. complete bay area news coverage starts right now. this is the 10:00 news on ktvu channel 2. a wilmingtony weather weekend, lightning have strikes light up the skies across the bay area as the latest storm delivered more rain, downed trees and more wet weather is on the way as we get ready to officially welcome winter. >> good evening and thanks for joining us. i'm maureen naylor. heather holmes is off tonight. >> i'm ken wayne. mother nature deliver an impressive performance with rain, wind and lightning. here is what it looked like as lightning flashed over the bay bridge. there are no reports of lightning touching any of the bridge towers as was the case

last month. another bolt of lightning in emeryville. the quick moving thunderstorm brought with it strong winds and a heavy downpour. earlier today on the peninsula, almost 1.5" of rain translated into floodwaters at this redwood city mobile-home park. those at the park say the trouble was not only due to the rain, but a pump that failed to work when it was needed most. the storm is causing concern among bay area homeowners who have large trees on or near their properties. from the east bay to the peninsula, trees fell onto homes, jangles nerves and causing damage and power outages. ktvu's debora villalon on what you can do to protect yourself. >> reporter: ken, this home behind me has an unwelcome guest, a tree that crashed through the living room. fortunately knope was injured, but every winter people are hurt or killed by falling frees and it's often avoidable, if

you know what to look for. when a tree falls in our urban forest it usually makes a sound. >> if you hear that big crack in the middle of the night, you know it's a limb or trunk. >> reporter: and it can cause some damage. tonight crews worked to plant a new utility pole on the street in hillsboro. unforeseeable? probably not. it turn out that the tree had ivy growing through it, which play have wackenned it and made it vulnerable. >> a lot of times they will just break off, like here. >> reporter: bill gardner is ann arborist, certified in tree safety and he says often thinning branches will keep the trees standing because a thick tree is like a sail catching the wind. dead branches, a tree that leans or has cracks around the trunk, all susceptible. and people do more harm than

good, adding soil to the base of the tree. >> they think they are shoring it up and the tree will die, because basically the roots can't breathe. >> reporter: the rain-soaked trees that toppled today into an oakland house wasn't a complete surprise. another near it fell six months ago, with no damage. experts warn any sizeable tree sitting near a structure needs checkups to make sure it's healthy. >> now there are somethings that can happen, that you can't see, but most of those, if you look you will find something. >> reporter: something like finding vines, strangling a redwood. neighbors watching the repayers tonight wonder if one of their trees could be next. >> everybody that owns a yard ought to be aware of what their tree situation is. >> there are some big trees around here and if anyone one fell down it could take a house out. >> reporter: pge fights a losing battle this time of years since so much of the bay area is woodsy. even a healthy tree can go over when the conditions are right,

so the best prevention is to be proactive. reporting live in oakland, debora villalon, ktvu channel 2 news. how much rain has fallen here? for that we turn to ktvu meteorologist mark tamayo, who joins us live with the rain totals and more on tonight's thunderstorms. >> that is right, maureen. it has been very productive over the past flee days and in the short-term in the past three to four hours, impressive thunderstorms across the bay area. we took a look at radar, between 6:00 and 8:00 you can see the yellows and reds moving across the bay, producing heavy rain and roadway flooding with that system moving out, actually moving farely rapidly, around 25-35 miles per hour. as far as rainfall totals over the past three days you can see santa rosa, 2" and marin county, nearly 4". san francisco just over 2" and

in the santa cruz mountains, nearly 8" of rain. right now on live stormtracker 2 you can see the activity in north bay towards sonoma county, especially healdsburg and san josi as well. so still rainshowers in the forecast for tonight and the possibility of some thunderstorms once again for tomorrow. i will have more on that coming up in just a little bit. pge says its repair crews are scattered across the bay area at this hour, working to get the electricity back on to hundreds of customers. in all 1600 customers in nine bay area counties are without power. the north bay is about 1 atom and in santa cruz county it's about 420 customers. pge says it hopes to have the power back to most of the customers by midnight. southern california is

getting allot of rain from this wet pre-winter storm. several inches have fallen this weekend and it doesn't appear to be weakening. coming up at 10:30 we'll have a live report from los angeles county, where a series of storms have pummeled the region and prompted concerns about mudslides. and for the very latest on this wet weather here at home, including live radar for your neighborhood, be sure to rift ktvu.com and click on the stormwatch tab. highway patrol officers say it's not clear if the weather played a part in a car crash that claimed the life of one man in the east bay tonight and sent another man to the hospital. the accident happened around 7:40 in oakland op highway 24 near the martin luther king exist. one man died at the scene. another passenger was injured and taken to the hospital. the driver of the van was not injured. the highway patrol says the accident is under investigation and no one has been cited.

a novato woman died when her trailer home caught fire. flames brought out at the los robles mobile-home park. after putting out the fire, firefighters found the victim's body in her bedroom. the marin county coroner identified her as 64-yard kareen prince. vores say the likely cause of death was smoke inhalation. oakland police are investigating three deadly shootings which happened overnight in a span of less than five hours. the latest shooting happened around 3:30 this morning. officers found the victim shot dead in a vehicle. the car was on a saudi arabia with its motor still run just had a minutes earlier a person was shot several times in the 99,000 block of international boulevard. accord can to the chronicle, he later died from his wounds at hospital. a man was arrested. >> three hours before that

incident, around 11:00 last night, two people were shot in the 5900 block east 17th street. one victim was pronounced dead at the scene. there is no word of a motive or suspect in that shooting. some people on the pepsi law trying to sleep in this morning got a jolt instead. a 3.1 earthquake struck before 9:30 in los altos, 15 miles northwest of the san josi. the u.s. geological survey collected hundreds of reports from people in the area who felt the temblor. there were no reports of damages or jers graham johnson b.a.r.t. crews are scrambling to resolve a problem that shut down one line of track that runs to the transbay tube. the trouble started this afternoon when a from and operator spotted smoke inside the tube. service was stopped in both directions for about an hour. b.a.r.t. crews say their preliminary

investigation suggest a mineral buildup. >> they believe that mineral buildup caused aspark that created a fire and caused a lot of smoke. >> around 2:30 this afternoon, b.a.r.t. began single-track service through the tube. some trains were delayed up to 45 minutes. b.a.r.t. is not sure when they will run trains on both track jillion we'll have an update and more on this story on the ktvu morning news. all of this stormy weather caused flight delays at san francisco rarity. as ktvu's john saskji reports the problems could continue for several more days. >> reporter: american airlineins terminal, several long await reunions were brewing. in one, a young wife waitinger for her husband to return from basic train. in the other, brothers, sisters and parents waiting for a young man to return from a three- month leadership journey in

patta goniaia. patagonia. >> we're supposed to take flights and all of those were perfectly fine. it was only the last flight from l.a. to san francisco that was a problem. >> reporter: how big a problem? >> almost three hours. >> reporter: the reunions finally happened for the leader student and hours later for the new soldier arriving from texas. did you have to wait on the tarmac in dallas before you took off? >> yes, for about an hour and a half and we got pushed back another hour and a half in the actual airport and then we left. >> reporter: what was that like? >> the anticipation was killing me. >> reporter: the analystpation seemed to be killing a lot of people at sfo. >> we're getting on a cruise and we're going to miss it and they can't do anything for us

until tomorrow. >> reporter: airport officials say the weather will likely cause some problems here all week. >> if you are traveling and check your flight and plan ahead. >> reporter: with more stormy warmer on the way and this being such a big travel week, airport officials say if you are flying you should bring some paper. at sfo, john sasaki,ktvu, channel 2 news. straight ahead, the town hall meeting in san bruno brings out pg&e and federal investigators and what the utility says was unacceptable on its part. heated competition to secure the america's cup and which city is looking to give san francisco some competition. if you haven't sent out those christmas cards or, packages, time is running out. how many pieces of mail are expected to be sent tomorrow? the 10:00 news continues in 90 seconds.

. pge today set a record keeping error on the pipeline that schroeded in san bruno is unacceptable. that message came during a town hall meeting between the utility and ntsb and homeowners from the blast zone. ktvu's paul chambers reports. >> reporter: it was a packed house at the senior secretary in san bruno, where residents came out to hear and discuss the most recent information about the pipeline explosion. >> it will take a long time. we're all here for the long haul and i want you all to know

that as well as you know your own names. >> reporter: congresswoman jackie speier was joined by representatives from the national transportation safety board, the california public utilities commission and pge, all of the which agreed that the investigation needs to be transparent. >> we continue to patrol line 132, line that ruptured on an ongoing basis and that will continue until the findings from the ntsb are concluded. there is no external corrosion and no prior leak was found. >> reporter: also stated in the recent ntsb report the ruptured line was not seamless as pge reported and instead welded together with many seam. >> we final this completely and totally unacceptable that we would be have a discrepancy. >> reporter: why the discrepancies? >> pge says they do not know, but are doing a thorough

investigation. ntsb issued a directive and when they find the pipes they must reduce pressure by 20% before pge can raise the pressure they must get the cpuc permission. >> we have a jurisdiction over and looking for the problem in the system and taking the appropriate agency. pge plans to return to the area to further their investigation. in san bruno, paul chalmers, ktvu, channel 2 news. san francisco supervisors next month would decide the rate of those iconic rainbow banners in the castro district. flags have been on the post for a decade, but the mission delegeros neighborhood association contends that they would be put up illegal. a city ordinance only allows temporary banners on the posts, which were designated city landmarks. the conservatives and fasteners could rust and damage the ornamental lamp post .

supervisor dusty is calling for legislation that is designed to save the barnes while keeping the posts safe. state officials in rhode island say they are definitely in the running to hold the next america's cup. reports of negotiations with newport, rhode island came to light shortly after san francisco changed its proposal from the saffir-simpson to southern waterfront. the race site is expected to be announced before the end of the month and there is also word that ellison bought a multimillion mansion in newport earlier this year j. san francisco bay's craigslist is pulling prostitution advertisements from its websites in canada. website has opinion under pressure by canadian politicians to remove the ads. leaders say they were especially concerned about child prostitution in several provinces. we just heard about an issue

that potentially putting children in the vulnerable list. craigslist removed the ads which appeared in its erotic services section from its u.s. website last september. yahoo is expected to announce this year how much its planned layoffs will cost the business. the search-engine company announce last tuesday it's issuing pink slips to about 600 employees. yahoo is expected to report layoffs will cost the company up to $38 million in severance packages and other costs. yahoo predicts the charges will be partially offset by a credit of up to $6 million related to the laid-off workers stock option expenses. a tidal wave of last-minute christmas mail is expected to hit the u.s. postal service. monday is the recommended deadline for sending christmas cards and letters by regular mail for delivery by the holiday. they expect 800 million pieces of mail, about 40% more than the average daily voom.

if you miss tomorrow's deadline you can accepted priority mail on tuesday and express mail on wednesday and those packages will still make it in time for christmas. as the last shopping weekend before christmas winds down, demand seems to be up, both at stores and online. the spending pulse company tracks spending and says sales of clothing rose almost 10% compared to last year, while furniture was up almost 3.5% and jewelry up 2.6%. amounts say overall while things appear to be improving spending is well below prerecession level. q. with christmas now less than a week away, this shopping season, some until independently-owned stores are using strategies to lure shoppers away from big retailers. claudia cowan reports on the tactics that they are using. >> reporter: for thisiply owned store in davis, california, competing in the shadow of a major target means standing out

in many ways. >> they can't give the one-on- one personalized service just they are not going to be serving their customers breakfast on friday morning. >> reporter: while many small stores have closed, others are thriving, even when their sight product is sold down the street for less. >> they service customers and provide a quality products. those are the businesses that will survive. >> we could try that. >> reporter: while she can't afford to publish a catalog. >> you always have the cutest dresses. >> thank you. >> reporter: sarah shaw uses fabregas to lure new uks into her cozy boutique in san francisco. >> every time we get new merchandise, we photograph it and put it on facebook. i have a blog that people visit really, so they know what we're getting in. >> reporter: and the personalized attention keeps customers coming back. >> i have full confidence that by spring we're going to be back where we were a few years ago. >> reporter: in fact, many small business owners hope to

not only start hiring again in 2011, but invest in strategies that clearly set them apart from the mega retailers and deliver a clear message, when it comes to getting more bang for your buck, smaller is better, in san francisco, claudia cowan, fox news. a gruesome discovery in israel. at search for an american tourist has come to an end. we'll have the latest on the investigation into her death. new census figures are expected to be released this week and what the numbers indicate and which political party stands to gain ground. we still have showers on live stormtracker 2. coming up the rainfall forecast for tomorrow morning's commute and the timing of the nest significant storm that will make the the bay area forecast.

. israeli police are search for clues in this weekend's stab death of an american tourist. her companion managed to survive and tells of the attack. >> reporter: s with' drive back from the crime scene and went

through the israeli police checkpoints they were searching cars and asking questions to try to find out who these suspects might be, but, but it's very clear that more than 240 hours after the crime, the police still don't know what really happened out in that forest. through the night, search crews scoured the hills looking for christian logan, her fate unknown, police prepared for the worst and with daybreak came the news that searchers found the woman dead, hidden in bushes not far from the trial. israeli border is rough and rugged terrain. the two friends were out for a late saturday afternoon hike in these hills when the survivor arrived here at the trailhead to tell an amazing tale. she said the two arab men attacked emsmell somewhere out here in the hills with a knife. they ran off with the friend, fate unknown. she showed up, cut up, bloodied, hands bound and told the families here that were trying to help her that the only way she could escape was

by playing dead. res than 24 hours the gruesome murder, the lone witness, took to the airwaves tell hurricane unbelievable story. speaking from her hospital bead israeli tv blurred her face because of a court gag order in the case. police say they are looking into a lot of different options for how this crime happened. had he at the end of the one is a nationalistic motive meaning palestinian miltabilitys attacking targets in influence. what is interesting, after checking with our palestinian sorces, the security fors have not been asked if any help for identifying suspect or talking to any witnessed by the israelis. in other news of the world tonight in south korea some residents of yeonpyeong evacuated the island, fearful of a violent response from north korea if schedule military exercises are held tomorrow.

the un reach nod agreementn how to handle the meeting. north korea has warned it will retilliate if south korea goes ahead with the drills. in mexico today an oil pipeline explosion killed at least 27 people. it happened about 55 miles east of the mexico city. survivors said it looks like rivers of fire flowing down streets. the explosion happened as thieves tried to steal oil from the pipeline. the u.s. justice department says u.s. refineries buy millions of dollars of stolen oil smuggled across the border by mexican drug cartels expanding their operation. in the former russian republican of belarus, thousands of demonstrators clashed with police over allegations of voter fraud. one opposition candidate was beaten bad enough to be sent to the hospital. his wife said seven men in civilian clothes kidnapped from the hospital and his

whereabouts are unknown. lukashenko has led belarus often characterized as the last dictatetorship. vice president biden said the compromise with republicans was a tough, but necessary choice. >> there are people out there drowning. there are 2 million people this month that can't afford to get a christmas tree, let alone buy any gift because their unemployment has run out, which means they have been unemploy for well over a year and two years. >> the vice president emphasized that the president wants tach cuts to expire for the wealthy in 2012, a presidential election-year. a tool could be resurrected in the u.s. senate by the end of this week. the measure was blocked a few weeks ago by republicans that said the pill had problems and was too expensive.

democrats hope to produce revised legislation that they say would end up paying for itself ova ten-year period. the house already has passed its own version of the bill. in washington, senate democrats feet an amendment to force a treaty to be reflected. republicans have been resisting approval of the start treaty which. president obama wrote to senate leaderships to assure them that the treaty does not limit u.s. missile defense programs, which is a key g.o.p. concern. texas senator jon kyl downplayed the president's efforts. >> look, tell it to the russians. send a letter to the russians. the problem is that the u.s. in past has kept missile defense off the table talking about strategic wanes. >> democrats say they have enough votes to approve the treaty. ratification requires approval by two thirds of the senate or 67 votes. the 2010 census report to be released this week signals a

shift to the right, showing that republicans will gain house seats in texas, new york and ohio, two important states won by president obama in 2008. each house seat represents electoral votes with six estimated to shift to the g.o.p. mid-term victories by republicans also give that party an edge as states redraw congressional districts. the census report is set to come out on tuesday. coming up we'll have more on the storm that is hitting california right now. next we have a live report from l.a. county, where heavy downpours caused problems all over the region. and the reaction to the repeal of don't ask, don't tell, and what they have to say about this weekend's historic vote.

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. this wet storm hitting the bay area has also pounded

southern california, dumping more than 7" of rain in some parts this weekend. heavy rainfall contributed to scores of accidents, minor mudslides and forecasters say some remains could see up to 20" of rain by midweek. reporter jane yamamoto is live in la crescenta in los angeles county with the latest. >> reporter: maureen, we're experiencing aheavy downpour in the las crescenta area. this section of street was underwater earlier today. the torrential downpour turned this street in a river. knee-deep in water, the water raising fast and wes holme was in the middle of it. >> my wife is really scared, because i'm running around and trying to grab the clothes and thing like that and ready to go. >> reporter: and luckily he didn't have to evacuate. a storm drain clogged with

debris was cleared just in time [ inaudible ] >> but all eyes still on the burn area from the station fire, just loberted east of us. so far the hillside is holding up. >> it's coming in now from the hill and maybe slopes down to my house. >> reporter: so far this is helping tonight, but a flash flood watch is still in establish in the burn area tonight. jane yamamoto live back to you. >> it appears the days that the don't ask, don't tell policy are numbered some gay and lesbians who were discharge ready talking about the possibility of reenlisting. the white house says president obama is expected to sign the

bill into law this week. explosive experts joseph rocca was discharged from the navy after the don't ask, don't tell policy and he says he was often harassed by other service members because of his sexual orientation. >> i'm confident that that won't happen. that this kind of stuff won't be tolerated and our service members will be safe to report any kind of abuse like that. >> defense secretary robert gates says the current policy will stand until new rules are put into place. then pentagon leaders will certify that the military is ready for the change. it will then take at least 60 days for the policy change to be put into effect. gates has said the certification process could take up to a year. san francisco's mauni hopes to relieve long lines by opening a satellite ticket both west of downtown. sf gate.com reports the transit agency plans to put a kiosk at geary and masonic, open seven days a week from 8 omaha a.m.

to 8:00 people. muni >> the bart line will run from pittsburg to antioch. the line broke ground in october and is supposed to be complete in 2015, but council members say the proposed station lacks restroom, escalators and space for a station agent. the b.a.r.t. project manager says the design reflects b.a.r.t.'s finances, but it will look for ways to respond to antioch's concern. >> pilots in marin county say recent rains are helping the coho salmon. after two years of almost no salmon, fish spotters say they have counted 55 fish and that compares to more than 1300 coho

in 2004-250 season with almost 500 nests. members spawn, the salmon protection and watershed network say marin county officials aren't doing enough to protect the endangered fish. straight ahead, heavy rain here meant a very businessy day in the sierra. what type of warning was issued because of a dangerous weather situation. and ktvu meteorologist mark tamayo is up next and why your monday morning commute may be a wet one.

. tonight those make their way through the sierra are finding a blank of snow on many roads the here is a live picture at highway 50 at meyers in el dorado county near south

lake tahoe. chains are required on highway00and auto. despite the gusty weather, high winds did force sure bowl to close down one ski lift on saturday and the sierra avalanche center issued an avalanche warn for the backcountry areas citing the heavy snow, high winds and rain in the area. more snow expected in the sierra over the next few days and more significant rainfall here in the bay area. right now on live stormtracker 2 i can show you the activity and it looks like we have a thunderstorm developing right around bodega bay. we could have lightning in this renal. also tracking some activity in the south bay, especially from san josi, closer to los gatos and morgan hill, light to moderate rainfall, especially with the yellows and reds showing. we could have heavier downpours

in the region. that will continue to be the case overnight tonight into your monday morning. so here is the overall weather story for tonight. more showers expected and then into tuesday, actually for your monday, more showers and possibilities of thunderstorms. the extented forecast we have more storms line up in the pacific. here is that continuous moisture band out here. you will notice this cloud band continuing to push to the south and as a result significant rainfall push down towards southern california. we have the cold air moving in. if you walked outside, you democrat life noticed, you definitely noticed the change. forever tuesday, heavy rain, especially for late in the evening hours and then saturday, heavy rain and some strong winds. >> so once again for christmas day we could be talking about more significant rainfall and this will likely go on beyond saturday as well. here is our forecast model taking you closer to 8:00

tomorrow morning. rainshowers and a fairly good bit of isolated thunderstorms. so we could have heavy downpours for the morning commute by by 1:00, this forecast model showing you significant rainfall for the northern half of renal and even south of this point we could still have activity and for the way home tomorrow afternoon into the evening hours, still a bit unsettled out there. by this time tomorrow night, probably just lingering clouds. once again a winter storm warning for the sierras. snowfall, an additional 10-10". novels down to 5500-feet. 7:00, in the bay area, showers like lyric 43-48 degrees. by 12:00 we're still expecting rainshowers, 49-52 and by 3:00, 50-55 and still a fairly good bet of scattered showers showing up around the bay. temperatures for tomorrow afternoon on the cool side. mainly in the low to mid-50s uncan see san josi around 54,

half moon bay, 52 degrees. the significant rainfall, that will be moving in tuesday evening. some off and on rainshowers into thursday and decreasing in activity. it looks like a break for thursday and friday with a slight chance of light showers and then christmas day another significant storm approaching the bay area. so this is time of year, huskally we have problem around new year's eve, at least with flooding of the course the big concern will be for the rest of the december into early january. >> christmas always seems to be dry. the majority, growing up here, it seems to have a shower at night. >> it will keep come. >> thank you, mark. santa claus and mrs. claus made a very special appearance to bring some shoulder cheer to a family who lost a young fare in a tragic work accident last

month merry christmas. >> there were cheers of joy as santa arrived to bring gifts to the extend family of the antonio barajas. tonight santa claus had more than just gift and he also offered advice to one little girl who was still awake last year when he dropped off presents. >> this year i want you to go to bed nice and early, okay? all right, and make sure you brush your teeth before you go to bed. [ laughter ] >> the barajas family says they are grateful for the special visit that helps them deal with their loss. when he is not handing out gift, this santa claus, otherwise known as ken good

reax. joe fonzi has highlights and postgame interviews next in sports.