And more to come. Heres a look at the conditions outside. You can see the wet roadway for the evening commute. Already were seeing stormrelated issues in the north bay. This tree ripped out of saturated soil in fairfax. It took power lines down with it, too. Its been calmer. Many are prepared with their hoods on and umbrellas up. We have live team storm watch coverage but lets to the latest on how long the rain will last. Weather anchor Spencer Christian is tracking the storm. Ama and dan, weve had a drenching and it continues. You can see the green covering the area and pockets of yellow and orange showing more. Notice the heaviest rain along interstate 680 in the east bay. You see lots of heavy rain and along interstate 580 east of livermore out toward interstate 5 in the central valley. Its really pouring. 24hour rainfall totals continue to grow. 1. 5 inches. Over an inch. Well over an inch. Under. 5 inches San Francisco and oakland. 08 in san jose. That will change. This current storm, ranks 2 on the storm impact scale. It will continue to produce moderate to heavy rainfall. It will be windy through the evening. We may see minor flooding. Wind advisory in effect until 1 00 a. M. Winds will generally range from 20 to 30 Miles Per Hour with gusts to 45. In the Higher Elevations, gusts will exceed 55 Miles Per Hour. Downed trees and power lines a possibility. Heres the forecast animation. 9 00 tonight, pretty much the same picture we have right now. That will continue during the overnight hours. Look at what happens just before the morning commute at 5 00 a. M. Rain starts to ease up in the north bay. It will be pouring over the remainder of the bay area. Then there will be periods of rain throughout the day tomorrow. Not as heavy as todays rainfall. Not likely the commute will be much heavier more storms for the weekend. A look at those in a few minutes. Our late he is dousing started in the north bay. This is the sloppy drive in marin counties. They are getting steady showers all day. Abc 7 News ReporterWayne Friedman is live in gernville tonight. Good evening, dan. This is the first time all day when there has not been a raindrop falling. Must be a miracle of some sort. We spent the entire day driving through the north bay, spent a lot of miles looking for trouble spots. Fortunately, today at least there werent too many. But we are worried about the rest of the week. . The north bay tonight, concerns range from where all the water is coming from to where it eventually will all be going. Ive been here too long to worry about it. It comes with the muddy turf with bad memories. Weve been water 3, 4 feet deep here. Thats the fire chief, steven backs mab checking out a river that swelled over where he stood today and flooded the town in february of 1986. They used a rope ladder to cross the street. They waded through for service at a local restaurant. They evacuated residents by helicopter. If this week brings backtoback to back storms, hes seen it all and worries about it all. If the rain comes like they say, today, tomorrow the rest of the week and saturday into sunday our big concern will be through monday morning. This region tends to flood 36 hours. In forest hills, merrillville poo park, its forced her to evacuate. Shes not worried yet. Its a playbyplay. We go with the flow. Literally. Literally. Get ready. It brings big potential for trouble down the road. Any secrets to staying dry . Yeah. Get a desk job. Stay in school, kids. Stay in school. Wayne friedman, abc 7 news. The streets were wet all morning as it rained off and on. But the rain really started coming down steadily around noon in oakland today. Abc 7 news was in the grand Lake District where most had an umbrella ready. At least a hoodie. Not everyone. Its going to be rain. Brand new year. Are you telling me people do not get their shoes shined . Do not get shoe shines in the rain. Not far away at the square, the wind was really picking up as the storm front blew in. One area taking a pounding from the storm is pacifica. Abc 7 News ReporterMelanie Woodrow is at the pier. Melanie,ow are the waves . Reporter ill tell you, since we last saw you at 4 30, things have picked up here. The wind has picked up and the rain has picked up. Its also a lot colder. As the wind picked up and waves crashed into the pier, those who came to try their luck held out a bit longer. Trying to get some fish. You know, its a lot of crab out here. People are throwing the cages in and just hoping to get one big enough. Once the weather worsened, juan and his friends began to reconsider their plans. If it starts raining heavier, we might have to call it a night. Pacifica residents are accustomed to conditions at the pier and the cliff. A section buckled a few weeks ago. Abc 7 news viewer shared this drone video of the coastal path off esplanade avenue. The same area where they were forced from the buildings. The city will hold a special Council Meeting tomorrow to approve a contract to demolish 310 esplanade. They came to see it in person. In shorts. You have on a jacket and a hat. But you dont have pants. Its not that cold. Its 45, 50 degrees. Its all right. Where others see trouble theres going to be a lot of wind and rain, could be mudslides. Thats one thing to worry about. He sees beautiful in the winter. With certain areas in pacifica, far from out of the woods this winter. Reporter it basically feels like its raining sideways. With some lifelong pacifica residents, they tell us with each passing winter and each rainstorm, conditions here deteriorate. In pacifica, Melanie Woodrow, abc 7 news. All right. Thank you, melanie. Goodness. The first snow pack survey brought unwelcome news today. The measurement was below average at just about half the normal amount. That means california could be facing a sixth year of drought. Snow will continue to fall this week, which is encouraging. Thats going to bolster the snow pack and i can see us being potentially at average once that series of storms moves through. Just two years ago, the survey was taken on a dirt patch when the drought was much worse. The States Department of water resource Spokesman Says its too early to know if the wet weather will end the drought. Youll need chains driving tonight. This shows heavy snow pack. Theres an avalanche warning for the areas through 7 00 a. M. Thursday. You can track our rain and snow with the abc 7 news app. Enable push alerts to get advisories on your phone or tablet. Lets move on now. The parents of a student in mur ago a are suing saying they duct taped the boys mouth. They spoke with the familys attorney and shes live tonight. Reporter dan, many parents told us the allegations are out of character for the teacher they know here. But there have been investigations and now a lawsuit. The student was assaulted, bullied, abused. Attorney larry cook says his client, then an 11yearold student had duct tape placed over his mouth twice in a onemonth period last year. On the first occasion, duct tape was placed over his mouth and face and in front of his entire class, fifth grade. On the second occasion, the student was forced to put the duct tape on the students own mouth. After the boys parents complained, the School District talked to the police about it. But an investigation yielded no charges. Recently, the young man who was involved was made available to us for an interview. We just conducted an interview with him last week and we will be taking that new information along with the previous investigation and reviewing it with the District Attorney in the next couple of weeks. Moraga School Superintendent bruce burns said in a statement at the time the first report was made, the district investigated the matter thoroughly and took appropriate action. The district understands that protecting our students has to be our highest priority. The teacher was put on leave for a time last year but is back in the classroom at loss perales. My experience is shes a wellloved teacher. I thought this was taken care of last year. I know that the school is moraga is known for their educational system. Theres no way they would let her back in that classroom. The boy transferred out of class at the time and attends a Different School now. In moraga, laura anthony, abc 7 news. The associate attorney general with the California AttorneyGenerals Office is heading to oakland to tackle street violence. Mayor libby schaaf named Venus Johnson to be oaklands director of public safety. Johnson was Senior Policy Adviser to former attorney general harris. Before that she was an Alameda County prosecutor. Shes an oakland native and knows the community well. She was implement the Community Safety plan and work to rebuild trust in the police department. Shes the first person to hold this position in mayor schaafs administration. Rescue after rescue for firefighters in vallejo. Just ahead, after a family safely escapes a house fire, firefighters still have an important job to do. The pentagon has r a decision while trying to determine whether California National guardsmen have to pay National Guardsmen have to pay back signi National Guardsmen have to pay back signi its just a date. I can stay. Im good. I wont be late hey mom. Yeah. No kissing on the first date, alright . Life doesnt always stick to a plan, but with our investment expertise well help you handle whats next. Financial guidance while youre mastering life. From chase. So you can. The baby boomers known as king norman, he hosted a saturday morning kids show on kgo tv in the 1950s. He and his wife ran a chain of toy stores called king normans kingdom of toys, many San Francisco youngsters remember the clement street location and the Inner Richmond district, rosenbergs daughter tells us her father passed away last week. He lived to be 98. A possible serial arsonist may be targeting palm trees in the south bay. Fire crews responded to a number of of the fires in the past few weeks. Most along story road. Vic lee is live in san jose tonight and we understand hes been seen in the area. Reporter thats true. That palm tree behind me was cut down last month reportedly by a homeless man who is also believed to have cut down other trees here at emma prush park and set some on fire. Folks dont know if hes responsible for this rash of fires. Whoever the arsonist is, hes targetsing one particular tree. Whats been set ablaze . Palm trees. Is that common . Not that i remember. But ive only been with the department 18 trees. I cant speak to what happened before that. Reporter over the weekend, several suspicious fires in the Early Morning hours along highway 101 near story road. In one fire, flames spread to a nearby cal trans storage container. The latest one this morning. Along the freeway corridor not far from here. Apparently, these most recent fires werent the only ones according to a battalion chief on the scene over the weekend. This has been a becoming a chronic fire in the same location. Weve had over a couple dozen of these calls over the past few weeks in the same location, same area of the freeway. Here at nearby emma push park sitting next to the freeway. You can see at least one torched palm tree. Theyve seen a homeless man cutting down a tree and calling them evil. Weve learned that the chp has seen small fires along the 101 corridor. The frequency with which were seeing the fires is relatively new. Thats something we havent seen in the past. We found abandoned homeless camps where palm trees were torched. On the ground, lots of exposed wiring, much of it charred. Nearby, highway lamp posts where copper wiring had been yanked out. The copper comes in a protective covering or sheath and one way to expose the copper itself and remove that sheath would be to burn it or to cut it off. Lots of possible cause was the mysterious fires, all of which the Fire Department and the chp are investigating. Stay tuned. Vic lee, abc 7 news. Firefighters rescued a box full of puppies from a house on fire in vallejo. This is video of a firefighter bringing one of the dogs out of the house. Firefighters went to the home on evelyn circle this morning after the garage caught fire. They used a thermal imaging camera to rescue seven dogs and a cat. Seven residents, including four children got out safely and were reunited with the pets. The cause is not determined. A woman faces accusations of trying to stab her mother to death. The 48yearold teganship was arrested by the Central Marin Police authority. Her 73yearold mother saysship attacked her twice. She recovered after driving herself to the hospital. Breaking into several homes and groping two men while he was inside their houses. San mateo Police Caught him in the act. Hes accused of breaking into homes in the area that you see on the map, North Kingston and North Bay Shore boulevard. Officers say val ez questions was climbing out of a window when they responded to a burglary call yesterday as one of the officers was slightly hurt in the process. Velasquez was arrested. New details on the thousands of National Guard soldiers facing debt. The pentagon says after reviewing the cases, the vast majority of the soldiers will have their debts for given. The guard was seeking repayment for 17,000 soldiers for reenlistment bonuses that were mistakenly given out during the height of the wars in iraq and afghanistan. The warriors have set a date for the groundbreaking of their brand new San Francisco arena. They officially announced the groundbreaking ceremony will be tuesday, january 17th at noon. It will be built in the mission bay neighborhood. A group of opponents tried to block construction. In november, a state court of appeals upheld the Environmental Impact report. The chase center is slated to open in 2019. All right. How is this for hollywood cliffhanger. Star wars creator, george lucas will decide if he will build his museum in San Francisco or los angeles. San francisco has offered lucas a fouracre waterfront site on treasure island. It looks like a galactic fighter in drawings. It wont just have star wars memorabilia. He has 40,000 paintings and drawings. Well, stormy day. Stormy night, stormy week is what were looking at. It is stormy right now. We have widespread areas of moderate to heavy rainfall as indicated by the colors of orange and yellow and the green indicates light to moderate rain. Its wet all over the bay area. We have winds gusting up to 40 miles an hour. Half moon bay, 36 Miles Per Hour gusts at fairfield. Windy all around the bay area and raining. Its rain r where we are at abc 7 looking over the embarcadero. 57 degrees in San Francisco. This is the view at the golden gate. Pavement is wet there. Not a lot of traffic. I guess thats the good news. Current temperature readings in the low to mid50s. At novato, livermore and concord. Heres the view atop the tower shaking in the wind there around 1,000 feet or higher looking around San Francisco. Well see more heavy rain and strong gusty wind tonight. Showers will continue tomorrow and it will be the wet pattern through the next seven days. This storm tonight ranks 2 on the storm impact scale. A storm of moderate intensity. It will continue to produce moderate to heavy rainfall accompanied by strong gusty wind. There is the possibility of minor flooding. Lets look at the forecast animation starting at 7 00 this evening. We wont see much change over the next several hours. It will continue into the wee hours of tomorrow morning. It will wind down a bit during the morning commute tomorrow. Thats not going to be helpful to those who commute early. Later in the day, pockets of rain lighter than today. Continuing to dampen the day. It wont wind down completely until thursday. Meanwhile in the sierra, winter storm warning is in effect until 4 00 thursday morning. We expect 1 to 2 feet of snow at lake level. 2 to 4 feet of snow. Gusts up to 100 Miles Per Hour. Of course, there will be whiteout conditions with the winds that strong and so much snow. In fact, speaking of so much snow, projecting snowfall accumulation by including a foot and a half and 2 feet. With the accumulations continuing to grow. Lows mainly in the low 50s. Highs with wet conditions in the mid to upper 50s. As we look at the chances of rain, president seven days ahead. 100 tomorrow. Zero on thursday. Thats the day to do outdoor things. Chances increase on friday. Over the weekend, 100 again. 60 to 70 later in the week. Forecast animation, another wave of rain on friday night into saturday. That continues into sunday and that will continue overnight into monday. So is there no end to this rain. Well, not in the next seven days. Not really. As we look at the accuweather sevenday forecast. The storms over the weekend will rank 2 on the storm impact scale. Both will be storms of moderate intensity. More than likely to see localized flooding. Maybe even a little mudsliding with that much rain in a short period of time. Be prepared for wet weather and ponding on the roadways and slippery highways. Thanks, spencer. Coming up, tough day at the office for an Airline Baggage handler. He survived an entire flight. Part of the plane off limits to wall street rang in the new year with gains across the board. It was the first trading day of the year because of the holiday. The dow closed up at 19,881. The nasdaq picked up nearly 46. The s p