abc 7 news zach fuentes joins us live with more. zach? zach: when we compare thanks to earlier this year, today's storm was pretty mild in comparison to those, but the rain and winds were intense at times. it was painful to stay outside in some areas of santa cruz county, but that did not stop a lot of people from coming outdoors. santa cruz county has been one of the areas hit over and over again by storms since the start of year. . impacted not just to the -- the areas impacted not just limited to the coastal areas. >> my mom has evacuated. zach: even roadways giving out, and at some of those areas, partial road closures are still in effect. and others, like this portion of main street that washed out weeks ago, temporary fixes are the only thanksgiving the residents access to the rest of the community. all of these new impacts or out into an already overwhelmed to do list of repairs they are trying to make. >> we are still recovering from 2017, so we have got roads that have not been fixed from that storm. zach: despite all of the head

abc 7 news reporter zach fuentes is lit with a look at the devastation. zach? zach: it is frightening to hear that forecast, the more rain, more water can becoming to the area. take a look. the town is flooded. waters will not reseed for some time -- recede for some time. until the levy break can be reconstructed, the water will not reced. people are trying to figure out just what happens next. it has been a heartbreaking weekend for the residents of pajaro in monterey county. people like andres garcia and his family were left with nowhere to go but county evacuation centers. andres: we got evacuated around 1:30 in the morning. we had a few minutes, two or three minutes. here. people displaced from their homes, virtually the entire town. >> my neighbor is, like, 80 something years old. has no water. trying to get water to him, they won't even let take him water. zach: monterey county sheriffs say with current conditions, they cannot let people back home. this more recent atmospheric river has brought more rain inmo eynter this was tremendous, a dt hit, this atm

live in santa cruz county, zach fuentes, abc 7 news. dan: zach, thanks a lot. investigators are trying to figure out if the storm was responsible for the deadly roof collapse at an oakland wherefore -- warehouse. an employee was killed after a collapse at peet's coffee warehouse. the collapse happened 15 minutes after the worker arrived to work, and listen to this, 70 other employees were scheduled to start work within the hour. ama: tahoe's emerald bay has completely frozen over for perhaps the first time in decades. located just north of south lake tahoe, the last time the inlet froze over may have been in the early 1990's, according to california state park officials. these photos are from march 8. emerald bay sees partial freezes every winter, but for the bay to completely freeze over is more unusual. the ice is believed to be about six inches deep. we will have a live report coming up on abc 7 news. dan: a silicon valley shocker tonight. federal regulators seized the assets of santa clara based silicon valley bank, making it the second largest bank failure

abc 7 news reporter zach fuentes is live and joined us at the scene with the latest. zach: the most important thing is that the police say there is no public safety threat at this time. they did evacuate. some homes closest to that home. workers got to this home more than 24 hours ago. if you see behind me, there is a big, active seen on this part of the investigation the police say has multiple layers to it. police, fire trucks, fbi, vehicles and equipment no one in the south san jose network expected to say -- c. >> we have never had anything like this. zach: he is explosive material. >> not only is there explosive material here, there are chemicals used to manufacture narcotics, a deadly combination in a residential neighborhood with children. zach: our camera was one of the first on scene. more than 24 hours later, the scene was still extremely active. >> there is so much material in there that we had to call in federal resources to assist us with the proper handling and rendering safe is evidence that is here. zach: the neighborhood is just across the street from

zach fuentes spent the day in santa cruz county and joins us live with the story. zach: dan, much of santa cruz county is still recovering from the last atmospheric rivers. they haven't had much of a break since. there's been more rain, snowfall even. much of the ground is still saturated. the county, residents, preparing for the worst and trying to stay hopeful. it's been a brutal 2023 for the people who call santa cruz county home. >> i can't wait for sun, constant sun. warm weather and constant sun. zach: along with the devastation seen in capitola, mountain communities and surrounding areas were also battered by major storms since january. >> it was horrible. zach: crews are taking advantage of calm or whether to finish projects -- calmer weather to finish projects that have been tough to complete. >> we continue seeing impacts on our roadways. zach: county officials are trying to prepare residents for the new feature -- near future. >> the wind will take out a lot of trees. when the trees come down, they take out power. i would expect power outages, especially

abc 7 news reporters zach fuentes has this update. zach: it has been nearly two weeks since this part of the bay area first saw extended power outages. some people in places like this saratoga neighborhood were without power for days, something still fresh in the minds of many homeowners. >> it's tuesday through thursday, the forecast was that the power would not be on until 10:00 that night. zach: while the rain added challenges, pg&e says it was high winds that caused the most problems. >> theory is that we did see outages, at one point, because it was a windy, some exceeded 90 miles an hour. zach: pg&e saying the peninsula and south bay were the hardest areas by the last major storm. >> what we saw just two weeks ago was historic. at one point, we had over 140,000 customers without power, over 400 outage locations. zach: they are preparing for the areas to get hit just as hard again, in large part because many of the impacts from the storms this year are still lingering. >> not getting another chance to dry, it is very likely we wil

zach fuentes is along highway 17. reporter: as hard-hit as santa cruz county has been, officials say they were expecting even worse. that is comparing things to january's for staging atmospheric river, but communities were still impacted. we are talking 400 homes cut off from the rest of the town and resources except for foot access. that access is only thanks to the generosity of kind neighbors. the santa cruz mountains were hit by heavy rain. official say it could have been worse. >> we've done quite well. we could have taken a few more hits. >> areas along the san lorenzo river saw flooding, enough to go door-to-door evacuating residents. south of felton, residents in socal say they were not expecting the impacts. >> i've knew lived here my whole life and i've never seen the create go through the road -- the creek go through the road. reporter: a six feet culvert underneath the road got washed out. >> can't go to work, can't do every day normal errands and activities so we are all pretty stuck. reporter: residents

abc 7 news reporter zach fuentes has a look at the devastation. aking weekend for the residents of pajaro in monterey county. people like andres garcia and his family were left with nowhere to go but county evacuation centers. andres: we got evacuated around 1:30 in the morning. we had a few minutes, two or three minutes. we grabbed was left and came here. zach: garcia is one of 1700 people displaced from their homes, virtually the entire town. but residents are telling us they have neighbors who stayed in the evacuation zones. >> my neighbor is there. he's, like, 80 something years old. has no water. trying to get water to him, they won't even let take him water. zach: monterey county sheriffs say with current conditions, they cannot let people back home. this more recent atmospheric river has brought more impacts throughout monterey county than the one in january. >> this was tremendous, a direct -- was a tremendous amount of rain, a direct hit, this atmospheric river that was full, full, full of moisture. monterey county was in its path, its dir

zach: zach fuentes, abc 7 news. ama: don't forget, you can use the same doppler as the abc 7 weather team. download the abc 7 bay area app. dan: the sacramento task force studying reparations for african americans try to answer a key question, how much could it cost the state to compensate residents for harms linked to sla 800 billion dollars, more than double the california annual budget. abc 7's anser hassan has more. >> if you are african-american, chances are, you are paying more on your mortgage for the same amount of money as somebody else, and that is not right. anser: public comment lasted two hours on day one of california's reparation task force two-day meeting in sacramento. the group was formed for possible reparations for black americans do to and racism. >> what we have learned into our institutions. ryan: the nine-member -- anser: the nine-member task force is talking about housing discrimination, over policing, and segregation could one parliament estimate puts the cost of more than $800 billion, mor

ama: zach fuentes has more on what it is that astronomers has them concerned. zach: although it has made headlines recently for the huge amount of snow it received, it is the daily accomplishments that are truly attention grabbing. >> new worlds are discovered from the summit of mount hamilton almost on a routine basis. zach: the astronomer says their ability to keep doing that kind of work is at risk because of something called light pollution. >> the accelerating growth of light in the night sky beyond the natural illumination of the stars and the moon. and largely, that is being produced by outdoor lighting sources like streetlights and billboards, car dealerships. zach: the artificial light gets scattered, impacting the observatory's work. >> it limits our ability to detect the faint sources in the night sky. zach: the gilroy city council is set to vote monday on changing existing rules to allow a digital billboard closer to highway 101, something that has the observatory concerned. it has been linked to light pollution and a hot topic in recent years in san

abc 7 news reporters leslie brinkley and zack greinke -- zach fuentes has more. to spencer christian. spencer: light rain is falling already. it will be here within a matter of hours. on your exclusive abc 7 storm impact scale, it is a level 2. storms are likely producing periods of heavy rainfall. some will arrive between 9:00 a.m. and 2:00 p.m. tomorrow. windy, gusty, downed trees likely. here's your forecast animation, starting at 10:00 tonight. at this point, light rain will be moving into the north bay between 2:00 a.m. andy wee hours of the morning. as the morning commute gets underway, pretty intense rainfall and some strong, gusty winds reaching other parts of the bay area and extends a fine -- intensifying your morning commute, making it a challenging morning commute to and we have a wind advisory in effect for all of the bay area. anywhere between 45 and 55 miles an hour. let's talk anywhere from one inch to three inches of rain om

larry: zach fuentes was in court this afternoon as she made her first appearance on these charges.not allowed inside the courthouse friday as nancy segovia made her first appearance after being charged, turning herself in hours after that appearance. federal investigators say segovia, the executive director of the police officers was charged with importing drugs from overseas, specifically a form of retinal, part of a scheme to distribute them in the u.s. -- fentanyl, part of a scheme to distribute them in the u.s. an investigation looked into a network of the substances made in india. she used her personal and office computers to order the drugs and was to distribute them elsewhere in the u.s.. >> this is looking like the female version of breaking bad, when you look at someone who is the least likely of suspects. reporter: the association, telling us they had no knowledge of what their 20 year employee are doing. >> we are in the midst of our own internal investigation. we want to make sure we are being thorough. as we look back through all the things we have learned through the

larry: zach fuentes spent the day in santa cruz county edge joins us live now.k of the forecast with spencer christiansen. we are in for it. spencer: we certainly are. right now, things are relatively quiet, but take a look. you can see there's not much happening in the way of precipitation. but, we still have a storm with us. it is going to show up this evening. it is a level one on the impact scale. into tomorrow morning but beginning tonight, showers and brief downpours with a chance of thunder, hail and a wintry mix. here is our animation starting at 6:00 p.m. between 6:00 in midnight, most activity will be in the north bay. periods of heavy downpours, maybe thunder and snow in higher elevations. after been died, the storm drops southward. the morning commute tomorrow's going to be quite wet with slippery roadways and brief downpours. maybe not even brief, but steady. by mid morning, we expect that sort to be out of here. we start tomorrow, the middle part of the

zach fuentes has the latest. zach: monterey county still being impacted by floodwaters. you see behind me the bag land inundated. crews working around-the-clock to stabilize. some waters have receded, but residents are still waiting for when they can back to their homes. we will have more on that tonight at 5:00 and 6:00. larry: to the east be eight -- in the east bay, leslie brinkley is live in walnut creek. leslie: it has been quite the afternoon, especially with the wind. my gosh, the wind. it has been incredible. i was getting alerts of trees down, roads closed throughout walnut creek. the alerts pinging my phone. finally the last word from walnut creek is, so many trees down, so many power lines down, try to avoid driving it is treacherous. [chainsa >>>> trees toppled here, there and everywhere. the ferocious wind took down not only the huge trees, but in many cases power lines. roads were blocked, traffic snarled from ygnacio valley road to hilltop crescent in walnut creek. >> i am shocked because of the way our tree company told us we have three more years life in

zach fuentes, abc seven news, okay, zack. thanks a lot. we'll come back to whether coverage in just a moment, but let's move on for just a few minutes here. help is on the way for first republic bank today, a group of large banks injected $30 billion into the san francisco based financial institution. the rescue package comes as first republic has been battered by investors and worries that it might be the next bank to fail after silicon valley bank and signature bank some of the banks involved in the rescue includes san francisco based wells fargo, bank of america, jpmorgan chase and goldman sachs. the university of california has approved a plan to add 8000 beds at five of its campuses. this is part of a much bigger goal of adding 22,000 beds across all of the nine campuses by 2028 as abc seven news, senior education reporter liam melendez tells us some say. it's not realistic. only 23% of undergraduate students at uc berkeley are offered college housing, the lowest in the entire uc system to get on campus. housing is super challenging a

zach fuentes, abc 7 news. ama: let's take a live look at the pg&e outage map for the bay area. nearly 3800 customers are without power. pg&e had 1000 workers santa cruz today to respond to power outages. dan: there's a lot more storm coverage ahead. we will head to the south bay where they are still trying to clean up from last week's storm that blew through and took down a lot of trees. ama: thinking about making a trip to tahoe to take advantage of the snow? numerous mornings are in effect for the sierra right now. dan: not even the surfers waded into the water along the san mateo coastline today. we will ama: in the south bay, just days after many had their power restored after the last storm, new allergist return because of rain and winds. dustin dorsey is live in san jose with what pg&e is expecting from the storm. dustin: storm conditions, wind and rain coming down right now. we have a little sunshine behind the camera but that doesn't mean that pg&e isn't worried about the impact that may still come. that includes wind and falling trees. a look inside the brains of the p

julian: zach fuentes heard from leaders about how they hope to accomplish that. >> the system as it isp is failing people. it is failing people in crisis, and this is a part of doing something about it. >> the san francisco mayor and san jose mayor joined other mayors and state leaders calling for support to pass two bills, each aiming to change conservatorship rules for people struggling with serious mental illness. >> it is compassion -- the opposite of compassion to let people live and die on her streets. >> senate bill 43 aims to change the definition the qualified someone for conservatorship. the law says they have to be greatly disabled now. the bill would add to what that means. >> different criteria, not just food, clothing, shelter, or being a danger to yourself or others, but you deteriorate to the point you cannot provide care for yourself. >> the other bill would create an online registry that which showed the beds available in mental health care and substance abuse facilities. leaders in these fields were at the conference cheering the bills which have bipartisan support.

. >> zach fuentes spoke with local experts who say silicon valley-based companies will be looking athis closely. >> it was a face-off between lawmakers and the tiktok ceo as the house energy and commerce committee questioned him over concerns tiktok is sharing data with the chinese communist government. >> they don't play fair and now they may have access to data of millions of our young people. has share data with beijing. there is a law that forced chinese companies to help the government with intelligence gathering. the views are shared by a majority of government and republican -- democratic and republican lawmakers. >> it is a commitment we will keep this free. >> the concerns brought up went beyond data issues. there were questions about the potential spread of misinformation and the impact it has on young kids. >> the interface is designed to engage us in ways where it is almost like in the kartik -- a narcotic effect. the endless scrolling is something that we can easily fall into. >> the thursday hearing being watched closely around the world and locally. a tech expert says

julian: zach fuentes spoke with local experts who say companies will be watching this closely.t was a face-off between lawmakers and the tiktok ceo as they question him over concerns tiktok is sharing data with the chinese communist government. >> they don't play fair. now they may have access to data of millions of our young people. reporter: there's no evidence tiktok has shared u.s. data with beijing. there is a law that forces chinese companies to help them with intelligence gathering. con concerns are shared by republican and democratic lawmakers. >> it is our commitment that we will keep this free from any manipulation. >> the concerns brought up went beyond data issues. there were questions about the potential spread of misinformation and the impact that has on young kids. >> the interface is designed to engage us in ways where it is almost like a narcotic effect. that endless scrolling is something that we can easily fall into. reporter: the hearing, being watched closely around the world and local. this professor says the outcome could affect other social media giants

zach fuentes has the -- spoke with the president of the police union. >> shocked. became saddened. and as the days have gone am at a place where i am now angry. the san jose police officers association said he first got a call from federal authorities last friday that the union executive director was charged with attempting to import a legal synthetic opioid drugs from overseas specifically a form of fentanyl. prosecutors say it was part of a scheme to distribute in the u.s. he says he had been with the union for nearly 20 years. >> a woman who has helped fallen officers families, helped organize fundraisers when officers children are sick. >> investigators say she used her personal and office computers to order the drugs and agreed to distribute them elsewhere in the u.s. the police officers association said they had no knowledge of it and are conducting an internal investigation. the union says she had a front desk operations but did not make decisions for the organization. they still don't know what her intentions were with the drugs. according to this criminal complaint homelan

zach fuentes is live in scotts valley. >> we just got an update from the santa cruz county sheriffs office an hour ago. they had 25 deputies in areas under evacuation warnings to let the residents know about the potential danger. many of those areas are the same ones that were flooded in january. we got to talk with some of the residence. some of them telling us they only got their breath a couple days ago. now they are facing a repeat of january's devastation. this felting grove neighborhood has been hampered by the constant stream of storms that has hit santa cruz county since the start of the year. the road in homes flooded by the nearby san lorenzo river. >> the last flood we had was seven years ago. this year, several floods which is extremely unusual. >> much of the linundate homestn piles of the street. the cleanup is only just wrapping up. >> we have been working every week when we can since then. it is just starting right now to feel like it was before the storms. this is kind of discouraging to be facing it all over again. >> homeowner howard berman who we first visited in januar

zach fuentes has the latest. >> it has been a hard series of days for those who live in podhoretz. >>ve kids. we cannot get clothing for them. >> other evacuees telling us they are anxious about repairs they know will need to be done to >> we need to take the carpets and fix the room, the walls and everything. >> as crews worked to stabilize the levy one main question is why moore has not been done to strengthen it. something the county addressed in a press briefing. >> it was determined a long time ago the current levies are not adequate. >> the county says they have done as much maintenance they can with the funding they have been provided to dez for rebuilding the levy that may not be done for eight to 10 years but th there is hope the conversation can be accelerated. >> how can we remove as many administered of barriers as we can to this project started >> the executive director of the recently formed flood management agency pair the plan is to implement the new levy reconstruction project and take over maintenance and operations. he says he has call set up with the white house an

zach fuentes drawings is live from san jose with what he has learned about the investigation. >> in addition to the explosive materials found inside the home police say they also believe there is a narcotics making material. they say there is no public safety threat but they did evacuate some of the homes closest to the home under investigation. a massive scene still impacted -- a massive scene still very active. police, fire trucks come fbi. vehicles and equipment know when and if the south san jose neighborhood expected to see. >> i've been in this neighborhood 45 years and we have never had anything this bad. >> police say a 30 five rd is in custody for possession of explosive materials. >> not only is there explosive material but there are chemicals used to manufacture narcotics. deadly combination. in a residential neighborhood with children in the home. >> our camera was one of the first on the scene when the huge law enforcement response dissented on the home. within 24 hours later the scene was still extremely active. >> there's so much material we have had to call in federal resourc

zach fuentes heard from the state and bay area leaders about how they hope to do that. >> the systemthey have set it up is failing people. it is failing people in crisis. and if this is a part of doing something about it. -- this is a part of the big about it. >> the mayor of san francisco has joined 11 other mayors and leaders joining for support to past two bills, aging -- aiming to change conservatorship bills. >> it is the opposite of compassion to let people live and die on our streets. >> senate bill 40 change the definition that defines conservatorship. they have to be deemed greatly disabled and they are expanding on the criteria. >> not just being able to provide food clothing and shelter but being able to -- a danger to yourself and others, but being able to uncared -- not care for yourself. >> there were also be a registry that shows the number of beds available in facilities. many people where at the conference cheering the bill. >> you have the cycle of devastation of people being stuck on the streets, people who need help and cannot get it because of the current law. >>

larry: zach fuentes today and there was a dispute before arguments were underway. reporter: taking the same route she's made for several years now, elizabeth holmes made her way back to the courthouse in san jose, the same place where her trial took place, convicted in january of 2022 on four counts of defrauding investors for running her failed blood testing startup. sentenced to 11 years in prison in order to turn herself in, she is asking interest to delay her senses while she appeal the conviction. a woman tried to serve her papers while she walked in. she let them fall to the sidewalk. crors cil case. nobody spoke to cameras outside the court. inside, things got active before court even began. everyone waited for the judge to walk in, and a man walked through the gallery while we were sitting to approach homes with papers. it is unknown what the documents said or if that had a connection to the woman outside who tried to serve holmes. the man tried to escape and to go near her mother. agent held him back and took him out of the building. once court began, he w

abc 7 news reporter zach fuentes is live and joined us at the sc