urance. millions of people have used it. - wait, for real? - mmm hmm, they even offer financial help to lower the cost. - nooo... how you know about all this? - that's how i got my insurance. i got a great plan for about $10 dollars a month. - okay, i see you. - if you've got questions, covered california can help, every step of the way. enroll by december 31st. covered california. this way to health insurance.

flooding frustration in the north bay. while parts of the bay area are spared the full strength of the season's first atmospheric river, other areas are inundated and there is much more rain on the way. good afternoon. thanks for joining us i'm kristen z. so let's start with the accuweather forecast with this big storm. abc seven meteorologist lisa argen is here to tell us when and where we can expect the heaviest downpours. lisa. >> hey kristen, it's been in the north bay santa rosa now under a flood warning until saturday and urban and small stream flood advisory has been issued there for the next couple of days. they have seen up to 13in of rain in less than two days. so we sit with our level two system right now and the flooding for not only central sonoma county, but for parts of the north bay. we've had gusty winds that's going to take us through the evening hours. but the good news is we're getting a little bit of

a shift tonight to the north. so live doppler seven right now shows the bright yellows. you can see them training up to the north bay. that's when more rain is just going over the same spot over and over. and that's exactly what we've had from sonoma to penngrove east of highway one. that's where the problems are. and right here you can see over a third of an inch, an hour, and we have upwards of over a half inch an hour of rain falling. and in some of the hills, even more than that, up to three quarters of an inch. so that's why we not only have the flood advisory, but this color green indicates a flood warning through saturday. shifting southward from san rafael, you can see a moderate downpour there. west around fairfax. it's been light to moderate. and this is the area with the flood advisory that's going to take us through saturday early morning. so although we're going to get a break late tonight in the north bay, everyone is going to see much more rain tomorrow as this atmospheric river sinks to the south and finally gets a soaking for the east bay and the south bay, so you can see from marin along the san mateo coast,

looking at some very light shower activity. so we have added a wind advisory from 10:00 tonight through 10:00 friday morning, south winds 15 to 30 miles an hour. gusts to over 50 and even 60 miles an hour. right now, 21 mile an hour. winds from novato. 30 mile an hour. wind gusts. san mateo and right along the coast, half moon bay and also san jose over 30 miles an hour. upper elevations 54 mile. an hour. wind gusts for mount tam and over 30 miles an hour in the east bay and near the 46 miles an hour above half moon bay. so the winds taking us through the next several hours remain gusty right along the coast inside the bay. this is early tomorrow morning when that cold front begins to shift across the bay. we'll be looking at the gusty winds accompanying it. noontime we're still windy, but then by 5:00 things are beginning to lighten up, so we are looking at that excessive rain for western sonoma county. and notice san francisco over a half inch. the rest of us haven't seen much at all. so the south winds have been with us,

allowing for temperatures from the upper 60s out there. and you can see all the fog. this is our sutro tower camera. 65 in livermore, 60 in napa. we're timing it out for you the rest of today. 6:00 you can see that break through. 10:00 early tomorrow morning. the morning commute. moderate to heavy rain moving into the east bay, the peninsula, as we get into 10:00, there's more rain in the north bay. and look at 2:00 to 4:00 in the afternoon. we're looking at very heavy rain east bay, south bay. so rainfall amounts throughout the next 24 hours will be anywhere from an inch to two inches from oakland to over an inch in san jose, 2.5in santa rosa. so we are not out of it tomorrow by any means. in fact, the heavy rain tomorrow with a level two once again and the accuweather seven day forecast allowing for just some light showers on saturday. that's relief. but with all the saturated ground and more rain coming in on sunday, we have it as a level two monday and tuesday. very weak systems. looks like we get a chance to dry out wednesday and thursday.

kristen i haven't had a chance to talk about the mountains where we're seeing changing and fluctuating snow levels with some snow in the upper elevations. winter storm warning through friday above 7000ft, and that can be the most dangerous when it comes to driving. >> so. right. you got some rain, some icing over. >> don't get any ideas about heading to heading to the mountains this weekend. >> all right. thanks for the warning. all right. we'll see you later, lisa. downed trees, fallen power lines, mudslides and flooding. some of the damage we're seeing from our stormy weather. abc seven news reporter lena howland has a look at the impact so far in sonoma county. >> reporter remember that warning santa rosa fire crews gave at the start of the storm? >> if you don't have to be out and about driving, stay home. just hunker down and let the storm pass if you can. >> this driver didn't listen. ignoring obvious closure signs, flood warning signs, and a flood gauge sign measuring how deep the water is. one person drove directly into a flooded out road at slosser and river thursday morning. it happened just before the sun came up.

>> you don't know how deep it is going to be as well as you don't know the roadway conditions underneath it. has the roadway been compromised? are there boulders? are there big potholes? you know, there's a lot of things that could be. is it washed away? >> sonoma county fire says when their crews showed up, no one was in the car. >> they searched the surrounding areas and did not find anybody. they did go wading out into the water to check. so and that was in the dark putting, you know, putting our guys out at risk. >> karen hancock with sonoma county fire says the county is juggling multiple hazardous conditions on the second day of the storm, including this tree that fell around 230 thursday morning, taking down power lines on bohemian highway just north of occidental, temporarily knocking out power to the area and a tree that fell on a home and power lines in forestville, sending one person to the hospital wednesday night. by morning, p-g-and-e's crews were on scene working to replace a downed power pole, but most of the damage was still there. >> but there's more rain coming, right? we've got several more

% repairs and things like that, they're going to be prioritized. we're going to do what we can do to make things safe, but it will have to be major cleanup, you know, or the bigger cleanup will have to be after the storm passes. >> fire officials say their best advice during this storm is to turn around. don't drown. that is a message you will hear repeatedly throughout this week because of drivers like this that continue to ignore these warnings in sonoma county. lena howland abc seven news. >> so, given this weather, let's take a live look at san francisco international airport here. it's the kind of day where you'll get delays, right? we are already seeing that today. as the storm rolls through, you'll definitely want to check your flight status before heading to the airport today. there's been more than 300 delays so far, more than 60 flights were canceled because of this weather. the longest delays were for inbound flights, some up to five hours. the wind is behind a lot of the problems here. the sierra is getting some snow.

caltrans cameras show road conditions around the tahoe are. you see some snow and wet roads on i-80, a wintry mix, while highway 50 near lake tahoe looks clearer right now for sure. there are no chain requirements on freeways in the area, but tahoe residents are preparing for more potential power outages as they face high winds and snow. take a look at the snow dumping north of redding. this is mount shasta. this video shows a man letting his dogs out in knee deep snow. mount shasta was under an avalanche warning through noon today. the national weather service says the area could get 8 to 18in of snow at higher elevations. stay with abc seven and abc seven news.com for the latest on the upcoming storm. you can track the rain with the same doppler that our weather team uses, and see the forecast anytime on our abc seven streaming channels. we are following the story about the fate of san mateo county's sheriff, as several county leaders are calling for her to

resign. the board of supervisors on tuesday voted to place a measure on the march ballot, asking voters to allow the board to remove a sheriff with a 4/5 vote. that follows a report written by retired judge ladoris cordell that detailed complaints lodged against sheriff christina corpus. she's accused of abuse of power and having an inappropriate relationship with her chief of staff. this afternoon, supervisor ray mueller held a news conference to share what he calls key updates. >> one of the key updates focuses on the texts with homophobic slurs that judge cordell identified in her report as coming from the sheriff to one of the witnesses. the sheriff has repeatedly misled the public, saying the texts don't appear authentic. in fact, what the evidence tells us is they are. >> corpus denies any wrongdoing. now to some big developments today in president elect donald trump's transition into the white house. matt gaetz has

withdrawn as trump's attorney general pick, while vice president elect jd vance. today's lobbying support now for pete hegseth, trump's pick for defense secretary. both nominees face claims of sexual misconduct. abc news reporter christiane cordero has the latest from washington. >> one day after launching a full court lobbying effort to become the next attorney general of the united states. >> it was a great day. >> former congressman matt gaetz withdrew his name from consideration, saying his confirmation was unfairly becoming a distraction to president elect trump's transition. the announcement came just days after an attorney for two women told abc news his clients told the house ethics committee gaetz paid them for sex on multiple occasions starting in 2017. gaetz denies all wrongdoing. a separate doj investigation ended with no criminal charges. on capitol hill today, another controversial trump nominee courted senators military veteran and tv host pete hegseth, who has never worked in government, is trump's pick for

defense secretary. >> he's a forward to engage in the right in that process. >> we take absolutely nothing for granted. >> but in a just released police report, new details on a 2017 sexual assault allegation involving hegseth. the woman at the center of the allegations told police hegseth took her phone and prevented her from leaving his hotel room. she said she remembered saying no a lot. hegseth denies all the allegations and told police at the time it was consensual. >> the matter was fully investigated and i was completely cleared. >> ultimately, no charges were filed. hegseth acknowledges paying the woman not to go public with her allegations. his attorney saying the allegation was untrue, but he agreed to pay the individually as trump allies gauge support. >> i think that he's a bold nominee who wants to change the way business is done at the pentagon. >> trump is standing by his decision to choose hegseth, as he did with gates. christiane cordero, abc news, washington. >> so, well, what impact will gates's withdrawal as attorney

general nominee have on his political future and the ethics investigation against him? we'll ask those questions to ethics committee member east bay congressman mark desaulnier. and holiday changes coming to san francisco's union square, how the city says it's focusing o

drawing today from consideration to be the next attorney general. members on both sides of the aisle were calling for the release of a house ethics committee investigation into gaetz over claims that he had sex with a minor multiple times for money. we got some answers earlier today with east bay congressman mark desaulnier, who sits on the ethics committee. what is your reaction? first

off, to matt gaetz's withdrawal this morning from consideration for attorney general? >> let me start with just a little disclaimer. as a member of the ethics committee, i'm not allowed by law to talk about anything that actually happens in the committee. but i will say, as outside of that, as a member of congress, i think it's in the best interest of the country that he withdrew. >> we want to get some insight, if you can, about what happened inside of that closed door meeting behind with the ethics committee yesterday. we know there was a really long meeting and we also know that vice president elect jd vance was on capitol hill kind of parading gaetz around trying to shore up the votes with senators. what was the tension in the room like yesterday, as you all tried to decide whether or not you would release that ethics report into matt gaetz? >> well, i'm not trying to be evasive. it's just it would be against the law and house rules for me to tell you anything

about what happened in that committee, and i've reminded people it's sort of like a grand jury during an investigation. there is due process, and you want to have those conversations in a way, when you're discovering the facts of a case to stay in that room. so i'm sorry, i'm not trying to be evasive. uh- try to always be cooperative. i will say that the house committee on ethics is set up to be five republicans, five democrats. so it's equal number. the majority party does have the chairmanship, so they decide when meetings will be held. so that's the spirit. and it's worked well. so there is precedent around how they do in this case. the actual investigation started some time ago, more than a year ago, into allegations when he was a member of congress, long before any of this came up. so in that context, i think that the committee was continuing to have a dialog, just like a grand jury

would. and i'm sorry, i can't talk about the specifics. >> we understand. do you still support the release of the house ethics committee report, though? i mean, even though that vote took place, i wonder if you think the details are still relevant, given that even though he withdrew, right. he resigned from this term, but he is coming back next term, presumably in january. he didn't resign from that. right. so if he's still going to be a member of congress, is there still work or reason to continue the investigation into him? >> well, he said when he resigned from this term, which ends at the end of december, actually beginning of january, even though he was he was reelected. florida has to certify that. so they can certify it. in his letter, he said it wasn't his intention to come back. so there's some concern about that. but we'll have to we'll have to address that when and if it happens. i think because he's already been elected, it just has to be certified. but he did say he intended not to come back

the letter when he resigned. >> and just so we're clear, if he does intend to come back, because i imagine he thought that he would be able to get the votes in the senate. so he would be confirmed to be the next attorney general. so he wouldn't have any interest in coming back and serving in the next congress, because he wouldn't be able to. but if he does change his mind and returns for the 119th congress, would you be in favor of the house ethics committee continuing its work and potentially releasing that report? >> well, there is a sort of a statutory thing where you have a certain period of time. and to be honest, i'm not remembering specifically when that statute runs out in this case. so i don't know. i think that's something to be determined. i think right now people are assuming that when you said it was not his intention to come back, that they believe that what he said, he will adhere to uh- understanding that there's some skepticism about all members of congress and in this

case, probably a little bit more than the average member. >> congressman desaulnier, i want to talk more broadly about the nominees that we've seen put forth so far. what concerns do you have? might you have regarding some of the other ones coming up? i know the house ethics committee may not be involved with these folks, but pete hegseth, tulsi gabbard, rfk jr, what are you thinking about and what do you think the american people should be thinking about? >> well, the constitution says, as you know, that the senate has the advise and consent and confirms or denies these nominees and they'll have public hearings about it. as a member of congress and someone who's been elected a long time and reveres the us constitution and the administration of it, they're very unusual. i think if you look at republican and democratic nominees, cabinet level nominees, these folks are not in terms of their resume or their background, remotely qualified compared to most

nominees in the past. >> and that was east bay congressman mark desaulnier regarding trump's defense secretary pick, pete hegseth, despite allegations of sexual assault against him from an incident in monterey in 2017, for which he paid a settlement. senate republicans are dismissing them today and sounding a note of support. okay, do you fear a political feud at the thanksgiving table? a psychiatrist shares with us tips to keep holiday gatherings civil despite conflicting (♪) and holiday trips (♪) and holiday toys (♪) and holiday bonding (♪) and it all comes together

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weeks after a divisive presidential election and some may be feeling stressed out or worried about gathering with people who may have voted differently. and they're sitting at the table. awkward. reporter mandy gaither has tips on how to stop politics from ruining your holiday. >> u.s. voters have spoken and whether your candidate won or not, the holidays are happening. >> if you know that there are differences amongst family

members or you're worried about these tough conversations coming up, i think it's really important to be able to have a conversation in advance. >> psychiatrist doctor nicole tarui with el camino health says after an emotional election, americans need quality time with loved ones. so she says not to let politics stop you from getting together. >> there's a deep brain structure called the amygdala that's responsible for fear and anxiety. when the amygdala is operating, we're often flooded with really intense emotions and it's very hard to have productive and calm conversations. >> that's why tarui says to set expectations before the gathering, decide which topics are off limits, and focus on the holiday, not on politics. >> we can really set the intention that the holidays are really about that. it can make a very big difference. >> sometimes it can be hard to steer clear of big topics, so tarui says not to avoid tough conversations. instead, remember your shared values and consider

listening. it may deepen your understanding of a loved one's beliefs. and if things get too contentious, it's okay to take a break. >> i really recommend having just a one liner to be able to diffuse these difficult conversations. if it gets to a contentious point, an example of something you might be able to say is, you know, i really respect your opinion on this matter, and we're going to have to agree to disagree. >> i'm mandy gaither. >> san francisco mayor london breed is reassuring the public that it is safe to do their holiday shopping in and around union square. the police department and the san francisco sheriff's office have deployed additional police and community ambassadors to the area to enhance safety. >> the goal is to make sure that from the garage where you park or the bus where you get off, or the uber or lyft, that you transport yourself to in order to have whatever experience you want to have downtown, you don't

have to worry about a thing because we are here to support you, to protect you, and to make sure that the experience you have is a great one. here in san francisco this holiday season. >> union square has already kicked off some holiday festivities, including the annual macy's great tree lighting. the ice skating rink there is also open. okay, 30 minutes or less. that goal isn't just for pizza delivery. it now applies to airport security. wait times. up next, the pledges from federal travel officials about what we can

help with this health insurance stuff. - check out covered california. it's a free service from the state that helps you get health insurance. millions of people have used it. - wait, for real? - mmm hmm, they even offer financial help to lower the cost. - nooo... how you know about all this? - that's how i got my insurance. i got a great plan for about $10 dollars a month. - okay, i see you. - if you've got questions, covered california can help, every step of the way. enroll by december 31st. covered california. this way to health insurance. breaking holiday travel season. reporter laura aguirre says

record travel means record crowds and one airline is cracking down on line cutters. >> the nation's top transportation and aviation chiefs giving assurances that holiday travel next week will be safe and efficient. >> we are ready to ensure passengers can complete the screening process within our established wait times of 30 minutes or less for a non pre-check passengers, and ten minutes or less for pre-check passengers. >> billions of dollars have been awarded to help airports add more check in counters, build faster security checkpoints, improve baggage claim, make it easier to find your gate that extends to the runways where close calls in a number of cities have made headlines in recent years, we've also installed approach runway verification systems at more than 74 airport towers. >> this technology provides audio and visual alerts to controllers if an arriving aircraft is lined up to land on the wrong airport surface. >> the faa is also testing new

surveillance systems at some of the nation's busiest airfields, designed to improve situational awareness for air traffic controllers. >> tuesday is forecasted to be our busiest day. >> tsa projects around 2.8 million passengers will fly that day and heads up if you try to cut the boarding line. american airlines is unveiling new tech that will sound an alarm if a boarding pass is scanned before its assigned group number is called, and you'll be sent back to your boarding group. >> i want to remind everyone that we have a zero tolerance policy for unruly behavior. >> please treat your flight crew with the respect that they deserve. >> i'm laura aguirre for abc7 news. >> the south bay is really getting into the holiday spirit with enchant christmas about to open at pay pal park in san jose with about 80,000ft■!s to work with. it has just about everything you can imagine. and this morning on our streaming newscast at 7 a.m, we got a

preview from tiffany hirahara marino about enchants. all new world's largest christmas maze. >> we have an exciting new story driven theme. it's called reindeer games, so it's all about finding the reindeers missing bells and the beautiful, larger than life forest animal sculptures. and of course, the 100 foot tree that you can't miss simply driving around and from the sky, you can see it. it's absolutely gorgeous with the over 4 million lights on display. >> enchant christmas opens tomorrow and runs through december 29th. you can get tickets at enchant christmas dot com. it's very festive. thanks for joining us. world news tonight with david muir starts now. i'll see you tonight, breaking news. president-elect trump's pick for attorney general matt gaetz abruptly withdrawing his name, and what abc news has learned tonight. also, the majorrm