sacramento streets. this level 2 on our storm impact scale will cause power outages and accidents across the bay area this morning. thank you for joining us. i'm jessica castro and kristen will be in later today. we want to begin with meteorologist mike nicco. >> good morning. hi, everybody. i was checking the latest numbers out of the walnut creek

area. they're very impress sy. almost an inch. about 0.09 so far, we'll get over an inch as more rain moves over your neighborhood. let me give you an idea what to expect today, this level 2 moderate storm. it will exit the south bay by 2:00 and showers and thunderstorms will follow and the winds will stay up throughout the day, gusting to possibly 45 miles an hour. you can see from pittsburgh, concord, clayton, walnut creek, lafayette down to castro valley, those are some of our stronger storms. behind that, if you look in the upper left hand corner much your screen, that's where showers and thunderstorms are developing. winds are below 20 miles an hour right now, but there's a possibility through 10:00 outside of the south bay they could gust up to 45. there could be more damage, jessica. >> yes, very active. our storm watch continues in the south bay. there's been a wide array of problems including power outages and crashes. the rain is making things a bit

difficult for firefighters. abc7 news matt keller is joining us from san jose right now. >> reporter: cool and breezy in san jose. it has stopped for the moment. we desperately needed this rain. and now we're also dealing with the consequences. have a rough morning? it could be worse. you could be the driver of this acura suv. she said she started hydropla hydroplaning around 4:30 on capital expressway, spun out and ended up on the sidewalk before coming to a rest on a hillside near an apartment complex. amazingly, no one was hurt. on the roads, hazards were everywhere. power outages were causing major issues. the electricity went out west gate in san jose making this a

four-way stop. people blew right through the intersection. in fact, it happened twice during my live report on abc 7 at 6:45 this morning. it's obviously dangerous because it's slippery and people are not paying attention. one paying attention spotted a fire at this vacant building on stockton avenue in san jose and called 911. the biggest concern is the possibility it could spread to the avalon park apartments. the concrete walls kept the flames in place. you also think the rain would help firefighters, but -- >> it makes our job a little more difficult because things are wet and heavy. >> reporter: developers were planning on demolishing that building and putting up apartments. so the loss is minimal. firefighters are still looking for the cause.

>> yeah, you'd think the rain would help. not so easy, though. some power outages matt were just mentioning are impacting schools. moreland middle school closed for the entire day because of a power outage. pg&e's website shows more than 120 on -- 1200 outages. east bay, a nasty crash when a fedex truck jack knifed and collided with three cars. happened on interstate 880. the good news is no one was seriously hurt. an investigation is under way to find the cause, but it was raining when it happened. the worst of the morning commute is over and a lot of drivers are still out there. you need to be careful on the wet roadways. alexis smith is here with the drive conditions. >> good morning. it's still feeling like the peak of the morning commute, at least at bay bridge toll plaza. that's ugly getting through the

maze up to the metering lights and beyond. we had an earlier crash on the midspan just before you get into the tunnel. that is cleared. boy, those residual delays remain. here's a look at our traffic maps with live doppler 7 added on top. we still have wet roadways there and reports of flooding on north bay 880 around seventh, down to 25 and 9 miles an hour. that's extra slow and soggier spots at the moment. san mateo bridge, yep, need those wipers the majority of the day so give yourself plenty of time to travel. >> thank you. today's storm did not spare the north bay. we want to go there. pg&e were on siesta way in sonoma county earlier this morning. you see that video. and the power went out after part of a power pole was knocked down, sending power lines onto the roadway. in other areas of sonoma county we're seeing sunshine. we'll check in with abc7 news reporter amy hollyfield live in

santa rosa. hi, amy. >> reporter: hi. the winds are starting to pick up here. we are getting a break from the rain, but it did rain. you can see how much. by looking at the empty lot and the standing water in the fountain grove area. this gives you an idea how much rain came down overnight. here's video of rain at about 5:30 this morning. santa rosa crews are worried about rain and runoff. they had city workers on call, but they didn't need to call them in. they were relieved the rain didn't come down too quickly to overwhelm their system. necessity are also concerned about the predicted wind gust this storm is supposed to bring and that that could do to all the dead tries that happened during the fires. >> we're expecting sustained winds with 20 to 50 miles an hour. that presents a unique challenge with the sheer volume of trees that were affected by the fires that could have been weakened, that would be susceptible to a

wind event. >>. >> reporter: some of those trees have leaves. authorities worry those leaves will come down with these winds and clog the storm trains. that's why you'll see gravel bags and these straw waddells protecting their drains. look at all this standing water. authorities say residents may be tempted to move these bags out of the way so this water can flow. they say, don't do that. just leave this. this means these bags are doing their job. crews will deal with this. they don't want this to go into the drains and overwhelm them. so far, no problems reported here. live in santa rosa, amy hollyfield, abc7 news. >> thank you. >> and when weather happens where you live, be sure to snap a photo or video and share it with us. we've already had some great photos from our viewers and abc7 news crews covering the storm. share your story with #abc7now and we can share them here, on

air, our news app or abc7news.com. be sure to track the storm with the abc7 news app. it's the best way to get up to the minute weather forecasts. we've upgraded it so you can customize the forecast for wherever you are. police responded to a horrific scene this morning. a car wrapped around a pole with four part-time inside on sonoma boulevard and solano avenue. two people died and two others were taken to the hospital. no word on their condition yet. a car seat was laying next to the car, though it's unclear if any of the victims are children. police are trying to figure out what led up to the crash and if alcohol was involved. it's wet in south san francisco and not only because of the rain. look at this picture. it's a busted fire hydrant causing a mess on south airport boulevard near wondercolor lane. no word yet on what caused this hydrant to erupt. developing news. florida senator marco rubio is unveiling his own gun safety

plan this midday after the school shooting in parkland, florida. on the senate floor he outlined six bills he either supports or will be introducing. including he efforts to strengthen school security and create an assessment to flag students who could be violent. >> coordination between law enforcement, other state agencies, school districts and the likes where they're all talking to each other about students and former students that may pose a threat of violence and intervene before they act. >> rubio also wants to create gun violence restraining orders, which would allow people to petition a court to remove a person's access to guns. that's already in place here in california. massachusetts man accused of sending threatening letters with white powder to five people, including donald trump jr., is also accused of sending a similar letter to a stanford university law professor michelle dobberp they say daniel has been arrested and charged in

connection to five cases. the white powder turned out to be nonhazardous. dobber issued a statement saying in part, quote, i'm relieved an arrest has been made. our campaign is not going to be intimidated by threats and personal attacks. this morning the president of san jose state university says their campus is safe after graffiti threatened violence on campus and she issued a statement saying, quote, upd took extra precautions by increasing police presence in and around dudley morehead hall. upd will remain on alert. let's show you the graffiti found inside a woman's bathroom, threatening a shooting at the school at 5:00 p.m. answer was on the san jose state campus where we stotd a clear police presence. the university sent an alert to students and increased police patrols there on campus. again, police believe the threat is not credible.

a major announcement from president trump this morning as driving stock markets down this morning. next week the president will sign an order to impose 25 trs pa tariffs on steel imports and 10% on aluminum. we'll give you a life look at the new york stock exchange. down 502 points this midday. it's negative 2%, that's 24,524 right now. experts say the order trump announced could potentially trigger an ugly trade war. the president's national secure advisers have encouraged him to eempt some countries to avoid hurting our key allies. a new nuclear threat to the u.s. and this time it doesn't involve north korea. and the equifax hack is bigger than we previously thought. the information that was compromised. and uber launching a new servic

welcome back. abc7 news was at green and powell streets in san francisco less than an hour ago after a crash between a garbage truck and a pickup truck happened right in front of the beach blanket babylon theater in north

beach. a gate was damaged. no word on what led up to the crash or if it had anything to do with the rain. russia's president vladimir putin has unveiled a new of weapons he claims are invincib invincible. putin warned russia would respond to any nuclear threat from the west. we have details from london. >> reporter: this is a massive show of force, new hypersonic nuclear weapons that can defeat missile defense systems and are capable of striking anywhere. these nuclear-power cruise missiles have unlimited range. so claims russian president vladimir putin today, just a few weeks until he's widely expected to be re-elected for a fourth term. in a state of the nation address, putin warned any attack on russian allies would constitute an attack on russia itself. anded my response should be expected, he said. abc's patrick rever was there. >> influencing these weapons is

a way of beg your pardonishing that image that's so important to his appeal. they applauded him. >> reporter: among the new weapons unveiled, an intercontinental ballistic missile, under water nuclear drones, a supersonic weapon and laser weapon were revealed to audience of legislators and ministers in central moscow. weapons which putin claims renders useless any american and nato attempts to bolster their own defenses on russia's border to europe. russia is a party to the treaty on the nonproliferation of u.s., to reducing the number of strategic nuclear warheads it has by this year. as tensions continue to build, that commitment looks increasingly uncertain. julie mcfarland, abc news, london. more problems from equifax that could involve your personal information. the company says an additional 2.4 million americans were impacted by last year's data

breach. consumers had their names and partial driver's license numbers compromised. equifax says it will reach anyone impacted and provide credit monitoring and identity theft protection services. uber wants to take you to the doctor. the company announced today it's partnering with health care organizations to provide transportation. rides can be scheduled for patients through doctor's offices and instead of operating through an app, uber health will send information through text messages. we want to show you a live look at lake

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bridges are a big concern of mine as we head into the afternoon hours and they pick up and run perpendicular. that means they'll come to you from the side and it's wet out there with the rain still falling. let's take a look at the rain we've had so far. from 0.25 in san jose to to than an inch in the north bay. kentfield's had nearly 3.5 inches, actually 3.63 inches. it's definitely been raining harder up there than elsewhere. here's a look at san simproe say where it continues to rain. be prepared that the steady rain will turn over to stormy conditions in the afternoon hours and it will be breezy all day, even in the evening commute. showers will stick around through saturday and each time they come in they drop the snow level from 4,000 feet tomorrow, 3,000 feet by tomorrow, and possibly 2,000 by saturday. you can see the yellows and reds

way from us or they're down in it is santa cruz mountains. this is the cold front that will be the change. and the snow level right now in the sierras is about 3500 feet and lowering. in fact, it will be down to at least 2,000 feet by tomorrow morning. beautiful look at some of the clouds. even a little sunshine trying to break through as we look at san francisco from emeryville. so at 12:00, moderate showers and then the showers take over. some thunderstorms are possible from 8:00 and also midnight. the chances of the showers will diminish quite a bit. not a lot of green on the map. tom mid-30s to mid-40s so dress accordingly. at 12:00 heading up to 4:00, 5:00, you can see the steady rain but here comes the next batch of showers and potential

thunderstorms in the heart of the bay. if you're heading out this evening at 8:00, be careful, that could pose ponding on the roadways if the rain becomes localized, heavy enough, with gusty winds and small hail. 4:00 to 9:00, scattered showers and picks up as we head towards friday afternoon and into the evening hours. we still have the winter storm warning for lake county from 10:00 saturday, 2 to 8 inches most likely above 2,000 feet and the winter storm warning conditions for the sierra until 10:00 saturday. still looking at up to 7 feet and still have the blizzard warning. means no driving. you shouldn't be out and about around tahoe right now until 4:00 in the morning because of the whiteout conditions. here's a look at my accuweather seven-day forecast. i think we'll drop it from a 2 to 1 and hold the storm impact scale at 1 for friday and saturday. notice how chilly it will be, low to mid-50s. we'll try to bring spring warmth and sun for sunday. >> we still have a long way to

go. >> it's going to be off and on scattered showers. if you get caught under one, you'll get soaked. if not, you'll see a lot of rainbows. we'll meet this tiny

with pg&e in the sierras. and i'm an arborist since the onset of the drought, more than 129 million trees have died in california. pg&e prunes and removes over a million trees every year to ensure that hazardous trees can't impact power lines. and since the onset of the drought we've doubled our efforts. i grew up in the forests out in this area and honestly it's heartbreaking to see all these trees dying. what guides me is ensuring that the public is going to be safer and that these forests can be sustained and enjoyed by the community in the future.

welcome back. a reminder we're on 24/7 on the news app. our abc7 news app and abc7news.com. and just three more days until the oscars. today on our website, we've actually posted where to watch and stream the nominated films. then tune in for the latest news and weather right here on our next newscast, abc7 news at 4:00. a baby chimpanzee is sky high after being rescued from poachers in the democratic republic of congo. they posted this video of musa being flown away from trouble. during the flight, he moved around the rescue plane, found the pilot's nap, even helped throttle up the plane. he enjoyed a little grooming time. he's doing well in his new home this midday. >> look how fast they and bond. >> could be turbulent if you are flying. >> turbulent for the next three days if you're flying.

>> tur lent weather. remember to use our answer app for the latest on the storm.

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