south lake tahoe evacuated overnight. conditions are changing by the minute and we're following the latest developments. powerful ida making landfall in the gulf coast. daylight begins to reveal how much damage was done. this is "today in the bay." good monday morning. hope you had a great weekend. i'm laura garcia. >> i'm marcus washington. we want to begin with that breaking news overnight, all of south lake tahoe is under some

form of evacuation to the nevada state line. this is because of the caldor fire. the city of south lake tahoe is under evacuation warning and bart and memorial hospital is being evacuated as well. evacuation orders for the first time for the people in the tahoe basin and amador county. they were all included in this. more people in el dorado and alpine counties are also under new orders. fire crews say the caldor fire experienced, quote, rapid spread. the caldor fire has burned 263 square miles or an area larger than the size of san jose and oakland combined. containment dropped to 13%. a lot to track of right now. let's bring in meteorologist kari hall monitoring some of this as well. smoke conditions that could come into the bay area. >> yeah. we've seen a lot of smoke over the past couple days and it has cleared a little bit, but then take a look at the fire and what we've seen, the perimeter, the yellow dots indicate the area that's burned, the red dots

indicate active fire. as we get a closer look as this continues to spread rapidly off towards the east, this is not what we wanted because it is entering the tahoe basin where it starts to go downhill. this is a look at our live camera sierra at tahoe where you can see the bright flames coming over the ridge and going down into the tahoe basin, really scary pictures there, as well as this. we have tropical storm ida on the other side as we take a look at louisiana through mississippi and alabama, producing very high storm surge, a lot of coastal louisiana under water at this point. as we've seen the heavy rain bands continue to move through mississippi producing tornadoes this morning. we've got a lot of severe weather going on and tracking this, ida, as well as that smoke that's coming into the bay area. happening on the gulf coast, live pictures this morning from new orleans where ida is actually just been downgraded to

a tropical storm. >> right now new orleans has been left without power. this is a live look for you this morning as the sun starts to rise. jay gray has more for us there. >> reporter: good evening from new orleans. this city is getting pounded by ida right now and has been for the last several hours. the wind has dropped off a bit, though it still comes in waves. the rain has not stopped and continues to pour. there is standing water in the french quarter which is the highest point in this city. we know there are trees down and there is no power in the entire new orleans metro area. buildings have had their rooftops ripped away, glass shattered in windows and we've still got hours to go with this storm. that's the latest right now from here in new orleans. jay gray, back to you. this morning bay area crews on their way to the gulf coast and you can see oakland fire, urban search and rescue team loading up that gear with

supplies there. this is from last night. they will be one of many teams heading to the louisiana area to help where they're needed. oakland's fire department is one of only 28 sponsor teams in the country that responds to calls like this. now to the pandemic, the u.s. seeing an increase in covid hospitalizations just since the delta variant summer surge continues. according to the "new york times" the nation is now topping more than 100,000 daily covid hospitalizations. that is higher than previous covid-19 surges except last winter's. southern states are seeing the biggest number. florida has the most hospitalizations than any other state with more than 16,000. texas follows with over 14,000 receiving care and california over 8,000 people hospitalized right now. with more californians having the need for covid testing results, wait times have been higher. last week the number of states covid testing dashboard shows

wait times for results are above one-day thresholds with an average turnaround time now at about 1.2 days. it was nearly 50% below that at one point, 0.7 in june. more testing at schools and workplaces is a big contributor factor to all of this with daily tests nearing as high as they were back in january. taking you out live across the bay area this morning, waiting for the sun's arrival on this monday mork. still dark out there. we could see more smoke from the wildfires that we've been tracking. an all the advisory has been issued for today. meteorologist kari hall certainly always keeping her eyes on that. smoky saturday in my neighborhood but cleared on sunday. what are we in store for today? >> we did have the spare the air alert meaning that we are experiencing unhealthy air quality. it has been downgraded to an air quality advisory, a level below a spare the air alert. as we take a look at our centers right now, the green sensors end

gait good air quality, moderate for the yellow dots and still orange, unhealthy in the tri-valley this morning as you get ready to head out. we are expecting some improvement today. still going to be smoky for the start of the day but then the winds kick up and pushes out the smoke, the smoke pushes to the east as we go into this evening. we will continue to see some improvement here, but those strong winds will fan the flames of the caldor fire and push it closer to lake tahoe with the westerly wind. mike is saying everything for the commute is looking pretty good. [ no audio ] >> here we go. >> a little hiccup. i apologize. my fault. not the technical side. the issue is no one's fault, a crash has been cleared and it's just marking the hazard system here. we're looking at everything being cleared now to patrearo off the bay bridge. the bay bridge is moving

smoothly and, in fact, the rest of the bay, why there was no urgency here, south bay up to the peninsula and east bay great drive. just a tiny bit out of the altamont for the traffic. happening today caltrain is expanding its service and significantly increasing the number of trains it runs during peak commuting hours. there will be four trains from 6:00 a.m. to 9:00 a.m. and again from 4:00 p.m. to 7:00 p.m. in addition, the agency's baby bullet train is back which essentially cuts the time for san jose to san francisco. coming up next on "today in the bay," buy now, pay later. one retailer moving forward with a payment option. who it is and why they say credit cards are not needed. and tiktok going virtual. the new move that is actually pitting the company against facebook and apple. and taking a peek outside on this monday morning. live look at the bay bridge toll plaza. light traffic to report so far. mike keeping his eye on all of that as the morning commute will

progress throughout the day. more news ahead. 4:37. .

good monday morning. at 4:40, let's take a look at our current temperatures if you're about to step out the door. we're at 63 in livermore, 65 in oakland, and 62 in san jose. nice cool start to our morning but it will be another hot one for the inland valleys. a look at that and our microclimates coming up in a few minutes. a live look at the

richmond/san raphael bridge. one car. great drive across over towards the san raphael side. the bigger view, the longer drive, some folks are getting an early start. contessa? >> good morning. i'm contessa brewer from cnbc. wall street is set to open just slightly higher this morning. the nasdaq and the s&p 500 closed at record highs friday. investors breathing a sigh of relief after jay powell signaled the central bank could start reducing some of its monetary stimulus this year but said it's in no rush to hike interest rates. the dow up 1.5, the nasdaq about 3%. oil prices hit a more than three-week high early today before pulling back. analysts anticipate refineries, pipelines and oil platforms along the gulf coast will be able to resume operations quickly following hurricane ida. a report on pending home sales. amazon is teaming up with payment provide affirm to offer

shoppers a buy now, pay later option that doesn't involve a credit card. a firm's flexible payment system will be available soon on amazon as website. customers can split the costs of installment plans are popular se with retailer because they encourage customers to spend more money. tiktok's bite dance is moving into virtual reality buying a start-up called pico, the third largest maker of vr head seths. it could pit bite dance against apple's oculus vision. it's going to be a race to see who can look the silliest in the living room. >> exactly. >> on this set it will be me. >> thanks. it's 4:42.

coming up next on "today in the bay," smoke, fog, perhaps both. meteorologist kari hall is tracking it all. >> we're starting out this morning temperatures in the low 60s. still some moderate air quality but we are going to see some improvements still with some hot temperatures today. more on that and the forecast coming up in a few minutes. westbound with the taillights across the san mateo bridge. easy drive on to the peninsula here. nice drive out of the east bay as well. a closer look at contra costa county and folks may be heading out of there. >> stay with us as we continue our coverage on the caldor fire. those evacuations issued for lake tahoe, south lake tahoe, the latest coming up for you in just under three minutes.

breaking news we continue to follow this morning, as thousands in the south lake tahoe basin area now under some sort of evacuation order. the caldor fire leading evacuation orders. bart memorial hospital is being evacuated and following all the breaking news coming into our newsroom. kris sanchez is tracking it all and join us with a live report in about 15 minutes. let's check in with meteorologist kari hall because all that smoke from that region has been such a great concern as well. what about the weather conditions? >> laura, take a look at this live picture that we have at sierra tahoe. my heart skipped a beat seeing this live picture this morning. we were hoping to get more

containment over the weekend so it wouldn't go into the tahoe basin but that's not happening. we have more evacuations in that area because of the gusty winds that have been picking up. so all of this is the new red flag warning that's been issued for today and tomorrow. it's really dry out there. and we have the winds that are increasing from the west/southwest. you think about a west/southwest early wind and the fire is here and it's going to push it closer to the south lake tahoe area with the wind coming from that direction. while a wind is coming west/southwest it will help clear out our air and see improvements today. once again it's going to push the fire in the direction of south lake tahoe over the next couple days. we do still have numerous fires burning, including the dixie fire, a large one, as well as more fires in parts of northern california around redding and we are going to start out with the

smoky conditions while the winds are calm but once the winds increase today we're going to see some improvements in the smoke. taking a look at walnut creek, we are right now at 60 degrees as you head out the door. temperatures are still going to be rising and turning into a very warm day with our north bay temperatures reaching 82 in napa, 76 in hayward, and 85 today in san jose. we still will have some low to mid 90s for the inland east bay. a hot start to the week, but then as we go through the rest of the week, cooler conditions here, breezy winds and we'll also see much more rain moving over toward the pacific northwest. as we take a look at our seven-day forecast, weather conditions here improving but once again, we're watching all of the weather conditions around the caldor fire which will be our main concern over the next few days. mike, watching the roads. anything going on out there? >> looking for a blip of any sort other than green. we have a couple highway 84

nothing major and out of the altamont pass which we pointed out earlier. vasco, byron discovery bay, brentwood and 580. no problems we're at speeds here. smooth drive for early drivers out of contra costa county toward 580 or perhaps along highway 4 towards concord. around san marco report of a mattress in the lanes for the westbound commute direction. a note in concord heading to the freeway, a smooth drive across the bay bridge, no problem. >> thank you. to the ongoing u.s. withdrawal from afghanistan where the taliban has taken control. earlier this morning rockets struck a neighborhood near kabul international airport. new video just coming in shows smoke billowing into the air. there were reports of gunfire in the neighborhood shortly after. >> just over 24 hours to go, hundreds of american citizens and thousands of others want to leave are still on the ground.

tracie potts watching developments from outside washington. >> reporter: this morning reports of a rocket strike and gunfire near kabul's international airport after an explosion sunday signs of danger as the u.s. continues evacuations ahead of tomorrow's deadline. >> all we can do is mitigate risk. we cannot eliminate it. >> reporter: the full u.s. withdrawal from afghanistan is set to happen by midnight tomorrow. today the urgent push to get americans to safety. >> we have about 300 american citizens left who have indicated to us that they want to leave. we are very actively working to help them get to the airport, get on a plane and get out of afghanistan. >> reporter: the biden administration is pushing back on reports that the u.s. put americans at risk by you giving the taliban names of those still on the ground. >> the idea that we put anyone in any further jeopardy is simply wrong. >> reporter: on sunday a u.s. drone destroyed a vehicle

believed to carry suicide bombers planning another attack on the airport. critics say after tomorrow it will be hardground. >> we have little leverage to extract additional americans or afghan allies from this landlocked country. >> reporter: on sunday the bodies of 13 service members killed in last week's attack arrived home. >> just my baby. yeah. my baby. >> reporter: casualties in a war ending at great cost. tracie potts, nbc news. and a reminder for anyone who intends to vote in the recall election, but you're not registered to vote. tonight at midnight is the deadline to register. forms must be dropped off at a registrar's office or postmarked by today, august 30th. online you have until 11:59 p.m.

to get the registration in. here's a look at some of the key contenders seeking to replace governor newsom out of nearly 50 choices and here are some things a new governor would be up against. starting with what is still a heavily democratic legislature that means barring executive orders a super majority would still be able to override most policy changes or budget plans. any replacement will be up against the clock. this is because next november california will elect a new governor. and if you have questions about the recall ballot we have answers. scott mcgrew has put together an explainer on how to complete your ballot. find that at nbcbayarea.com/recall or click on newsom recall in the trending bar at the top of our home page. a dedicated group of students from city college of san francisco fighting to keep language classes there alive, specifically cantonese classes which have been offered since the 1960s but could be cut due to the budget. students say the classes provide

an essential resource to the community. data shows cantonese is spoken by 60% ofpu ction in the state. that's despite mandarin being the official language of china. while a one-year budget deal preserved the classes for now it's unclear if they will continue to off therm in the future. ther among open 20 colleges in the country to still offer cantonese. the more you know. coming up next on "today in the bay," jumping for joy. an insane thing out of bosnia. the cliff diving world series. nbc bay area and telemundo 48 honoring local animal heros for the clear the shelters positively good award. head to nbcbayarea.com/positively good to learn more and submit your nominee today. first happening now for you, san jose mayor sam liccardo is preparing for a discussion about

an unorthodox idea, requiring the homeless to use sheltfers they're available. daryl steinberg is implementing what he calls his right to housing responsibility to shelter ordinance. some 20 homeless shelters are being built with the idea of housing everyone, but critics say that that plan will also make certain parts of the city off limits to the homeless. both mayors will take part in the virtual q&a session this afternoon. 4:54. we will be right back.

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thank for sticking around. 4:56. for a's fans just what the doctor ordered last night at the coliseum with a national tv audience watching tony kim blast

the two-run home run in the eighth inning giving the a's the 3-1 win and end up splitting their four-game series with the streaking new york yankees. >> the giants head to milwaukee. same city where the atlanta braves once played. the braves came out swings yesterday in atlanta. the giants had no answers and lost 9-0. really would our monday morning be complete without a little cliff diving? >> how about a world famous bridge in the middle of a town in bosnia. take a look. >> he nailed it. >> that was cool. the jump off was a specifically built platform in the city's old bridge there. it's 90 foot high jump was cool and the latest stop in the red bull cliff diving series. in this case maybe a little red bull helped before jumping. >> it's kind of amazing you see the village there.

>> close my eyes and just fall. >> must be deep enough. >> this is a busy monday on "today in the bay." the caldor fire and tropical storm ida. kari has been monitoring it for us. >> fog, mist and drizzle mixing in the smoke. we'll talk about air quality and everything else going on coming up next. plus, just over 24 hoursor the u.s. to evacuate in afghanistan. chaos is continuing near the airport. what we're learning overnight as flights continue.

breaking right now at 5:00, the caldor fire burning in the west with evacuations under way for south lake tahoe area. tropical storm ida is slamming the gulf coast. >> those in louisiana waking up to a new reality, with so much now gone, this is after the category 4 storm slammed ashore. we have complete coverage this morning. this is "today in the bay." >> and a very good monday morning to you. thanks so much for joining us. hope you had a great weekend. i'm laura garcia. >> i'm marcus washington. >> let's start out with that breaking news. south lake tahoe we're watching it closely as the evacuation orders are out. the caldor fire burning as it heads into the tahoe basin. "today in the bay" kris sanchez joins us now with more on the evacuations under way and the fire fighting efforts have been ongoing for some time, kris. >> this is surreal for folks who spent