>> i walked on that side of the property and it was pitched like this. and i felt before a really big storm comes in we got to get it out. >> reporter: they worked quickly to beat the storm. >> they are the worst to have around. red words sway but the fur frees you got to watch out for. >> reporter: he cut the fur treat. he tackled the fallen tree. >> it is a big concern. you can get a log jam quickly. it can back up. you will have flooding. >> reporter: this huge tree turned out to be quite a job. >> we have one more cut that is holding the tree cut.

>> reporter: they were relieved. >> i can feel good about it. [ laughter ] >> it is all good. i am glad it gauze taken care of -- it got taken care of. >> the tree has been cut up and will get swept away. robert handa, ktvu channel 2 news. >> our chief meteorologist bill martin has been telling us about the storms since monday. he is live to show us how the storm intensifies in the coming hours. >> this storm is a big deal. we got the break today. that is great news. tomorrow morning's commute, the worst we have seen in a long time. this weather system will work its way south over the next 12 hours. it will be wet. heavy rain north. we are getting showers in santa rosa. the heavy rain is in the basin. santa rosa getting showers.

that heavy rain works its way south as we go through the evening hours into tomorrow morning. the headline in the weather department, news room, friday morning's commute. we will see flooding. we will see dangerous cross winds on the bridges. we have a wind advisory, flood watch and we will see longer commute times. mass transit is a good idea tomorrow and we are talking about maybe carpooling or working from home. it will be wet, especially in the north bay. this storm with wind and rain hitting on your friday morning commute. when i come back the latest computer mod. we want to get through -- model. we want to get through tomorrow but there is another storm into the weekend. all the details when we come back. >> thank you. >> rain is falling in the north bay, there is concerns the river could rise. ktvu's tom vacar is live where they are keeping a close eye on

the water. tom? >> reporter: they are keeping a close look. they are taking the wait and see attitude because they are used to it. the public works department tells me it has sand bags ready to hand out if needed. even though we are 30 miles from the pacific, low lying areas see flooding, including down stream towns. one person told me southwest of the town, he often sees flooding after storms. the region is home to 75 mountain summits and peaks. the russian river. for now it is business as usual but the weather is deteriorating. we will be standing by. reporting live, tom vacar, ktvu

channel 2 news. >> in 10 10 minutes, a look at what is kneeing done to a-- being down to avoid flooding. three people killed in oakland. including two teenage girls. today the police department announced a plan to keep the streets of oakland safer. ktvu's paul chambers is here and tells us how the plan will work. >> the city is in diker straits. more homicides than all of last year. today the chief and counsel members gave us information on how to combat crime. >> reporter: a population near 400,000 but there are only 626 police officers to parole the streets. leaving the city at a disadvantage when dealing with criminals. but the chief has a plan that will add 24 officers on the

weekend. >> asking police officers to provide over time. >> our streets are under siege. having coverage, having protection for the citizens i think is what we need to work on. >> the chief is doing just that. two officers have been added to the gang investigation unit and working with the atf. also some officers have been reassigned to improve staffing. that is just the beginning. >> $10 million increase in revenues. there is nothing more important that we should spend the money on than public safety. >> the money will be used to hire two civilians. that way 20 more officers rill be free to work the street -- will be free to work the streets. >> the strength of our police department is 830 officers. and somehow we have to figure

out how to get that authorized strength back up. >> reporter: there are 50 people in the police acad aomy and another -- academy and another starts in march. paul chambers, ktvu channel 2 news. two boys and a 23-year-old man have been arrested for sexual assault. police say they received a report of the assault at 9:30 p.m. last night. they say a 13-year-old girl and the suspects were drinking alcohol when the assault happened. police say they do not believe there are any other suspects. san jose firefighters put out a fire at a house where marijuana plants were growing inside. a man living at the home called 911 about 2:00 a.m. this morning after light smoke was spotted coming from the garage. firefighters put the flames out and found a small marijuana

growing operation. but san jose police tell ktvu it was actually a legal grow and a person at the home has a medical marijuana crowd. the crack down on bath salt. police released this picture today from a sting. officers seized spice and bath salt. police say bath salts have been linked to suicides and bizarre behavior. testimony is under the way in the trial of two suspects for a killing. the defendants face several charges including gang participation and murder. in opening statements prosecutors said the victims were gunned down because they

were wearing red. defense attorneys say they are former gang members who were in the wrong place at the wrong time. man is accused of trying to ship illegal drugs to the philippines. according to the district attorney's office he tried to ship three kilograms of methamphetamine and 100-grams of cocaine. the drugs were intercepted when going through customs. he was arrested after he called fedex. he pled not guilty yesterday. and is being health on a mill -- held on a million bill. a story we brought you last night at 5:00 p.m. about the shooting of a animal control officer. today police arrested the man in the shooting. he was taken into custody when

officers rushed him after he came outside to get one of his dogs. he was evicted on tuesday. yesterday he shot and killed a animal control officer who came to take his pets. the two sides don't seem to have made much process to avoid the fiscal cliff. nothing much seems to have changed. democrats want to raise taxes and republicans still want spending cuts. >> the president will not sign legislation that extends the tax cuts. >> time for the president, democrats, to tell the american people what spending cuts they are willing to make. >> each side accuses the other of not providing expects.

vice president joe biden went to costo. he bought a television and other items. he said he was there to demonstrate why it is important to raise taxes on the wealthy. with the election behind them, president obama and mitt romney had lunch together tonight at the white house. cameras got a glimpse at mitt romney. the lunch was private. it lasted over an hour and the white house said the president did not have an agenda here. the president prompted to meet with mitt romney to discuss how they could work together. and the menu, the white house said white turkey chilly and southwestern grilled chicken salad. fewer americans filed unemployment claims last week. 393,000 people filed for jobless claims. it was the second straight

decline. the u.s. labor market has been showing signs of improvement after more hiring and fewer job cuts. on wall street today, the dow is up 36 to 13,021. the nasdaq is up 20 at 3,012. the s&p is up 6 at 1,415. we have just learned that one of last night's powerball winners is expected to come forward tomorrow. the jackpot was $588 million. that is the highest ever for powerball. officials say one ticket was sold in arizona, another in missouri. the winners could each take $192 million before taxes. coming up, california missed out on this jackpot but it won't in the future, powerball is coming to the golden state and who could see a win fall. cheers at the u.n. today as they voted to grant statehood

to palestine. [ cheers and applause ] >> the u.n. voted 138-9 to recognize palestine. despite strong opposition from the united states. susan rice said the resolution places further obticles in the path to -- obstacs in the path to peace -- obstacles in the path to peace. >> a new park with a new statues and the person building the park is also famous. i wish this test drive was over, so we could head back to the dealership. [ male announcer ] it's practically yours. test drive! but we still need your signature. volkswagen sign then drive is back. and it's never been easier to get a jetta. that's the power of german engineering. get $0 down, $0 due at signing, $0 deposit, and $0 first month's payment on any new volkswagen.

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the owner of a used car lot never seen anything like the accident this morning at her lot. the driver of this truck was driving on east 14th street after 4:30 a.m. this morning when he said he had a sneezing fit behind the feel. he lost control of the truck,

slammed into a parked car and barreled through a fence and into the used car lot. the truck damaged a dozen vehicles. >> he claimed he had a sneezing fit. when you sneeze you close your eyes and he stated he pulled the steering wheel to the right. >> the driver wasn't seriously injured, the california highway patrol says this was an accident and the driver was not sited. new parking meters in san francisco is about to be discussed tonight. they want the community's input on a proposal to install meters. the agency says new meters will make it easier to park in the neighborhood. the meeting begins at 6:30 p.m. apple is adding a new campus in santa clara. it is on stevens creek

boulevard not far from the headquarters. the report says apple has begun construction on the first of two 6 story buildings and hopes to occupy it by 2014. there is no word on when work will beginning to second -- on the second building. trying to fix their emergency phone system at san jose state university. >> this is john. checking the phones. >> hello? >> you see the problem. the phone failed before our cameras today. he sent help out. the towers are scattered around the campus and provide a direct line to a police dispatcher. two dozen are outside and they are known to fail. students are grateful for the service when it works.

>> anybody somebody needs help it is helpful. >> police blame weather and an aging system and say the university is making it a top property. george lucas plans to build a park with statues of two famous movie characters. the park will be built at the sight of a old building. it will include a statue of yoda. the plans also call for a statue of indiana jones. over to our chief meteorologist bill martin. >> it will hit on the morning commute. everything more intense on the morning commute. a lot of the bay area, you will get in your car on a wet and windy day. nasty tomorrow. why? look sat this moisture stream. -- look at this moisture

stream. coming through the bay area in the next couple of days. right now, what is happening? heavier rain in the north bay. some pockets of heavy rain, light rain. the story in the north bay, continued rain and stowers all night -- showers all night. rest of us sprinkles. the north bay will be wet all night. the next problem is the wind advisory that throws through 11:00 a.m. tomorrow morning. the other morning remember how windy it was, 35-40? winds tomorrow out of the south. impacting the bridges. high profile vehicles on the bridges tomorrow in the morning, you will have problems. it will be windier than it was couple mornings ago. wind advisory. and then a flood watch, flash

flood watch. why? flash flood watch is a click above. that means that the urban environments will flood and creeks rise and create issues. creeks. flash flood watch. this is in the morning commute. rainfall forecast, through 5:00 thursday. and here is what happens friday, 6:00 a.m. over 2.5 inches in the north bay. san francisco inch. this is the morning commute. through the bay, watch what happens, doubling the numbers. 2 inches in oakland. 2-inches in redwood city. what does it mean? the morning commute will be really, really wet, really, really windy and really, really slow. that is the headline. when i come back, we have another system. equally as strong as this system that gets here on the

weekend. we will time that out and we have breaks in there too. they will be important. i will see you back here. we have more storm watch coverage now. people are bracing for the storm. ktvu's ken pritchett is live, that is where sand bags are a hot commodity. >> reporter: right now we are that canal, you hear the water flowing. it is a flood control canal. huge canal. the we found residents getting ready for the rains just in case. you should be seeing here bob. he is putting up sand bags to protect his home as he does every time the rains come. the city is providing sand bags

at the police station and at city hall. he bags up 10 sand bags. it is an opportunity he takes advantage of. this weekend he expects they will help once again. >> well, they are predicting a few days in a row of rain and that is what i am worried about. not just one storm but three in a row. quite a bit of rain. >> if you are in contra costa county it is the sherriff's department that is providing sand bags in a number of locations. >> the city of oakland is providing sand bags and is san francisco and many otheridation san francisco and owny other locations throughout the bay area. ken pritchett, ktvu channel 2

news. a pile up involving four cars that happened before 3:30 p.m. this afternoon. you can see here one car ended up smashing underneath another one. not clear if it was weather related. one person sustained minor injuries. track the storm and get updates, weather alerts and live traffic updates anytime on www.ktvu.com. look at the top of the home page. >> it is known as a silent killer, san francisco fire officials say there is a simial way to protect your home. >> and it is already named car of the year, if you are thinking about getting it, tesla, get your order in soon.

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by the end of the year apple's iphones and smartphones that run on android are expected to take the lead away from blackberry. iphones are expected to be the biggest company owned device. they are hoping to mount a come back next year on the back of a new operating system. san francisco fire officials said a carbon monoxide poisoning scare should be a wake up call to landlords and homeowners.

>> carbon monoxide gas mixes well with air. 96% -- >> he led a field trip today to drive home the importance of carbon monoxide detectors. he demonstrated where they should be installed. this week a family went to the hospital with what they thought were carbon monoxide systems. but the home didn't have a carbon monoxide protector. butting the home at risk. >> colorless, odorless. you could be in the room and you would never be aware of it till you saw systems. >> single family homes and two unit buildings are required to have carbon monoxide detectors. starting january 1 that includes all san francisco apartment buildings. carbon monoxide detectors do not take the place of smoke detectors and every home should have both. if you are planning to buy

a tesla model s get your order in because the price is going up. right now it is $57,000. in a month that will bump up to $59,000. that increase is 4.5% but it won't apply to any cars already ordered or ordered by december 31. getting in the game. powerball is coming to california. why some people say it is a bad bet. >> a woman attacked in her apartment over night, why police think it could be connected to three other cases.

complete bay area news coverage continues right now, this is ktvu channel 2 news at

5:00 p.m. >> a grad student wakes up to a horaifying -- horrifying site. she was attacked in her own home. police say the man who broke in may be responsible for other attacks and he may be getting more brazen. ktvu's ann rubin is live with the two things that woman did that police say saved her. >> reporter: the victim struggled and screamed. which scared the attacker off. police think he has done something similar before and may try it again. >> reporter: police may step up patrols and staffing following a home invasion. the victim a grad student was asleep when a man broke in. >> he entered with the intent to commit a sexual assault. >> reporter: the victim nev got

a good look -- never got a good look at his face. they are looking at past crimes, including three prior cases in august and september. all happened nearby. one more than a block away. >> we will look at the locations. the possible suspect descriptions on those. we will look that victims. >> reporter: the concern if the crimes are linked they appear to be escalating. investigators are trying to determine if the woman was fallowed home. neighbors will be extra cautious. >> i heard it happen in this area. a handful of times. so it was really jarring. >> i am usually very careful. i never go out by myself at night. always lock everywhere i go. it does make me take a second look around. when i am out. even in the day time.

>> reporter: investigators have already been back out looking for additional witnesses. anyone with information is asked to call police. live, ann rubin, ktvu channel 2 news. deals could be in the works to bring twinkies back. in court today hostess brands says it has 110 potential buyers. they include five national retailers. this announcement comes as hostess brands is seeking approval to give 15 of its top executives $1.8 million in bonuses. the company says it is needed to keep them during the liquidation process. the patrol board denied release to a man convicted of kidnapping a bus load of kids in the 1970s. he was sentenced to 7 years to

life. he and two partners took the children captive and buried them alive inside a truck in livermore. all of them escaped and afterwards the three suspects were caught. he is still in prison. but a court ordered his brother released last june. a land mark decision allowing same-sex marriage in california could come tomorrow afternoon. tomorrow the supreme court is expected to decide whether to hear the case challenging california's proposition 8 banning same-sex marriage. if the court decides not to hear thupeal same-sex marriage -- the appeal same-sex couples would be allowed to marry in california. investigators say faulty wiring may be the cause of a fire yard that damaged trader's

joes. they are looking at holiday lights as the cause. firefighters contained it to a small area. the damage is estimated at $25,000. all week we have been talking about that huge powerball jackpot and how california is one of the states that doesn't offer it. that changed today. powerball is now coming to california. ktvu's rob roth tells us when and how much money it will bring for schools. >> reporter: this man was picking numbers on his lottery ticket. he wasn't wait to begin playing powerball. >> more money. >> reporter: they voted to add powerball to the state's lottery menu. commissioners estimate powerball will add between 90- $120 million to california

public schools. in oakland schools receive more than $6 million in revenue, money the district says goes towards salaries, books and supplies. they sold 5 lottery tickets at more than $5 million, he calls it a win, win. >> builds up faster. brings in more money. >> reporter: some say powerball, which requires a player to pick 5 correct numbers is a terrible bit and they attract low income people. >> stand a better chance of having your name mentioned in the state of union address. >> bring on powerball. >> when i seen it on the news this morning, why don't they have it here? >> reporter: powerball is etto come -- is set to come to

california in april. the odds of it becoming popular appear to be very high. rob roth, ktvu channel 2 news. the sun dance film festival chose a movie about the last hours of oscar grant's life. it covers his final hours before the officer shot and killed him. the movie stars spencer. the film festival begins january 17 in utah. officials are not giving up on their sales tax hike to fund transportation needs. they asked for a recount on measure b-1. it would have increased the sales tax, raising a billion dollars over three years. that money would have funded improvements in transit, roads

and freeways. it turns out there is ice up there. the announcement from nasa. >> today the senate took a vote on bringing troops home from afghanistan but will it speed up the u.s. withdrawal. >> and the ktvu ipad app is ready to download, watch news, traffic, weather and video of breaking news anytime anywhere.

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former president george h. w. bush has been hospitalized with brawn kiting. he -- bronchitis. a spokeswoman says the illness isn't life threatening but there are concerns it could progress into pneumonia. doctors expect him to be released in the next couple days. george h. w. bush is the oldest living former president. study kicked up a controversy over the age of the grand canyon. it was probably carved during the time of the dinosaurs, 70 million years ago. but the canyon was formed by a river that ran in the opposite direction of the colorado

river. they put the age at 6 million years. there is ice on the planet mercury. the data confirmed the theory. mercury is the closest plan toot the such but temperatures can drop below freezing at night. the senate voted to accelerate the withdrawal of forces from afghanistan. the amendment is in conflict with the house that passed a bill calling for president obama to maintain a force of 68,000 troops in afghanistan through the end of 2014. the u.s. government has identified prisons in the united states that could be used to house terrorists. they could move to six military brigs and prisons across the

country. the findings support closing guantanamo bay. right now there are 166 terrorist being held at guantanamo bay. a girl who was humiliated in a airport pat down, now congress is asking questions, why they heard no answers today. >> tomorrow's commute and the next storm that i was talking about that comes this week. week-- that comes this weekend.

congress is investigating a airport screening accident. a 17-year-old girl ended up partially nude during a pat down. why there were plenty of questions today but no answers. >> reporter: she was 17 and traveling with a youth group from a christian school and wearing a sun dress. during a pat down the dress slip, her breast exposed and she was the niece of a congressman. at a hearing today he wanted to know how -- >> a tsa who can't look at a 17- year-old girl in a sun dress and say she doesn't pose a risk without subjecting the public and a young lady to this.

>> reporter: the tsa couldn't answer. because he didn't show. the tsa snubbed the investigation of security and pat downs today. a spokes men says they don't believe they have the jurisdiction. so most of those who showed up represent the air travel industry. the snow show didn't -- the snow show doesn't -- the no show didn't go over well. >> these people are public servance and should -- severrants and should re-- servants and should reflect that. >> reporter: they conducted an investigation and ruled it accidental and the employee wasn't fired but given more training. the girl isn't alone. there have been 17,000 complaints made about pat down just since 2009.

ktvu channel 2 news. living social, the website is cutting hundreds of jobs. the company is eliminated 400 positions. 9% of its work force. most of the jobless are here in the united states. living social is moving headquarters from washington, d.c. to tucson, arizona. the company offers discounts. the cuts will help them focus on marketing and mobile. federal regulators dropped a probe into wells fargo bank. the securities and exchange commission was investigating. the securities and exchange commission told wells fargo that it closed its investigation into the sale of mortgage backed securities and did not intend to file charges. earlier this year they dropped

another probe, this one into goldman sachs. governor jerry brown appointed a judge to serve on the state court of appeals. she has been a judge since 2002 and will replace another judge who retired. to that car on your tv screen. if you are in the market for something unique, the batmobile will be up for auction next month in arizona. he modified the car for the series. the auction house puts it up for bid january 19 in scottsdale. >> i remember watching that. a small gesture of good will, a tourist snapped this picture in new york city. that is a new york city police officer giving new boots to a barefoot homeless man in times

square. the officer went to a store and spent $75 to buy those boots. the picture was posted tuesday night on the nypd facebook page. getting thousands of comments, including one who said an officer and a gentleman. >> he had boots in his hands and i heard him say i have these boots for you. let's take care of you. honestly what i think is his mom did something right. >> we checked facebook, so far it got 417,000 "likes." the officer said he keeps the receipt in his vest to remind him that sometimes people have it worse. some of the nation's biggest retailers are reporting weak sales this month. strong weekend sales weren't

enough. 18 retailers reported sales through last saturday that were up compared with a year ago and that is below the anticipated forecast. tomorrow marks the end of hurricane season. this year's hurricane season produced 19 named storms. that is tied for third most on record. the average is 12. we are showing you damage brought by superstorm sandy and hurricane isaac. it was one of 10 named storms. storm season here in the bay area and a big one is on the way. hitting parts of the bay area. >> this one will have more of a punch than the one a few days ago, or yesterday. this will have more rain and wind. the moisture pushing in to the west coast. heavy rain. that is a big looking storm. isn't it? we check out the radar.

showers throughout the bay area. the focus of the rain tonight and tomorrow will be up here in the north bay. the concerns will be for the russian river drainage basin. looking for heavy rain in feather canyon. second storm tonight starts tomorrow morning for most of the bay area. 6:00 a.m. we are going to have the flash flood watch in effect. wind advisory in effect and a high service advisory in effect. those combine to make for a nasty friday morning commute. the story tonight, heavy rain in the north bay. works south over night into tomorrow. good news with this, there is breaks. at least it looks like there is a break. you will see that in the computer model. here is the system. heavy rain on sunday. here is tomorrow. they are rotating around. tomorrow is wet. commute messy.

in the afternoon we will get breaks. hopefully. that is friday. saturday in between. that should be a nice break. scattered showers. storm number three, as big as this one. maybe bigger in some places. got big storms coming in. everything is about the break. thursday, 10:00 p.m. been raining up there all day. it will rain for the next four hours. five hours. look what happens, 2:00 a.m., still raining up there. nothing is going on down here. now it starts to move. that is 6:00 a.m., 7:00 a.m., it sweeps over the bay area. you are trying to get to work. there is the back edge. that will be very helpful as we go into tomorrow afternoon. it helps with the rivers, the small streams. with your afternoon commute. a lot going on. after that, sunday, we are looking for the breaks. that could do it. there is your five-day

forecast. i keep bringing this up. i have seen -- i know what flooding looks like, and you do to. friday and saturday, if it doesn't develop into light rain days, if it rains, we are going to have problems. right now it looks like we will get the brakes. when i say problems, russian river, napa river. feather river. >> thank you. a case of privacy versus the police. today a panel voted for privacy. the protections they want for your e-mails and cell phone conversations.

the u.s. birth rate plunged to a record low last year. it declined by 8% between 2007 and 2010. the decline was most dramatic among mexican immigrant women. it is a reflection of the economy and they think it may rise once the economy recovers. americans may soon have more privacy. tonight they approved the communication privacy act. it require as police to get a warrant before reading posts. right now it is only needed for

e-mails. some groups are concerned the change could hamper investigations. >> police officers don't like to be slowed down in their pursuit of offenders. >> committee chair said the law will better protect privacy in the digit age. we are on storm watch tonight and coming up in 2 minutes the rush to repair as a new wave of rain makes its way into the bay area right now. we are tracking it. >> a flash flood watch takes effect in one hour for the bay area, the dangerous conditions we could see.

complete bay area news coverage starts right now, this is ktvu channel 2 news at 6:00 p.m. more rain is arriving in the bay area right now. this is crews rushing to clean up and shore up for the second wave in a series of significant storms. hello. i am frank somerville. >> and i am julie haener. >> live pictures. you can see it right there, rain is falling hard. the bay area is bracing tonight as another round of