just head to nbcbayarea.com. we're tracking a red flag warning for parts of the bay area, and looming power shutoffs. how people are preparing for what could be 36 hours of elevated danger. the move today that brings the first pill to treat covid one step closer to reality. this is "today in the bay." 6:00 right now. of course we're traditionally broadcasting to your television, but we also stream live on nbcbayarea.com and our app that you can take on the go. thank you for joining us. i am laura garcia. >> i am marcus washington. we will get to the breaking news in a moment, but first let's get to the red flag warning affecting the bay area. how is it shaping up for us? >> it's still windy out there, and we have seen higher wind gusts in some of the upper elevations especially, but where we have the high fire danger,

this started yesterday evening and continues through 5:00 tomorrow evening, as some of the gusts will continue to stay high. we have extremely low humidity as well as dry vegetation due to the ongoing drought. take a look at the wind advisory for the areas also not included in the red flag warning. we will see some of the gusty winds that will be about 15 to 30 miles per hour. we are going to see that today. already gusty winds and the northerly winds continue to pick up for the areas in bright purple. that's where the highest wind gusts will be. this is lunchtime, so as you are making plans to head out for the day, if you are going to be out there during the afternoon, and especially this evening, it's going to be very windy. bob, we have to be really careful. you are live out there in the dublin hills watching what is going to go on with potentially power shutoffs. >> reporter: yeah, we have a

slight breeze over dublin. that red flag warning will be in effect until tomorrow night. conditions are also drying, and that's why the national weather service is concerned that if there is a fire, they believe it could be anywhere from moderate to rapid in spread. this weekend marked four years since the dubs fire destroyed homes in napa and santa rosa counties. this man's home was leveled during the firestorm. he is still living in a camper with his dog but within a matter of months expect to move into his new home in the same neighborhood, and this is something he is rebuilding on his own on the same spot his old home once stood before that fire rained down on him and his house. >> the fireball started to drop out of the sky, the.

>> even when we have everything rebuilt, there will still be a trauma that will remain in the community. >> reporter: here's a look at pg&e's website. they are warning about public safety power shutoffs in five counties. this is to prevent energized power lines from igniting a wildfire. 1,200 customers could lose power, and it could start anywhere now, this morning, with restoration not expected until tonight. be sure and follow meteorologist, kari hall. she's on twitter. you can find her @karihallweather. maybe the next hopeful sign of a recovery of san francisco's tourists is here. cruise ships coming back to san francisco. this is a live look right now. you see the majestic princess

returning to the port of san francisco. the port expects more than 20 cruise calls next year, and a record number of 127 next year. merck is asking the fda for emergency use authorization of a drug molnupiravir. merck says it reduces the chances of hospitalization by about 50%. it could be available later this year. there are some new signs of hope on the road to recovery. numbers of positive covid tests and hospitalizations are still falling. house leaders are hopeful death rates will decline as well. but some areas are doing better than others. today in the bay's chris pallone is live in washington and has more for us. >> laura, good morning. some cherished traditions are coming back now that the nation is starting to emerge from the latest surge of covid-19 across

country. many mederts and health advisers believe the way we are going to avoid another surge of this type is through vaccinations as we head through the holidays. in boston the city's iconic marathon is back for the first time in 2 1/2 years. >> i am so excited to be here. boston is back. >> sunday 2,500 runners took to the streets of chicago. >> they are making their way around the corner. >> signs of normal during the pandemic redefined the word. new infections are down 40% since peak levels a month ago precipitation president's top covid advisers hopeful deaths will follow a similar path. >> i strongly suspect that you are going to start seeing the deaths go down similar to the hospitalizations. >> but the news is not good in every part of the country. in the four largest states, cases are dropping. in the upper midwest in great

plains, they are seeing double digit jumps. >> i am honestly in no hyperbole terrified of what will happen in january and february, because that's truly when we see people heading inside together. >> and dr. fauci says that doesn't have to happen. >> it won't if we are doing what we should be doing, which is namely getting people vaccinated. >> but many americans have still not gotten their first shot. mandates are facing strong objections in some areas, but for now the news is generally good with an uncertain future on the horizon. chris pallone, nbc news, washington. >> thank you, chris. 6:06 right now. here in california people without shots were between 15 and 20 times more likely to die during the month of september. now the state data here showing you a 7-day average of deaths

for unvaccinated people. 16 and older. you saw right here the numbers, we saw a spike there in september. this is to what we show you the deaths among people fully vaccinated. as you can see, this is much lower at the bottom there, pretty much across the board. >> pretty easy to see the numbers there. and then visiting the southern california area impacted by last weekend's massive oil spill. padilla is of the west coast ocean protection act. that's a bill to ban oil drilling off the coast of california, oregon and washington. new overnight, the u.s. tsunami warning center says there's no threat of a tsunami after a 6.9 earthquake along the alaska peninsula.

it happened a little after 2:00 this morning. it was centered about 40 miles from where the 8.2 earthquake struck two months ago. so far no reports of any damage. yesterday, a 6.2 earthquake in hawaii. here's video of the home shaking on the big island. people in oahu also felt the shaking. no damage reported in that quake either. a possible tornado touched down in a tulsa suburb. it damaged a school and several homes nearby. no deaths or injuries reported so far. the heavy system brought heavy rain, lightning and wind across parts of arkansas, kansas and texas. >> yeah, i know that part well. >> kau wheata. >> that's what i meant. that's what it is. meteorologist, kari hall, you

have seen these storms and it's moving closer to the east now. >> yeah, it's moving closer to tennessee, and it has cleared oklahoma and looking better for them today. for us it's the high winds and fire danger today, and the rest of the week our temperatures will be warming up. here are the areas included in the red flag warning. all shaded in bright red, we can see the santa cruz mountains and north bay hills may continue to see gusts up to 50 miles per hour, and any fires may spread quickly. we'll have more updates on that. mike, you have a crash heading one east bay bridge? >> yeah, the east carquinez bridge. it's more expensive backing up to highway 37 and cutting over through vallejo. with the backup forming this far back, some folks might chance it and look at highway 37, which is moving slowly. that will cause more of a jam,

and that's traditionally a slow drive for the north bay. some schools are on holiday, and it could be a different flow of traffic right now. the bay bridge also has a wind advisory but i am more concerned about the build starting on the span, and nothing big at the toll plaza just yet. the south bay, san jose's first slowing has cleared up now and prepare for the next period of slowing. back to you. >> thanks. we are celebrating international day of the girl. next here on "today in the bay," we shine a light on incredible girls making a difference in the world. plus, changing for the safety of your kids. facebook's new response to improve its platform for young people. this week a key test set for the troubled millennium tower. our investigative unit has

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good monday morning. right now at 6:13, we are under a microclimate weather alert with the gusty winds that will continue to pick up today. right now the winds below ten miles per hour, and temperatures in the mid-50s. it will be a windy morning into the afternoon. temperatures fairly cool.

a look at the microclimates and more on the red flag warning coming up. look, at the bottom of the screen, those trees are -- actually, all of the trees moving around with quite a bit of wind. we will look at the affect it could be having according to chp. that's coming up. >> thank you, mike. taking a look at the futures this morning. trading expected to be light for indigenous peoples' day, and the columbus holiday as well. s&p down a little bit. bond markets are closed this morning. stock futures are struggling as big tech is declining so far. facebook announcing a plan to introduce several instagram features. this is to make it safer for young people. this comes in the wake of last week's testimony from the whistleblower that its platform harmed children. >> we will introduce new measures, which means that if we

see -- if our system sees a teen is dwelling on content that may be correlated not good for their well-being, we may nudge them to look at other content. >> and unless facebook finds a way to block them from seeing this content, i am skeptical this kind of approach will work. >> the silicon valley violent also plans to introduce controls for parents of teenagers so they can supervise what their kids are doing online. it's all about girl power today. we are here on "today in the bay" is celebrating the international day of the girl. >> jenna bush hager is teaming up with her mom on "today." here's a preview. >> good morning, marcus and laura. this morning for the international day of the girl, we are dedicating an entire hour

to the girls and women of afghanistan, and the uncertain future they face since the taliban took over once again. we will talk to young women that recently fled the country, and we will talk about their hopes and dreams now that they are in america. we are inspired by the young girls and women we met as we worked to put this together. our special international day of the girl hour just ahead on the "today" show. back to you. >> thanks, jenna. we are here on "today in the bay," joining in on the celebration. we are asking for photos of your girls that have endless possibilities. post them on our facebook pages. laura and kris has posted, just beautiful young girls that have endless possibilities. >> yeah, you hope so much for their future, they are empowered

and find their voices and are respected. they are our future. >> it's marcus's birthday today. >> happy birthday to me. >> mondays are not so bad. >> not bad at all. not today, anyway, kari. >> it's marcus monday. >> yeah, it's marcus monday, but we are going to be celebrating today but at lunchtime we will have to hang on everything at the table, because lunch outside probably not the best idea with the high winds picking up. we will have to be careful here with the red flag warning because any fires will spread quickly in all of the areas shaded in red under the red flag warning. this was issued yesterday, so if you have the nbc bay area app, you got the push alert warning that the red flag warning was in effect. we will have frequent wind gusts up to 25 miles per hour or higher. both of those happening at the same time. that's what we are going to

experience today. we are looking at our wind gusts. here we are at lunchtime. in santa rosa, winds coming in at 23 miles per hour, and a look at napa, 38-mile-per-hour gersts. where we have the bright purples, that's where we will see the highest wind gusts today, and even into the evening and as well as tonight, it will be breezy and the gusty wind mix into the valleys. there's a live look at san francisco. the first cruise ship coming back. i am having flashbacks during the beginning of the pandemic where we were watching this camera with all the people onboard. it just shows the progress we made here. now as we go through our day, we will see clear conditions near the coast and over the bay. mid-60s and then go into some of our inland areas also in the mid to upper 60s. tonight another chilly one with our lows dropping down to the low 40s in the north bay, and about the low 50s for the south

bay. tomorrow, as we go into the afternoon, very much like this afternoon, but after that we start the warming trend. take a look at concord. our 10-day forecast, if you are making weekend plans on this monday morning, we are going to have a warm one reach into the mid-80s. could be time to open the pool back up or invite friends over. we will see the temperatures in the mid-80s feeling more like summer rather than fall. then as we go into san francisco, we are also warming up a few degrees with low 70s. we are just watching the high winds today. mike, you are looking for a crash in oakland. >> yeah, not looking for trouble, i guess, but looking for the affects of what might have happened on south bay 880 at the bottom of the screen. you see the dark line there, that's the shadow or the light blocked by the over crossing where the crash is reported. don't see slowing or bunching up of traffic there or even south of there. the mark is where the incident

was reported. more incidents on the map, but not of major concern. a build at the richmond toll plaza, no backups showing on the camera just yet. this backup does show up. look at this backup at the carquinez bridge. one lane blocked by a crash. the rest of the bay looking smooth. san jose will start rebuilding the commute slowdown in about 20 minutes. >> yeah, welcoming everybody back to work. coming up next on "today in the bay," nbc bay area responds. >> the airline cancel her flight but she did not get her money back a year later. i am consumer investigator, chris chmura. nbc area responds, next. >> i wanted to share photos for you. this is kari hall and bob redell, and they are at fleet

week. you see kari and cierra there. you can find them on facebook, instagram or twitter. we'll be right back. every single day, we're all getting a little bit better. we're better cooks... better neighbors... hi. i've got this until you get back. better parents... and better friends. no! no! that's why comcast works around the clock constantly improving america's largest

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chmura stepped in when the airlines' numbers were not adding up. >> in january 2020, trixie paid 935 bucks, remember that number. when the pandemier flights and she asked for a refund and they said that would take a few weeks. and then she filed a complaint with the u.s. department of transportation, and they told her complaints were taking a long time because of high volume, so she had us to take a look. we reached out to taps and got a refund for $279, but she paid $935, so we asked them to check the numbers and they did and they said there was a glitch. we received a huge number of refund requests causing a backlog. they then sent of remaining $600

and that totaled $935 back to trixie. as she found out, you might have to ask again and again to get that money back. now if you can't get that complaint off the ground, you can call us, go to nbcbayarea.com and click the responds options from the menu or call us. happening tonight, you have ever wondered if your life would be back if you made just one different choice? well, "ordinary joe," his life plays out three different ways, and i was recently able to sit down with the actor that plays ordinary joe. >> you see how choice can drastically affect who we become, and in all of these lives, none of them are perfect. you kind of see that there's no life is that right for joe,

there's just choices he made and those drastically affected who he has become in each world. >> you can catch e" right here on nbc bay area, and it comes on right after "the voice." if you were traveling on southwest airlines this weekend chances are you had a difficult time of it. there were lots of cancelations and delays. we'll talk about whether or not that is going to continue today. avoiding a twindemic. how some fear covid surge combined with flu season could overwhelm hospitals in a matter of weeks. what authorities are saying ahead of the holiday season.

right now at 6:30, gusty winds and dry conditions creating a potentially dangerous situation. a red flag warning now in effect and thousands may be left in the dark. meteorologist, kari hall, tracking all of your microclimate weather alert. plus -- >> cancelation chaos. hundreds of southwest flights leaving passengers stranded and frustrated. customers that say the southwest explanation doesn't fly with them. this is "today in the bay." good monday morning to you. thank you for joining us. i am laura garcia. >> i am marcus washington. we want to get right to

meteorologist, kari hall. how are the conditions shaping up? >> a fire that does get started, if it does, could spread quickly so we have to be careful between now and about 5:00 tomorrow evening. some of these wind gusts could reach over 60 miles per hour, and right now i am seeing 25 to 30-mile-per-hour gusts and the very low humidity will continue. where we don't have the red flag warning, we have wind advisories and that includes a lot of the valleys and parts of the north bay and the coast. this is where our winds will be at about 15 to 30 miles per hour today, which could bring down some trees. going hour-by-hour in the wind speed forecast, a northerly wind could be extremely dry, and we are seeing that into the diablo range and the east bay hills and into this afternoon, still looking windy. near the coast, san francisco and half moon bay will have high wind gusts and make sure

everything is secure and ready for high winds before you head out the door this morning. we will continue to see the high winds continue through tomorrow, and i will be tracking that. also talking about our temperatures. that's coming up in a few minutes. >> looking forward to that, kari. with the red flag warning in effect, people in parts of the bay area may have their shower shut off due to high fire danger. let's look at the pg&e website, and the shut offs cover alameda, sonoma, contra costa, solano and napa. some of the numbers are small, and about 25,000 customers may lose power, and napa county could have the most shutoffs in the bay area, about 2,500. a tree came crashing down on cars, and these are photos from cal fire showing the extent of the damage, and it also took down power lines, and this is

not far from maverick beach in san mateo county. right now pg&e crews are on the scene trying to make repairs. imagine walking out to that? >> yeah, and be sure and download our nbc bay area app. you can get a detailed forecast right in your neighborhood. and then cal professor, and a stanford economists winning the nobel peace price. prize. 6:32 right now. now to a developing story affecting airports across the nation. this is a live look at sfo. could be another rough day ahead for travel for southwest passengers at bay area airports.

nearly 2,000 southwest flights were canceled over the weekend leaving a lot of people frustrated. today in the bay's kris sanchez joins us live from mineta san jose airport with a look at what is expected for today. over the weekend, people were really voicing their concerns on social media. >> reporter: yeah, we got a statement from southwest airlines saying their schedule looks better today than over the weekend, and the damage is done. in case you missed it, here's what happened at the bay area airports. here at san jose, there was 61 southwest cancelations between saturday and sunday, and at sfo there were 26. take a look at oakland, 74 southwest cancelations over the two days. we caught up with travelers here in san jose caught up in the chaos. the airline blamed weather and air traffic control issues originating in florida, but not

all travelers are buying that explanation. >> if it's weather related, why are all the other airlines operating? then it just seemed like a mess. >> they said don't try to rebook it, because it's -- it will be wednesday before you can, you know, get to your destination. >> now both southwest and the southwest pilots association debunked rumors that pilots calling in sick contributed to the chaos. they say that pilots -- the rumor was that pilots were calling in to protest a mandatory covid vaccination policy. we can report on friday the union for southwest of 9,000 pilots asked the court to intervene until the lawsuit is settled involving the mandate. we called the airline

spokesperson and asked about impacts today, and they said it was too early to tell and by 7:00 they may have a look for the day, so if you are traveling on southwest airlines check on your flight or on the app before heading to the airport. the boston marathon finally under way months after it would normally take place. it's back on thanks to falling covid cases. but there are fears that the good times may not last long with flu season approaching. >> reporter: good morning, marcus. the iconic boston marathon is back and in person with more than 18,000 runners coming from around the world, and obviously because of covid concerns things are still looking different this year. the start times are staggered for social distancing and runners had to provide proof of vaccination or a negative covid test before the start of the race.

also, another major headline we are tracking is from merck, the drugmaker announcing it applied for emergency use authorization for its antiviral pill. meanwhile as the pandemic is starting to loosen its grip, experts say we are not in the clear just yet because as we get in the winter mothers, the cooler months, we may be dealing with a twindemic. >> people were masking, and people were more susceptible compared to last year, and we are not seeing as many people getting the flu shot as in resent years, increasing their vulnerability. >> we will let you know why health experts say it's important not to let down your guard, this as the boston their -- marathon gets under way. >> thank you. these are folks looking out off the deck of one of the

latest cruise ships headed towards the bay area. maybe a sign of recovery as well for the tourism business. this is the majestic princess returning to the port of san francisco. more than 20 cruise calls through the rest of the year, and a record 127 for next year. the grand princess had to wait offshore in oakland, and the passengers were taken to nearby bases to quarantine, and that's the first time we had started to see the affects of covid up close. and then the holmes criminal fraud trial expected to resume in san jose. former safeway ceo talked about

a deal with theranos that fell through when theranos could not return test results, and he's expected to return to the stand this week. and then game three, we're talking about the giants and dodgers divisional game series. >> whoever loses tonight, they are up against it and this is the best of five series. dodgers stadium empty this morning, and ours is better -- >> oh, look. >> it will be roaring there tonight with a lot of excitement with the fans. dodgers and giants tied up at one game a piece. the giants will put the game two behind them, when they lost 9-2.

yeah. tonight they will be facing future hall of fame pitcher, max scherzer. as we like to say around here, let's go giants. >> yeah, let's do what we did on friday night. also happening this mornin who is in the mood? half man by's pumpkin weigh off will take place, and this is cool drone video by the organizers. the event gets started at 7:00 this morning, but like last year, visitors won't be allowed to attend in person. somewhere around 11:00 a.m., though, the winner will be named. big pumpkins out there. >> huge pumpkins. >> that's a lot of pie. >> and you need a lot of spice. kari would like even more, pumpkin spice. >> it's that season. yep. you know what, it's also the season of the high fire danger. that's what we see in the month of october often, and the diablo winds picking up, so we are

looking at a red flag warning, and high fire danger continuing through tomorrow evening. we have wind advisories in effect. this is for all of the rest of the bay area, and not included in the red flag warning, we are still going to see winds at about 30 to 35 miles per hour, and even higher gusts as you go up in elevation. we are going to be tracking that. we will talk about temperatures in a few minutes. mike, you have breaking news with a crash in berkeley. >> it's the crash we were following on the east shore freeway that suddenly became a huge issue as they blocked four lanes because of the debris in the area. here's the over crossing, and it's usually clear and it's usually the westbound commute that is the problem. the map shows you it's slowing a bit for the distraction and the morning drive. east bay getting away from the bridge and heading in towards buchanan. only one lane open, and that's a horrible drive for the folks getting away from the area.

the east shore highway is along san pablo avenue, and there are surface streets. here's the rest of the build. still slow towards the carquinez bridge with one lane being blocked. the rest of the drive moving smoothly. >> the drivers, mike, they can start taking vta service, because it's restoring to prepandemic levels today. there are schedule changes and later operating hours for some of those routes. 6:41 right now. coming up next on "today in the bay," we're staying on top of the bay area's high fire danger. >> the next 36 hours could be dangerous when it comes to wildfires. the red flag warning that is now in effect for much of the bay area.

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good monday morning. right now at 6:44, we are under a microclimate weather alert. this is a high fire danger, but our temperatures are staying cool. the same temperatures we had over the weekend with upper 60s and low 70s. we'll talk about the fire dangers and winds coming up. berkeley, east bay, away from the bay bridge. unexpected, there this jam here and it ties up east bay 80. that commute is building as well in the opposite direction. i will show you the bigger view and give you alternates coming up. >> thanks, mike. governor newsom over the weekend beat the deadline to sign a few bills into law. one is banning the sale of new gas-powered leaf blowers and lawn mowers and that law begins in 2024. another law allows local authorities to cut speed limits

based on surveys, and also a gender-neutral toy section for stores. and then he vetoed to bills that would have criminalized jaywalking, and one that would have allowed bicyclists to treat stop signs as yield signs. the next 36 hours could be critical when it comes to wildfires. today's "today in the bay" bob redell live there. >> reporter: the national weather service is concerned about wind gusts. we're not feeling them here now, although there's a nice breeze blowing as i speak. they are concerned about the drying conditions, that's why the red flag warning is in effect until tomorrow night. the concern being that those two conditions could conspire to

create -- you know, make it worse for wildfires. if there were a wildfire the weather service is concerned the spread could be moderate to rapid in nature. this week marks four years since the fire near santa rosa, and this man's home was leveled by the fire. he's still living in a camper with his dog, and within a matter of months he's going to move into his new home that he is rebuilding on his own on the same spot where his old home once stood before the fireballs rained down on him. >> it was the size of a volleyball. >> we talked about folks getting back into their homes, and when we have everything rebuilt there will still be a trauma that will remain in the community. >> here's a look at pg&e's website right now. the utilities warning about public -- possible public safety

power shutoffs in parts of alameda, contra costa, solano and napa and sonoma counties. this is to prevent energized power lines to ignite a wildfire in the windy conditions. 2,500 customers in the bay area could lose power started anytime this morning, with restoration not expected until tomorrow night. the north bay to the santa cruz mountains, the warning until tomorrow night. >> kari hall has been tracking what we can see when it comes to the winds come into our area. >> yeah, it's the upper elevations where we will see the higher wind gusts, and we will see it in the valleys and that will continue through tomorrow. the rest of the week, we are heating up after a nice start to

the week, and let's show the map, the red flag warning here. we know that the vegetation is extremely dry, but when you have lows relative humidity that dries out the vegetation even more. we're looking at the relative humidity. here we are in the middle of the afternoon into the evening, and it's only down to about 12% for concord and 11% for hayward. usually during the overnight hours, we see the humidity levels coming up and it only comes up to about 25%. our temperatures will be cool today reaching up into the upper 60s and low 70s. mid-60s for the peninsula towards san mateo. we will see some parts of the north bay reaching into the upper 60s. a few low 70s. let's check out gilroy, reaching about 70 degrees today. it will stay nice and cool through at least wednesday. then look at the warming trend. i know it's monday, but you may already be making weekend plans

and it will feel more like the summer with highs in the mid-80s. there will be a cooldown by the middle of next week. we are looking in that extended forecast for some of the our inland areas where we will have a cool start to the week and then warming up, the gusty winds calming down by tomorrow evening, and then wednesday, 80 degrees, and mid-80s by the end of the week. san francisco, we have mid-60s today and will also warm up slightly, going towards thursday, friday and saturday with mostly sunny skies there continuing as well. mike, you are seeing problems for the east shore freeway? >> yeah, there's east bay 80 getting away from the bay bridge heading up towards golden gate field. at buchanan, there's a crash blocking four of the five lines. and now at the bay bridge, very light traffic. part of it is because some folks are off today and so there may not be as many commuters, but

the issue is traffic westbound is held up because of the distraction. the crash at buchanan street, it will take while to clear. this is going to send more folks down in towards the congestion around buchanan. one crash clearing getting on to the lower deck. you can't do that out of san francisco, though. the rest of the bay nice and clear. >> let's hope it stays that way. thank you, mike. it's 6:51. happening now, america's top doctor giving his approval for families to enjoy halloween trick-or-treating. dr. anthony fauci calls it a low-risk activity that mostly happens outdoors. go to nbcbayarea.com for a complete list of halloween events going on this year. and then --

>> reporter: after a weekend of cancelations on southwest airlines, lots of travelers are feeling frustrated. what will today bring? we'll show you.

there's a checklist of tips the help make your home a little safer.

welcome back. good monday morning to you. moving you forward this morning with a look at our top stories on "today in the bay."

>> the first pill to treat covid is getting closer to reality. merck asking the fda for emergency use authorization for its drug, molnupiravir. it could be available later this year. then nobel economics prize winners. one recognized for his research on the market affects of minimum wages, immigration and education, and then along with the mit professor shared the prize for their work on how cause and affect could be drawn by natural causes. nearly 2,000 southwest flights were canceled this weekend. today in the bay's kris sanchez is live with a look at what we

can expect. hey, kris. >> reporter: the schedule looks better than it did over the weekend. over the weekend we caught up with passengers that were stranded here in san jose and other bay area airports. the airline blamed weather and air traffic control issues. >> if it was weather related, why are all the other airlines operating? it just seemed like a mess. >> reporter: both southwest and southwest pilots' association debunked rumors that the pilots calling in sick to protest a mandatory covid vaccination policy were to blame, and we can say on friday the pilots' union did ask a federal court to

intervene. over the weekend, saturday and sunday for all three bay area airports, more than 160 flights were canceled. here's to hoping for these travelers the situation is much better today. we won't know until later this morning. in san jose, kris sanchez, "today in the bay." >> thank you, kris. another hopeful sign of recovery for san francisco's tourist industry. a live look near the pier where cruise ships are finally returning. this morning the "majestic princess" returns to the port of san francisco. the port experts more than 20 cruise calls through the rest of the year, and a record 127 for next year. some parts of the bay area under a red flag warning. overnight, damage from the strong winds out there. these are photos from cal fire showing a little bit of the damage there. it also took down power lines. this is not far from maverick's

beach in san mateo county. right now pg&e crews are on the scene trying to make repairs. tracking this is meteorologist, kari hall. how it is looking now? >> our temperatures are reach into the low 70s, and once the winds calm down, we will warm up in the inland valleys and reaching into the 80s. highs in the mid-60s for san francisco today. the crash in berkeley, it's quickly clearing now. we are told it will be five minutes before all lanes are cleared. that was a quick recovery. getting to the bay bridge, that will start to clear. the crash has cleared from the east shore freeway, so expect a lot more traffic to head towards the bay bridge right now. so far a beautiful view, a clear view, kind of like a birthday

present. >> maybe those people staying in because they wanted to help wish marcus washington a happy birthday, as we are today, exactly, let them eat cake! >> thank you. >> the cake is for me, and the balloon is for you. >> there you go. >> happy birthday. >> i am a little kid at heart, forever. >> we will have pin the tail on the donkey -- >> whatever you want. >> whatever i want? >> it's a marcus monday. >> i told him i would take him to lunch, and where do you want to go? he is, like, hmmm. we don't have time for that. >> let's take the show on the road. >> blow up his facebook, folks. >> yeah, let's do that. >> happy birthday. >> a big present would be a win tonight from the giants.

>> come on, let's do that. the dodgers taking on the giants who are there in l.a. we are still rooting them strong here in the bay area. >> don't forget, the shipping industry starting again in san francisco. have a great morning! airlines canceled nearly 2,000 flights over the long holiday weekend. passengers stranded from coast to coast. >> unbelievable. people are frustrated and aggravated. >> the airline blaming weather anair traffic control problems, but this morning, the question whether the airline's vaccine mandate caused pilots to stay home. what the pilot's union is saying, just ahead. breaking news, the covid pill? this morning, merck asked the fda for emergency approval of its drug to treat the virus. research showing it slashed the risk of severe infection by half.