fell, and then the whole bridge was once again closed that. >> whole area was a mess as a result. here is a live look at the bridge. drives on the right-hand side are going eastbound. two lanes are open in that direction. all of the westbound lanes are currently closed. >> now this is the reason. the chp shared these photos of chunks of concrete that started falling off the bridge this morning. at least one car was hit and damaged. fortunately, though, no one was hurt. >> drivers stuck in endless gridlock turned around and went the wrong way going off the on-ramp in richmond to avoid getting on the bridge and then getting stuck. the chp was there to monitor the situation and make sure everyone was moving safely. drivers obviously frustrated. >> i was supposed to go for a job interview with anderson's, and i was supposed to be there at 12, and i gave myself at lest 45 minutes to an hour time, and i was stuck there for at least an hour, hour and 20 minutes. >> what are you going to do? >> you tell me. i don't know what to do. i'm just sitting here. >> i live in hayward, california.

>> how are you going to get home? >> whatever google tell me to do. >> frustrated. >> yeah, definitely. i mean, there aren't a lot of other options. this 5 1/2 mile bridge is the only bridge directly between the east bay and north bay connecting richmond and san rafael. >> so it is a critical artery. let's give you a live look from sky 7. it's over the bridge now. it's a temporary shutdown in the eastbound direction. this has been going on all day long. >> that's right. let's begin our live team coverage with abc 7 news reporter laura anthony. one of the few people actually at the toll plaza in richmond. laura? >> dan and ama, a few hours ago, caltrans was telling us they were hoping to have all of the lanes open going both directions. at 6:00 p.m. tonight, that clearly has not happened, and now we're learning it could be several more hours at least before all the lanes are open. at this point, it's westbound

that's closed completely. the big concern is that it's the vibrations from the westbound traffic that might be causing this concrete to fall on to the eastbound lanes. a ghost town. that's what the richmond san rafael bridge looked like for a good part of the day after football-sized chunks of concrete came down in the traffic lines. the normally bus lane plaza at the east end of the span shut down completely. >> around 10:35 this morning we received a 911 call from a driver stating as they were going eastbound on the bridge, a large chunk of concrete fell and hit their car. they reported to us that they had sustained major damage. however, they were on their way to the airport, so they did not stop to take a report or let us inspect any of the damage. >> chp marin released these photos of the actual pieces of concrete and of a section of the bridge that appears to be damaged. >> it's right over there. >> the chp escorted the media to

the site where the concrete fell, a sergeant pointing to at least four different spots. as shown from sky 7, caltrans initially closed only the eastbound lanes, creating a huge traffic jam in marin county, prompting some drivers to attempt to turn around, even back up on the freeway. a short time later, a decision was made to close the westbound lanes as well, and cars were diverted off the freeway. >> she has a doctor's appointment in 20 minutes. i don't know. probably have to go to the bay bridge. >> after about an hour, the chp allowed the eastbound cars that were stranded on the bridge to drive off toward richmond. >> it was a nightmare. but nothing compared to whatever caused it. >> it was concrete that fell from the top to bottom. no one was hurt. they're just trying to do it as a precaution. >> yeah. i'm already late. >> just like anything, if you use it a lot, there is a lot of wear and tear on the bridge. so we do have safety informatsps

that we do continually. and if anyone sees anything out of the ordinary, report that to 911 right away. >> and we're back live here. we are just east of the toll plaza. behind me now you can see the traffic that they're taking off the freeway here so that folks cannot go over the bridge. over the last hour or so, we've heard the chp have to get on their loud speakers. people are getting really impatient out here, and they're trying to find different ways to get on to the bridge. they want us to let everyone know that this bridge in the westbound direction certainly is not going to open, at least for the next several hours. people should avoid the area entirely if they can. live on the richmond san rafael bridge, laura anthony, abcne7 news. laura, thank you so much. check this out. highway 37 not a good alternative for richmond bridge commuters, can you can see from sky 7. we shot this video about 20 minutes ago showing the gridlock traffic heading eastbound,

leaving novato. and here's how it looked from the ground. abc 7 news reporter cornell bernard shot this video of a backed up eastbound traffic as he headed in the opposite direction. >> and it's always a nightmare getting out of san francisco. the richmond bridge fiasco is not helping. this is a look, a live look at the embarcadero from the camera on our roof here at abc 7 and our broadcast center. as you can see, yeah, the light is green there on the right-hand side, but nobody's moving through. >> oh, that's bad, isn't it? >> yes. >> abc 7 news anchor dion lim continues. >> she is on the ground in san francisco with a look at that growing backup. >> yeah, i have to be honest with you. it would have taken my photographer and andrew and iress time to just walk to where we're standing versus taking our liv livan, which is what we did. check it out. this is along the embarcadero where it is a virtual parking lot. and at the intersection of battery as well, it is an utter stand still. we're seeing cars not only wait through one, two, three, to

three or four cycles of red and green lights simply going nowhere. now these are the folks who are trying to outsmart the traffic going to the bay bridge or even trying alternate roots to get to the golden gate bridge. every single driver we spoke with today said this is unlike anything they have seen before. >> we made it from mendocino down here in two hours that was good timing. we were feeling good, until we got here. >> i'm trying to take one of the passengers to 20th, and then him to the airport, and it's been 45 minutes from just on the other side of the street. >> oh. no. >> are you going to make your flight? >> no. he is going to have to cancel. >> oh, i have a feeling lots of people are missing their flights to sfo and other airports tonight. okay. back out here live, i want you to take a look at this. i've seen a lot of drivers try and use different apps to try and outsmart the traffic. this is waze. it's showing that going 1.7 miles from where we're standing along the embarcadero and

battery street to the bay bridge is taking 27 minutes, all of that red. to be quite honest with you, i think after being here on the ground, it's going to take much longer than 27 minutes. as the san rafael police tweeted out this afternoon, it #carmageddon. i'm dion lim, abc 7 news. >> carmageddon indeed. thank you. for a wider view of traffic across the bay area we have someone checking on that. >> we do. our expert, let's bring in frances. a lot to keep an eye on. >> car-geddon is the perfect word. here is live view. they did shut down all eastbound lanes, but they shortly reopened a few minutes ago. at least one lane is open. you can see eastbound traffic getting through. but just a few cars, westbound traffic completely closed. so we know this has impacted eastbound traffic across san rafael bridge and highway 37. but it has caused a massive mess in san francisco. we can call traffic mayhem.

in fact, not only is the california line for the cable car shutdown, all cable car lines have been shut down because of the gridlock in the city. the cable cars couldn't even get across intersections. so all cable cars shut down. i picked out a few spots. traffic is crawling everywhere. in fact, along the embarcadero, it's going to take you over an hour to head to the freeway. even battery street will take almost an hour for about a mile stretch. and eastbound 37 has been a mess this afternoon. you can see it's still a crawl there out to sears point. but drivetime has improved. it was over three hours. now it's about an hour and 37 minutes, and it's about an hour heading to the richmond san rafael bridge on eastbound 580. all delays expected for ac transit transbay service, bart, and the san francisco bay ferry great alternates, reporting no delays. and this could be a long-term closure in place. guys? >> frances, thank you very much. remarkable the ripple effect of the problem. >> the key question, what caused all the commotion?

>> the abc 7 i-team has been talking with sources at the bridge project who believe they have figured out what is happening. >> dan noyes is here with that. dan? >> ama and dan, this bridge opened in 1956. it has had problems with chunks of concrete dropping from the upper and lower decks. but today's trouble may have been caused by very heavy trucks. a high level source who works with engineers on the bridge project tells me they believe they've identified the cause. it's an expansion joint on the upper deck at the eastern end, southern edge just above where the concrete chunks landed on the lower deck. the source says heavy trucks have been hitting that expansion joint hard, opening spaces between the concrete and rebar and allowing water intrusion. i spoke with the former president of the american society of civil engineers. >> that's one of the areas where you may have some problems, expansion joints take a lot of pounding from trucks. and they're also separation between two decks. so sometimes they're not supported as well as they can to take that pounding. and sometimes they do break up a

bit. >> andy herman tells me the federal highway administration gives the richmond-san rafael bridge a mediocre rating. >> this efficiency rating was about 61%. and that's in the area where a bridge can be eligible for federal funding for rehabilitation. >> what makes this more interesting is the expansion joints were all supposedly replaced in the seismic retrofit in 2005 and the concrete repaired. even after that there were problems with concrete giving way on the upper and lower decks, but not to the extent we're seeing today. one engineer consulted on the rhett p retrofit is concerned about the concrete used on the upper deck. it's 60% lighter but not as strong. >> it can crack easier than normal concrete. >> there was some speculation today from workers at the scene that the new bike path on the upper deck added weight to the bridge and caused vibrations that led to the concrete falling, but i spoke to a

subcontractor on that project, and he says the bike lane is not adding weight at this point. they're actually removing scaffolding. they are going to install a movable barrier before the bike lane opens this spring. but that was not an issue today. we'll watch all this and see how it plays out. >> fascinating from an engineering standpoint what might be happening. >> basically, it's an old, tired bridge. it needs work. >> thanks very much. >> let get another look from sky 7. this is a live look. now crews are working on that upper deck where the westbound lanes remain closed. all westbound lanes closed. however, one eastbound lane is now open. it keeps changing. but we're keeping you updated. they were closed again, now one eastbound lane back open. all westbound shut down. >> so just a glimmer of hope. >> barely. >> we use the abc 7 news app to let you know about the bridge shutdown as it happened. we were on top of it right away. we kept you updated throughout the day. download the abc 7 news app and enable the push alerts so you

can know about news like this that could impact your commute. you can customize the app so you only get alerts where you live. keep that in mind. now to developing news. the latest on that gas explosion and fire in san francisco yesterday. today droneview7 was able to get a close look at the damage to buildings at the corner of geary boulevard and parker avenue. just look at that. look at the roof on that building. a total of five buildings had fire, water, or smoke damage. now a crew working underground hit a gas line which caused an explosion and fire that burned for more than two hours. miraculously, no one was hurt. abc 7 news reporter melanie woodrow joins us with the latest. melanie, what have you learned today? >> well, ama, pg&e employees have been hard at work here today. you can see them over there. they say that repairs to the gas distribution line are complete. their focus this afternoon has been on removing water and debris from the line so that they could resupply natural gas to the line. the national transportation safety board has a go team on

the way from washington, d.c. we expect them within the next hour to investigate what happened. meantime, people who live and work here are picking up the pieces. this cell phone video. >> i heard a loud hissing sound. it sounded just like a flame thrower, and then i look around the corner, and it's just a big vortex fire. >> mick reynolds is an assistant detail manager at san francisco toyota. >> it's just like what is going on. >> pg&e says a third party engineering firm breached a four-inch gas distribution line, and that they had a valid underground service alert ticket. verizon hired mastec to install fiberoptic cables. pg&e responded to the area on january 28th and properly marked the underground lines. pg&e says the markings were captured with photo documentation. >> it just seems like something wrong that this could happen. >> warren lee is the landlord and owner of a building that's

now closed due to shattered window, water damage, and no power. he says tenants in four units have to stay elsewhere. >> all things considered, i've been pretty lucky that the building is still standing, unlike the building across the street. >> reporter: that building, home to hong kong lounge 2 restaurant. loyal customers have started a gofundme page for loyal employees. and nearby manager gonzalez took this photo. >> i just heard a big explosion. i never hear before something like that. >> he says customers scattered to the opposite side of the restaurant. >> customers saw and say wow. >> they gathered at mills diner between updates. pg&e says it took them almost two and a half hours to shut off gas because they had to hand dig to pinch the line. also, they didn't want to disrupt gas service to many more customers. the national transportation safety board which investigates major pipeline and gas-related incidents is on the way from washington, d.c. the california public utilities

commission is also investigating. in san francisco, melanie woodrow, abc 7 news. >> all right, melanie, thank you. abc 7 news is on a mission to build a better bay area every day. we're looking at the big issues like housing and transportation and finding solutions. >> tonight we're live with the controversy over the development that critics have nicknamed the monster in the mission. >> and take a look at what your future commute might look like. a hovercraft. wouldn't that be nice on day like this? we're digging into what it could take to make this a reality. some steps have already been taken. and we're going to leave you with a live look at the richmond-san rafael bridge. those headlights are drivers heading east. we'll continue to check on traffic conditions. all the westbound lanes are shut down. this is all a result of the

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here at abc 7 news, we are committed to building a better bay area, and we're working on solutions and improvements to the big issues we face where we live, like housing. >> yeah, this is one of the most expensive places in the country to live, as we all know. an solutions really aren't easy. take, for example, a project nicknamed the monster in the mission. >> the development would be built at the corner of 16th and mission streets next to the bart station. storm view 7 recently flew above that site, currently occupied by a walgreens. plans include a five to ten-story building with 330 units of housing, 30,000 feet of retail space, and parking garages as well. >> abc 7 news reporter lyanne melendez joins us live to explain the controversy surrounding all of this. lyanne? >> well, this is one of those very heated debates here in the

city. housing advocates are here. some people were even bussed to this location, if you can believe that. trade unions also showed up. they're in favor of this proposal, of this project. i'm being told that we're in for a very long night. the san francisco planning commission typically holds its meetings at city hall, except that a big space like the mission high auditorium was needed to accommodate the hundreds of people who are on both sides of the debate. the developer, maximus real estate partners has faced tough op sir opposition from some people in the community. the proposal calls for having three buildings right there on mission street. this would bring 331 market value units to the area. one of the buildings would be ten stories high. the two other buildings would have commercial retail space on the lower levels. >> it's just a time for this

intersection, which has historically been a very important part of the bart system and still is to have something new come here to fix the situation for all of the community. >> the development was proposed in 2013, yet rallies like this one have stalled the project. in an effort to sweet ten the deal, the developer has introduced a new proposal. the developer has offered to purchase two lots with the intention of donating them so the city could build on them. this could potentially create 306 affordable housing units. opponents are still against the new proposal. >> they're not paying to build affordable housing on these sites either. so they can give us dirt, but if they don't pay to build affordable housing units, they can't take credit for building affordable housing units. >> and there will be no vote tonight. the planning commission said it came to hear to listen to what the community has to say. i'm live in the mission district

of san francisco, lyanne melendez, abc 7 news. >> all right, lyanne, thank you. we want to know how hard is housing for you? are you struggling to find a place or hang on to place to live? share your story on facebook and twit. >> and together we can work on building a better bay area. get ready for the rain. you'll see hit the time tomorrow, and for several days to george has heart failure. and a busy day ahead. george has entresto, a heart failure pill that helped keep people alive and out of the hospital. don't take entresto if pregnant; it can cause harm or death to an unborn baby. don't take entresto with an ace inhibitor or aliskiren, or if you've had angioedema with an ace or arb. the most serious side effects are angioedema, low blood pressure, kidney problems, or high blood potassium. ask your doctor about entresto. ♪ the beat goes on ♪ the beat goes on that was great! at at&t, we believe in access. the opportunity for everyone to explore a digital world. connecting with the things that matter most. and because nothing keeps us more connected than the internet,

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all right. it's been nice around the bay area, but that is changing in terms of rain, which of course we badly need. >> that's right. spencer here with the forecast. >> we have an unsettled pattern coming our way. a euphemism for it's just going to be a mess. here is a look at doppler 7. we have clouds over the bay area. not very thick. partly to mostly cloudy skies. it will get cloudier overnight. this is a lovely view from the abc 7 exploratorium camera. 51 degrees in the city. lw 50s also at oakland and mountain view. 49 at san jose. 46 half moon bay. 50 at morgan hill. here is a few from the east bay hills camera, looking at increasingly cloudy skies over the bay. temperatures in the upper 40s at santa rosa, fairfield, livermore. another perspective from over in the east bay from emeryville looking westward. these are our forecast features. next storm arrives tomorrow. we'll have this unsettled pattern through the weekend with a chance of a very good chance in fact of a wintry mix of snow

and rain on sunday. snow in the higher elevations, of course. overnight we'll see some showers arriving under chilly conditions. low temperatures will drop into the upper 30s inland. low 40s right around the bay shoreline, and up in parts of lake county and maybe even mendocino county in the higher elevations. the approaching storm ranks 1 on the storm impact scale. light to moderate rainfall. here is the forecast animation. 5:00 tomorrow morning as the commute gets under way. there will be a few damp spots already. it will get wetter into the midmorning hours as the showers get heavier and steadier. and that pattern continues into the afternoon and evening. so the late commute is probably going to be quite messy and slow. notice the expansion of snow over the higher elevations in the north bay with this storm. and it will start to wind down tomorrow night. before we get more rain coming in on saturday. so here is the accuweather seven-day forecast. occasional showers on saturday. wintry mix on sunday. maybe a leftover morning showers monday. mainly dry early tuesday. but chance of showers in the north bay. and then a stronger storm comes

in on wednesday, ranking two on the storm impact scale. wednesday and thursday look like they'll both be wet and windy days. be prepared. >> yeah, we're ready. thanks, spencer, very much. would you like an alternative to taking a bus, train or a ferry? how does a hovercraft sound? >> kind of cool. it's just an idea for now, but it could help build a better bay area and make it easier for all of us to get around. >> we could use one today. this is a live look at traffic, crawling along eastbound on the richmond-san rafael bridge. all left bound lanes are closed because of

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now from abc 7, live breaking news. >> traffic remains a mess, as most of the richmond-san rafael bridge is shut down while caltrans crews continue to inspect the upper deck. this all started around 10:30 this morning when a driver called 911 reporting the concrete chunks had fallen on to their car, and you saw the resulting traffic backup. >> so let's take a live look now at the toll plaza. you can see here two eastbound lanes are now open. however, the westbound direction of the bridge going to marin

county, that direction is closed. so you see the cars on the right-hand side. >> now sky 7 shows you how bad the traffic backup is. you can see from the line of car lights, this is highway 37 and 101 in novato, just backing up everywhere. caltrans would not speculate on the cause of the falling concrete, but noted the bridge is heavily used. >> just like anything, if you use it a lot, there is a lot of wear and tear on the bridge. so we do have safety inspections that we do continually, and obviously, if anyone sees anything, anything out of the ordinary on the bridge, report that to 911 right away. >> and there is still no estimated time of when the westbound lanes will reopen. again, i believe actually two lanes of eastbound are open now. i'm going to clarify. >> they were closed and one. >> but two now? okay. we're checking on that. >> all right. but at least we think it's moving alittle bit anyway. >> yes. the bridge closure means heavy traffic in the north bay, east bay and san francisco. it's that awful ripple effect.

>> absolutely terrible. frances has been watching the maps closely. give us the bad news. >> all right. definitely it's had a domino effect throughout the bay area. we know the traffic is bad around the richmond-san rafael bridge. a lot of people headed to the bay bridge, and that caused gridlock on city streets. traffic was crawling all over san francisco. they had to shut down the cable car lines. all lines closed temporarily due to the gridlock. we'll let you know when it reopens. to give you an idea how bad it is on city streets, it's taking almost an hour on battery to head towards the lower deck of the bay bridge, and it's taking over an hour on the embarcadero just to get to the freeway. also, eastbound 37 has been a mess, but the drive time has actually improved. it's now about two hours. at one point it was over three hours. and again, this drive normally takes 10 minutes without traffic. eastbound 580 also heavy, over an hour as you make your way from 101 to the richmond-san

rafael bridge. and of course delays expected for the transbay service on ac transit heading to the bay bridge. bart and san francisco bay ferry great alternates. we don't know when it's going to reopen. we're hoping it will not look like this tomorrow morning. >> okay, thank you. amazing. our coverage of the traffic mess continues on twitter and faceback and on the abc7news.com site including what a source tells the i-team and our dan noyes about a potential cause of the falling concrete. and it's looking more likely that morning commuters will have to navigate this bridge situation. it's going to continue it looks like. some may even have to deal with it in the rain. the morning team will be all over it beginning at 4:30 with reggie aqui. mike nika will be keeping an eye on the rain of course. and transportation is one of the ways that abc 7 news is d

trying to build a better bay area. >> right now if you want to cross the bay, you drive across a bridge. you can take bart and go through the transbay tube, or you can ride a ferry. >> san francisco bay ferry has ten docks, a dozen ferries and transports nearly three million passengers a year. ridership has doubled since 2012. >> golden gate ferry connects san francisco and the north bay with docks in lab, spur, sausalito and tiburon. a private company called tide line runs ferries between berkeley and san francisco. >> abc 7 news anchor eric thomas explains how a hovercraft could compliment this service and what it would take to make it a reality. >> reporte >> the hovercraft ferries envisioned would of a jiggle, but a very similar

experience. >> they're more like fast, real fast. the bay area council went to england to check this ferry out with an eye to bringing them to the san francisco bay. they're up to 30% faster than the swiftest catamaran ferries operating on the bay. they would also be more fuel efficient. since they travel on a cushion of air on top of the water, you wouldn't have to dredge since the mudflats and other shallows for docks. >> hovercraft just go straight up on to the short, either on to a concrete landing. they can even land on a beach. >> hovercraft technology dates back to the '50s. back then they were considered too noisy. new engines make them quieter. the purchase price is comparable to the latest catamaran ferries fetch, but operation costs can be 20% cheaper, and the bay area already has one proponent. matarese built his own hovercraft made to look like the delorean car in "back to the future." he can sometimes be seen tooling around the bay in it. he thinks a hover ferry here

makes perfect sense. >> i think it would be fun for people to get to work. just got here but already ridden on a hovercraft today. >> today at a meeting of the water emergency transportation authority, the bay area council officially asked for financial help in exploring the idea. >> don't worry. the catamarans and other traditional ferries aren't going anyplace. they'll still be needed for runs that are short and more densely packed. if everything goes as planned, they and hovercraft will compliment each other. in san francisco, eric thomas, abc 7 news. >> all right. so how do you beat the traffic, if you do? i'd like to know. let us know your solution. we all really want to know. but use the #better bay area on twitter and facebook. together we can work on building a better bay area. >> i think i can fly across the bay area on our drone. that would be cool. >> the world's biggest social media network issued a rare invitation today, a visit to its menlo park campus. >> see why facebook opened its doors to abc 7 news and others.

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original goals, bringing people together. >> abc 7 reporter chris nguyen was there as facebook tried to show amid all the scandals it faced, it can still be a force for good. >> this afternoon, a rare look inside one of the world's most powerful companies. more than 400 community leaders from across north america were invited to menlo park for this year's facebook community summit. >> the work that you do is not only helping people connect online, forming new communities that didn't exist before, that span geographies and bring people together. >> people like dacia kennedy, who used to work at a bank, but created a facebook group called the broke black girl to provide financial resources to women. >> yes, i know a lot about finances. but even i need someone else to lean on. i started the group a year ago. within one year it's gone to 53,000 women. 96 countries, 32 states. >> serena meyer and tabitha ames are admins for the bay area breast-feeding support. >> people will post their

concerns with the ben or slow weight gain, it can be a number of problems. >> with rising concerns about fake news and the privacy of our data, facebook has had a challenging year. those struggles were acknowledged today by company executives. >> really, really bad, so as a company, we're incredibly focused on running our company differently, fundamentally changed the investments we made, how we think about what we do every day. >> facebook today also announced new tools to help group administrators grow and manage their communities, and a new mentorship program to help people connect. >> there are people who are better off financially in the group and they can pass their knowledge. so now the lack of i didn't know this or i didn't know, that facebook has helped us completely erase that narrative. >> the company building the tools to help communities thrive. in menlo park, chris nguyen, abc 7 news. >> all right. the wet weather returns tomorrow with the level 1 storm, and it's just the start of a series of storms. >> spencer has it all l

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a bay area woman who thought she was ordering a bouquet of roses online ended up getting one rose and an assortment of other flowers instead. >> that's not good.

she contacted 7 on your side's michael finney for help. >> a week before valentine's day. see? there is some timing here. this is a timely story. ordering flowers online can save you some money, but it also means you're ordering flowers you likely won't get to see in advance. linda roy spends time in the garden in concord enjoying the fruits of her lemon tree. gardening is also something her daughter barbara enjoys. so for barbara's birthday, linda sent her flowers. >> and i thought aw, my mom sent me flowers on my birthday. that's so tweet. >> linda received her picture from her daughter of the flowers that were delivered. >> there is one rose. there was a bunch of carnations, a lilly, and a gerber daisy. >> she says this is the picture she saw online of the bouquet she ordered. >> all roses and oak leaves. >> she called flower shopping.com to let them know they had sent the wrong flowers, but she says the company told her the bouquet it sent fell within its substitution policy.

that policy reads occasionally substitutions may be necessary due to the availability of certain flowers. in single flower arrangements such as an all rose bouquet or orchids, we will make every attempt to match the flower type, but may substitute with another color. >> there was nothing about the order that adhered to the substitution policy. >> flower shopping.com currently has an f rating from the better business bureau, with some customer complaints very similar to linda's. linda says the company first offered to give her a 10% refund. it would later up that offer to 15%, then 25%. she refused. demanding a 100% refund. consumer action says people ordering flowers online save money but are also taking a risk. >> you can't be confident that what is in the picture is exactly what the flowers are going to look like. if you go to if florist, you can pick out exactly what you want.

>> he says it's possible to ask for a refund through your credit card company. linda did that and also called 7 on your side. before she knew it, 100% of what she paid was credited back into her account. >> i mean, that's my mom. she is someone whose not afraid to pursue what's right. i love my mom. >> we reached out to flowershopping.com several time for comment, but it did not get back to us. now i want to hear from you with any consumer problems you may be having. my 7 on your side hotline is open weekdays from 10:00 to 2:00. 415-954-8151. you can also reach me on my facebook page and through abc7news.com. and one final thing. when you're ordering flowers online, do not just go to a town name and pick that florist, because there are companies that buy up all of those names. >> and they're not local. >> they're not local. who the knows what they're sending out. be very, very careful. know who you're dealing with. >> thanks, michael. back to the weather.

tomorrow begins a string of rainy days. >> here is a look at live doppler 7. we're mainly dry right now, although little pockets of moisture are developing offshore, and clouds are thickening just a bit. move along to overnight conditions. we'll see a few showers moving onshore during the overnight hours. they'll be pretty widely scattered, but they still may create some wet spots from morning commuters. there may be a mix of snow and rain. overnight lows will drop into the mid to upper 30s in many inland locations. tomorrow, as the rain becomes heavier as well, we'll see highs reaching only into the upper 40s in much of the north bay, low 50s just about everywhere else. the storm by the way ranks 1 on the storm impact scale. light to moderate rain generally will fall, but there could be brief heavy downpours. most areas get about a quarter inch to an inch out of the storm, and there a slight chance of isolated thunderstorms tomorrow, and it will be breezy at the coast. here is the forecast animation starting 5:00 tomorrow morning. notice during the morning commute, it will get wetter and wetter. by 10:00 tomorrow morning, we'll

get more widespread and steadier rain moving onshore, and that will continue through the day, through the afternoon, into the evening commute which will be a slow and slippery one, and a wider area of snow in the higher elevations of northern sonoma county, northern napa into lake and mendocino county as well. as that storm winds down tomorrow night, we can expect the arrival of another storm on saturday. that's just in time for giants fanfest at oracle park saturday. gets open at 10:00 a.m. clouds will be thick in the early morning hours. light showers. will probably develop in the late morning, midday hours. showers or at least the chance of showers will increase in the afternoon. great event, though. get out there and meet your favorite player, or your least favorite. take picture, get autographs, play catch-up, weather permitting. here is your accuweather seven-day forecast. occasional showers on saturday that storm ranks 1 also. another storm ranking 1 on sunday. that will bring a wintry mix of snow in the higher elevations and rain down low. then our next storm will come in

on wednesday. that will be a windy and wet storm continuing into thursday. so we've got, again, active and unsettled weather. >> very much so. >> all right, thank you, spencer. all right. the warriors making headlines tonight. >> larry beil is here with that. >> a very busy 24 hours in the nba. kind of wild, actually. kevin durant and klay thompson will be teammates with lebron,but only for the all-star. one simple step that could have made this whole controvers

now abc 7 sports with larry beil. >> good evening. the nba trade deadline came and went with anthony davis remaining in new orleans. so no help for lebron in l.a. meanwhile, the warriors world got a jolt when kevin durant exploded on the local media last night over persistent rumors he will leave this summer for the knicks. >> y'all come here every day asking about free agency, asking my teammates, the coaches, riling up the team about it. let us play basketball. that's all i'm saying. and now i don't want to talk to y'all is a problem on me. come on, man, grow up. grow up. what's the problem? what am i doing here? >> you're talking to the media. >> so? who are you? why do i got to talk to you? tell me. is that going to help me do my job better? nah. i don't feel like talking.

i just don't trust none of y'all. every time i say something it gets twisted up and thrown out and so many organizations try to tear me down with my words. so when i don't say something, it's a problem. i just want to play ball, go to the gym and go home. that's all. >> look, as much as kd just wants to play ball and not answer any questions, the reason he makes $30 million a year is because of media companies that pay the nba for the rights to the games and by extension they are paying him. his decision could change the entire balance of power in the whole entire league. that's why everybody wants to know what's in his head? what's going on? all he had to say is i haven't decided on my future. ask me in july. kd has prolonged this story and the uncertainty by what he has said and not said. >> with the first pick to team lebron, i am going with kevin durant. >> with the first pick to team giannis, i'm going with steph

curry. >> two warriors starters going 1 one, two. they'll play against each other. kd will join team lebron. that game is coming up mid-february. weather may be a factor at pebble beach, but no problem as celebs and pros teed off in round one. >> give me a picture, a golf ball, give me anything? just gimme, gimme, gimme. how do you think we built this country? >> bill murray is always great. shot of the day, musician huey lewis from the bunker on 18. look at it go. he's tied for tenth place. ph phil mickelson was playing monterey peninsula. hit every fairway. birdies 18 to get to 6 under 65, trailing brian gay and scott langley by a shot. giants fan favorite hunter pence has signed a minor league deal with the texas rangers. the 35-year-old outfielder played winter trying to remake his swing, get some of the power

back, get the consistency back. pence a three-time all star, hit only .226 last year. and the baseball world is mourning the passing of hall of famer frank robinson. an oakland native who was baseball's first black manager back in 1975. robinson cawent on to a great gt career, won mvp in boast leagues. served as giants manager from 1981 to 1984. frank robinson was 83 years old. willie mays probably more heralded. but he was amazing. >> back to kd quickly. like you said, if he just handled this properly, it would go away. the worst thing for him is no one would be talking about him or asking questions and not care. >> that's a great perspective. he's too angry still. >> thanks, larry. breaking news. we are just now learning that the longest serving member of congress has died. >> john dingell jr. was a

democrat who represented part of michigan in the house of representatives for 59 years. he started his long tenure during the eisenhower administration and served until the obama administration. >> his wife, representative debbie dingell, who was his successor in congress, was by his side when he died. they were married for almost 40 years. the cause of his death was prostate cancer. representative john dingell jr. was 92. please be sure to join us tonight at 9:00 on kofy tv cable 7/13 and right here for news at 11:00. we're continuing to watch what has turned into bridge a-geddon. this is a live look. we're going have a live update tonight on when the richmond-san rafael bridge will completely reopen. this is a big backup. >> all day it's just been such a mess. then at 11:00, amazon's jeff bezos accuses the "national enquirer" of blackmail over compromising photos. what he is revealing tonight. >> all right. and here is tonight's primetime lineup on abc 7. at 8:00, it's "grey's anatomy."

at 9:00, catch "a million little things" followed by "how to get away with murder at 10:00." and stay with us for news at 11:00. >> and jimmy kimmel, tonight's guests are actress jennifer connelly and richard e. grant. >>that is going to do it for this edition of abc 7 news. always look for breaking news any time on the abc 7 news app. i'm ama daetz. >> and i'm dan ashley. for spencer christian, larry beil, all of us. we appreciate your time. we'll see you again at 9:00 and 11:00.

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