right now. >> a live look outside, mighty gray clouds are rolling in with rain not far behind. some areas could get inundated in the coming days. good afternoon, i'm

kristen z. by tomorrow night, most of the bay area will be under a flood watch. let's get right to storm watch coverage now. spencer joining us. spencer. when will the rain first arrive? >> the first rain will arrive tonight. sometime. probably after about 8 p.m. or so. it will continue during the overnight hours. we're looking at the satellite radar composite image. right now. we can see how close the first batch of rain is to us. let me give you a closer view as i get over to the maps there. so we've got a huge long plume of moisture moving in our direction. so we basically have a series of storms, a lighter storm coming in for tonight and tomorrow, and a stronger one coming in on thursday. before i get to the details. let me show you. we have a flood watch in effect for the entire bay area except the inland east bay valleys and the santa clara valley. that's in effect from tomorrow night into saturday night. uh- flooding on roads and streams and creeks. a high possibility. on we go. we also have a wind advisory, a high wind advisory in effect for all of the bay area from wednesday evening into friday morning.

we'll have winds out of the southwest 25 to 35mph. gusts up to 60 plus miles per hour. some of the higher elevations might see gusts up to 70mph. there's a possibility of downed trees and power outages. difficult driving conditions, obviously with those powerful winds. so the first storm, the one coming in for tonight and tomorrow morning, is a light level one storm on the exclusive abc seven storm impact scale. it will produce light rain and showers. rain totals generally under a half inch. with this first storm, light winds out of the west southwest 5 to 15mph, but those winds will be shifting later tomorrow and intensifying as well. so here's the forecast animation starting at 8:00 tonight, when the first batch of rain is about to push onshore between 8 p.m. and midnight or so, we'll see the rain expanding, mainly not up in the north bay so much, but every other part of the bay area will get some of this. rain and snow will develop over the eastern santa clara hills, so there's cold air enough to bring us our snow levels down to about 2500ft. then we get a little bit of a break tomorrow morning, and going into tomorrow afternoon, we get the second surge in

advance of that. the main event, the bigger, stronger storm that will be swinging through overnight tomorrow night into thursday morning. the morning commute is just going to be a mess. heavy downpours, strong gusty winds. notice the dark colors here, the oranges and reds indicating the heaviest rainfall. a brief break in the middle of the day on thursday, and a second surge from that storm going into the afternoon and evening commute. so thursday will bring us our heaviest rainfall and our highest rainfall totals. but as we look at friday morning, early friday morning, we're expecting rainfall totals by then to range anywhere from two inches to nearly four inches in the wettest locations. and in the sierra. this storm or these storms will be a significant snow producer, producing anywhere from two to over four feet of snow. back to current conditions. right now we're looking at winds beginning to increase just a bit, so it's breezy near the coastline and around the bay, with winds in excess of 20mph in some spots. temperature readings 49 here in san francisco, low 50s at oakland, hayward, san jose, redwood city and half moon bay.

up north 50 degrees in santa rosa right now 48 at petaluma. low to mid 50s at napa, fairfield, concord and livermore. these are our forecast headlines so late tonight. tomorrow rain with snow on our higher peaks tomorrow night into thursday. stronger storm arrives. heavy downpours, strong, perhaps possibly damaging wind gusts friday into saturday. periods of rain. it will be unsettled. so tonight's lows mainly in the low 40s near the coast and bay. upper 30s inland. highs tomorrow just in a narrow range. mid or mid to upper 50s, and the accuweather seven day forecast shows that level two storm coming in on thursday. level one for friday. we get a break on saturday, which is great news. we might have dry conditions for the chinese new year parade. and then another light rain storm comes in on sunday. so we've got some really wet and active weather coming our way. >> yes, but if we got that one dry day, i'm so glad it's on saturday. that day, the chinese new year parade. all right. thanks, spencer. okay. all right. in the north bay, we are getting an idea of the aftermath

of last week's rain, with more on the way. last night, about 100 people showed up for an event in guerneville that connected residents with much needed help. residents like caitlin ellison, who lost almost everything to flooding the nonprofit russian river alliance, put ellison and her kids in a hotel for four nights, but they won't be able to go home for weeks. >> neighbor has a fifth wheel trailer with an extra room, she said. we could stay in there, which is. >> sounds like it's night to night. >> it's night to night. it's day by day, it's step by step and it's horrifying. >> a sonoma county supervisor says the flooding and landslides caused more than $7.5 million in damage. to talk more now about how the north bay is preparing for this next round of storms, will powers from the santa rosa fire department joining us live will, thanks for your time. >> yeah. thank you for having us. >> look, you just heard spencer christian mention flood watch beginning tomorrow. and the fact that this will last for days with the rain, multiple pushes

here. how does that heighten the risk here? how nervous are you? >> so obviously with the last couple systems we've had come through here in the north bay, we've had had some issues with some localized flooding, some nuisance flooding, and just most currently we did have a landslide that affected the city and part of the county. >> all right. so let me ask you, there's always a lot to do. of course, before a big storm, where are you focusing your greatest efforts right now? >> so in some of those trouble spots, some of those low lying areas that we have around the north bay, and then also monitoring some of the slides that we've had and some areas that may be prone to slides. >> let's talk about that. a santa rosa home was partially buried or collapsed. crews had to rescue two people trapped inside. are you concerned about more landslides? mudslides with this round? possibly. will more homes be redtagged do you think? >> so obviously we're monitoring that as we, you know, as hours and hours go by and as this storm starts to progress in and it will be monitored during the

storm when it's happening. but we are monitoring the current slide area that's being overlooked right now and will be overlooked during the during the incoming storm. those residents are still under the evacuation order in parts of the city and the county. and then we also will monitor some of those areas where we've had that troublesome flooding along the creek areas and some of those low lying areas. >> yeah, i mean, they are so full already. like you said, we see some road closure signs in some of this video. so i wanted to ask you, sonoma county had two deaths last week as well related to flooding. one appeared to have been a cyclist who was maybe swept off their bike, and then the other was found in a culvert. just tragic. do we know more about their circumstances? >> i don't that that was outside the city limits, and i believe the sonoma county sheriff's would be handling that, that portion of that. >> okay. but without even the particulars, i'm wondering, do you have any advice on what we can do, what you hope people will do to prevent that from happening? >> so we always like to remind

residents, if you don't have to be out in the storms, don't. obviously this one coming during the week, there's going to be people commuting to and from work. if you see those puddles and you don't know how deep they are, you know, we just, you know, the whole state, turn around, don't drown. that's a big one. and a lot of times during these storms and, you know, time after time, year after year, we get people that think they could drive through them. they stall out, they're stuck. and then we have to go out and rescue them. but if you don't have to be in the storm and you can stay home, just hunker down and let it pass. that's probably about the safest thing you could do. >> yeah, stay safe and don't add to your plate. right. as firefighters, you're going to have so many rescues going on all over the place already. well, what other dangers do you want to warn people about in the last 30s we have left and maybe offer some tips. >> so basically, you know, just look around your property, obviously with the downed trees that we've had, the ground is very saturated. so those trees, we've had a lot of those come down lately. just look around your property. prepare yourself, clean up any culverts in front of your house, and then just

look at if you have some big trees on your property, look at them, see if they're leaning a little bit. and just be aware of your surroundings and just prepare for the next one coming in. >> will powers from the santa rosa fire department. thank you so much for your insight. >> thank you for having me. >> and as the next round of storms moves into the bay area, you can track them using the same live doppler seven that our weather team uses. it's available right now on the abc seven bay area app. download it for the latest forecast and updates on the conditions where you live. all right, moving on. the richest man in the world, elon musk, joined president trump in the oval office this afternoon. he talked about addressing the country's deficit and overhauling the u.s. government. and musk, who has not been elected, stood there for over a half hour with the president. and he was asked what accountability there is in the work that he is doing. >> all of our actions are are fully public. so if you see anything you say like, wait a second. hey, elon, that doesn't that seems like maybe that's, you know, there's a conflict

there. i it's not like people are going to be shy about saying that. they'll say it immediately. >> including you yourself. >> yes. but what transparency is what builds trust, not simply somebody asserting trust. it's not somebody saying they're trustworthy, but transparency. so you can see everything that's going on and you can see, am i doing something that benefits one of my companies or not? it's totally obvious. >> he talked a long time about the abuse and waste that he says his group has found. musk says doj's work is getting posted on its x page and website. doge has faced early setbacks from the courts, with a federal judge temporarily blocking musk and his team from accessing treasury department material, which could have your private information, including sensitive information as well, like social security numbers, bank account information and stuff on millions of americans. also, at the white house today, the king of jordan who met with president trump. the two discussed mr. trump's plan to take over the gaza strip, while the president

issued an ultimatum to hamas over the release of israeli hostages. abc news reporter christiane cordero fills us in from washington today. >> two world leaders with conflicting views of the war in the middle east met behind closed doors in the oval office. president trump again said the u.s. would take over the gaza strip, uproot the palestinian population, even proposing jordan and egypt parcel off land for them. jordan and egypt have long supported a two state solution that would give palestinians their own country. >> king abdullah, what do you think about the u.s. taking over the gaza strip? do you want to see the us own the gaza strip? well. >> i think as i said earlier, the president is looking at egypt coming to present their plan. >> as he waits on egypt, the king announced a plan of his own to take in 2006 palestinian children. trump called it a beautiful gesture. the gaza strip is home to more than 2 million palestinians. under trump's idea to develop that land, he said, relocated palestinians would no longer have the right to return to it.

>> some people say this is ethnic cleansing. you won't be able to force them to leave their land this. >> way, moving them to a beautiful location where they have new homes, where they can live safely, where they'll have doctors and medical and all of those things. >> trump has vowed the u.s. would not buy gaza, that his proposal would require no tax dollars or american troops. he has otherwise offered no details of his plan. the back and forth comes as hamas announced it's suspending its upcoming release of israeli hostages this weekend, accusing israel of violating its cease fire deal, to which trump offered this ultimatum. >> they either have them out by saturday at 12:00 or all bets are off. >> israeli prime minister netanyahu appears to agree with trump's assertion, saying if hamas does not meet that noon deadline on saturday, the cease fire will be over. christiane cordero, abc news, washington. >> in a matter of hours, a bay

area city is set to vote on a tough new camping ban. advocates for unhoused people say the ordinance may actually prevent people from helping the homeless

is illegal on most public property, including sidewalks and parks. violations could result in a $1,000 fine or up to six months in jail. the ordinance also contains a clause that prohibits aiding or abetting a homeless camp. an unhoused advocate is worried this could potentially mean punishment for giving unhoused people food or water. >> we're never, ever going to support a ban because they don't

work. but this is the most encompassing, the strictest ban that we've seen and that it gives the police complete authority. >> fremont residents who are fed up with the encampments, have collected more than 1600 online signatures in support of the ban. according to the bay area news group, city officials said there is no intent to arrest homeless people or nonprofit workers. the fremont police association is in favor of the measure, saying it is merely a tool to be used in limited circumstances when unhoused community members refuse to comply with requests and reject assistance to the south bay. now, where san jose is also weighing a change in addressing homelessness and affordable housing. mayor matt mehan wants to shift more funding for affordable housing projects to homeless shelters. mahan's budget proposal would reshape how the city uses tax dollars from measure e, the measure enacted a tax on multimillion dollar property sales. mehan

wants the majority of the taxes to go toward building homeless shelters and short term housing instead of affordable housing, but many housing and advocates for homeless residents say building affordable housing is crucial. oakland city workers, who are set to be laid off are now taking a stand. dozens who received layoff notices gathered on the steps of oakland city hall today in protest. oakland plans to cut jobs to help close an historic $129 million budget deficit. on the chopping block right now, crime analysts, neighborhood watch teams, recreation center workers, graffiti removal crews and 19 positions within the department. >> instead of tackling our financial problems head on, the administration is choosing to balance the budget on the backs of the very workers who keep our city running. layoffs will have a direct impact on our ability to provide timely and high quality services to everyone in

oakland. they should be a last resort. >> we've reached out to a couple of folks inside the city government of oakland. they're obviously there are a lot of different people with opinions on this. we haven't heard back, but layoffs are scheduled to begin on february 28th. a small family business in san francisco added some flavor to the way we start our day, and it's still based in the bay area. up next, celebrating a big day for a company that claims it created the world's first

found in coffee shops around the world, turns 100. it's tarawneh, the creator of the popular flavored sirups based right here in san leandro. so tarawneh invited abc seven news reporter lena howland in for a tour as the company rings in its 100th birthday. >> tucked into the heart of the east bay is the secret behind

most flavored coffees. >> and now we've got you. name it flavor fantasy flavors, all kinds of flavors over 150, and then you can mix them in combination. >> tarawneh was born in san francisco's north beach. as a mom and pop shop with just five flavors, it was known for popularizing italian soda in the u.s. back in the 1920s, before creating the world's first flavored latte in the 80s. >> oh my gosh, even my father, i think they would they would be blown away. >> lisa luchetta is the granddaughter of the torani founders and now serves as chair of the company's board. she's had a front row seat to durante's exponential growth. after outgrowing multiple spaces in san francisco before finding its largest home so far in san leandro about five years ago. >> the nature of business in the bay area over all these years has changed quite a bit, but we're very happy to still be manufacturing locally, and it was a very important thing to us as we moved and grew our

company, that we stayed as close in as we could to the closer in san francisco bay area. >> they now have about 400 employees, with their product being sold in more than 30 countries. ceo melani dulbecco says they're on track to double in size by the year 2030. >> we think of ourselves as a very different kind of company. we consider ourselves being radically people first. in our 100 year history. we've never had a layoff. we've made it through the great depression, the great recession, covid business downturns, keeping everyone on board and together. >> and to commemorate 100 years, they've chosen to give back to the same community that's had their back over the years by putting out a flavor of the century diamond sirup. >> 100% of the profits of this line go towards nonprofits that are creating career exposure and job opportunities, and our team loves it because we all want to see our area thrive.

>> torani has already outgrown the space they have here in san leandro. they plan to expand to a new building right around the corner from here in the next few months, which will serve as a new distribution center in san leandro. lena howland, abc seven news. >> we'd like to invite you to join us for the biggest parade celebrating the lunar new year outside of asia. abc seven is your home for the chinese new year parade in san francisco. hope you can join us out there along the parade route. now, if you can't make it in person, though, you can watch it live right here. coverage starts at 6 p.m. saturday. wherever you watch abc seven. with valentine's on friday, one way to get closer to the one you love might be as close as your living room. researchers say simply sharing the couch and watching tv with the one you love could strengthen your relationship. reporter michael yoshida has advice from a couple's counselor. >> studies have shown that many couples say watching a tv show together strengthened their

relationship. so we went to an expert to find out how you can get the most out of binge watching with your partner. netflix and chilling to a better relationship. >> if couples are having some tension or having some difficulty sort of connecting, i often suggest that they find a tv show to watch together. >> research has found staying home and watching tv together can provide benefits for close relationships, particularly when couples lack shared friends or social networks. >> there's something very nice about just sort of being in the same space and not having it fraught with any kind of discussions about family and kids and finances or relationship. >> but with so many different streaming options and shows to choose from, do you have to find the perfect series to watch? >> i think part of what's beneficial, it's not just the show, it's the ritual. you know, it's kind of making a time together. watching tv together is a really good way to decompress and do something that's not controversial or

emotionally charged. >> so what are some best practices? be consistent. set a time for the show and each other. no devices really. be in the moment and space together. and like with many things, communication. >> i just think the most important thing is, you know, to compromise, but have an open mind and not be afraid to experiment with another show that you might not be interested in. >> and whether it's nightly, a few nights, or just a single night out of the week, cramer says that carving out that time for each other is what's so important. in washington, i'm michael yoshida reporting. >> america is battling the worst flu season in years. a look at the numbers and how you can i bought the team! i put it on my chase freedom unlimited card. and i'm gonna cashback on a few other things too... starting with the sound system! curry from deep. that's caaaaaaaaash. i prefer the old intro! this is much better! i don't think so! steph, one more thing... the team owner gets five minutes a game.

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the worst flu seasons in years. the california department of public health says while rsv and covid cases are low, flu activity is high and increasing. reporter mandy gaither has a look at the latest national flu data, and has tips on how to avoid seasonal viruses. >> for a second time this season. flu cases are climbing. so far, the cdc estimates there have been at least 24 million flu illnesses, 310,000 hospitalizations and 13,000 deaths, including at least 57 children. >> if you look at cases overall, it's the worst in many, many years. >> 43 states have reported high or very high flu activity in the last week. nationwide, more than 30% of flu tests are coming back positive. and this season you can also test for flu at home. >> we weren't able to do that. you could do covid tests in the

past, but now there's a 3 in 1 flu test. >> u.s. health officials recommend the annual flu vaccine for everyone six months and older. about 44% of adults got flu shots this winter, the same as last winter. but coverage of children is way down at about 45% this winter. it's usually around 50%. experts say it's still not too late to get vaccinated for flu. >> now, keep in mind if you get a vaccine, it takes about two weeks to actually get the immunity from the vaccine. for those antibodies to build up in your body. >> to protect against all seasonal viruses, doctors say. to avoid touching your eyes, nose and mouth because germs can spread that way. wash your hands with soap and water, clean frequently touched surfaces, and avoid close contact with people who are sick. i'm mandy gaither. >> a real potty today. a party for a potty, if you will. in berkeley, where people celebrated the grand opening of a new public restroom. a ribbon cutting happened a few hours

ago. the restroom is in a high traffic area at the corner of telegraph avenue and channing way. it's designed to be accessible to all users, and it certainly is artistic. berkeley's public works department says the restroom is part of the city's efforts to improve sanitation in outdoor spaces. all right. there you go. that's going to do it for us now. world news tonight with david muir starts right now. and of course, i'll see you back here at 4:00 for abc seven news at four with the latest on the storm coming our way very, very soon. tonight, we have breaking news as we come on the air. this remarkable scene just a short time ago. elon musk holding court in the oval office. what he said with president trump sitting beside him. we also have more than 100 million americans in the line of these two major winter