>> reporter: if you look over my shoulder, this is the water pouring down the hill, the water th caused gas lines to be severed. that caused 50 people to be evacuated. and continuing questions about the stability of this hillside. the house on top slid into and destroyed a second. >> it was about 3:00 a.m. what sounded to be a freight train right next to our bedroom. >> reporter: zack garza the first eyewitness next to 70-year-old susan who had been in the duplex above. it seems more than a small miracle that a woman in a house could survive after tumbling more than 200 yards but she did. soils engineers inspecting the slide. >> my fear is that we find the

stability terribly degraded kby the moisture and we have more slides. >> reporter: despite being evacuated some people got back into their homes for long enough to grab personal belongings. shooting this video of his deck. >> 15 feet away. >> reporter: you spoke to the lady in the house. >> i don't think she knows what is going on yet. >> reporter: meanwhi, questions. that is a roof gone vertical.ti. as for susan gordon, her son tells us she lost everything. she lost all of her insurance,

her possessions and lost her pet cat which hasn't been seen anyway. her son started a gofundme page. you can find that on our website abc7news.com. >> the impact of the mud slide is stunning. take a look at what the hillside looked like before the slide. lots of apartments and duplexes. and the home that slid is highlighted in red. look at the after shot this morning. the empty spot is where the house was. and you can see the direction of the slide all brown and muddy now. and fake a look at how it was before. lots of trees. all taken down by the sliding home. as for the house ended up, you follow the slide of the path. now a view from above via

sky 7 and sky map 7, as we lower down here, we get the measurement and it is about 240 feet that that house slid from top to bottom right there. imagine being inside your home and suddenly, you're toppling down a hillside and crashing into another one. it is almost unbelievable, i mean it is unbelievable, unthinkable and surviving that, and susan gordon, that is one of the things that you never forget and you hope nobody else has to live through. as you look at the bottom and see where the home ended up. bad news is the rain isn't over yet. we have a live look at our mt. tam. and spencer christian and more rain. >> things have eased up a bit. we still expect scattered downpours tonight as we look at

live doppler 7. a cold front headed our way. approaching sometime 9:00 this evening. meanwhile, we have flood warnings still in effect. the russian river near guerneville. the navarro river in mendocino county until 7:00 p.m. this evening. our storm ranks two on the storm impact scale. here is our forecast animation.. starting at 7:00 this evening. notice there will be snow at the higher peaks way up in the north bay. you can see widely scattered showers right now, but more coming our way. larry and kristen.

>> back to the north bay where there have been a couple of levy breaks along novato creek. lyanne melendez joining us with what is happening there. >> reporter: we are now seeing safety cones along some parts of highway 37. cal trans doing it a few minutes ago because of concern for floodwaters. we have great pictures of the levy breach. you see a big gap. it is made of earthen materials which gave way. that helps guide waters straight and more west. this water is now spreading out into the field to the south of highway 37 pretty quickly. and will likely flood lower levels of the road. >> if we get water coming across, it doesn't take very

much moving water, on a roadway to impact a car, we can have vehicles floating away, so it is a safety issue at that point. >> marin county will go in and repair it to fill the hole. but they told me not right now. they will do it once it stops raining and the water recedes. in the meantime, they have borrowed these airboats to get to a pump in that field hoping that it's working, that the pump is working and they are happening to release some of this water. in the meantime, we are hearing of a second breach levy breach near the first one but closer to marsh road. the good news is that no homes are threatened. i am live in novato, lyanne melendez, and of course we will keep you posted abc7 news.

thank you. sonoma county is telling people who live along the russian river get ready to leave your home. as you can see, the water rose up to chin high on the street before noon today. long time residents say it is about preparedness. >> it is mother nature. but as far as everything goes, this is what brings the community to go. you have locals that are in need of help, so we're here to help everybody out. this is pretty normal for guerneville. >> the russian river is forecast to crest at 36 feet at 1:00 a.m. less than nine hours. predicted to return below flood stage at 10:00 tomorrow night. abc7 news was there for this.

a bmw got stuck. so a big rig had to come up from behind the car and push it out of the water. shortly after the chp shut down the on-ramp, turn around, don't drown. a foot of water can cause a vehicle to stall and two feet of water can wash it away. an ac transit bus. the water seeping into the bus. passengers lifted up their feet to avoid eric thomas reached out to transit. authorities went door to door overnight telling people in the area of ross creek and guadalupe river to evacuate. ev.

matt keller has the story. >> reporter: on the rise and the banks may not hold the water. >> they were walking and they said it was imminent. about five feet away. well, yeah, if they are coming to knock, we're leaving. >> going to prepare and getting everything ready at a moments notice. >> reporter: an evacuation order alert was sent to residents to about 800 homes. >> got a text this morning and said we needed to evacuate. 14 years ago it did bring it up to the house and did do some damage. so kind of worried about it. >> reporter: residents flashing back to the coyote creek flood.

this time the city of san jose made sure they made contact last night and again this morning. it looks like you got electronics >> just grabbede need and go. >> reporter: putting things up high? >> yeah. >> reporter: the city of san jose says they will still be monitoring the situation and asking residents to do the same. make sure you are signed up for the alerts. in san jose, matt keller abc7 news. imagine fighting for scarce parking space on telegraph hill and waking up to this. a by stander told abc7 news this is the second full grown tree to blow over in the recent storms. a few neighbors must have been placing their insurance company on speed dials.

utility crews were on the scene around clarendon you can also use our abc7 news app and customize it. it is b.a.r.t. week. coming up, a look at a new plan for b.a.r.t. to build housing on its property. could it be the end of the line for the cow

they say you should always listen to your heart. and where better to do that, than the island of ireland? after all, your heart is the best compass there is. so get out there and fill your heart with the stuff that keeps it beating. fill your heart with ireland.

abc7 news is committed to bringing a better bay area. looking at all the chances that b.a.r.t. faces. >> a closer look at a controversial state law that requires the district to provide housing at its station. >> laura anthony with more. >> reporter: there was a heated political battle over this issue. now that it is a hed dn. but in m cmutitheres now concer. california's new line that requires b.a.r.t. to build housing at its station is as

much about local control as it is in building parking lot. >> this is nothing more than a power grab by b.a.r.t. they can't even make the escalators work and now they are going to be in charge of putting housing on their parking lot. >> reporter: the district will proceed responsibility now that the bill is law and won't force a plan on any municipality. >> this is a process process prs properties and the city. >> reporter: dublin and oakland already have housing at several stations. pleasant hill has a transition of several units. >> now that the law is passed, we respect that. >> reporter: but for other

communities like lafayette, there is still skepticism. >> if b.a.r.t. decides to build on their property, we want to make sure that we collaborate closely. and that they consider the nature of our town, and the success that we have had near our public transportation. >> reporter: now bart claims that it will replace these parking spaces when these lots are developed but not necessarily all of the spaces. the goal is by 2040 to develop 20,000 new housing units. one-third of those about 7,000 would be considered affordable. in lafayette, laura anthony. >> if you would like to join our conversation on b.a.r.t. go to abc7news.com you can submit your comments and we may

read them right here on tv. a number of e-mails asking us how b.a.r.t. compared to other transit districts across the country. coming up at abc7 news at 6:00. state senator scott wiener and phil ting. right now, the arena on the border of san francisco and daly city is owned by the city. the arena could then potentially be demol >> getting beautiful rainbows. that is fantastic. kind of fleeting. we sped up this video showing the length, this one near sausalito. it is around 2:00 in the afternoon. >> i don't think we are done with the rainbows just yet.

>> for valentine's day. how appropriate. did you get the air flowers i sent you? >> the virtual flowers. >> i got the invisible flowers. >> it is like the virtual love for you. >> you win this round. let's take a look at live doppler 7. oh my gosh, a first round knockout. here is a look at live doppler 7. pockets of light scattered showers. mixed precipitation. more on the way. nice to see a little bit of blue. currently 53 degrees here in san francisco. mid-50 in oakland, mountain view, san jose. and this is a dramatic view from emeryville.

52 santa rosa. and here is the view from the east bay hills camera with a couple of rain drops still on the camera lens. we can expect more scattered downpours overnight. localized flooding risk continues. cold showers with snowy bay area peaks. the storm with us right now ranks two on the storm impact scale. forecast animation about 8:30 tonight the next wave of stormy weather sweeping through the showers. that system sweeps on through in the late night and overnight hours. it could be isolated downpght l mid-to upper 40s. high tide in san francisco will occur in 7:00 a.m. tomorrow. on we go to the next storm will be coming in tomorrow.

that ranks one on the storm impact scale. producing scattered showers, slight chance of isolated thunderstorms and snow is possible on the bay area peaks. so let's pick up our animation. scattered showers moving through. local heavy downpours possible. notice the snow. throughout the day, that will be the pattern, scattered showers and occasional downpours. and so we have a wintry pattern. and highs will be in the low to mid-50s and breezy. high surf advisory from 10:00 a.m. to 9:00 p.m. saturday. here is the acuweather seven-day forecast. we have storm activity ranking one on the storm impact scale. each of those days, we could see cold showers mix of wintry

precipitation. look at what happens next week, starting monday, president's day, sunny skies dryer condition and continues most of the week. return to sender? >> yes, amazon backing off on plans to open another headquarters in new york. >> is it the attackers? >> the attackers but also the attacks. >> now there are new - ( phone ringing ) - big button, and volume-enhanced phones. get details on this state program. visit right now or call during business hours. shshow me homecoming. baby sloth videos on youtube. amy, do you uh mind giving someone else a turn?

oh yeah i made myself a little comfortable here. i got a pizza for amy! yes, that's me! xfinity lets you search netflix, prime video, and youtube with the sound of your voice. and i don't have my wallet, so. that's simple. easy. awesome. get started with xfinity internet and tv for $40 each a month for 12 months when you bundle both. click, call or visit a store today.

and accessoriesphones for your mobile phone. like this device to increase volume on your cell phone. - ( phone ringing ) - get details on this state program visit right now or call during business hours. there was breaking news in the investigation into exactly what happened to empire actor jesse smollett. >> sources tell our sister station that police are

instigatgthan two others staged attack. >> he sat down with good morning america's robin. >> it was a thing like if i tell the truth, that's it, because it's the truth. then it became a thing of like, oh, how can you doubt that. how do you not believe that? it is the truth. and then it became a thing of oh, it is not necessarily that you don't believe that this is the truth, you don't even want to see the truth. >> what happened that night? >> when i landed in chicago and frank gatson who is like my uncle and my creative director. and he picked me up and we got

back to the apartment, there was no food. so i went to walgreen's thinking they were 24 hours and to have a smoke. walgreen's was closed so i said i am going to run to subway and get a salad, do you want anything. i texted my manager thinking he was still in australia. i said yo, call me when you can. and i heard empire. and i don't answer to empire. my name ain't empire. and i didn't answer. i kept walking and then i heard [ bleep ]. so i turned around and i said what did you just say to me. i see the attacker masked and he

said, this maga country [ bleep ] and pushes me in the face. so i punched his ass back. so we tussled and it was very icy and we tussled by the stair. there was a second person involved who was kicking me in my back and then it just stopped. and they ran off. and i saw where they ran. and the phone was in my pocket but it had fallen out and it was sitting there. and my manager was still on the phone. and my manager was on the phone. and i said brandon. what's going on? and i said i was jumped. and then i looked down and there was a rope around my neck. >> you hadn't noticed it before? >> no it was so fast. >> how long was it? >> it felt like minutes but it was seconds.

i noticed the rope around my neck and started screaming. and i said there was a [ bleep ] rope around my neck. >> did you give any description. >> i gave a body description. but i can't tell you what color their eyes were. and i did not see anything except the second person i saw running away. and the first person, yeah, i saw his stature. i gave the description as best as i could. you have to understand also, that it is chicago in winter. people can we're ski masks and nobody is going to question that. >> the police have gone through a lot of video and able to capture an image of two people of interest. have you seen that image? and do you believe that they could possibly be the attackers? >> i do. >> what is it about their size or why do you feel they could possibly be? >> because i was there. for me, when that was released i

was like, okay, we're getting somewhere. i don't have any doubt in my mind that that's them. never did. >> coming up later this hour, we'll have more from jesse smollett including the bigger message that he wants the world to hear. >> detectives are looking into if he staged the attack because he was being written off empire. coming up, evacuations this morning, what you can expect tonight. >> a budget deal. >> a budget deal. but the wall is still a you know when you're at ross and... wow! ...you realize you can totally eat out more? that's yes for less. get e last sing trends for your home at 20 to 60 percent off specialty store prices. at ross.

yes for less. exactly what you need... yes. ...for your growing family? that's yes for less. everything your pet needs at 20 to 60 percent off specialty store prices. at ross. yes for less.

and here are the stories making headlines. 50 homes have been evacuated in sausalito. a home plunged down. abc7 news amy hollyfield tweets there was a woman inside the

home. you look at the destruction and it was unbelievable. in the north bay, the marin county sheriff's office tweeted video of a levy all right. let's go to the south bay, officials keeping an eye on the guadalupe river. abc7 news reports chris nguyen live along the river now. >> reporter: the sun is out now here in san jose. that is good news as we get a break from the rain. a very fast river guadalupe river hitting flood stage today forcing people. all eyes have been on the guadalupe river and ross creek

today. neighbors stopped by to check the level. >> i worry for myself and for my neighbors, for the ones that live by themselves. >> reporter: dominguez were among the hundreds of people told to evacuate. police and dozens of volunteers also went door to door to help spread the word. >> just taking computers anything that is electronics. >> reporter: this video from sky 7 showing just how close the water got to these homes. the river reaching flood states. >> these things touch and go. we don't know how much water is going to be dronpped in the stom cell. we have some predictions. >> reporter: most neighbors appreciated the advance warning. and others chose not to evacuate. opting to ride out the storm at

home. >> i went back to sleep. it looks like it is going to down. i think i will be fine. >> reporter: and you can see the water levels have indeed gone down and even with electronic monitoring, people came out to monitor the situation not wanting to take chances. the city says neighbors are in the clear for now. i am chris nguyen, abc7 news. the rain made for messy morning commute today in downtown san francisco. many pedestrian got soaked as they made their way to work. some jumping over puddles. take a look at a huge tree that dacame down in san francis. this happened close to where we are located davis street near pacific avenue. there is a car under there. going to have some work to get

the tree off the vehicle. >> i went out there to take a look. the diameter of the root of the trunk is ten feet, about twice my height. let's check in with spencer christian and see what is the likelihood of more of this stuff happening. >> looks like the heavy steady rain is over for a while or what is left for our current storm opportunity ranks two on the storm impact scale. scattered downpours likely and flooding risk continues. and tomorrow our next wave of storm weather ranks one. chance of isolated thunderstorm or two. snow in the bay area speaks. speaking of snow. we expect several feet of the snow there. best time to travel to or from the sierra, going to be snowing

tomorrow and saturday and if you can be patient, you may want to wait to early sunday. tomorrow, saturday and sunday colder air coming in. monday president's day, we start to get sunnier and dryer pattern. and now abc7 meteorologist drew tuma will put our rainfall totals in perspective. >> rainfall totals have added up in a big way. take a look at rainfall totals this is from the past 48 hours. we have seen soaking showers. look at santa rosa close to 5 inches of rain. similar for novato. san francisco over 3 inches of rain. inch in san jose. the good news is this recent rainfall has pushed some cities above normal for season today.

look at san francisco and santa rosa, 104% of normal for this point in the season. so while it's been a rather wet winter to many, we can still use more rainfall in spots to get us where we should be for this time of year. some people have lost their homes. today's rain, flooding and mud slide definitely a reminder to lend a hand to people in need. you can help and donate to red cross. text 90999 to donate $10. developing news out of washington where president trump is preparing to declare a national emergency to get more funding for a border wall. that is after he signs a bill to avert another government sh

shutdown. his bill includes more than a billion dollars for physical barriers on the border but not wall. amazon has reversed course and saying it will not build a second headqurters in new york city. the city received proposals. new york lobbied for the headquarters. >> raised his hand and says i have questions about the deal. and instead of dealing with the questions, amazon took its ball and left town. >> amazon says it doesn't expect

to move to another location. more of the emotional interview with jesse smollett. >> i think what people need to hear, this is the truth. >> his message for people following that attack in chicago.

back to santa rosa native and actor jesse smollett.

>> the interview happened before before chicago sister station learned that police are investigating whether he and another man staged the >> smollett was supposed to meet with them and did not show. >> what do you think people need to hear the most about the story? >> people need to hear this is the truth. it is just the truth. because everybody has their own idea. some are healing, some are hurtful. but i just want young people, young members of the lgbtq community, young black children to know how strong they are, know the power they hold in

their little pinkie. >> it's been two weeks since that night left jesse smollett bruised but not broken. and he is still processing the raw emotions. >> have you ever been threatened before? >> yeah. i get threatened all the time on twitter and instagram and dms. but you know, i'm a public figure. i'm very outspoken. sometimes maybe too outspoken. but it is who i am. you know, so i get the idea of pissing people off. >> police confirmed a letter was sent to the fox studio with threatening language and laced with a powdery substance, likely tylenol. >> do you think there was a link

to the attack. >> on the letter, it had a stick figure hanging on a tree with a gun pointing to it. there was no address. but the return address letters maga. >> saying he fought back against the attackers and reported the incident. >> said a noose was place over the suspect. >> i want that noose found so fo badly. i want them to find the people who did it and i want them to stop saying alleged attack. number three, i want them to say he fought back. and i want a little gay boy to

see that i fought back. i fought back. they ran off. i didn't. >> what do you say to a young gay man, a young gay person. >> learn to fight, learn to be a fighter. i am not advocating violence. if you are going to die, fight until you do. because if you don't fight, you have no chance. i have fought for love. i am an advocate. i respect too much, the people who i am now one of those people who have been attacked in any way. you do such a disservice when you lie about things like this. >> if the attackers are never found, how will you be able to heal? >> let's just hope they are.

you know what i'm saying. let's not go there yet. let's -- i was talking to a friend. and i said i just want them to find them. and she said sweetie, they are not going to fight them and that made me so angry. i am going to be left here with this? you know what i'm saying, i'm going to be left here with like so they get to go free? and go about their life and possibly attack someone else and i am here left with the aftermath of this? that's not cool to me. that's not okay. so i understand how difficult it will be to find them, but we got to. i still want to believe with everything that has happened that there is something about justice. >> so much going on with this.

chicago police are saying they are talking to two persons of interest who are in the area where he was allegedly attacked. >> our sister station is telling us police are investigating whether he staged the attack because he was being written off. we just have to see where the investigation goes. a baseball collector's dream. a rare babe ruth card found and you won't believe how much one man paid for it. this is not a bed. it's a revolution in sleep. the sleep number 360 smart bed is on sale now, from $899, during the ultimate sleep number event. it senses your movement, and automatically adjusts to keep you both comfortable. it even helps with this.

so you wake up ready to hit the ground running. only at a sleep number store. during our presidents day weekend special, save 50% on the sleep number 360 limited edition smart bed. plus, 36-month financing. ends monday. sleep number... proven quality sleep

a fresno man is living out every baseball collector's dream. he spotted a babe ruth card. the card shop owner was selling the card for two bucks because he thought it was a fake. it was real. he got it appraised and it was the real thing worth millions.

>> i didn't even know what to say. i had tears start running down my face to tell you the truth. you can't even imagine the feeling. >> now he says he already has received and turned down three multimillion dollars to buy that card. if he does decide to cash in, he will definitely give the card shop owner a cut. >> that's nice. cyber criminals are targeting dating apps to swipe information. >> nissan is issuing a recall rl order. >> nissan is recalling altima sedans that has the potential for rear doors to open when its powered windows are lowered.

it is the second time this issue has came up. this is video from nissan video itself. the latch and lock cables that are broken. when a passenger lowers the window, that causes the door to open. nissan is working to notify all owners. the fcc today said fighting spoofing and robo calls are i ai top priority. millions of fines against violators. the fcc says the next step to fight the calls involves network updates that will authenticate caller ids. and looking at ways to use call blocking as consumer education projects. >> when it comes to dating apps it is a good advice to guard

your data. recently found security flaws in the android version of okay cupid. it prompted users to enter its log in credentials. users could have been tricked in losing controlling of their account. leading them to identity or credit card theft. everybody is after our stuff. >> thanks. the romance continues this valentine's day. how ginger zee and her husband met. >> what is coming up at abc7 news at 5:00. >> we continue our coverage. live across the region including the east bay where officers are corralling drivers on flooded roads.

also in the south bay. a lyft driver tells us about finding

shshow me homecoming. baby sloth videos on youtube. amy, do you uh mind giving someone else a turn? oh yeah i made myself a little comfortable here. i got a pizza for amy! yes, that's me! xfinity lets you search netflix, prime video, and youtube with the sound of your voice. and i don't have my wallet, so. that's simple. easy. awesome. get started with xfinity internet and tv for $40 each a month for 12 months when you bundle both. click, call or visit a store today. along with the rain, love was in the air this valentine's day. many went to san francisco city hall and got married. last year there were three times

as many weddings compared to the normal day of city hall. gma ginger zee and ben aaron recreate their first day from meeting at a soul cycle class to ginger dumping ben twice. >> i said your friend ginger is very fie. i hope you don't mind, i gave her your e-mail address. here is that e-mail. >> i just didn't want to assume. i didn't want to jump right in. >> let's be friends. i have none she says. and i think you and i would get along famously. amy gave me your e-mail address,

i hope that's okay. seriously, nice to meet you. that is when my heart dropped. and i was a goner. >> i was just wanting to be friends. >> she still does. >> we went to lincoln center which was amazing. first kiss link on center fountain. we watched people go by. and then went on two more dates after that. and then ginger broke up with me. >> you always say broke up which is strong as it is to think we were going out at that tame. >> we were. we were in love. >> three dates, we were in love. >> now you know why i ended it. >> it was a lovely love story starting right here. >> in new york city. >> pretty funny. you can watch the next of the

romance. i am larry beil. abc7 news at 5:00, starts right now. don't act like you don't hear me. if you get stuck, you are on your own. >> police cracking down on drivers as they headed into floodwaters. showers and sunshine right now. but don't ditch those umbrellas just yet. another wave of a cold system coming through. taking a look at live doppler 7, we are seeing breaks in the cloud but another round

of downpours on their way tonight. >> let's talk more about the storms tonight. we have reporters fanned we will start in the east bay. riders are complaining because transit driver decided to drive through floodwaters. >> reporter: take a look behind me. this water has come down a great deal at the 880 under pass. this was a lot higher when they were letting big rigs down earlier. but this too is close to traffic.