building bone? we dig it. want stronger bones? ask your doctor about evenity ® . concern this afternoon is focusing on the winds and the potential for the thunderstorms as well. >> really use caution if you're out on the roadway right now. if you need to be out on the roadway, really watch these 40 year old monterey pines. they are dropping.

>> keep an eye out. we are on storm watch tonight, and right now we are tracking the thunderstorms and high winds. good evening. i'm ama daetz. >> and i'm dan ashley. thanks for joining us. this storm is a level three on the abc seven exclusive storm impact scale. and we have team coverage all across the bay area. from the santa cruz mountains to the san mateo county coast and even sonoma county. we've got you covered. >> stay tuned for all of that. let's begin, though, with abc seven news meteorologist sandyha patel for the very latest. sandy. >> yeah, dan. and we don't have thunderstorms here in the bay area, but there's a chance down in southern california, there is a severe thunderstorm warning going right now until 5:30 p.m. take a look at live doppler seven. it is still coming down in pockets as we get you into street level radar. santa cruz has been hit hard. over five inches of rain in some parts of los gatos area. 85. in the south bay. we are seeing some pockets of heavy rain right around el sobrante, alhambra valley road, so be careful out there. we're clearly not done with this. we do have flood advisories for much of the bay area flood warning going for sonoma county,

and also for parts of alameda county, as some of those creeks are already overflowing. the winds have been gusty. we've seen wind gusts over 60 miles an hour in marin county and at sfo right now it is 40 at sfo. notice the winds at the higher elevations. 56 oakland hills, 53. in la honda looking at live doppler seven. this is a level three. it is dumping snow in the sierra. and as we go hour by hour you will notice scattered showers. 6:00 tonight continuing into the 8:00 hour. and then really through the late night hours. we're still going to see the heavier rain, so we'll call it downpours at times through tonight with this strong level. three gusty winds at thunder chance and dangerous surf. looking at a live picture from exploratorium camera, watch out for flooding on the roadways. and as we look at a live picture from zephyr cove, it has been a snowy scene. as you can see, full look at your weekend forecast is coming up. dan. >> okay, sandy, thanks a lot. what a difference a day makes. as sandy mentioned, the santa

cruz mountains was one of the areas hardest hit by this storm. take a look at the san lorenzo river yesterday. compared to today, the water level rose so quickly it prompted evacuation warnings. luckily, those have now been lifted. the worst of the danger seems to be over. abc seven news south bay reporter dustin dorsey has spent the day in that area talking with folks who live there, and he joins us live. dustin. >> yeah, dan. and those folks that you just mentioned can't really feel anything but relief right now that this san lorenzo river that rose so rapidly didn't actually breach its banks, and those evacuation warnings and orders were lifted. but as you saw, it rose from just a few inches yesterday when we were here to several feet deep, and that had everyone on high alert. rain fell about as fast and as hard as the san lorenzo river was flowing thursday. living along the banks is usually a great place to be, but river road residents are not

exactly reaping the benefits during this storm, as water rose faster than usual. >> typically it takes 2 or 3 days, but overnight we had rain all night long, so it's definitely higher. we're watching it consistently. so you know, it's rising. >> trevor medina and his neighbors in felton grove got word from the county early this morning that they were in an evacuation zone. river road completely flooded in 2023 when storms overwhelmed the river as rain fell thursday, medina was ready to avoid getting caught in floodwaters. this time. >> i'm right on river road and my window actually peers out just into the river so i can see the level rising and we can see it if it breaches. >> where's the point of concern level for you? >> as soon as it breaches, we're gone. >> just across the covered bridge. evacuating is not as simple. >> family's been here almost 50 years, so we've been through the storm of 8223. in the 90s. there was storms in the 2017. and so it has us all on alert.

>> covered bridge equestrian owner tamra bull was keeping an eye on water levels, as well as the horses stabled here throughout the storm. >> all the animals are tucked in. these are mine. as you can see, he's in his dry shelter. she doesn't care. >> some of these stables back right up to the san lorenzo. evacuation plans are ready if needed, but bull is hoping it doesn't get to that point. >> when you move them to a different circumstances, you're taking them into new things. they're going to call out. they get nervous. some don't handle the situations very well. so it's a last thing we really want to do. >> the community has been through this before and they're confident that they can make it through again. >> it's going to rain a lot tonight, but i think everything's draining properly. i think we'll be okay. wishful thinking? >> yes. wishful thinking for sure. and now the rain will continue into tomorrow throughout santa cruz county. and that's when the focus of the most damage and storm related risk will be on the coastline, with high wave events being expected. but for now, all is

calm here in felton grove. live dustin dorsey, abc seven news. >> all right, dustin, thank you so much. in the east bay, the storm has impacted traffic all day and not just the roadways. flooding along the waterways is concern as well. abc seven news reporter anser hassan joins us live from oakland with more on. >> good evening. the rain has started to pick up just a short while ago. behind me you can see crews worked all day trying to open up shepherd canyon road, which was closed in both directions due to flooding. as you mentioned, all day, flooding has been a problem for drivers throughout the east bay. late morning crews were able to open the connector ramp from southbound 680 to westbound 580 in dublin. it was shut down during the morning commute due to flooding. >> the heavy rain causes debris to move over the roadway and then over the drains, which causes the flooding. >> kylie musselman with hayward chp, says early morning flooding also impacted traffic near strowbridge on 580 in castro valley. she says it's important

that drivers adjust their driving habits accordingly. >> they think, oh, it's raining and rain causes crashes. rain doesn't cause the crashes. people not addressing their driving habits to the rain is what causes crashes. >> musselman says the biggest problem they see is people driving too fast on wet roads. another big issue when drivers don't turn on their headlights. >> it's not so that you can see. it's so that other people can see you. so on a gray day, a vehicle behind me, a gray vehicle with no lights on in the rain. it's really, really hard to see that vehicle. >> from roadways to waterways. a flood advisory was issued for alameda creek. the creek flows behind everett bender's house in union city. he isn't too concerned about the flooding in his area, but understands the risks. >> i do look over the fence sometimes. that is a creek and that's what it's for. as i suppose a spillway or overflow or some overflow. >> in oakland, crews were busy removing several fallen trees. this massive 40 year old pine tree fell blocking skyline boulevard. fire officials say

many of these big trees are at the end of their life, and strong gusts of wind and rain are enough to knock them down. >> these 40 year old monterey pines. they are dropping. we've had them drop a number of times over the last couple of weeks. we want people to be prepared with a go bag. just be ready to go. and for residents up here in the oakland hills, when these trees do block the roadway, we do have concerns. there's one way in and one way out and some of these neighborhoods. >> the one thing we consistently hear from chp, from police, from fire. do not drive your car through standing water. one you don't know how deep it is. two you don't know what's inside, which could damage your vehicle. reporting live anser hassan abc seven news. >> all right. thanks very much. check out the rain and the wind from gold ridge organic farm in sebastopol earlier today. just last week, the storm conditions in sonoma county claimed the lives of two people, caused landslides and led to several water rescues. abc seven news reporter suzanne fawn is in

sebastopol tonight. joins us live with the effects of today's storm. suzanne. >> so, dan. >> it is wet out here in particularly windy. emergency crews are worried about that, leading to trees toppling onto power lines and people. heavy downpours drenching the region again. downtown sebastopol this afternoon hit hard by sheets of rain. that means ponding water on roads and a reason for drivers to hold on to that steering wheel a lot tighter. here's how it looked in forestville. authorities remind drivers again and again if you see flooded signs or road closed signs, don't go around them. don't do what this pickup driver did on green valley road today. the water went over the truck's hubcaps and tickled the bottom of his bumper. he stalled for a bit, but then managed to keep on going. >> we can't emphasize enough how dangerous it is. we have had people die in each one of these storms. last week was pretty crazy for us. we ended up having

about 10 or 11 swift water rescues, so our crews actually going into the water for people that drove in. >> the drenching rain, the thunderstorms, the strong, gusty winds are all reasons why emergency crews have staffed up. authorities are worried more trees could come crashing down, and they're worried about the possibility of more landslides. >> the sheriff's department, in coordination with our police department, does have a number of evacuation warnings in place, and sonoma county has redtagged a couple of homes. >> during a major storm last week. a massive landslide in the deer trail area of rincon valley. it sent mud into the side of a home just yesterday. a drone captured this photo of another big risk. authorities are closely monitoring. >> yeah, so there has been some additional land movement in that area. there was a new fissure that was developed adjacent to the original slide. the city of santa rosa has been in communication with the property owner. >> and here's another reminder

why you should not go around those flooded signs or the road closed signs. sonoma county fire district tells me that if the chp comes out after you go around those signs, you could face a hefty fine and you could get two points added to your record. live in sebastopol tonight. suzanne vaughn, abc seven news. >> okay, suzanne, thank you for that info. now to developing news, a series of small earthquakes today along the hayward fault. the latest one was recorded just minutes ago. a 2.5 magnitude quake happened about three miles west of pleasant hill. earlier today, a magnitude 3.7 tremor hit just before two this afternoon. the u.s. geological survey says it happened about a mile from hayward. in all, there were six earthquakes in that area today. the others range from magnitude 1.9 to 3.3. >> and likely there will be more to. well still ahead. poor financial management in oakland worth at least $8 million. where the money was found and what it means for the city's recently closed fire stations. >> plus, kicking off nba all-star weekend all around the

bay area, we're going to show you the various events held today to prepare for the visitors and stars. abc

>> a really stunning admission from oakland today. the city facing a $129 million budget deficit. just found nearly $8 million of extra money. >> and city leaders say there could be more where that came from. abc seven news reporter louis pena explains that good news could be a bad sign about how the city's finances have been managed. >> a shocking discovery for a city facing a $129 million budget deficit. millions of dollars of excess funds found after oakland city officials made deep cuts to services, including closing multiple fire stations. this year. >> we've had fires where it took nearly 20 minutes for the entirety of the engines and trucks to get there. we've had

cpr calls where the closest firehouse was nowhere near. >> today, three oakland council members announced a proposal to use this discovered money and reopen closed fire stations and prevent the closure of four others. how much money was your team able to find and where is this money coming from? >> it's been a it's approximately $8 million. and i say that because there's a couple of dollars and cents that might have to move around, but it is ballpark $8 million, and it's come from a number of places. but the biggest source of funding that it's coming from is the coliseum jpa. >> the oakland coliseum fund is about $2.6 million. the rest of the money is coming from the city's self-insurance liability fund and measure b, a local transportation sales tax fund. but how did this happen? we questioned the city's new finance committee chair. >> this is a few years of my opinion. poor fiscal decisions. >> seth olear, vice president of

the oakland firefighters local 55 union, has been urging the city to find solutions. does it concern you that the first type of approach was to close fire stations, instead of actually looking for these funds to begin with? >> 100%. and that's something we've been saying all along. >> these findings could be just the tip of the iceberg. is there more money that could potentially be there that. i'm sure people in oakland don't even know exists? >> i believe so. >> in oakland, luz pena, abc seven news. >> we'll keep a very close eye on that. of course. now coming up, we're continuing to track the rain and the wind. speaking of keeping a close eye on something, we'll check back in with abc seven news meteorologist sandhya

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news reporter zach fuentes is tracking those for us and is here with more. zach. >> hey, the stormy weather did not stop any of these festivities from happening, starting with the nba all star ribbon cutting. now that event was held indoors today and you can tell why. launches nba all star themed pop up stores along powell street between market street and union square. and over at union square, custom basketball court has been designed and every powell street cable car is going to have nba all star branding throughout the weekend. now, the setup for the game itself is kicked into high gear over at chase center. there's not just a mini tournament on sunday. the festivities actually get going on friday night. that's when the celebrity game, as well as the rising stars game will be held. the dunk contest, three-point shootout and skills competition are on saturday night, and earlier today we did get an update on the security preparations. so you can imagine it's all hands on deck for the san francisco police department. >> we are ready and we are extremely excited for this weekend. we've been planning for this for a very long time, and

we plan to show the world what a beautiful city we have. as far as the san francisco police department, as the mayor has pointed out, we will be fully staffed. >> all right. now take a look at the lines outside of this union square foot locker. those people lining up for the heart of sneakers, and the people heading to that event have the chance to see some nba stars. and there's also exclusive sneaker drops, games and giveaways. so definitely no surprise that there were lines there. and of course, lots of people are expected to be in town for nba all star weekend. and we welcome them. all right now live in studio zach fuentes, abc seven news. >> we sure do. glad they are here. zach, thanks so much. now for much more on the nba all-star festivities. we have got you covered. just go to abc seven news.com for times details and how to watch the weekend events. >> yes. all right. back now to storm. watch as we get another check on that weather. >> yeah. meteorologist sandhya patel is following the intense storm today. and what's to come sandy? >> yeah, it's been a strong level three with an atmospheric river. dan and ama. and we're

not completely done with this yet. take a look at this live picture from our mount tam cam. it pretty much shows you what we've been dealing with. strong gusty winds, rain coming down, flooding on the roadways. we've seen some mud and debris flows as well. looking at the wider perspective here, there have been thunderstorms across portions of california. there was a squall line down in southern california where they had a severe thunderstorm warning. it's still going until 530. so looking at our region here, we do have some wet weather to talk about. let me get you into street level radar right around morgan hill highway 101. if you are traveling across this region, monterey road, cochrane road, watch out. some parts of morgan hill received about four inches plus of rain in the last 24 hours. 680 across for into bay point. it is going to be tough to get around as it is wet out there. a number of watches, warnings and advisories covering the entire bay area. the watch in effect until 10:00 saturday. high wind warnings going for the coast and san

francisco. wind advisories elsewhere until 10 a.m. tomorrow. those gusty winds could take down some more trees and some power lines, so be aware of it. some more power outages are possible. here's a look at the wider perspective. we're going to go with some wet weather through the night. the sierra is seeing snow chain controls on all roads leading up to the mountains. winter storm warning until 10 p.m. tomorrow. above 4500ft. when all is said and done. 2 to 5ft of snow above 6000. let's check out our rain totals. it has been impressive. ben loman picking up over five inches of rain. i mean, you're closing in on six inches there. 1.7 san francisco over two inches san rafael, santa rosa, napa, oakland. almost an inch and a half. san jose 1.4. you will notice heading out towards livermore and concord, you're not getting quite as much, but 40/700 to about a half an inch of rain. 40 and 50 on your temperatures right now. looking at the storm impact scale through tonight. downpours at times, gusty winds, thunderstorm possibility and dangerous surf

as we go. hour by hour 6:00 tonight. still some scattered showers going into 730. you may encounter some heavier rain as we head towards 10 p.m, and then a few more showers trailing through here in the early morning hours. and then we're done with this. so let's take a look at the rainfall totals. not a whole lot more. we're expecting anywhere from a few hundredths of an inch to about a half an inch of rain. and the winds will continue to remain gusty. not as strong later on tonight, dropping off to about 30 to 33 miles an hour and then coming down some more as we head towards tomorrow morning. high surf warning is in effect until 3 a.m. saturday. right now, 12 footers at bodega bay. those breakers up to 45ft, means there is potential for some life threatening situation out there, so definitely watch from afar. 30 and 40 on your temperatures in the morning. we will have a few showers tomorrow afternoon. you're looking at the sun breaking through. highs will be in the 40s and the 50s. and here is a look at the chinese new year parade. it is actually looking good. mostly cloudy at

4:00. dry for the parade, but you will definitely need the layers. temperatures will be dropping into the low 50s later on at night. here's your accuweather seven day forecast. it's valentine's day and tomorrow after some early showers. you're good. dry for the parade. morning. chance of showers sunday in the north bay and then later next week we'll go with milder weather with a chance of showers on wednesday ama and dan. >> we are so excited to bring the parade here on abc seven and so relieved it's not going to rain. >> i know it's like perfect timing. >> yeah. >> thank you. >> all right. still ahead oakland native damian lillard is in town for the nba all-star festivities. we're going to tell you what he did today to help more east bay students reach higher with the way that pg&e handled the wildfires. yeah. yeah. i totally, totally understand. we're adding a ton of sensors. as soon as something comes in contact with the power line,

it'll turn off so that there's not a risk that it's gonna fall to the ground and start a fire. okay. and i want you to be able to feel the improvements. we've been able to reduce wildfire risk from our equipment by over 90%. that's something i want to believe. [skateboard sounds]

>> and a reminder you can get our live newscasts, breaking news, weather and more with our abc seven bay area streaming tv app. just search abc seven bay area and download it when you have a moment. >> it's dame time for more than a dozen east bay high school seniors. >> yesterday, nine time nba all-star damian lillard returned to his ama mater, oakland high school, to announce a new

scholarship program. the damian lillard scholars program is a partnership with portland state university and is available to students graduating from nine east bay high schools. >> i just look forward to this continuing to grow and, you know, become a bigger and bigger thing and reaching back and being able to touch and help as many as i can. so it's always love for me, for oakland, being from oakland and doing as much as i can for oakland. >> and so far, 15 applicants have been admitted to portland state with the $25,000 per year scholarship. six of those applicants are from oakland high school and joined lillard during today's announcement. >> that is so cool. that is awesome for him to do. yeah, awesome. >> good luck to those young people. all right. there is much more news ahead. >> let's get to abc seven news anchor zach fuentes for a look at the stories that are coming up at 530. zach. >> yeah. thanks, dan. and we are continuing to track the impacts of the storm we've all been experiencing. we're going to check in with our live crews in

the field and have an extended update with meteorologist sandhya patel for the latest. plus, a big weekend is ahead of us once we get through this storm. and inside, look at the food taking center stage as part of this year's chinese new year parade. so join us for those stories and more at 530 on abc seven bay area streaming tv. >> we like the food. >> yes. and you can download the abc seven app or head to abc seven news.com and join them in two minutes. >> and if you're watching here, us watching us here on tv. world news tonight with david muir is next for sandhya patel all of us. we appreciate your time. i'm dan. >> ashley and i'm ama daetz. we'll see you again at six.

>> david: tonight, breaking news as we come on the air. sources telling abc news mass firings are now under way at multiple federal agencies. also at this hour, this third major winter storm this week already hitting tonight, from the west, all the way to the northeast again. massive pileups already in blinding snow. first tonight, this breaking news as we come on.