good thursday morning. you're watching "today in the bay." i'm marcus washington. >> i am kris sanchez. i am in for laura garcia. we want to start you off with a traffic alert. >> good morning. what a difficult morning when we have to start with this type of news, somebody was hit and killed by a car just before the north livermore exit and that means the backup starts before vasco, and westbound 580 was fully closed for about 15 minutes and has opened to just

the three left lanes, the three fast lanes, and the car involved in this also stayed at the scene. there's the backup forming, and this will affect folks coming out of tracy and livermore. breaking news. damaging flooding on the east coast as the remanence of hurricane ida devastate the northeast overnight with historic rainfall. at least eight people dead, and just take a look at this. the rescue is happening there. this is the first ever flash flood emergency ever called for new york city. this is video of the rescuers just northeast of new york city. you can see there with a baby inside as well. look how close the water here is streaming close to homes.

crews are in the middle of saving people from rising waters. travel restrictions are in place right now. homes in philadelphia, nothing but water. you can see the streets covered in water. meteorologists started calling this flooding historic, and more than 8 inches of rain coming down in just 24 hours. closer to home now, the caldor fire continues to threaten south lake tahoe. conditions are expected to be a little better this morning. as "today in the bay" cheryl hurd reports. >> reporter: the caldor fire is moving at a steady pace, and winds up to 30 miles per hour, and we are learning about another problem.

gravity. >> boulders have been rolling, and the trees, they can fall and they will send the embers cast forward into the forest. >> crews had to put out spot fires, and snow machines are being used to wet down the property. so far 204,000 acres have burned, and more than 500,000 single homes lost. >> this is where we want to be. >> evacuees are looking for a place to stay to wait it out. >> we have some clothes, luggage, dog food, of course. >> the lakefront restaurant

business is down 80%. a crushing blow this time of year, especially with labor day weekend coming. >> this is definitely been one of those times when it's just you're always adjusting, you know. for small businesses like myself and everybody else around, you know, you are just adjusting to what's happening on a day-to-day basis. >> we have 16 cottages up here through the neighborhood. >> he can't wait until things get better. >> about 25,000 worth of refunds so far in the last couple of days. we're a small family business, it hurts. when all this is over please come back out, we need people. we want to get to meteorologist, kari hall. how are things looking today? >> well, we are looking at some

calmer winds and temperatures for the next couple of days will be cooler, but so much has already burned and we are looking at the firefighters dealing with a tough battle here. looking at what we call our fire weather sensors that show where the fires burned in yellow and red indicate where we still have active fires. of course we're paying close attention to what is happening around the south lake tahoe area. we are seeing some of the red sensors really starting to pick up on the road that you take heading over towards south lake tahoe. as far as smoke coming in, we are still going to see more smoke moving in. we're going to start to see the smoke returning and this shows where we do have moderate air quality in yellow and red and we will see much more of that as our temperatures heat, and we'll talk about that heading into your holiday weekend in minutes.

and there's concerns over another possible looming threat, covid-19. recently 16 members of the caldor fire strike team tested positive for covid-19. before the outbreak, it cut gathering sizes in half and encouraged mask wearing and hand washing and there's a medical team on site. >> we do temperature checks, and we have received a test and if it comes back positive we are removed from the incident. >> cal fire does not require that firefighters show proof of vaccinations. we have an interactive map where we can see where the caldor fire has burned. this is at the top of our home

page. another bay area city joining san francisco in requiring proof of vaccination to get inside most indoor places. starting september 10th customers 12 or older will have to show they're vaccinated. you can add that to large events with more than 1,000 people. the city is also requiring people that work at these businesses be fully vaccinated by october 15th. and first responders in sonoma county have longer before they have to get the weekly covid test. police, fire and ambulance agencies now have until september 24th to institute that change. yesterday a proof of vaccination mandate went into effect for first responders. anybody unvaccinated have to

under the tests. we have been wear masks for a year and a half now, and a sanford study points to one particular kind of mask as being the most effective. you will want to hear what "today in the bay"'s ian cole has to say. >> despite the different variants, the one constant in fighting covid is wearing a mask. a newly released study from stanford shows how effective they are. half of the villages were given free mask, and the villages wearing masks, symptomatic cases were 9% lower than the villages not wearing them, and for those 60 and above it was 35% lower. >> it's not just about an individual wearing a mask to protect himself or herself.

it's about an individual wearing a mask to keep the community safe. >> it's believed to be the first large-scale randomized study on the effectiveness of masks in a real-world setting. doctors say any protection helps, and they found surgical masks works better than cloth ones. >> now we can say a more effective masks leads to greater levels of protection. >> the team of doctors show giving masks away with encouragement from community leaders. as for here in the more densely populated bay area -- >> we would expect, if anything, that the impact of masks might be greater in the bay area at this time than what we measured in our study. >> ian cole, "today in the bay." let's take you outside to walnut creek this morning after a bit of the break from the smoke. did you feel it yesterday? it's expected to seep back into

the bay area. meteorologist, kari hall, has been tracking our air quality conditions all morning. kari, are we headed outside or stuck inside? >> well, i think a lot of people will be stuck inside today if you are sensitive to the smoke. we are starting out this morning in concord. nice and cool. air quality is good as temperatures are starting out in the upper 50s, some clouds and it will gradually warm up today. you may want to make plans to stay inside, even though these temperatures are going to be so comfortable today, only reaching in the low 80s in antioch, and 67 for a high in oakland and in san francisco we are looking at a high of 64 degrees. temperatures heat up this weekend. we will talk more about that coming up in a few minutes. mike, any issues for the morning commute? >> we are tracking the deadly crash that had interstate 580 completely closed this morning. three lanes are still closed and

a lot of activity because of a deadly crash involving a pedestrian. the car did hit them and stayed at the scene and an investigation tips to build the backup west 580 from north greenville now, and we are crawling up to vasco just shy of livermore avenue. the coroner was called and should be on scene in the next half hour. back to you. >> thanks, mike. coming up on "today in the bay," labor day weekend warning. millions of americans are gearing up to take off for the long holiday weekend. who health officials say should not travel. how soon you can expect to see changes on your smartwatch. the toll plaza is quiet, and mike is tracking a situation on 580 westbound that could you interfere with your morning

commute. you will want to stick around for more on that. california, did you know our homes share power? but when we try to stay cool in a heat wave our supply is pushed to the limit. but you have the power to keep us up and running! “i do?” yup, we all do! with flex alerts. they notify us when to shift our energy use if our power supply is stretched. so from pre-cooling our homes, to using less energy from 4-9pm, together, let's flex our power to save our power. sign up for flex alerts today.

good thursday morning. right now at 4:44, i'm watching the air quality for you and we are starting with smoke mixing in with low fog right now. the air quality still good and green sensors in san francisco, and there's an update coming up

in the microclimate forecast. and westbound 580 blocked, and here in dublin traffic moving smoothly and you see this is a good volume of traffic as well. we have jams coming in out of tracy. i. the move coming despite a weaker than expected, in focus we have the latest report on how many people are filing for unemployment as well as data on productivity and factory orders. youtube said its paid streaming service topped 15 million in the competitive market. youtube costs about $10 a month,

and youtube premium that has extra video features is $12. apple is working on new health related features for the smartwatch, and it includes tools to tell users when their blood pressure is rising, and it could have an upgrade to how the watch tracks sleep patterns. kris, marcus, i don't know, do you want a watch to remind you when your heart is racing or -- >> i can feel it. one time, i took preworkout and it was early in the morning before i ate, and my heart started racing and i got nervous, and i didn't know what it was. i could see my heart rate going up -- >> you knew your supplement was

working -- >> yeah, i didn't know. i was, like, oh, lord. >> thank you, christina. we will talk about the return of the smoke to the bay. and wasted vaccines. how many doses have gone unused and some of the reasons why. i may have moderate to severe rheumatoid arthritis. or psoriatic arthritis. but we are so much more. we're team players and artists.

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it's just about ten to 5:00 this morning, and this is what the richmond bridge looks like right now. some folks rushing off to work, and looks like some folks still may be home. we'll talk about mike with the traffic situation developing on 580 west as well. let's get to the weather with kari hall. >> it's about to heat up. we will see more changes over the next few days, and at least now we are starting out with quiet conditions, but, of course, once again we will watch more smoke arriving as we go into this afternoon. take a look at the air quality index, and the smoke model where you see the yellows and oranges where we see the yellow air quality, and early afternoon into tonight we will see it move into the peninsula as well as inland and parts of the east

bay. not all of us will experience the same amount of smoke because it depends on the wind direction and speed. as we look across the region it's going to be much more smoky as you head further to the north as well as the smoke moving over towards parts of the sierra. teaking a a look at the east bay. nice and comfortable. we will not see all the blue skies we have seen the past couple of days, and we are heading up to 82 in concord, and oakland today reaching 67 degrees. we'll see low 70s for san mateo, and daly city in the low 60s. san francisco, highs up to about 65 in the mission district. our north bay temperatures reaching up to 84. ukiah, still nice and cool compared to what we have coming our way with napa reaching into the upper 70s.

and if you are going wine tasting for the weekend, it's going to be hot for some of the outdoor settings so keep that in mind as you make plans. our temperatures heading towards the upper 80s and low 90s the next few days, and then we will start to see it cooling down between tuesday and wednesday. san francisco is not going to really experience the big spike in temperatures. mike, you have been watching that crash and what has happened on 580. what is happening now? >> only half of 580 is open, but there are three lanes for the morning commute so far. the traffic builds coming out of tracy and we have a backup expanding past vasco. this is the issue. this will take until 5:30 to

clear the scene and the corner has been called, and a pedestrian has been killed there. we have vasco, and discovery bay, and the local told me to take dalton and that can get you to north livermore avenue and that will get you past the backup. >> thank you, mike. turning back to the pandemic, new data shows at least 15 million covid vaccine doses have been thrown away since march in the u.s. the data released by the cdc is self reported by pharmacies and vaccine providers. they say 15 million wasted doses is probably an under count, too. there are several reasons those doses are being chucked, because cracked vials. a lot of people want to go

on the trip this weekend, but there's a message from the cdc director. if you are not vaccinated stay home this labor day weekend. this comes as covid hospitalizations reached a daily average of cases. everybody including those who are vaccinated should wear masks in public in indorsettings. we'll show you the before and the after as smoke continues to fill the air. happening now for you, attorneys for two former minneapolis police officers charged in george floyd's death asked their trials not be live streamed. three officers are facing aiding

and abetting second-degree murder and manslaughter charges in george floyd's death. derek chauvin was convicted already. majestic mountains... scenic coastal highways... fertile farmlands... there's lots to love about california. so put off those chores and use less energy from 4 to 9 pm when less clean energy is available. because that's power down time.

we're tracking breaking news right now. coast-to-coast, here in california the caldor fire continues to grow closer and closer to lake tahoe. evacuation orders are in effect for most of south lake tahoe, including the nevada side. the fire has burned areas larger than oakland, san francisco, walnut creek all combined. on the east coast, millions are dealing with historic

flooding from hurricane ida. these are live pictures. at least eight people are dead in new york and new jersey. live pictures of the rescue still ahead this morning on "today in the bay." here's a massive amount of smoke from the caldor fire from space. >> this is the photos the day the fire started, and take a look at the difference. we have more for you this morning. >> we'll be right back.

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right now at 5:00, breaking news on both coasts. on the east coast, flood emergency. the flash flooding, water rescue and damage coming to light this hour. and close to home. wildfire crisis. once again this morning, the caldor fire still burning near south lake tahoe. and the supreme court refuses to look at the texas abortion law. what some believe it will lead to other air places in the u.s. we want to take you to that