bracing for impact. the sandbags are out and the rain preparations are in full force this morning. we have team coverage to get you out the door safely. "today in the bay" starts right now. good thursday morning. thank you very much for joining us, i'm sam brock. >> are we ready to get soggy? i'm laura garcia-cannon. it's a storm we've been talking about for days and for parts of the bay area it's already here. a live look at the santa cruz mountains, rain already coming down, and there's more of where that came from. >> we'll have more on the impact the loma fire might have on debris flows. first, our microclimate weather team is tracking the storm right now. let's check with kari hall. >> we'll see it moving into the

north bay first. we're already seeing the rain coming down. it will get heavier as we go into the later morning hours and early afternoon. you can see now where that rain is pouring in northern sonoma county and moving towards santa rosa at this point and some light rain just south of there. it's already making the ground wet, and we will have the potential for some street flooding as this continues to move slowly to the south. and we will see some pockets of very heavy rain, gusty winds. at times gusting close to 50 miles an hour, so that could down some trees and power lines, something we'll be watching throughout the morning and early afternoon. as we head over to mike, chp will be busy today. >> they've been prepping since yesterday -- actually we've been prepping for a good number of days. so far the roadways are moving well. we'll watch as the build continues on highway 17. late in december we tend to see a lighter commute. we should see a good opportunity

for you to slow it down. fog registering along the coast as well. instead of driving, maybe take the opportunity to try out mass transit. no delays for b.a.r.t., but there will be delays if the rain comes in hard. the ferry system may be affected. sharon katsuda is in the novato area. what's it like right now? >> reporter: good morning, mike. you can take a look right outside our windshield. we are driving in the livan, northbound highway 101 in novato. definitely the rain, as you said is coming down. it's pretty slight, not too heavy but started about 10, 15 minutes ago. before that we saw no signs of rain. it was very quiet on the roads, but right now definitely we're seeing slick roads on the way to work in the east bay, no rain at all. as you said, it's making its way down south. right now we're in the novato

area, and it's definitely coming down. near lucky drive, when i took off, the off-ramp at 101 southbound there was some flooding in that area, very slight. but water on highway 101. i want to let you know i did do a little hydroplaning there as i met my photographer josh, and he's driving very carefully, keeping it at 55, around there. you definitely want to be careful on the slick roads. the chp has tweeted to leave early, allow yourself extra time because this rain is definitely heading south where it's going to be pretty heavy with the commute later this morning. >> thank you, sharon. take it easy out there. in the meantime, concerns over beach erosion is prompting the city of pacifica to take drastic measures in the 2345e78 of public safety. >> today the city will take

steps to demolish 410 es esplanade avenue. san francisco getting ready for the storm as well. this is, woulders installing special flood stop barriers at 17th and fulsome. city workers hope the flood barriers will help protect the buildings in that area. >> our team coverage on the storm continues. in our next half hour to how it will impact your commute to the flood concern in the santa cruz mountain burn areas, we'll have an update at 5:00 a.m. in the meantime, a free resource is our nbc bay area app. you can keep up with the changing forecast and access live doppler radar. the south bay tennis coach who is a registered sex offender is accused of molesting some of his students. matt montale is accused of

molesting two young girls between 2006 and 2012. montana has since been teaching private lessons. police believe there could be more victims. they're asking anyone with more information to come forward. one of the largest benefits concerts to date took place in oakland last night for the people impacted by the devastating warehouse fire. ♪ noet >> big name performers including artist geographer, hieroglyphics, rogue waves. all the proceeds going to the families affected by the ghost ship fire. >> the immediate need is to provide support for the families and the victims. in the longer term, this conversation about how does it properly support the arts in the bay area.

>> as we talk about the donations and proceeds for those impacted, the gray area foundation is working with other bay area organizations along with the city of oak land and close to $700,000 has been raised so far. it's 4:36 right now. coming up, intense rain headed towards the bay area. kari is tracking the storm. >> it may also produce flooding concerns. a flash flood watch in effect for the areas shaded in green. we'll take a look at the winds and the rest of the microclimate forecast coming up. from time to time we'll see the emeryville camera shake. pretty gusty overnight across the span. in problems we ported. we'll track it as the storm comes in. and fingers are pointing to russian president vladimir putin having his finger on the scale when it comes to hacking in the u.s., but what, if anything, does it have to do with the election of donald trump?

"nbc bay area responds." we've recovered over $400,000 for our viewers. if you want help, call us or visit nbcbayarea.com/responds.

good thursday morning. we're under a microclimate weather alert. the time is 4:39. here is a look at the hour-by-hour forecast. by 8:00, much of the north bay is experiencing heavy downpours. it becomes more widespread by noon, and still some cells with

some intense rainfall over napa, extending down into marin county by lunchtime. we will see this widespread heavy rain by early afternoon. we'll take a closer look at this timeline and what you can expect coming up in about five minutes. as we track your commute in the north bay, despite the fact that sharon is driving through rain already in novato, no delays for 101 through the area. we'll track it as the system don't to approach and affect midday. we'll let you know how things will shape up this afternoon and this evening as well. in san jose, no delaysali at th bottom of your screen. 4:40 right now. the evidence now pointing directly to vladimir putin and the suspected hacking of e-mails during the presidential election. that's what intelligence sources are telling nbc news. they say russian president putin personally pulled the strings in a string of hack attacks and personally directed the use of hacked material. although it's still unclear if this is all done with the express purpose of getting

donald trump elected. >> he has had a vendetta against hillary clinton? that has been known for a long time. he wants to discredit american democracy and make us weaker. >> that was michael mcfall, the former u.s. ambassador to russia. lawmakers in both parties are demanding answers especially with mobile exxon ceo rex tillerson nominated as secretary of state. the band has been disbanded, but the bad blood continues at stanford. former band members are citing sexism. the band has been in and out of trouble for years. now female alumni are slming the university's latest decision to suspend the group. stanford leaders cited alcohol and title 9 abuses. the stanford daily published a letter from more than 100 former fema female band members saying it strierks a blow against rather

than for women. >> 4:41 right now. coming up, unveiling a new kind of ride sharing to criticism from california. uber getting a warning this morning from the state about the self-driving cars now on san francisco streets. a live look outside right now. a little bit of shake to the camera. as we look out at the bay bridge, this was going to be a wind event just as much as a rain event. kari hall tracking the latest on the storm, making its way slowly through the bay area. we'll have an update right after this break.

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no shortage of things to talk about. we've got a lot going on. >> that's right. keep that umbrella handy. >> we're covering the storm from all angles. we are starting out with some light rain as we get a view of richmond as you cross the bridge, and you can see the water drops on the camera lens there. starting out with wet roads anywhere from san francisco over toward the north bay and parts of the east bay as well. keep that in mind as you drive. we also will have king tides against today, shortly before noon. tides coming up almost to seven feet. the same thing the past couple of days. you may have the flooding near the embarcadero and some low lying roads as well at the bays and the beaches. the heavy rain is now well to the north of us. we will see this moving to the south as we go through the day with still some light rain out ahead of that. as we see the rain starting to

move closer to santa rosa and up towards healdsburg and farther to the florida, ukiah, getting in on heavy rain over toward clearlake. that's where the intense rain is already starting to move in. a wet morning commute down 101 and spotty light rain out ahead of that. >> we do have an urban and small stream flood advisory. that means street flooding. there may be standing water on the roads. we always advise you not to drive through standing water. we will see the winds picking up today, 20 to 40 miles an hour. that can knock down trees and cause power issues, also rising river levels. we expect it to stay below flood stage. once again the isolated street flooding. in the sierra, looking for a foot to close to two feet of snow. the rain will begin to move in once again as we go through the morning commute covering the whole north baby 8:00 to 9:00. much of the bay area seeing

rain, especially the peninsula and east bay and walnut creek. napa seeing the rain at lunchtime. it will be very heavy when you see the bright reds and even the purples showing heavy downpours along with strong winds. during the evening commute is when it gets bad for the east bay and south bay and also for the peninsula and moving out of san francisco. the heavy rain will be winding down later tonight, but still very windy. the high wind advisory in effect -- high wind watch in effect for the coastal areas and the hills. sustained winds will be 30 to 40, maybe gusts to 50 miles an hour. when we talk about how much rain we can see, looking at from about 1.25 to possibly over 2 inch os of rain, higher amounts for the santa cruz mountains. clearing for the weekend. san francisco highs in the low 50s, very chilly. freezing temperatures for the inland valleys this weekend. as we get ready to head over to mike, he's giving us a look at where we're seeing the heavier

rain and how it affects the road. >> that's right. now we're looking at some of the rain, as sharon told us, she's on the roads in the north bay. we're also looking at the santa cruz mountains. it's light right now, but we're looking ahead because even though we see a lighter volume of traffic and maybe more compressed commute for the morning, the rain coming in as the rain is kicking in about 6:00, 7:00 in the morning. we should see a lot more folks hit the roadway. that will be the conditions with lighter rain on the roadway. show you already in san rafael, you see puddling and the roadways are wet, kicking up behind the cars. again, this is san rafael right around north san pedro road. another shot shows the bay bridge and the incline. the camera shakes, there's a wind advisory issued by chp. kari is talking about a wind watch. but it's already gusty and slick roadways around the bay. that's the bay bridge as well. a great day to use mass transit. they're on the rails for the most part. b.a.r.t. operating with no

delays, that rain could cause delays. it may affect the ferry system as well as the wind comes in as well. >> sounds good. thanks, mike. we're getting a windfall of new information. if you have a yahoo! account now or in the past, your information was likely stolen. yahoo! says a billion accounts were likely compromised. >> for that and the rest of the news before the bell, we turn to seema modi live at cnbc world headquarters. good morning, seema. >> let's start with markets attempting to resume the upward climb following the fed's first sbefest rate hike in a year: it could raise rates three more times next year depending on the state of the economy. the dow with its worst one-day performance in more than a month. the dow dropping 118, nasdaq falling 27. major banks are already respondings to the fed rate hike.

jpmorgan, chase are raising prime lending rates effective immediately. this is the rate at which banks lend to their most credit worthy customers, used as a been ch mark for credit cards and small business loans. it's new, big and bad. yahoo! disclosing a breach that took place in 2013 that may have resulted in the theft of data of more than a billion user accounts. this is separate from the breach yahoo! disclosed in september which affects 500 million accounts. yahoo! says it doesn't ap prior the two incidents are linked. hackers may have stolen passwords, security questions and answers. yahoo! is urging users to change all their passwords. right now uber is not backing down, at least not yet. the company deployed its driverless cars which prompted a quick response on the state of california. you might have seen the cars

around the city. we should note they have an engineer in the driver's seat, not just a robot. the dmv is demanding uber take the cars off the road until the company gets the proper permits for them. many onlookers are still weighing this entire idea. >> we focus on the technology of driverless cars and safety. when you drive in the people, people are distracted, on their phones, not paying attention. >> i would want to read about it after. >> how come? >> just nervous about sitting in it. >> so uber hasn't responded to the state's order. the self-driving vehicles are still in the test phase. no passengers were actually picked up. it is 4:51. a jet with a crazy paint job helped celebrate the merger of alaska and virgin airlines. the front of the plane was painted vir min america's trademark red.

until now virgin america was the only airline based in california california figures big in the company's future. details are public and for now both airlines will operate separately. >> it's all that blending. a miracle in the making. formerly conjoined twins reunited for the first time since being separated in an intricate surgery at lucile packard children's hospital. how they're doing this morning. we're in a microclimate weather alert and you can get updates to your smart phone. download your nbc bay area app where you can get alerts where the rain hits your area specifically. you can track the storm with your live doppler radar. the deadline for signing up for covered california is extended until saturday. head to our twitter page for more information. back in two minutes.

welcome back. 4:55 on thursday morning as you take a live look outside at the embarcadero. you can see there already were wet streets there, lots of fog and mist in the air. it is going to get heavier. kari will have more in minutes. governor brown delivered a message of support to a room full of scientists at a san francisco conference yesterday. he promised to collect climate research as trump continues his position that climate change is fake. yesterday's meeting of the american gio physical union is the largest earth and space

science meeting in the world. >> a dose of reality or is it just public posturing. the nfl commissioner sending mixed messaging about the future of the oakland raiders. it comes a day after oakland and alameda county leaders approve a framework. >> we have not made great progress in oakland and san diego. there is not a stadium proposal on the table that we think addresses the long-term issues of the clubs and the communities. we want to keep our teams where they are. relocati relocation. >> commissioner goodell says he wants to raiders to re main in oakland. team owner mark davis has made it clear he wants the team to move to las vegas. he would need team owners to agree. a reunion for two sisters

who used to do everything together. >> they still can. it won't be con joined anymore. it's been a week since doctors worked 17 hours to separate the sandoval twins. yesterday the duo from sacramento were reunited in the same bed. the previously conjoined twins have been recovering in the same room but weren't able to see each other. the surgery left each girl with one leg. doctors say so far there have been no big setbacks in their recovery. they're breathing on their own, obviously. doing well. >> snugging together. >> hunkering down for a busy day of rain with live team coverage. >> rain for the bay area means snow in the sierra, up to a foot and a half. we'll take a look at the ski report and what to expect as the storm moves in coming up. >> there you go. rain on the lens. is the bridge from rich mord toward san rafael. rain hits the north bay. we'll talk about how your

commute is shaping up. october's loma fire could still be destructive months later in the santa cruz mountains. we'll tell you why today's storm should keep everyone living in that affected area on alert. i'm gonna take mucinex sinus-max. enough pressure in here for ya?

too late, we're about to take off. these dissolve fast. they're liquid gels. and you're coming with me... you realize i have gold status? mucinex sinus-max liquid gels. dissolves fast to unleash max strength medicine. let's end this. break out those umbrellas. part of the bay area in for a wet commute this morning. we've got team coverage to help you get out the door.

i'm sharon katsuda live in petaluma where we'll tell you about the traffic, the rain and the wind. that's all coming up. >> reporter: rain is coming in every direction. if this is part 06 your commute, you're going to want to slow down. >> a very good thursday morning to you. thanks so much for joining us. i'm laura garcia-cannon. there's a lot going on out there. >> there absolutely is. i'm sam brock. it's a powerful storm making its way right now through the bay area. it could make for a messy commute. let's take a live look at the golden gate bridge. that's an area in san francisco that's already seeing the impact from the system as the rest of the bay area gears up for what could be a very wet 24 hours. >> we have team coverage to help you navigate through the mess this morning. let's start with meteorologist kari hall for a closer look at the storm's path right now. >> it started with light rain across much of the bay area as we track the heavier rain moving farther to the north. looking at the ra