Liccardo declared victory in his race for mayor of san jose. The city council held a rare friday meeting this morning to talk about calling an independent investigator to look into the p. O. A. Action. The allegations are the police union is actively telling recruits not to stay on the force, or to stay on for one or two years, and then quit. Those are allegations the p. O. A. Adamantly denies. Liccardo concedes a fullblown investigation could have more damaging effects on the citys relationship with police, so he wants, and the council approved, to instead do an internal inquiry before calling on an independent investigator. I think given the tensions that already exist, the best thing we can do as a city is find ways to start rebuilding. And i think thats where we all share some common interests. Id like to start there. Reporter liccardo said it was a tough campaign with allegations flying in every direction. He says its time to improve relations with Police Officers here in san jose. They expect that inquiry from the city manager in san jose to be, the results to be delivered, by the middle of this coming january. Were live outside San Jose City hall, im Damian Trujillo, nbc bay area news. But damian, if the city manager finds something wrong, we might move on to a special investigator as well, right . Reporter then theyll decide at that point, the full city council, with whether to proceed hiring a independent investigator. Fair enough. Damian trujillo, thank you. Now to decision 2014, with thousands of ballots still to be counted, congressman mike honda says he will represent Silicon Valley for the next four years. He made that announcement less than an hour ago, and holds now a, quote, insurmountable lead over challenger ro khanna. That lead is now four points. Khanna would have to win an incredible amount of late absentee ballots in order to pull ahead of congressman honda. Nannette miranda is live where mike honda made his victory speech. We waited a couple days for it, nannette. Reporter well, we had to, it was just such a close race. Congressman mike honda especially declared himself a winner in that close race for the 17th congressional district, which includes parts of the south bay and parts of alameda county. This was a democrat versus democrat race, a seventerm congressman versus a relative newcomer, ro khanna, who had a big Silicon Valley backing. Honda says that with at least 92,000 votes counted and a lead of more than 4,000 votes, the 73 year old says he is the winner. That lead is roughly 4. 5 , and honda claims that lead is just too insurmountable for khanna to overcome. At last word there were still 30,000 votes left to tally. Honda is confident his lead will hold and he will retain his job. Outspent by his opponent, honda believes his Grassroots Campaign was invaluable and his win says the voters of this district value his service. Together we sent a message that this election could not be bought by super pacs or rightwing millionaires and billionaires. My opponents donors wasted more than 5 million to try to replace my progressive voice with someone who would do their own bidding. And although we were outspent 21, they were no match for the more than 10,000 people who funded my campaign. And we are back at honda headquarters, campaign headquarters, where congressman honda is still thanking supporters for all their help in helping him win reelection. Political analyst larry gerton, i spoke to him earlier, and he said with the more than 30,000 votes left, that khanna needs at least 57 of that to be able to overcome the lead. Now, while that sort of sounds impossible, it is still possible and gerston calls this announcement sort of premature at this point. I asked congressman honda whether this is his last term. He is 73 years old, and he said, clearly, let me say this clearly, no, this is not my last term. He says he actually thinks he can live to 103. Live in newark, Nannette Miranda, nbc bay area news. Certainly doesnt slow down. Thats for sure. Thank you very much, nannette. In san jose, sam liccardo has declared victory, even though thousands of ballots there still have to be counted. He does have a slight lead over dave cortese, who has not conceded that race. The two are separated by less than, rather, fewer than 3,800 votes. We have new details on a shooting involving a San Francisco police officer, happened 25th and connecticut streets just before 8 00 last night. This is in the portero hill neighborhood. The suspect reportedly turned around and pulled out a gun, the officer fired, wounding that suspect in the upper body. Police do expect him to survive. They say the suspects gun was loaded and that they found drugs in the suspects pocket. People in cupertino are taking action to make streets there safer for bikers. Dozens of people showed up to a town hall meeting last night, one week after 15yearold Ethan Justin Wong was hit and killed by a truck. The meeting was packed with people wanting to know how that crash happened and what they can do to keep their kids and themselves safe. A lot of the drivers will cut over into the bike lane, either unintentionally, or intentionally, trying to make a turn. The days are gone when you could just look both ways and cross the street. Now we want pedestrians to look both ways and to make eye contact with the driver. In the last six months, there have been 15 crashes involving juveniles on bicycles in cupertino alone. Last weeks crash was the third fatality in that same period. A turf tussle at golden gate park. Why one woman is stopping crews from putting in a field in San Francisco. Plus, amazing video released by nasa. Check out what astronauts are doing at the International Space station. And it feels like fall across the bay area. Finally some of the sights of fall. We had thick fog earlier, still seeing that in parts of the bay area. Well tell you when it will clear, and more importantly, weve got a gorgeous weekend coming your way before the rain returns. Stick around, lots to go over when it comes to your microclimate weather forecast. And now to developing news in the south bay. A street in los gatos is blocked off for a tenth straight hour because of a Police Investigation there. Officers say they were called to a home on drakes bay avenue after a home owner found a wounded man on his doorstep. Thats a few blocks away from Good Samaritans hospital. Live in los gatos with the latest, i was covering this story earlier this morning, but whats developed since then . Reporter well, good morning to you, kris. A sergeant with Los Gatos Police department has hinted that this was not a burglary, but would not elaborate. Now, we did speak with a man who lives here in this neighborhood, he tells us that he did hear a commotion overnight down at that house where you can see the police gathered in front of, apparently two men yelling at each other. It ended with one of those men getting hurt, a situation so serious here we are several hours later, the Police Department still has this section of the neighborhood shut down. You can see they have a lot of resources out here so they can carry out what seems to be a very significant investigation. My neighbor said she heard a lot of shouting going on, thats about all we know right now. Reporter police tell us that one of those men, a 50 year old, called 911 around midnight to let authorities know there was a man on his front porch who was hurt. That man, who was hurt, was 34 kreers old, taken to the hospital. Police wont tell us what his condition is right now. There have been no arrests, no one taken into custody, but police are getting a better sense of what happened. Officers have also gone door to door to interview neighbors. We were surprised by how many people who didnt realize what happened until they woke up this morning. Reporting live in los gatos, bob redell, nbc bay area news. Unusual for it to be closed for ten hours if it is not a more serious investigation, for sure. Thanks, bob. Well, lets check your markets this morning. The i. P. O. Of a Dog Food Company with all the confetti. Weve got good news on jobs this morning. 214,000 jobs added in the last month, dropping the Unemployment Rate to 5. 8 . Home depot says last septembers hack was worse than we thought. We knew hackers got 56 million credit card numbers. Now were learning more than 50 million email addresses were exposed, as well. Home depot says it knows how this happened, that the bad guys got in using a user name and a password in software used by a third party, but attached to home depots computers, so in a way they are not hackers, because they have the key to the door. Were also learning more about taylor swift. Remember she pulled all her music off spotify earlier this week. She tell yahoo spotify felt like an experiment and shes not willing to contribute her lifes work to an experiment. She said i tried to remain open minded about things, because i do think its important to be a part of progress, but i think its up for debate whether spotify is actual progress. Were going to debate swifts movie this weekend on press here. Right now, the music business is shifting from a record business into really one thats about concert tickets, merchandise, sponsorships, and all of those depend on you having loyal fans, and the way you turn someone from a casual radio listener or someone who heard taylor swifts single one time into a fan that buys those things is letting them listen to the music a ton. Well have that whole debate coming up sunday at 9 00, kris, after meet the press. One of my favorite sunday morning shows, scott. Protesters are vowing to continue their fight against the installation of artificial turf. They are blocking construction crews. They say they installed a fence around the field wednesday after voters weighed in on the future of the fields. So far they show prop i. , which approves artificial turf as pulling ahead. Prop h. , which would have banned the turf, is failing. Opponents say the city should wait until all the votes are counted. People are very upset. I mean, the fact that theyve gone ahead with the construction without waiting for the certification of the vote, a lot of people feel its extremely disrespectful to the democratic process. The park says it has all the proper permits to begin the work, issuing this statement, we are grateful to the voters of San Francisco for voting to let our kids play. We will now proceed with a much needed renovation allowing thousands of kids to play sports in our city. Accusing west coast dock workers of slowing things down to get more leverage at the bargaining tables. This is something you might want to keep an eye on, because it could affect the delivery of holiday goods to the bay area and across the west coast. The Shippers Association says importers are having trouble getting the products to market on time because of labor action. A Union Spokesperson is not denying the slowdown, but says it may be for a number of different reasons, which may predate the recent labor dispute. According to the Pacific Maritime association, the average longshoreman earns 32,000, dock workers have not had a raise, rather not had a contract, since july. Well, not one, but two express lanes may be coming to the south bays busiest traffic corridors. The vta last night discussed how to improve traffic on highway 85 between Mountain View and south san jose. One plan involves turning the car pool lane into a fast pass toll lane like those along interstates 580 and 680, would be limited between 280 and 87. They are looking at a more radical plan building a double express lane, so for car pools, as well, supporters believe it would ease the commute, maybe even indirectly improve air quality. Unbelievable that the traffic moves at a snails pace, people get very frustrated, the cars sit there and spew gases into the air, and i think that adding an additional lane will alleviate, might be better for the environment than having people not move and waste gas at the same time. The vta says the next step is to collect data on all the possibilities on the table. Theres no specific time table yet on implementing any plans. A new Shopping Experience in downtown san jose tonight. In the san jose popup project puts local businesses in vacant buildings and store fronts throughout the downtown area throughout the holiday season. A Ribbon Cutting ceremony will be held at 5 00 tonight at the old san jose Repertory Theater building, which is one of the host locations for the popup project. How do the san antonio raiders sound . Maybe a lot more realistic after today. According to the san Antonio Express news, a group led by the former san antonio mayor is meeting with the oakland Team Officials today. That meeting happening right here in the bay area. He says he has the kind of offer that will make the raiders want to get out of town. Raiders owner mark davis visited san antonio in july, hasnt commented on the latest report, but hes previously said he hopes to work out a deal to keep the raiders in oakland. Christina loren would be sad, shes a die hard raiders fan. Yes, she is. Early this morning, people started lining up outside a nonprofit hoping to help their families have a happy holiday season. Youre right, it was people, not police. Giving away boxes of food with either a turkey or ham to thousands of families for thanksgiving and christmas. They do it every year. This morning is when the folks who need that little bit of help signed up for it. They lined up to register to get that donation later this month. We talked with a family of six who started waiting at 3 30 this morning. Im very grateful for the community, sacred heart community. Its been helping my family for a lot of stuff. 75 of our families are working families. They work fulltime, sometimes even more than one job, and still its being incredibly hard. For the working poor in the Silicon Valley, thats for sure. Sacred heart is also giving away toys to kids this holiday season, so i suspect well be telling you how you can help. Not this saturday, i think the following saturday, you and i will be outside the safeway raising money and food. Which helps sacred heart, so its all a big collaboration. Look for us. Gopro cameras are known for taking us places theyve never been before. The last frontier is space. Check out this video of a gopro camera moving through water in zero gravity. Astronauts at the International Space station shot this video this summer. This is science. They were doing it to examine the phenomenon of Water Surface tension in zero gravity. Also because it was fun. Im calling shenanigans on this. Christina loren, this was not science. Hey, we have a gopro in space. Get it to move. Thats interesting, though, but you do have to love gravity, after all, its why we are able to have life on this beautiful planet, and i could tell you right now, that negative 9. 8 meters per Second Square helped to force this fog to the surface this morning. Thats the speed of gravity, in case youre wondering. Also we have High Pressure firmly in control and that helped, as well. Thats right, science, and we love it downtown san jose showing you a beautiful clear sky right now. We were so foggy earlier, it was a tough drive for a lot of people getting to work this morning. Was difficult. You know what, getting out of town is still difficult as we have these delays and some cancellations due to the thick fog out of sfo, so you do want to check ahead if youre picking someone up from the airport or you yourself are trying to catch a flight for today. As we get into the next three hours, thats our window of clearing, and you will see the sun, even over the san mateo bridge, still sopped in at this hour. Temperatures are starting to climb, but its still cool out there, 58 degrees, for example, on the east shore. 64, meanwhile, getting the sunshine in the south bay. Peninsula at 62, and were going to finish off the day with really comfortable temperatures. You can open up the windows in your home, good air quality and building ocean breeze as we get into this afternoon. Your weather headlines really tell the story. Fog burns off by 2 00 all across the board. Weve got a warmer bay area weekend, bringing these numbers up by a good five to ten degrees between today and tomorrow, then the rain returns next week. And its kind of an interesting pattern. We have rain chances starting tuesday, through next friday. Its going to be very different when we meet back here next week, but before we get to that rain, a gorgeous weekend coming your way. Temps in the 80s inland. Thats it, low 70s for you at the coast. Bringing numbers up a bit for monday, then by tuesday, temperatures really start to crash and our next system starts to set up. Now, the molds have been back and forth on the timing of this rain. Im still calling for showers as of tuesday, but it looks like the heavy stuff moves in as we head through late wednesday, into thursday, even friday of next week, and were talking about a sub tropical moisture tap that could bring us very generous totals. Its looking good, something for everybody in the forecast. If you have not made plans just yet, well tell you whats going on and give you the forecast for big events happening across the bay area coming up. Right now, back to you, kris and scott. After today, id prefer the big raindrops over that pesky fog. That was a weird drive to work. Yeah. Well, brett favre. Favre. Which is what they say in the movie. In that movie, something about mary. Well, he is very well known, obviously, even if his name is hard to pronounce, but did you know he was the third choice . Well tell you which 49er actually topped favre for that movie coming up. Right now we have breaking news for you happening in downtown san jose. Firefighters are working some kind of gas leak at one south Market Street in santa clara. Were hearing reports of evacuations and of smoke. We do have a crew headed to the scene and were going to follow it for you. A lot of folks in that area, one market is one of the big financial buildings, so clearly, a lot of folks could be affected. Were going to bring you the latest details as they come in. Serious news. But as we continue some of the fun things, this little tiny Boston Bruins fan taking the internet by storm. I dont know if youve seen this. Little fans are the best. The video of the 8 year old received almost 1. 5 million views. Look at him, you can barely see him, little peanut, on tuesday night, he was there to cheer on his favorite team, getting the chance to bump fists with the players as they left after warmups. Liam was diagnosed with leukemia at age four and was cleared by doctors six months ago. His mom says liams favorite question to ask the players is always, what are the keys to the game . Hes got to know. He will be an announcer. Well, brett favres appearance in the movie something about mary almost never happened. In a recent interview, the fairley brothers said he was their third choice for the role. Favre took the news in stride, joking, had i known that, i would have never done it. The directors first choice was drew bledsoe, okay, but he had recently gotten into a little legal trouble. The second choice, then, was steve young. Apparently told them it was a funny script, but he couldnt do the movie because it was r rated and didnt want his mormon kids sneaking into the flick. Also led to the favre jokes, which i thought was funny. Its in the movie. Going to infinity and beyond again. Disneys ceo confirmed buzz, woody, and the gang are coming back to the big screen for toy story 4, set for release june 2017. The director also directed toy story and toy story 2. He said the characters are like family to him and he doesnt want to do anything with them unless it lives up to or surpasses whats gone before. The first toy story was released in 1995. Also jesse is going to be in it. He was so good, they edit it so well, i dont know how theyll do the fourth. Still to come, an Investigative Unit exclusive. We absolutely are seeing more aggressive water stealing by marijuana cultivators. Armed and organized, illegal pot growers have stolen more than a billion gallons of our water. Well investigate how dangerous criminals are getting away with sucking california dry. Hey john, check it out. Whoa yeah, i was testing to see if we really can turn any device in your house into a tv. And the tablet worked just fine. But i wanted to see if the phone would work as well. So i shrunk sharon. Every channel is live just like on tv. But its my phone. Its genius. Shh im watching tv. Tiny sharon is mean. Im right here. Watch any channel live on any device around your home. Download the xfinity tv app today. Looking for one of these . Yoplait. Smooth, creamy, and craved by the whole family. And we have new details on that breaking news in downtown san jose. Firefighters are working an underground gas leak at one south market at santa clara street. Officials say several buildings are filling up with gas and forcing a mass evacuation. Firefighters are calling in Additional Units because of the extent of this ruptured line. Pg e workers are also there, and we have several crews who are gathering the latest information. It is a very populated area, lots of highrise buildings and Cesar Chavez Plaza is right there. Also information for the photographer for San Jose Fire Department who says all of the structures on Market Street from santa clara to post are now being evacuated. So all of those folks will be out and we will have crews there shortly and bring you more as we get it. Its a hot commodity, plenty of people stealing it, water being stolen by marijuana growers. We had discovered millions of gallons being siphoned from public land. Whats the big deal . Well, its theft. Illegal pot growers have set up shop on our public lands and in our parks in order to grow, you need water, a lot of it, and we found some farmers are going to extreme measures to steal that water from nature and local communities. They are heading into the state park near morgan hill. This is video the team of california fish and wildlife wardens gave us. They are following a sophisticated piping system that leads them to this illegal marijuana grow of 8,000 plants. You can see the chemicals. Reporter the water was stolen from a ranchers nearby property. We heard a shot. We didnt know if they were shooting at us or not. Reporter he agreed to talk to us if we hid his identity. He bought this secluded ranch this summer, but didnt know about his illegal neighbors. Shortly after moving in, the rancher noticed the water levels in his lake dropped dramatically. So wild a lake could go down six feet in a matter of three weeks. Reporter he soon discovered hundreds of feet of piping were being used to move the water from his lake to the illegal grow. Its something you wouldnt even imagine, theyd build through rocks, trees, they would divert through these canyons. We absolutely are seeing more aggressive water stealing than ever before because water is getting much more limited with the drought. Reporter a first of its kind Marijuana Enforcement Team with the California Department of fish and wildlife. The team is trained in military tactics. This way go, go, go reporter using what theyve learned in the last two years, the wardens have seized about a half million plants illegally grown on public land and nourished by stolen water. We call it, you know, the black gold for our growers. As long as they have water in our woods that are hidden and they can get water to their plants long enough to successfully harvest their plants, they are going to go ahead and do that. Reporter the total, 1. 2 billion gallons of water stolen from California Public land and parks in just the last two years. And to put 1. 2 billion gallons of water into perspective, thats like filling up 2,000 olympicsized pools like this one. They have taken every single drop out of this creek. Reporter just this year, his team has found 136 water dams pot farmers built to divert water from its natural path to their crops. Like at this bust near bakersfield. Growers created seven reservoirs, some capable of storing 5,000 gallons. It took away most of the water supply from the nearby tule river American Indian tribe. And in Shasta National forest in redding, Law Enforcement discovered nearly 3,000 plants in august. We hiked along for the cleanup and saw the trash, chemicals and more than eight miles worth of plastic irrigation piping left behind. This water diversion and this water pipe right here was responsible, if not been found for the end of the year, for 3. 6 million gallons of water. The risk is everything weve worked so hard to save will unravel. Reporter he says his organization has fought for years to preserve public land, but the water being siphoned off by illegal grows is drying out the habitat and threatening the wildlife. A mature marijuana plant requires eight gallons of day. We have hundreds of thousands of these plants on our public land being watered by stolen water. I think setting some stronger penalties in place is part of the solution. Reporter congressman huffman represents californias most northern district. 60 of the marijuana produced in america comes from his district. Especially this year, the worst drought year californias ever seen, i think its more important than ever to crack down on water theft. Reporter hes authored the plant act. It increases the criminal penalties against those who steal our resources to illegally grow marijuana. I hope well give prosecutors a new tool to make a difference. Im losing my water. We love the water here. Reporter as for the people affected by the water loss, for now all they can hope for is more enforcement and rain. Once the water is gone, is there any way to make up for it . No. In the last two years, the Marijuana Enforcement Team has arrested 436 trespassing pot growers in california. About 55 of those arrests were on public land and in public parks. To learn more about the environmental damage left behind, go to our website, nbcbayarea. Com. Elise kirchner, nbc bay area news. If you have a tip for our Investigative Unit, give us a call, 888996tips, or send an email. This morning were getting an exclusive behind the scenes look at the facility where the u. S. Army is waging war against the ebola virus. Nbcs Carrie Sanders shows it to us. Reporter the u. S. Army has been studying ebola for decades, and because of their safety and security procedures, i was able to get within four feet of the deadly ebola virus. Behind that tiny window, scientists at the u. S. Army medical Research Institute of Infectious Diseases are looking for a weakness in the ebola virus. This is a rare peek into a lab where the nations top military microbiologists are racing a clock, to find that one vaccine that will stop ebola dead in its tracks. Its frustratingly slow work. Teams here began looking for that elusive vaccine when ebola was first discovered in africa. That was in 1976. Is it uncomfortable being that close to ebola . I would say im not uncomfortable being this close. We go through a rigorous safety and training program. Reporter and its that life or death attention to safety that leaves scientists working in slow motion. What youre going to do is take this arm and slide it straight through the glove side. Reporter and from where im standing here, 50 feet that way, some of the most deadly viruses in the world. Its not just ebola, but anthrax, botulism, viruses and bacteria that need countermeasures in case somebody uses them as a weapon, but for now the focus is on ebola. On the cusp of a vaccine . We are. We are on the cusp. There are vaccines ready to go. Reporter a half dozen vaccines fast tracked for human trial. Those vaccines have been known to protect monkeys from ebola infections, which makes this a potentially pivotal moment, as almost 5,000 victims in west africa have died. Are you hopeful ebola can be beaten . I think the current outbreak can be controlled. Im not sure its ever a virus were going to beat, but i dont see any reason why we cant develop effective treatments for it. Reporter for those who sometimes wonder what are the benefits for the military beyond wartime, the teams here have developed therapies that helped save some of those u. S. Health care workers who were exposed to ebola and the teams here have also come up with a test that can now determine if ebola is in somebodys bloodstream within three hours. At fort detrick, nbc news. And we continue our coverage of breaking news. An evacuation in downtown san jose at one south market. We do apparently have a Business Owner on the phone, as well. John conway, john, can you hear me okay . Yes, i can. Tell us exactly what happened there. Getting ready for our normal lunch crowd and i looked out the front and saw a number of kruck workers standing in the middle of santa clara street and beyond them at the construction site there was a big cloud of what looked like dust, but apparently a main gas line was ruptured. Police had just arrived on the scene and they were in the process of shutting down the street and people were being evacuated from the area. Have you been evacuated from your business thats across the street from that location . Reporter we have shut our doors and moved all of our staff out on to the other side street around the corner. So you say that it was powerful enough that obviously, you cant see natural gas, but if there is dust because of construction there, you saw a puff or cloud going up . It looked like a cloud of dust, but it was apparently a main gas line. I dont know how gas became visible, but it was a significant rupture. We can mention, you know, the location that youre talking about, one south market, is a rather Large Development thats under construction as part of the city of san joses, you know, general plan for housing in the downtown area, about 300 units of housing and then some commercial space. That has been under construction for about a year now. Have you witnessed any other trouble out there . No. Its been pretty smooth so far. This is, obviously, the first incident, but police are on the scene, Fire Departments on the scene and pg e is on their way. Everybody is responding appropriately, and hopefully it turns out to be nothing more than a leak. Now, whats the urgency like . You said you closed your doors and you moved to your other location, but are you feeling a sense of urgency from responders, police or fire in the area, telling folks to really kind of take the warning and get out . Certainly, a tense scene. Gas can enflame at any time. We all remember the san bruno incident, so were hoping this is something that can be shut down without any further incident. And is that, i mean, is that really the first thing that crossed your mind . We all feel a little battle wounded after san bruno. Yeah, i think you see what the power of a major gas leak can do, and, again, if it ignited, it could cause significant damage and disruption and hopefully people are sufficiently away from that spot, so that nobody will be injured. Which is your business down there, john . The brick can arms on santa clara, 173 west santa clara street. Have you been in contact with neighboring Business Owners . I would assume you know each other pretty well. Are they evacuating, as well . Im not sure whats happening to the west of us, but i do know the construction crews and police have blocked off the area to the east of us. All right, john conway, stay safe out there, and if things change, do call us back and let us know. In the meantime, we have Nannette Miranda and a number of other crews on the way to this, again, a ruptured gas line in downtown san jose at one south market. That would be at west santa clara street, just off of market there, as john mentioned, i suspect a lot of people know quite well. If youre watching us, and chances are you are not in that area, but if you have loved ones who live in the downtown area and they have been evacuated, wed love to hear from them and see their pictures. You can also tag us on twitter and we can get in contact that way, as well. You can also send email or video to isee at nbcbayarea. Com. In fact, were going to have a lye picture shortly, there you get a live picture of the situation. This is a construction site. A back hoe apparently hit this very large gas main, this according to the San Jose Fire Department, and there have been evacuations of many buildings, several office buildings, and kris points out they are attempting to build a residential area, as well. Just north of the cathedral, if you know, and Cesar Chavez Plaza, as well, towards santa clara street. A number of other businesses. It is the lunchtime hour, so a lot of folks might have been out and about and not in their offices, where they would have gotten that notice to evacuate, but hopefully there are enough First Responders there to make sure everybody clears out of the area. In the meantime, well take a short commercial break. Welcome back. We continue to cover breaking news in downtown san jose. This is at one south market. This would be market and santa clara streets. You can see the streets being blocked off after a major gas leak. Clearly, this is a quickly developing scene. You see the construction worker out there running the caution tape still, so the area not complete liquor donned off, though folks who are in that area are being asked to evacuate from their businesses. The construction site there where it appears that that fourinch line was ruptured is a big construction project going on in downtown san jose. Its been kind of the pride of mayor chuck reed, who is trying to bring more development and more housing to downtown. So its a pretty big project. About 300 units of family housing, along with some commercial development, as well, and so it is a major undertaking there. We were just talking to the owner of the britania arms a short minute ago. He said he saw a huge cloud of dust up in the air as the gas line was hit. It was shooting the dust from the construction up into the air. Now, buildings in the area have been evacuated. They were talking about with some of the gas getting into those buildings. There are several office buildings, as well. If you are in one of these places, you should be paying close attention to whatever people are telling you, the authorities on the ground, as to whether its a shelter in place or an evacuation. Here we see a map of the area. Again, this would be santa clara street, west santa clara street, and south market. The specific address, one south market. The photographer for the San Jose Fire Department has told us that south market, the buildings on south market that are kind of under evacuation orders are the ones between santa clara street and post street, and those folks are being asked to leave immediately, but, of course, this is the lunchtime hour, so folks are perhaps not where they are supposed to be. If you know someone who works in that area, give them a ring and tell them whats happening and to steer clear. You know, you mentioned, scott, we were talking to that Business Owner right across the street from one south market, and he said his first thought was of what happened in san bruno, the fact that a gas line is a very powerful thing and can be devastating if it goes wrong. It did sound as if this was a construction accident. Obviously, well know a lot more as the day comes through. Nobody hurt, at least nobody that we are aware of. And it was a back hoe that hit this, but, yes, this, just the memories of san bruno make us that much more cautious when it comes to these very large gas lines. The gas lines in your house are very small and under low pressure. The feeder lines are under tremendous amount of pressure, and when they get hit, you get pictures like this. There you can see the dust shooting up into the air. This picture sent into us on twitter, and we do encourage you, if you have video or pictures, to send them in on twitter were at nbcbayarea. You can also email them to isee nbcbayarea. Com. We have Damian Trujillo and Nannette Miranda gathering more information, as well. But right now we want to check in with christina loren, as well. Hi, there. You know whats interesting about this situation, we just saw the dust flying up into the atmosphere, whether its gas or dust, i can tell you right now, its not going to travel very far, because we have very light wind in downtown san jose right now. Also its nice and clear out there. We had some thick fog earlier. Its nice and clear for responders headed out in that direction. As we said before, were gathering that information as you and i speak right now. 67 degrees in livermore, 64 in san jose. San francisco still showing you that thick fog this morning, and slight delays, weve got one to twohour flight delays out of sfo, so you want to keep that in mind. A couple cancellations for flights scheduled to head out to sacramento, as well, its a get away friday, so you want to keep that in mind, especially if youre headed out to pick someone up from the airport or trying to fly out of town, those delays have been in place for quite some time, so you could be impacted. As we get into this afternoon, though, this should clear out by about 2 00 and were looking good for a fantastic weekend. Temperatures in the 80s and still counting on that rain as we get into next week. Looks like wednesday, thursday. Now im going to send it back to you and that breaking news, kris and scott. Thank you, christina. We have Damian Trujillo out live at the gas leak. Damian, can you hear us, there you are. Damian, go right ahead. Reporter yeah, well, it seems like at this point were being told that the two buildings have been evacuated, everyone else here on busy Market Street have been asked to shelter in place. Right now im on the corner of Market Street and san fernando street. The incident is north of here headed towards santa clara street. I can see a cement truck that is right in the middle of the street right now. Im not sure if that has anything to do with whats going on. I dont hear any hissing sound from my Vantage Point right here. I do have a sense of a gas odor here, even though im a block and a half away from where this incident allegedly occurred. Its controlled chaos here right now on Market Street. Not a lot of running around. Police officers, firefighters, and pg e crews trying to decide how they are going to attack this situation here. Count dentally, this incident happened about two or three blocks from the main pg e headquarters here on almaden in downtown san jose, so firefighters at this point are still assessing the situation. Again, im somewhat removed from the incident, but i am downwind from it. I can still smell the odor of gas at this point, and so police are being very cautious. Theyve had to escort one lady who went on the other side of the police tape at this point, yelling and hollering at her to get out of the way. This is a very busy street, very busy intersection, especially right now during the as we approach lunch hour right now. Police are being very diligent. I see several ambulances on standby down the street a bit to make sure if anything, in fact, happens, that they are ready for that. At this point, we havent heard of anything, any injuries so far, but we will try to keep you posted. I see some people who are mingling on the sidewalk and on the street. The immediate buildings, where i am, i see people coming out, some employees coming out for their lunch hour. Doesnt seem like theyve been impacted or evacuated at this point, but i do, again, scott and kris, i do have the smell of gas from my Vantage Point right in front of st. Josephs cathedral. Thank you very much, damian. Stay safe out there. It is difficult, a lot of times Law Enforcement tries to evacuate people, puts up a perimeter and people want to argue, think it doesnt affect them. In this case it does. This is a serious situation, as damian said, it is controlled chaos, you know, as First Responders try to mitigate the danger and also address the situation. Nobody hurt as far as we know, at least not so far. Well take a quick break and be back in just a minute. Dear scan, ive been a scan member for almost two years and have been very satisfied with the plan. I would like to thank you and your organization from top to bottom. I recently called into scan regarding a claims problem. I had been going round and round with a problem with a Prescription Drug order. It is nice to know that one phone call to you, and you take care of it right away. Your kindness and helpfulness has been appreciated more than you will ever know. I could not have done it without your help. Ill never be able to thank them enough. Uh. And its the truth. Thank you so much. Sincerely, donna markow. Sincerely, shirley ramgren. Sincerely, shirley ramgren. Thats what really sets scan apart from everybody else. Scan cares. I dont know a better way to say it than, the heart of scan. Scan, for your health and independence. And we are back, continuing our coverage of breaking news in downtown san jose, where a fourinch gas line was ruptured by a back hoe. We see there pg e crews, some of the massive trucks arriving there to address the situation. Theres Damian Trujillo, who is also reporting for our partners, telemundo 48. Hes giving information in both. What he told us, though, he is downwind of that situation and he can smell the gas closer to st. Joseph basilica, which is in the same block as one south market. There you see a map, although the specifics, west santa clara street, south market, where those cross, that would be about two blocks north of Cesar Chavez Plaza, as well. What we understand is that a back hoe hit a fourinch gas line. We were talking earlier how big and how High Pressure those gas lines are. And now we have captain mike van elgore on the phone from San Jose Fire Department. What can you tell us right now . What is the level of the danger . Good afternoon. You exactly right have the location exactly. It is two blocks north of the park, and the danger initially is very high, you had a very High Pressure line expelling a large volume of gas. Thankfully, when its close to that, its too rich to actually catch fire and was able to disseminate before it caught on fire. At this point, pg e is on scene with their fast action crew working on capping the line. We do have a much diminished amount of volume being expelled from the pipe, and i feel like were moving very quickly towards complete tapping of the leak and restoring all the normal functions. We did evacuate all the nearby buildings to ensure that there was no gas leaking into the hvac systems or open windings, potentially finding an ignition switch. We also sheltered in place buildings downwind to protect the people that were in those buildings. First alarm on scene, about 35 firefighters, and our Hazardous Materials unit, as well, and we are making good progress. Captain, i want to make sure i understand what youre saying, is the pipe actually shut down at this point or is it still leaking . So at this point, we have a diminished leak from the hole in the pipe. And youre saying partially capped, but not completely controlled. Youre saying its rich, its got no oxygen in it and wont catch fire . So, initially, right at the source, yeah, its too rich, theres not enough oxygen to catch fire, youre correct. Our concern would be as it thins out and reaches that flammable range, that it finds ignition source and lights it up. Thats exactly right. That was part of the strategy behind sheltering in place downwind and evacuating close by. Youre exactly right. Do you have a number of folks who you had to evacuate . Can you estimate how many people are impacted . I have no idea. Its a pretty good number. These are large buildings here, downtown san jose, right in the heart of the downtown. I could estimate several thousands, possibly about a thousand, but no, we dont know exactly how many we evacuated. We were talking with some of our reporters earlier, and Damian Trujillo was saying that there was a woman who was straight across the street as if the evacuation and shelter in place didnt apply to her. We heard some of our colleagues saying theyve seen people smoking cigarettes. How dangerous is it for people to be carrying around as normal, even innocently, doing their regular business . Thats another excellent question. Natural gas has an odor added to it. If you can smell that odor, there is natural gas present. Thankfully, the odor is detectable far below the reaches of flammable range, so there is some risk if youre walking nearby with a cigar or cigarette or some other ignition course, but, obviously, we very quickly ensured we limited those options and reduced the risk. Captain, what kind of timeline are we thinking as far as getting it to a safe situation where people can return back to their offices . Thats another excellent question. Were hoping within the next hour to have a completely capped. We are going to need to access the shutoff valve at a different location. Pg e is currently on the scene accessing that shutoff valve. As i said, we have a greatly diminished amount of volume at this point, so i think the risk has diminished, but has not been dissolved yet. This was a, you know, Major Development site, so those folks are supposed to know what they are doing. Some of us have along the back fence in our neighborhoods a reminder if youre going to dig, you have to ask pg e if its safe to dig at that point. Does it appear perhaps this may have been labeled improperly or was it kind of just an accident . Thats a good question, youre absolutely right and i really appreciate you bringing up the importance of making sure you know where your lines are. This is, obviously, a major construction, those lines were clearly marked. You would imagine on the asphalt. I cant comment on why it ended up occurring. Construction crew will do a complete investigation. From our perspective, its about, you know, safety and security. We want to protect the citizens and mitigate the hazard. Okay, were looking at video right now that well describe for you, we see firefighters on the scene. Though this is a gas line, were seeing water going out on to that. Whats the reason for that . So, we are keeping it wet to prevent any sparks, so thats part of a tactic to keep it wet so there is