of you and other h word, hero. that's it for us at 5:00. cbs news bay area with juliette goodrich starts right now. >> ryan, thank you. so at 6:00, we are watching the winds, the return of extreme conditions tonight, fears of new fires, one week into the deadly southern california fire storm. >> and there is nothing natural about any of this. >> reporter: tens of thousands of people in limbo. how fire crews and neighbors are bracing for more potential flare-ups. and plus the buyers are adding fuel to a long running debate. >> you're either at the table or on the menu. >> reporter: over diverting the water down south. >> you cannot continue to drive them from the water. >> reporter: the multi-billion dollar project that would get a boost from south bay water officials. and why some locals say it is a big mistake. >> and we're talking about the gamble, 37-foot wide tunnel

underneath unstable land. >> reporter: and later. >> we will have to look our best and be our best. >> reporter: why tourism officials think 2025 could help san francisco finally shed the doom loop narrative. good evening, hard to believe, but it has been a full week since multiple deadly wildfires broke out in l.a. county. tonight, exhausted fire crews and millions of people are hoping dangerous winds don't stir up the fires or ignite any new ones. and so thousands of firefighters have focused their efforts on three fires that broke out tuesday. the otto fire ignited in ventura county overnight. and this evening, authorities confirmed another person has died in the fires. that will bring the death toll to 25 with

dozens more missing still. and today, fema opened up two evacuation centers. and with the wind danger extremely high, southern california edison will shut off power to tens of thousands of customers to try and prevent any new fires. officials are warning people to be ready to leave at a moment's notice. >> i don't want people to start thinking that everything is okay now when it is not okay yet. winds are blowing and they will continue to blow. in the meantime fire investigators are looking into the cause of the palisades fire. they were seen on top of this ridge, and they were looking for any evidence. officials are trying to determine if embers from the pre-dawn fire may have

reignited. and the fire broke out a week ago where thousands of evacuees are still unable to return to their neighborhoods to see if their homes are still standing. our kelsi thorud is live for us in brentwood in los angeles, where people have been trying to get back into the evacuation zones, just for some information. hi, kelsi. >> reporter: hi, juliette. yeah, we are actually right on the edge of the evacuation zones, so you can see this check point here behind me. they have these all across brentwood here tonight. and so it is police and national guard, who are staged out here, and they are only letting in first responders and residents who actually have a permit from the city. and now this entire area like you were just saying, they do not have power right now. and so many people who live in this neighborhood have not been able to stay in their homes, so many people have been trying to come in here as we have seen people trying to come

through to get to their homes, to get important documents, or to really check on their homes. and officials are not letting them through, which has caused a lot of frustrations. >> i want to go home to get some medicine for my wife. and they won't let me go one block out. >> reporter: emotions are running high where evacuation orders remain in place as they brace for another round of high winds. >> will and they are telling me to go to the beach and get a pass from them. i don't know where that is. i don't know what to do. >> reporter: the national guard and police have been deployed to keep the neighborhoods safe, but residents say they are being turned away. not allowed to even run into their own homes to grab medications or important documents. >> and two days ago, i was able

to get through without any documents. this time, we have to go all the way to zuma beach to get a permit, which makes things a lot harder for us. >> reporter: dan and fannie say they are staying at a hotel in another part of town. ment they understand the fire risk is high for their neighborhood, but they wish they could get back into their home more easily. >> had and i have medicine for another two days. so hopefully by thursday that it will open. hopefully they could get to the garage and go to the house. >> reporter: sandy wishes the city could make it easier for them to get back into their homes. she just wants to make sure everything there is safe and secure. she knows the winds are expected to get worse. >> and the fire right now,

it's controlled more or less. but if anything goes past that, then brentwood is next. >> reporter: the area still remains without power. police and national guard troops are expected to stay as long as the area is evacuated. another frustrating thing for residents here, juliette, they say the mail carriers and ups and amazon drivers have been able to go into these neighborhoods and drop off packages and mail, but the residents themselves, they have not been able to go in and pick up those packages. the other big concern is looting. we have heard a lot about people breaking in to homes throughout this entire disaster. a lot of people here are very worried about that because this entire area does not have power. they don't have access to security cameras, and a lot of their alarms are not even working. but the reason that, of course, they are evacuated is for

safety. these officials are doing all they can to make sure everyone stays safe, and that is why they are keeping this area under a mandatory evacuation, at least for the next day or so. >> yeah, no doubt. the frustrations, sure, but the reasons for why they're doing it make a lot of sense. thank you so much for your live reports this evening. we mentioned the power shutoffs. and here is a live look at southern california's current outage map. and each one will represent a safety shutoff. currently they cut the power to more than 60,000 customers with nearly half a million urn consideration. so let's check in with paul heggen to talk more about this. we know about power shutoffs or why it is done. >> and it has been happening over and over ago to worry about before things shift later this week. and the fire risk as

evaluated was at the top of the scale as you can see the orange, yellow, red, which means extremely critical. the worst category. some good news, while the warnings continue, we will remove that. and we will take whatever we can get. take a look at the winds and track why we're going to be seeing a slight improvement. and so watch the purple here tomorrow morning for some 50 plus miles an hour gust, where it is not as strong, but strong enough to be problematic. it will be a breezy day tomorrow. not as blustery or flat out damaging as the winds that were hitting southern california last week. winds will die down on a more consistent basis. and what they need is some moisture and in and around los angeles over the

next several days. we will talk about our forecast in a few minutes. >> thank you. an aircraft on loan should be back up and flying to help fight the palisades fire, damaged on thursday when an illegal civilian drone hit it. they were set to fly today. and tonight's evening news, we'll look at the insurance challenges that victims are facing. norah o'donnell has a preview. we meet a family that was dropped from their insurance plan before the california wildfires destroyed their home. they are not alone. we look at the insurance crisis. that and more headlines tonight right here on the cbs evening news. if you want to help, cbs is partnering with red cross. go

to redcross.org/cbs to donate. or call 1-800-redcross to donate, or make a $10 donation. well, fires may be dominating the news cycle, clearly. today's topic was water. the santa clara water district met to consider whether to continue supporting governor newsom's delta water tunnel project. john ramos has the story. >> reporter: san jose is a long way from the delta, but then so are most of the people that would benefit from the project. they met to decide whether to continue its involvement with the controversial project. the plan is to take water from the sacramento river before it will get to the delta and pipe it to pumps near tracy, bound eventually for central valley farms in southern california wildfire consumers. they had

their starts and stops, moving ahead again. >> and valley water is the ones to consider it. >> reporter: they would be one of the recipients, which would be stored in the reservoir. they were considering whether to pay $9.6 million to continue the planning and permitting process. the agency is estimating their portion of the construction cost would be at least $650 million, but the overall price of the project is continuing to climb, growing from $15 billion to $20 billion in the last four years. and the state is admitting they will only get more expensive. >> the costs are going to continue to escalate. no doubt about that. this won't be the last estimate that we'll prepare. it's intended to support the cost analysis. >> if they think it will only be $20 billion, i bet you it

will be closer to $40 billion. >> reporter: they won't be sharing in the cost. she and her neighbors are concerned about what will happen if they try to sink a tunnel under the delta 45 miles. >> we are talking about the gamble of 37-foot wide circle l tunnels underneath unstable land. and i don't see any problems with that, do you? >> and to supply farmers and people in los angeles. >> and the lack of reservoirs do not give them much encourage want. they need to be helping us out. they are not conserving water nearly as much as we have over the last 15, 20 years. we would like to see some buy in on this. not just give them their water. >> reporter: and valley water

is getting water from the delta. this plan would make it more secure. and they would allow for more water to be captured and flowed as they were during the heavy rainfall. >> and we expect to see more. we expect to see more severe drought cycles. >> reporter: they will see it as an insurance policy. albeit, an expensive one. by a vote of 6-1, they approved the bill. and there are no guarantees. the project has been stalled before when the winds shifted. >> the original project was proposed by governor jerry brown in 1982 as a peripheral canal. he brought it back decades later as a twin tunnel project. now since then, the project has changed to a single tunnel. that'll take a different route, traveling

south alongside the i-5 freeway. all right, still ahead here at 6:00, as san francisco welcomes their first major conference of the new year, officials are optimistic about the outlook for tourism. the hope the city could finally ditch the doom

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conference in the st. francis hotel near union square. with them in town, the conference added extra security. that in the wake of the deadly shooting of united health care, ceo, brian thompson last month. dr. jill biden touted the biden administration's funding to help women. >> and so this conference is just one of dozen major events this year that will have them feeling optimistic for the first time in a long time as they dive into the projects. >> reporter: this is a uniquely san francisco experience. people from all over the bay area, the country, and the world come to see. that's john jetty behind the bar at the buena vista cafe, making a round of their world famous irish coffee. add ten more to the roughly three million he's made over the past 16 years.

>> a rough estimate. >> reporter: he thinks he will add many more to his total in 2025. >> and the last few weeks, we've been crazy busy. >> reporter: they think 2025 will be a big one for san francisco's tourism rebound. >> 1952 is when we started the irish coffee. >> reporter: he's the general manager of the business that has stood strong on the corner of hyde and beach for 110 years. >> and i know we'll do great. i'm hopeful that the neighbor wills do better. >> reporter: and san francisco's tourism sector has been slow to recover since the pandemic. the past few years haven't been easy for any business to navigate, especially those in areas that will cater to tourists. >> and the area is struggling. cable cars are doing good. jefferson street, they need a turn around. >> reporter: if you ask sf travel, there are reasons to be confident that 2025 will be a good year.

>> we have a very robust convention calendar with over 35 this year, so it will be a much better year. >> reporter: that means a higher hotel occupancy rate. there are over 200,000 more hotel rooms on the books this year than there were in 2024. >> the biggest contributor to the general fund is the hotel. taxes, right? when those hotels are full and occupancies are high, the city does better. >> reporter: sf travel estimates around 23 million visitors in 2025 with spending reaching around $10 million. the job is effectively to sell san francisco to visitors and those who will bring them out for the city. a big part of the equation. once they got here. >> what we kept hearing time and time again, this is nothing

like what people were talking about. >> and hosting mar key vents in 2025, we have to show up and look and be our best. >> reporter: they are proof that the outside perception of san francisco is changing. >> i mean, i would have a guy from iowa the other day who said i have been here for four days, and i'm really impressed. >> reporter: and that makes him feel better about the city's future. >> and that is good to hear that. >> the beginning of a new chapter for san francisco. time will tell. when we come back, no winds like what we are seeing down south. paul will be back

i'm inspired, but let's power up the rain. >> wouldn't that be nice? just plug in the rain machine. at this point, we would send it to southern california to help those folks out. >> true. >> the longer stretch of dry weather will continue. and hopefully maybe farther down the line we could get some rain to pay us a visit. this is the current satellite perspective. it's in nighttime mode after

sunset. but the cloud-free conditions across california and most of the western u.s. big area of high pressure in control over weather, which means there is more atmosphere camped out and the flow of weather around that has been producing the offshore winds. especially gusty, but they have been in the offshore winds as well. and enough to keep the skies clear as we would look at downtown treasure island. and still holding on to 60 degrees. already down to 50 degrees. with mostly clear skies and light winds, not stirring them to any great extense, where they will be chilly out there and a lot of 30s on the map, but anywhere you go, temperatures will drop down in the mid to upper 30s, and it is not that far out for this time

of the year. mostly low 40s around the bay and the coast. even a few spots dipping down in the santa clara valley. after that chilly start, we'll warm up. san jose and morgan hill getting up to 68 degrees tomorrow afternoon. most of our temperatures are topping out in the low to mid-60s, which will be an offshore breeze developing once again. so the fire threat is going to remain limited, but enough to stir the atmosphere around in just a bit and result in very similar temperatures across the entire bay area. one of the cool spots in san rafael. and only a 7-degree difference between the cool west and warmest locations on the map by tomorrow afternoon. a look at the dog walking forecast for tomorrow as we do on tuesday, and as we would have an adoptable pup in the dog walking forecast. amber, available from lily's legacy in petaluma. i'll put up a link to her info if you're in the market. and that will be up on social media as soon as they end. they have a worried face, but nothing to worry about weather wise and plenty of sunshine tomorrow with the temperatures reaching up into the low to mid-60s by tomorrow

afternoon. air quality, something that we'll need to continue to monitor the longer dry stretch of warm weather will continue. tomorrow, it looks like they will be back for the moderate category across the entire bay area. and to mix around the lowest levels of the atmosphere. no rain to erase. as we would head through the next seven days, a rain-free seven-day forecast once again, and keeping us dry all the way into early february, which will be a very long stretch of dry weather. it's a little bit speculative at this day. and meets back into the upper 50s, and the winds will start to kick back in. and just a bit on that breezy side on monday. when we come back, how some

students from arizona are stepping up to support kids who

i'm not happy with the way that pg&e handled the wildfires. yeah. yeah. i totally, totally understand. we're adding a ton of sensors. as soon as something comes in contact with the power line, it'll turn off so that there's not a risk that it's gonna fall to the ground and start a fire. okay. and i want you to be able to feel the improvements. we've been able to reduce wildfire risk from our equipment by over 90%. that's something i want to believe. [skateboard sounds]

so among the thousands of buildings destroyed by the southern california fires, are many elementary, middle, and high schools. that includes a campus wiped out by flames. one

teacher found his laptop that still worked, containing a message from students in phoenix that moved him to tears. >> and their school wanted to adopt our school. for the students, they said, you know, clothing, blankets, letters of support, and that's all wonderful. you know, that's where you find moments of life. >> absolutely. aivson will start classes in a temporary site. not clear when that will start, but governor newsom allowed displaced students to attend class in other districts or t porary t >> will you resign as secretary of defense if you drink on the job? >> once you have babies, you therefore are no longer able to be lethal? >> i am shocked that you would stand here and say you are completely cleared. >> norah: president-elect donald trump's pick to lead the defense department faces tough questions from democrati