good morning. i'm christie smith. remember the rain that we have been talking about sn it's here. we will give you a first look in a live report >> jar pan raises the reverity level as the country reaches out to the u.s. for help. what japanese leaders say they desperately need. seismic safety will will your home with stand the next big 1 and how much will it cost to fix it sn it's raining, but it's also friday. march 18th, today in the east bay.

blap. >> good morning, everyone. it's 4:30. let's start with an east bay forecast. good morning >> good morning to you, scott. we have so much action happening in time for the morning commute and a lot of it is pushing into the east bay. i want to point a couple things out. we don't j just have the green. see the isolated thunderstorms already. it's early and we will see an active weather day. you want to plan on plenty of time to reach your destination. the north sba getting hit the hardest. we have reported all over the bay area tracking the storm. we will continue to do so throughout the morning >> one reporter is christie smith. she in marin county. good morning, christie.

it's just that wet for her. are you there . >> it wasn't raining when we got here and i thought this was my luckiy day. things change and we are along 101 in marin county near lucky drive. often times you see cars going through down the road and they hit these big puddles and you see these big, big puddles. we came up 880 and the entire way along the east bay it was totally pouring this morning. here in marin it's not as bad as it was in the east bay. we are going to see creek swell and river swell. also we are going to see big

surf. i have called into the chp to see if they are increasing patrols with all this weather we are going have. as soon as i hear from them, i will bring that to you. christie shith, today in the east bay. >> once again drawing the short straw. there is just that one straw. >> that's exactly it. i can't run the computers from out of the studios. they are operating near the speed limit. out towards the carquinas and benicia bridges, we are watching a lot of folks out area into the north bay because of get away traffic. storms that we are talking about that we are seeing and that will affect your drive at this time sierra. oakland shows you 880. she got hit with the rain really hard. water picking up off the

roadway. use caution into friday. focus on the day before you think about the weekend >> the latest in japan, the country's nuclear safety agency raised the severity rateing for level four to level five on a seve seven-level scale. level five is having wider than local consequences. the country reaching out to the u.s. for help in stabilizing the overheated nuclear plants military fire trucks sprayed with water to try to prevent fuel from overheating and spewing dangerous radiation. relief workers held a moment of silence at the exact time the earthquake hit the country a week ago. as you can hear in several towns

a i siren sounded. much of what was spared by the earthquake was wrecked by the tsunami. the death toll reeached 6500. foreigners lining up for flights out of the country. the u.s. advised americans living in japan to leave due to radiation from the plant. radiation concerns traveled across the pacific to the bay area. many people wonderinging what risk we face. trekking impacts from japan, one d dis-persian models show alaska, but you could get more radiation at home from things you use every day. today in the east bay, cheryl is in walnut creek to explain >> what i learned was

mind-blowing. it comes from a noted doctor here in the bay area. >> there is no danger of radiation coming this far. >> bill knows about radiation. >> airline crew members get 10 times flying day in and day out. the worst that can come over is like 1/100 of 1%. >> she an inventor and talk radio host who said no one here will get sick from the radiation that may make it here to the bay area. >> they said they measured increased rates in tokyo. the increased rate they mentioned is less than what you get if you are leaning over your granite countertop. granite is naturally radioactive. >> radiation is a foreign word because a lot of people don't understand what it is. he said radiation is like a wood stove. people should treat it that way. >>. >> you feel the radiation at a

distance, but if you want to put your head in, it will kill you. >> researchers fired up devices to take air samples to see if it will show up here. >> we have been told that the first air that would reach the west coast would happen sometime tonight. we expect the amounts if any to be very, very low. >> still people should continue to educate themselves about radiation and not lose sight of the catastrophy in japan. >> the tragedy is the half million people who lost everything. more people will die of exposure before this is over with than will die from radiation. >> the doctor said people should be alert, but not panic. in walnut creek, today in the bay. >> a fund-raiser held at the buddhist church raised more than

$31,000 for the victims of the earthquake and tsunami. jesse pell grin brought his wife, son, and mother-in-law to san jose where they have family. their home is in japan 150 miles from the puck shim is nuclear plant. their minds are still on the loved ones back home. >> i have a friend in a shelter. she hasn't been able to change her sanitary stuff since the earthquake. people haven't brushed their teeth. >> what are do you think they will see? >> japan always comes through. >> resilient. >> i guess that's the word. i'm not there. >> there is going to be a donation drop off in front of the buddhist church in japan town tonight. people will be there between

5:00 and 7:00. the address is on your screen. >> several groups in oakland want pg&e to end use of nuclear power and want to fast track a local clean energy program. they'll hold vigil at 5:00 in downtown oakland to show support for the people of japan. two power plants in california sit on fault lines next to the ocean and senators dianne feinstein and barbara boxer are demanding that the regulatory commission reinspect the safety of the reactors immediately. let's check in with christina and a rainy weekend ahead. good morning. >> good morning. yes. we are going to see two very powerful storms as we head through the next 72 hours one is pushing in now and another one on sunday. we will not have a lot of time dry out in between systems we are tracking thunderstorms this morning. take a look at the system into northern california

you see the realtime lightning strikes. that's headed our way. the front has not even arrive and look at the action pushing on shore. you see the pockets of yellow and red. if you get caught up with one, you could see heavy downpours and thunderstorms. heavy downpours as well as 53-sized hail and gusty winds you want to plan on leaving early. take a look at what's headed our way. this is the front. it arrives by 9:00 a.m. we will tell you what we are expecting besides a lot of rain coming up. you have to get to work on time. how does it look? >> we are talking about that same area that you showed. the rain showers coming through the area. livermore where we have overnight showers, we had problems on the westbound commute. 580. we are hoping for no repeat through the area. wet roads could be an issue for

folks through the east bay. antioch through 70 is the best you will see all day. we will see the slowing at about 5:30 there. over towards the bay bridge. except for the wet conditions and that's nothing to sneeze at. where the volume is light and you see that sheen on the roadway and the puddling in the parking lot and the slick conditions watch that and across the bridge, you may get slick conditions from time to time >> coming up, found ark live. the 10 children who survived japan's disaster and the bay area connection that really hits home. how will your homes with stand the next one? close to half of homes in the bay area not seismically safe. find out if yours is on the list. highlights of the ncaa tournament as day two gets started today. you are looking at pictures of oakland. it is 4:41.

it is 4:44. you are looking at a picture of the bay bridge. rainy again we will check in with christina and mike in a minute.

students with ties to a school in sendai. they visit them in japan and they feared the worst. until they got an e-mail saying all of their school friends survived. it's a relief, but the teacher gets emotional thinking about the road ahead for his colleagues and friends. >> the teacher said it's a miracle. >> the teachers are asking for uniform and book donations so students can get back to school. students are supposed to visit and canceled their trip to japan and are raising money to help victims. >> whenever a large earthquake is in the movie. are we prepared? if you think your house will be standing, think again

many homes are not seismically safe. >> when it comes to the nuts and bolts of seismic safety -- >> the uplift will be at the end of the panels. >> james gillette has it down. >> he has been retro fitting homes for more than 30 years. >> it works in a lateral direction up above. >> business is steady, he estimates 50% of bay area homes don't stand a chance when the big one hits. >> a surprisingly small number of homes in the san francisco bay area will resist major long duration earthquake forces. >> he said if your home was built before the mid-1980s, it probably can use some retro fitting. there certain homes at the greatest risk for collapse apartments and condos built over

parking or storefront, the so-called soft story buildings. wood frame homes built before 1970, mobile homes, and unreinforced homes. >> the average job is $8,000 to $10,000. >> for the family who lives here, the cost of keeping this house up right is priceless. today in the east bay. >> experts say get at least three quotes and many cities have grants and funding to help you pay for that project. >> impacted by the quake, toyota and honda the most. it could take months to recover. for more, let's go to nicole. >> good morning, scott. great to see you. higher this morning ahead of the u.s. open. marks are being boosted by a big deal agreed to by the big

central bankers to intervene or pump money into the kurpsy markets. the effort is aimed at the sliding yen and propping up or stabilizing japan's economy. the nikkei was up about 3%. european markets are higher across the board. oil on the rise as well above $103 a barrel. this is after they voted to impose a no-fly zone and take all necessary measures to protect civilians. u.s. markets are higher due to positive economic news. rising 161 points to 11,774. the nasdaq also added 19 to 2636. more and more companies are ending about supply disruptions from japan the nba learned that honda said it's not even sure when full production at the domestic plants will begin before may.

honda stopped taking orders for several models. the acura and rl. gm is shutting down the plant due to parts and shortages. this was the pickup truck specifically and at that plant in louisiana. get ready to shell out more for the cup of joe. kraft is raising prices on the coffee brants for abods. that comes to 6 cents and yes i am counting on this early morning shift. it comes with coffee futures soared this month to protect this stuff. it's gold. keep it away from christina. give her a little bit. >> a tiny bit. speaking of christina, she joins

us with weather >> good morning. you want to be alert this morning before you hit the highway. look at what's happening to the bay area. we are getting pounded by heavy rain and the front, the major rain hasn't even arrived yet. we have two sides to the system we are on the unstable side. as a result we have a lot of lightning firing offshore. some of those are pushing inland to the north bay. as we head throughout the morning hours, we will see the activity increase you will probably have to drive through these pockets on wait to work. we showed you where christie smith is and a major storm just went through. we had really heavy rain coming down in the rate of 2.5 inches per hour. that's 2 1/2 inches an hour, enough for flooding and definitely enough for dangerous driving conditions. as we warm up, the atmosphere

will be unstable andy we'll see more and more thunderstorms associated we could see very, very gusty winds with gusts in excess of 40 miles per hour and pea-sized hail is probable. the front has not even arrived yet. it will arrive by about 9:00 a.m. when it will get very active. as you know, it's raining relentsly this week. grounds are saturated and flooding is possible. with the strong winds, we could see downed trees. the front pushes into the major portion of the greater portion of the bay area and san francisco with heavy rain and concord and fairfield. pushing to the south and the south bay will see the least amount of rain as we head throughout the day today. cloudy and breeze we on and off thunderstorms. 62 degrees in san jose. we are talking about four inches of rain in the heavy spots in

the north bay. possibly one inch in the south bay, enough to cause localized flooding and the east bay and peninsula like an inch and a half. if the front stalls, we could see a dangerous situation. reporters located all over the bay area. we will show you how it impacts your drive all morning. let's find out how it impacts your drive right now with mike. i guess we send it back to you. >> we will talk about day two of the ncaa tournament in a few hours, but it's not the only game in town. cal, usf and santa clara and cal plays at colorado in the nit and the college tournament, santa clara plays air force and usf plays hawaii tomorrow. stanford women start the run tomorrow afternoon. it's a matchup of the only two

northern california teams in the ncaa women's tournament. they host uc davis people talking about day one of the men's tournament sure to be a topic of a buzzer beater. all tied up with old dominion to help butler advance. there also upsets the biggest of the day, moorhead state, they took down number four-ranked, louisville for the upset. as we said, our morning team will go head to head trying to pick the winners after one day. mike innotice picked 14 of 16 winners correctly. brent and laura copied off each other are second with 13 apiece. christina with 11 correct choices and i am luring them into my trap with nine correct. coming up, another bay area visit from president obama. when he will be back and the

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. the president will be back in the bay area for just under a month. the focus will be strengthening the nation's economy. over a month ago, president obama was in the bay to dine with some of tech's top leaders no word on who he will meet with this time. mike inouye likely one of those

people. >> president obama, you welcome at my house again. you are looking at the approach to the bay bridge. the roads with the caldecott tunnel out of lafayette, it's clear. we'll watch with two in a row. we don't want problems. the britndges coming into the north bay are okay. cameras shaking because of the wind >> charlie sheen brings his drama to the bay area where you will be able to sim h live. brent and laura after the break.