islands as it barrels through the caribbean. and the already-deadly storm could be just days away from hitting the u-s mainla now at noon, hurricane irma devastating tiny islands as it barrels through the caribbean and the already deadly storm could be days away from hitting the u.s. mainland. good afternoon, i'm kenny choi.

>> i'm michelle griego. we have team coverage of the storm from tracking the storm and bay area efforts to help. first meg oliver is in miami beach where people are evacuating. >> reporter: mandatory evacuations went into effect along miami beach here at 12 noon. now crews are working to remove everything off this beach from lifeguard stands to trash cans. puerto rico dodged a direct hit from irma. the storm's eye passed just to the northeast. but its 180-mile-per-hour winds toppled trees and power lines. nearly a million people are without electricity. this man's family rode out the storm in their hotel. >> i could only imagine what the little houses by the coast and the little villages must feel like right now. so our prayers and thoughts with all the families. >> reporter: officials are still trying to get a grip on the extent of the devastation across the caribbean. most structures in barbuda are destroyed. in st. martin winds damaged

homes, hotels and tossed shipping containers. irma is still days from reaching the u.s. mainland. forecasters aren't sure where it will make landfall. >> somewhere around cuba it starts this turn to the north anywhere, anywhere within this cone is the possibility for a landfall. >> reporter: mandatory evacuations are now under way in miami beach. storm surge is the main concern. most of the area is three feet above sea level. >> we won't be able to save people once the storm hits. >> reporter: frenzied residents are grabbing water fast and picking store shelves clean. gas stations are running out of fuel. a steady stream of traffic is pressing northward and people are crowding miami's airport trying to get out before it's too late. meg oliver, cbs news, miami beach. now, when you see a storm this huge, it's no wonder, of course, so many people want to get out of its way. here's the eye now just passing north of dominican republic. as we just saw, it went north

of puerto rico but certainly caused a lot of damage. up to 300 miles of storm force winds is what is happening here because of the strength and magnitude of the storm as it makes its way to the bahamas. those islands are next in the path. here's the impact for the bahamas. 20-foot storm surge for some of the islands, including turks & caicos and up to 20 inches of rain, as well. look at all this water that's going to be coming down. also lifting the ocean levels. here's the rain futurecast through monday. now, this storm is going to work its way across florida. exactly where it's going to make landfall, still to be determined. it all depends on what's going on around it. here's a closer look at the storm track. there it is going towards the bahamas just north of cuba and as it gets closer to florida, maybe downgraded to a category 4. but that's still 145-mile- per-hour sustained winds and

then look at it, has the wind going up the east coast. it will impact southeastern portions of the united states. we'll have the local forecast coming up. neda, thank you. emergency crews from the bay area are heading to the hurricane zone to help. kpix 5's katie nielsen continues our team coverage from the east bay. >> reporter: crews from california task force 4 are grabbing their gear and packing up again, this time for south florida. only two days after getting back from a deployment to texas for hurricane harvey, they are going to florida. >> we refer to ourselves as a swiss army knife. we are prepared to do anything that's necessary to help people in whatever community. >> reporter: the 80 people in the urban search-and-rescue is made up of mostly oakland firefighters. they are leaving today to help emergency crews in the wake of irma. >> watch out for each other. >> reporter: and in hayward, a crew of nine linemen are packing their bags to head to

florida as well. >> i dedicated my life to this trade. i just want to go out there and make my family proud. i have three young boys at home that i get to tell a story to. >> reporter: they have a mutual aid agreement with florida power & light. when florida asks for help, pg&e offered to send 100 linemen, engineers and supervisors from across northern california. 12-year lineman veteran cisco schaaf and the others know it's important. >> the first step in the rebuilding process is restoring power. it's basically the backbone, the grid is the backbone of a community. >> reporter: as soon as the crews here at the yard in hayward finish packing up their gear, they will be going to davis. that's where they will meet up with the other pg&e linemen who will all fly to florida tomorrow. in hayward, katie nielsen, kpix 5. >> personnel from travis air

force base are ready to help people affected by hurricane irma. they are going to st. croix. the group from travis includes medical personnel and those who will do a site survey to determine the need for additional personnel. now to developing news in sacramento where two police officers were injured in a shooting with a suspect. their injuries are not life- threatening. here's a live look from the scene in sacramento. the suspect is down but there are few other details at this time. this comes a week after sacramento county sheriff's deputy robert french was killed in a hotel shootout. the gunman was a castro valley man, 32-year-old thomas littlecloud. he died in the hospital a few days later. two other officers were injured in that shooting. the man who was arrested by bart police in san francisco is suing the transit agency claiming that officers used excessive force. kpix 5's jackie ward has more on the allegations. >> get down on the ground! down on the ground!! >> reporter: this is why michael smith of oakland is

suing for excessive force, new orleans arrest and aall the. >> this case was a classic case of racial profiling. >> reporter: last summer at the embarcadero station, san francisco public defender jeff adachi says his client got in an argument with a man who called 911 and said smith tried to rob him and was armed with a gun. in this body cam video, you can see smith kicking at officers once. but the lawsuit states video shows smith getting punched in the head as he was pinned to the ground. smith was tried and acquitted for four counts of misdemeanor battery charges on a police officer. the jury couldn't reach a verdict on two other battery charges. and they were eventually dropped. he was never charged with robbery or attempted robbery in connection with the 911 call. we called bart for comment. they hadn't been served yet and couldn't comment further citing security sensitivity. in san francisco, jackie ward, kpix 5. investigators are looking into an early-morning fire at a coffeehouse and hookah lounge in san jose. the fire was first reported

about 6:00 at cafe paradise on monterey highway. the fire department says it started in the attic but the cause is under investigation. there are no reports of injuries. it's a sad day at a middle school in pacifica after a music teacher was killed in an unusual accident. we get the details from kpix 5's anne makovec. ♪[ music ] >> reporter: this was jerry downs in his element, directing and playing alongside middle school band students at a jazz concert in 2013. ♪[ music ] >> reporter: this memorial has been growing in the parking lot of ingrid lacy middle school, where downs was fatally injured when he was run over yesterday by his own runaway van. this bus driver's son played the saxophone in downs' band. he lives across from the school. >> all the cops around blocking the street and we saw a van but didn't recognize it was the van that used to take kids and

instruments for performance. >> reporter: mr. downs died at the hospital yesterday. after hearing the news, a former band mom helped form a facebook page called, because of you, mr. downs, gathering memorials from students past and present. >> he was all about band and all about the kids. he could be prickly at times. but if you listened to what he was saying, it was because something didn't go right at the competition or program and he was always passionate about the kids. >> reporter: in pacifica, anne makevoc, kpix 5. to our bay area weather now. a damp commute for some people this morning. we caught some light rain on 880 in oakland heading northbound. >> same for the bay bridge. slick roads and drivers are the windshield wipers going. >> on market street in san francisco, some people were caught off guard by the rain and the drizzle huddling under jackets. others had their umbrellas ready. >> and check out the raindrops from our roof cam in the financial district in san francisco. neda is in the weather center with a closer look. >> the ones who were caught off guard weren't watching our forecast! we are talking about this chance of rain all week long

and this morning, we certainly saw that rain and drizzle. here's a look right now at what's going on. we have the clouds keeping our temperatures very cool and our dublin camera giving you a good view of the cloud coverage. here's a look at our temperatures now. concord 70. oakland 69. livermore 74. a little bit of a breeze picking up. you can see it there. here's our satellite-radar. so the green on your screen is very light. it's coming in the form of maybe just virga, not hitting the ground. it feels wet and misty but not measurable precipitation from this storm. our high definition doppler not showing areas of strong rain, a little bit -- a little cell right there past santa rosa towards windsor. coming up we'll have more on your forecast. still ahead, claims of price gouging as people try to get out of hurricane irma's

path. coming up flyers say airlines are taking advantage of them. >> prust a milestone for one of britain's youngest royals. prince george heads off to kindergarten. why the school says there will be no special treatment. ♪[ music ]

hurricane irma's path are having trouble finding a way out. airlines have canceled more than 18-hundred flights in and out of ean. a lot of people trying to escape the path of hurricane irma are having trouble getting out. airlines canceled 1800 flights in florida and the caribbean. as kris van cleave reports some flyers are accusing airlines of price gouging. >> reporter: $1,328 for a one- way flight from miami to hartford, connecticut? it's a high price for some to

escape hurricane irma. people are expressing outrage over ticket prices on social media. on twitter, this woman said a flight from miami to phoenix jumped from over $500 to more than $3,200 when she tried to book on a travel website. she later tweeted, delta resolved the issue with a reasonable fare. another posted a flight search showing fares of more than $1,000 from south florida to new york. on wednesday, the backlash prompted some airlines to cap the cost of remaining seats on direct single leg flights out of florida. a flight out on american airlines won't cost more than $99. jetblue also capped it at $99 or $159 with a connection. delta $399. that is, if you can find a seat. while prices increased as passengers rushed to book flights, airlines say they did not change their fare structure explaining the cost of a seat increases as flights fill up and last-minute tickets cost more. >> fares went up really quickly. that's where you get these $800

fares that people are complaining about. but at some point, someone maybe somewhere should have said this is going to be a public relations disaster. >> reporter: the department of transportation has received complaints about airfares and will look into it. kris van cleave, cbs news, philadelphia. people in florida who are scrambling to evacuate head of the hurricane are having a hard time filling their gas tanks. gasbuddy reports about 26% of gas stations in the miami-fort lauderdale area don't have gas. governor rick scott asked the governors of alabama and georgia to waive trucking regulations so gas tankers can get fuel into florida quickly. a wet start to our thursday. light rain was falling on 280 in san francisco as drivers made their way into the city. so neda, now we have to worry about our windshield wipers. >> hopefully yours are fine. it wasn't measurable precipitation, just enough to cause annoyance and wet

conditions. at sfo about an hour and a half delays on some arriving flights. they have to wait before they can land. here's another live look at san jose right now. you have great skies there. don't expect to see rain for the inland areas. concord:70. livermore 74. san francisco 69. below average today for our highs. here's a look at the winds first. current winds now in redwood city coming out of the northwest, coming out of the south for sfo, oakland west- southwest winds so they are swirling around a little bit. later on today the winds will pick up a little about 15 to 25 miles per hour. vallejo right now southwest at 10. the rest of the day there's a chance of thunderstorms. we saw some of that in red bluff, redding area but not so much across the bay area. and temperatures will cool about 5 to 7 degrees compared to yesterday and our warmup is going to start though tomorrow. so today the coolest day of the week. here's the storm that's

bringing us a little bit of drizzle out there, you can see it's basically coming to us in the form of cloud cover. most of the green stale well to the north for northern california and oregon. our futurecast doesn't show much for the rest of the day. just clouds coming through and that's all we are going to see from this. high clouds through the night into tomorrow. then our high temperatures are going to be below average today. here's a look at our averages for this time of year. 2 to 9 degrees below average. our sunset tonight at 7:29 p.m. look what's coming up after the low passes through. we have that high pressure ridge and that's what's going to begin our warmup. you can see it here in our seven-day forecast. so starting tomorrow, temperatures bouncing up again especially inland to the mid- 80s. then by sunday, whoo! there we go, mid-90s. maybe even triple digits for some folks for the weekend. >> we'll enjoy friday and

saturday. thank you. uc-berkeley will go back in time later this month for the california golden bears football game against usc. the team will wear throw back jerseys from the 1970s in honor of a quarterback who was 21 when he died of melanoma back in 1977. the joe roth memorial game is held once a year. here's another glimpse of what the retro uniforms will look like. the main difference, you can see the brighter shades of blue and yellow. the game is scheduled for september 23rd. >> it looks good. >> really good. the milestone for many parents and apparently royalty no exception. >> today britain's prince william says 4-year-old prince george went to school for the first time. he cautiously arrived at kindergarten with his dad carrying his backpack. he is third in line for the british throne but teachers at $25,000 a year private school say there will be no special treatment. he will be known to his teachers and classmates as

george cambridge. >> i hope very much that he will be himself. the whole aim of these precious years of early education is to give children that confidence in who they are. >> george's mother kate was not there for the school drop-off. she is expecting a third child and has severe morning sickness. >> george looking very danker. >> yes. >> still ahead, making wishes come true for seniors around the bay area. how the kindness of strangers inspired this woman to pay it forward. >> and what is cool about your school? we want to know. you can email your nominations to us at coolschools@kpix.com and we may come and feature your school on the show.

woman to help senior citizens. this week's jefferson award winner says it was the kindness of strangers knowing an act of kindness can change a person's life is what inspired a bay area woman to help seniors. this week's jefferson award winner says it was the kindness of strangers that gave her hope as a child. and now as allen martin reports, she is paying it forward. >> okay. >> reporter: thuy troung was only 6 when her family fled vietnam. and she remembers the people who were kind to her. >> those were priceless moments. when somebody cooked me a meal and said have dinner and make me feel at home, you know, it makes me feel complete. >> reporter: she finds inspiration in those moments. after decades of volunteering to help children, the homeless

and the elderly, in 2016 thuy started a nonprofit specifically to help senior citizens. >> it's such a tragedy for me if i see seniors that don't family, don't have someone to help them. >> reporter: her organization is called "metta4life," metaphor kindness. think of "metta4life" as the make-a-wish not elderly who either don't have familiar -- for the elderly who either don't have family or money to fulfill dreams. >> taking seniors to monterey bay or whale watch. >> reporter: family reunions in florida, trips to the symphony. in less than 2 years, 23 wishes having fulfilled. >> a cancer patients wants to stay local in a hoe -- a cancer patient wants to stay local in a hotel for two weeks because he never really had a home. >> reporter: "metta4life" took suu tsingo to vietnam to see her 98-year-old mother. >> big heart like ocean. her heart was like ocean.

big one! >> not yet. still waiting. >> reporter: suu couldn't afford a plane ticket. >> i get old, she has my heart, i never forget her. >> a simple act of kindness can make someone's life a whole lot better even for that moment. it gives a sense of hope. >> reporter: so for shining the light of hope by granting the wishes of seniors, this week's jefferson award in the bay area goes to thuy troung. allen martin, kpix 5. >> to nominate someone who inspires you, you will find an online form for the jefferson award at cbssf.com/hero. we'll be right back.

is next. ken and veronica will see you at five. have a great afternoon. that's it for kpix 5 news at noon. any big plans for the afternoon? crossword puzzle, anything? >> no. >> take a nap. >> i like that idea. >> watch a movie. ♪[ music ]

♪ >> bill: did you smoke something before you came in here? do you fully comprehend what you're asking me to do? >> liam: i'm not asking. >> bill: this is my business. my company. >> liam: and if you're lucky, you'll get to hold onto it. >> bill: have you lost your freakin' mind? >> liam: no. you have. over a stupid building. >> bill: that's the way things work sometimes, liam. it ain't always pretty. >> liam: oh, please. stop, stop, stop, stop. i'm not gonna let you normalize this. you are dangerous. you cannot be trusted. so step down, take a leave of absence, and i'll take it from here. >> ridge: liam shouldn't be afraid of his father.