officials not taking this lightly because look at all this destruction. there are now mandatory evacuation orders in florida. for you to have an idea of how massive this thing is, the storm area covers an area nearly the size of texas, so something we're certainly tracking closely. as well as with mike. that's the latest here. natasha. >> thank you wroorb. this morning, local crews are gearing up to help out in florida as irma approaches. >> right now, abc7 news reporter amy hollyfield is live in hayward where pg&e workers are about to head out. >> they'll be showing up here at this yard in hayward within the hour to start packing up and head to florida to help with hurricane relief. this is just one component of the bay area's response. 50 oakland firefighters are also going to be helping out. about a dozen of them are already on the road. 50 will be flying out this morning, and about two dozen are already on the road. they're all part of the urban search and rescue task force. the crew on the road was in houston helping with hurricane

harvey. they were on their way home when they got turned around and told to head to florida. >> initially started heading towards home and then things changed and we ended up getting turned around. we made it to new mexico, and now we got a phone call late last night. >> pg&e will start packing up this morning and then when they get to florida, they're going to help restore power outages that are expected from the next hurricane. we will be here when they start loading up. stay with us as we continue to cover this developing story. reporting live in hayward, amy hollyfield, abc7 news. >> thank you, amy. >> airlines are already canceling flights and offering passengers a chance to rebook free of charge. some have even added cheap flights to help the evacuation. some florida residents have already left their homes. we were at sfo where some arrived yesterday. >> sandbags, as much as i could possibly do. we took everything from outside, all the valuables, all the

perishables i got rid of. >> my family is there and they weren't able to leave because of work and it's kind of scary because they say it's going to be worst than andrew. >> andrew devastated south florida 25 years ago. >> mike, i know you're closely watching the track of this. what do the latest models show us in. >> we'll start by showing you the radar and get to that track. it's about 50 miles off the coast of the dominican republic. you can see the eye there. let me broaden it out. even once passes, it's still bringing flooding rains to places like puerto rico and the u.s. virgin islands. now let's get to where the winds are. notice the tropical storm winds are yellow and they're barely touching the dominican republic. that means the most dangerous winds are offshore right now. now, what we need to worry about is this thing heads to the turks and caicos is about 20-foot swell and about 20 inches of rain, which could bury most of those islands, and same thing with the southern bahamas. up to 20 inches of rain and

20-foot storm surge, which could bury a lot of those islands in the southern bahamas. sunday night into monday morning, it comes into miami from the south, unlike andrew that came in from the east, then it hits hilton head and savannah monday night into -- i should say tuesday morning, and then tuesday night, you can see the rain reaching to d.c. and back towards nashville. flooding is going to be a big concern once it gets there. alexis. >> okay, taking a look at the roads, we already have a couple issues to talk about. a three-vehicle collision on the eastbound 580 off ramp to 238 in the castro valley area. sounds like someone is trapped in their vehicle. emergency crews headed to the pi believe the ramp is fully blocked now. and one mass transit issue to kick off the thursday morning commute as well. ace 1 having some signal issues out of the stockton area. only about five minutes behind schedule, but i'll keep an eye on that too. next traffic update in less than ten. >> thanks. alameda police are

investigating after finding a noose outside tennis courts near alameda high school. police say they are investigating it as a hate crime. the noose was fashioned out of thin nylon rope from the tennis court's privacy screen. officials say the district notified parents with a robocall and with a notice posted on the district website. some parents believe school officials should do more to reassure african-american students. >> that's a message, it's clear. i think we should send another message to say, this is not how we do it in the bay area. like, whoever did it needs to be held accountable for it. >> i'm very sorry that the parents don't feel that the school reacted enough. but i think people also need to understand that it takes a little bit of time to figure out how best to respond. >> the school district plans to hold a series of student meetings. alameda police want anyone with information to contact them. >> two inmates who escaped from a federal prison camp in dublin are still on the loose this morning. the two walked away from the

minimum security facility on monday night. the alameda county sheriff's office tweeted out a photo showing michelle in rural livermore yesterday. it shows her covering her face when she spotted someone photographing her. both women were serving time on drug charges. >> california is mounting a legal challenge to president trump's plan to end the daca program. it will be separate from the lawsuit filed by 15 states. here's abc 7 news reporter katie marzullo. >> reporter: at the hall of justice in redwood city, hundreds of people came together to condemn the repeal of the daca program. >> i always like to say ymg more than a daca recipient. >> gabrielle agarcia cruz was three years old and wher mother brought her to the united states illegally. she has always known daca is not a long-term sloogz. >> if there's anything powerful that came out of this, it's the opportunity to unite as a community and the opportunity to

say it's not just 800,000. it's actually 11 million undocumented people, including my mom. >> she felt the support of the community at the vigil. >> not going to send them back somewhere else, and most of them are educated and employed. and they have so much for our country. >> because we respect the dignity of every human person and they have the right to be part of this great country. >> 15 states and the district of columbia have filed a lawsuit to stop president trump's plan to end daca. san jose and santa clara county are also planning litigation. a santa clara university law professor said they could cite prejudice. >> the people challenging daca might point to statements by the president in the past about how he views mexicans or immigrants generally. >> california's attorney general has announced he will sue separately of the other states. in redwood city, katie marzullo, abc7 news. >> california senator dianne feinstein has introduced a bill to help a deported oakland couple return to the u.s. from mexico. maria and her husband raised a

family and lived here for more than 20 years. she was a cancer nurse at highland hospital. the bill would grant them green cards, even if the senate okays the measure, the prospect of president trump signing it appear slim. >> a tiburon man is accused of animal cruelty after shooting and killing a deer and her fawn on his property. these photos of a family of deer were taking by neighbors. two of them are believed to have been shot by 54-year-old mark dickinson with a pellet gun. dickinson told police the deer were eating his new landscaping. >> the client had no intention of harming, hurting, or acting in any malicious way towards the animals. >> what was his intent then? >> to scare them away. >> you don't kill a doe with her fawn. it's really troubling. >> marin humane is doing a necropsy to determine how many times the deer was shot. the marin county district attorney is now reviewing the case. >> u.s. postal inspectors are in

the process of returning hundreds of pieces of stolen mail to people in concord. it turned up stuffed in pillowcases in a room at the hampton inn in brentwood. the thieves booked a room and used a digital key app on their phone to check in. the app let them front desk. hotel staff saw the mail after they checked out. mail theft is a federal offense. there's a $10,000 reward for information leading to an arrest and conviction. >> let's talk temperatures in your neighborhood. they're going to be warmer than average once again because of the humidity and clouds out there. 62 right now in daly city to about 68 in redwood city and foster city and san carlos. palo alto also fremont we have 69 in san jose and antioch. livermore, san ramon at 66. oakland, napa at 67, and san francisco and santa rosa, dress for 65 this morning. here's a look at what's going on for your commute planner. some showers. we have a chance on the roads

this morning, i had to use my windshield wipers once this morning driving in. mass transit, nothing hot today. on the bay, sprinkles to showers our best chance in the morning hours. we'll have an hour-by-hour look at that in the next weather in eight minutes. let's talk temperatures. look at 460s, mid to upper 60s along the coast, san francisco, sausalito. we've got low to mid 70s until you get to the south bay. 77 in san jose and low 80s in the east bay. a slight bump up tomorrow. temperatures return to average saturday. we'll see if they keep climbing in the back half of the accuweather seven-day forecast next. here's alexis. >> good morning, mike. we're already off to a busy start on the roads. want to take you back up to westbound 80. just right around the state route 4 interchange. a two-vehicle collision. sounds like chp is on the scene and they're running a traffic break. we have red that has filled in as you get to the hercules area. hopefully we'll be able to get traffic moving once again shortly, and of course, it's early so far. if we do have a significant

backup form, we will be able to bounce back at this point. also good news in the south bay, if you're coming up through the santa cruz mountains. northbound 17 around the summit, vehicle spun out that was facing the wrong way in the slow lane. that just cleared to the side. that's not sounding as serious. we have a little backup approaching the summit as well. we'll look at drive times coming up next. at the live desk, continue tracking hurricane irma this morning. new information, new images coming up. >> president trump stunned republicans in congress. the surprise deal that has democrats smiling this morning. the san jose sharks are ready to give fans a thrill. the addition that's about to turn the s.a.p. center into a real shark tank.

they don't help single moms. hi. hi. what happened to our house last year? it flooded. and the water flooded out. yeah. the red cross arranged the hotel for us. they gave me that break, that leverage, to be able to get it together

and... take care of them, you know? i feel like we've come full circle. like that! this is how i'll do it. sarah: there you go. three bay area food banks are preparing pallets of food to send to houston for people who lived through hurricane harvey. they were packing up 40,000 pounds of water, canned goods and snack items yesterday. food bank's director of food sourcing is also going to texas to help the locen houston food bank. >> right now, their biggest need in houston is the fact they have so many food donations coming in. that's my role at the sf marin

food bank, handling that inbound, so i'm perfectly suited for the challenges they're having right now. >> also preparing pallets of food to ship to houston. the survivors of hurricane harvey still need your help. tuesday, abc will join a host of other telephone networks for a telethon including stars like blake shelton and barbra streisand. it airs tuesday at 8:00 here on abc7. president trump and democrats are smiling this morning. president sided with the other party on a proposal to attach aid for victims of harvey to measures to keep the government funded. abc's janai norman reports some republicans weren't happy. >> reporter: it's the art of making a deal. one that this time includes president trump working across the aisle and blindsiding his own party. >> the president agreed with senator schumer and congresswoman pelosi to do a three-month cr and a debt ceiling end of december, and

that's what i'll be offering based on the president's decision to the bill. and we'll try to get 60 votes and move forward. >> fema will be able to quickly get emergency funding for hurricane harvey and the debt ceiling will be raised, avoiding a shut down and funding the government, but only for three months. earlier in the day, house speaker paul ryan scoffed at that idea. >> i think that's a ridiculous and disgraceful. >> republicans wanted to increase the debt ceiling for 18 months, hoping to avoid another bruising budget fight before midterm elections. >> today was a good day and a generally very partisan town. this is a really positive step forward. >> president trump says everyone walked out of that meeting happy, but things grew more tense when ivanka trump walked into the oval office to say hello. sources telling abc news gop leaders grew visibly annoyed by her presence. janai norman, abc news, washington. happening today, donald trump jr. is heading to capitol hill to answer questions about whether the trump campaign colluded with russia. reports say staff from the

senate judiciary committee will interview trump jr. in private. some senators may also attend. questions are likely to focus on a meeting he attended in trump tower with a russian lawyer and others during the campaign. >> happening today, the san jose sharks plan to unveil something new for the shark tank. a new 2,000 gallon saltwater tank at the s.a.p. center. the team tweeted the photos yesterday, telling the fans we heard you like the shark tank, so we put a shark tank in the shark tank so you can watch sharks while you watch sharks. a new corporate partner will also be announced at the unveiling. the season begins in 12 days with the season opener at the tank on october 4th. >> very funny. let's get to meteorologist mike nicco. >> my hockey dreams have come true. a shark tank in the shark tank. a look from the exploratorium camera. that is not carl the fog, if you will, or low marine layer clouds. those are clouds that are going to drop eventually some light showers on us and the possibility of lightning and

thunder. in fact, the one thing they'll do for sure today is cool us. this will be the coolest day this week. a slight chance of lightning and thunder out of those showers that are going to hang around through the morning hours most likely, and lower humidity and a warmer weekend on the way. here's a look at the most active weather. it's to our north and moving to our north, but look at all the lightning it is dropping. that's why we have the high fire danger from tahoe all the way to the oregon border. that goes from 8:00 in tahoe to 11:00 up north. all right, here's a look at what's going to happen. you can see the cloud cover out there this morning. a few blips of green. notice how it increases in the morning commute as the area of low pressure rotates close to us. 9:00, some scattered showers. by noon, still some scatters showers. it becomes very isolated by 4:00. and then we'll see a few breaks in the cloud cover right as the sun sets, so look for a little bit of sunshine as you head home from work or head out this

evening. let's take a look at my accuweather seven-day forecast. we know it's going to get warmer the next couple days. but look at the heat sunday and monday. we'll flirt with the upper 90s inland. mid 80s around the bay. low 70s at the coast. so head to the coast, get some warm sunshine, but not blistering hot sunshine like it was last week. so how about that? a chance of showers this morning. you run into anything? >> no, i didn't use my wipers once. >> i used them just once. >> could be a possibility for your commute this morning. boy, we already have quite a few issues out there today. i want to take you back to the castro valley area where we have a three-car collision, off ramp to state route 238 is blocked. we do have acouple tow trucks called to the scene so it sounds like there's pretty decent damage. initially we heard we had someone who was trapped in their vehicle as well, so an ambulance called to the scene too. not seeing an impact on eastbound 580, but the connector is 238 is closed.

westbound 580, tracy to dublin, we felt the trunch there with everyone heading back to work and school. southbound 680, dublin to mission boulevard looks good at 15, and 101 to cupertino okay at 16 minutes. we'll head to a crash in the east bay coming up next. i want to show you these new images coming in to our live desk of the damage left by hurricane irma in st. martin. this video just released by the dutch ministry of defense only moments ago. the storm slammed the island, e leaving devastation behind. i want to show you this video, the u.s. air force just released it showing help sent to puerto rico before the storm arrived there. emergency supplies and equipment were loaded on a huge cargo jet at joint base charleston, south carolina. on tuesday, the supplies and service members were on the ground when the storm hit and they were ready to help. matt, back to you. >> thank you. stamp prices could soon jump

up like we have never seen before. the u.s. postal service is looking to boost prices for mailing letters and packages by roughly 20%. that means the price of a first class stamp could jump from 49 cents to 60 cents. the rule has been increases are tied to inflation, and the post office is asking for an exception to the rule. if approved, it would be the biggest one-time increase in post office history. a decision from the postal regulatory commission is expected within weeks. >> happy birthday to tv. the celebration happening today right here in the bay area for the invention that changed the world. >> and buzzing the bay area. the fighter jet maneuvers that had a lot of people looking up. >> the midlife crisis affecting >> the midlife crisis affecting millions o

one of the biggest fires in the west is burning in oregon's columbia river gorge. a facebook user posted this video of the fire. it scorched 30,000 acres since it started saturday. oregon state police say a 15-year-old boy is suspected of starting the fire while playing with fireworks. >> middle aged women apparently are not getting enough sleep, according to a new government report. 25% of women between 40 and 59 years old report difficulty falling and staying asleep at least four times a week. the national center for health statistics blamed it on a shift in reproductive hormone levels especially for post menopausal

women. sleep experts recommend keeping the room dark and cool and avoiding caffeine prior to hitting the hay. >> no word on why a pair of fighter jets were spotted over contra costa county yesterday. the naval f-16 fighting falcons were over danville. people in walnut creek and other parts of the county saw them. they're based at the naval station in nevada. >> happening today, the celebration of a milestone in the unsung pioneer behind it, happy birthday to television. 90 years ago today, phyllo farnsworth transmitted the first television signal in his lab right here in san francisco. a live web cast will celebrate that event. the web cast is available on the history of tv.com at 6:00 tonight. farnsworth later waged a successful battle to be recognized as the inventor of electronic television. we thankinvention. >> i thank him and mother nature every day for giving me this

job, for allowing me to do this, and my boss also, for allowing me to do this. hi, everybody. let's look at the lows tonight. they're going to be cooler as the air slowly starts to dehumidify. 57 in santa rosa to about 62 in many areas. antioch, always a little warmer at 64 degrees. let's talk about what's going on this weekend. mountain view got the art and wine festival. this has been going on forever. so get out there and enjoy it. 73 to 81 from 11:00 saturday morning to 7:00 in the evening. sunday, more sunshine, a little warmer. 78 at 10:00 in the morning, to about 89 degrees at 6:00. have fun. here's alexis. >> good morning, mike. i want to take you back up to westbound 80, right around the highway 4 interchange, where we had a two-car crash, possibly with minor injuries. chp is saying no major injuries involved, but we had the two middle lanes blocked about a mile before willow avenue. tow truck arrived quickly. they were able to clear the scene, get the vehicles pushed to the shoulder a couple minutes

ago. again, stop and go traffic for about two miles. at this early hour, i think we'll see that clear out quickly. we'll check that again shortly after 5:00. a quick update on mass transit. the only issue so far is with ace 1. they had signal issues out of the stockton area, but they did depart, so we have about a ten-minute delay. doesn't look like ace 3 will be impacted but i'll watch that as well. >> all right, thanks. the house has passed a bill that would make it easier and quicker for companies to test autonomous vehicles. it puts federal regulators in the driver's seat andes from th. in california, more than 30 companies have permits to test these cars on the rose. concord has one of the only sites where they can test vehicles not ready to hit public roads. >> coming to a supermarket near you, bottled mccafe drinks from mcdonald's. they have signed a deal with coca-cola that will bring three flavors of their drinks to stores. dunkin' donuts signed a similar deal with coke in 2016. starbucks has sold bottled frap

chinos with pepsi >> the phone scan targeting marin reserants. >> we're live in pacifica with details on the tragic death of a beloved music teacher. >> taking a live look outside right now. right now. 4:57 in the morning, and

hey, good morning. it's thursday, september 7th. i'm natasha zouves.

>> we have jessica, alexis, and mike. we're talking about cooler temperatures. >> summer is not over, but we have wilder swings and today is one of those cooler days and the remnants of lydia are kicking in. look at the arrows are pointing inland. that's a cooler breeze coming off the walter. it's also going to bring moisture with it in the form of sprinkles to even a light shower and a remote chance of some lightning and thunder. that's what i have in your 12-hour day planner. you can see there best chance this morning will linger through noon. it tapers at 4:00, and 67 to 79 is our spread. as we head to 7:00, 64 around the coast. 69 in the bay, and 72 inland. a little bit of sunshine before the sun sets at 7:29. i don't think you need the umbrella this morning, but maybe the windshield wipers once or twice. >> so far, we had quite a few issues already, at least for the 4:00 hour. they're all starting to cle