♪ in japan concerns over radiation are growing this morning after officials says there's a high likelihood that nuclear rods are melting down inside all three of the most troubling nuclear reactors. residents are being tested for radiation exposure. >> video is showing house forceful the tsunami was. black water sweeping away cars and homes as if they were toys. enough speed to knock homes on their foundation. >> the number of confirmed dead

is 2800 but they believe at least 10,000 people have parished with so many still missing. >> the latest from japan including the fears at a nuclear plant has lost power. >> while the second explosion added to the tension in japan, many survivors have only just begun to mourn the loss of their loved ones, their homes and some their retired communities. devastation as far as the eyes can see. i was here, she said. it just came and washed everything away. this woman clung to a tree and grabbed a floating floor mat. the churning water washed her away. her daughter was with her but cannot be found. there are dead fish in the bathroom but it's dry upstairs. still he says it won't stay.

>> if there was electricity, we would stay here. but the aftershocks are quite strong. many set up make-shift shelters are sleeping in their cars. basic necessities are scarce. i need food. i'm running out of food. their desperation and frustration of the lack of aid is threatening to crack their famous resolve. the count is too slow. that's why things have ended up this way. japan had to inject a record $220 billion in an effort to ease concerns. >> scientists at lawrence liver more lab are detracking radiation levels.

harmful levels are not expected to make it to the u.s. "good morning america." >> the earlier signs are intestinal tracks. those can look like a stomach flu and when you have all these people evacuated, they have to sort out the difference. >> there are three factors can put you at greater risk. first proximity. how close are you to the release. intention. how much was released and were there any barriers between you and that radiation. and duration. how long were you exposed. president obama says he continues to be heartbroken by the images of japan's devastation and this morning he made a promise. >> the united states will continue to offer any assistance we can as japan recovers from multiple disasters. and we will stand with the people of japan in the difficult days ahead. >> u.s. military aid is slowly

arriving but there was a setback today. the u.s. navy had to move several ships away after low radiation. >> the army corps of years plans to use sonar to locate several boats that sank after the waves hit on friday. one of our photographers went on aride with fish and game officials and assess the damage done by friday's tsunami surge. crews have pulled more boats from the water and hope they pull more out today. it sank 18 boats and 12 are unaccounted for and some amount of other boats sustained damage. they did an estimated $17 million in damage. the harbor will remain closed until at least next weekend. >> a similar situation at the harbor in the california/oregon

border. 10 boats sank on friday. several docks and moorings have also been severely damaged. the harbor remains closed as well. >> several japanese tourists who happened to be visiting northern california when the disaster hit japan are going home with as many relief supplies as they can. san francisco with more. sue? >> hi, cheryl. a number of flights leaving sfo for tokyo, japan. there is a sense and a lot of emotion and a lot of worry as they leave here and go back to their homeland. on board one of those flights, four japanese pastors will head back to japan. pastor yoshi is one man. he is from the area where the quake was centered and also where we had seen those dramatic

and horrific pictures of the tsunami. these men are leaving with eight suitcases full of food, protein bars, water, batteries, any supplies they can pack in these suitcases, anything they can take from their families and need. a lot of store shelves are empty. gasoline if there is any at the gas station. that is being rationed out. transportation. some have no access to water, power. they even say tokyo is seeing rolling blackouts from this. the biggest fear from that families and some of their congregation is the radiation fallout from the nuclear power plant. they expect they will have to suit up for protection. >> they're talking when they get to the airport to get hooded jackets, gloves and masks. it's supposed to rain and the fallout with the moisture will spread. you don't wanna get it on your

skin. they're thinking if they can get cotton gloves and just masks and get the least amount of skin exposure. >> so those four pastors will be headed in those most devastated areas from that earthquake and also the tsunami. they continue to say the evacuations continue to be moved back from the power plants. the food they've taken back isn't a lot. expect it to last maybe a week. as pastors they'll be providing a lot of courage from people and spiritual support. >> the disaster in japan is calling attention to the need for local emergency alert systems. today's south bay is kicking off an effort to help cellphone users. santa fe county with so many getting rid of their home lines, city and county officials say it's important to sign up for

disaster messages services. you can find how to sign up for aleft scc. go to abc7news.com and click on "see it on tv." at&t is offering help to their customers. it announced effective immediately customers can use their mobile devices to call and text japan for free through march 31st. >> this man believes his customers can help raise $50,000 for relief efforts in japan. the ace hard war franchise, people met up to $25,000. >> it was incredible, the first three and a half hours we took in almost $500. and then yesterday another $500. >> i've been to japan and i pray for them every morning. and i saw this afternoon there was a volcano on the south part of that state. they're getting it from all

ends. >> the store plans to collect the donations through the end of next month. it's accepting cash and checks. for a list of organizations taking donations, go to abc7news.com and click on "see it on tv." there's also information how you can find family and friends in japan. >> abc's diane sawyer is in japan and will continue reporting tonight from the quake-stricken region. here's what she found in one of the hardest hit areas. >> after one walk down one street and you'll see what we mean. the bookstore. not one car, not one truck but three all piled in on top of each other. you can see it's layered. stacked. >> you can watch a special edition of world news tonight, disaster in the pacific with diane sawyer here on abc 7. it begins at 5:30 on abc news at 5:00. >> the manhunt underway for a

prison escapee. >> the message that got hundreds of south bay students up early. 10,000 more gathering right now in sacramento. >> the problem that had dozens of bay area clipper card

>> right now authorities in solano county are looking for an inmate who walked from the prison camp in the delta.

nath than simpson was last seen last night. he was serving time in the camp for vehicle theft. he was set to be paroled in september. he was last seen wearing orange-colored jeans and a shirt with c. d. c. r. on the back. developing news in oakland where schools has been dismissed for oakland pride elementary. they broke into estimated 30 classrooms and ransacked them over the weekend. a school spokesman said it appears the vandals broke a window to get in and did significant damage. oakland police are gathering evidence hoping to find clues about potential suspects. more on this story at 5:00 and 6:00. >> right now students from all over california are gathering at the state capitol to protest governor brown's proposed education cuts, including hundreds of community college students from the south bay. >> what do we want! >> when? >> now! >> their journey began before

dawn with buses at evergreen valley community colleges and san francisco city college. they hope to avoid cutting community college budgets and pass the dream act in order to keep it appearedable. >> taking out a lot of the programs that i'm involved in. through that, limited resources, makes me, you know, it was book vouchers, that's being cut. >> students currently pay $26 a unit for each course they take at evergreen valley and san jose city colleges. >> after working all night, bart restored full service after working through the night to fix a train derailment. it derailed just as it was leaving for the concord. no one was seriously hurt. officials don't know what caused two trains to come off the track but it happens as the separated

from single track mode. a computer glitch overcharged riders on their clipper cards. those overcharges totaled more than $14,000. a spokesman said all the customers had been reimbursed although some complained it took weeks to get their money back. the card is a universal transit card used for several bay area agencies. >> documents verify that pressure levels in its entire gas pipeline system are safe. part of that process involved 300 workers sifting through thousands of boxes of documents at the cow palace and daly city. the september 9th explosion that killed 8 people and des dozens of homes.

>> we'll ask mike, are we done with the showers or not yet? >> a few sprinkles left outside. we're seeing a few breaks in the clouds but a lot of sunshine in this forecast. there's a chance of rain every single day and it's going to get quite chilly this weekend. a bay area bondsman turned international artist. how he's turning your trash into treasures. 

♪ even if we're just about done for the rain today, overall a very wet week, mike. >> absolutely. we have a chance of rain every single day, just where it's going to fall is the key to the forecast. show you what's going on right now. watch out for flight arrival delays into sfo even though the rain is waning. one other perspective as we look from south beach back to oakland and down here in san jose. of course, the south bay, the least amount of rain over the weekend, a couple hundredth while we have a half inch to three-quarters the last 24 hours. definitely see the radar return diminishing. we'll still have a chance of a sprinkle here and there but the organized wet weather is definitely over. let's talk about the coast.

we have a high surf advisory. it started at 11:00 this evening. 13 to 15 foot westerly to northwesterly swells. we're going to see high surf and dangerous rip currents during that time frame. look at antioch, livermore, san jose,s will -- los gatos. it will be mainly cloudy but dry by the afternoon hours. rain, we have it in tomorrow's forecast. a lesser amount wednesday and thursday. then waves of chilly rain for friday, saturday and sunday. today along the coast 60. the rest of us the low to mid-60s so pretty close to average even with the cloud cover. the monterey bay and inland mostly cloudy conditions and temperatures in the mid-60s. here's what happened the last ten hours. you see the front trying to push

for. it hung up over this morning, that brought us that steady rain from that line at half moon bay through oakland. now the drying trend moves in through the afternoon and evening hours. next system resumes tomorrow. one behind that and another one from alaska behind that. let's focus on the next 24 to 48 hours. dry, a lot of cloud cover. look at the coast and into the north bay by tomorrow's commute. the commute wet for just about all of us. south bay you get your rain in the afternoon hours. the evening hours you can see a bit more scattered nature. rainfall amounts pretty close to what we just had. the north bay up to a half inch and the bay area, maybe a tenth to a quarter of inch in the south bay. here's your seven forecast. no matter whether it rains tomorrow and rather light

wednesday and thursday, temperatures still remain mild with upper 60s along the coast. the rest of us low to mid-60s. periods of rain and temperatures in the low to mid-50s. >> all right. we're just gonna keep two umbrellas handy each. thanks, mike. >> you bet. >> a bay area man started out as an internationally story. >> to pass bail bonds to the art studio. but the difference is huge. the bail bonds company he started 15 years ago on the job, the lifelong interest that turned into a passion 30 years ago during a walk on pacifica beach. >> i wanted to show how focussed the beaches were. >> the plastic was crying out to

be reused, reshaped, reincarnated. >> michelangelo would see images in the rock. i would see it in the materials i used. i started creating. the work got bigger, bigger, bigger. >> soon he was making people, the woman making the espresso and the guy on the computer. plastic people telling many stories at once. the creativity along with a little paint and glue to keep it all together. these pieces are plastic that he finds on the side of the road or center. he called himself work that stands on its own. if it's good, it's good. if it's great, it's great. >> his favorite work simply called waiting. >> it breaks my heart when i see a person waiting for the phone tree. i've been there, too. makes jewelry out of plastic trash and last week we saw the

design break at the huge trans bay transit center. but his reclaimed work talks to you and you come back. >> i come from a background where my work tells a story. not only my story but the story you bring when you look at the work. >> one [ mom ] yes.nte. oh, i'll borrow hailey's. you're downloading movies. fast! from here? where is her cord?! we switched to at&t high speed internet and got wireless access. no more cords. wireless, okay, honestly, can i just get a cord, please? dad, the cord's invisible. [ female announcer ] for a limited time, call to get high speed internet for just $14.95 a month for 12 months with a 1-year price guarantee. it's our fastest internet for the price. oooh. videos online? here? how much is that? nothin'. at&t high speed internet at home

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>> today at 5:00 we're staying on top of all the developments in japan including the nuclear radiation threat and the role laurence livermore has to protect the danger. we'll have all those stories and more later today on abc 7 news at 5:00. >> still a chance for sprinkles.