seven news starts right now. >> right now, we're tracking dangerous weather conditions across the bay area as an atmospheric river soaks the region. we're tracking landslides, downed trees, power outages and flooded roads. abc seven news storm watch starts

right now. good evening. thanks for being here. i'm julian glover. >> and i'm ama daetz. we are tracking this level three storm, as you see here on the abc seven news exclusive storm impact scale. >> you see radar lit up behind us, and we have team coverage from coast to coast to the east bay. and in san francisco, where a falling tree has injured a person. >> yeah. let's begin, though, with abc seven news meteorologist sandhya patel for the latest on the conditions outside right now. sandhya. >> yeah, and julian and ama right now on live doppler seven, we are seeing downpours and even thunderstorms as expected. so let me get you right down to street level radar. in the santa cruz county area, we are seeing multiple lightning strikes right around the summit. some heavy rain falling. this cell is headed towards coyote and it will be in that area at 521. so watch out as we look around other parts of the bay area from cupertino to san jose. street level radar getting you into highway 101, seeing some pockets of heavier rain. and it is similar story around hayward, san francisco seeing steady, lighter rain. same thing for the north bay. big bend 121 sears

point. it is lighter right now, so widening the picture here. this is a strong level three storm with that atmospheric river. and it has definitely caused some issues. as we go into 6:00 we're going to still see the heaviest rain focused across parts of the south and east bay going into 7 p.m. by 830, the storm is on its way out, but the issues will continue. flood watch until 4 a.m. tomorrow. we have flood warnings for the areas that are shaded in a lighter green right around parts of the north bay, where we are looking at potential issues. with minor river flooding expected for some of the north bay rivers, we do have a wind advisory until 11 p.m. tonight. those gusts up to 70 miles an hour means more trees could go down. look at the wind gusts right now. 59 oakland hills. we've seen gusts as high as 82 miles an hour in the north bay hills. it is a level three through this evening. flooding, rain, windy conditions, chance of thunder, downed trees and power lines. i'll be back with a closer look at what's ahead. coming right up, ama.

>> all right, we'll check back. thank you, sandhya. and take a look at this video out of forestville. that is a home floating down the russian river after it got taken out by a landslide. look at this. the sonoma county fire district says the home was a rental property and no one, thankfully, was inside at the time. this happened off west side road around 1230 this afternoon. several homes in the area have been evacuated as a precaution. >> i've never seen anything like this before and i've lived here since 2015. i'm very shocked that there was a house on it that's now in the river, but at the same time not too surprised because it's really steep and wet around here and there is erosion happening. >> and crews did search the river and the debris just to make sure that no one was trapped. >> highway 101 in windsor is back open tonight. it closed at arata lane earlier today because of major flooding. you can see in the roadway there. the water was so high at one point. look

at this. caltrans crews spotted waist deep in the water. you can see him there on the left hand side of your screen, trying to make the best out of the situation. waving to the camera. chp warns many roads in the area are still closed, all because of that flooding there. >> in west marin county, highway one is closed because of flooding in multiple spots. this was in the point reyes earlier. this was in point reyes earlier today. many roads are closed, but we did see a few cars trying to drive through and you see that one here got stuck in high water and was left behind on platform bridge road. >> and northwest of point reyes station. the community of inverness is seeing lots of flooding there. people were out evacuating their horses today as the water began to rose. we also saw high water around multiple homes there in the area. >> the storm has also caused trees all across the bay area to come down, including part of this 80 foot tree at the harding park golf course. officials tell us it came down around 230 this afternoon near lake merced boulevard and higuera avenue. fortunately, no one was injured.

for more on the storm damage and other parts of the city, let's get to abc seven news reporter luz pena, who joins us live from another downed tree in cow hollow. luis. >> yes, emma, when we're talking about the intensity of this storm, we're not just talking about the rain, we're talking about the wind. and you can see the effect of that behind me. that massive tree fell about an hour ago, and it's putting so much stress on that muni line. this is exactly what city crews have been dealing with throughout today. several trees have already fallen, including one that hit a person in visitacion valley. that person was taken to the hospital. all of this giving city crews a glimpse of what may come next. as winds are set to intensify. >> really, our big concern right now with the winds coming up picking up and the rains coming down, are our street trees. >> it's a race against the eye of the storm. the goal is to clear as many storm drains as possible. >> crews out there that have really been concentrating on clearing the storm drains. we want to make sure that they are

as clear as possible, so the water can flow down to minimize any kind of localized flooding. >> city crews are not the only ones making a difference on the streets. what was your mission today? >> my mission today was to make sure that these drains were clear, but also clear off the sidewalk because debris running down the street eventually runs down, especially if we're supposed to get more rain like we're supposed to. we'll run right over to that drain again, and then it's futile. >> david hall, owner of shotwell's bar, went out with his leaf blower to do his part. he has seen his street flood way too many times today. he's trying to avoid that. >> it's a win win situation for everybody, really. so neighborhood taking care of. >> and it might take several hours to clear the street from union street here in san francisco. city crews telling us there are no reported injuries at this time. if you do see a downed power tree in your area,

in your area, call 311 in san francisco. luz pena, abc seven news. >> crews are going to be busy for sure. luis, thank you so much. the winds also strengthening along the coast, especially at the pacifica pier. that's where we find abc7 news anchor dion lim with the latest on the conditions there right now dion. >> julian. it is raw. it is wet. yes. and in fact, it feels as though the rain is falling sideways because of the wind. in fact, this is why my photographer edward is going to be periodically using a towel to wipe off the lens because it is so incredibly wet out here. now, earlier today, the winds were the big story. we saw them gust up to 60 miles an hour. so much so that even the birds in the sky along the beach had a difficult time flying. i spoke to the department of public works, along with members of the fire department, who tell me they have extra crews deployed driving around just in case they see downed branches and downed

power lines. in fact, one of those trucks from dpw just filled to the brim with debris from the roadways. we also saw down the pier not a lot of people out and about, but along the taco bell, the most beautiful one. at least that's what they say in the country. on the beach, all of the seating was about to fall over. that is how strong these whipping winds have been going into the neighborhoods, not only in pacifica, but also along montara. we saw a number of trees down falling onto power lines, really becoming a threat to some of these homes. that saturated ground really soaking through. back out here live, i want to give you an idea of just how high those winds are, because you can see the surf is churning along the pacifica pier. also, there are sandbags along the roadways trying to keep all of the signage down. we will continue to monitor the conditions, but i can tell you the good news is it appears to

be much less severe than it was just a few hours ago. an update for you later on on the news at six live in pacifica tonight i'm dion lim, abc seven news. >> okay, dion thank you. now to the east bay hills. the high winds and rising creek levels are the big concerns there. abc seven news reporter leslie brinkley is live in orinda tonight and she joins us there. hi, leslie. >> hi. it's been a challenging afternoon. one minute it's not raining too badly. the next, i mean, buckets coming down and you can see the runoff right behind me. we're right by downtown orinda. and this is a storm runoff channel. the water is pouring off these steep hillsides and into this channel. local residents here have told us as they've come by, they've never seen it like this. so it's been a rough afternoon out here in the east bay. the rain made driving treacherous on highway 24 for the afternoon commute.

many drivers pulled off the road to brave the torrential bands of rain. a spinout on interstate 680 northbound sent one person to the hospital as a driver lost control on the wet pavement, smashing into a minivan. public works crews fanned out across the east bay, clearing debris and storm drains. sheets of rain and runoff caused minor street flooding up on grizzly peak in the oakland hills by mid-afternoon, high winds took down power lines in orinda as p-g-and-e's crews secured the roads in the orinda country club area. >> it's absolutely all hands on deck. everybody's prepared and we've got, like i said, our crews are out there ready to go. >> what can people do at home to help. >> if it's windy? especially watch out for trees going down. make sure that your drains are staying clear, because it's real easy for debris to fall into those drains and for it to back up quickly. >> sand for do it yourself sandbags was available across contra costa county as people

timed their errands and dog walks around the inclement weather. and going out in this stay home if you can. if you have to go out, remember that these bands of rain come up suddenly. the downpours are intense and the street flooding can happen really rapidly. we'll keep an eye on things here in the east bay and have an update for you on the 6:00 news reporting live in orinda. i'm leslie brinkley, abc seven news. >> okay. thank you so much, leslie. we will see you once again at six p-g-and-e's reporting that more than 99% of their customers in the bay area have power, but there are more than 400 outages affecting nearly 30,000 customers. most of the outages on the peninsula are around daly city and pacifica in san francisco. more than 500 outages have hit the boss avenue at mission street and in the north bay. hundreds in san rafael are without power. >> stay with us as we continue

to track the storm and conditions across the bay area. here is another live look outside. right now it is gloomy. we have much more storm coverage ahead. >> but first up, after the break, securing federal disaster relief for california while also gearing up for legal battles with the trump administration. a look at california's careful balancing act well, this news is for you. the cdc now recommends you get vaccinated against pneumococcal pneumonia. why? if you're 50 or older even if you're healthy... you're 6 times more likely to be hospitalized. so, schedule at vaxassist.com.

in d.c, where he's expected to meet with members of congress and the trump administration about federal funding for los angeles wildfire recovery. the trip comes a day after the state legislature signed off on $50 million for the trump legal defense fund. abc seven news political reporter monica madden analyzes whether that might hurt efforts to get disaster relief. >> it would be unwise for us to not be prepared. >> california assembly democrats pushing through with their trump legal defense fund in a party

line vote late monday. >> californians are being threatened by an out of control administration in washington. >> the proposals set aside 25 million for the state doj to fight trump in court, and another 25 million for legal groups defending immigrants who face deportation. investments, democrats say will have a good return. >> and we've seen from from four years ago how much money californians, california taxpayers save from these lawsuits against federal overreach by the trump administration. >> this special session is completely unnecessary. >> assembly republicans warning democrats efforts might be met with backlash. >> you are putting us on a collision course with the national administration. >> republicans tried to amend the legislation to exclude violent undocumented immigrants from accessing the legal aid, but only got a nonbinding footnote in the bill. the package now heads to governor gavin newsom, who is in d.c. lobbying for federal aid to help with los angeles wildfire

recovery. >> the governor is walking a real tight line here between democrats and his party that actively want to resist trump, and the reality of the los angeles fires that has him going back to washington looking for assistance from the same administration that he is trying to bulletproof california from. >> abc seven news insider phil matier says the politics of the special session have been notable. >> four or 5 or 8 years ago, something like this would have sailed through with cheers, and the governor would have flourished his pen to sign it. but it's a different day. >> in a statement, the white house says the california legislature and its incompetent governor need to stop dreaming and wake up to the reality of the invasion facing our nation and their state due to illegal immigration. a spokesperson for newsom says it's unclear if the governor and president will meet face to face during his trip. monica madden, abc seven news. >> california legislators are analyzing the impact of president trump's threat to severely shrink down the department of education. while

federal funding only accounts for about 10% of school districts budgets here in the state, it does pay for programs for students with disabilities and used as supplemental funding for schools in poorer areas. trump has already signed an executive order to direct more tax dollars to private schools. >> their proposal is to gut investment in public education and transfer it to private schools. >> the president says he wants to send control back to the states, but curriculum is already set at the state and local level. other programs like head start, preschool programs and school meals are not run by the education department. >> we continue to track the storm as this atmospheric river slams the bay area. this is a live look out at the conditions right now, the golden gate bridge. you can see the clouds. we're going to check back in with abc7

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michael burwell walked in the crosswalk at the intersection of grand avenue and parkview terrace in the adams point area, right along the north side of lake merritt. this was just after 7:00 last night. burrows was 77 years old and was a noted british sociologist. police say the vehicle that hit him was a dark colored suv. tragic. >> okay, we need to get back to our weather because we have a lot to deal with outside. >> yeah. you see, the radar lit up behind us? those intense colors of yellow and red. orange. we check back in now with sandhya. >> yeah, and that is indicating some heavier rain. julian. and let's get right to live doppler seven and we'll talk about where it is coming down. it is pouring across parts of the south bay. let me get you into street level radar from moorpark avenue, willow, glen campbell, san jose, tully road. you're seeing some heavy rain. boulder creek, ben lomond, you had some

thunderstorm activity just earlier. now you're starting to see the rain easing up there. union city in the east bay. highway 880. it is definitely heavy rain, but look at what we're seeing up in the north bay. starting to see a little bit of a break. san francisco, vallejo. still seeing some rain. a lot of reports of storm activity. we've seen a lot of damage, i should say. as we take a look at live doppler seven, you will notice that this storm with the atmospheric river continues to slam the bay area. it is bringing snow to the sierra and to northern california mountains, and that is going to continue to be the case. we are looking at a live picture from homewood, where it is a really nice snowy scene at lake level. they are still dealing with rain right now. wind gusts to 38 miles an hour in oakland at this hour. 32 in san jose. we have seen higher terrain anywhere between 65 and over 80 miles an hour today, so it has been very windy, 40 to 60 on your temperatures at this

hour. live views from our tower cameras and they are rainy views from san jose to exploratorium, certainly windy from mount tam. and the sierra is looking at the powder rainfall so far the last 24 hours, over a half a foot of rain in venado, almost that in marin at the marin civic center, san francisco. more than two inches richmond, over three inches san jose. you're adding up now? it's only a half an inch so far, but that's going to change. ben lomond over 3.6in of rain through this evening. this is a strong level three storm. flooding rain continues. windy. chance of thunderstorms, downed trees and power lines as we go. hour by hour 6:00 to 630. still, the activity is in the southern part of our viewing area and the eastern part. as we head toward 730. it is starting to push on out of here, and by 830, most areas are just seeing a lingering cloud cover. so that will be a nice change of pace for people to dry out. we certainly need the rain, but this is all happening all at once today, taking a look at additional rainfall totals up to

three quarters of an inch there in the south bay. winds will remain gusty as we head into the evening hours over 35 miles an hour near the coastline. and as we go towards 9:00 tonight, still over 30 miles an hour. but then the winds start to really back off. winter storm warning in the sierra until 10 a.m. tomorrow. 1 to 2ft above 5500ft. we're still talking about up to three feet for the peaks, with the gusts to 70 miles an hour and those snow levels continuing to come down, it is going to be a chilly morning. 20 at lakeport, 30 around santa rosa, livermore, concord. bundle up in the morning, 40s right around the bay, oakland and san francisco tomorrow afternoon. 40s and 50s for your temperatures. isolated showers still a possibility in the north bay. for the rest of you, you're getting that break. the accuweather seven day forecast a chilly morning, isolated showers. we do have another system coming in. it's not quite as intense. it's a level two with a wet, windy weather for your thursday. some morning showers on friday, and then

after that we're going to go with some cold mornings saturday and sunday with frost. slight chance of showers coming back into the picture on tuesday. julian and emma. >> all right. >> appreciate it. thank you. >> sandhya let's take a look at what it looked like in the past hour at kings beach in north lake tahoe. mostly wet roads right now. same for south lake tahoe. here's a look at myers and highway 50. but snow is on the way. the area is expected to get about two feet of snow over several days. a winter storm warning is in effect through tomorrow morning. >> still to come here? it's official. the city of san francisco has a new fire chief. what he says are the top priorities for the department. >> i'm reggie aqui. >> i'm lyanne melendez. >> i'm louis pena, i'm. >> tara campbell, i'm j.r. >> stone at abc7 news we deliver local stories. >> with real answers. >> to help

a streaming tv app, all you have to do is search abc seven bay area and download it. >> san francisco's new fire

chief is officially on the job after taking the oath of office this morning. chief dean crispin is a 34 year veteran of the fire department. as a firefighter, he was commended several times for his bravery while aiding elderly fire victims in the tenderloin. he says his top goal is the safety of all of the city's residents. >> we'll focus on training, safety and disaster preparedness will strengthen our community relationships because trust between the fire department and the people we serve is essential. >> chief crispin is a second generation san francisco firefighter. his father is a retired captain from the arson squad. and a fun fact here, the new chief is a two time national champion in handball. >> whoa. >> that's cool. so he's staying fit for the job? >> yeah, absolutely. all right. we still have much more news ahead. >> we check in now with abc seven news anchor karina nova for a look at the stories coming up at 530. hey, karina. >> hey, jillian. hey, ama. tonight our storm weather coverage continues with meteorologist sandhya patel. we're dealing with a level three

storm right now. taking a look outside. and abc seven news reporter luz pena is live in san francisco. she'll join us with how the city has been dealing with the wind and the downpours. join us for those stories and more. at 5.30 on abc seven bay area streaming tv. julie ama. >> all right. thank you, karina. and you can download the abc seven app or just head to abc7 news.com, and you can join karina in two minutes. >> and if you're watching us here on tv. world news tonight with david muir is up next for sandhya patel and all of us here at abc seven news. thanks for joining us. i'm julian. >> glover and i'm ama daetz. we will see you again at 6:00. it's future you. constipation with belly pain again? our doctor figured it out. she said... it's ibs-c and... linzess could help you get ahead of it.

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tonight, the breaking news as we come on the air. moments ago, president trump saying palestinians should leave gaza, saying they have no alternative but to leave. that they should get a fresh, beautiful piece of land someplace else. here in the u.s. tonight, bracing for a dangerous ice storm. the midwest, right into the east. washington, philadelphia, new york to boston.da