this is the late news with sara donchey on cbs news bay area. >> hi. i'm sara donchey. wasn't it nice to see the sun today? with that we got to see our first beautiful clear sunset in what feels like forever, but as has been the case the past few weeks, this break was just that, a break and a short one at that because the rain is coming back again. we still have to deal with the storm damage, some of it that could take months to fix. a few ago the president approved disaster declarations for sacramento, merced and santa cruz counties. we are still in the middle of major storm repairs, fixing sinkholes, clearing rockslides, mudslides and downed trees while it's still dry. there are so many potholes across the bay area workers can barely keep up fixing them. betty yu shows us what people are dealing with

tonight starting in the berkeley hills. >> reporter: alvarado road in berkeley is closed because of a major mudslide, one of several in the east bay. just over the oakland border cars got stuck in a slide on alvarado road. you can see the water actively flowing as the city crew worked to clear the mud, lots of it. we spoke with one man who woke up to his front porch completely covered in mud. >> when you live in the hills and these hills are always subject to slides and we live in earthquake country, fire country, you're always going to be subjected to some activity of some kind and i wish i didn't happen. >> reporter: resident gary blount witnessed similar slides near his home in 2007. a lot of

with mud. this forced some evacuations just outside tilden park. chopper 5 showed mud taking over one berkeley backyard and completely knocking over an outbuilding. this is along wildcat canyon road not far from lake anza. in contra costa county people on harbor street in pittsburg were rescued from their homes on boats over the weekend. >> my house was flooded. so that was bad, but the ride up here was good. >> reporter: on the peninsula a major patch job is still underway on the mother of all potholes, actually a sinkhole. it shut down a stretch of highway 92 since thursday. caltrans is running one-way traffic control on the eastbound side, but you're best off avoiding the area, if you can. over in pacifica a huge boulder in part of a hillside came crashing down near the entrance to the tunnels. cars were rerouted around the mess. crews were able to clear the large debris and have reopened the road but are asking people

to drive with caution. many people can't drive at all. they're stuck dealing with expensive repairs on their cars after hitting massive potholes. >> it was just boom, boom and then we were like okay, we need to get over and we were able safely to get over, safe as possible, and we called aaa. >> reporter: over in los gatos the lexington reservoir is overflowing for the first time many nearly four years. the excess is now rushing down the spillway and drawing a crowd. >> that was betty yu reporting. paul is here now. we've been in this pattern for what feels like weeks where we're talking about rain and then a little break and then more rain again. it sounds like we're still in the thick of that. >> we've got one more rain chance to go in this pattern that has now lasted three weeks. we had the first rain chance a day after christmas. we've been getting inundated since then. one more chance to go. this current one is not quite over just yet. there are still a few sprinkles hitting the ground in the santa cruz

mountains. we've seen a few off and on showers there this evening while the rest of the bay area has seen clearing skies. we see the clearing trend continuing except for a little fog spilling in from the central valley through the delta into the inland valleys of the east bay. that will dissipate and we'll see plenty of sunshine tomorrow. our dry break will continue. we can allow some of the rain that has added up over the past 24 hours to soak in. this latest storm brought us an inch to 2 inches of additional rainfall on top of the already saturated soils across the bay area. this next storm system is not going to be nearly as substantial. it's going to move through quickly and drop about a quarter inch to half inch of additional rainfall on top of what's been an incredible start to the water year running at double what is normal for january 16th so far in san francisco and livermore and running at 150% of normal for san jose and santa rosa, but again this, next system won't add a lot, but we'll be on the lookout for locally heavy downpours. we'll track this hour by hour and

then we get to enjoy a longer break from the rain chances. >> still a break. >> yes. >> thanks, paul. a lot of the sacramento area was flooded today. they got heavy rain this morning once again. their ground just like ours was already soaked and saturated. streams were rushing. roads had to be closed. trees were ripped out of the ground in some places. roads transformed into rivers. park benches were submerged. ducks were swimming where they normally would have to fly. this is some of the strangest storm damage we've seen. part of a concrete structure that stood since world war ii fell 200 feet off a cliff at fort funston. it used to be a battery bunker. thankfully nobody was on the beach below when it came crashing down today. stay up to date with the latest forecast and storm-related damage closures streaming 24/7 on bay area and on kpix.com. this is video from a year

ago when san francisco secured the wildcard round and now the bay area has high hopes for the 9ers sunday after winning 11 games in a row. vern glenn is here with more as they get ready to face off the cowboys in the nfc divisional round. >> playoff rematch, bring it on. the 49ers were already a 3 1/2 point favorite. some of this divisional round pressure might be on them, but let me tell you about the cowboys. they hadn't won a road playoff game since they beat the 9ers in 1993, had never beaten tom brady in seven tries until tonight. brady put it up 66 times and got little for it at home. one of the signs of trouble? this in the second quarter, a rare red zone mistake picked off by jayron kearse. final minute of the half, dak prescott on the other side was magnificent tonight, hit dalton schultz for his second touchdown of the night. it was 18-0. owner jerry jones was really happy, especially in

the fourth quarter now 24-6. prescott on fourth down did this, found a wide open ceedee lamb. prescott as the kids say was in his bag, accounted for five touchdowns and the cowboys rolled 31-14 and it wasn't that close. >> they're on fire, win streak, i guess the longest in the league right now. so just yeah, it would be important for to us start fast, get on top of them. i know the pass rushers they've got. once again, i'm confident in the guys i've got, this group that we have and what we're capable of doing. so it's going to be important for us to have a great week of preparation and get ready. >> we saw the best of the cowboys tonight. that's who they are apparently, well balanced and coming in sunday loose with no pressure at all. >> maybe a little bit? >> well, veteran team. >> all right. we'll see. i think we're excited for the weekend already and it's only monday.

>> i know. >> vern, thank you. san francisco paramedics were just trying to help when someone stole their ambulance, how it ended up with shredded tires covered in mud in the east bay. and the only thing keeping this storm-damaged town connected to the rest of the world is a zip line. we'll tell you about one guy's wild idea that saved the day. hue jackson

tonight an ambulance was stolen in san francisco while it was being used to help in an emergency in the sunset and the driver led police on a chase through the peninsula and into the east bay. the suspect ditched it in oakland. the tires were shredded down to the rims. this is how highway patrol officers fond the ambulance basically stuck in mud. they called off the pursuit for safety reasons. nobody got hurt including the patient the ambulance was sent out to help. deputies haven't identified a suspect so far. close to 1,000 people paid tribute to dr. martin luther king today by riding the caltrans celebration train. >> keeping the legacy alive! >> the train has been running for close to 40 years bringing people from san jose and the peninsula to the start of the dr. martin luther king jr. march in san francisco. a group from the redwood city boys & girls club got on the train in san mateo for a history lesson

on the go. >> this is not a day off. this is a day on to honor the legacy of dr. king and coretta scott king and malcolm x and all the other honorable leaders. >> the train arrived in san francisco ahead of the annual march. robert mitchell from palo alto said he heard dr. king speak while growing up in mississippi. today was his tenth time riding the train and taking part in the march. >> during that time we recognize someone who stepped out on faith and made a difference and i stand on his shoulders. i want to keep the dream alive. it finally stopped snowing in the sierra tonight. they need a chance to dig out. chain controls are still in effect along i-80 and it's been a rough ride on the slippery roads. steve large is in gold

run tonight. >> reporter: snowstorm excitement, many skiers and snowboarders only driving home at the last possible hour after a three-day weekend of action. caltrans working nonstop to clear interstate 80 for the holiday travel, the result, a smooth nighttime ride all the way back to sac. >> we're seeing a lot of powder right now. >> reporter: this resort gave travelers what they were looking for, lots of fresh snow, nearly a foot of it monday alone. >> i've been out here since noon, long day. >> reporter: jacob grubb lives in sacramento and came up for the day. >> yeah. had monday off. i went up here, rode the mountain, nice and stormy, but it was a safe drive. it was fine. >> reporter: caltrans had urged drivers to avoid travel this holiday weekend, particularly in the sierra. a

winter storm warning that some dismissed in favor of fun. >> it's too good. the weather window is perfect. >> reporter: snow in the sierra and a three-day weekend, an enticing combination and caltrans able to keep interstate 80 open through it all. mount diablo and mount hamilton also got some snow, not as much. that's to be expected. the lick observatory at mount hamilton had to close down because the roads were icy there. the video of the snow up in the mountains, though. >> just a tunnel of snow. >> of people walking out their front door and kind of like swimming through. it it's swimming through. it it's crazy. >> they have had the equivalent of snow. one inch of water is about ten inches of snow. great news for the skiers and better news for the travelers. this upcoming weekend you can get up there more safely to take advantage of all the fresh

powder. look at some of the latest snowfall reports in the sierra, 2 1/2 to almost 5 feet of snow since friday evening. you can bet i-80 and u.s. 50 will be busy the end of this week into the upcoming weekend with better travel weather in store. all that rain over the past few weeks added up around the bay area. this is the 22nd day in this wet weather pattern, the initial rain chance moving in the day after christmas. we've added up almost a foot and a half of rain downtown san francisco where the record keeping goes back to 1850. this is the wettest 22-day stretch on record in san francisco since 1862. a lot of the rainfall records around the bay area come from 1862, which was an exceptional january, 2 feet of rain just during that month. the fact we're even in the same conversation with that year tells you how unusual this weather pattern has been. let's look at what's in store tomorrow. we'll get a little break, a cool dry day tuesday before one more storm system is going to drop in, one more

chance of rain. this is not associated with an atmospheric river. it's going to be pretty quick moving. so it won't drop the same amount of rain, still one more rain chance, a couple sprinkles this evening at the santa cruz mountains. those should fall apart the next couple hours. they've been rather persistent so far. we are going to see a little fog to start the day spilling in from the central valley into the inland valleys of the east bay. we'll see plenty of sunshine the rest of the day once that early morning fog dissipates. a gradual increase in cloud cover late tomorrow night and to start the day on wednesday, but the rain hanging out way to our north, starting to make a run towards the north bay with a few sprinkles by early afternoon wednesday, but the better chance of rain rolls into the north bay mid- to late afternoon accompanied by locally heavy downpours, but they'll be brief. we'll have to watch for any localized flooding, ponding on some of the roads, but this is going to be one that moves through very quickly, heaviest rain falling for most of the bay area between 6:00 and 9:00 and

diving farther and farther down to the south and out of the bay area entirely before we get to midnight and dry weather back in the forecast thursday and that is going to stick around a while. total rainfall for this system, again a quarter inch to a half inch. if it falls in a short enough amount of time there, could be some localized flooding concerns, but i don't think we'll see significant widespread flooding threat with this short-lived event. a six to ten-day outlook shows a significant chance of drier than normal conditions. so does the eight to 14 day outlook that takes us almost to the end of january. we would like to get back into a pattern with more rain chances eventually to chip away at the drought conditions, but we need a nice stretch to do some cleanup and let the rain soak in that's fallen. everybody now in the 40s, 42 santa rosa, 49 degrees in oakland. temperatures drop to the low 40s by the water early tomorrow morning, but mid- to upper 30s farther

inland and we warm up to within a couple degrees of what's normal for this time of year, just slightly below average, most of us in the mid-50s by tuesday afternoon. some of the warmest spots are in the upper 50s. temperatures don't change much over the next seven days and we just have that one rain chance. for the first time in a while we don't have any alert days in the entire seven-day forecast. that dry stretch of weather that starts thursday will carry us through the end of the workweek through the weekend and at least into the beginning of next week likely to last at least through the middle of next week. hey, straight ahead in sports, you know who else worked on mlk day? the other bay professional sports teams including the warriors who put on a nice show in the nation's capital on the eve of their visit to the white house. and still to come, the story of a clouded leopard that went missing at a zoo gets even stranger, what workers there found that's leading to a criminal investigation.

sounds like the warriors are having a good little field

trip. >> sure, yeah. they get to visit the white house tomorrow. you ever been to the white house? >> i've never been. >> it is awesome. >> everybody says it's smaller than it seems really from the outside. >> it is. it's cool once you get through the security. >> i was not allowed through security. vern was. that's another story. i should leave anyway. take it away. the warriors' ball bounces in the nation's capital ten minutes from dr. king's memorial. golden state visited the washington wizards and the wizards, boy, they were up until steph curry said hey, look at this, balance three. gave the dubs a two-point lead. curry scored 41, wow. draymond green, he was the boss today, scored 17, added ten assists to keep a lead. look at this hustle from green at the end of this play, off the curry miss,

tapped it to jordan poole from deep and we're done here. warriors close the game on a big run, won the game 127-118. after a white house visit they are at the boston celtics on thursday. giants legend will clark checked out the sharks who hosted new jersey in white, final seconds from the left side of the goal, jack hughes getting it by to send it to overtime, tied 3-3. in a shootout sharks fell on the wrong side. denied a chance to extend the game, new jersey devils won it 4-3. that's san jose's fifth shootout loss, most in the league if you're scoring that at home, but the top story today, we addressed it in the a block of the newscast. 49ers and the cowboys, let's get the chatter started. >> oh there, will be plenty, vern. thank you so much. up next, when his neighborhood got cut off in the storms, one man's really off

the wall idea ended up becoming a lifeline for his community.

an entire town in ventura county is being rescued via helicopter tonight after mudslides cut off their only road in and out. about 70 people who live in the canyon were forced to leave and it could take weeks to fix that there. closer to home one town at the base of the santa cruz mountains is dealing with this very same problem. coraledos has been completely cut off, but residents are using a zip line to get around. >> reporter: a zip line has

become a lifeline for this community. darrell hardy set up the line new year's weekend when he thought the bridge connecting his community to the main road might go out. >> i said oh, yeah, that bridge is not looking good. i went ahead and set that zip line. >> reporter: he's happy he did. by last weekend the bridge crossing the creek had washed away cutting off grizzly flat road from eureka canyon road leaving seven households stranded were it not for the zip line. >> you live in the woods, you got to be prepared. we have seven households up here. some are in their 80s, 70s, 60s as we are and as young as 3 years old. >> reporter: while the grizzly flat community is in unincorporated santa cruz county, the bridge was owned by the city of watsonville. engineers were out to look at the bridge earlier this week. they say they can't do anything in terms of repairing it until water levels go down. at best, that will happen later this week when the storms clear out.

leaving hardy and his neighbors unsure how long they'll need to use a zip line equipped with a basket to ferry across supplies. >> it's kind of scary because people live on propane and need gas for generators. >> reporter: the whole area of eureka canyon has been without power for most of 2023 and even once the residents get to the main road, it's no easy drive out with downed trees and power lines. >> we're lucky because we have gravity flow water, but when people need the electricity to even get water to their house, you know, starts getting kind of ugly. >> reporter: but for now hardy and his wife stacy cooper say they're grateful for the zip line. they can still get to work and they use the line to bring in medicine, food and fuel to their neighbors. >> fortunately the propane companies came up and topped them off before all this happened, so just hoping we can get a bridge before everybody runs out of that. we'll be using a lot of small tanks, which means a lot of work.

to be clear, i'm a dog person, but i'm told it can be hard to find a cat hiding inside your house, but what about one hiding in a zoo? this is a big cat, but the suggestions that people had for finding him are pretty interesting.

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we all lose things every now and then, right? >> every now and then? >> occasionally, my mind, my sanity. >> that for sure the last couple days. recently the dallas zoo lost something kind of important to them, so important, in fact, that it had to call for a code blue. >> oh. >> that doesn't sound good. >> code blue in a zoo is not good. they had to shut down. a clouded leopard escaped out of its enclosure friday. the workers had to shut the zoo down and look for her everywhere. it's 100 acres. so even though you might think a leopard is easy to spot -- >> spot. >> -- there's a lot of ground to cover. some people had some suggestions how to find it, though. robert tweeted, "jiggle the can opener." >> okay. >> it works for cats, right? >> how about here, kitty, kitty? >> look. that's coming. this one's my favorite. michael

wrote, "okay, but why are all the authorities wandering the crowds going shhh. >> cat nip. rattler? >> yeah. >> the leopard was found safe and sound. police say a cutting tool was used to make an opening in the enclosure and there was another one in the monkey habitat, but all the animals were there. there is a criminal investigation. >> treats wo ♪♪ >> we understand. >> we understand the feelings of embarrassment of failing teeth and tooth loss. >> we understand the pain of not being able to chew or feeling confident smiling.