thursday morning. . right now at 4:30, a rainy and windy start to your thursday morning. this latest strong system continues to push through the bay area. you see our radar there, a lot of rain coming down. in fact, taking a live look outside, leave be behind quite a mess already. from downed trees to flooded roadways, power outages as well. the problems are pretty widespread throughout the area. we started early this morning, it's 4:30.

i'm laura garcia. >> i'm marcus washington. we went on air earlier because of the rain. first, we want to start with you, kari, because this is something we'll see in the bay area off and on. >> off and on. as we get a look at our storm ranger mobile doppler radar, i'll put it in motion so you can see everything that's going on across the bay area. there will be pockets of heavy rain moving in. we'll be watching as we go throughout the morning. the hail may be on the ground as you get ready to head out. we head over to north bay,

cloverdale, clear lake, we're seeing showers but not raining right now in santa rosa. it's picking up again over the richmond/san rafael bridge where the rain has been coming down pretty heavily for a while. right now, right over san ramone and 680 and moving over towards the hills, as we get a closer look at dublin and that big interchange between 680 and 580 there's quite a bit of rain. i wanted to show you the difference of how we can track it with storm ranger and what other radars are showing. quite a bit more detail. this is a live scan. it's several minutes ahead of what we're seeing on a regular radar. we have the best tolls to track this and we'll talk about the timeline coming up in the next few minutes. as we head over to mike. >> we have flooding reported around the bay. we have too many things to report so we'll give you the big picture. watch for the flooding,

especially surface streets. if it looks like there's standing water, go around it. good chance of getting stuck in you don't. b.a.r.t. now reporting the 20th street entrance is closed at the 9 streit station. flooding reported over there. another wave coming through after 6:00. that's when a lot of folks hit the rails. we'll give you the reports for any closures as well. meanwhile, we'll look at the roadways. hail in the north bay. all of this wet roadways, super sloppy conditions. there's that weather radar again. our storm ranger sweep. we have so much to report. our reporters are spread out across the bay area. let's start with "today in the

bay" kris sanchez. >> reporter: hi there. i was talking to these crews. they were going to resweep to make sure the leaves don't get caught in the drains. this morning this is what it looked like. a car got stuck in the water. a driver didn't realize how deep that water was at stockton and alameda. a driver got stuck and called for help. san joep say fire rescued that driver. city crews cleared that drain with a giant vacuum truck and moved the car but the intersection was cloetssed for hours. you can see how far the flooding goes out in each direction. you just never know how deep the water is or what is underneath. this driver takes a chance, which is not a good idea. the motto is, turn around, don't drown. according to fema, it only takes 6 inches to reach the bottom of passenger cars and that's when

you can stall or lose control. we're talking about a foot of water or more that can make most cars float. that sweeper just went through. they were waiting for us to leave our locations so they can come around and clear this part of the roadway, get those leaves away and pull them up off the ground so they don't end up in the drains because that's what we're seeing around town. we'll keep monitoring the trouble spots out here in san jose and beyond. we'll let you know what we find coming up at 5:00. by the way, san jose city crews say thank you for your patience and they're doing a good job this morning. kris sanchez, "today in the bay." >> going to have a lot of work ahead of them. let's go to "today in the bay's" pete suratos in mill valley. saturated ground causing some streets to go down? >> reporter: good morning to you. at least causing one tree to come down in mill valley. we're standing on the 900 block.

you see this tree that is down. it fell down into a truck. according to marin county sheriff's department, they say it happened around 12:30. the big issue we're talking about is the saturated soil. when it comes to that soil, that's an issue we see with the storms coming in. it's really a combination of the winds and that saturated soil that causes these trees to topple. we'll see if that becomes an issue throughout the day. you can see the rain coming down. we'll see if that rain continues to be an issue throughout the morning, if that contributes to saturating the soil and some of these trees coming down. that was about an hour ago. rain coming down. not seeing any rain now. we'll keep an eye on that. you see that tree coming down into this truck. thankfully nobody was in that

truck. we'll bring you another update in the next hour. live in mill valley, pete suratos for "today in the bay." coming up on "today in the bay," a mega deal involving a bay area company that could soon change the landscape of the cigarette industry. place, facebook under fire. the leaked e-mail showing the company once considered selling access to user data. fact: some of your favorite foods stain teeth. unlike ordinary whitening toothpaste, colgate optic white has hydrogen peroxide that goes below the tooth's surface

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good morning. wall street could open in the red this morning. dow futures are off 55 points after yesterday's strong session. stocks surged after jerome powell signaled interest rates are close to neutral. the dow climbed 618 points for the biggest rally in 18 months. the nasdaq gained 209 points, closing at 7291. today investsers will eye a flurry of data, club jobless claims, pending home sales and consumer spending. marlboro maker altria is in talks to take a stake in juule labs. they were last valued at $16 billion. according to "the wall street journal," any deal between those two companies is likely weeks away but it would signal a major reordering of the cigarette industry. altria has seen its stock fall

over the past year as struggles with declines in traditional smokers. according to internal e-mails seen by t"the wall stret journa journal", facebook once weighed the idea of charging companies for continued access. those e-mails date back to 2012. and facebook reportedly discussed pushing some advertisers to spend more for increased access to users. facebook says it doesn't sell user data. marcus, laura? >> seems like they keep getting hit with one thing after the next. 4:41. coming up next on "today in the bay," our team tracking this potent storm moving across the bay area right now. >> you can track it with storm ranger. if you have the nbc bay area app, you can get alerts and track the storm. we're looking at a live

camera. palo alto, the rain on the lens will be on the road and on your windshield. we'll track where the flooding is.

ad lib toss to wx and traffic and right now taking a look at that radar. . you can see the rain throughout the bay area. storm ranger tracking that rain as well as the radar. kari will have a look at that right now. 4:44 for you. >> it's a good idea to turn off the sprinklers.

that's my advice. >> good advice. >> and don't wash the car tomorrow. we've seen this coming in waves throughout the morning. and not everyone is seeing it all at the same time. not the same intensity. this will be the nature of what we'll see throughout the day. a shower that's moving onshore in central sonoma county producing hail. when i start to see purple on the map, that indicates some hail that's been a little over half inch size. also lightning. this storm tracking north of guerneville but may be tracking to healdsburg. santa rain not seeing any rain, heavy downpours near san ramone near 680. if you're driving in that area, be mindful those roads will be wet and you need to allow extra time to get through that downpour. as we move through the south bay, you're only seeing spotty

showers but intense in heavy rain. moving over the santa cruz mountains. and then looking at much of the peninsula, seeing the rain moving through palo alto. when you go north of there, we're not seeing any downpours. here's what to expect today. waves of heavy rain. even a few isolated thunderstorms. we'll also have a wind advisory in effect through this afternoon. for the coastal area, waves may reach over 25 feet. for the burn scar areas, we have flash flood watch in effect. as we look at the wind advisory through 4:00 this afternoon, this may cause some power outages. we've already seen some of those, seen some downed trees. as you drive to work or school, you need to keep a tight grip on the steering wheel and watch out for some hazards. throughout the day, let's take it hour by hour. there will be breaks in between but activity ramps up at 7:00. that's when a lot more people will be getting up and out the

door and on those roadways. then through about 8:00 we're seeing it move into the east bay as well as the south bay. spotty rain for much of the north bay. and the rain will be off and on into late morning into afternoon. and it's just going to be so hit or miss. you may have some really intense rain. if you wait it out about 30 minutes, you may be able to catch a break. just a heads up and tip if you will be driving or trying to make plans throughout the day, all of this starts to clear out and wind down by early tomorrow morning. as we have been tracking the rain, i want to take you out to the santa cruz mountains. we have our forecast vianey out there. you've been out in the cold. how is it out there? >> reporter: it is a little chilly. i was listening to your forecast, where you said it would be on and off, i kid you not, within a couple seconds it comes down and then eases up. it's coming down pretty steady

right now. as we make our way up the road, one of the unsafe spots in the area, they had signs warning drivers of potential roadway flooding and mudslides. i want to take you to video from earlier. this area gets very dark and foggy and can quickly turn dangerous for commuters. be sure to be safe, keep that distance from our vehicles. i want to take you now through some of the estimated rain totals we can expect in addition to what we've already seen. we've already seen over an inch of rain in the santa cruz mountains. if i take you now, if we can pop up precipitation futurecast, we could see potential rain totals through the 7:00 a.m. hour. we're getting an additional of a quarter of an inch through the santa cruz mountains. taking you through the 2:00 hour. you can see in the santa cruz mountains, potentially another half inch. between a half to three-quarters

of an inch additional. some of the higher totals expected for the santa cruz mountains and even in, you saw santa cruz got a good bit of rain. i'll bring you official rain totals coming up at 5:15. i'm getting out of the rain because it is definitely on and off. as we track the forecast, we'll see the wind and rain today, a few thunderstorms. tomorrow we'll see some sunshine. that's in between another round of rain. but we'll see that mostly for saturday morning. as you try to make weekend plans, it's going to be cool and windy. really cold next week as another system moves in. we'll be tracking that. mike's been tracking the wet roads and where you may be slowing down. >> there's no freeway closures but we have a lot of surface streets affected by flooding. one and two lanes there. the middle part tens to be the part, highest and with the least

likely to flood. a note for folks, tread carefully. lower those speeds. look at all the rain and the radar. storm ranger giving us the most accurate information. the most timely information. that weather data translates to this traffic situation. that green highlighted area is very slick. the blue patches is where you'll have more flooding. bigger puddles building off 280 and in from la salle with rain. one of your b.a.r.t. stations in oakland has one station close -- entrance closed. excuse me. this is the reason why i want you to slow down. traffic slow is fine through the area but as you make that curve there's some flooding, slicker roadways. as freeway speed as you're coming down and breaking, that momentum will possibly take you

into a situation like this car where there's the potential for you to spin out. be careful. we often see those or if you hit a bigger puddle, that will often mess up your steering wheel. be careful. we'll bring you more on the transit coming up. 4:51 for you right now. we want to switch to politics for a second. we now know part of what president trump told the russia special counsel in written responses last week. >> tracie potts reports from washington with that and trump's former campaign chair's bid to stay out of prison. >> reporter: as president trump flies to the g-20 summit where he'll meet russia's president, paul manafort is trying to avoid jail time on fax fraud. >> there's really no scenario where manafort completely walks. >> reporter: manafort's plea deal is falling apart over alleged lies that he denies. now president trump's lawyer confirms a manafort attorney gave them the inside scoop on

manafort's conversations with special counsel robert mueller. >> it's like playing for the red sox but giving the yankees your scouting report. >> i don't have any problem with that. >> if manafort was feeding information to trump to influence his answers, there's so many ways this could quickly go into illegal territory. >> reporter: two sources tell nbc in written responses to the special counsel, president trump denied knowing in advance that a russian lawyer met his son at trump tower or that wikileaks had stolen e-mails from democrats. the president tells the new york post, pardoning manafort is not off the table but for now protecting mueller's job is. >> we know the special counsel is in danger. >> the department of justice answers to the president of the united states. >> reporter: but senate republicans blocked an attempt to make firing mueller illegal. republicans argued two sides -- that president trump has a constitutional right to oversee the justice department and mueller's team, but that the law

is unnecessary because the president has said repeatedly he has no plans to fire mueller. tracie potts, nbc7 washington. coming up next on "today in the bay," flooding can happen anywhere in california. but next, the important step to protect property which our consumer unit says almost no one in our state takes. first happening now, the search for victims continues in butte county. yesterday no new bodies were discovered. the death toll for the camp fire stands at 88. searchers have now gone through 18,000 burned structures. the active search remains there -- for the remains, i should say, has concluded. some residents will be allowed back to many burnt areas early next week. more news after the break. ad lib over radar

4:55 right now. taking a look at the radar and you can see how that storm is lingering over the bay area. kari will have a look at that coming up. consumer investigator chris joins us. >> reporter: you're probably not covered for flooding. that is the bottom line here. everyday homeowners or renter's insurance does not pay for flood damage. when there's rising water involved, you're required to have a separate policy from the national flood insurance program which is run by fema. here in california, almost no one has it. fema says it's just 2% of us. california has about 13.5 million homes, condos and mobile homes but only 295 thousand.

we know flood insurance is usually optional. the good news is that it's usually cheaper than regular homeowners' coverage so you don't have to budget quite as much money for a second layer of protection. if you have an insurance question or any other question for that matter, give us a call, 888-996-tips or online at nbcbayarea.com/responds. 4:57 right now coming up on "today in the bay," kari timing out that storm pushing across the bay area right now. >> we can see the large storm that's moving through with a few thunderstorms and a mix as well. we'll time it out for you and what to expect as you plan your day coming up next.

the leftovers. flooding, slick roadways and the impact on the commute for riders as well. plus, our team has fanned out across the bay area from flooding to downed trees. live coverage and new video coming into our news room of the lingering problems of the storm. this little home of mine,

♪ i'm gonna let it shine. ♪ it's energy saving time, ♪ i'm gonna reduce mine. ♪ californians all align ♪ to let our great state shine. ♪ let it shine, ♪ the power's ours to let it shine! ♪ rain continues to fall as a powerful storm system sweeps

through the bay area - you see it and hear it. that rain continues to fall as a powerful storm system sweeps through the bay area. with that rain and wind comes roadway flooding, downed trees and power outages. these are live pictures from mill valley where a big tree has come down in the neighborhood. we're still not in the clear. more rain heading our way that's already creating problems for that morning commute. good morning to you. thank you for starting your day right here on "today in the bay." i'm marcus washington. >> we've been on since 4:00 this morning to try to get you ready for the storm. be careful if you're headed out the door. we'll check that commute in moments. kari is tracking how widespread this rain is. >> it's been hit or miss as we take a look at the radar. we've also seen some thunderstorms and more offshore. as we get a closer look, some rain, the heaviest downpours have been moving across the south bay and the east bay with that cell right over central