united states for help with its nuclear crisis and the crisis has been upgraded this morning. >> i'm bob redell here in san francisco where we are just under an hour away from the telethon to help the people in japan. we will talk about the most important digits that will save lives. >> good morning. i'm christie smith live in marin county. remember the rain and wind that we said would be coming? it's here. we will give you a first look in a live report. >> we will tell you when it will reach you. it's friday, march 18th, this is today in the bay. >> good friday morning. it's 6:00 >> let's get to the forecast with christina. >> definitely not the way you

want to wake up on a friday, but when you consider what happened last friday, the storms are not all that bad in perspective. we have a lot of lightning coming down and it's starting to subside a little bit we are entering into the coolest part of the day. just before sunrise. now that we went into the time change it's about 7:15. as we head through the next couple of hours, we will see less in terms of the lightning you need the warmth for the thunderstorms to kick up the lightning. through the morning hours, the main portion of this front arrives in the north bay at about 9:00 a.m. we are expecting possibly widespread thunderstorm activity across the bay area today. a really unstable air mass is setting up and it's already producing strong cells san bruno getting hit hard and we have good rain. if it's not raining now, get

ready. it's coming. >> good morning to you. it is raining now. i tell you, you were talking about the coolest part of the day and i think we are feeling it. it is cold and wet and windy. we are here in marin county along the 101. kind of keeping an eye on drivers this morning. watching the drivers who seem to have gotten the message before hitting the deep puddles and ponding they are making a huge splash. we are expecting the high tide, thunder and wind. we are getting the wet and wind and have been for a couple of hours. a good resource for this area in particular. i was looking at marin sheriff.org. they have listings for all of the sandbag locations in the county from belvedere to tiberon. i spoke with the chp and they were telling me that slippery signs were up early on highway 17. signs of a strong storm.

they tell me they won't actually be adding extra officers what they do in these situation when is the weather gets like this is that often times they will pull people who work behind the desk and get them out there patrolling and making sure that people stay safe on the road. for more on how the roads are looking this morning, i will turn it over to mike inouye. >> you caught me with my hand over my mouth. no new incident, but the map shows where she is. the 57 is at lucky drive. that's a spot where we hear reports of flooding and you saw the huge splashs of cars went through the puddles. watch 101. crossing over the bridge, maybe gusty winds and over the maze. the approach with no major issues because of a lighter volume, but the roads are still a factor. a live look with oakland and wet conditions the camera is shaking and we have a crew with the flashing lights. off the roadway and likely a

maintenance crew traveling over. not showing incidents for the nimitz. >> jar pan is reaching out for help with the nuclear crisis. >> japanese officials have raised the level of the accident on the international nuclear event scale from a 4 to a 5. the scale ranges between 1-7 with 7 being the worst. to put it in perspective, the disaster in japan is the same level as the accident on three-mile island in pennsylvania in 1979. the increase is not because things are getting worse. they say it's because they under estimated it in the first place. military trucks continue to prevent fuel rods from overheating and spewing radiation. emergency crews face a couple of challenges one is cooling the reactors where the energy is generated and the other is cooling the pools of water where the used nuclear fuel rods are stored. since last week's massive quake and tsunami, four of the six

units at the plant have seen fires, explosions or partial melt downs a trace amount of radiation has hit the west coast of the united states, but experts say you will be exposed to less radiations than if you fly. granite countertops emit more than you would be exposed to from japan. >> the death toll rises as 6500 people are confirmed dead. more than 10,000 people are reported missing. 450,000 people are now homeless because of the quake and tsunami. one million homes in japan still have no water and more than 340,000 homes still do not have electricity. people in japan held a moment of silence this morning at the moment the quake struck last week. marines are helping to clear snow so planes carrying aid can get to the people who need it.

u.s. troops were receiving anti-radiation pills before they leave on the meigs helicopters are helping with search and rescue and relief experts >> people are helping in whatever way they can. nbc bay area will host a drive to money for the japanese relief effort. bob redell is live in san francisco's japan town with details on how you can make a difference and it gets under way later today. bob? >> reporter: nbc bay area and comcast teaming up with the community center here at the location in japan in san francisco. a telethon will be starting in just under an hour at 7:00. the phones will be manned by volunteers from 7:00 until midnight tonight, taking your phone calls and asking for donations to help the people who are suffering overseas. good morning to you. what kine of support or willingness to help are you seeing so far?

>> there has been a tre moendous outpouring of people wanting to donate money and come and volunteer. people also want to donate clothing and household items. at this time we cannot take that. we are only taking monetary donations at this point. >> i understand you learn through kobe it was more efficient to send them cash. >> absolutely. it was a difficult campaign to try to get all the supplies organized and rent the containers to ship over there. it was a much longer process. giving them cash donations definitely helps >> 100% of the money? >> going to the national ymca programs in japan. they are the ones who are purchasing the supplies and getting them to the affected area. >> they are waiving all fees? >> they are waiving all admin fees as well as the network. >> thank you very much. for you at home, i want to give you the phone number

you can call the phones at 7:00 this morning. that phone number is 415-529-1322. we will be talking donations from 7:00 to midnight tonight we will be cutting in to programming internittently to remind you. if you are in the south bay and japan town and san jose between 5:00 and 7:00 tonight, the buddhist church at 6:40 north fifth street. they will also be taking donations. if you can help out, help out by calling here in san francisco or showing up in san jose's japan town. live in san francisco, bob redell today in the bay. >> lots of folks are helping out. mike was there. thanks a lot, bob >> this morn an alleged child molester is in custody following months of investigative work. former custodian andre edwards was arrested on two felony counts of allegations he groped a female student while he was a

custodian he is held on a $200,000 bail and will be arraigned in. court later today. >> i tax on cabdrivers could be on the rise after someone robbed a taxi driver at gunpoint. it's the second cab hit this week. he pulled over to the side of the road yesterday when the gunman came to his window and demanded money he drove off in a black two-door lexus >> final preparations for the start of barry bond's perjury trial set to start on monday. lawyers and the federal judge have been ironing out details all week. the judge ruled that the jury will not hear angry voice mails that bonds left his mistress while they were together. prosecutors wanted to use them to show he experienced what they call roadway rage. the judge ruled that the voice mails were not relevant to the charges.

powerful storms coming through and some folks get violent weather. >> for will get worse before it gets better. the main front has not arrived this is prefrontal precipitation and we have strong storms as a very, very cold and dry air mass colliding with a warmer and a cold moist air mass collides with the dry air mass. the two creating a lot of instability. we have the pop up thunderstorms that are more and more frequent the lightning we are not seeing much of, but when the main portion of this arrives we have a strong cell and we are keeping our eye on this one in the north bay. situated right over wood acre and rain in excess of two inches per hour. in you get caught up in a cell, the flooding is very, very

strong the front arrives at about 9:00 a.m. as you can see, we are on the leading edge here. all this cold air into saturday and it will be very, very cold and showery tomorrow. behind the system, we have another pulse. that will bring us heavy rain for sunday. this is not a good weekend. very cold showers will push in. we head through tomorrow afternoon and then the main portion of the next storm arrives sunday night into monday morning. this is another strong one. we will not have a lost time to dry out flooding is probable. you want to clear the storm drains and all that debris and make it a little easy or yourself as we head through the next few days rain in the forecast through tuesday and more rain wednesday, thursday, friday, as the jet stream dipped bringing the storm track into the bay area. let me step out of the way. as you can see, we are seeing improvement as the temperatures drop. it's not warm enough for the

thunderstorms to be substantial. when the sun comes out in about an hour, we are going to see the warming and widespread thunderstorm activity is possible today. 9:00 a.m., the front arrives in the north bay, pushing into the south bay and the east bay as we head to the remainder of the day, possibly picking up four inches of rain in the areas that see the heavy thunderstorm cells we will talk about it all morning. thank goodness we have mike inouye to get you to work on time >> that are means i am to thank and to blame. i will not take the other side of that. we will look to antioch. the 53 and the 49 showing up through antioch and pay buoyant. no major issues. despite the rain that has been continuing through the area and mother north, we will look further south for an area that had problems. 580 out of the pass moving smoothly. speeds starting to dip. speeds below 63 and with a live look at oakland, the crews with

two trucks on the side of the road. the camera is shaking be careful >> still to come, day one of the ncaa tournament is in the books. >> stanford is looking to open a new campus. >> electrics like bay to breaker won't have a swan song this teear af r all. which company is stepping in to sponsor the race. i was driving in northern california. my son was asleep.

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from insurance giant ing that bowed ought in part because of the rowdy behavior during the race, but they are cracking down this year. alcohol and floats are not allowed and registration for the race is already closed they cap off at 50,000 participants. >> talk about craziness. the madness is under way. the first round of the tournament continues today. let's take a look at the standings so far. mike is in the lead. he is a likely pick. still in the mix.

we seal how long that lasts. brent and i tie for second place. that will be an interesting household. christina in third and scott, sorry, but no surprise. >> they return it. >> how does this go as far as if i take the winner in the end. if i'm in the end, you are wrong >> that's right. >> we're have another day. >> you get more points for the higher brackets. mike will be out eventually. >> goodness. >> scott is in dead last. we will have mike in. >> based on how they're doing. based on how you are doing and how the team is doing. >> back to you. >> it won't last long. >> when are is ucla going to get their own song instead of borrowing cal's? >> they are baby bears.

>> it's confusing when they play each other. >> we had to mention the comcast spores guru. >> yeah, paul. >> he missed four games. and right now. >> right now. not you. >> we want to check in with christina not only in the brackets, but when it comes to the forecast and the rainfall amounts. >> we are talking about major flooding potential over the weekend. we have rain coming downright now. it is heavy already. wait until i show you how much rain we are expecting maybe even in the south bay. overall accumulations up to four inches. that's right. definitely something we are not accustomed to. let me show you where the

showers are right now. what about the heaviest? a cell pushing towards oakland and heavy rain up there. we have been watching the yellows and reds all morning long those are heavy downpours over your morning commute. throughout the afternoon, things will change from wet and rainy and stormy conditions to very cold, cold showery conditions as we head throughout the afternoon. let's talk about the timing of this front. right now we are ahead and seeing the precipitation and an unstable air mass as it continues to push through, you see the bulk of the moisture, that's coming towards us. by 9:00 a.m., it sets up over santa rosa making for heavy rain. by 11:00 a.m., they are talking about a strong line of storms between fairfield and redwood city. ahead of the front, it will push through and we will see very

windy conditions as well. you want to go ahead and tie down loose objects in the back yard they are concerned about. take a look at this. as we head through the weekend, a stronger round of rain comes in through second and that make for very heavy totals. it could end up in the three to four inch range. the ponding will not have a chance to dry out before the next round of rain comes in. then we are expecting heads of rain all the way throughout monday a bit of a break tuesday, but the dip in the jet stream is breaking for a very wet pattern that will bring us rainfall throughout the next week. the first day of spring is monday and the equinox is at 4:21, but it will still feel like winter. >> hanging on. >> 6:20 and coming up, live in

santa cruz where high surf is pounding the area hit hard by the tsunami. >> the cheap way to get movie tickets is a huge boom for groupon. >> getting set for highway 24, a problem spot looking okay now, but the bay area getting hit hard with the rain and the wi a i will let you know where the trouble spots of developing on the morning commute. bl

good morning. a live look outside. 880 through oakland you can see the congestion picking up. we are not seeing friday light. in addition that, lots of roads are just wet and getting pounded. we want to check in with mike for the latest conditions >> it is friday, but laura was speechless. this means through oakland where you show the congestion, but certainly a little closer and using caution on the wet roadways. you sought cameras shaking and the toll plaza, i know major issues when you get there except for the puddles approaching the toll plaza and no metering lights yet, but they should be turned on any minute even on friday light, they are turning on. likely because of the continues through the area. we will jump south to carmel by the sea. continues over there are such that they had to close highway 1 south if are heading to big sur

use 101 if that is your destination a reroute and you are okay getting to carmel and monterey. that is okay, but over the mountains, they activated the signs and letting you know about heavy rain at times through the south bay. christina warns you as well. that will be a factor through san jose and the vicinity. look at the big puddles and no reports of flooding yet. back to you. >> thank you very much. scott mcgrew said to expect long lines for the lincoln boy this weekend. >> it could be because group on is selling discounted tickets. you take santa cruz, 8,000 tickets were sold on santa cruz's groupon site for the movie. i have no idea how many theater seats are there, but that's got to be close to a sell out. it will be interesting to watch if the lincoln lawyer starring matthew conaughey becomes the

number one movie. if so, you will see a lot of hollywood teaming up with groupon back to you. >> thank you very much. >> you have anything on "new york times"? >> i do. i can talk about that. i thought our producer was trying to cut time out. let's talk about the times they put it behind a pay wall. this is a huge experiment. some of the content you will have to pay for. it's a complicated arrangement where you get about 20 visits per month. unless you are coming from facebook or twitter or google, they try to strike that balance between having the free content advertising against it and still charge money so that they are making money that way. it's a giant experiment and it doesn't start until next week. we will have to see if it works they have to do something. they are desperate. >> start to write stories and

then he said. >> not a bad idea. >> 6:26 and still to come, the radioactive plume from japan arrives on the west coast, but you shouldn't be worried. >> people are rushing to buy a supplement that is supposed to keep you safe, but what health experts say you should do. and one week after it is hit by the tsunami surge, the santa cruz harbor is getting back on their feet. will mother nature throw another curveball? the live report is coming up.

coming up on today in the bay, workers think they are getting close to japan's nuclear plants. and the santa cruz harbor

week after that tsunami surge is in recovery mode, but they will suffer another set back for the weekend's expected storm. i'm marla tellez >> good morning. i'm christie smith. hold on tight to your steering wheel. it is wet, wild, and windy and this is just the start we will have a live look coming up. >> and a live look outside from the south bay. starting to see a little bit of moisture there as well. it is friday, march 18th today in the bi. >> let's check that forecast with christina. >> good morning to you. take a look at the radar. it's lit up all morning long we are noticing less in terms of the yellows and the reds and the oranges, indicating heavy

rainfall we had thunderstorms push onshore earlier this morning. what's happen suggest we are entering into the coolest point of the day and thunderstorms need that warmth to develop. as the sun comes up at about 7:15, we will see the warm upstart. as you can see, good rainfall between santa rosa and san francisco. the south bay not getting hit that hard. that will change when the front arrives and the bulk of the moisture comes through. 9:00 a.m. pushes to the south by about 11 from fairfield to redwood city. gusty winds as well. we will tell you when we will get a break and when the wet pattern will clear up. right now first let's get you to work on friday. how is it looking? >> we watch carefully as you told us about the waves of rain. we did get rainy conditions, but

the light volume keeps us at the limit. on the other side, the volume is picking up for 880 with the tail lights and the headlights, you see the fuzzy lights because of the water in the roadway and the air and the windy conditions making the camera shake. >> 6:32 right now. several bay area counties are joining and asking the white house for emergency relief after last week's tsunami surge. marla tellez is live at one of the hardest hit spots. how is the harbor recovering a week late sner. >> actually it looks like they made quite a bit of progress here. other than the winds that are beginning to pick up at this hour, all is quiet inside the harbor. it's hard to get a look at any of the damage. it's quiet in the harbor, that means it's quiet with the surrounding businesses. that is not good for the econ y economy. since the surge, the harbor has

been close and that is hurding the restaurants and other businesses here. they are hope, but parking and access is limited they are not seeing the foot traffic. the harbor remains closed and they are losing $206,000 a day. the next storm is expected to blow through here this weekend. the national weather service said a high surf advisory will take effect as of 3:00 this afternoon and that lasts until saturday night, 9:00. the waves expected to reach 13 to 16 feet along the coast. the worry is just as the harbor is getting back on their feet, the high surf will cause even more damage. already damage estimates total upwards of $25 million. overall about 100 boats were damaged by that tsunami surge last friday. 13 boats actually sunk. the folks here are hoping the obama administration will grant them the federal disaster money.

the harbor master is hoping to reopen by monday, but again much of that depends on the power and the impact of the expected storm. live in santa this morning, marla tellez, today in the bay. >> new center from japan, the government said it is overwhe overwhelmed by the scale of the triple disaster and asking for more help in dealing with the growing nuclear crisis. the severity rating of the situation has changed. it is now a 5 on a scale of 1-7. experts rated it a 4 until now. nrnls have been working all night to restore power to one of the reactors. that way they can pump more water in to cool the overheated reactors they have seen fires, explosions or partial melt downs >> 6:34 and radiation from japan is reaching southern california and moving inland this morning. health experts say it posts no

danger to the public the particles are diluted. they have stations that monitor radiation lels and none of them have detected significant increases. no one should be taking potassium iodine. they can protect people if they are exposed to radiation, but people can suffer side effects and should not take it if they do not have to. we have more on the disaster in japan in a live report from washington. you can get updates any time on our website, nbcbayarea.com. >> a powerful storm is hitting the bay area, bringing lots of gusty wind, heavy rains and lightning and maybe hail. christie smith is live in marin county this morning with a look at the conditions right nowful i know when you started off it wasn't so bad. it has been coming down hard. >> for has. it has been on and off all morning since we started at about 3:15.

raining from the east bay all the way to marin. i have to tell you that right now it's not raining. what it is is really cold and windy out here this morning. we have been keeping an eye on 101 near lucky drive. you top the slow down before you hit the major putds. this is one of the usual suspects. it creates a big splash when you drive through. i spoke with the chp about what their plans are for the weather we are going to have. they told me that they are not increasing patrols and that they could do is pull out from behind the desk if necessary. put them out on the freeways to keep people safe. another good resource i was checking into for people in marin is marin sheriff.org and they have all the locations of sandbags throughout marin county. you want to take it slow and the

rain coat and maybe a scarf and gloves too because it's cold out here. >> that's where we are watching the snow levels. >> we sure are. christina? >> we're are watching this strong system and it's actually preceded by very, very unstable air. we have thunderstorms throughout the bay area. they are starting to subside a little bit and cooling off to the coldest point of the day. as christie pointed out, the winds are picking up. we have all this moisture and a strong front pushing in and that is kicking up the winds we will see much stronger rain and more stead rain as we head throughout the day. we are still on the warm side. the disturbed side. very unstable air. as we head throughout the day, the front comes through pushing in by about 9:00 a.m. and tomorrow this very, very cold air mass pushes into the bay area and that will keep

temperatures down for tomorrow, probably going to struggle to break 54 degrees in most bay area cities. cold and wet for your saturday. right now it is certainly wet and dangerous out there for the commute this morning you want to give yourself plenty of time to reach your destination. the front to the north shaping up. this is our forecast as you can see. you have yellow and oranges embedded within here. that is very heavy rain. that is expected to push through the bay area and kick up the winds as we head throughout the morning we are expecting good rainfall all day. after that another system drops in on sunday. that will bring our rainfall totals up into the three to four-inch range as we talk about overall accumulations for the weekend. the cold air behind will bring chilly showers and snow levels down to 2,000 feet on saturday. sunday heavy periods of rain and not a good weekend for outdoor plans unfortunately and the rainy pattern continues monday,

tuesday, wednesday, and thursday with rain every day. tuesday is going to be the next dry break, but we have to wait until we get there. you want to clear the storm drains out and make sure you get to work safely and give yourself lots time do so. back to you >> you sounded like an infomercial. wait, there is more. we are watching the effect on the morning commute. highway 4 is starting to slow down because of the volume. we have the slow drive for highway 4 westbound. the 25 registering at l street. the slow spat spots are different. the 43 is at the hop here approaching the interchange. further west as we see the slow downs achl live look and the bay bridge and the metering lights turned on about six minutes ago for a friday around 6:30 is about right. they start to form into the wet lanes. watch the slippery conditions

and reports of flooding so far none. kristi is showing us heavy rains at times >> thank you very much. >> 6:39 right now. are you ready for torpedos of truth? when you get some from the tiger blooded one in person. >> seeing a little bit of water on the lens. the storm is starting to come into the south part of the area right now. we will be cheing with christina and what you can expector long. bl sizzler introduces fresh trout.

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>> this morning japan is upgradeing for a four to a five on a seven-point scale. japan is on par with three-mile island's disaster. they are trying to cool it to prevent it from over heating. tracie potts reports live from washington. the biggest danger remains in the area around the plant. >> absolutely. here's the latest. reactor three, one of those that was online at the time of the disaster, they are trying to cool it down this morning. there six japanese fire engineers and they are dousing fire on this facility to make sure it doesn't over heat and release radiation and the other big concerns are the spent fuel rods these are part of the reactors that were not online and were

containing fuel that had been used. they are partially exposed we are told, some of them only half full of water. it is the water that keeps them cool and pres them from overheating and releasing the radiation that. effort continues. as for the americans who are there, we understand as of this morning there were 600 americans who were trapped in an area north of sendai, the epicenter of the earthquake. the u.s. was sending buss to try it get them out. they were having difficulty getting to a more populated area because of the devastation there. the flights and the government flights to get people out of japan, they are only half full the military said, lots of people opting to stay. the government said the low levels of radiation through the air are not life-threatening according to the government. >> i lot of people doubting the claims. >> we want to check in with

christina. we are keeping an eye on the forecast a lot of rain through the area. >> a lot of rain and the last thing you want on a get away friday morning. we want to get you to work safely. we will show you where the showers are heading. let's start wide. here's the weather maker. big strong very well organized storm. very cold air mass behind it. this will create showery and cold conditions for saturday. right now the front is coming through. we are seeing an unstable air mass push into the bay area. we had heavy downpours and lightning in the sie vicinity off the coast here. right now san francisco is seeing good rain. oakland is getting hit hard. this is the precursor. we have a big time front on the way and that will create a steady rain dropping over the north bay for several hours, starting at about 9:00 a.m. when we expect it to push through.

ahead of the front, we will really start to see the winds pick up. will drive strong winds into the bay area. you can see this yellow and red and orange in here, that is heavy rain anticipated to really come down over the north bay and falling apart as it makes its way into the southern pe nipsula. you can see today, everybody will see a good amount of rain and we have another system into your sunday take a look at the weekend totals. you see this orange and you find it here on the key. two to five inches in the south and the east bay along the peninsula and the north bay as well. we see the highest in the north bay, but this storm system is not going to let anybody off easy we are expecting potential flooding all watt i throughout the weekend and the relentless rain continues. sunday we will see the equinox the day of equal length for day and night. 12 hours of day and 12 hours of

night. that kicks off the start of spring the first full day of spring will be monday. it's not going to feel like spring it will feel like winter. 53 degrees and a few showers. on tuesday cloudy and rain chances tuesday as well and each day next week see will see the rain. it's not letting up any time soon. i can't take it. i don't know about you. i don't like the rain. >> neither do we. we will keep an eye on that. if things were not bad enough for toit a the earthquake in japan shut down production at a number of their plans, making things worse. toyota is not the only car maker affected. we have been monitoring the situation and joins me live from texas. good to see you. talk a little bit about who shut down. i hear gm is impacted now. >> yeah. of course the japanese automakers are get

the worst. we will see a repel effect. there is parts. a lot of parts are made on the cars here in the u.s. are made in japan. toyota is taking the brunt of it. they had two plants in the quake zone and they will be shut down until tuesday. there was are losing $80 million a day. they are hurt. honda and nissan and subry were affected they are a good way away they lost thousands of cars that were headed for the united states. for us, most of the popular cars that we consider to be import cars, most of those are built here in the united states. a lot of those parts do come from japan. i think we will see shortages in cars, especially with gas prices being up and people looking at the imports. >> speebing of the gas prices,

we are see them $4 and more a gallon in the san francisco bay area. you have, for example, a cadillac behind you. how are sales of the non-hybrid cars doing these days when people are looking to save a buck on gas? >> for the people that need room, a car like this, if they buy today versus looking i few years ago, this is a big car. it will seat six adults comfortably and it's large. this car is getting 24 miles to the gallon out on the highway. if they need something this size, there is so much more fuel-efficient than a few years ago. that's true across the board. what i tell people is if you are going to trade and even if you want the same car that you are driving, but a few years newer, it will get better mileage. that's the trend since 2008. >> thanks a lot. always good to see you. >> it's 6:49 and we're about

ready to kickoff a telethon to help earthquake and tsunami survivors. we will have a live report coming up. >> scott has a new way for to you wake it is th isit is this week's gadget frid.

good morning and thanks for joining us. it's 6:52. time to check the morning commute we are talking about rain coming across the bay area. could affect your drive. >> here's mike. >> we will take you live to the toll plaza where the metering lights have been turned on for 20 minutes, but i have been fascinated by the fact that this is clearing. the back up will start to build because if we take you back out to the maps, the slowing on the

freeways and speeds in the 40s and 50s out of richmond and remryville, queueing a heavier volume and slow up the incline we will zoom over the city site as well. the slower drive on san francisco sea streets. approaching the golden gate bridge. no major accidents. it's slower there. maybe the rain affecting the folks as well. typical back up there. we will jump all wait down to carmel. highway one south of carmel by the sea. that is closed you cannot continue down fors big sur. still working on when that will reopen. it's not going to open. 101 is the route and it takes longer. carmel and monterey are okay for the welcome plans. watch the ranges coming in. highway 17 gets douse. san jose electricing like it has the slow down and 101 in typical spots. we have the big slowing and i will number japan town.

bob will tell you more and a quick check of the north bay and christie smith was reporting as well. the puddles are easing up and the rain is lighter for now. that will change. thank you very much. >> charlie sheen is bringing his live show to the bay area. the actor is bringing his show to san francisco on april 30th. tickets will go on sale tomorrow on ticket master. the so-called violent torpedo of truth show sold out in detroit and chicago. a portion of the ticket sales will be donated to victims of disaster in japan. the guy knows how to make money. >> here turned a disaster and people are tuning in and he is making money one way or the other. if you are having a tough time adjusting to daylight savings, scott as i had gadget. >> this is the sleepy week as we get used to the new time. think about it. it's like almost 6:00 a.m. it's staying light longer into the evening.

the gadget this gadget friday is the phillips wake up light. this goes on your bed side table. it's just an alarm clock, but it's gentle a half hour before you get up, it starts to glow and the sound of buries start to chirp. back here in the studio, pretend it is late at night and time for us to get up because that's when we get up. i will artificially turn it up, but as a half hour goes across, it gets brighter and brighter and the buries get louder and louder. they get angrier and angrier. it was developed in cooperation with the national slep foundation. this is the color temperature of the sun you are getting this artificial sun light and that's supposed to wake you up. you think that would be enough, but i have more. yes, this is called black blood of the earth. remember that guy that made the -- what was it called?

the thermos that would kill you? this is the same guy. i am going to walk over here and i'm going to give you what is supposed to be highly concentrated coffee. in this bottle supposedly -- try it. we will leave it here. >> it says underneath it? >> here you go, brent. >> wait. here. it says drink with caution. they called drink dirnk. the problem is -- >> $55 a liter. it's a month worth of starbucks venti in each. you tell me that after i swallow it. >> this is a total stranger making this. >> he is trying to take your job. >> there you go.

>> from fun rain yum labs. >> i'm not drinking it. they can't even spell on the label. >> i want to tell but a telethon to try to help raise money for the victims in japan. bob has the latest on that. >> this will be a nice number right here. unfortunately it's not real yet, but hopefully it will be by the end of today the japanese cultural and community center in san francisco's japantown where we and comcast have teamed up with them to start a telethon that should be kicking off in a few machines. you look at the images that they have set up next to the phone bank and you read about things on line and in the newspapers we have seen the images and we know the need is there. i want to interrupt. here's a volunteer who is on the phone what are you going to say to people who are trying to pinch pennies? we have a couple of success they may be hesitant to donate.

>> we're appreciate whatever you can do. a lot of people are suffering. >> we are going to have to run. we are out of time. >> the phone number is on the screen. please participate.