tv Today in the Bay NBC October 9, 2019 6:00am-7:00am PDT
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brand new video showing the lights off in fairfield. >> hard at work, two critical bay area tunnels will stay open as crews put generators online overnight. we're live with the impact on your morning commute. and sparking red flag warning, worry about the wind not blowing yet but coming soon as kro the b aacross the bay area. "today in the bay" continues right now. >> a very good morning and thanks so much for joining us. i'm laura garcia. >> and i'm scott mcgrew, in for marcus washington. we have a lot to get to. we do want to let you know there was a small cloud cover you mea a map of where it hit, 2:15 in the morning, we broke into coverage, 3.4 centered in san jose's alum rock. we haven't heard of any damage but some people who were awake at the time say they felt it. >> that's right, 6:00 right now, continued breaking news that we're also following this morning, the planned power outages that we've been talking about for days before in effect
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at this hour in many locations in the north bay. >> overnight pg&e started cutting power to more than 500,000 homes and businesses, 200,000 in the north bay, that's due to the high fire danger and the red flag warning, this is a live look at the outages, you can see that large swatch of purple across the north bay, this is phase one according to pg&e. >> now a second phase is set to start about noon, and last at least through tonight. outages will impact parts of contra costa, santa clara, alameda and san mateo counties. in the second phase, 234,000 homes and businesses are expected to be impacted. >> also this morning, many schools and universities across the bay have canceled classes preemptively today. you can see our ticker there rolling on the bottom of the screen with the schools listed, and the south bay bracing for outages as well. we expect san jose mayor sam liccardo will hold a news
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conference, at 7:00 a.m. we will stream that live. >> kari hall is tracking the red flag warning and concerns over the winds. >> mostly for the hills. elevations above 1,000 feet will have the highest threat of experiencing those high winds as well as the low humidity. as we take a live look in san francisco, you're getting ready to head out for the day, and we are going to have some cooler temperatures, if you're about to head out the or, it's jacket weather, but going through the day, it will be cooler than we've seen, with high temperatures there in the upper 60s. inland areas upper 70s and low 80s. we'll be up to 81 today in concord. now we'll talk about the wind threat and we'll go hour by hour, that's coming up in a couple of minutes. mike, tracking the roads, how is it looking? >> we're not changing the subject but we'll talk about this crash in the south bay, westbound 237 approaching 101. as the early build starts right there, but that's about it for the south bay. remember, santa clara county just one of those many that laura listed for phase two for that power outage that's going to be coming down through the area, right now, everything moves smoothly and i think a lot of folks had to stay home
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because schools for their kids got canceled as well. that will change the pattern. lantos tunnels are reported open, so are the caldecott tunnel. bob will talk more about that and the details for the area, but look again, contra costa county, a lighter flow of traffic. the north bay, this whole area we have the outages all over the place, 29 at 221 earlier power issues continuing there. watch the local signals. for more laura, back to you been. >> that's right. we'll take awe cross the bay area in moments but we check in withes. s. in napa right now, where we've already seen some outages overnight. pete? >> reporter: yes, good morning to you, guys. of course we got that update during your interview with napa county officials saying that phase one of the power shutoffs began overnight or in the early morning at around 12:30 a.m. and get this, about 32,000 people are affected, so they're going to have a charging station available for folks who might need it because their power is off. so i want to show you video from the sonoma area.
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we showed this to folks all morning long. you can see businesses trying to get ahead of this, this is a bread business making some bread prior to these power shutoffs. as we've mentioned all morning long, pg&e deciding to shut off power due to elevated fire danger across the bay area, and different counties including right here in napa county. of course that decision affecting hundreds of thousands of customers who are trying their best to prepare for this situation, whether it's getting flashlights, ice, you name it. the times of the shutoffs vary by county and in some cases, it could take sever days until this power is restored. of course that's up to pg&e, how that all unfolds. here is chp talking about an incident not too far from here where traffic lights are out in the area in napa and the importance of driving safely. >> there will be some traffic issues if the light doesn't get back up and running, yes, there will be. i'd just be patient, if you're one of the early morning commuters, you may find yourself
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stuck in traffic here in napa. >> reporter: here's video of that situation at highway 29 and highway 221, a busy intersection. the traffic lights are off. of course we'll continue to monitor that situation and bring you any updates as they come in. we're live in napa, pete suratos for "today in the bay." >> thanks so much, pete. >> kari has been watching all of this, the high winds that caused so much concern with the pg&e lines. >> right, so a front is passing by and it's going to cool off our temperatures but also drop the humidity and increase the winds. let's go hour by hour to see how our winds will pick up as the day goes along. we'll see winds at 25 to possibly 30 miles per hour around the area of winters and that's in the next hour oso. while the rest of the bay area is fairly calm, going through the rest of the day, the winds will continue to increase from the north at about 25 to 30 miles per hour. you see the bright colors mostly in the north bay, and so that's
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where we will have some of those higher peaks. the red flag warning is including in the areas above 1,000 feet, bay area hills where the winds will be gusting the highest and as we go throughout the day, it's also going to start to get a little bit more windy, even in spots like san francisco, with winds coming in from the northeast at 25 miles per hour, and then also for some of our valleys, san jose at about 15 to 20 miles per hour into the evening. pg&e posts on their website when they expect the potential that they will start to ease off on those shutdowns, they call it public safety power shutoff potential and it includes today as well as tomorrow, possibly on friday as well, so they're not going to turn it back on until the threat is over. vianey, how many people are affected by the power outages? >> we're directing everyone to the pg&e website -- this is affecting thousands of people and so far, we are really --
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>> vianey, i'm not sure your mike is operating. >> let me see if i can get this fixed. >> you work that out and we'll continue. >> obviously our coverage will extend. nbcbayarea.com the website, we're going to continue the newscast on the website past our 7:00 a.m., and if you're without power it's okay, because if you got your phone charged, you use the nbc bay area app, download it now while you can, it's free, scroll to the bottom, click "watch live" that will be free as well, so you'll be able to watch tv newscast right here, get all the information your family needs right from your phone. >> there are a lot of traffic concerns as well, at one point talk of the caldecott tunnel shutting down but right now, that is not the case. it is open. >> "today in the bay's" bob redell is in orinda, and they worked fast, bob, and b.a.r.t.'s going to be okay apparently. >> reporter: well correct. b.a.r.t. has been working with pg&e, scott and laura, for several months to prepare for
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any sort of emergency outages like this, so let's say if a bate station were in an area that were to lose power, the train also still run, the tracks aren't going to lose their electricity. what b.a.r.t. will do is draw power from other parts of their system. i want to you look at this video, they are bringing in some generators for some stations. now this is in case those stations were to lose house power. house power is the electricity that's used to power things like the escalators, the elevators, the fare gates, the ticket vending machines, b.a.r.t. has brought in portable generators to six stations, . even with the generators it is a possibility the escalators might still be out but the elevators and other things i mentioned, b.a.r.t. says should still be operational. regarding the caldecott tunnel as you can see in the photo i shot earlier this morning, there is still a lit up sign along highway 24 warning drivers the
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caldecott could shut down at noon due to the pg&e outage, but caltrans is telling us it will remain open. last night you can see in this video workers brought in power generators for the caldecott, expected to do the same for devil's slide on highway 1, to keep the vital exhaust fans running, so again both tunnels are supposed to remain open and it's a big deal of course for commuters coming from the et bay to oakland, where i'm at right now because without the caldecott, traffic would be hellacious. we spoke with alameda county sheriff greg ahearn, concerned about elevated crime in oakland and the east bay because some security alarms might not be working during the power outage, one reason the alameda county office of emergency services war room sup and ready to go and why his agency will be on heightened alert. we reached out to contra costa county and here is what they had to say. >> we urge people not to call 911 if it's not an emergency, because you could really impact
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our response time. >> reporter: and scott and law camera, as we've been speaking about all morning long if you encounter an intersection that loses power, we don't expect that in downtown oakland but other places f it loses power, no traffic signals, treat thats a four-way stop. reporting live in oakland, bob redell, "today in the bay." >> assume the other guy isn't going to stop, even though he should. thank you, bob. >> be cautious and be patient out there. mike has his eye on the roadways as well. >> that's right, great note from bob. up here in the north bay we are seeing more reports of traffic signals that are out. we have this along highway 12 as well as this portion of 12, 229 at 221 pete talked about and reports of wires down as well. overnight aside from 29 and 221 where the signal is out and it's a problem everything else moves smoothly, east bay, tri-valley, contra costa county a nice drive here. we are talking about the caldecott, bob said that's open and remains open, part of phase two for the outages in the area. lantos tunnel also open for the morning commute along highway 1,
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we're looking at speed sensors all over looking really good. i think there's a lighter volume of traffic because a lot of parents had to stay home unx unexpectedly today with the schools being canceled. >> our coverage of the power outages will continue all morning long. >> here is a quick look at what we have planned for you, next the impact on schools in a live conversation with state senator jerry hill, who is already speaking out against the power crisis. at 6:25, we'll try to talk live with pg&e, get their take on all the outages that are on already and the second phase that's coming this afternoon. you're watching "today in the bay." there are those who ll say that you're:
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right now at 6:14rks we are under a microclimate weather alert as the red flag warning goes up for all areas shaded in red, including the santa cruz mountains where we'll have low humidity and gusty winds over the next 24 to 36 hours. i'll talk more about what else' ahead and the forecast even if the winds calm down, coming up in less than five minutes. >> west 92 the san mateo bridge lots of brake tapping going on. a lot of folks have made it to 92. we'll talk about the traffic flow and why this might be happening a little bit differently. because of the pg&e outages,
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schools have canceled classes. >> kris sanchez joins us with that part of the story. >> reporter: you maybe noticed there are schools scrolling across the bottom of your screen. we want to make sure you know before you head out the door whether or not classes are canceled for your child and also updated the list at nbcbayarea.com, so you can track that all day long. what we know at this point is that the south bay is going to be the least impacted area in terms of school closures at this point, but it's not going to feel that way to the folks who live in the alum rock school district because that district canceled classes for all 25 schools, though pg&e only confirms that four campuses will be without power. >> day care for the next couple of days, so mommy can go to work. >> reporter: parents saying it is an inconvenience, because they have to change all of their schedules around to kind of accommodate this and they didn't get a lot of notice from their
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school districts. pg&e confirms at least four alum rock schools will be without power because of that wind risk and the fire danger. the list is being constantly updated at the bottom of your screen at nbcbayarea.com. north bay schools are the most impacted at this point. napa, sonoma county, the city of santa rosa, along with east bay schools as well, and not just public schools. uc berkeley, mills college, santa rosa junior college and sonoma state have closures as well. pg&e is warning that as many as 800,000 customers should be ready to lose power and not just for a minute, but for at least a day, maybe longer, as they inspect the power lines before flicking the switch once again. so coming up in the next half hour, we're going to tell you what you need to do before the power goes out, and once you are already in the dark so that you're not in the dark. in san jose, kris sanchez, "today in the bay." >> everybody's think being how they're going to adjust if it happened to them. some already experiencing that in the north bay. >> meanwhile we hear from some
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viewers wait a minute it's not windy. this is a preplanned thing. >> it's for the hills, elevations above 1,000 feet. the bulk of our population lives in the valley so we are not going to have the strong winds at least not initially. as we get out the door this morning, we are feeling some cool air. look how cool it is in morgan hill, 47 degrees. we have upper 40s in the north bay, and we know that we do have a lot of people residents in the north bay not having power, electricity and heat at this point, so makes it uncomfortable to have to deal with that and it will feel much nicer as we go throughout the rest of the day. let's get out the door in mountain view with our temperatures in the low 50s to start. we'll go from 53 to 62 at 10:00, and up to about 70 degrees at today. we'll notice it will be cooler all because of the cold front that is moving across the bay area. so it won't be as warm as it was yesterday, as we reach up to 78 degrees in martinez.
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in san jose we're going to see a high of 77 degrees. all of this is back to where we should be for this time of year, feeling more fall-like, but we've also had some high winds, and those winds have been gusting in some of our higher elevations like mt. diablo. right now the peak wind at about 34 miles per hour and cow mountain to the east of ukiah, 31 moo-mile-per-hour winds,alit month pass 26 and henry coe state park 23 miles per hour. half moon bay at 22 and we expect it to get stronger as the day goes along. this is going hour by hour and shows the wind forecast and for most of us, winds at about 15 to 20 miles per hour throughout the afternoon, but there will be some spots that have sustained winds up to about 30 to 40 miles per hour with higher gusts and it will remain as we go throughout the day as well as early tomorrow with the gusty winds as the storm system passes by just to our north. going into friday, the winds
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start to calm down as that moves away but there will be another storm system right behind that. it won't be as close, so it will be breezy but not gusty going into saturday as well as sunday, with our temperatures staying on the cool side. we still have some fall-like weather in the forecast inland, reaching the upper 70s today, and some low 80s for the next couple of days, and for fleet week festivities this weekend looking nice with highs near 72 on saturday. mike, you have a crash in sunnyvale. >> we do, still following this but here is the difference today. westbound 237 at highway 101 this crash leaves a couple of vehicles in the middle of the roadway, but we've only had gradual building. i know it's past lawrence expressway but that is mild compared to what we often see coming through the area at this time with the build. i think overall we have had a lighter volume of traffic and we mentioned it because of the school closures and also we may have just convinced a lot of folks to shelter in place. you don't have to do that, folks. you can get about your day and stay in touch with us.
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the lantos tunnel the potential closure has not happened. caltrans says they' keep that open with generators as best they can, same thing for the caldecott tunnel, that is open, a smooth drive for 24, just some slowing past an earlier crash at willow pass but no major incidents. the north bay, this is the biggest slowing we see as a result of a signal that's out, highway 29 at 221, some hour po power outages and lights out highway 12 toward american canyon and getting through the rest of napa. we're looking at widespread outages for the north bay, it will creep down and potentially some lights affected toward the golden gate bridge, but the metering lights are on at the bay bridge. so back to you. >> mike, thanks. state senator jerry hill has been calling out pg&e for the planned power outage and joins us on the phone this morning. senator hill, thank you so much for joining us early on "today in the bay." i know you've been pretty outraged about this. you're saying we're not a third world country. >> no, we're not a third world country and this is totally unacceptable to have 700,000 to
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800,000 residents in california suffer through the disruption without power, the economic loss is tremendous, the unsafe conditions i've listened to the traffic situations where stoplights aren't working. this is an admission that pg&e's system is not safe, and when they have to turn this off, turn the power off as they are. climate change does not start a fire. we know we have higher warmer temperatures, we have higher humidity, lower humidity, higher winds but that doesn't start a fire. it takes a spark, and it takes a spark from an unsafe pg&e system, and that's what we're struggling with right now. these shutdowns should be extreme situations and temporary safety tactics. this is not and should not be a long-term solution and i'm hoping that the public utilities commission will look at each one of these events when they turn the power off to make sure that it's reasonable, that it's done with necessity, and that the protocols and criteria are
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acceptable, not just running scared turning the power off for fear of starting another fire. >> senator, you would agree right now, this is probably the best alternative, considering there is that danger of fire. long-term it would make sense for pg&e to improve their lines and solve this, because it seems like other communities have this solved. we seem to be alone in this, but for right now, this may be our only alternative. >> scott, you're absolutely right and pg&e are the only ones at this point authorized to make these decisions and we really can't second-guess them, but i think the aftereffect needs to be investigated, the after-review has to determine whether it was justified, whether they did it with a reasonable amount of knowledge and looking at the wind conditions that we're experiencing that we have to find out if that is really the point and crucial in causing these requiring these outages. i think it's important to look at the fact that pg&e also needs
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to install and create these micro grades so they can surgically go in and turn the power off to areas where there are threats rather thanning turning them off to 34 different counties in the state, which is troubling. >> senator, thank you for being with us. i know you're monitoring this, we are as well. thank you for joining us. >> thank you very much. >> thank you. the power outages continue all morning long. in fact, here is a quick look at what we have planned. next we'll talk live with pg&e and 6:30, live in the north bay where power is out and we'll talk live with fire officials in the east bay, keep you updated and keep your family safe. you're watching "today in the bay."
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pg&e says a planned power outages is its last resort to prevent wildfires. thanks for joining us, we know it's a busy time. already over 500,000 people without power in the north bay, a second phase now coming this afternoon, how long is this going to last? >> hi there, laura. thanks for having me. yes that is correct that we began our first phase of this public safety power shutoff around midnight tonight which impacted approximately 513,000 customers across a significant amount of counties in our service area. we do expect the extreme weather to last until about thursday midday, and at that point, we would be able to begin
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inspecting our lines before we are able to safely turn power back on again. >> ari, so far, can you estimate, is this a bigger shutoff than you were expecting, smaller, about what you planned? >> this is the biggest safety shutoff that we have done to date, and the numbers ended up being about what we had estimated starting on monday. >> is this going to be the new normal for californians? >> with the increased wildfire risk we've been seeing with more extreme weather, dry vegetation, et cetera, we do need to take these kind of precautions, like shutting off power for safety, in order to protect the customers and the communities that we serve, which is our biggest responsibility. >> we just briefly talked to state senator jerry hill who told us you should be looking at microgrids. is there any other planning you can do rather than just shutting
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off power? >> we do have a lot of planning under way, and our community wildfire safety program involves many different resources to help mitigate wildfire risk, this involves vegetation management, using new technology to update our grid and other things to help as we move forward through this difficult climate time. >> ari vanrenen is a pg&e spokesperson who joins us on the phone. thank you for being with us. we'll be talking with pg&e throughout the day and bring you updates even when we're not talking on the phone. >> the second phase is coming with more outages ahead. still ahead on "today in the bay" another detailed forecast from kari hall and vianey arana. the high wind, fire danger and exact time so you know what to expect. we have team weather coverage in studio. you're watching "today in the bay." announcer: time magazine reports: "the new american
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good morning and thank you for joining us on this very unusual wednesday for many people in the bay area. i'm scott mcgrew. marcus has the day off. >> i'm laura garcia. it's busy is what it is. it's breaking news that we're following. pg&e launching that massive controlled power outage already well under way in the north bay, because overnight the utility cut power to roughly 200,000 homes and businesses, due to high fire risk. across northern california meantime a half a million homes and businesses have no power. >> let's take a live look at the
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outages under way, the large swathe of purple across the north bay, those are all outages. >> take a look at this, pg&e cameras captured the before and after of the outage in lake county. the second phase involving more outages is set to start about noon and go into tonight. the impact areas include parts of contra costa, santa clara, alameda and san mateo counties. >> kari, this is all because of the high winds. >> high winds and low humidity that will continue to pick up as we go throughout the day. any fires that get started will spread rapidly. this is a live look in san rafael. people still have to get to work and get about the day or go about the day within some spots no electricity. so in napa, it is cold out there. we're going to stay in the 40s over the next couple of hours, but it will feel comfortable as we go throughout the day with sunshine, breezy winds. high temperatures reaching into the upper 70s and low 80s.
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much cooler than we've seen recently because of the cold front sweeping through. i'll talk more about this in the wind forecast coming up. mike, there sis a problem that continues at the bay bridge. >> the hov lanes have been slow and that's unusual unless the entire span is backed up which is t is not. some technical issue at the hov lane so maybe take fastrak or pay cash, that's the big advantage. there's plenty of power there, you saw that and the metering lights are on. no problems, caldecott tunnel is open, so is the lantos tunnel highway 1 on the peninsula, they have generators and talking about that plan as it continues, but remember, the south bay is all right. we have lighter volume of traffic though because the schools as parents have to stay home that might disrupt the morning commute. looking at recovery highway 237 and the rest of silicon valley starting to wake up. the south bay is involved in phase two of the power outages. we're still talking about phase one so back to you. >> back up to the north bay, families there this morning waking up without power, you heard it's cold up there,
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there's no indication how long that power is going to be out. let's get the latest from nbc bay area's pete suratos, he is in napa. pete? >> reporter: good morning to you, scott. we're back here along highway 29 at airport boulevard, and this traffic is starting to pick up because the lights are out at this intersection. it's something we talked about all morning long, being an issue so the traffic lights are out and folks are really trying to figure out exactly how to get to where they got to get to as this power is out. now we did mention napa county officials say that phase one of the power shutoffs began roughly around 12:30 a.m., and about 32,000 people are affected in the county, as we show you guys this traffic mess picking up because of the traffic lights being out. here is video from sausalito, where you see power is out at a shopping center in that area, and as we mentioned, pg&e deciding to shut off power in different counties throughout
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the bay area due to the elevated fire danger in these areas. the decision is affecting hundreds of thousands of customers, who are trying their best to prepare for this situation. now the times of those shutoffs of course are varying by county, this one in napa county, started at about 12:30 a.m., and as for this situation here in napa, officials say they are providing resources for residents affected by all of this. >> we are going to be opening charging stations later this morning. we have five throughout napa county that will be open from 8:00 a.m. to 6:00 p.m., our website will have the information for that. we will be making sure that our community has a place to charge any devices that need to be charged. we also run a website readyna readynapacounty.org has that information how to prepare for power outages but what to do during a power outage. >> take you back to highway 29 at airport boulevard, the
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highway is pretty much clogged up, as the traffic lights are out. more than likely related to these power shutoffs, as power is off in parts of napa. 32,000 people affected by all of this, but the big question, guys is exactly when this power is going to be restored. >> exactly, so many people now waiting that second phase that we've been talking about. parts of oakland expected to start dealing with the outages a little later this morning, especially in the oakland hills. oakland fire deputy chief nick luby joins us now. i understand it's all hands on deck. >> good morning, laura, yes it is all hands on deck. we are ramped up, we have been preparing since sunday for this event, when we were notified by pg&e and the national weather service, and we've gotten to the point that we are prepared, the eoc, emergency operations center, has been activated and we are anticipating and planning for a power shutdown starting at
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noon today. >> what have you been doing to prepare for this? it's always such a great concern with the oakland hills, of course. we all recall the oakland hills firestorm back in 1991. we would never want that to happen again. >> no, we wouldn't. for the preparing, as i said, we've been doing it for several days. we can go back further we've known about this since pg&e started the psps program so we've been preparing, leading up to this, and it's two-pronged approach, addressing the power shutdown all city staff, all departments have been preparing, the department of transportation is preparing to control intersections, the police department is prepared to help control intersections and increase patrols throughout oakland as needed and address any associated incidents that come with the power shutdown. the other side of this is obviously the high winds. there's a reason that pg&e is going to shut down the power and the chance for fire and rapid fire spread is definitely going to be increased when the winds
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come so the fire department in oakland is increased staffing in our dispatch center, we've increased fire engines and we also are working with mutual aid partners and in alameda county alone we have in excess of 20 additional fire engines that have been staffed for this red flag event. >> everybody's on standby, ready to go. hopefully there won't be a need. nick, thanks so much for joining us this morning. >> thank you, laura. you heard the deputy chief talking about the high winds and those are going to hit the hills in particular. >> so it started in the north bay earlier because there's a front sweeping from north to south, and as the front moves by, the winds will increase, so here is a look at our forecast, showing the wind speeds and what we're expecting throughout the day, and we are seeing the bright colors, that's where the winds will be the most intense, in spots like winters it starts 20 to 25 miles per hour. the rest of the bay area is fairly calm. as we go throughout the day the gusty winds work into the rest
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of the bay area, gusty around clearlake and winters as well as napa and we may see some gusts up to 25 to possibly 45 miles per hour, even higher as you go up in elevation. the evening looks windy but we'll feel it in parts of the south bay as well as the coastal areas. we take you to tomorrow morning, san francisco wakes up to some gusty winds as well as the oakland hills at about 25 miles per hour, and pg&e posts this information on their website of when they will issue what he called a psps, the public safety power shutoff potential, it's today, tomorrow, possibly into friday and they're not going to turn it back on until this threat is over. vianey has been tracking how many power outages we currently have. it's mostly in the north bay, right? >> indeed. we've been showing you this pg&e map but this is an interactive tool. it really shows you the cities that are being affected by this outage, for example we're seeing santa rosa, calistoga in through
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petaluma, through mill valley, napa, you can actually select a city. i zoomed in to napa and it gives you a start time of when that power outage started and also gives you the number of customers affected and as of right now, the estimated restoration most of them show not available. this is going to take some time but another thing to keep in mind, there are thousands of people being affected so although we are guiding you to the pg&e website, we've certainly seen it crash, as you could imagine, so many people on it. so safety is going to be the number one priority, but patience is going to be your true test for today, because we will be getting those updates. the map will try its best to update every 15 minutes but so far, you can follow us online as well. back to you. >> in fact, our "today in the bay" coverage will extend to nbcbayarea.com starting at 7:00 this morning. if you're without power it's okay, because you can use your phone or use your tablet. you'll need the nbc bay area app, that's free to download.
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you scroll to the bottom and just click "watch live" and that's f as well. watching the roadways, there were concerns they were going to have to close the caldecott tunnel but the good news is that's open. >> it's still open and so is the lantos tunnel on highway 1. the issue is not lighting. it is exhaust fans, generators are in place and light volume of traffic, a lot of schools canceled, may have played into a lot of parents needing to stay home last minute today. there is the caldecott we talked about and a smooth drive through contra costa county, getti to the area. the build for the east shore freeway pretty mild. the metering lights are on at the bay bridge. the big problem is pete is talking about highway 29 at airport boulevard, you saw that signal and the traffic jammed up coming out of american canyon, and also down out of napa, so that is a huge issue for that portion, that signal is out, in an outage area but there are also wires reported down. the whole area watch for local traffic controls and treat it like a four-way stop. back to you.
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>> thank you, mike. our coverage of the power outages continues all morning long. >> here is a quick look at what we have planned. next, how the roads and rails might be impacted and the work overnight to try to keep things running smoothly. plus what folks in the south bay need to know right now. dow industrials up about 200 points this morning, as we hear word that china might be willing to take a partial trade deal. we're watching that, and you're watching "today in the bay."
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our high fire danger, that is now in effect due to gusty winds and low humidity. this includes the santa cruz mountains. we'll talk about what we are expecting as the day goes along, coming up in five minutes. highway 29 and airport boulevard in the north bay, many other signals are out in the area but the lights fully powered here at the bay bridge toll plaza as we see the build for the commute continues. >> thank you, mike. we have breaking news coming in the last few minutes. turkey's president announced that country has begun its military operation in syria in conjunction with the syrian national army, the images you're looking at are from yesterday, a turkish military force is preparing. the kurdish-led democratic offices say isis launched three attacks on its security bases. nbc news has not confirmed than.
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the operation comes days after president trump ordered u.s. troops to pull out of the region which was condemned by both republicans and democrats in congress. u.s. officials say that troops will stay in the country but will not respond to turkey's attack. we've been talking about the different traffic concerns this morning here in the bay area. at one point mention of closing the caldecott tunnel but now that is not the case. >> "today in the bay's" bob redell is in orinda. crews worked fast to avoid that and b.a.r.t. is going to run that as well. >> reporter: correct. b.a.r.t. has been working on this for months preparing for an emergency outage. say a section of b.a.r.t. is in an area without power, the trains will still run. they'll draw power from other parts of their transit system to keep the tracks in the affected area electrified and also brought in portable generators for about six stations to keep the house power on.
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b.a.r.t. running as normal. with regards to the caldecott, i want to show you the photo i shot a few hours ago, this was on highway 24, a lit up sign indicates that the caldecott could shut down at noon, but in spite of that, caltrans is saying it won't shut down, that it will remain open and this is video from last night, workers brought in power generators for the caldecott and expected to do the same for devil's slide and highway 1 to keep the exhaust fans running. that's how they'll keep both tunnels open, a big deal for the commuters trying to get to the east bay to oakland where i'm at without the tunnels, without the bores so the caldecott would be a traffic nightmare. we spoke with alameda county sheriff greg ahearn, he's concerned about the level of crime in oakland and the east bay because security alarms might not be working during the outage. one reason why emergency services has their war room up
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and ready to go. we reached out to contra costa county and here's what they had to say. >> we urge people not to call 911 if it's not an emergency because you could impact our response time. >> reporter: again, if you are in an area that suffers an outage today, we know that at noon there's a possibility of placing the east bay and south bay could see their power going out and say you hit an intersection, there's no power, and the lights are out, you remember if you're in a car, you want to treat that intersection as a four-way stop. reporting live here in downtown oakland, bob redell, "today in the bay." >> thanks so much, bob. 6:48 right now. what should you be doing right now before the power shuts off? >> kris sanchez in san jose joining us with that part of the story. good morning. >> reporter: hi there. we tell you all the time, make sure you are ready for an earthquake at any time and if you heed that advice, then you are ready to go for a power outage. if you have not gotten your earthquake kit prepared we'll tell you what you need to put in
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it. at this point pg&e says if it shuts off power you need to be prepared to be on your own for a day, maybe as long as a week, while the wind risk passes and they check for damage before they turn the power back on. have enough water for your family, one gallon of water per day per person, nonperishable food for a week, includes your pets, don't forget a can opener. make sure your phones are charged, other gadgets, download the nbc bay area app, this is the best way for you to get information if you cannot watch a tv set. make sure you have flashlights and extra batteries in case the power outage lasts a few days and keep a full tank of gas in your car and cash on hand particularly small bills so you don't have to count on other people to make changes. if or when the lights go out, keep the refrigerator door closed as much as possible. i know that's tough with little
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kids in the house. if you explain the food has to last a couple of days they should get on board. put perishables on ice or a cooler. turn off or unplug appliances in case of a power surge. if you have a generator, grill, it's great but do not use them inside. make sure you have ample air circulation in the garage because that can create a carbon monoxide risk. find all of this at nbcbayarea.com. we're down here outside the rotunda at san jose city hall. in about 15 minutes mayor sam liccardo and the city of san jose are hosting a press conference on the 18th floor. we'll leave right now and get set up for that and streaming that live for you on nbcbayarea.com so you have the latest information from your city leaders. >> we'll extend this newscast and continue to bring thaw live at 7:00, so logon to nbcbayarea.com and follow us
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there. speaking of social on social media a lot of people talking about the outages. >> this morning #powershutoff is trending on twitter. a lot of people voicing their concerns about the blackouts across the bay area. one user asking how am i going to charge my tesla? >> another writing i hope it doesn't last as long as they're saying it could, five days, what about the elder or those who are in poor health and unable to fully prepare? >> a lot of people require power to their medical devices as well. this is upsetting a lot of people, mad with pg&e. one person writing on twitter, "no power for five days? how does a company get away with that? #pgeshutoff." >> the reason pg&e shut off power is because of the high winds which is a red flag warning as well. >> they're trying to put more resources trying to detect wildfires so they have a network
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of cameras set up. i have access to all of those cameras. a fire in the sierra right now to the east of mare piposa. as the sun rises you can see the thick plume of smoke coming up. it's something we'll monitor throughout the morning. closer to home from mt. tam we can see here we have some city lights looking at sausalito and tibur tiburon, across the bay as the sun comes up and it's cooler but bind windy as well. dealing with not having power in the upper 40s, not feeling good at this point. throughout the day it will be warming up. a live look in san jose as we start out with low 50s here l see it up to about 63 degrees at 10:00, leading in to some low 70s by early afternoon eventually reaching 77 degrees. this is all cooler compared to the way we started this week and it's because there's a cold front sweeping through.
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as that front moves through it's going to cause those winds to start to really gust. so far, those gusts have been on some of our mountaintops, like mt. diablo. we're seeing some wind speeds at about 38 miles per hour, cal mountain east of ukiah 31. altamont pass 26. half moon bay at 22 miles per hour. the expected wind forecast we'll see it increasing throughout the day especially in the north bay, with wind gusts at about 30 to possibly close to 40 miles per hour, and it's all because of this storm system that is moving just to our north and east and as it does so, it causes the winds to rush across the bay area. we'll have a little bit of a break going into friday in terms of our wind speeds but there will be more breezy winds as a second storm system moves across our north and keeps us a little bit cooler. into the weekend our inland areas feeling normal fall-like weather with upper 70s and low
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80s. for san francisco a slight warmup once the winds relax by friday but coming down a few more degrees and time for a the lo of the air shows this weekend. mike, the outages are affecting the commute, right? >> they are. take you to the north bay where pete suratos was showing us what's going on, highway 29 and airport boulevard. you saw traffic jamming up here and coming out of american canyon and napa, highway 12, 221, 121, 29, all affected by outages throughout the area with the local signals out and bob said treat that signal out as a four-way stop and try to make eye contact if you can. we have sunlight so you can see the other cars on the roadway as well as the drivers. looking at a smooth drive, contra costa county great drive times, looking at the caldecott tunnel which remains open and as we talked b generators are in place. pg&e and cal trans working hard to keep the caldecott and lantos tunnels open. we predict they will be able to without anything unexpected. the rest of the bay shows a
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gentle building, your typical pattern but lighter than typical commuteor this wednesday, talking about all the schools out, laura, a lot of parents had to take the morning off unexpectedly. back to you. >> that's right they had to scramble. thanks, mike. 6:54. happening now, new sexual assault allegations are coming to light against former nbc "today" show co-anchor matt lauer and he just issued a response denying the claim. here is the back story. journalist ronan farrow revealed a former nbc staffer claims matt lauer raped her inside a russian hotel room during the 2014 olympic games. lauer just released an open letter in the past few moments, it says in part that he and his accuser never had an abusive encounter and their affair was purely consensual. the "today" show will have more reaction ahead at 7:00 a.m. but next a look at which parts of the bay area are already without power. we'll have a check of your forecast as well. you're watching "today in the bay." ♪
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now you can take control of your home wifi and get a notification the instant someone new joins your network... only with xfinity xfi. download the xfi app today. welcome back to you. before you head out the door, the top stories on "today in the bay." >> pg&e has launched the massive power outages. overnight the utility cutting power to some 200,000 homes and businesses in the north bay alone. this is of course due to high fire risk, about a half a million all together in northern california. this is the look of the before and after they turned the lights off, up in lake county. >> now to a map of the outages in effect, that large swathe of purple across the north bay, those are outages, that is phase one, according to pg&e.
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the second phase set to start around noon and go into tonight, that impact area includes parts of contra costa, santa clara, alameda and san mateo counties. in the second phase, 234,000 homes and businesses will be impacted. >> also our "today in the bay" coverage will extend to nbcbayarea.com beginning in just a few minutes, starting at 7:00 this morning. we'll continue this newscast. if you are out without power, a livestream is just a tap away on your phone or tablet. the nbc bay area app is free to download, scroll to the bottom and click watch live. >> we are expecting the winds to pick up throughout the day. red flag warning in effect for the areas, mostly above 1,000 feet and our temperatures cooling off as a cold front moves through, so we'll see some of our warmer inland spots reach the upper 70s and it will still be windy throughout the day tomorrow. >> the outages we're talking about are an issue for drivers as well. >> the north bay map the freeways starting to slow 29, 221, 12, because the signals are
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out and also traffic controls in soplace treat it like a four-way stop. be careful out there. >> very much so. that's what's happening "today in the bay." don't forget, go to nbcbayarea.com right now for uninterrupted coverage. good morning, breaking news, ready to attack, turkey's military enters syria and begins an assault. this morning the outrage at the white house from republicans and democrats. and confuse on the ground. showdown, the white house clash with congress deepens, the president blocking witnesses and evidence in the impeachment inquiry saying it's a partisan witch hunt, the house calling it obstruction. accused of rape, the woman whose complaint led to matt
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