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. 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. >> and we have live team coverage of the storm. meteorologist sandhya patel is in the studio with us and our crews are fanned out across the bay area. >> we begin in the north bay where a mudslide trapped a couple south of monte rio. abc7 news reporter wayne freedman spoke with them. wayne? >> reporter: that mudslide happened a little more than two hours ago in the hills behind me named monte rio. what a mudslide it was, came out of nowhere, captured drivers in cars. they were lucky, literally to walk we spoke with barbara tipton. >> we saw red woods coming down. >> reporter: she has a new perspective on life after surviving this mudslide on

bohemian in monte rio. she was heading to a hotel for the night. >> the trees came down and i looked over my shoulder and it was there, you know, a big tree like this with no limb on it. and then i turned my head and it was there. >> reporter: they're the most famous escapees today, but not the only ones. at maribel campground, residents have been leaving and packing for two days. what do you expect here? >> 45 feet, lots and lots of water. >> reporter: where we're standing? >> lots of water. same through her. she expects worse this time. it's already as good as under water, show tells us. cht >> reporter: you're telling me you've written off this section of your house for the time being. >> yes. >> reporter: and you're calm. >> what can you do? >> reporter: at least she sees it coming. mudslides, not so much. >> it happened so fast you don't even 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: and as we come back live, you're looking at the russian river now in monte rio. it's at roughly 30 feet if she's traditions hold here, it's nothing compared with what here tomorrow. the area where we're standing will be under water. hence the evacuation orders for people in these low lying areas to get out. some people like the people in the car accident were going to a hotel. there are also evacuation centers. is he sebastepol. the river, the way it's rising and the rain that keeps falling, it's going to be quite a night tonight and quite a day tomorrow. live in monte rio, wayne freedman, abc7 news. >> that's right. and major flooding is expected

on the russian river. so thank you to wayne. and let's take a look at live doppler 7. let me show you where the atmospheric river is. it's very clear. some heavy rain falling around the guerneville area. sweetwater road, we're seeing pounding rain across the north bay, petaluma, old adobe road. lark spur 101. let's track this moisture going toward san pablo at 5:14. watch out for those downpours. albany we're seeing moderate pockets of rain. as we look at this wider perspective, that atmospheric river is going south ward. moderate to heavy rain, flooding risk is high. we've already seen that flooding in the north bay and mudslides, wind gusts 55 to 65 miles an hour. big concern, those rivers in the north bay and also flooding on the roadways. with more on that here is meteorologist drew tuma. >> and sandhya, our big concern is the russian river. if you're watching us and you live along the river, you do

want to seek higher ground immediately because this river is rapidly rising right now and it will just continue overnight tonight. so, a flood warning is in effect. this has just been updated. we do anticipate this river to crest at about 46.1 feet tomorrow night at about 10:00. that will create major flooding all along the russian river near guerneville. that's not the only river we're watching. we're also watching the napa river. this also has a flood warning, expecting this river to have moderate flooding cresting tomorrow morning at 6:00 in the morning. the north bay has been hit so hard by this storm, this atmospheric river, the majority of the north county bay under a flood warning for urban and small creek flooding. we've seen our creeks rise rapidly. that will continue as well. a flood watch still in effect for the north bay, but also a flash flood watch is in effect for the rest of the bay area when meteorologist sandhya patel comes back. she's going to show you the movement of that atmospheric river over the next 24 hours and the seven-day forecast in a few minutes, guys. >> okay, drew, thank you so

much. >> we're continuing our team coverage in marin county. >> that's where abc7 news reporter trubina is live for >> reporter: the creek has been flowing rapidly all day long. and fire crews worry that as the day goes on, this water will rise and create more flooding issues for marin county and especially where they are dealing with trouble spots already. the alima creek was roaring as rain pounded down on west marin. this is the view from his home. he had a front row seat to the action. the lot next to his home is the alima campground the in the warmer months the grounds are usually full of people, not water. karen green is staying here with her son. >> this little man should be back in school, but because of the road closures, we're taking another day off. >> reporter: we found flooded streets all over town, forcing some to turn around and others to risk it. >> today is not the day to play in the water. >> reporter: marin fire rescue

team is gearing up for flood waters to make its way farther south. but they're on stand by for the entire county. >> this is a technical rescue. up in here you see we've got stri indication entry, chainsaws. >> reporter: the crew is checking out the landscape at different aspect points they can use in emergency. >> victims that might be in the water, where we can deploy our jet skis or rescue watercraft or inflated boats. >> reporter: the corte madera creek is the last place they can reach a person swept into the water before they reach the bay. the team desperately hopes they won't need to do that. for anyone in marin county that would like some more information about how the storm is impacting your area, this qr code is available on the twitter account of the marin county sheriff's office and you can click on that, scan it with your smartphone and you can see their incidence reports for the entire county. abc7 news. >> thank you. a truck driver is dead following a crash on southbound 101 in

sausalito. the chp says a toyota prius broke down near the waldo grade just after 2:30 and called for help as the tow truck driver assisted the chevy pickup spun out on the freeway and slammed into him. the pickup driver had minor injuries and the driver of the prius was not hurt. investigators are blaming the weather for this wreck. several drivers had to be rescued from flooded roadways. abc7 news reporter amy holly field has that part of our coverage. >> reporter: rescue crewsed had to use a boat to rescue this woman, a rural road that flooded, but she tried to drive through it anyway. >> we had multiple calls in the area. >> reporter: this crew responded to three different locations before 9:00 a.m. firefighters say people should not try to drive through standing water like this, saying you never know how deep it is or how fast it is moving. >> drivers are basically -- got into the water, never saw it.

>> reporter: sonoma county, abc7 news. >> marin county, they 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 evacuate? >> yeah, it seems like it's going to be higher and higher, so yeah. >> reporter: store fronts are set with sand bags and floodgates are locked in place. >> there are a number of areas that are susceptible to flooding. we're very aware of san anselmo's history of flooding as well as novato. >> reporter: in west marin county, luz pena, abc7 news. >> rain is starting to rise in san francisco now. >> abc7 news reporter vic lee is in funston where they rescued a dog stuck on the cliff there. vic? >> reporter: well, as you can see, we have a respite from the rain, but not from the wind. it is really blowing hard here and that's the way it was when the rescue was executed. now, the rescue which happened right off that cliff behind me was successful. the owner was reunited with his dog body.

take a look, because sky 7 caught it all. now, the dog was stuck about 15 feet off that cliff. firefighters decided to do the rescue from the bottom of that cliff and not from the top because they felt it was safer and easier. it took awhile at first because they couldn't find the owner who called in the 911 at around 3:00 this afternoon. now, we were able to talk to the owner after they were reunited. take a listen. >> he just ran away. he's tired. he's been out there six hours. >> how did it happen? >> dogs will be dogs. >> reporter: well, he says -- matt says he and body will go home, get warm, and have a really nice dinner. firefighters told me that it's going to be awful here tonight. it's going to be breezy and it's going to be rainy. the worst round of wind and rain

will come probably after midnight tonight so if you do have to walk your dog, firefighters suggest -- in fact, encourage you to do it with a leash. do not let them run wild because it is dangerous here and the weather will certainly make it even worse than it is now. reporting live from fort funston, vic lee, abc7 news. >> really solid advice. vic, thank you so much. weather like this always makes a mess at s.f.o. right now airlines have canceled 175 flights. another 258 are local weather delays at oakland international or mineta san jose. >> sandhya patel will be back with us in a few minutes with an update on your forecast. right now let's move on. >> coming up, day four and striking teachers in oakland say the rest of the country is watching. they're the shocking at of money they're losing every day. >> prosecutor says detainees

deserve better. >> we get an apartment together, can we get a mortgage together? >> love and marriage can be hard enough, but throw student loans and taxes into the mix and it

there has been a lot of crossover ski over immigrants detained at detention centers here and across the country, as you well know. today california's attorney general had something to say about that and he did not mince words. abc7 news reporter vic lee has the story.o cf1 o >> we're not interested in having detention facilities operate in a cloak of darkness. >> reporter: state attorney general javier becerra released his report on immigration detention facilities in california. the state department of justice visited all ten facilities in the state which house

undocumented immigrants. but because of time constraints, his office was only able to comprehensively review three of them. their findings? for long confinement without breaks with some detainees in their cells for up to 22 hours a day. signifiant language barriers. lack of access to medical and mental health care and obstacle. contacting family and lawyers. a lot of this is due to the fact the federal government is not doing its job of overseeing these detention centers. >> reporter: one of the facilities inspected, the west contra costa county which ended its contract with i.c.e. there were allegations of abuse. >> in sometimes they were forced to defecate in bags because they were locked in their selds an extended period of time. >> reporter: this was the result of a state law passed in 2017 which requires the state

department of justice to begin reviewing conditions in those detention facilities. vic lee, abc7 news. >> now to day four of the teacher's strike in oakland. abc7 news reporter lyanne melendez has learned there is some progress between the talks between the teachers and district. >> reporter: last night the strike wrapped up at 10:00 p.m. sources say tony thurman and his team are in the process of looking over the district's finances to try to find some common ground. >> getting that additional support is always going to be a good thing. we welcome that. so we're hopeful that that helps us lead to a resolution. >> reporter: since the strike began, teachers have rallied and marched. last week they were offered an 8.5% compensation package, but the teachers are holding out fo counselors and nurses. >> we're very energized by that and we're veryopeful about

come from this because we feel like all eyes of the country are actually on us. >> reporter: for every day that students are out of school, the oakland unified school district fails to receive daily attendance funds. tomorrow district officials say they will reveal how much they are losing. the ongoing strike is especially hard for teachers. the union is now presenting them with options to lessen the blow. >> our union has arranged for us to have interest-free loans and there is a grant process that after five days we can apply for. so i think that will keep us going awhile longer. >> reporter: in the meantime, strike or no strike, high school seniors in oakland still have to fill out their financial aid forms. four centers were set up this week tostentsit fafsa. >> cal grant h deadne. it's important so they don't miss out on free money for college. >> reporter: centers are open

from 10:00 to 3:00. in oakland, lyanne melendez, abc7 news. >> and lyanne found out new information from the district. only about 6% of students have gone to school during the strike. and because of all those absences, the district is losing about a million dollars a day in state funding. the district also just sent an e-mail saying even though negotiations are ongoing, the strike continues tomorrow. we'll have more from lyanne coming up at abc7 news at 6:00. >> let's turn back to the powerful storm moving through the bay area. >> spreading south now, sandhya. >> that's right, dan and kristen. a flood warning for flood streams has been extended until 8:00 p.m. tonight. so obviously those streams and creeks continue to go over their banks and that is going to be a concern through the night. take a look at live doppler 7. it is still pounding rain in the north bay as you take a look at the closer radar street level. tamalas road. getting heavy rain. rainfall rates, we're going to

track moisture off the coast. 6:21, as if it's not heavy enough, they'll see more in napa at 7:00 p.m. as we go into marin county, the street level radar will show you across san rafael now. anderson drive, fair hills drive, moderate to heavy rain. it has been moderate in pockets across parts of the inland east bay. concord going towards the delta bay point, pittsburgh, you will notice east third street. definitely do not let your guards down. i know some of you are saying, hey, this i light stuff. we haven't seen the heavy stuff yet. that's because it was stalled out over the north bay. the heavier stuff is yet to come. winds are gusty to 43. mt. diablo, and those winds will remain gusty causing potential more power lines to go down and trees to go down, gusts to 35 in oakland right now. wind advisory until 3:00 a.m.,

those winds will gust anywhere from 55 to 65 miles per hour. be aware of your surroundings. it is a rainy view. the wind is blowing the trees around. stormy conditions, flooding on rivers and extremes, possibility of downed trees and power lines. it is a level 3, strong storm on our exclusive storm impact scale moderate to heavy rain. flooding risk remains high and wind gusts will remain on the high side through early tomorrow morning. you see parts of the north bay, windy conditions at 11:00 p.m. it finally starts to shift going into the wee hours of the morning driving wind and rain across the region. 5:00 a.m., the focus will be the east bay, the south bay, the santa cruz mountains tomorrow morning. then we'll go to scattered showers as we go toward 7:00, 8:00 tomorrow morning. ground is so soaked any rain that falls on top of it will cause some problems. it goes from level 3 tonight to a level 2, moderate strength storm for your wednesday. this trend will carry over right

on through the evening hours. rainfall totals, we've run there all the way through 11:00 p.m. sonoma county has already seen a foot of rain and still counting. some of the wettest spots, 1 to 2 inches. south bay, east bay half an inch to 8/10 of an inch. a live look from tahoe and it's a beautiful view. here's a look at the sierra. they are seeing some snow. winter storm warning in effect for that region until 6:00 a.m. thursday, above 4500 feet, up to 8 feet for the peaks. 2 to 5 feet for the 4500-foot elevation. do not try to travel up there. it's not a good idea. tomorrow windy. casa coast breezy inland. make sure you have your rain gear hang onto it. 50s, 60s. it is definitely not cold. level 2 tomorrow, rain thursday. morning light showers. we get a break friday. we need that. a lighter system saturday, sunday will bring us wet breezy

conditions. it's a level 1 and another level 1 for tuesday. you can download the accuweather app. santa rosa nearly 6 inches of rain, shattering the daily word. the russian river at guerneville, major flooding expected and the napa river at napa moderate flooding. >> no wonder with that kind of rainfall. thanks, sandhya. >> all right. what does marriage mean for you ♪ ♪ with the chase mobile app, jason wu could pay practically anyone, at any bank, all while putting on a runway show for new york fashion week. ♪ ♪ he could. or, he could make it even easier - and set up recurring payments to his neighbor. for cat sitting. (meow) whoa. you've groomed her, too. (cell phone vibrating)

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student loan debt is now the highest ever. this is amazing. 1 1/2 trillion dollars. >> yeah, that's more than both credit cards and car loans, and now it's becoming an issue when people get married. >> it is. 7 on your side's michael finney is here, tough to start a new young life with debt. >> we're changing america, absolutely. 60% of recent college graduates borrowed money to pay for school. the average student graduates with close to $30,000 in debt. so, when young people are thinking about getting married, they must also think about debt.

>> cheers. >> cheers. >> when dialect and pamela decided to buy a house and get married, they were not thinking about student loans. but they quickly realized the debt would be an obstacle to starting their new lives. >> i think that was the biggest thing, was having to readjust what our expectations were in terms of how much house we could buy and what was really going to be affordable for us. >> in fact, 28% of adults 40 and under who are out of college and have student loan debt in a nationally representative consumer report survey said they had to delay buying a house. in some cases, getting married can increase your monthly student loan payments. >> if if you're on a repayment plan, your payment may go up. it depends on other factors, such as whether your spouse has student debtor whether you file your taxes jointly. >> if you continue to file your taxes separately in most cases, your student loan should remain the same as it was before marriage. that's because the payment will

still be based on just the borrower's income. use the department of education's repayment estimator to get a rough idea. while filing separately could mean a lower monthly payment, it also will exclude you from important benefits, like the earned income tax credit. the child and dependent care tax credit. and you're deduction for student loans. >> we advise you to payoff your loan as quickly as you can afford to. your monthly payment will be higher but you'll pay less interest over the life of the loan. and you'll have more money for other important goals like buying a house or starting a family. >> okay. another point, getting married does not mean you are responsible for your spouse's existing debt. that's a legality of it. still, you're going to have to deal with it if you're married to them. >> that's true. >> thank you, michael. >> sure. >> when you see that you've got snow, why not dive in? >> what do you do when a dog takes a wrong turn? that's next. >> first we want to thank resch for this picture of columbus

tower in san francisco. that's the building right there in the middle of your screen. >> share your pictures

coming up tonight on abc7 news at 6:00, we're live in the north bay which is getting the worst of the weather from today's level 3 strong storm. and where people are being told to evacuate now because the russian river is rising fast. >> blame it on the bankruptcy. 7 on your side's michael finney helps people whose rebate checks from pg&e bounced. >> and a push to lower the legal limit for drunk driving. when new blood alcohol level could hand you in handcuffs. that's all coming up in half an hour on abc7 news at 6:00. >> finally now, a dog and its owner have been reunited thanks

to a firefighter that risked its life. >> a someone called >> a firefighter pulled the dog from the fridged water and it walked across the ice to shore. >> amazing. you're looking at what some people do to beat cabin fever on michigan's upper peninsula. >> they posted videos, diving like superman or doing cannonballs into snow drifts outside their homes. >> more than 200 inches or 17 feet have fallen near marquet. that's 355 inches abo that is 55 inches. they call them yupers. you may call them nuts. >> "world news tonight" with david muir is next. >> i'm dan ashley. for sandhya patel, michael finney and everyone, we hope to see you again in half an hour.

tonight, president trump arrives here in hanoi, amid the major headline back home. the president's long-time fixer and personal attorney in the hot seat. >> mr. cohen, should the president be worried? >> michael cohen behind closed doors today. tonight, senators saying they have learned new information already. and cohen is now set to testify before the american people. he will accuse the president of criminal conduct. all of this amid the high stakes summit here in vietnam. the president has arrived, so has kim jong-un. the remarkable images. the cigarette break seen around the world. and tonight, the increasing pressure on president trump. willing to meet with kim jong-un again, but will the north korean dictator give up his nuclear weapons? back home tonight, trapped on the train. passengers stranded almost 40 hours. trapped in snow and downed trees. and the new storm we're no