right now at 4:30, a trail of destruction. overnight a string of tornadoes sweeping through louisiana, destroying many of the things in their path. the search and rescue efforts under way at this hour. >> plus, back in court. the trial of former theranos coo sunny balwani ramping up. the familiar faces that will be appearing throughout the trial. here we go, wednesday morning. thanks so much for starting your day with us. i'm laura garcia. >> i'm marcus washington. we're broadcasting on your television, however you can take us on the go this morning. you can find us on roku, amazon

fire, appear many tv and online. >> and you're heading out, we'll look at the commute in just a moment. we're bracing for a warm one. >> yes, and yesterday we had lots of records broken. today it will be warm, just not as warm. you're heading out the door to temperatures in the mid-50s. we are starting out a little warmer than we typically see for the middle of march. and as we go into today, our temperatures head for the upper 70s and low 80s. notice we don't have the 80s li. we'll talk more about that coming up. any issues for early-morning commuters? >> things are pretty quiet but you may hit areas of fog. take a live look at the golden gate bridge. you can see visibility is limited. just use your regular highlights until this clears out.

aside from that, this did just pop up along 880. i'll look at the chp traffic reports and see what that's about. westbound 580 from grant line road to 680, 18 minutes. and westbound 84 to 680, you're looking at eight minutes. i'm going to check on the crash and have full details coming up. developing overnight in new orleans, at least one person is dead from the powerful tornadoes so strong they destroyed homes. you can see from the video, a vehicle flipped over, causing extensive damage in st. bernard parish, about 36 miles west of new orleans. there's still no word of any injuries there, but this morning some people are said to be trapped inside their homes. search and rescue teams in new orleans actively searching the impacted neighborhoods overnight. the same storm system spawned the string of tornadoes across

the state after causing destruction in texas. one person was also killed there. nbc's sam brock is in louisiana this morning. he's going to have live coverage on the "today" show coming up at 7:00 right after "today in the bay." testimony kicks into high gear this morning in the criminal trial of former theranos executive sunny balwani, the ex-boyfriend and former business partner of elizabeth holmes who jurors convicted on four counts of investor fraud. testimony started yesterday after opening statements wrapped. this trial is expected to last about three months. one legal analyst says the defense is trying to put some distance between balwani and holmes, calling him a shareholder in theranos. >> i think it's a terrible idea because it immediately detracts from any kind of credibility that balwani is going to have with the jury. he was obviously much more than an investor in theranos. >> many witnesses from the holmes trial may end up testifying again. that was the case with

yesterday's first prosecution witness, former theranos employee erica chung. kris sanchez will join us with a full report coming up at 5:30 this morning. our team will stay on top of this case during the entire trial. we'll bring you updates on air and online at nbcbayarea.com. as the conflict in ukraine rages on, president biden making a critical visit. today mr. biden heads to europe to meet with leaders of other nato countries as the alliance tries to end the war. the trip comes as the president is working on a plan to make it easier for some ukrainian refugees to come to the u.s. sources telling nbc news the plan would allow vulnerable ukrainians to safely enter the u.s. at least temporarily as they unite with family members. 3.5 million refugees have fled the country so far, many of them still unable to understand the nightmare that's forced them to leave. >> it's not normal to kill the

people in our time. we are a modern population, we not have this anywhere and in any one country. ukrainian president volodymyr zelenskyy overnight addressing japan's parliament, part of his ongoing effort to rally support against russia's military aggression. tomorrow zelensky is expected to address the nato summit. lawmakers are ending a nearly 30-year relationship with russia. santa clara county supervisors unanimously voted to terminate its relationship with moscow. the supervisors say they can't work with russia until its government starts treating humanity with the respect it deserves. the county first established the relationship with moscow back in 1994. developing right now, and just into our newsroom, recovery teams in china tell reporters they have now located one of the

two black boxes from the crash of that china eastern airlines passenger jet. it's said to be badly damaged. we have new drone video showing some of the impact on the hillside where the 737 went down with 132 people on board. hope has now faded in finding any survivors. of the black boxes, it's just one part of the puzzle in solving the mystery into why this plane plunged from the sky. nbc's tom costello explains other means are available to understand the terrifying final moments. >> reporter: good morning. i'm tom costello. we are inside a simulator for the 737-800, the kind of plane that crashed in china, recreating exactly how the scenario might have unfolded. at 29,000 feet, suddenly the plane went into a very steep and fatal nosedive. mark, the pilot seemed to be unable to pull out of that nosedive. >> with the g forces on you, it

was an unsustainable reaction. they had no choice. they were going to die. >> we have no idea whether it was intentional, mechanical failure. coming up on the "today" show, we're going to show you how this plays out and what it looked like to be in that horrific and terrifying nosedive coming up on "today." 4:37 this morning and firefighters are not saying yet if they know what sparked a house fire that critically injured two people in vallejo. this is at a home on bayview avenue. firefighters saved an elderly mother and two of her grown children who were trapped in the garage. one suffered minor injuries, the woman and the other child had to be rushed to the hospital. so far, there's no update on their conditions. 4:37 right now. everyone has been planning trips lately, ready to get out and about. coming up next on "today in the bay," we are going to tell you when reservations will open up

to yosemete. new changes coming to the uber app. the reason you will no longer be able to split fare for your rides. good wednesday mornin.

right now at 4:40, now that the wind has calmed down, we're seeing fog settle into parts of the north bay and santa rosa. visibility down to half a mile and we're seeing fog near the coast. elsewhere, it is clear as you're

heading out the door. we'll get a look at our temperatures for today in a few minutes. >> and a live look at the bay bridge toll plaza. no metering lights on just yet, which means the commute is moving right along. we'll take a closer look at drive times from the north bay to the south bay coming up. first, let's check in with business and tech. >> wall street is set to open lower today as investors continue to digest the latest commentary from fed officials on inflation and interest rates. a rather hawkish speech from fed governor jerome powell. yesterday was a strong day on wall street. s&p 500 closing up by 1%, the dow up 250 points or more, thanks to shares of nike. nike one of the best performing stocks yesterday after they reported better than expected earnings. that is something the market definitely focused on yesterday. today the market will be focused on new data on new home sales. elsewhere some news on apple.

apple services, including the app store, apple music and icloud web apps are back online after facing an outage for the second straight day. it's not clear what caused the problem on both sides. bloomberg reports apple told employees it stemmed from domain name system, which enables computers to match a website with the correct server. employees at a seattle starbucks have voted to unionize. it's the seventh store in the country to vote in favor of unionizing. at least 140 more stores in 27 states have filed petitions for union elections. the latest push comes as long-time ceo howard schultz returns to starbucks on an interim basis. he has successfully fought past attempts to unionize stores and roasting plants. uber will temporarily ditch the split fare option next month. a spokesperson says a replacement feature should roll out in the next few months. the change eliminates the ability to split the cost of a

ride within the uber app itself, but you can use venmo, cash app or other services to make things equal with other passengers. with your cnbc business report, i'm seema mody. 4:43 this morning and cracking down on crime. next on "today in the bay," we're going to tell you the new steps one bay area city's leaders are now trying to do to reduce crime in the city following a violent weekend. >> we have a nice, quiet start to our morning. right now the temperature at 53 degrees in dublin. we'll start to warm right back up again, another very warm day. we'll talk about that and a cooldown in your forecast coming up. >> and let's get a kick look at your tri-valley drive times. westbound 580 to grant line 680, 20 minutes. we'll take a closer look at bridge drive times coming up.

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so, look, if you're planning to enjoy a nice trip to yosemite this summer, this is what you need to know. in just a few hours you're going to be able to make reservations. online reservations open at 8:00 a.m. sharp. this is the first time in the park's 157 year history that day reservations are required. rangers are worried about overcrowding. if you plan to visit between may 20th and september 30th, you're going to need a reservation unless you're staying at the

campground or a hotel within the park. >> sign me up for the hotel. taking a live look outside, wow, san francisco, where are you? very foggy start at 4:46 this morning. let's check in with meteorologist kari hall. is that going to burn off later today? >> it will be a while but the fog is back for san francisco and that will help cool down the city and provide a little cooling for some of our inland areas that were so hot yesterday. we're still above normal for this afternoon. let's get a live look outside in fremont. you can see the flag is barely moving there. the wind is starting to cool many down and we are going to see a calmer wind today. taking a look at temperatures and where we're headed, we're going to see possibly some near-record highs, but not expected to see as many records broken as we did yesterday. and we're going to stay just below a lot of these numbers as we head for the upper 70s for the south bay today. cupertino reaching 77 degrees, low 80 os for much of the inland

east bay, upper 70s for walnut creek. oakland headed for 70. upper 60s for san mateo. this is where we have the foggy conditions and we'll stay in the low 60s. upper 50s in san francisco and providing some cooling there toward the mission district with a high of 66. 82 in clear lake and then check out novato today, reaching the upper 70s. we're still looking at a very quiet weather pattern here across the region, rain farther to the north. we're also going to be watching out to see what this storm system does as it moves closer by the end of the week into the weekend. and so farstill some dry weathe next several days, but of rain tuesday and w of rain for late sunday into monday. but our rainfall deficits continue to grow and right now in santa rosa we need over 6 inches of rain to catch up to

normal. at this time of the year that's a pretty tall order, so it doesn't look like it will happen that we catch up to normal. stranger things have happened. as we take a look at our temperature trend for livermore, we're still feeling some warm air through saturday. sunday when those clouds move in, we drop into the low 70s. and only some mid-60s for monday. that's when we're hoping to get some rain. we can see that in our seven-day forecast, going from 80 today to mid-70s tomorrow through saturday, and then mostly cloudy on sunday with highs in the upper 60s, and that chance of rain starting on monday. vianey, heading out on the roads, you're looking at a couple minor issues. >> i did check the chp traffic reports to see what the crash along northbound 880 was about. we do have one issue. it looks like it's right here northbound 880, an earlier crash that may be blocking a lane through there. not seeing any big delays as far as the speed sensors go.

we'll figure out if there are injuries or not. hopefully everybody is okay. east bay drive times as far as southbound 880, not being impacted by the crash. no delays along southbound 680 or knob 238 in both directions. we've got a clear commute so far. still no metering lights on just yet at the bay bridge toll plaza. >> thank you. in the east bay there's a new push to stop gun violence. leaders in oakland are bringing back a cease-fire plan. "today in the bay's" cheryl hurd reports on how city leaders believe this is a plan that will help bring calm to the city. >> cease-fire is back stronger than ever in the year 2022 in oakland. >> reporter: oakland mayor libby schaaf standing with the city's police chief and members of the faith community, letting people know the cease-fire program is back in full operation, after the pandemic forced them to scale it back. >> we all know that during the

covid pandemic gun violence in oakland went back to our pre-cease-fire levels. and what we are here today to report on is a full return. >> reporter: coming back at a time when police are struggling without of control violence in the city. >> we take no pleasure in having to take enforcement actions, we would much rather people accept the services, make different decisions in their lives and make oakland a better city, a safer city by putting down guns. >> reporter: the cease-fire strategy is to try to stop violence before it happens by reaching out to troubled community members and providing them with jobs and counseling. the program has the full support of the faith community. >> many years ago, due to a demand in the outcry of parents who were burying their children prematurely, due to the surge in gun violence in our city, the community demanded something be done. >> reporter: the police chef

armstrong says there have been 14 cease-fire operations this year where 30 guns have been recovered. he says the program worked before and he believes it will help turn things around right now. >> our last objective is really to develop trust within our community. >> reporter: cheryl hurd, "today in the bay." 4:52. now to a follow-up. this morning the search continues for three suspects involved in a violent smash-and-grab in san francisco's chinatown. officers once again visited the camera shop on grant avenue last night as they continued to investigate monday's robbery. police say three men came into the store, smashed display cases, stealing cameras and equipment. the robbery turned violent as people tried to stop the men. two people were hit with what appeared to be pepper spray and a neighbor who tried to intervene was hit in the head with a hammer. >> people are upset enough where it's their livelihood and they see it happen and that was their

first reaction when they came in, they were going to fight for their business. and we don't necessarily advocate doing that, but they did scare the suspects away. >> the man who was hit in the head was taken to the hospital. he has now since returned to work. 4:53 this morning, we're learning more about the incredible rescue in antioch over the weekend. >> so a specialized team of firefighters rescued this man stuck inside of a pipe. that pipe about the size of an extra large pizza, we're talking 16 inches in diameter. the man had been underground for two days. we spoke to a man in charge of the rescue team and one of the rescuers who had to go into the pipe. >> i was trying to figure out what was going to be the easiest way of getting him out of the hole. it was not going to be a comfortable position for either of us with the tight parameters

we were faced with. i was just game planning, plan a, plan b, plan c, to get him out. >> as for the man rescued, he was taken to the hospital to be checked out. oakland schools, they are making a push for families to get vaccinated ahead of spring break vacations. oakland unified holding 18 vaccine clinics between now and april 1st. those clinics are on campus and you don't need an appointment. for a list of locations and dates, go to our website, nbcbayarea.com, and you can also find a link in the trending bar of our home page. you know how sometimes it's really hard to find a parking place? well, this isn't ideal. coming up next on "today in the bay," how police believe this car ended up dangling from the third floor of a parking lot in southern california. and happening now, if you live in calistoga, you may notice your power going in and out over the next few days. pg&e is testing equipment and it's expected to trigger

interruptions. the tests began last night and they are expected to take place again from 11:00 until 5:30 in the morning on saturday. we'll be right back.

new this morning, here is definitely something you don't see every day. a car hanging from the third floor of a parking lot. take a look at that. it happened at a mall in north hollywood yesterday. police believe the driver of the car was racing and they lost control and crashed into the escalator. luckily, no one was hurt. also new this morning, miley cyrus is canceling an appearance

at a music festival after her plane was struck by lightning. >> we're getting a look from inside the plane. check this out. wow, can you imagine being in there? she posted this video on social media saying their crew were struck in an unexpected storm. the plane had to make an emergency landing. she shared this picture. look at that. this is the wing of the plane after landing, showing the damage done in mid-flight. >> now, in the social media post the singer wrote, quote, my crew, band, friends and family who were traveling with me on safe after an emergency landing. more news ahead on "today in the bay." stick around.

right now at 5:00, a deadly shooting by deputies in the east bay. what investigators are saying about the tense moments leading up to the gunfire. plus -- >> he knows there will be severe consequences because of the united nato front. >> president biden heads overseas to meet with nato allies. this as russian forces close in on several ukrainian cities. the message the president is expected to make to other world leaders. >> also, a lot of new data on the latest covid variant. the new surges being reported overseas and the reason health leaders believe it's becoming the dominant strain stateside. this is "today in the bay." and good wednesday morning. thanks for making us a part of your morning. i'm marcus washington. >> i'm