it is pounding this area, as it has been for several hours here. >> wow. we want to bring in jay now live in lake charles. not too far from where the storm made landfall overnight. it was pretty intense seeing you almost knocked over by that storm. you covered so many storms for us extensively. how are the conditions right now and have you ever been through something like that before? >> thankfully we are getting a break and a few wind gusts, but nothing like that. the photographer and i talking about this we've done a lot of storms together and this was probably the most intense wind we've seen like this. it was so intense from the start and, really through thei wa eyed right now at 6:00, breaking news on several fronts from the back side of the storm just as powerful. overnight unrest in oakland to so, overall and for an extended hurricane laura tearing through period of time, i think this has the gulf coast. got to be one of the strongest

and we're standing by for an and we've probably been in 50 or update on the czu fire keeping so of these hurricanes. thousands of people out of their so, you know, this is quite a homes. the third hour of "today in the storm. it is the strongest storm that bay" starts right now. made landfall in this part of and a good thursday morning to you, thanks so much for the region right at the starting your morning right here with us. louisiana/texas border. i'm marcus washington. >> i'm laura garcia. a check on your commute with category 4. 150 mi-mile-an-hour winds and, , mike in just moments. cut across this area and left a but, first, some incredible lot of damage here. we know that buildings and homes images coming out showing the have been damaged extensively. powerful hurricane that slammed flooding continues to be an into the louisiana/texas border issue here. overnight. hundreds of thousands of people hurricane laura made landfall as a category 4 storm. without power at this point. and the danger persists. and those numbers are going to go up and this storm is massive kari, talk about where that storm is right now. and it's continuing to move north and then it will move to >> yeah, it's continuing to move the east. going to be downgraded, it will off towards the north as we've go from a 2 to a 1 to a tropical seen that storm quickly racing across louisiana basically storm and depression. impacting the whole state. but that's likely going to as we look at what's going on here at home, we are going to see still some unhealthy air continue through tomorrow night. we'll see flash flooding that quality at times and still those will be an issue in several fires burning. areas and, again, the power but hopefully we are getting more containment. outages that are so tough for so we'll get that update in a few many when a storm like this passes through. minutes from the fire crews on let's hear a little more from

the front lines. here in campbell upper 50s and a bill karins, the nbc few clouds this morning and meteorologist about what he expects as this storm moves on. temperatures that will be cooler along with higher humidity to start off the day. we will have more on that coming >> we could have up in a few minutes. 90-mile-per-hour wind gusts up mike, how is it looking right to southern arkansas. now for the commute? >> kari, we still have that one we expect millions of people to problem in hayward for the be without power by thursday evening and then deal with nimitz. let's show you on the maps. rainfall and flooding in tennessee and kentucky. the crash is plural and having >> yeah, amazing to think about to call six tow agencies. the staying power of this storm. no major injuries and this is a it's finally about to be out of major problem heading south from this area in the next hour, hour and a half or so and thankfully 92 to san mateo. that's what they need right now. you can use union city boulevard for surface streets and the rest they need downtime to figure out of the portion of the east bay what happened here and try to peace that together and then try to move forward. is fine. you've got a lot of people who the build for san jose shows up and that should be short lived left and went to higher ground. they want to get back, but until the flooding recedes and until and that crew still clearing they get some power back here, i around 29, guys. back to you, marcus. think it may be a while before they get to come home and really breaking overnight across the nation and here in the bay assess what's happened to their area, new unrest following the home. >> absolutely. you know, i have some buddies police shooting in wisconsin. president trump now sending who are from lake charles and go to texas to higher ground just federal troops to kenosha and

protests happening in hopefully getting away from all minneapolis. this is where george floyd died. of that. and that now includes a lot of so, certainly going to be a long damage in oakland's lake merit road to recovery for some there. >> smart move. >> yeah, absolutely. area. we'll delve deeper into that jay gray live for us this breaking news at this hour. acr morning. thank you and stay safe out there. >> most definitely. it is 6:48 right now. moving on to decision 2020. board and inues are actually re tonight marks the final night of the republican national home. convention. president trump will deliver his the lnu fire has destroyed over nomination acceptance speech. >> now last night in the star 1,000 sfrtructures. spangled ceremony mike pence santa cruz county, we're accepted the party's nomination expecting that update from cal as vice president and, scott, fire. we want to listen in. this is a place i know very well it's going on right now. >> i'll transition right over to and ft. mchenry there in an operation's briefing from int baltimore. >> right. baltimore, your home town and 3 section chief mark brenton. ft. mchenry a star spangled >> good morning. place to have the event. it is the home of the star spangled banner in the war of so, the past few days we had a lot of good success about 1812. here is vice president pence as establishing more control lines he accepted the republican around the fire. being able to get deeper into nation national nomination. the fire and continue to extinguish fire around homes and >> with gratitude president start creating a more safe

environment as we are entering trump has placed in me, the more towards a repopulation support of our republican party potential down the road. and the grace of god, i humbly accept your nomination to run so, just to, again, in the north zone of our fire, we're starting to see a lot of great progress and serve as vice president of in that north zone. the united states. again, our line is held in division gulf and just in a >> now, the backdrop to all of patrol and mop up status and this was breathtaking. that is really protected any picture perfect for an movement of the fire towards all-american ceremony but there santa clara county. we're very confident that is going to hold and that is going are huge legal issues here using to maintain. federally owned land, federal facilities and federal workforce again, the fire is just slowly for a partisan campaign, creeping down towards our certainly skirting up against control line where we can best take advantage of suppression the law and certainly against activities. american tradition. again, the weather has really now pence's speech contained a mitigated the progression of the number of falsehoods and it's fire which is good. but as far as the operation our job to correct those falsehoods. but i want to highlight one in getting down to fully extenguish particular. it, it is a slow, painstaking this one wasn't factually incorrect, but it was certainly process but sweet we're getting misleading and it had to do with our oakland. there. >> people like dave patrick as you see the black lining on the map, again, that's an area that has been extenguiinguished underwood, an officer in the department of homeland security we're putting a control line in federal protective service who was shot and killed during the and we're fully confident that

that control line is controlled and a lot of progress along that riots in oakland, california. way and we have folks patrolling that and making sure that is >> it was a horrible tragedy, completely and fully out. and absolutely true that officer moving down towards cavdavenpor. underwood was shot at the same the utility companies in there time demonstrations were taking working diligently so that we can restore that community so place, but police now say his murder had nothing to do with it's operational. the highway 1 corridor and cal the demonstrations. in fact, the suspect in the trans has worked diligently to underwood shooting is a far make sure that is open and ready right activist described by to receive people on that police as someone associated roadway. with white supremacists and and our south end of the fire militias. other news "new york times" you'll see some black line and continue to put black line on and washington post" said it was the map as the next coming days the white house who recommended as our line is holding very well to the cdc or pressured the cdc in that area and our secondary to stop testing people who weren't showing symptoms. line, of course. so, for the uc certainly these are the people campus which was just recently you would want to test because they don't know whether they repopulated and for the community of santa cruz, they're have coronavirus. i'm going to ask dr. birx in very good shape, especially about that. with the upcoming weather we'll dr. deborah birx and i will sit see in the next couple days down virtually, of course, and where it's going to start getting warmer, drier and we'll talk in an interview today. see a bit of a north wind i cannot invite you to that interview, but i do invite your produce and pushing on that questions. if you have questions for dr.

line. it will give us a good wind test birx, retch me on twitter and and that will really validate facebook. let me know what they are and i for us that line and it being may pass them on to dr. birx. on twitter you'll find me able to hold with a lot of @scottmcgrew and i don't check confidence. around felton we have good line around three-quarters of felton facebook as oft en as i should, and yesterday the big story was but i promise to today. burning operation that was going 6:51 right now. on on the north end and tying let's get a look at the forecast and meteorologist kari hall into the bottom end of ben waiting for the sun's arrival loamen on a line that has been out there. kind of a cooler start, but very nice. established. that had to be delayed due to >> it is very nice to see some the weather in particular. now cooler conditions and not as just wasn't conducive for the burning conditions so that we wanted to get the right conditions to get the most much smoke as the low clouds effective burn possible. still continue to move across the firing operation, burn parts of the trivalley this operation end of starting later in the day around 3:00 to 4:00 let's head to san francisco where we are seeing that fog in the afternoon and we had to take it slow and it was a slow rolling by and, once again, this has helped to clear out the air process and that delayed that. quality for many of the but what i personally witnessed, microclimates. that westerly wind is bringing it was going very well. we had adequate resources. in some cooler, as well as some we had highly qualified very humid ocean air. resources in there so that we but we're also seeing it pushing had a very safe, effective burn. some of the fog from marin and they were able to get county over towards san rafael

probably about just over half, and making unhealthy air quality right now in that spot. almost three quarters done. they'll continue that process we also have really bad air quality in the south county with today. won't say it's the easier leg of the burn, but it is one that gilroy seeing air quality that may affect people with breathing we're very comfortable with and it's just the weather is what problems, but else where we are we're doing. seeing some improvements. so, they've made sure that we don't continue on and have not i do think once that fog clears out and that marine layer an effective burn. retreats back along the coast, we want to make sure it's we will see the smoke settling efebtive and efficient and that in, once again. will continue today. so, our air quality will be it will produce smoke. changing today as we see yesterday afternoon in the day temperatures that will reach into the upper 80s for some of light hours people saw a lot our warmer spots. san jose reaching 80 degrees and more smoke production. that's what it was. 65 in san francisco. that's normal. that showed that we have an 74 in oakland. we are going to have a quick efebti spike in temperatures for effective burn when we had the tomorrow for the valleys. and then for the weekend, coming smoke production that we had. down just a little bit, but i could tell they were doing along the coastline, san great work. francisco, our bay area beaches moving up the highway 9 and that's where we catch the corridor. relief with highs looking really good. mike, what is the update on the we have line punched in behind commute right now? those communities. >> well, kari, we're looking overall at a good, pleasant just the fuel loading and influx drive. let's take a look at a couple key spots on our maps. of a lot of resources yesterday. all day long i saw messages overall, again, the green

sensors show up around the bay coming in from my operation and i'll zoom in over here section chiefs that divvy out towards the stretch of 880 south on the east bay heading down the resources as we receive them to the other parntners who divv from the san mateo bridge from the dumbarton bridge. out and giving needs and a little slowing on the san priorities and seeing everything mateo high rise and also the from engines and crews, which we backup at the bay bridge for the metering lights. back to you. desperately need and our type >> all right, thanks, mike. one crews. well, happening now, you may so, everything was showing up want to check your kitchen that we needed and we were because frito-lay is recalling some of its barbecue flavored putting them directly to work. potato chips. the reason behind this is those also saving a few of them so we chips contain an undeclared milk balance out our shift because they work a 24-hour shift. ingredient and people with milk we don't want to overload one shift and not have a shift that allergies run the risk of a serious or even life-threatening isn't fully staffed. reaction. the recall on those bags may also be in those select we're doing a balancing act on top of that. frito-lay variety packs. again today, we have a robust coming up next on "today in shift to be able to tackle this the bay" a quick look at our top challenge. the rest of it is looking really good as we're moving up highway stories this morning, including protests turning chaotic in the bay area overnight. 236 and cal trans is in there after the police shooting in wisconsin. we'll have a live update on this morning's clean-up efforts. working and bonny doon, same thing. we have county road works. plus -- along with our specialty road

>> we are live in scotts valley crews that are going in. where cal fire just wrapped up a getting that opened up so our media briefing on the czu lightning fire. inspection crews can get in we'll bring you the details, next. there and the utility companies experience the ultimate sports hub. can make it safe and start doing their work. pg&e has been there in full force getting their infrastructure up and running as well as the other utilities. so we're getting to that point where they're getting their work done and we're getting our work done and very symbiotic in this challenge. air support. yesterday was not helpful to that. we could not get any reconnaissance flights in and not until very late in the day we could get water dropping flights in. we didn't have as much success from the air yesterday. the oncoming weather a lot more success, go back to how we were a few days ago and timing out our aircraft and dropping lots of water in support of our ground troops and work another day closer to accomplishing our mission and getting this done and people back where they want to be back at home . >> okay, we've been listening to

cal fire this morning. their latest update. 21% containment so far. 646 structures still lost. they're talking about it's really slow, painstaking work that they're doing but they're trying to time out the weather to their best advantage. we'll continue to stream this live on nbcbayarea.com and i've also sent out a link on my twitter account and also some fema information should you be one of the unfortunate victims. we'll continue to follow that. in the meantime, kari, they were talking about how they really focus on the weather. we know we have some warmer and drier days ahead for us. >> yeah, especially coming in tomorrow. we are having still these cool mornings and fog rolling in and we're starting out right now with temperatures in the mid to upper 50s for many of the microclimates. it is drier as you go up in elevation, so, some of the fires burning up in the hills do have different weather conditions. as we look at what we're feeling down here in the valleys and where you can find games, news and highlights.

pls, it will be a nice, cool all in one place, right on your tv. day. but, once again, it will warm the xfinity sports zone. up. mike, how's ittic looi ilooking use your voice to search every stat, standing and score. commute? >> looking slow for the one follow the teams you love. portion of the nimitz. and, even get notifications we look at your map it's 92 and with breaking news alerts and more. so you'll never miss an update. 84 the dumbarton bridge. with the xfinity sports zone that is tied up because of the everybody wins. now that's simple, easy, awesome. plural crashes there. click, call or visit a store for details. speed recovery right near the lower end that may indicate they moved the last vehicle from the roadway and i'll wait until chp gives the all clear. h everything else looks pretty good. the bay bridge toll plaza does start the backup in the middle lanes. back to you. >> all right, thank you very much, mike. 6:11 right now. up in flames. still ahead on "today in the bay" this thursday morning, the 6:56 for you this morning, welcome back. bo bombshell announcement about quick look at the stories we're last month's fire that burned four days on a u.s. warship in following. let's go live to "today in san diego. the bay" cierra johnson in >> what investigators uncovered and the lingering questions on oakland this morning where there's a lot of cleanup going whether that ship will set sale on after protests last night.

again. >> yes, good morning. at one point oakland pd believe that protests grew to 600, 700 people and turned violent. this is at the scene at harrison and bay. this is the whole foods here in oakland. when we arrived nearly every single one of these windows had something broken out and these crews have been working to clean up that glass and work to replace some of those bigger panels. now, last night oakland pd says the protests began around 8:00 with those agitators really kind of starting to get worked up around 10:00. they were breaking windows. they broke the window of alameda county superior court and even setting a fire inside. and then other businesses had their windows out. now, oakland pd says they did make several arrests at those protests. none of their officers were injured, but back out here you can see quite a clean up. it's not just this building, but

several others within this community. this, of course, all in response to what played out there in wisconsin. some of those other officer-involved shootings. we'll send it now to jackie. >> thanks so much, cierra. here live in scotts valley where cal fire just wrapped up a media briefing for the czu lightning fire. right now 81,333 acres. 21% contained. 646 structures have been destroyed and cal fire says another 23,000 remain threatened still. cal fire says they can continue to work on its repopulation plan over the next 48 hours. that means they're trying to get people safely home as soon as possible. live in scots scotts valley, jackie ward, "today in the bay." >> here's a look at really all those fires are burning, including where jackie is. most of them involved three separate series of fires, but they've burned some 800,000 acres. be sure to download our free

nbc bay area app. you can get the very latest on those fires and the evacuations and all the information you need to know. we can send it right to your phone. download that. it is free. want to get a check of that forecast for today because, kari, i know down in santa cruz fires there. they were talking about how weather conditions there play a big role and how they fight the fire. how is it looking for them there today? >> we've seen some favorable weather conditions with higher humidity and calm winds. but, unfortunately, temperatures will spike tomorrow and that's something they will be closely watching. mike, what's going on with the commute. >> quick look at the bay bridge toll plaza it is lining up here right now at 6:14 as we head and that's great news as we look out the door in walnut creek, we at the san mateo and slowing on are starting out with mostly the high rise where we can see clear sky that at times some the peninsula from here. smoke coming by, as well. >> sounds good. thanks so much. thank you for joining us. our temperatures in the upper 50s and heading into the upper that's going to do it for us. >> yeah, taking a live look for 70s at 1:00. we'll have a cooler day ahead, you right now as the sun rises but we'll talk about a warm up across the bay area. in the forecast coming up. thanks for having a great morning with us. and we're looking at a speed see you back here tomorrow.

"today" show is next. up maybe. south 880 right around fremont boulevard. looks like it may be clear and we may have hope for that commute in the near future. the bay bridge toll plaza in there right now and the metering lights turned on. hurricane laura slams into the gulf coast overnight as an new details for you this morning on last month's fire .. that burned for four days on the extremely dangerous category 4 storm, one of the most powerful ever to hit the u.s. mainland. maximum sustained winds 150 miles per hour. "u "ussbonhomme richard." hundreds of thousands waking up tells our san diego station without power in louisiana and investigators have identified a texas this morning. sailor as a suspect. and that number expected to rise last month's fire heavily dramatically. damaged that warship, which at officials calling it the time was being renovated and unsurvivable. we'll have complete coverage on was mostly empty. the ground, and al is tracking more than 50 people did suffer smoke inhalation and it's still unclear if that ship can be salvaged. well, continuing our coronavirus coverage, california has now surpassed 687,000 confirmed cases and more than 12,000 people have died. a new partnership will

dramatically increase the state's testing capacity. governor newsom says the state is now working with east coast developers to build a new lab. the $1 billion deal will allow the state to more than double testing capacity to 250,000 tests per day and results will come within two days instead of a week. each test will cost about $30 as opposed to the $100 per test the state now pays. well, some businesses in alameda county are concerned and confused about the new reopening plans rolling out tomorrow. so, all new health order allowing outdoor salons, barbershops, swimming pools and massage parlors to resume service. but some business owners tell "the chronicle" at the poor air quality from so much of the wildfire smoke really presents those challenges when it comes to outdoor air cuts and facials. also starting tomorrow, contra costa county plans to allow some businesses to reopen outdoors. and for the first time, a bay area school district is reportedly getting the green

light for in-person classes. last month, south bay's moreland school district in san jose applied to reopen four elementary schools. santa clara county health leaders have now approved the reopening for students with learning disabilities and for students who can't distance learn. the district was supposed to reopen this week, but because of the smoke from the wildfires, those plans have been delayed. well, trending this morning, singer katy perrynd welcome the first child together. cue the fireworks. daisy dove bloom was born yesterday. the couple says they are, quote, floating with love. perry also may have been hinting at the new name of the baby through her music. you know, she released a song called "daisies" back in may. look at that little hand. and that's where they get you right there. wrapped around your finger. >> absolutely. >> hopefully she's happier than

you hear her roar. >> no daisy is going to roar. >> we have the roaring of the wind, though, down in the gulf coast, kari. hurricane laura there causing quite an impact down there. >> yeah, we continue to monitor that. we'll have updates throughout the morning. let's get to our weather as we start out with some thick fog over san francisco. but this has worked to our benefit to bring in higher humidity and also helping to clear the air of all of that unhealthy smoke we've had the past few days. as we look at san jose, we're also seeing the clouds moving by the south bay and there will be at times still some drifts of smoke, especially once that marine layer and that fog starts to clear out. let's look at our air quality because in the north bay it's theurst wi the worst right now in san rafael. else where we're seeing air quality levels that are right now pretty good, but we will see this changing, once again, as the fog clears out. that smoke will settle in, once again. we're also getting some smoke

drifting into gilroy, so, it is unhealthy this morning and we're also seeing some poor air quality. as we go into the weekend, the forecast shows we will see some improvements especially after tomorrow so the spare the air alert continues through tomorrow and then for saturday and sunday, we should see some improving conditions for all of our microclimates, but especially the beaches where we are getting a westerly ocean breeze picking up. as we go through our microclimates and what to expect for today, our temperatures at noon will be in the mid 70s for parts of the inland east bay. you might want to take that lunch outside. in san francisco we'll see temperatures in the middle of the day still in the 60s while san jose will be in the low 80s and north bay temperatures in the low 80s. later on this evening, we'll see mostly some 70s for parts of the east bay, the peninsula, as well as the north bay. as we go through this seven-day forecast, we are getting ready for a quick spike in temperatures for tomorrow. this will also change the direction of the wind and also those fire crews are watching that very closely as we go into

the weekend, this will make all the difference in what we'll see in terms of containment. mike, what is going on right now for the commute? >> kari, we have a couple sites, important ones in transition. the first one is the bay bridge toll plaza if you caught me just by the commercial break there. we talked about the metering lights being on and filling in all lanes and now they're full except for hov and that means your car has three or more. good news for that situation. we look at the map, no problem on the span, it's a little slow there. that will clear up and the backup will continue to fill in towards the berkeley curve and not a problem right now. the rest of your commute and that shot is fine and those closures continue in the north bay. farther south from 92 tapping the brakes and looks like speeds are starting to ease fremont boulevard. no change for the status there, but it does look like the speeds are improving. i think they might have gotten everything to the shoulder. south of the dumbarton bridge everything is fine for the

nimitz and no slowing to the north bay. back to you. >> thanks, mike. coming up next, we'll talk about how you can help us clear the shelters by helping loving animals find a forever home. that and a lot more coming up next. hi. we're glad you came in.

what's on your mind? can you help keep these guys protected online? easy. connect to the xfi gateway. what about wireless data options for the family? you can customize and save. what about internet speeds that can keep up with my gaming? let's hook you up with the fastest internet from xfinity. and now with our stores reopening, we're putting healthy practices in place. come visit a store today. stop in or book an appointment online at a time that works for you. now that's simple, easy, awesome. ask. shop. discover at your local xfinity store today. welcome back 6:23 for you. hurricane laura into the gulf coast near lake charles,

louisiana. live look for you. lake charles right now we want to show you. you can see right there reporter standing there getting ready to do a report, but you can just see how strong those winds are around him. this is the video that we saw right here. this is that storm. look at that. this is when the storm moved through carlos, louisiana. this is not too far from lake charles. you can see right there theavy rain and the speeds reaching up to 150 miles per hour. you know, marcus, the damage is extending into port arthur, texas, as well. look at this video by a reporter there. trees, branches down in the area and those winds so strong. in the meantime, "today in the bay" jay gray his own time contending with the rain and wind as the storm arrived. take a look. >> hey, philip. well, we've just gone through the eye and now getting the back side of this system. it is pounding this area as it has been for several hours here.

>> oh, with all that wind and rain, jay was barely able to stay upright. we'll check in with him for a live report in our next half hour. let's get to meteorologist kari hall. we're not goegto get to that. laura, let's talk about this right here. one of our favorite parts. >> yeah, this is always a really exciting time. little different this year, but all this month nbc bay area we have been clearing the shelters. >> bringing you serious star power. these two fabulous felines names lorry garcia and mike inouye have been adopted through the sonoma county animal services. but, there are still many more out there that need a happy home and you can help out by adopting them. you can actually find a list of the participating shelters by going to nbcbayarea.com. that's so cute. all right. so, the kind of unique thing about it this year since we're

usually out there in berkeley at the berkeley humane. i know you'll be there saturday. i'll be in palo alto. you can come out and touch the animals and see them and it's a big group, but, of course, we nbcbayarea.com and we have a full list of them there and virtually you can check out all the kittens and rabbits and dogs and puppies and the works and find a forever friend there. >> if you've been thinking about it, now is the time to do it. those pets need a home and they're going to love you as much as you love them. i have a friend who adopted a dog and she's in love right now. >> especially right now, too. all of us are home so much which is really lovely to be home with our animals, too. so, it's a big event this weekend. you know, they waived the fees which is a big help, as well. >> yeah. >> so check it all out at nbcbayarea.com. we love it, don't we, marcus? >> absolutely. >> always so fun. 6:26 right now. coming up next on "today in the

bay." back to the breaking news we're following for you on this thursday morning. >> tracking the progress being made on the fire lines happening right here in the bay area. plus -- >> cleanup is under way here in oakland after a protest turned violent. broken windows, fire and burned out cars. pro sports teams postpone their games in support of the black community. the future of the nba playoffs. you're watching "today in the bay."

right now at 6:30. breaking news on major fronts including violence on the streets of oakland oerb night in response to the police shooting in wisconsin. we're surveying the damage this morning. a live report is next. plus -- >> happening now. hurricane laura churning through louisiana. this is after slamming into the gulf coast as perhaps its most powerful storm ever. we're tracking that storm plus the damage. "today in the bay" continues right now. and a good thursday morning to you, thanks so much for starting right here with us. i'm marcus washington. >> and i'm laura garcia. we'll check in with mike inouye in a moment. first more images of hurricane laura moving inland after

striking the louisiana/texas border as a category 4 hurricane. take a look at this satellite image on how massive this storm is. the eye of the storm there. >> yeah, as you see the sun comes up, we're going to get a better look at that damage left behind. of course, this is all causing a lot of chaos down there. meteorologist kari hall tracking that. we were talking about that yesterday and you were just talking about how strong that hurricane could be as it heads in. >> yeah. and to see it still this far inland and still a category 1 hurricane, i mean, that's very remarkable. and now we're seeing many tornado warnings being spawned by this hurricane as it continues to move through baton rouge and cser to new orenllean. the center of the storm moving through alexandria. we'll be watching for the potential for flooding, wind and rain in that area. as we look at our weather here at home, we still have the drifts of smoke coming through and unhealthy air quality and starting out with improved air

quality as the fog rolls in and as we look at our temperature trend, nice to have the cooler temperatures this morning and also slightly cooler for this afternoon. so, we'll get a look at all of our microclimates in the weekend forecast coming up. mike, what is happening right now for the commute? >> well, kari, on our maps you see the speed sensor mostly green and we also see the fire affected freeways for czu, scu. let's zoom in towards the east bay 880 southbound. we see better speeds than we have. over the last 20 minutes, speeds have improved down towards the scene of two crashes right around fremont boulevard for south 880. there sus be activity on the shoulder. i have not gotten the all-clear from chp but speeds are improving. the bay bridge metering lights are on and north bay closures continue for lnu fires. we have all of those. back to you. >> that's right. more, because we continue to watch the fire fight across the bay area. containment levels are up and good news here is that some evacuees are returning home.

cal fire just wrapped a news conference in santa cruz county and we'll have more on that coming up in 15 minutes as they continue their fight trying to work with the better weather conditions that we're seeing today. but, first, we want to start our team coverage on the growing racial unrest across the country sparking new tensions and chaos. new overnight, protests in kenosha and minneapolis, as well as right here in the bay area. all of it in response to the police shooting on sunday of jacob blake. blake now paralyzed from the waist down. the u.s. department of justice now confirming it is launching a federal civil rights investigation. authorities have now identified that officer who shot blake. rusten sheskey, a seven-year veteran. officers had been called to the scene for domestic disturbance and tried to arrest blake. that entire incident caught on camera. now, we have frozen it before those shots were fired. officers first deployed a taser on wlblake. when he opened the driver side

of the door and leaned forward. sheskey was holding on to blake's shirt and fired his gun seven times hitting blake in the back. now, investigators are now saying that a knife was found on the floor of blake's suv. meanwhile, police have charged a 17-year-old suspect in the deadly shooting during tuesday night's protest. he's identified as kyle rittenhouse. two demonstrators there, they were shot and killed. a third wounded. "today in the bay" bob redell is following the growing boycott among pro sports teams in response to the shooting. first, cierra johnson is live in oakland this morning. the scene of really tense protests overnight and a lot of cleaning up this morning, cierra. >> yes, good morning. those protests quickly grew in size and just as fast turned violent. this was the result this morning you can see crews are working to completely break this window only to board it up. we've been out for about two

hours now and they've made pretty good progress and this is what was left from those protesters. graffiti on the wall. broken windows. it doesn't appear anything has been stolen but there is a lot of financial damage done because of the glass. the fine chardz of glass that are within that building. now, according to oakland pd the protest began around 8:00 last night and within an hour they believe agitators within that crowd tried to set businesses near lake merritt on fire and throwing thicks sthings at off. shut down in both directions because of protesters and windows were broken at the alameda superior court and a fire was started inside. a car was also found burned out near lake merritt. oakland pd found crowds had reached between 600 and 700 people. for many people hitting the streets in oakland, they are just really angered because of what has played out with some of

these shootings in recent months and they wanted to do so peacefully, but, of course, that did not happen. take a listen to someone discussing that peaceful protest. >> i respect everything and at the end of the day, make it be peaceful. all these people are resting in peace. let them rest and be peaceful. stop tearing up our city and places where we have to live. >> oakland pd says several arrests were made, but none of their officers were just came down so crews working hard to get things back out, back to where they were before. unclear right now if this store is going to be able to open at the original time. i believe it's 8:00 here in oakland for senior citizens. not sure that is going to happen because we still have several other windows down here where you can see straight in into the store. we'll continue to follow this as

it develops. we're live in oakland, cierra johnson for "today in the bay." >> thank you. there is a, laura, take this part. >> oh, no. thank you. but, yeah, we'll continue to cover that and there is another historic angle to the story, as well. involving high-profile athletes and teams putting a stop to games. bob redell joins us live now and following that aspect of the story and this includes the giants, the earthquakes and really the entire nba, bob. >> correct. the earthquakes postponed their games last night, laura, against the portland timbers in support of the black community. the soccer team major league community relace this statement. the san jose earthquakes organization stands with the black community, our players, the bay area and the nation in the fight against injustice and inequality. we support our players' decision not to play tonight's match in

an effort to shed light. a black lives matter banner is on display as the giants agreed to postpone last night's game after the dodgers decided not to play. mookie betts of the dodgers told the team, he was not playing to protest the police shooting of jacob blac jacob blake who is black who was shot seven times in the back in kenosha, wisconsin, by a police officer who is white. betts' decision followed the milwaukee bucks decision to boycott their playoff game against the orlando magic. >> for me, i think no matter what i wasn't going to play tonigh tonig tonight. >> for the white brothers to come in and support the black men in this game is much more powerful and we did talk to the giants, as well, they were in lock step with our thoughts. >> the right answer for us and for myself as a white man was to sit out with them. >> to support the players and

just not be here tonight. >> that was nba broadcaster kenny smith walking off the set during his broadcast on tnt last night to show his solidarity with the bucks players and other nba players who have refused to play basketball. the "washington post" reports later this morning in about an hour and a half the board of governors will meet to decide whether to resume the nba playoffs. the dodgers and giants are scheduled for a doubleheader later today. they're scheduled to play and the dodgers manager said that is another conversation they need to have. reporting live here in san jose, bob redelll "today in the bay." >> thank you. a lot of people having that conversation right now centered around race here in america. we want to remind you that we had that conversation and we keep continuing to have that conversation on race in america. it's led by me and jessica aguirre and four of those installments already and the

ifth one coming up next month they can be found at nbcbayarea.com/raceinamerica. great thing to check out there.'s talk about the weather today. be nice to see the smoke clear and we had cooler mornings, as well, kari. >> we've seen the fog rolling in during the early hours. the fog starting to reach its way over towards walnut creek and we can see it is smoky this morning and there will be, at times, the drifts of smokes continuing. as we look at our temperature trend, a cooler start this morning with upper 50s. we'll reach into the upper 70s early in the afternoon and much cooler than the weather we've seen recently with highs in the upper 80s and near 90 degrees. mike, what is the update on the commute? >> kari, we have, of course, the bay bridge backup at the toll plaza and fender bender reported somewhere near the fast track

lanes and, obviously, that means the cash lanes. not a problem right now as we're looking and we call them cash lanes historically. the movement here. the map shows you the slow down where the arrow is and, of course, the closures in the north bay because of the lnu fire and we have slowing still for the east bay as we travel in towards the area and south 880 slows down towards union city and the crash looks like all the activity on the shoulder and south bay moves very smoothly, as does the peninsula. back to you. it's 6:41 right now. you may have missed this while you were sleeping but jay gray almost getting bowled over overnight as hurricane laura made landfall. we'll check back in with him next as parts of the gulf coast wake up to what may have been the region's most powerful storm ever. you're watching "today in the bay."

we continue to track what is going on around the gulf coast and hurricane laura making its west of alexandria and spawning many tornadoes this morning. a lot of the tornado warnings going along with the high winds and heavy rain. we'll continue to have those updates throughout the morning. well, we continue to track the breaking news as hurricane laura wreaks havoc on the gulf coast. that storm made landfall overnight as a category 4 and extremely high winds and rain bringing damage to parts of texas and louisiana.

jay gray earlier this morning. >> hey, philip. well, we've just