♪ a heavy downpour in san francisco this morning has people pulling out umbrellas and stepping over puddles. minor inconvenience compared to other problems out there. power outages, flooding, slide threats and dangerous surf. >> higher up the temperatures get lower. the result, snow on mount saint tell celina. the latest from meteorologist lisa argen. >> we have a flood warning in petaluma. to give you a sense of the rain, it is everywhere. willowbrook creek in petaluma is

at bank swell and that's 61 feet. stony creek road, old redwood highway flooding the next couple hours. the heaviest rain up by the delta and fairfield. you can see reds and oranges out towards 80. take a look all the way back. all you see is light to moderate rain. the lightest rain here though on the peninsula, this is going to continue throughout the afternoon. we're going to see the heaviest rain south around atascadero, santa cruz mountains and winds 30 mph. it's a cold rain, 7 inches of snow in lake counties. we're going to talk about when it's going to end and what the holiday weekend looks like coming up. >> the powerful storm is bringing some new erosion concerns for people in pacifica who have homes on a crumbling ocean cliff and unusual high tide is causing additional problems. terry mcsweeney has been on the pacifica peer which has been closed for safety reasons.

he was going to join us live but he had to move because of lightning and thunder. >> it's pictures like these that's been setting the past few days and it's the buildings sitting on those cliffs, especially 320 and 330 esplanade avenue. >> in between those buildings. it continues slowly. that's where you're actually seeing some activity. >> rider says the boulders placed at the bottom of the cliff and the plastic tarp and drain pipes above are keeping owe rosion to the minimum. two of the buildings red-tagged, meaning unsafe to live in, are hoping to protect all buildings sitting on top of those cliffs. although the two buildings are vacant, they're covering the top of the bluff and preventing rainwater from infiltrating from above. >> just down the coast pacifica peer is closed for obvious reasons. pacifica police tell me they closed the pier maybe 20 times a year when there's especially high surf or high winds.

today it's both. if it's not taking out the earth from under your home, the sheer power of the waves can be awesome. surfer chris larger says today's the day to be onland. >> not today. it's too rough and raw. you can see from the wind it's not a good day. much better to watch on a day like today. >> the storm is causing big delays at san francisco international airport. right now arrivals are delayed just over two hours. officials say air traffic has been cut to half its normal rate. if you're traveling today or picking up somebody from the airport, you're better off calling ahead or check out our flight tracker on the front page of our website abc7news.com. there are no major delays at san jose or oakland airport so far. more than 5,000 pg&e customers are without power this morning. most of the outages are in the north bay where 2800 customers are in the dark. lights are out for 1800 up to

the east bay mainly in the oakland hills and 1,000 people are without power in the south bay. amy hollyfield joins us now from oakland's jack london square and a look at the problems the storm is causing in the east bay. amy? >> it feels like this rain is never going to stop. it has been very steady and it is causing problems. power outages and traffic issues. check out what happened on the highway this morning. a huge eucalyptus tree came crashing down at about 5:00 this morning at the westbound entrance ramp from highway 4 to westbound highway 80. the tree did hit a car, and then several other cars crashed trying to swerve around it. in all six cars were damaged. no one was hurt though. firefighters and chp officers then had to use chain saws to break down the tree so the morning commute wouldn't be completely derailed. all it was cleared by about 6:30. but the rain didn't stop then.

it just keeps coming. one tree came down 8:45 and that knocked power out for 2700 customers there. it was about an hour. pg&e is reporting widespread power outages all over the east bay. flights at the open airport are not delayed. i just checked in. they said everything is running on time and ferries this morning all ran okay. so life is carrying on as usual here in the east bay. people are working their way around the rain even though it feels like it's never going to end. it just keeps coming. it's been very steady all morning. amy hollyfield, abc 7 news. >> thanks very much. we have to keep telling ourselves we need the rain. continuing our storm coverage at the intersection of highway 9 and highway 35 in santa cruz county. drivers actually seeing some snow, careenna? >> we are. we weren't sure if we would find it but indeed it is here. we are at 2600 feet and i'm going to step out of the shot so you could see what we're seeing

and that is indeed snow. we're 11 miles from downtown saratoga and as we were driving up highway 9 very windy. there was steady rain but no snow on the ground until we were about a mile from the summit. there is an incident about a half mile from here, a downed tree into a pg&e power line. there's about 9 vehicles there and crews dealing with that situation. i can't tell you how many people are without power because of that or if any are without power although i would imagine there are. a lot of people i can tell you from past experience up here have generators because when severe weather hits, this is what you get and this is what happens here, snow. so far it appears highway 9 and 35 are open to traffic; but as you might imagine, it is indeed very slow going and we expect more of this today. reporting live from the santa cruz county line, karina rusk,

abc 7 news. >> all right, thanks very much. the sierra is enjoying a brief break from the snow right now but it's not going to last long. traffic flowing smoothly a bit earlier this morning. there is a fair amount of snow along the road at the 3900 foot level. chains are required on interstate 80 at gold run. >> we're getting great weather pictures from our viewers. let's take a look at the snow in santa clara county. john wareham sent this picture to youreport. >> you heard of snow angels? this is say hail angel sent in by timothy whitehorn. >> must be cool making that. rachel schwartz sent us this picture. >> we'd love to see your pictures. just e-mail us or upload them. >> we're going to shift gears

now. a two-month-old baby has been considered brain dead after being hit in the face by his own father. he will be charged with murder later today after the baby is pronounced legally dead. he confessed to punching his son while he was watching the baby while the mother was at work tuesday. the two-year-old also showed signs of abuse. >> the lead detective for the police department's crimes against children's unit has now been arrested on charges of having sex with a minor. 35-year-old sean wallace was arrested february 3rd. he was convicted on three felony charges including sex with a minor and intimidation of a witness or victim. more on this arrest at 5:00 and 6:00. >> president obama will arrive in the bay area in just a few hours to push his plan to spend billions more on education,

clean energy, and jobs. this will be a quick 24 hour trip for the president, and his 8th official visit to the bait area. he will have an intimate dinner at a private location with several hi-tech executives. that guess list hasn't been officially released but they including mark zekkerberg and google ceo eric schmidt. >> anti-government protests around the world. new social media is fueling even more revolutions but some are turning deadly. >> and tracking drugs at the lab. the study that raises concerns about some

>> a day of rage is brewing acrest the middle east and north africa. tens of thousands of demonstrators are gearing up in libya, yemen and bahrain. these fueled by the new social media. jenelle with the latest. >> cheryl, demonstrators across the middle east have started facebook.com pages and are tweeting away hoping to round up as many people as possible to try and overthrow their government. they've been inspired by the recent revolution in egypt that ousted egyptian president hosni mubarak and like egypt they're met with deadly force. >> government tanks have moved in in parts of bahrain. parts are in lockdown, this

after a pre-dawn assault on demonstrators. police fired tear gas and rubber bullets at those camping out in the city's central square. they are demanding greater freedom and more jobs. the hospital was overloaded by people streaming in with gaping wounds, broken bones and respiratory problems from the tear gas. five dead, hundreds wounded. >> on the streets! >> abc news correspondent miguel marchkez is the latest to be caught in the violence. he was beaten but not badly injured. >> we've said repeatedly the united states believes strongly that violence is not an appropriate reaction when the peoples of this region or any region are peacefully protesting and airing their grievances

(chanting) >> in other parts of the middle east and north africa, more bloody revolts. in yemen there's a call on facebook.com and twitter to gather 1 million people to pressure the president of 32 years to step down. in libya at least 20 are dead in clashes there. demonstrators in both countries are calling for a day of rage. the united nations are urging governments to listen. >> transitions have been initiated or reforms promised. this is crucial that leaders deliver on those promises. >> today u.s. secretary of state hillary clinton tells her counterpart in bahrain to express deep concern after police stormed that protest camp in bahrain's capital city. the state department says she urged the country to use restraint moving forward. kristen. >> jenelle, thank you. a new report suggests laurence

livermore didn't keep track of heavy drugs. some drugs were missing and in one case they found more opium and black tar heroin than records show had been purchased legally. those create an opportunity for improper and illegal use. laurence livermore lab handles 42 different kinds of drug for biomedical research and forensic science. they agree a more rigorous tracking system was needed. >> lisa in for mike nicco. >> a flood advisory until 3:00 today. downed trees, downed power lines and looking live at the bay bridge. very gusty winds out there and we've got high waves as well. i'll be back with the deal tailed forecast. and a dry weekend coming up. >> the new study that could raise new concerns for any parent putting their child in a crib. 

♪ science fiction movies may become real life on board the international space station. japan's space agency is thinking about putting a talking humanoid robot on board the station to keep an eye on things while

astronauts sleep. it would monitor their health and stress levels and even tweet space watchers back on earth. it will happen in 2013. >> and i understand they would tweet like photos, things like that, not little funny lines or anything like that. check that out, huh! >> it's good if you can get there. jets fly over there. we're under a winter storm warning and temperatures in the 20s. not much going on but the snow will begin to increase and intensify in the next three to four hours. and back home another 6 to 8 hours of rain. then we get a break. urban and small stream flood advisory the entire bay area, gusty winds, high waves. a flood warning in petaluma. this is sutro. can't tell very well. live doppler 7 hd. we have light rain. we have moderate rain, we have heavy rain. you'll notice the heavy rain in the red right there. here's petaluma where you have the flood warning near penn grove park.

and the next couple hours you continue to see old redwood highway and stonybrook road with some flooding. the rivers and creeks are most of them out of their banks right now so that nuisance flooding around the underpasses, the low-lying areas definitely will be occurring in the next two to three hours in petaluma. after that things should begin to settle down in the north bay. take a look at fairfield. some very heavy rains, thunderstorms, embedded hail here. and we take you back towards richmond and berkeley. walnut creek. the santa cruz mountains heavier rain and this is where the next system is gonna focus from monterey on southward. that's why the bay area gets a break tomorrow. flash flood advisory and urban and small stream warning for the north bay till noon. then we're gonna see things begin to quiet down. so the entire bay area except marin county until noon.

we'll begin to see conditions subside by the dinner hour. i'll show you that in just a moment. 15 half moon bay, 47 oakland. looking at a cold rain. wind gusts 30 mph. at the airport over two-hour delays. flood advisory, breezy. snow levels 2500 to 3,000 feet. you know, we're talking about through the snow up in lake county. we've seen a third to over an inch in santa rosa. here is the high surf advisory until 3:00 with waves 13 to 16 feet. waves down this front made it stall out. we are looking at this to continue to press to the south and to the east. here we are 3:00. and then by 8:00 you'll notice the south bay mount hamilton getting wet. overnight hours looking good. we're gonna get a break and the next system down into monterey. so rainfall estimates 1 to 2 inches north bay santa cruz mountains. a half inch everywhere else and the snow keeps coming down with

3 to 4 feet. above 7,000 feet through friday night. we're looking at temperatures cold. upper 40s to low 50s all around the bay area. here's the look ahead. more rain, 6 to 8 hours and then it will just be in the south bay through the santa cruz mountains tomorrow. a break saturday and sunday. more rain for president's day. >> perfect for weekend skiing. >> that's the trick. >> if you have a baby or toddler, a new study on cribs may have you losing sleep. emergency room visits found 10,000 infants and toddlers are injured each year in cribs. youngsterses between one and two are most likely to be hurt. the motor skills have developed enough to climb out of cribs. we need better prevention and the new ban on drop-side cribs may reduce the injuries.

today at 5:00, the cancer that may be associated with hair loss in men. what doctors found in one man's skull that finally relieved him of ten years of headaches. >> what's hot. here's don ♪ >> people, puppets, fun on have a new queue. the tony winning musical at the

or of yum theater. it's the year of the rabbit and the spectacle of the chinese new year's parade is saturday with bands and the dragon and elaborate costumes. discover san francisco's secrets. in the annual chinese new year treasure hunt. explore telegraph hill saturday afternoon. wrap up new year's celebrations. restaurants around the bay area offer special menus. oakland's cultural center is open this morning. you can experience events everywhere. ♪ >> bay area blues society all-stars tonight at the jewish community center in berkeley. music from the days when west oakland hopped. >> you're saying this was your mission? >> technically. >> a new play inspired by the collapse of that mississippi bridge in minneapolis. berkeley's aurora theater. >> nobody's afraid of bacon and

that's the killer. >> he will have you howling talking about growing up with his dysfunctional family in the bay area on stage at the marines memorial. >> since the 1970s, u.s. schools have failed to keep pace with the rest of the world. >> new on blu-ray and dvd waiting for superman, a look at public education. >> indoor activity good call for today anyway, right? >> yeah. another three to five hours of rain out there. should be a break. >> that's gonna doreligion as s,

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...