>> take a look from our east bay hills camera. smoke and haze in the north bay. the marin county sheriff's office is urging people to call 911 only if you see a fire or visible column of smoke. this haze is from the sierra. >> all that smoke is come frg the wildfires burning to our north and east. it has charred 5,000 acres so far. it's really heavy in the east bay. now this is what you could see today. there was little wind and move it along, you can barely see nearby ridge lines opinion you couldn't see mount diablo from the foot of mount diablo. >> love this smoke. >> it's awful. i feel like i can't breathe.

>> the smoke is a bummer. it's hard to exercise outside. >> she was feeling allergies. it's hitting some people. >> police and fire departments were fielding calls all around about the smoky air suggesting anyone with breathing problems stay indoors. today was a spare the air day as well and tomorrow be also be one. >> for obvious reasons. abc 7 news meteorologist is here with the haze. the heat kind of a combination we really don't need. >> it's really intense out there. i want o show you where that smoke is coming from. smoke from those wildfires. take a look at the wildfires in oregon and also along the northern california coast. the north, northeasterly wind is driving the smoke down. as you take a look, the smoke is vizsible on our satellite picture. air quality is suffering from our east bay hills cameras. air quality unhealthy. spare the air alert for your

friday. both are red. from the air district says the last time we had this was june 28th, 2009. it's rarity here. we do have heat advisories for the valleys through tonight and excessive heat warnings for the hill tops. take it easy in this hot weather. excessive heat warning for most of the bay area friday through monday. 105 to 115 degrees. the coastline if san francisco will go under a heat advisory. 11:00 a.m. to 9:00 p.m. on saturday. your holiday forecast coming up. >> you can track the conditions where you live with the abc 7 news basaccuweather app. download it instantly to be notified. the government is ordering the russian consulate in san francisco to close its doors in two days.

we have what this means for people here. >> reporter: people are typically buzzed in through these gates to obtain their visas and passports. in 2016, they estimate there were 16,000 tourists visas issued to american citizens here. today there's definitely a sense of urgency as the doors behind us are about to close for good. there are two days to pack things up and move out. many are frustrated. >> stecitizens of america. we're also citizens of russia. if they need to renew their passport, how are they going to do that now? >> reporter: he feels blind sided by the u.s. decision to close down the san francisco consulate. the people living in our own

country, how can you treat them like this. >> reporter: the move comes after they ordered to cut the number of diplomats working there by two-thirds. we believe it's another unfriendly step of the u.s. authorities which first of all were hit hard on russian citizens residing in the consular district as well as on american citizens. >> i think it affects so many common people. >> reporter: once this location closes both the u.s. and russia will have three remaining consulates open in each other's countries.

investigators say the deputies facilitated and allowed an inmate to throw bodily fluids onto other inmates housed in maximum security you thunit last summer. all four face assault. lin and mcdor motte are accused of trying to intimidate a witness. expect the evening commute to be slowernormal. a big rig overturned. this happened before 3:00 this afternoon. both directions of mission are closed between 680 and driscoll road. the driver was injured. it's been a tough day for truck drivers. this rig tipped over and dump d

-- dum -- dumped this load of dirt after 7:00 this morning. well, now to the recovery effort getting under way after hurricane harvey. >> thousands remain in shelters tonight as the extent of the devastation is becoming clearer. >> at least 31 people have died from the storm and 100,000 homes have been damaged. large parts of houston and towns oth east remain completely under water tonight. >> mike pence visited rockport this afternoon. there he helped comfort flood victims and clear debris tr around homes. he also announced president trump will visit houston on saturday. there's also a lot of effort to rescue animals left stranded when owners had to flee the rising water. laura anthony continues to report and for our sister station in houston. >> reporter: this is one of those suburbs where there's still a lot of water. check this out. this has gone down maybe a foot

in the last couple of days. these are folks going in and out to get their belongings. we have seen rescue crews going in to get animals that may have been stranded. the shelter in houston is making room for them. >> okay. go in there and get it. >> reporter: it was moving day at the houston spca with these little guys doing their part to help out in the wake of tropical storm harvey. >> you want it? okay. you can have it in there. >> reporter: volunteers from austin, dallas and as far as away as oregon arrived crates in hand to move out more than 100 animals from the spca's main shelter near downtown. to make space for all the rescued animals expected to arrive in next few days. the austin humane society is among the groups here to help out. >> there's already been a lot of grass roots efforts here on the ground saving animals. we want to make sure they have a good place to go where their owners can find them.

we're moving animals already in the shelter to atlanta. >> reporter: these dogs and cats were here before harvey arrived. now they'll take a drive to atlanta where they hopefully will be adopted by families there. the goal now in houston gets stranded animals back with their owners quickly. >> the water has gone down. now is the time for us to go out and do a search and rescue on companion animals. i know there's, unfortunately, some situations where people had to leave in an emergency. some of those animals are left behind. >> reporter: this has become way of life for these folks. this neighborhood because it's fed by one of those reservoirs this danger of overflowing that they will likely see water in this neighborhood for up to a month. laura anthony, abc 7 neez. >> thank you so much. the oakland fire department is helping rescued animals. this one of the dogs they helped save yesterday.

>> the department sent 22 firefighters to the region to assist in the rescue effort. they could be there to a week. oakland heads up one of eight federal task forces dedicated to urban search and rescue. firefighters are also part of that group. some of the first flights from houston are arriving at san francisco international airport. >> abc 7 news anchor eric thomas is there and caught up with some people who really got out of the flood zone. >> reporter: they did indeed. there were six flights on the board from houston to sfo today, united flight. two are cancelled. the other four did come in. what we can tell you is folks were desperately trying to get out of the flood water themselves. they were, the folks we talked to dreaded what they would see when they got back the houston. some passengers were planning to come to the bay area any way. others booked the first thing taking offer. they spoke of interstates that looked lie sea water, impassable

down streets and hearing from frepd friends who had been chased up to their attics. >> water kept rising and dipping. i had to have been this my car. i found it and it still works. there's a lot of people whose cars and homes are totally devastated. >> how house, it just seeped in, which is nothing. there were people houses it was rushing in. >> major thoroughfares into downtown were submerged into what looked like a lake. >> reporter: rising like a river, looking like a lake. all of that spells bad news for folks who own businesses and homes in low lying areas of houston. the folks we talked to here at sfo didn't lose much today in the way of property or they haven't lost much over the past few days in the way of property. piece of mind, that is an entirely different story. eric thomas, abc 7 news. >> that's going to take more time. plucked from the floods.

helicopter rescues this texas continue. so does the need by people who live there. how you can help. kids show up to play at a san francisco park and find a disgusting surprise. it was so bad one parent says she wants to move out of the city. new clothe, new credit card? michael finney on whether you should sign up for that new charge card at the check out line. stay with us. abc 7 news continues right after this. thank you to everyone who is lending their support to the people affected by hurricane harvey. if you would like to be a part of disney's day of giving, please donate by texting, please donate by texting, ca ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ wow! nice outfit. when i grow up, i'm going to mars. we're working on that. some people know how far they want to go.

a personalized financial strategy can help you get them there. see how access to j.p. morgan investment expertise can help you. chase. make more of what's yours. some parents in san francisco are hopping mad. they took their kids to a park and found something really disgusting and potentially dangerous too.

>> reporter: a fun day at the playground quickly turned sour for kids and parents. >> we showed up this morning and there was a human feces under the play structure. >> reporter: mary was there with 12 kids from her day care. she covered the mess with baby wipes and did her best to shoo children away. she call eed 311 to report the problem. >> i was expecting it would be cleaned up since it was a health hazard. >> reporter: hours later it was still there. some children stepped in it. parents were disgusted. >> now we have to go home and take a bath. >> reporter: tracy is fed up with dirty parks in the city. she wants a safe place for her son to play. >> it's sad. we're looking to move out of the city because there's not opportunities for him to play and run around in the grass

without being scared there's needles or human feces. >> reporter: acalled and e-mailed the city to ask about the sluggish response but did not get an answer. >> there's an easy solution. we need to have public bathrooms. >> reporter: jennifer with the coalition on homelessness blames a bathroom shortage. she says there's nowhere for the homeless to go at night and the person who decided to use the playground instead could have been suffering from mental illness. we have seen some incredible rescues this texas this recent days but nothing like this one. >> come on, baby. >> that's a member of the self-entitled red neck army using his monster truck to pull a u.s. army vehicle out of flood water. a large crowd gathered around to watch the spectacle. a second truck had to be brought in to pull the army vehicle the

final few feet. one easy way to help the flooding victims is through abc's day of giving. >> today abc stations nation wide are fund raising on air and online all day with money going to neighbors most impacted by harvey. >> reporter: we have converted our 7 on your side offices and phone bank on this disney day of giving. you can see dan is one of the volunteers. he's been talking to folks calling in and making donations trying to help people. so far here at abc 7, we have raised more than 40,000 dollar. that's huge. nationally we are approaching $11 million in donations. we have one of our grat volunteers here taking calls.

>> served 9/11 in mental health. he's done other hurricanes plus he's my service dog. >> he's amazing and you are too. talk about the calls you have been making and people wanting to give back. >> it's amazing. the generosity of the people wanting to help harvey. a lot of them overwhelmed with what's happening there. some have family and concerned about the family, haven't heard from them. really distressing. my mental health background helps with talking to them. >> that's perfect. we thank you so much for giving your time. thank you so much with your little bow tie. it's so easy to donate. we're going to put up the number for you if you'd like to call and make a donation. it's 415-954-7625. you can go to redcross.org/abc.

>> i can't believe it's up to 11 million. that jumped in an hour so quickly. >> we're doing really well. from giving money to saving money. consumer news about back to school shop and using credit cards to do it. >> that time of year. michael finney is here with the story. >> the more you save, the more you can donate. you do not want to waste money. school shopping take a huge bite out of most of our budget. when stores offer a deep discount for opening a new credit card, it may be hard to resist but should you? let's take a look. this time of year finds her shopping with a son in grade school and a daughter entering kindergarten, her list is long and pricey. >> per kid, i would say it's 130 to 200. >> reporter: when a salesperson asks if she wants to save 20% by opening up a store credit card, she thinks about it. >> it's very tempting when you're at the register and you are going to be spending a lot of money that you already feel a

little uncomfortable about and they tell you there's a chance to get a deep discount. >> reporter: however, store credit cards rarely rise to the head of the class. for one thing sthe interest rat is much higher. applying for any new card with temporarily lower your credit score. >> it hurs ts it a little bit. >> reporter: if you do open an account, don't shut it down immediately because that has a negative impact on your credit score as well. >> the best thing to do is put the credit card away and not use it. >> reporter: if you're looking to build your credit, store cards that can be easier to get approved could be a good way to get your foot this the door. having the card could unlock special discounts or earned points. remember, with the high interest

rate it's especially important to pay your bill in full. >> if you don't, it's going to undermine the whole purpose of getting the card in the first pla place. >> if you decide to get a card, you need to make sure you pay on time. i'm only giving you the basic advice. when you only use a card once or twice a year, it's easy to forget the due date. adjust those thermostats tomorrow. that's the message from california power officials. statewide flex alert is in affect between 1:00 and 10:00 p.m. hot temperatures grip the bay area and other parts of california. peek demand is expected in the afternoon when air-conditioners are typically in use. it's going to be hot. just how hot? blistering heat over the next two days. let's take a look at highs so far. we have two records to show you. 95 in san jose. that ties the old record.

san rafael has reached 96. that's breaking a previous record. triple digits. 102 in concord. this is quite comfortable. oakland, 90. 86, san francisco. it's going to get uncomfortable over the coming days. we're still retaining some of the warm san francisco right now. 80 degrees. oakland hasn't dropped much. you'll notice 95 san jose. triple digits the gilroy. santa rosa cooking at 95. you will see the skies are beginning to clear even in places where we had the fog. i want to show you live doppler 7. watch that fog just peel away. that's a north, northeast wind that's blowing the fog away. that's going to allow the temperatures to continue to rise in the coming days. really poor air quality which is why a spare the air alert is up for your friday.

intense heat wave through labor day. we're looking at dangerous heat. temperatures first thing in the morning will be in the upper 50s the low 70s. really warm conditions inland. pretty mild as well. when you get going to be aware of the fact that this heat is going to intensify. here is how hot it's going to get for your friday. 108 degrees this gilroy. 102 in san jose. find some shade. go inside where there's an ac even if you have to go to actual location like a starbucks or a library or something to keep you cool. on the peninsula, 100 in mountain view. 99 in redwood city. 82 degrees in pacifica. north bay, plenty of triple sdwr digits. getting up to 107 in novato. 101 in hayward. head inland and it's going to sb simmering inland.

113 degrees livermore. 114 walnut creek. 110 in fairfield. download the accuweather app. you can check out the temperatures hour by hour, minute by minute to stay safe, school and hi cool and hydrated. 114 along the hot spots. sunday you will get some relief along the coastline. you're not going to feel it inland. temperatures will be in the triple digits. much more comfortable at the beaches. the beaches and the pool best place to go. if you're going to the scottish highland games, in pleasanton it's going to be hot. you'll need the sunscreen going from 80 to upper 90s to 107 degrees by the afternoon. quick look at what's left of harvey. it's a depression and will continue to spread rainfall across the tn and ohio valleys over the next couple of days. the flooding will continue through this region and the accuweather seven-day forecast will show you the hot conditions.

114 friday, saturday. 80s coast side temperatures do drop. it's still pretty hot. mid-70s sunday at the coast. upper 60s on labor day and the numbers will continue to drop down to the 90s mid week. >> be nice when this week is over. zeroing in on cancer. the nano machines that can kill cells this minutes. that story next. make your generosity count. 7 on your side michael finney looks into how

scientists have come up with way to kill cancer cells. tiny machines called nano machines attach to the surface of the diseased cell and ultraviolet light is shined on it and drills holes in the

cancerous cell that strodestroy. the process takes 60 seconds. there's a story to tell in eastern spain. a bull walked into a pop up bar and it's not the start of a joke. workers jumped over the counter to escape. the bull conveniently left. no one was hurt. >> our phone lines are open. abc's day of giving phone bank is up and waiting. >> call the number on your ♪ ♪ hi! leaving a career to follow a calling takes courage.

a personalized financial strategy can give you confidence to take the next step. hi guys! aw yeah! see how access to j.p. morgan investment expertise can help you. chase. make more of what's yours.

i want to thank everyone lending support. if you want to be a part of disney' day of giving to give to those in need in houston, donate by texting, calling or going to the website on your screen. thank you. >> hollywood involved in the effort as well. we've been telling you all day long about our phone bank that's

under way as part of abc's day of giving. >> let's check in abc 7 news anchor to see how it's going. >> it's going strong here in the 7 on your side office. you can see all of our volunteers taking the call, getting the donations. we have had so much money come pouring in. more than 40,000 donated locally. almost $11 million nationally has been raised. so easy to donate. back to you. >> great. thanks so much. >> keep it coming. world news tonight is next. >> thanks so much for being here. >> the next newscast is 6:00. connect 24/7 at abc7news.com.

tonight, breaking news. hurricane harvey's brutal aftermath. a massive area still underwater. dramatic rescues from the sky. our matt gutman right there. first responders breaking through rooftops, hospitals evacuated, firefighters battling a blaze in the flood zone. the door to door search for survivors here in houston, as tens of thousands return home to find properties in ruin. also, the new explosions threat at a chemical plant. the fires erupting. fears of toxic fumes. homes nearby evacuated. more than a dozen officers treated. surveying the damage. the vice president in texas, comforting victims and helping pick up the pieces. jon karl with the one-on-one exclusive. and the day of giving, as the hard-hit gulf coast begins