road that gave way. we have team coverage. spencer christian and drew tuma are tracking the coverage. let's begin with spencer. >> this is not letting up. wave after wave surges on shore. you can see how heavy the rain s. for most of the day as you pointed out, the heaviest rain has hit the north bay. over to walnut creek, concord, san ramon, san leandro. at street level it shows how heavy the rain is along highway 24, local streets like danville boulevard and dublin boulevard. a little bit-badal farther south into the san ro moan and castro valley area, 7 hills road all getting heavy rain. of course large portions of interstates 680 and 580. the storm is still strong. it ranks 3 on the storm impact scale. we can expect more moderate rain overnight into the early morning hours. flooding risk is high.

wind gusts will reach 55 to 65 miles per hour over the higher elevations. the storm still ranks 3 as i pointed out in the storm forecast animation. you'll see the pattern into the late night hours. let's go to meteorologist drew tuma now for watches, warnings and advisories. >> spencer, and those watches and warnings have expanded, especially as we have seen our river response to high water now. i do want to show you the russian river especially right now. we have a flood warning that is in effect and we do expect major flooding. this river is going to crest tomorrow at near record levels in some spots to almost 46 feet tomorrow evening. so sonoma county has advised residents, if you do live along the russian river in this area, seek higher ground because the river will soon overflow its banks. napa river as well, a flood warning in effect for you, too. you are expected to crest tomorrow morning. at 6:00 in the morning with moderate flooding, the north bay has been hit very hard with

heavy rain over the past 24 hours. so widespread flood warnings for urban and small creek flooding. we have seen our small streams and creeks rise very rapidly and that will likely continue. a flood watch still in effect. our eyes are still on our rivers. this last seen until 4:00 thursday morning and once this atmospheric river begins to shift south this evening, we're going to see more problems, especially along the peninsula and in the east bay where flash flood watches are in effect until tomorrow morning. when spencer christian comes back, he'll take a closer look at the atmospheric river, where it goes next and when we can finally dry out and a full accuweather forecast, guys, in a few minutes. >> all right, drew, thank you. all this rain has saturated hill sides causing mudslides around the bay area. >> crews are at a land slide near bohemian avenue. we're told a woman may be trapped there. abc7 news reporter wayne freedman live there. wayne? >> reporter: good afternoon, she was trapped with her friend.

she's not trapped any more. she's been rescued. we've been t abouthe russian river for a moment. take a look at this. this is 30 feet of flood level. this is in monte rio. if this goes as high as they say, it could be 46 feet. imagine a river that much higher. let's talk for a moment about this rescue because we have just gotten back down the mountain from being able to see. this is video from less than an hour ago. that is barbara tipton being rescued by the local fire department after a mudslide stranded her in a car with her friend on bohemian highway. it is a massive slide. it covers the road. they live back there. they were trying to get to a hotel for the night. they never saw this coming. you are about to hear from barbara and her husband. here's what she saw. >> a flash flood, and a huge land slide. we saw trees, big giant red woods coming down. >> you were covered with mud. >> i fell into the mud when the tree went over the top of me.

you know, it happens so fast you don't really know, you know? >> it's like i see an image of a tree. it's not there. it's there. you know what i mean? >> reporter: tell you how deep that mud was. he was covered with mud up to his waist. that mudslide came down the hill. we tried to walk through it. it was way too deep. we couldn't get to his cars or any of that. let me tell you -- give you a locator of where that happened. you're looking at the mountains above monte rio. meantime just moments ago -- this has been happening all day -- sonoma county has been issuing evacuation alerts. another one came down a few moments ago, but they didn't call it an alert. they called it an order. the concern down the road in guerneville is how high this water is going to go. according to fire chief steve batch man, 38 feet is what he calls a nuisance flood. 45 feet he says that's real problems. he's hoping the weather

forecasters are wrong. live in monte rio, wayne freedman, abc7 news. >> thank you, wayne. you were talking about the new evacuation order. on the phone with us is spencer crum with the sonoma county sheriff's office. what can you tell us about the order our reporter wayne freedman just mentioned? >> this came down from the operation center ten minutes ago. it is an evacuation order. that bumps it up from our recently posted advisory. that means we are ordering people to leave their homes. if you live on the lower end of the russian river in the areas of monte rio, rio nito and guerneville, anywhere in that 40-foot flood plain area, we are going to be knocking on 'doors telling you you need to leave. this is not the flood to take lightly. >> can you talk about the caution people have to take even as they are evacuating? because some of these roads are

very flooded and dangerous. >> yes, and it's only getting worse with time here. right now is a good time. it's a goodwin dough time to get your stuff and get going. if you start waiting for four, five, six hours, it's only going to get worse. and so right now is the time we want people to start packing up their stuff and getting out. >> sergeant, i'm sure you've been through a number of these situations and there's always a group of people isolated as they may be who said, no, no, no, i want to ride this thing out. what are you telling those folks? >> well, we're going to give them our best guess and wish them luck, but just know that if you're not going to listen to our evacuation order, that you are taking your lives into your own hands and we are not going to be able to help you when this gets serious. >> all right. so bohemian highway is closed until further notice, is that right? anything else? >> that's my understanding. they had a pretty good mudslide out there that's blocking

access. the roads department has a website up that actually tells about two dozen roads closed in sonoma county due to flooding and trees down so forth. >> sonoma county sheriff's office, thank you so much for that information. >> thank you. >> all right, this deluge of rain is expected to swell the russian river 14 feet above flood stage by tomorrow night. our media partners, the bay area news group, determined the spots in guerneville likely to suffer flooding if that happens. we're hopefully going to bring up a map here and you can see the indicators. these are the spubl spots. the safe way store, post office, part of highway 16, and monte rio elementary school. >> you can keep an eye on some of the rising creek levels on live cameras we have online. check out san anselmo creek at bridge street now where you can see t nearing flood stage. >> as we have been saying, the creeks are indeed swollen with all this rainwater. abc7 news reporter pena

continues with our coverage. >> reporter: water is oozing from every corner. small creeks are forming in the hill sides. >> amazing, it's i've seen it in a long time. >> reporter: how many years? >> i've been here like a couple years. it's pretty booming, and then it flooded a few years ago across the street. >> reporter: residents in this apartment complex are keeping an eye on the rising water in the san anselmo creek which is directly across from their building. do you think you might have to -- >> yeah, it seems like it's going to be higher and higher, so yeah. >> reporter: store fronts are set with sand bags and rine county emergency service is ready. >> we are monitoring this weather pattern as it continues. it's constantly changing. here in marin county we have partially staffed our emergency operation center so we can have a greater level of monitoring as the storm continues, and more importantly, help coordinate a response should something happen. >> reporter: a flood watch remains in effect in the north bay until early thursday morning.

>> because we have a network of creeks throughout marin there are a number of areas susceptible to flooding. we are very aware of san anselmo's history of flooding as well as novato. what we're doing is really watching and waiting. >> reporter: if you're driving on the freeway iks try to stay in the middle lane. if you come across a road like this one that's flooded, don't drive through it. you don't want to get stuck. in marin county, luz pena, abc7 news. >> the rain is heading south. it is starting to get heavier in san francisco. >> vic lee is live in a dog was stuck on the hillside. i can see it's windy, you trying to keep that hat on, vic. >> reporter: yeah, i tell you, we had to wrestle from the rain and the wind. a little while ago it started pouring. and the wind is really, really strong as you can see. i'm holding onto my hat. i can hardly see you from the water on my glasses. but, kathy, if you could zoom over to that cliff, what is happening there, larry, is you

can see a bunch of firefighters there looking over the cliff because somewhere down that cliff about 15 feet down is a dog that's stuck in the mud and debris of that cliff. it took firefighters awhile, i am told, to find the dog because they were trying to look for the owner. the owner was nowhere in sight. once they found the owner, the owner was able to tell them where the dog was. and then it took awhile for firefighters to decide how to extricate that dog from the cliff. at first they wanted to take a ladder, go down from the top of the cliff, but that -- they decided it would probably be easier and safer to go and try to get the dog from below the cliff from where the dog is. so that's their intention. that's their plan and that's exactly what they are going to try to do, is to rescue the dog from the bottom of the cliff. now, the call came in about

3:00 this afternoon. as i said, they had a difficult time locating the owner. fire fighters want us to tell you guys and the public that if you have to come here, to walk your dog, that you keep the dog on a leash. and also to be aware of your surroundings because the owner apparently could not tell firefighters exactly where at fort funston the dog was. number one, keep your dog on a leash if you have to come here, and don't come here if you can. and number two, be aware of your surroundings so you can immediately tell firefighters where to go. now, i am told that the strongest round of rain will probably come here about between 5:30 and midnight. it once again will be breezy. it will be very strong winds like -- whoa, like right now. i've got to gain a little more

weight. 140 pounds. hey, that's the very latest. they're still in the process of rescuing that dog. back to you guys. >> good time for you to get inside our mobile vehicle, vic. i don't think you want to get blown away. we saw the tragedy last week. >> right now pg&e is working to restore power to thousands of customers who lost their electricity. this is pg&e's real-time-outage map. right now the biggest outage is in hayward, highlighted in orange there. that outage affects more than 1200 customers. >> travelers are facing weather-related delays at s.f.o. this is a live look at the airport right now. weather has delayed more than 250 flights at s.f.o. airlines have canceled another mineta san jose and oakland say they are not experiencing any delays due to weather because of all the rain and wind we're having in the bay area. >> you can check weather conditions where you live on the

website and the app. you can enable push alerts and get news updates sent to your mobile device. >> pan handlers are drawing attention in the south bay. we showed you some video last night and today we will talk with city officials to get to the bottom of the story after neighbors got kind of suspicious. >> and you've probably heard those blue lights from phones and tablets can cause problems. but is there something that can help? we take

another look at live doppler 7 and these are live pictures from our camera atop mount tam whenever we have weather

incidents. always seems to get covere with rain and you can see the wind and visibility is close to zero. all that green means it is pouring all over the bay area and it's going to continue that way for sometime. >> in the south bay, the santa clara county d.a. has ruled a 2017 deadly police shooting was justified. sunnyvale safety officer shot a man they say stabbed his ex-girlfriend and fatally stabbed a police dog. the d.a. released body camera footage. we want to warn you the video you are about to see may not be suitable for everyone. it shows the officers confront being the suspect and you can hear the gunshots. >> contact still. show your hands. come on out here. >> shoot me. >> those were shots fired by officers at jesus contreras. contreras barricaded himself in his ex-girlfriend's apartment. officers opened fire after he refused to surrender, threw a knife at them after he stabbed the police dog. after the shooting they found

another knife in contreras's pocket and three other knives in the bathroom. toxicology revealed the presence of meth and thc in his system. >> we're learning more about a group of women and men they have been soliciting donations in oakland for months now. they are told it is for a relative with leukemia. >> donor s were getting suspicious and frustrated when they asked -- when they tried to ask questions. abc7 news reporter david louie has an update. >> reporter: according to the signs they are holding, these women say they are raising money for a relative with leukemia. however, local resident said she's really suspicious. she has made several donations. >> if my mom and i gave not just one time, imagine what other people are giving for leukemia causes, especially for -- if they have a big heart. >> reporter: the nag question is where is the money going. they tried to ask the women but they would only say [ speaking foreign language ]

thank you for your donation. a video posted on the facebook page proud to be from san jose, showed panhandlers. it found them working at story and king roads holding signs and passing out solicitation cards. they refused to talk to us. residents and business owners say they are here mostly on weekends. >> they're walking up and down the street handing them cards and stuff. cops are normally turning their faces. so they're not pulling them -- they're not telling them to stop. >> reporter: san jose said no one filed a complaint. but suspicion is rising. >> the more you are around it, you start getting some kind of sense and some kind of weird feeling about it. >> reporter: the women have been seen eating in local restaurants. residents of the area say the panhandlers have been working this area since last summer and apparently feel safe doing so because no one has complained to the police. in san jose, david louie, abc7 news. >> again, we tried to ask the women about the suspicions, but they didn't want to talk with us. san jose police told david that

they could not find a specific code against panhandling, but standing in the roadway is a misdemeanor because it interferes with the flow of traffic. >> all right. spencer rejoins us now. this weather system is a little odd in terms of the north bay getting pounded. >> the north bay has been hardest hit in terms of rainfall totals, strongest we understand and widespread flooding is developing now across the north bay now. the storm is expanding to other regions of the bay area, but it is still flowing steadily and vigorously into the north bay. here's a look at live doppler 7. you can see how widespread the heavy rain is. the heavier rain indicated by the bright orange and yellow areas. in fact, is the entropical storm lane central part of the north bay is getting hard -- across the bay over to east bay, oakland, northward toward vallejo, east a little bit to fairfield and farther east to antioch. you can see all these areas getting heavy downpours right now. we have an impressive cell moving on shore in point reyes.

we'll track this for you. it will move over pen grove 4:43, middletown 5:16, to williams by 6:03. this is what's fueling the storm. this atmospheric river, this vigorous flow of subtropical moisture that has been aimed directly at the bay area the last several days. and the flow continues. we see no shift in that pattern in the immediate forecast future. here's a live view from sutro tower looking northward, cloudy skies, rainy conditions, 55 in san francisco, 56 in oakland. 58 at mountain view and san jose, and morgan hill and 56 at half moon bay. and the view atop mount tam, larry just showed you this earlier. obviously still rainy and windy there. current temperature readings 52 in santa rosa and petaluma, 55 at napa, fairfield 53. concord 57 and 56 in livermore. the view from the rooftop camera showing rain drops on the lens now, wet along the embarcadero. it's wet all over the bay area.

these are forecast futures. flooding on rivers, creeks and streams. a high risk of that. there is flooding already in many occasions and the possibility of downed trees and power lines. once again, this is a strong storm ranking 3 on the storm impact scale, so for the remainder of tonight into early tomorrow morning, expect more waves of moderate to heavy rain. flooding risk continues to be high and getting higher. wind gusts 55 to 65 miles per hour over the highest elevations. forecast animation taking us into the evening hours, shows no let up in this pattern. we'll just continue to get wave after wave of heavy rain into the early morning hours and finally the storm will ease up a bit first in the north bay as we get into the morning commute. then it will break up into pockets of scattered showers, heavy downpours and notice the north bay tomorrow will continue to get a little surge of heavy rain from time to time. we expect additional rainfall totals on top of what's fallen already over the next 24 hours

to range from about half an inch to just over an inch. the south bay, east bay and peninsula, one to 2 inches or more in the north bay. overnight lows will be mainly in the low 50s and then highs tomorrow will be generally rye right around 60 degrees. as we look ahead over to this area, i should say, we have a weather storm warning there until 6:00 a.m. thursday, expect 2 to 5 feet of additional snow, up to 8 feet over the peaks. here's the accuweather seven-day forecast. our storm will ease up a bit tomorrow. it will still be a 2 on the storm impact scale, which is a moderate storm. morning showers are likely on thursday. friday may be our only dry day in the next seven days. then on saturday another level 2 storm comes in under rainy and windy conditions. scattered showers on monday, tuesday, and wednesday. and given all the rain we've had already and the fact the entire region is so saturated, flooding is likely to remain a problem. >> spencer, thank you. >> the clock is ticking for elon

musk. what a judge just ordered the tesla founder to do in less than two weeks. plus. >> don't be afraid to tell your stories to the world. >> meet the bay area oscar winner behind that cute animated short bow. >> at 4:23, look at this traffic. this is in san rafael. this is 101. as you can see, the rain is coming down hard. you've got the lights on the cars in the oncoming direction. that is northbound. a reminder, please slow down and drive safely in knees conditio

to take care of yourself. but nature's bounty has innovative ways to help you maintain balance and help keep you active and well-rested. because hey, tomorrow's coming up fast. nature's bounty. because you're better off healthy.

tesla ceo elon musk is facing a deadline in less than two weeks to show why he should not be held in contempt of court. a federal judge in new york issued that order to musk today. the securities and exchange commission has accused him of violating a settlement agreement after he sent a tweet last week about the production numbers at

tesla. the s.e.c. says musk agreed last fall that his tweets have to be approved by a tesla lawyer. that's because they could influence investors. >> we are hearing from some of the local oscar winners. becky knee man cobb got trophies for the bow. the cute movie tells the story of a chinese canadian woman who gets a second chance at motherhood when one of her dumplings comes to life. they took us through the winning moment. >> i watched our acceptance speech and i was like, i look like i'm malfunctioning on stage. >> i do think, though, it brings new meaning to the expression, my mind exploded. like when they read "bow" when we won, literally some kind of explosion happened in my brain. the noise went --

>> i just need to find becky. i need to grab her hand and hold on for dear life because i'm gonna explode. >> she says the inspiration for the film came from her own life experiences. this is the first oscar win for both women. she brought her mother in to pixar to teach everybody how to make dumpling so they can see how it looks so they can animate it perfectly. and you can see the result. it was just a gorgeous cute film. >> and they work so well together. you can see their relationship is fantastic there. >> fantastic. by the way, she's been given a few next. >> back to our weather coverage when abc7 continues. we'll take you live to some of the area's hot spots. >> flooded roads, lots of rescues, the crews out there saving lives as rivers and creeks go over their banks.

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alright,yeah!excited? waaahoo... well... that was fun, right? it's time to get more. lower fares. better service. sweeter rewards. alaska airlines. >> announcer: live where you live, this is abc7 news. >> and here are the stories making headlines at 4:30. want to show you a live look at doppler 7. it is lit up as the rain just keeps coming and coming and coming. we are not done yet. the north bay is getting hit

especially hard by this storm system. abc7 news meteorologist drew tuma tweeted out some of the numbers here. and livermore has barely seen anything while sonoma county has seen over a foot of rain already from this atmospheric river. in sonoma county, a man and woman were pulled out of a mudslide near monte rio. abc7 news reporter wayne freedman tweeted this picture of the couple. they were driving on the road when trees suddenly started coming down. we'll hear their story coming up on abc7 news at 5:00. napa county also getting hit hard. some of the vineyards are turned into small lakes because of all of the rain there. you can see this right here. right now all eyes are on the napa river expected to reach flood stage later tonight. abc7 news reporter leslie brinkley joining us live from the wine country. leslie. >> reporter: well, the wine country is the wet country today. i can tell you that. i'm standing outside a flooded vineyard. the water is literally sheeting frm here across the road into

the ditch alongside oak noel avenue in napa. just down the road this direction, it flows into the napa river. now, repeat the scene on all the roads, crisscrossing napa valley, and you get an idea of the amount of water that's flowing down to the napa river, and that's what's causing concern. there are flooded vineyards and flooded road crossings all across napa valley. oak ville grade road between the silverado trail and napa river is closed for high water. but that didn't stop drivers from barrelling through anyway, taking a risk that can prove dangerous. >> there's a few homes near saint helene a on the river that may see some flooding in their yards and things like that. >> reporter: but nothing catastrophic? >> nothing real catastrophic. >> reporter: lots of water flowing down the streets of saint helena as tourists bopped around with big umbrellas.

and lots of good news for downtown napa where a 2015 bypass for fast-flowing napa river waters is working as designed. >> it takes off flood waters in a critical area where they would get high in the past and otherwise serves as a park. it's been a real success story. >> it started this morning about 9:00 a.m., and has been flowing ever since. and we expect it to flow sometime until wednesday or thursday. >> reporter: the river is expected to crest after midnight above flood stage of 25 feet, rising to potentially 27 1/2 feet by dawn on wednesday. you can see the cars here driving through the water on the road. oak knoll avenue in napa. starting to flood out. localized flooding expected here. as you heard, the river crests

midnight to 6:00 a.m. in the meantime, no evacuations expected, but very treacherous driving. in napa valley, i'm leslie brinkley, abc7 news. >> all right. well, several roads in sonoma county have flooded as creeks have spilled over the banks. abc7 news reporter amy holly field shows us a few drivers found out the hard way. it's not a good idea to drive through standing water. >> reporter: rescue crews had to take a boat to reach this woman who was stuck in her car on todd road, a rural road in sonoma county that flooded but she tried to drive through it anyway. fire teams had so many calls like this this morning they had to borrow the boat. >> we had multiple calls in the area. >> reporter: firefighters say people should not try to drive through standing water. you never know how deep it is or how fast it is moving. >> if the vehicle is in the water out there, it started in the middle of the road. as you can see out there, it's moved off to the side of the road heading towards the fence. >> reporter: the driver who was

rescued here did not want to talk to us. neither did this driver rescued along with a girl from this car at graton and railroad. firefighters say it over and over again, turn around, don't drown. >> turn around. it's not worth ruining your car, not worth risking your life. >> reporter: they responded to three locations before 9:00 a.m. they checked on a ka that was empty on green valley road, but it all started at 3:00 a.m. for this team. two cars had people who needed help on graton road. first they rescued an older man out of this prius. >> while we were in the process of pulling him out, three teenagers drove into graton road from the west side and got stuck. >> reporter: everyone was okay. it was dark and both drivers said they didn't see the water. amy holly field, >> check the weather conditions where you live with live doppler 7 on our website,

and abc7 news app. push news alerts to get alerts sent to your device. the dog was rescued near fort funston. we'll have details on that rescue ummi rescue coming up on abc7 news at 5:00. >> a stretch of interstate 80 is now closed one mile east of baxter in placer county to the nevada state line due to traction concerns. road condition are slightly better on i-50. no chain restrictions there for now. >> an ordeal is over for now at least forepassengers who spent nearly two days that were stuck aboard a bay area-wound amtrak train in oregon. amtrak had the coast starlight towed into eugene oregon. it was stuck 40 hours after hitting a tree. they cleared the tracks and got the train moving again. a woman from martinezer described life on the train

stuck in the wilderness. >> long, relatively uncomfortable. you know, it was not that bad. people were great. the train crew was amazing. they were so professional and so kind. >> it was dark in oak ridge, so it was pitch black, watching the snow pile up. >> these are pictures snapped by people who were stuck aboard that train. they said they passed the time by playing games and taking naps. lots and lots of naps. >> boy. >> they were originally supposed to arrive in the bay area yesterday. >> all right. the drug company big wigs on the hot seat today on capitol hill. >> plus, get ready to rock this weekend. big name singer coming to the bay area to raise money for a charity that is close to her heart. that man is right in the middle of it on his phone. welcome to live tv. >> for the concert. >> you're in front of our traffic shot, dan actually. >> you better do the traffic. >> a live look at the golden

gate bridge and dan ashley working

all right. if you want something fun to do this weekend, it will also help build a better bay area. our own dan ashley has the tickets saturday night, the annual rock the casa charity concert featuring the legendary patti labelle. we saw you in the weather shot there, you were on your phone. >> i was actually doing work. >> details on pati's appearance. she is big time. >> she is big time.

so many great hits, on my own, lady attitude, we've had headliners, but she's fantastic. >> how many years have you been doing rock the casa and other big names? >> this is the 5th year. you've been with me from the beginning on this. last year we had melissa eth ridge, the year before that keith trick. speed wagon, great headliners over the years. we mixed genres, you're looking at patty labelle there. believe it or not, she's on tour right now. she just knocks them out every time. >> i was going to say when she hits the high note -- >> she can sing. >> for sure. this is the charity event. who is the beneficiary? >> it's something i created, 501c3 to help a number of organizations that are near and dear to my heart and that i serve as board members, court appointed special advocate when children are removed from their homes because of abuse and

neglect. it's a scary time. a court appointed special advocate, a casa, which is the casa in rock the casa, is someone who is there for the child to make medical decisions, legal decisions, education decisions and just lets a child who has been abused or neglected, hey, we've got your back, you can trust an adult. we send kids to summer camp. in the 22 years i hosted a golf tournament to send kids to camp. this summer we sent our 10,000th kid to summer camp. what's camp? they're under served kids. they would not have a chance to go be a kid up at lake tahoe like every other kid and learn archery and canoeing. what i love about this organization, i'm on the board as well. what i love about this organization is that no one knows, not the counselors, who is on scholarship. they just get to go and be a kid. third beneficiary, big brothers, big sisters which provides mentorship to kids who are in need and some at risk.

the final beneficiary, little lesser beneficiary, but terrific organization, boys and girls clubs, club which provides after school activities for kids in need. >> terrific, terrific. now, you folks wouldn't know it because you only sedan when he's doing the news. but when he's walking through the halls, he's usually singing because he's rehearsal. so you have your own band. >> i do. we're singing -- there we go. they're going to embarrass me. i told them not to do this. that's my band performing. i have a terrific band. we open, we don't make a big deem of it. deal of it. we toured with santana, franky beverley. pablo cruz, if he phenomenal band. it's a great privilege singing with them. >> saturday nightual you net creek. how do people get tickets? >> they are going quickly at the last minute. rock the casa.org is where you

can get tickets. rock the casa.org, we'll tut it on our website, abc7news.com. tickets are available through march 2nd at the alessiaer center. i know it's going to rain, but come out anyway. >> you had a cool app. i wish we had time to tell people about the auction eye temperatures they could look up on the app. >> it's really neat. you can keep up at the event and beforehand, bid on items. >> i look forward to seeing you on abc7 news at 5:00. >> thanks very much. >> take it from someone who has been several times to rock the casa. it's a great night and fun to see the musical side of dan, right, spencer? >> i'm going again. many casas are being rocked right now as you see the storm continuing to pound the bay area and drench the bay area with widespread heavy rain and gusty wind. there are widespread concerns about flooding. as a matter of fact, the russian river in guerneville is expected to crest at about 14 feet above flood stage tomorrow. major flooding is likely along

the russian river. this storm still ranks 3 on the storm impact scale. strong storm for tonight, early tomorrow morning moderate to heavy rainfall. risk of flooding continues to grow. not only the russian river, but napa river, many rivers and streams and creeks around the bay area. wind gusts will range from 55 to 65 miles per hour over the bay area peaks. this pattern of heavy rain is going to continue into the late night and early morning hours with no let up until the morning commute when it's going to weaken just a bit and break up into pockets of rain. but, of course, the ground and the highways will already be saturated by then and no doubt there will be lots of areas of pooling and ponding in the roadways for the morning commute. here's the accuweather seven-day forecast. even after the storm weakens tomorrow, still ranked 2 on the storm impact scale. heavy storm will be in the morning hours. we'll see showers on thursday. a dry day on friday, yay, but it won't last long because level 2 storm comes in on saturday. giving way to showers on sunday, monday and tuesday. >> oh, boy. >> you want a little dry weather, better get outside on

friday. that's our break. >> thank you, spencer. >> the rising cost of prescription drugs and what pharmaceutical companies are saying is the reason. >> i'm 7 on your side's michael finney. home sales are starting to slow down. if you're in the market, the one thing you can do that will save you money. i'll talk about that j [music playing] (sashimi) psst. hey, you! the one with the designer dog collar. wondering how i upgraded to this sweet pad? a 1,200-square-foot bathroom, and my very own spa. all i had to do was give my human "the look". with wells fargo's 3% down payment on a fixed-rate loan and a simpler online application, getting into my dream home was easier than ever. get your human to visit wellsfargo.com/woof. what would she do without me? georgand 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.

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president trump's former lawyer michael cohen is set to testify publicly on capitol hill tomorrow. >> a source tells abc7 news that cohen will accuse the president of committing a potential crime while in office. cohen was sentenced to three years in federal prison for campaign tax evasion and lying to congress. >> abc news will have coverage right after abc7 mornings. we'll stream the testimony live on abc7news.com as well as the abc7 news app. >> now to capitol hill where lawmakers held an unprecedented public hearing with top pharmaceutical executives, questioning them about the rising cost of prescription drugs. >> abc7 news reporter maggie ruely has the latest. >> reporter: the world's biggest drug makers are in the hot seat on capitol hill.

>> pharma executives, all of you that are here today, are here because the way you've been doing business is unacceptable. >> reporter: for the first time, republican and democratic senators grilled seven top pharmaceutical executives on soaring price of prescriptions in the u.s. >> it is repugnant when ailing patients are forced to choose between filling the next prescription or putting food on the table because they can't t afford both. >> reporter: the exec tichlutiv acknowledged the challenges. >> medicines can't make a difference if the patients who need them can't afford them. we understand the concerns about the cost of health care. >> reporter: but say that high costs support the research for those lifesaving drugs and warn that heavy handed regulation will backfire. ailments that are the hardest to treat like alzheimer's and cancer. >> the system itself is complex and interdependent, and no one company can unilaterally lower

list prices without running into financial and operating dits advantages that make it impossible to do that. >> reporter: but lawmakers are rejecting the idea that others 0 to blame. >> i think you and others in the industry are stonewalling on the key issue, which is actually lowering list prices. >> reporter: president trump has repeatedly gone after pharmaceutical companies. many experts say that today's very public hearing is a sign that both congress and the white house are moving towards passing some form of legislation against rising drug costs sometime this year. maggie ruely, abc7 news, new york. >> the pace of growth is at its slowest since november of 2014. >> 7 on your side's michael finney is here with a story. we see it in the bay area, too, michael. >> we do. it's town by town here. it's amazing. by the way, the stats they were talking about, that's according to the s&p core logic kay shiller index.

that covers 20 u.s. cities. the index rose .2% in december compared to november and 4.2% higher compared to a year ago. the slow down reflects weaker sales and higher mortgage rates. san francisco saw a small price growth this year, but declines in december compared to where price was a month before. home buyers shop around for their mortgages and that is costing them serious cash. a new survey by nerd wallet found if the average home buyer compared five lenders, they would save 4 hupd in their first year of homeownership and the savings would continue the life of the loan. think in terms of times 30. comparison shopping is easy online and not much harder by calling local lenders. online shoppers are more satisfied on costco's website than on amazon's. the american customer satisfaction index gave costco a score of 83 in its internet

retail category. amazon scored a close 82. now, that's down 3 points from last year. trader joe's topped all retailers with in-store satisfaction with a score of 86. scores are determined by interviews with 300,000 customers. >> that's pretty big sample size. >> it is a big one. >> thanks, michael. >> thank you, michael. while some prices sky 0 rocket, others fall and that includes how much money children receive from the tooth fairy these days. insurance company delta dental conducts a survey into how much money the tooth fairy leaves under a pillow. the lost tooth nets $3.70. that's down from 4.13 in last year's survey. the west coast happens to be where lost teeth fetch the most cash 4.13 per tooth compared to the lowest 2.97 in the midwest. i have to talk to our tooth fairy. she leaves only $2s under my

kids' pillow. >> got to get a risk for those kids. up next, a closer look at the problem as well as a potential cure. >> and dan is here with what's coming up on abc7 news at 5:00. >> new at 5:00, it is day four and striking teachers in oakland say the rest of the country is watching. how long will the picket lines hold? plus, people picked up at the border. california's top prosecutor say detainees deserve better. his unprecedented report. and what marriage means for your student debt. those stories and a ♪ 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.

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maybe you have heard of those glasses that can help protect your eyes from the effects of hours of screen time. do they really work, though? abc7 news reporter marcy gonzalez has a closer look. >> reporter: it is the trendy new eyewear sported on social media by influencers like kylie jenner, promoted as helping to protect users' eyes from the effects of all those hours spent in front of computers and staring at smart phones. the glasses blocking what's known as blue light, which some blame for causing everything from eye strain to sleep troubles, and possibly long term health and vision problems. >> with your headaches, eye strain, dry eyes. computer vision syndrome,

long-term damaging effects. that's the blue light wavelength. it's coming straight off the ipad. when you are wearing the glasses, see how much blue light goes through the glasses. it'se. >> the blue light emitted from the screen tricks your brain into thinking it's daylight telling your body to be awake. while researchers show these glasses could lead to better sleep, the american academy of on the monthly angie claims impact that blocks it. others say more research is needed. >> does the reduction in blue light lead to any kind of health ben filth? there is some limited evidence it does. it's hard to up those subtle differences in those blocking blue light and those not. there are questions we need to answer ourselves. >> reporter: marcy gonzalez, abc news, los angeles. >> studies show looking at the screen too long can cause eye strain. experts suggest the 2020 rule.

look at something 20 feet away for 20 seconds. try that. thanks for joining us at abc7 news at 4:00. abc7 news at 5:00 starts now. >> here is the land slide. that came down, they say, in a hurry. >> relentless rain causes a mudslide in sonoma. one couple was in their car as trees came tumbling down. >> they flew down every which way. came running down the hill, these big trees. >> along the russian river there are now mandatory evacuations. the sheriff has a serious warning for anyone who waits. >> flooding has also hit marin county. the concern here is that it will get worse before it gets better. >> and in san francisco, a dog is rescued from the cliffs. you'll hear from the owner. >> announcer: live where you live, this is abc7 news. >> people are being turned around because the road has flooded. find another way around it. it's not ruining your car, it's

not worth risking your life >> it came up a lot since yesterday when we left here. >> the answer is yes, it's time to evacuate. sonoma county is telling people living in more than two dozen towns along the russian river to leave right now before it is too late. good evening. i'm dan ashley. >> and i'm kristen sze. thanks for joining us. this shaping up to be the worst flooding along the russian river in 24 years. >> right now evacuation orders are in effect for 25 communities across sonoma county including guerneville, jenner and monte rio due to the threat of imminent flooding. you can see the areas on the link and areas affected on abc7news.com. >> we spoke with spencer crum on abc7 news at 4:00. he stressed now, not later, is the time to leave before flooding makes escaping impossible. >> right now is a good time. it's a goodwin dough time to get your stuff and get going.