captain jonathan baxter with san francisco's fire department. we appreciate the work you and your team does. good luck and stay safe out there tomorrow and the rest of the week. one rule for tomorrow is don't drive if you don't need to. if you do absolutely have to hit the roads, how can you be safe? we wil >> with tomorrow storm you're being urged to stay home if you can. officials are pricking widespread flooding, downed trees and dangerous conditions on the roads. >> we do expect downed trees power lines to occur in san francisco. >> of course this is not just san francisco. much of the bay area as you heard from spencer will be impacted. if you have to be out and about, how can you stay safe on the roads? joining us live to tell us how is officer andrew barklay with the california highway patrol. thank you for joining us. this sounds so obvious but i was running errands on saturday and noticed a lot of people driving through the standing water. not the best idea. >> definitely not. again, we urge people saturday if you could stay home to sta

jonathan baxter says had they got out and stepped foot on the ground it may have been the last step they ever took. >> something similar occurs, the individuals get out the car or first responders such as a firefighter or good samaritan try to run up to the car to assist and become electrocuted themselves. >> reporter: mayor london breed is urging people to have a disaster plan and, above all, be careful. >> we expect trees will fall as well as mud slides. >> reporter: this was the scene on union street. the saturated ground no longer able to keep this pine tree upright. one worker at the levi strauss building tells us what it was like inside when there was lots of commotion outside her window. >> and so all of us sort of, like, went outside to take a look. it's a little scary but it seems like there was no broken glass or anything. the good thing it seems no one got hurt. >> reporter: emergency leaders are reminding residents to call 311 when you see trees down or flooding or a landslide. leave 911 alone for more serious issues. terry mcsweeney, "today in the bay." >>> and, of course, f

jonathan baxter. captain baxter's safe to say it's been a bit of a mess out there today. one big message >> from our san francisco department of emergency management has been for people to call 3, 1, 1, instead of 9-1-1. can you talk to me about that big issue of having 9-1-1, calls for non-emergencies. >> absolutely. thank you for having us and happy new year's first off, far fireworks display in as ago. it will be at midnight tonight. so that little bit of good news with french. are we out here calling 3, 1, 1, over 9-1-1. we're asking everybody even now that the rain has slightly subsided from what we saw earlier. if your emergency, it does not involve a life hazard orrin injury, please call 3, 1, what your call. we'll go into the queue for the appropriate emergency responder for service to go to your call when they are available. we have multiple city agencies out right now as we speak, working to numerous issues from floods to trees down to but so thank you for being patient with us. and again, we're happy to say in san francisco. as of right san francisco. as of rig

and captain jonathan baxter says stranded cars like this are cause for some of the most concern. >> how many locations have you been to to rescue people stranded in the cars? >> hundred so far. >> one vehicle after another, one rescue at a time. >> when i say we that is collected for san francisco, our fire department, paramedics, police department, sheriff's department, public works department, sewer department, everyone is out. >> officials askingeoe to ke>> we say turn around, do not drown. water can be very deceiving and e it quickly er e and in many circumstances and examples throughout the day. >> the request to pass on, if you're making your way down here to the embarcadero for the fireworks, the fire department is asking people do not even attempt getting in your vehicle till at least 7:00 when the storm should be moving out. >> certainly not worth it. businesses were also hit by flooding in san francisco, check this out, dave cracker shared this video cleaning up as soon as that rain eased in stores on 14th from harris into folsom also got drenched, at 15th and howard also anot

and captain jonathan baxter says stranded cars like this are cause for some of the most concern. >> how many locations have you been to to rescue people stranded in the cars? >> we have been to hundreds so far. >> one vehicle after another, one rescue at a time. >> when i say we that is collective for san francisco, our fire department, paramedics, police department, sheriff's department, public works department, sewer department, everyone is out. >> officials asking people to take caution in this wet weather. >> we say turn around, do not drown. puddles of water can be very deceiving and if you drive into a puddle it can quickly overcome your vehicle as we can see behind me and in many circumstances and examples throughout the day. >> if you are planning to drive down here this evening for the fireworks, the captain has another request. do not even attempt getting in your vehicle till at least 7:00 when the storm should be moving out. >> certainly much safer that way. san francisco fire rescued a driver at marina boulevard near marina green today. that incident happened on the 500 bloc

just one of the many damages san francisco firefighters were called to, according to captain jonathan baxter. we have had a lot of trees down. a lot of power lines down. some of those actually going on top of vehicles. we've been very fortunate not to see. >> the trees going into homes in throughout san francisco. we don't know any actual major injuries associated to any of the storm related incidents is. captain baxter says the effects of this atmospheric river in the city were noticeable during the early morning hours. winds blowing debris and garbage cans into roadways waking up courtney hurley and her family in the russian hill neighborhood. the winds were really, really strong. it was kind of like slamming into the window and just making a lot of banging >> but you wake up to for sure. keep you up for at least like an hour last week, mayor london breed urge residents to avoid calling 9-1-1 for non emergency situations. >> captain baxter says people seem to have listened by instead calling 3, 1, 1, making it easier for firefighters, paramedics and police to do their jobs effectively. a l

just one of the many damages san francisco firefighters were called to, according to captain jonathan baxter. we have had a lot of trees down. a lot of power lines down. some of those actually going on top of vehicles. we've been very fortunate not to see. >> the trees going into homes. captain baxter says the effects of this atmospheric river in the city were noticeable during the early morning hours. winds blowing debris and garbage cans into roadways. looking up courtney hurley and her family in the russian hill neighborhood. the winds were really, really strong. it was kind of like slamming into the window and just making a lot of banging >> but you wake up to for sure. keep you up for at least like an hour. she avoided any storm related damages but did have smash-and-grabs happened to both vehicles. the thieves stealing one item during the storm. so it looks like going take it as an umbrella to avoid situations like this. captain baxter says to keep an eye on trees on and around your property doing so before a storm rolls in prevent thousands of dollars in damages. look at the trees whe

happening across san francisco tonight, i'm now joined by san francisco fire department captain jonathan baxter. captain baxter. last time we spoke, you said that the fireworks were still on and now that the rain is. >> pretty much out of the area. that's a good sign that it's going to continue going >> happy new year's everybody. it is still on in san francisco. we will have our midnight display of fireworks. are sanctions safe display? we encourage folks to please watch it. but if you're in an area where driving to san francisco requires you going through some of these areas that are still affected. we do ask you to reconsider, maybe watch to on some of our amazing news outlets that we have throughout san francisco. >> we will definitely be sharing them here on kron 4 during our new year's eve live. so if you want to stay home, which is probably the safest bet, please do so. and just keep it locked here on channel 4. captain back. start want to just talk a little bit about those road conditions because the message turn around, don't drown. when i was living in the south where we got heavy dow

one of the firefighters says that she was in waist deep water, captain jonathan baxter said firefighterso divert the water and set up sandbags but eventually had to let it through by opening the doors to some of these homes. we had to get creative with the families and some of these houses, we use sandbags to actually make a river coming from the backyard. going down staircases to the front door, which is at the downward slope of somebody whose homes nobody was injured, but some neighbors were upset and believe this could have been prevented if the hillside was better maintained. definitely shock and sadness. i think, you know, obviously we're not the only ones affected all the sadness that this brings we're lucky to have a certain neighbors who all are here for each other. everybody wanted to each other's homes. we all know each other torrential rains drenched the city, causing flooding, toppling trees and triggering mudslides. here's a video from a mudslide near the main gate of bernal heights. another slide block lanes along the great highway near sea cliff. and on cesar chavez street

captain jonathan baxter with the san francisco fire department says the calls started coming in late last night of just how bad these damages work. >> we have had a lot of trees down. a lot of power lines. now, some of those actually going on top of vehicles have been very fortunate not to see the trees going into homes and throughout san francisco. we don't know any actual major injuries associated to any of the storm related incidents says. >> captain baxter says a good way to tell if there's going to be results from damages of a tree. he says if you see a tree leaning on your property or nearby that you can contact the city, they will have an arborist come out. look at it that way. you don't run into serious damages. when the storm does roll through, they can take care of the tree. and he says that 3, 1, 1, number that people seem to be heeding the warnings that the city mayor london breed had made last week asking people only to use the 9-1-1, phone number for emergencies only. so if you have not emergencies, you have to call 3, 1, 1, to report those reporting live in san francis

one of the firefighters says that she was in waist deep water captain jonathan baxter said firefighters tried to divert the water and set up sandbags but eventually had to let it through by opening the doors to some of these homes. we had to get creative with the families and some of these houses we use. sandbags to actually make a river coming from the backyard. going down staircases to the front door, which is at the downward slope of somebody's homes. nobody was injured, but some neighbors were upset and believe this could have been prevented if the hillside was better maintained. definitely shock and sadness. i think, you know, obviously we're not the only ones affected all the sadness that this brings we're lucky to have a set of neighbors who all are here for each other . everybody wanted to each other's homes. we all know each other torrential rains drenched the city, causing flooding, toppling trees and triggering mudslides. here's a video from a mudslide near the main gate of bernal heights. another slide block lanes along the great highway near sea cliff. and on cesar chavez s