muni workers say they've not seen anything like this in a long time. an suv drives into a subway tunnel causing a lot of problems. i'm tori campbell. there's a lot of questions about that bizarre incident in the muni tunnel this morning. early this morning someone

drove an suv and it entered the muni subway tunnel of a church street in the castro. this created the commute nightmare. claudine wong is live from the scene. everything is back to normal now? >> reporter: yes, it is. the train is moving behind me. another train is coming out behind it. that is where this driver took his suv into the tunnel. that man now identified as 40- year-old scott mitchell, charged with suspicion of dui, driving on train tracks and failure to obey a traffic sign. it was not how people wanted to start their morning. shuttles were put in place of trainses about 6:00 a.m. after man drove his suv right into the muni nunlt cast roach frantic muni workers went running after him. >> he was booking. we tried to chase after him.

he all of a sudden, we don't see him anymore. senate do not enter signs did not stop him, neither did the screaming workers. about 2 1/2 blocks in this wall finally did. workers walked the driver out of the tunnel and into the hands of the police. >> he was pretty ineastboundry ated getting out of the car. he said he didn't know -- he's not from here. >> two hours into there incident, our cameras caught this driver almost doing the same thing to the disbelief of workers and bystanders. >> how many mr. yellow shirts could you have and i don't know, he's going to make a right. he tries to make the right. no good. learn. >> it about two hours to make repairs and get trains moving again. one commuter had little patience and choice words for the driver responsible. >> idiot. >> even after the train started

moving again, the disbelief remained. >> i don't know what that person was thinking. >> reporter: must note says it will seek damages from the driver. the suv is still inside that tunnel. muni plans to pull it out tonight after the train stops. claudine wong, back to you. >> thank you. san francisco's central subway project is getting a financial boost from the federal government. the mayor says the city has received what's called a letter of nonprejudice from the department of transportation. he says that's a good sign that the final grant agreement is on its way. the $1.6 billion central sub way project would extend the t third line from fourth and king streets to chinatown. the letter means the city can now begin digging a big hole on fourth street for a tunnel boring machine. it's been a long time coming, but rain is finally

returning to the bay area. we're live from lark spur in marin county. >> reporter: good afternoon. it has been bone dry nors. people were pretty excited when it started to drizzle this morning. usually it's the streams and creeks like this behind me here that create flooding first. now at jim coshette's ace hardware store, one man picked up tarps, many rain-related item seen a dip in sales. this is the driest winter since researchers started recording rainfall during the gold rush. >> we're stocked and the product is waiting to go off the shelf. we want to make sure we have it from years past. we've had heavy winters. we don't want to be unprepared. >> reporter: business has been slow. snow starved skiers are just waiting for the ski area to get some of the white stuff.

>> we're weather farmers. we're extremely excited about it. i think it's a good omen. we're disappointed that we lost christmas. i think if it's like last year, it followed a similar pattern. >> reporter: sunday we'll see some rain at candle steek. that's good news for niners since the giants have home field artificial turf. it's bad for the fans who have to pull out the ponchos. the heaviest rain is in santa rosa right now. that will move south into the san francisco and oakland area later this afternoon. mark will tell you when the heaviest rain will hit the bay area. back to you. mark joins us right now. he is here with more on light rain that's already turning up in the bay area. >> that's right. already some coverage on radar. you can see the rain band concentrated in the north bay and some of the showers extending to the south and to the west. all of this will be on the

increase over the next few hours. that will be targeting the afternoon and evening commute. santa rosa reporting some light rain. nothing too major yet with light to moderate downpours. those darker shades of green do link up with more moderate cells. not a lot to show you toward san francisco and oakland. all this action to the north will be spreading to the south over the next few hours and by the evening hours. i'll let you know how much rain you can expect and break down the timing of a second stronger storm that's developing out in the pacific. it's been a worry free winter so far for people in locations that can be prone to flooding. the water level is unusually low at a creek through the city of martinez. the russian river flood level is 32 feet. the river is just 5 1/2 feet high right now. many people are not used to

seeing such low levels throughout the bay area. >> it's way down low. we're waiting on rain. there's nothing there. there's just beaver dam with a few holes ripped in it. >> the first raindrops will fall in the north bay and then we'll see some rain all over the bay area later today. the real downpour should come tomorrow. we'll have the full forecast coming up. you can get weather updates sent to your phone by signing up for mobile ktvu.com. the snow storm in the northwest is causing big problems for travelers trying to fly in and out of bay area airports. sea-tac airport in seattle is closed due to freezing rain. there's no word on when it might reopen. it's already caused the cancellation of two united seattle-bound planes out of sfo. at oakland airport three arrivals and three departures have been cancelled. airport officials here in the bay area say there could be

more cabs lagses and delays as the day goes on. the search is on for a driver who fired several shots at close range at an undercover police officer in san leandro. it happened just before 9:30 last night on aloha drive near anza way. he was conducting surveillance for a narcotics investigation. the spix drove toward the unmarked car and opened fire from six feet away. several rounds struck the car. the police officer was not hit. >> he's feeling lucky. he's obviously had a lot of adrenaline flowing and so now i think everything is setting in on him. he's doing great. >> the police officer drove after the suspect and followed him on to the freeway but stopped the pursuit in castro valley. the suspect was last seen on i- 580 dreying at speeds above 100

miles per hour. the men accused of causing a deadly crash in newark yesterday are expected in court tomorrow. all three suspects are 20-year- olds who live in the east bay and have long criminal histories. they're expected tore arraigned tomorrow. one of them was critically injured in the crash. police say they were fleeing officers after committing a burglary. san francisco sheriff ross mirkirimi is expected to make his first court appearance late they are afternoon on domestic violence charges. his arraignment is scheduled for 2:30 at the city's hall of justice. he is accused of domestic violence battery against his wife, child endangerment and dissuading a witness. a his wife both deny the accusations. if he is convicted of all the charges, ross mirkirimi could be sentenced to a year in prison and three years probation. the field of candidates is

fair noaght race for the republican presidential nomination. this morning texas governor rick perry dropped out of the race. this follows poor showings in the iowa caucuses and in the new hampshire primary. >> therefore, today i am suspending my campaign and endorsing newt gingrich for president of the united states. >> there are now four republican candidates still in the race and they're set to debate tonight in south carolina. the south carolina primary is saturday. a big about face in the results of the iowa caucuses that were held on january 3. the republican party of iowa announced the certified totals of the vote at a news conference today and new tabulations show rick santorum finished ahead of mitt romney by 34 votes. the vote count announced immediately after the iowa caucuses indicated mitt romney beat rick santorum by eight votes. no official winner can be named

in iowa because results from eight of the precincts are missing. news from apple today, how this announcement may be celebrated in many classrooms. mark is back soon with more on the rain moving into the bay area. details on how much rain we'll see whether you will have a messy evening commute. tourism is the number one service that we export. number one. that means jobs. >> the president at disney world today talking about the business of having fun and putting out the welcome mat for certain tourists.

firefighters moved quickly to put out a house fire in san jose. it startedded just after 5:00 a.m. at a large single family home on norwood avenue. the attic and garage were fully engulfed in flames when firefighters arrived. one person inside got out safely. there's no word on the cause or what burned. the damage looks extensive. uc president mark yudof frk says he is seriously considering a radical proposal from students to eliminate tuition. protests leak this one in september at uc berkeley have become a regular occurrence

across the system. students angry about constant tuition increases and budget cuts came up with this idea. uc would drop its $12,000 a year tuition. students would commit to paying 5% of their annual salary for 20 years after graduation. >> tuition free, that would be great for a lot of people to the burden, the headache of money, and then of course when you graduate, you're expected to do well, so i think it would be fine. >> graduates who make the mean sal reef $50,000 a year would end up paying about the same as the current tuition. students say it may be possible for the university to profit from the arangement. today apple announced what it calls a new experience for the ipad and it's a much anticipated textbook solution for students. >> those days of lugging around big and heavy textbooks in your

backpack going to and from school are over at least if apple has its way. unveiling a host of new apps at this even here at the guggenheim museum in new york city, apple focused on capturing a sliver of the $10 billion textbook market, unveiling three new apps today. it would bring textbooks and the classroom into the 21st century. these apps allow anyone including the big publishing houses and any individual out there to create and distribute any textbook of their liking. even cookbooks, even travel books, even storybooks for kids. >> it's really powerful stuff. they made it really easy for publishers to publish textbooks right to the ipad. you can make these amazing things and they update. you print a textbook. now everything is constantly updating and changing.

it's a really big flish active. >> these three new education geared apps will become available on the i tunes store as early as today and available for free. back to you. italian nail divers will blast more holes into that wrecked cruise ship today to search for 21 passengers and crew who are still missing. eleven people are known to have died when the ship ran aground on friday. the ship's captain is still under house arrest accused of abandoning the ship while passengers struggled to save themselves. prosecutors say he could be charged with manslaughter and other crimes. president barack obama announced another effort to boost the economy. this time through tourism dollars which could be spent in some top tourist destinations like san francisco. the president revealed his strategy during a speech in florida at disney world. he says he's expanding the

global entry program. the expansion will protect our borders and make life easier for freak travelers -- frequent travelers. >> today i'm directing the state department to accelerate our ability to process visas by 40% in china and in brazil this year. we're not talking about five years or ten years, this year. >> the white house estimates that boost in tourism could help create more than one million travel and tourism related jobs over the next decade. the plan could bring money here to the bay area. we'll have that story at 5:00. the earthquake damaged washington monument may reopen sooner than expected thanks to a generous donation. the memorial was damaged by an earthquake in august. inspectors found extensive cracking in the top sections of the washington monument. today david rubenstein is

expected to i knowns a $7.5 million donation which is expected to cover the rest of the repairs. david rubenstein who is a founder of the private equity firm -- of a private equity firm says he wants the washington monument to reopen to the public as soon as possible. san francisco is trying to make sure this sunday's 49er playoff game goes off without a hitch. police are vowing to crack down on unruly fans at candlestick park. 20 people were arrested at last saturday's game. report troublemakers by texting bad fan to this number. there is a drive to make sure the lights stay at the park. the city and pg&e have spent nearly $1 million to prevent another stadium power outage. there were two blackouts at the monday night game last month against the steelers. pg&e has upgraded software,

replaced old wiring and installed a new circuit to handle any overloads. you can watch the game right here on ktvu channel 2. here's the lineup. pregame coverage starts with return of glory, return to glory at 2:00 p.m., kick off is 3:30. after the game we'll have the point after. latest forecast models bumping up some rain chances for that game on sunday for the afternoon and into the evening hours. things could change. that's what's trending right now. everybody has cloud cover with mostly cloudy skies. the rain showers moving into parts of the bay area right now. there is the lift doppler showing you the current rain pattern. santa rosa at last check reporting light rain. even that yellow cell indicates moderate to heavy rain. this will be the focus of the heaviest rain the north bay will be for this system, and

another one will move in friday night. you can see the coverage has been increasing moving into parts of marin county, stinson beach and san rafael, reports of a few light rain showers. not much to show you south of the golden gate bridge. that will be changing this afternoon. rainfall accumulations, amounts favoring the north bay. over an inch in the coastal hills. amounts taper off as you work to the south bay. everybody will pick up significant rainfall by dry night. all the cloud cover out here is associated with the first system. the second one lighting up offshore. this is what we're calling the friday storm with rainfall rates on the increase. for today rainfall will continue to spread to the south this afternoon targeting the evening commute. the second one is scheduled to move in tomorrow. with that winds could be gusting to around 45 to 50 meals an hour.

a winter storm warning in place for the west slopes of the sierra, snowfall will be on the order of ten to 15 inches. we'll have another winter storm warning kick in for friday evening with more significant snow in the forecast. the rainfall takes its time getting here. it does move into the region. some moderate downpours, then sticks around for this evening. not a lot to show you for tomorrow morning. tomorrow night expressive rainfall rates pushing back into the region. scatters showers could last into saturday especially for the morning hours. temperatures this afternoon on the cool side only in the upper 50s for afternoon highs. that second storm moves in friday especially friday night. showers likely into saturday. then we could be tracking more rain chances sunday afternoon and sunday night. slight chance of a shower into monday. this is the change, rain on

every day of the five-day. >> thank you. movie legend george lucas wants to do something different. you will hear what when we come back. celebrating an anniversary for some favorite characters on the san francisco waterfront. is it a robot? no. is it a jet plane? nope. is it a dinosaur? [ laughs ] [ male announcer ] inside every box of heart healthy cheerios are those great tasting little o's made from carefully selected oats that can help lower cholesterol. stickers? uh-uh. a superhero? ♪ kinda. [ male announcer ] and we think that's the best prize of all. ♪

stocks holding on to their gains in this final hour of trading following good news

involving bank earnings. there was a big decline in the application for weekly unemployment benefits. the dow is up 40. nasdaq is up 19. s & p is up six. legendary filmmaker george lucas says he is ready to retire from hollywood. he tells "the new york times" that he wants to spend of the rest of his life making small films. his most recent film is "red tails," a movie about a group of african-american airmen. he's best known for the "star wars" franchise. the city of san francisco is celebrating one of its most famous tourist attractions today. 22 years ago the first sea lions arrived at pier 39 and have been a must see in the city since. to mark the anniversary there are free walking tours on pier 39. to learn more about the history of the sea lions, they're hosted by the aquarium of the bay and the marine mammal center. they're happening today through

sunday. a storm is taking aim on the bay area. we are on storm watch. tonight at 5:00, we're investigating how people are bracing for the storm including the bay area public works department who often have trouble with sewage when it rains. thank you for trusting ktvu. we'll see you the next time news breaks. jonas again at 5:00. we're always on ktvu.com and mobile ktvu.com. @