♪ cleanup is underway from the wild storm that blew through the bay area last night and this morning. >> power is still off for hundreds of people. what happened in marin county when the storm drains couldn't handle the downpour. this is the strawberry area of mill valley. >> that's the sound of hail from the storm that passed through san francisco. these pictures are captured on 280 and along the embarcadero. >> and an oak tree tom utility lines this morning. crews will be working throughout the day to remove it.

we have team coverage. let's start with terry in oakland. >> yeah. this storm brought with it scare which moments for commuters but terrifying moments for people in the oakland hills. first the tree went down, then the lights went out, then flames up on skyline boulevard. >> i heard a big crash. the lights went out and i saw a flash through my window. there was a fire down the street. power line fell down. there were very bright flames coming out of the end of the power lines. about a half hour before the fire department came. >> that was a story in okbaker' house this morning. string a new conductor and new transformers. going to be a little while. >> but little damage to baker's

car and none to his house. sometimes life is a game of inches. it was a game of inch at the toll plaza for commuters. several inches of standing water made for some nice pictures but no accidents. sometimes because of good driving, sometimes because of plain luck. those not in luck with the thousands of people who lost power in the storm. not a problem for jane english. she has a wake-up system to match any power outage. i wasn't affected by not waking up this morning. >> the man who lives next-door to this scene feels fortunate to have lived here nine years and not once experienced such a rude awakening himself p. >> look at the trees across the street and hope that none of these will fall. >> as you can probably tell, the storm still here in the form of wind. we've got some blue sky above. hadn't seen much rain this morning. what next? could be ananyththining. lelet's s checececk witith miki

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that was t takenen byy ken and melissa ortiz sent us pictures as well. this is hail that poununded par of sanan frfrancicisco.o. also an anonymomous viviewer ses aa rainbobow. ifif you h have video we'd like to share them with us. upload them or e-mail them. >> oakland school superintendent warns there may be significant teacher layoffs this fall. the district posted a letter on its website yesterday. it didn't say specifically how many teachers may be cut, but some have estimated it could run into the hundreds. the district also plans to notify principals and managers that they might be reassigned to a new position in the fall. school officials say they've been able to avoid high layoffs in recent years because of high teacher attrition rates and

funds. warning employees of possible layoffs by march 15th. >> united airlines isup inspect of jets of that been grounded for an overdue computer maintenance check. united says it's not expected to cause cancellations today. they cancelled 15 flights yesterday. 96 boeing 757's were out of service when

>> we continue our storm coverage with abc 7's jenelle wang in pacifica. >> huge waves and warnings along the coast. >> there are high surf advisories up and down the coast. the waves are big here in pacifica but local who live here say they could be bigger. they're not that big where they usually can be so high they break over the seawall but quite a sight and quite dangerous. no one is swimming or surfing. they have issued a high surf advisory to monterey county until 2 a.m. tonight. waves can build between 14 and 17 feet and break as high as 20 feet at some beaches. there are signs along the pacifica waterfront warning spectators about the dangerous waves and to stand back. tourists from all over the bay area and around the world have come down to check them out. >> what brings u to pacifica? >> i'm just hear for the waves

and the view. it's holiday, yes. >> and what do you think about the waves? >> they're beautiful. i mean, you know, i'm from sidney. we're spoiled with beaches but -- >> they're great. >> pretty big actually. >> i'm born and raised in san francisco. this is the first time i've actually come down here and seen anything like this. just amazing. just really something to see. very dangerous, very scary. >> here are some pictures from ocean beach in san francisco. big waves are also providing quite a show there. the rain has also caused some minor flooding along the great highway but nothing big. the high surf advisory there be in lace place until 2:00 this morning. winds definitely a factor as you can see. i can see a rain swell comes close towards us. we better wrap it up and toss it back to you before we get soaking wet. jenelle wang, abc 7 news. >> all right, jenelle. get out of that wind.

the berkeley city council failed to pass a controversial resolution that would allow to you former quantanamo bay detainees to live in the city. a resident had offered one of the men who has been cleared of all charges live in her home. but that's unlikely because president obama signed an act last month prohibiting the u.s. for paying for the relocation of cleared detainees. in the end berkeley's resolution did not get the five votes needed to pass. disgraced fund street manager bernie madoff is talking for the first time since his conviction and one of the biggest ponzi schemes in history. some of the biggest banks and hedge funds were complicit in his scheme but would not say way institutions were involved. they are suing j. p. morgan chase in an attempt to get some money back from the investors he

defrauded out of billions. the bank denies doing anything wrong. madoff is serving a life sentence. >> a teacher suspended for her profanity-laced blocking says she was telling the truth about students unwilling to work hard at school. natalie monroe who's eight months' pregnant was suspended with pay after students say she discovered a blog that show wrote like a diary to her friends. things like saying i hate your kid were tongue-in-cheek. >> i mean, it was not meant for everybody to see, but if it's gonna get out there, maybe it will start a conversation that needs to happen. >> do you want to continue teaching? >> yes. >> at that particular school? >> i have no plans for a career change so i will we'll see what happens. >> that was monroe on "good morning america" this morning. her attorney says she can't be fired because she didn't do anything wrong. school administrators say her

comments were egregious and her blog's being investigated. >> we'll show you how the rain is rolling in from mount tamalpais. one of the stronger cells moving across marin county in san francisco. watch for hail. we'll talk about how long this will last. a dry weekend. >> and the health benefits of zinc. does it really work in the fight against the common cold? >> and project ru,

overwhelming our nation but we have secularism, atheism, humanism, all of which agree in denying christ and the christian religion. and then... if you can control energy, you can control peoples lives. next time on...

♪ you've heard conflicting stories whether zinc can really shorten the duration of the common cold. a new survey says yes but with a big caveat. a new survey by an international network of experts called the cochran library looked at all the studies done on zinc . it may help you get well faster by one day. it's no silver bullet. >> a lot of things you have to take. in one of the studies people were taking a zinc lozenge every hour and a half while they were awake to get that one day shorter symptom.

>> best results were skeptical of claims that daily zinc can help prevent colds. the only settles that showed that happen were done in iran and turkey. he said living a healthy lifestyle and washing your hands are far more effective. >> always good advice. meteorologist mike nicco. my goodness, i can't believe this storm. >> the way things have changed with rain and thunderstorms. the heaviest of snow falling from 5:00 this morning until 10:00 this morning. look at heavenly mountain resorts. and still seeing some snow there but not nearly as heavy as it was earlier. we'll have a forecast that shows even more snow coming your way in just a second. let's bring it back home and show you what's going on. just had that shower pass so we're looking behind the storm. sutro looking to the northwest. let's take a look at that with live doppler 7 hd moving across san francisco all the way to san bruno and san mateo.

if it's not raining there, it will be any second. tiburon, sausalito, rain should end in three or four minutes. on the east bay shore, rain richmond, hercules. right now but by the time it hits hayward and treatment, probably take about another 45 minutes or so the storms moving off to the east about 35 mph. stronger ones are moving near cloverdale. you can see the lightning strike and we'll have waves of showers in the forecast. locally gusty winds outside and these already gusting near 30 mph at sfo, livermore, hayward, fairfield. definitely going to be a breezy day. temperatures in the low mid-50s most areas. santa rosa, livermore mid to upper 40s. monterey bay low to mid-50s if you're stepping out right now. headlines, brief heavy rain could cause local flooding. we know there will be hail.

we already heard some. we'll have more rainbows today also because of the showery nature of the storm system. snow level dropped to 2500 feet. diablo, hamilton all could get a dusting of snow. rain possibly friday and looking drier this weekend as it did yesterday. the low that developed on the front and caused it had to slow moving across the bay. why we had that six hours of rain that would be steady to heavy at times. now the cold, unstable air mass that interacts with sunshine and heating, it tends to destabilize even more. through the afternoon hours i'm looking for it to pick up in coverage and intensity. that's the wintry mix. where you see white that is snow. overnight another wave of understand moves through so tomorrow morning's commute looking pretty wet, especially the north bay. one more cold front moves through tomorrow morning into the early afternoon. bring brief heavy rain and localized flooding.

once we get to thursday and into friday, the next system, watch how it stays well to the south. if that's the case, high pressure will move in and hang around not only friday but through the weekend. until we get there we could get another 1, possibly 3 inches of rain, especially the north bay mountains. the forecast, even when it's not raining which is possible friday, saturday and sunday temperatures well below average, 50s. president's day still blow average in the low to mid-50s. >> mike, thank you. >> sure. >> looks like one of the biggest complaints about san francisco's annual valentine's day pillow fight may not be such an issue anymore. the city said the yearly event led to about $35,000 cleanup. it went from $35,000 to $3500 largely because of a volunteer organization that did the bulk of the cleanup for free. the same group plans to come back next year. >> general motors recalling

50,000 cadillac vehicles worldwide to fix a loose joint that could make it hard for drivers to steer. the cts vehicles are from 2009-2010 model year. it says the nuts in the rear sus special could become loose and cause a sudden change in the vehicle's handling or make the driver lose control of the vehicle. g.m. says there hasn't been any fatalities related to the recall. owners can call for more information on our website, abc7news.com. look under "see it on tv." and boarders announced it is filing for chapter 11 bankruptcy protection. the 40-year-old company plans to close about 200 of its stores over the next few weeks, including a dozen stores here in the bay area. the remaining stores plan to operate normally and honor give cards. big box book stores have struggled because more people are buying online electronic books. more books are available at

discount stores such as wal-mart and costco. >> a fashion designer one of nine up and coming designers vying to have evening gowns worn on oscar night. zoe hong is taking part in the 2011. the others from l.a.,new york and chicago. the academy of motion picture arts and sciences wants the public to vote on which designer is best. the winning gown will be worn by one of the award's escorts that hand out the statues and the designer gets to attend the big show. >> when i was nine or ten i learned how to sew. i always thought one day i'll have a dress on stage. well, you know, whether it be on a celebrity or on this statuette girl which is going to be a celebrity is a dream come true. zoe feels the same way as well. to register to participate, go to our website abc7news.com under "see it on tv." and, yes, you can watch the 83rd

academy awards show and all the red carpet fashion here on abc 7 on sunday, february 27th. coverage begins at 5:00 and hopefully you'll see zoe

what if you knew heaven is real... because you'd seen it... kwoets quote i saw the hand of god literally come. down"because you'd been there... "i was pronounced dead for 15 to 20 minutes."how would it change the way you live your

life? "you can't go through something like that and not be a changed man."get the real story of what happens when you die... on the "700  >> today on oprah at 4:00 before dr. oz and dr. phil there was the ultimatum that prevented oprah's side kick from returning to the show.

the end of a bay area baby institution, a store that scores with moms and dads that pass through, clothing. >> keeping a close eye on the storm system. we're going to take you live to tahoe where snow is falling just in time for the big ski week. those stories and more later today at 5:00. >> finally this morning a north carolina couple claimed a $1 million lotto prize just one day before it expired. >> raleigh bought the ticket p last summer. he and his wife just claimed that prize yesterday. hill says he waited a few weeks to tell his wife wanting to choose the end of a bad day to give her the good news. then he says he didn't want the attention so he kind of hid the ticket. >> you know what happens with that. he lost track of it. then he put it in the shoe box. after taxes they received $680,000. >> not too shabby! >> i could survive on that. all of us!

>> a look at the rain. >> int state 80 and 280. live doppler 7 hd, that's our strongest storms from half moon bay to vallejo. they are moving off about 20 to 30 mph. brief heavy rain, gusty winds, even small hail out of the system and guess what, you didn't get it today, we'll have more tomorrow. >> okay, thank you. we're warned. >> thanks for joining us on abc 7 news. >> "who wants to be a millionaire" is

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go ye into all of the world and preach the gospel preach the gospel  ♪very creature in the world. (applause)