been placed on administrative leave. >> he's traumatized as well. this is going to affect his

life. i met with the driver. i told him that this won't be done and over with this afternoon. it won't be done and over with tomorrow. this is going to be a lasting effect on him and our agency as well. >> reporter: now, foley could have been taken to eden medical center in castro valley not far from here but that hospital's cat scan equipment was not working at the time so he was diverted to john muir medical center much further away. now, foley has been with the alameda county sheriff's department for nine years, and before that he was with the concourt police for 30 years. we're also told that the chp is the lead investigator in this case. live in dublin, lyanne melendez, abc 7 news. a north bay man faces drunk driving charges following a crash last night in ronard park.

the driver was traveling at a high rate of speed when he hit the center median, crossed into the westbound lanes and hit a tree. his truck came to rest just three feet from the building where people were sleeping. no word on the driver's condition. tonight we're learning union city police have arrested a teenager accused of robbing a girl scout as she sold cookies earlier this month. a 17-year-old has confessed to the robbery in front of the safeway store. after the robbery, police bought numerous girl scout cookies and helped the girls raise more than $1,000. the arrested teen is accused of a separate robbery at james logan high school. well, san jose is not the bay area city with flood evacuations. we have a live report from clear lake where people are being forced out of their homes as the water continues to rise. from bridges to boulevards, buckled roadways are a mess from the east bay to monterey county.

and just when you thought it was over, live doppler 7

the storms are taking their toll in lake county as well. officials in lake port have declared a local state of emergency due to flooding from overflowing clear lake. abc 7 news reporter laura anthony joins us live from there with the story. laura? >> reporter: kristen, i'm in one of the hard-hit neighborhoods here in lakeport. we're just a block or so from downtown. the water is actually 3 to 4 feet above the street. also local officials saying this lake will continue to rise. >> paperwork like passports. >> reporter: jose valencia is helping his family collect valuables from their flooded mobile home. they are among 200 people under a mandatory evacuation order in

lakeport. >> i'm kind of helping family members take all their stuff out because it's the last time they can come here in a while, maybe months, and trying to get the most important things out of here. >> reporter: clear lake is a foot and a half over flood stage and still rising, inundating at least four neighborhoods. >> it's doing what clear lake does when we get too much water. there's just not enough -- there's more coming in than what's going out and that's our main problem right now. >> reporter: the main evacuation center is at this church on the north side of town. many of these people could be out of their homes for a very long time. >> last night we had 67 people stay. we've had probably another 20 register today. many that are registering right now have somewhere to stay but don't have somewhere to eat or shower. >> reporter: edward cantrell told us he's lived here most of his life and hasn't seen the lake like this in 20 years. >> does it make you nervous? >> it makes me really nervous, because a lot of small

businesses around the lakes and people are out of their homes right now. >> reporter: clear lake isn't like a creek. it won't go down immediately once the rain stops. in fact, it could stay this high for two weeks, maybe longer. in lakeport, laura anthony, abc 7 news. well, as you know, thousands of evacuees have now left the flood zones, but where are they going exactly? >> the two main shelters can't hold everyone, so what about hotels? 7 on your side's michael finn finneyer -- is here to tell us more. >> hotels say only a smattering of evacuations have turned up to them for shelter. most evacuees stay with relatives or friends or went to shelters. a few went to hotels. today we contacted several hotels who said they would offer discounts to evacuees who call ahead of time. here's some offers we found. the fairmont san jose is offering evacuees a 20% discount for rooms and food.

the fontaine in san jose and the best western lanai garden inn will knock 10% off their room rate. the hampton inn and suites of san jose will offer rooms to evacuees for $89 per night, about half the normal price. hotel managers say the people should call ahead to reserve and make sure deals are still available. leaving home is hard enough, pardon me. returning may be even harder. homeowners will be scrambling to make repairs. a contractors state licensing board says don't act too hastily, make sure you hire a licensed contractor and by law they can not charge more than 10% down or $1,000 up front for jobs that are over $500. >> so if you have somebody coming out and saying i need half the money up front, i need to buy materials, i've got lots of other expenses, that should be a red flag to you. not only are they breaking the law but once you give them that money, what's to say they'll

actually come out and do the job? >> you should also get at least three bids before signing a repair contract and be patient. good contractors will be booked up during a disaster. we see that a lot. if you have a disaster, all the local guys that are good and well known are busy immediately. so a bunch of other bad actors come in so be very careful. >> thanks, michael. pg&e crews are working around the clock to restore power to customers. this is video of crews restocking their trucks. pg&e says it as more than 1,000 workers out in the field clearing trees and replacing power poles in santa cruz county alone. more than 2,000 customers are still without power. we're getting a new look today at the result of the power of rain saturated ground. it's moving a bridge. this is the pfifer county

bridge. the storm damage is beyond repair. a landslide under the bridge is damaging its support columns. caltrans shut it down last week. the situation could shut down that section of the highway indefinitely. they don't know the time span for the bridge to get demolished but it will take some time. highway 50 east of placerville is now in even worse shape. this is new video from the chp showing where part of the road collapsed. only one lane is open in each direct. caltrans says the contractor is still figuring out how to fix that road. it's expected to take a few months. another road hazard caused by the stormy weather. tesla road in livermore is closed due to this huge sinkhole. a washout has shut down a

stretch of the road. an estimated date on when tesla road will reopen. if you live in the north bay or have business there, you may have noticed hail this afternoon. look at that. the video was sent by abc 7 news viewer in windsor. sandhya patel is here with the forecast. >> it was an isolated thunderstorm that produced that hail. let me show it to you on live doppler 7. we had a disturbance coming through northern california, just enough energy, the sun is heating caused that thunderstorm to flare up. it moved across napa county and then headed towards the solano county area. we are seeing some snow mixing in with rain in the mendocino hills and also around the hills in lake county, so this is obviously colder air coming in and seeing some mixed precipitation around mt. hamilton as well. definitely a change in the weather. we're seeing a lot of sunshine but also still seeing some isolated showers. this is right across 580, castro

valley area. i do want to show you a beautiful picture sent to me of spring valley hail. this is just above napa here, and you can see that hail covering the table, so don't be surprised at least until the sun goes down if you do see maybe a shower or an isolated thunderstorm producing some hail. still a possibility. we do have 1s on our storm impact scale for saturday through monday. we are tracking some more showers, but it's not going to be that intense. i'll explain in just a moment. from our south beach camera seeing plenty of blue skies and i'm sure many of you are enjoying it, temperatures in the low 50s from san francisco to san jose. from our emeryville camera, it's just a gorgeous view as we see leftover clouds. 46 in santa rosa. it's definitely chilly out there. 49 in fairfield. so getting cold and only going to get colder. the wind doesn't help. we're gusting to 35 in oakland out of the northwest and that's bringing that cold air with it. one other beautiful live picture from our east bay hills camera. the sun is trying to poke through the clouds. we do have cold and frosty conditions the next two mornings, bright and sunny

afternoons and rain returns this weekend. tomorrow morning, this is what you need to watch out for, it's going to be near freezing in some areas. low to upper 30s inland. still could be seeing an isolated shower tomorrow in the morning hours but for most of you you're looking at partly to mostly cloudy skies. now, for thursday morning the chill will continue. patches of frost not out of the question for our inland valleys friday morning also cold. so we traded the widespread rain for the frosty cold conditions. it's expected around winter. friday morning may be one of the colder mornings between thursday and friday, 33 degrees in fairfield. get ready, bundle up. the three-day forecast will show you cold conditions in the mornings, afternoon highs in the 50s and then 1 on our storm impact scale for saturday. that system on our storm impact scale is light. it has weakened in terms of what we were expecting. light rain or showers. most areas a quarter to half an inch. the flood threat is admdiminish.

some light rain, maybe pockets of moderate rain and done pretty quickly by evening. sunday it's a chance of a few showers and really light. that's the second system coming through. monday also some showers. both systems are coming in from the north. it certainly will bring more chilly conditions. for tomorrow afternoon you're looking at sunshine for most of you. temperatures in the 50s. a look at the accuweather seven-day forecast, crank up the heat, put on the extra blanket tonight. we have cold, frauflty mornings coming up but the afternoon highs will be in the 50s with sunshine. enjoy that break. we do have a rainy, breezy saturday, a 1 on our storm impact scale and a few more showers monday morning but nothing to change up your plans. tuesday and wednesday are going dry and milder with low to mid-60s, so kristen and dan, you can always download the abc 7 news app and you can track hour by hour where that shower or

thunderstorm is heading because it's very isolated. >> with live doppler 7. >> that's right. >> thanks, sandhya. a major discovery in space just ahead. the seven earth-size planets that could support life. >> that's coming up. and ahead at 5:30 on world news with david muir -- >> coming up, breaking news. the arrests right now. police move in at the controversial pipeline. also anger at town halls across america. and a major development after two young girls are fed downed.

look at all that dinner for 4 and before you say but denny's, those 2 strips of bacon, 2 eggs and 2 fluffy pancakes are clearly breakfast. we say: at 4 dollars does it really matter? denny's $4 all day, everyday value slam. part of the 2468 value menu.

state lawmakers made an appeal today to get more people to apply for financial aid through california's dream act. a group of legislators introduced a resolution aiming to increase the number of applicants. they have dramatically dropped so far this year. there's no clear connection between the decline and the trump administration stance on immigration, but some state officials say it's likely that students are afraid to share their information. >> we're begging these kids. we know you're afraid. more importantly, we're begging

their parents, we know you're afraid. but we have to continue to move forward and this is the most vital thing that children -- these young people can do for themselves is to get a college education. >> under the california dream act, undocumented college and vocational school students can apply for state financial aid. we have new video today of apple's new spaceship campus in cupertino. the tech giant released this drone footage today of what the company has now officially labeled as apple park. the $5 billion, 175-acre campus will be open to more than 12,000 employees in april. it will feature a 100,000 square foot fitness center and a thousand seat theater named in honor of steve jobs. looks like a spaceship. astronomers revealed a major discovery today. seven earth-sized planets orbiting a nearby star which could support life.

nearby is relative trappist 1, a dwarf star, 40 light years away from earth. nasa says at least three of the planets could have oceans on their surfaces. >> so this finding is really exciting for me because this is a great opportunity to study earth-size planets' atmosphere in great detail. we can start to begin this journey and trying to understand what the air is like around rocky planets outside of our solar system. >> a new telescope under construction in chile will be able to detect water on planets when it goes online in 2024. is perhaps one of those our new home? >> if we can figure out how to pause the aging process. a dog falls down a san francisco cliff. up next, the amazing

i'm ama daetz. coming up at 6:00, it's tough

dealing with the animals caught up in the san jose flood, including these horses. you'll see why it hasn't been easy. plus the young lawmakers looking to shake things up with an agenda and are ready to push it. plus -- ♪ i don't know why i keep moving my body ♪ >> the sound of success. find out how a san francisco company made this year's films come to life all coming up at 6:00. >> good stuff. thanks, ama. we want to show you an amazing rescue of a dog that fell down a cliff at san francisco. >> that's a san francisco firefighter being pulled up the cliff as he holds the dog in his arms. too cute. you can see how far that drop was. >> the wind made the rescue even more treacherous. once the harness was taken off, the dog rushed to get back with its walking companions and the other dogs in the group were overjoyed to see her. >> the dog's name is mawa which means bad one in spanish. doesn't look bad at all. the dog walker could face a fine for letting the dog into a restricted area.

>> at least it ended well. >> world news tonight is next. >> for all of us here, we appreciate your time. tonight, the town hall fury. members of congress return home to anger across this country. frustrations boiling over. [ chanting ] >> come calling out president trump. others fed up with congress. tonight, the white house calling some of them professional protesters. president trump tweeting about the so-called angry crowds. also breaking news tonight involving two young girls found dead in the woods. authorities now releasing sound of the suspect. investigators believe one of the victims secretly recorded him before she was killed. the off-duty officer who opens fire after a confrontation with a group of teens. the video now revealed. at this hour, police moving in at the controversial dakota pipeline. fires set, protesters under arrest. and lucky seven.