warning. but we begin with -- we begin with claudine wong. >> reporter: this is a cold, wet rain. i want you to take a look at all of the standing water as the people are coming through. this is kind of what it looks like on bay area area. it's back up here at the toll plaza. it will take you a while to get through -- it will take you a while to get here. we just talked to the chp about how busy they've been. they have gotten 937 service calls in the bay area since 9:00 this morning. that is two, three times the normal amount. if you think it's cold where you are, check out the scene off st. helena. highway 175 at highway 29 is closed between neap and lake

counties -- between napa and lake counties. people we talked to say it's hart not to foe kniss --is hard not to notice how cold it is. >> i can feel in -- feel it in my bones. >> reporter: just after 5:00 a.m., just after the highway highway ramp. it took drivers longer to get through. this driver told me he got cut off and swerved. before he knew it, he hit the sign and ended up with a damaged truck and a flat tire. he didn't want to talk but we talked to the chp officers on scene. he said he was just the latest of a series of morning spinouts. still, on this cold wet day, people we talk to say they are tabling it in stride. >> appreciate all of the rain

we can get. >> reporter: well, we may need the rain, we're definitely getting it. you are taking a live look at the sign that greets you as you cross into the city on the bay bridge. this -- this has been a situation that drivers have been on all bay area bridges. be careful. when we are on our way out here, we saw cars spinout. the chp can attest that it's been a busy morning. take your time out here. the roads are wet and slick and this cold wet rain just keeps coming. claudine wong, ktvu channel 2 news. >> thank you. pg&e crews are busy restoring power to thousands in the bay area. at last check, outages were affecting 5600 customers. the largest outage is in the north bay where 2800 customers lost power. 1800 are without power in the east bay and another 1,000 in the san jose area.

early this morning, 0 power outage hit 1700 customers -- a power outage hit 1700 customers in vallejo. the weather is not preventing surfers from taking add advantage -- from taking advantage of huge waves. this occurs twice a year when the moon is closest to the earth. forecasters are calling for swells 20 feet at some beaches. one tourist at linda mar beach was very impressed. >> it's pretty awesome. it's really beautiful. of course, being from wisconsin, i don't get to see this and it's really wonderful but i'm thinking they are crazy because the waves are pretty strong out there. >> elsewhere in pacifica, geologists are keeping an eye on a crumb billing cliff to check for storm damage. two apartments at the top of the cliff have been red tagged

for over a year. >> how much more rain will we get? mark has more. hi, tori. the heaviest downpours are involve -- have moved to the southern part of the region. you can see up in the north bay, up in sonoma county, we have that blinking cell. that's to reflect a flood warning in place. this is for a very small area. in fact, i'm clearing out the maps to give you a better perspective. this is just so the together of pen grove, right around petaluma, closer to stony point road. the flooding warning in place is about to expire until 12:15. this-- is this in -- this is in place for willow brook creek. the heavy rain is heading way to the south. here is a look at the heaviest downpours. we'll come 34 tighter closer to -- we will come in tighter

closer and you can see the extreme downpours, they are focused on the south bay. we could have somans han -- enhancement here but still some heavier rain closest to mountain view and right around san jose. the yellows and reds correspond. and also right around willow glen. this is a wider perspective of the radar. you will notice the coverage here. i want to touch on this, we have a flood advisory in place for areas of the central portion and that's in place until 3:00 to reflect the moderate to heavy rainfall. as far as the rain, we'll have more on the forecast as we head to the weekend. thank you, mark. san francisco international airport is seeing as -- as long as two hour delays. and-- two-hour delays. in good weather, they line up

planes side by side. to land -- to land. and this -- in this weather, evenly one plane at a time is allowed to land. this is what it looked like outside of placerville. elevation is 2400 and the forecast is calling for 18 inches of new snow of higher elevations by tomorrow night. there is a winter storm warning through tomorrow. caltrans is requiring chains on all vehicles except four-wheel drives for snow tires and that's for interstate 80 and highway 50. you can get the latest ski conditions and can check stormtracker2 by heading to ktvu.com. click on the storm watch tab. one of the bay area's top narcotics officers is in jail right now, facing felony drug charges. kraig debro joins us live to explain how the shocking arrest could affect many other criminal cases and late word on

why prosecutors are not yet seeking a court date. kraig? >> reporter: good afternoon, tori. i talked to the county d.a.'s office about an hour ago. they told me they have not received any of the paperwork yet, so they cannot schedule an arraignment, although legally they are supposed to do that within the first three days. we're at the contra costa county jail this afternoon where a department of justice investigator and an officer in law enforcement are both behind bars. this morning at home of norman welch, family members left the home without familying. police came on the scene following our request for interviews. both worked in anti took for years. one-- antioch for years. one neighbor who didn't want to be identified said -- >> he's a nice person. >> reporter: welch and chris

butter -- chris butler, both 49, were arrested yesterday morning in benicia. both are convict of possessing, selling and trant porting -- transporting drunks. wellsh works for the department of justice on drug cased an butler is a former police officer. welch was with with the department for 12 years -- was with the department for only 12 years. so far these are only allegations. his lawyer says he will try to lower or do agay with his bail require minute. >> we'll deal with bail. we will wait until we get to talk to a judge about releasing him to his own recognizance or reducing the amount of bail money. >> reporter: now, this case has

the potential to take any number of drug cases welch worked on. right now it might be a little premature to speculate on that. at least one of the attorneys is working on bail. butler has an $840,000 bond. reporting live from martinez, kraig debro. >> there's word today that the lawrence livermore lab is having trouble keeping track of drugs like co dane -- cocaine, opium and heroin. the drugs are used for biological research and science. one individual says some drugs are missing while other records show a discrepancy of the amount of drugs a the lab and what was legally purchased. the inspector general says the lapse in account something under investigation. at this hour, s an francisco's city attorney will announce a crackdown on crack pipes. dennis herrera will unveil a

lawsuit against several excelsior district tobacco shops accused of selling pipes to smoke crack cocaine. this is the latest effort to target neighborhood smoke shops suspected of pro meeting illegal drug use -- promoting illegal drug use. more on this on the news at 6 :00. ahead -- it's being called a war. outraged workers are powering into the streets to -- are pouring into the streets to protest a legislature. and a preview of president obama's bay area trip. we'll tell you who he will be having dinner with tonight -- tonight. mark tamayo is back with updated information about how much rain you can expect. also, the new bay bridge project continues to be ahead of schedule. we'll tell you what caltrans told us late this morning.

bahrain's top diplomat is defending a violent predawn crackdown on protesters. riot police fired tear gas and rubber bullets into the crowd. many had been camped out for days and were sleeping. the confrontation left some dead, some critically injured. the foreign minister of bahrain

says the violence was justified because the protesters were pushing this protest to the brink of abyss. the state senate prepared to vote on a measure that would strip most public employees of their bargaining rights in wisconsin. the proposal has stirred massive protests for three date day -- for three straight days. the republicans hold a 19-14 majority but need at least one democrat present to have a quorum. police officers were sent to relieve the -- retrieve the democrats and bring them to the capitol building. no word on whether any were found. vale police identified a body found yesterday as that of a man missing since february 5th. the coast guard pulled the body the carquinez strait near the

marina about 2:30 yesterday. they say it's robert mats -- robert mast. who tis i appeared -- disappeared 12 days ago when he went out to walk the dog. ap autopsy scheduled for today. at the time of his disappearance, police called his disappearance suspicious. jobless claim benefits are up 25,000 the week before and 10,000 more than economists had past -- forecast. continuing claims were also up. there are now 3.91 million people receiving unemployment again says around the country. president obama will visit the bay area this evening. air force one is scheduled to touch down at sfo. and then he will meet with business leaders in technology and innovation, including

facebook's scone ceo, mark zuker berg -- ceo, mark zuker berg -- mark zuker berg. >> this week president obama released his 3.7 3 trillion- dollar budget proposal and technology leaders are said to be critical. san francisco's central subway project is getting high marks from federal transportation officials. that's the word from mayor ed lee as crews have begun digging up the streets. in a press release, he said the federal transit authority listed it in among the highest rated. and he pointed to an allocation of $200 million in president obama's budget proposal. the central subway will run

from moscone central through union square and chinatown. in the past two hours, caltrans pave a -- gave a media tour of the area of the eastern span of the bay bridge that will connect to oakland two world series ago. they outlined the goal to get people know about to let people know about this. this will allow people to get to work. caltrans says the work is ahead of schedule. coming up on the meuse at -- coming up on the news at 5:00, tom vacar will have a full report of the lane changes coming to the bay bridge. we are still on storm watch with moderate to heavy rain pushing into the bay area. the one development, the national weather pulling back, scaling back on the flood warning. nowhere in place up in

petaluma. that expired a few minutes ago. we still have significant rainfall. right now on the maps, we can show you the coverage an we -- and we do have flood advisories for the central half of the bay area until 3:00 this afternoon. the bulk of the action is heading closer to san francisco and oakland, the yellows and reds do correspond to heavier downpours. may reporting straight out rain probably on the bodder of heavy rain -- probably on the border of heavy rainfall. we'll come in tighter closer to the red and yellow cell here. the most recent observation as we move up north, you can see the coverage for san francisco. and there's the one cell around oakland and emeryville and santa rosa at last checking just reporting cloudy skies for the bulk of the main -- the heavy downpours heading to the south. right know focused in the southern half of the region.

as far as the flood advisory that's in place until 3:00 this afternoon for san francisco, down towards alameda and santa clara counties. still some moderate to heavy rainfall and you can count on ponding. for today, we have this, the rain and the possibilities of some thunderstorms. tomorrow cold showers. and then the weekend, sun/cloud mix. but it be dry. gusty winds out there. you can see this rainband really approaching. right now this is beginning to the -- beginning to shift to the south and east. here we go, rainfall forecast model at 3:00 in the afternoon. the heaviest rainfall focused in the southern half of the region and that trend will continue to push out to the east by 6:00. still some scattered showers. even at 10:00, we could have a few lingering rain showers. we still have to hold on to the

possibility of rain showers. temperatures this afternoon on the cool side, we all know that with the low snow levels in place down to about 1,000, 1500 feet. sanjose, a forecast high of 53 degrees. here is a look ahead. some off-and-on showers for your friday but plenty of breaks in the activity. but tori, look at that. the weather perfect for the chinese new year parade with just a. clouds and a breeze. the heaviest -- heaviest rain is moving through the bay area. starting now, the san jose costco will be he engaged in the wedding industry. for the next. days, kirstie telly will sell her gowns exclusively at the costco on the almaden expressway. customers can expect the same treatment that they would receive at any bridal shop. >> they will visit our jewel box within costco, complete were a -- complete with a

fitting room and also an expert bridal consultant. >> interested brides are encouraged to make an appointment you can find more information on this event at ktvu.com under web links. still ahead -- a dramatic site off the coast of florida. but consumers say there's -- but experts say there's no reason to be alarmed.

on wall street, stocks have turned around right now and are continuing to add on to their gains as investors dismiss a rise in jobless claims and consume irprices to focus on positive -- consumer prices to focus on the positive. the dow is up 41. the s&p, by the way, has hit a 32-month high, the day after doubling. today, the national average for a gallon of gas is $3.15 which is the highest level in 28 months. the auto club reports the increase in price comes at a time when demand for gasoline is weak. though there are continuing concerns about the political situation in the middle east. trip aaaa says -- aaaa says in the bay area, as usual, prices are higher. hundreds of sharks are in

the waters near boca raton, florida. take a look at this video. this mass migration takes place of -- every year. only about 100 yards offshore. most are black tip and finner sharks i would are not considered dangerous to swimmers and surfers. the county has closed two popular beach the just to be safe -- beaches just to be safe. president obama arrives to san francisco tonight. we'll bring you coverage the minute air force one touches down. and rain continues to pelt the bay area. our news crews will keep track of the weather all day and up in the sierra. we'll have live team coverage of the storm and how it's affecting your community. those stories and more coming up in the next newscast, the ktvu channel 2 news at 5:00. thanks for watching. have a great day.

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♪ teacher, teacher, now we're back in school ♪ ♪ areto be? foxworthy: hi, everybody, i'm jeff foxworthy,

and welcome to a special-delivery edition of "are you smarter than a 5th grader?" all right, kids, are you ready to meet your new classmate? all: yeah! foxworthy: she is a 34-year-old graphic designer who attended ralph dunlop elementary. please welcome amber marie irving! amber: yes! whoo! foxworthy: how are you? amber: hi! nice to meet you! foxworthy: welcome to the show. amber: thank you! whoo! foxworthy: should i call you amber or amber marie? -amber: amber's fine. -foxworthy: amber's fine? welcome to our classroom. look bk in school, where we had the lopsided hairdo there. i'm hoping that's just, like, a bun in the back instead of -- amber: it's a bun. foxworthy: instead of a mickey mouse hat that somebody cut one of the ears off of, so... amber: it's a bun. foxworthy: well, welcome to our classroom. amber: thank you. foxworthy: probably a little bit different than that one because they probably didn't give away money for right answers, right? i got a lot of money to give away, and i want you to take it home with you.