Rockridge and orinda stations. Some cars quickly filled with smoke, sending several passengers to the hospital. Anne makovec is live at the orinda station with more on the breakdown and the panic that followed. Anne. Reporter oh, really was a mess. All told, nine people were treated for medical issues and we just found out from the Fire Department saying it was not smoke, it was brake dust that was filling the bart cars. But it affected a lot of people negatively. 700 people were stuck inside a tunnel inside a train for almost an hour and the entire pittsburgbay point bart line was affected for most of the morning. Passengers were taken out on stretchers once they arrived at the Rockridge Bart station this morning. The train they were riding had suddenly stopped in the Berkeley Hills tunnel partially filled with smoke. An emergency brake was engaged by accident, not on purpose, and that emergency brake caused white smoke. There was never a fire. But there was a good amount of white smoke and the smoke caused many of the people on board to not feel well. Reporter it took an hour for the train to be able to move again on its own continuing to rockridge as the stations on either side were suddenly closed. Everybody had to get off and we didnt though what was going on. They didnt say anything. Its really frustrating because now were here and our hands are tied and theres nothing to do. Reporter bart itself didnt know what to do for some time and sent rescue trains from either direction to help. We wanted the station cleared for Fire Department personnel and ems in case we were able to bring the passengers from the disabled train to orinda. Reporter outside the orinda station it was every passenger for himself. Theres helicopters and fire engines. We have absolutely no idea but everybody is trying to find a ride. Reporter traffic was backed up on highway 24 and makeshift carpools were live savers. Everybody just started hitch hiking rides, jumping on a bus. Reporter 700 passengers were on the disabled train. The number affected by this mess, into the thousands. But luckily, for the most part, the pittsburgbay point line is back to normal. Some delays maybe about 10 minutes right now but that should be clearing up very soon. As for the nine people taken to the hospital, none of the injuries is lifethreatening. Live in orinda, anne makovec, kpix 5. Thank you. During the emergency we heard examples of passengers helping other passengers. Now, this cell phone video sent into the station shows a nurse helping a woman who was affected by the smoke. When passengers finally made it back to the station, they were greeted by firefighters checking to make sure everyone else was okay. An extremely chilly start this morning with temperatures below freezing in some areas. Lawrence karnow is live with mobile weather in San Francisco with more on our blast of bitter cold. Reporter yes. It is feeling a whole lot like christmas now. The coldest outbreak of the season. These temperatures are very chilly overnight down into the 20s and the 30s. Many folks having to chip some of that ice off their windshields. Temperatures starting to moderate a little bit but were in for a cold day ahead, current temperatures in the 40s and also the low 50s. But freeze warnings again going up again tonight across most of the bay area expecting the temperatures to be even a little bit colder tonight back down into the 20s and the 30s. So just when will this cold snap end . Well talk about that coming up in just a couple of minutes. Back to you. See you, lawrence. A winter storm is taking over parts of the midwest. Heavy snow and ice in minneapolis have caused hundreds of accidents on the roadway. People are looking at more than 2 feet of snow right now. Another foot is expected before the threeday storm is over. Today several agencies are searching a mountainous area of central idaho looking for a missing bay area family. Four passengers were on a plane sunday piled by 51yearold dale smith piloted by 51 yearold dale smith a Software Executive from san jose. He reported engine trouble and sought coordinates for a landing strip. Yesterday search teams picked up a faint signal from the planes emergency beacon but finding its source is proving difficult because of the steep mountains. Today 7 aircraft and 50 people on the ground are involved in the search. A bay area man says an off Duty Police Officer threw him down and broke his arm following a traffic accident. The two men pulled over to the side of a highway in orinda to Exchange Insurance information. Then according to a new federal lawsuit, concord Police OfficerKevin Mansourian charged at the 63yearold from oakland. Mansourian allegedly screamed profanities and knocked him down, then sat on him until the chp arrived. Slammed him to the ground face first. Our clients face was cut and one of his hearing aids was dislodged and his arm broken. This client is a 63yearold man. Officer mansourian told sheriffs deputies it wasnt road rage. He just thought the other man was drunk but investigators have found no evidence of that. The lawsuit alleges wrongful arrest and excessive force. Firefighters are looking for the person who lived in a mobile home destroyed by a fire overnight in san jose. It started at about 2 a. M. In the Mobile Home Park on monterey road. Neighbors say they dont believe the owner was home at the time. Also now an autopsy shows fast furious star paul walker died from both the impact and fire from last saturdays car crash. In this new video you can see a light pole and tree fall down. At first, smoke is barely visible. Then it begins to billow heavily. It took about a minute before the time of the crash and the first signs of smok when the vehicle burst into flames. Walkers friend, the driver, also died. The man at the controls of the train that crashed in new york sunday is getting more grilling from federal investigators today. The trains engineer told them he was in a daze and nodded off before he realized something was wrong. His union leader was with engineer William Rockefeller during his testimony yesterday. It was a lapse and that was a nod or however they want to couch it however it will be explained today, and it was a mistake that any of us could make and he caught that mistake too late. Investigators found no problems with the trains brakes or with track signals. Meanwhile, one of the three tracks near the accident scene reopened this morning. Today the man accused of going on a deadly rampage at l. A. X. Made his first court appearance. The brief hearing for paul you ciancia finished up a few minutes ago at a jail where he is being held in federal custody. He reportedly had bruises on his face and a bandage on his neck. Investigators say ciancia targeted tsa officers when he pulled a semiautomatic rifle from a bag and opened fire inside terminal 3 on november 1. One tsa agent was killed. Earlier, a year after the mass shooting at sandy hook elementary, the 911 calls from that day were just released. Recordings show how dispatchers urged callers to take over mobilize for help and asked how the children were doing as gunshots could be heard in the background. Prosecutors originally wanted to keep those calls confidential to protect the survivors and victims. But the state attorney dropped that fight. 20 children and six adults were killed in the 2012 shooting. On to wall street now. Stocks have been sliding as investors assess the outlook for stimulus by the fed and right now take a look the dow jones is down 69 points, the nasdaq at this point down 44. It follows a report that u. S. Businesses added the most jobs in a year last month which could prompt a pullback by the federal reserve. And the legendary batkid is being honored by a San Francisco recreation and park department. A holiday train with the image of fiveyearold miles scott is being used as a centerpiece for an annual Christmas TreeLighting Ceremony at Golden Gate Park this friday. The batkid express is loaded with presents and painted with characters. Each car had its own theme showing different events from batkid saving gotham city. Were down here in the consumerwatch callin center where today we are featuring a covered california callin. We have gathered the experts from covered california the state Health Insurance exchange to answer your questions. Got a question . Give us a call right now at 1 8885helpsu. Well be right back. , [son] all right,she has no idea. [man] no one told her,right . [son]hi [mom screams] and today. We have experts standing by to answer your questions by pho the deadline is fast approaching to sign up for Health Coverage through covered california and today we have experts standing by to answer your questions by phone. Julie watts joins us from our call center to tell you more about the help you can get. We all can get. Julie. Reporter if you have questions about the Health Insurance exchange, give us a call right now 8885helpsu. But i am here with one of the experts, kenwood, from covered california to help clear up a few questions a few common questions we get. Ken, we get questions all the time about this whole Health Insurance mess, right . Although for you its not a mess. Uhm, so lets talk first about deadline. A lot of confusion here. So first of all, theres a deadline coming up here on the 23rd of december. What is that for . Right. So if you want to have coverage for january of this year, by december 23rd you need to have a complete application, have eligibility, picked a plan and pay you bill by january 5. Reporter so you wont get penalized if you havent made your application by december 23rd but you also wont have coverage if you havent submitted it. Correct. Reporter when do we see penalties . You have to have coverage and application in place by march 31st to avoid penalties. And then you would be covered may 1 through the end of the year. Reporter lets talk about enrollment. Im looking at the most recent numbers and we have over 360,000 applications but only about 79,000 people have been enrolled so far. Thats a pretty big discrepancy. Why are we seeing that . That means someone started an application. Theres two steps in the process. First putting in your information to see if you are eligible for the tax credits or eligible for in medical and once youre determined that, then you go an shop and get a health plan. Reporter its taking time to get enrolled. We have a question from a viewer who is new to the country doesnt have previous insurance. And she says, you know, they are asking me for proof of minimum essential coverage. In other words, proof i used to have insurance. I dont have that. What do i do . Check the box, i dont have that and certainly not be something to trip her up. Reporter so none of the above. And if you are on the website, call us 8885helpsu well be here until 7 p. M. Well come back later in the newscast to answer more questions. Theres that number again, 888 5helpsu. Thats great. You have a lot of answers now. Thanks so much. Well check back with you. Many bay area families need your help this Holiday Season. Our Lawrence Karnow is live from the potrero hill Whole Foods Market with ways how you can assist those in need. Reporter juliette, people for years now have been coming to the bay area and some of those folks need some help. Food for bay area families is an event we are proud of here. Leslie is from the Marin Food Bank and also michelle [ indiscernible ] , am i close . Yes. I had to work on that. Thanks for joining us today. Leslie, tell us, what is it like . Is the economy Getting Better . What do you see for need . Unfortunately for the people we serve, we are not seeing the need decreasing. In fact, were seeing our pantry lines getting longer. You may have seen in the news that recently snap benefits or food stamps were cut and also holidays are a hard time for low income people as we try to provide special things for our families and everybody is looking for a special holiday meal. Really appreciate the support this time of year. At this time of year we all seem to get so busy and running around. Sometimes we just need to take a moment to think about helping some of those people. Absolutely. We really appreciate opportunities like with whole foods and kpix 5 and most of the support we get comes from individuals and corporations. It comes right here from the community. So sure appreciate it. And whole foods steps forward to really help out with this event. Tell us what whole foods is going to do . Whole foods market is proud to partner with kpix 5 to support the food for bay area Families Program this holiday. Its our 7th year. There two ways to support the program. You can come into the store and donate into the food barrels. I have seen the barrels. Ready to be filled. Yes. And we also have an opportunity to donate purchased meals, breakfast, lunch dinner or all three. Come to any register and let them know they want to donate to the food for bay area families and then they can choose a meal or pick a whole day worth of meals or any amount is welcome. Great. Im hoping people will see this and help out. You have cold temperatures too around the bay area this time of year. A lot of folks in need out there right now. Its going to be very cold again tonight as we are going to see those chilly temperatures developing outside. Out there now clear to the coastline. Temperatures in the 40s and the 50s outside at this hour. But you know what . Those cold temperatures going to make a return again. Freeze warnings going up for tonight all across the bay area except for San Francisco. Down to the 20s and 30s and staying cold. That trough of low pressure really opened up the door along the west coast ushering in all that cold air from the gulf of alaska. That is really dropping the temperatures. Not only here but around the state in the high country, very chilly temperatures into tahoe, yosemite if you are traveling that way bring your chains. We have another storm headed in our direction too. All right. Looks like the temperatures around the bay area today going to stay very chilly only 40s, maybe some low 50s and looks like tonight another cold night indeed. Back into the 20s tonight and tomorrow morning in many spots inland, 30s elsewhere another night of widespread frost outside. Next couple of days going to keep some cold weather in place. Then it looks like by friday, a slight chance of some showers moving in late in the day. And maybe some low snow levels and yeah, folks, yup, it looks like we are in for a nice sunset tonight if you want to check it out. Of course, sunrise going to be clear as a bell but if you are headed out, grab a jacket it is going to be freezing out there tonight. We are going to talk more about some of the things going on with whole foods and a check presentation very much needed for food for bay area families. ,,,,,,,,, bay area hospitals. Lets go back out to lawrence at the potro hills whole foods with a co local families in need this Holiday Season will get a helping hands thanks to the generosity of our bay area hospitals. Lets go back to Lawrence Karnow at whole foods with more special guests. Yes. This is my favorite part of the show. This is where we see the big checks coming in. Im joined here by brian alexander. He is the chief Administrative Officer of Novato Community hospital. Thank you for coming down to join us today. Absolutely. Thanks, lawrence, appreciate you having us. Thanks to whole foods for hosting. We are thrilled to be here representing various groups. Our mission to enhance the health and wellbeing of the communities we serve, across Northern CaliforniaSutter Health has committed 255,000 for the cause. For donations to food banks through our local affiliates allowing us to provide for our communities in need. So rick and i are here to present this check and on behalf of Sutter Health and Novato Community hospital and california Pacific Medical center, to support the Marin Food Banks and the families in need in our communities. This has to make you feel good to walk in with such a big check getting ready to help people. It does. Absolutely. So we know this check for 32,500 will feed 100,000. How much . 32,500. Wow that is fantastic 32,500 thats Something Else and that means a lot to the food bank because they can take that money and do more. Absolutely. Well, just like rick said, you know, we really appreciate the ongoing support of Sutter Health and this kind of with this kind of donation we can provide almost 100,000 meals for people in need in the local community. Well put it to good use in the christmas season. That is great. We need more people like you. Thank you so much for helping out. Thanks for coming down today. I really appreciate it. If you would like to go to our website, you can go to kpix. Com find out more about food for bay area families. You can go on there, click on it, and find out ways to donate. It doesnt just take a check for 32,500. Maybe you just have 5 or a dollar. Just make a donation. You can make a difference in some peoples lives this christmas season. Thank you so much. Back to you. Very nice. All right. Thank you to all. Kpix 5 is looking for a veterinarian to appear on tv. To nominate a vet you know, email pets kpix. Com. Well narrow down the top five and then let you vote on our pet expert. ,,, to those whove waited. Worried. Poked and prodded. Taken risks. And lived in a state of what if . Welcome to a new state. Of health. Welcome to covered california. The place to find quality, affordable coverage. Financial help for those in need. And nobody can be denied because