bracing for the next wave of storms this weekend. let's start in the north bay. people living near the russian river are on evacuation watch. they expect flood level stages tonight of the russian river at 33 feet. on the coast, high tides in pacifica. look at this here. you can see the waves crashing into the pier. there's currently a high surf warning, and you can see why. the waves are strong. there's also a flood watch in the area as well. frustration and desperation also setting in. some people have resorted to stealing sandbags. in san francisco, this coffee shop owner got sandbags after the shop flooded last weekend. he started out with 14. now he's down to 5. and what's worse, his daughter went to the beach to fill those bags herself. this storm has turned deadly for a family in sonoma county. a redwood tree came crashing down on their double-wide mobile home. a 2-year-old boy was trapped. nbc's velena jones talked with the boy's family and joins us now in the town of occidental. good evening, velena. >> reporter: good evening, raj. you know, this is just an unimaginable pain that this family is experiencing right now. they're relatively new to the area, and ahead of the storm, they asked people if she should be concerned about redwoods falling down. and up until now, you know, neighbors have been saying that this is just so uncommon. this doesn't happen. that is, until last night. >> he brought life, and we're all in -- we're all in shock. >> reporter: it's the smile and bright blonde that got this 2 1/2-year-old his nickname, goldie. tonight it's a memory his grandma, eileen, is trying desperately to hold on to. >> he was always loving, telling you how much he loved you to everybody. always smiling, always happy, always dancing. >> reporter: last night, his mom was outside walking towards her home in occidental when she saw part of a redwood tree come crashing into her living room, where her toddler was sitting. >> it just dropped the house right in front of me. and i thought my husband and my son were dead. and then my husband, he jumped out of the trash, and he just screamed, oh, my son. >> reporter: her husband and neighbors helped pull the toddler from from underneath the branches, but it was too late. fire crews tried in vain to save his life. >> i didn't sleep at all last night. i can't get her wailing out of my head, and i cannot imagine what she must be going through. >> reporter: through their pain -- >> his life was a short life, but his life has made a difference, and it will continue to make a difference. >> reporter: the toddler's family is trying to hold on to the joy he brought to their lives and says like his name, which means eternity, he will forever be in their hearts. >> he was just a goldie. he was just pure. just a little angel, and he was just happy. >> reporter: you can hear the pain in the family's voice, and your heart just breaks for that family. they tell me that after that initial impact, two more trees came down onto their property, both on that mobile home and their truck, destroying everything that they own. i talked to fire crews, and they said that it was really common for just normal trees to be coming down throughout the course of last night's storm. they responded to about 50 downed trees just last night. reporting live in occidental, velena jones, nbc bay area news. >> velena, what a heartbreaking story. we will be thinking of the family as we move forward. we do need to look at the forecast now. so we are going to bring in chief meteorologist jeff ranieri. i saw a glimmer of sunshine today driving in, praying that that means we get a little bit of a break. >> there is going to be a little break here as we move through the next 24 hours, which is exactly what we all need. we are waterlogged. we're cleaning up damage and some of you, injuries or worse. what i want to show you to start off with is a flood warning that continues here over contra costa, alameda counties for just a little bit longer until 6:45 tonight. that's just because a lot of the creeks and streams are running very high and also very fast. so if you approach any water, again, you're not sure of the depth of it, turn around. head in the other direction as flooding is a number-one killer when it comes to weather. it only takes one to two feet of water to actually carry a car away. be careful out there tonight as that sun sets. otherwise, the bulk of the storm system has now moved out. we do have a few stubborn areas of rainfall left on doppler radar. you can see some of that right over oakland and emeryville, moving off through orinda, pittsburg, and antioch through 6:28 tonight. we're tracking heavier rain over fremont. that's going to be developing up into pleasanton and livermore through the next 30, 40 minutes as well. again, a break in the action tomorrow. there's that window of clearing. then here comes the next one. we have the same exact setup we just had with the last storm. the storm track is moving right over california. then we have this atmospheric river that's going to join in with it and boost those totals up. i wanted to show you what i know about that storm and what we're seeing right now. it looks like wet weather this weekend, saturday and sunday. wide-ranging totals, though. that's the one thing that's going to be a little different about this storm compared to what we just experienced. so, again, not everybody is going to get those high, high totals. the creeks and streams are going to remain dangerous. landslide potential. we'll see some on and off wind gusts of 20 to 40 and also that heavy sierra snow. i wanted to take you to the russian river at guerneville. tomorrow it's at 26 feet. that is below flood stage, but we do think it's going to get up to moderate flood stage late sunday and monday, 35.8 feet. so some parts of guerneville will experience some flooding. we've got more details on what to expect this weekend and everything coming in about 15 minutes. >> all right, jeff. we'll see you soon. transaction. people who live in a point richmond neighborhood remain evacuated as engineers monitor the hillside above their homes. crews were back out inspecting the hillside on seaview drive and seacliff way. you can see it here. earlier this week, large cracks appeared in the hillside. the city then called for an evacuation of 15 homes. richmond mayor tom butt said today the homeowners association has taken over work on the hillside and is developing a plan to address it. some neighbors just beyond the evacuation zone woke to find their gas turned off as a precautionary measure. >> because right now our gas is turned off. you know, the house is kind of chilly this morning, but i understand why. overall, you're trying to say, hey, let's make sure everybody is safe. >> the city tells us it hasn't yet decided when it will let people return to their homes. if you're planning to go up to the sierra, you might want to reconsider. there is a winter storm warning. as we reported earlier, parts of the mountain had record snowfall over the past week. the snow is great, of course, for skiers and boarders, but it's dangerous and can be treacherous to get up there for drivers. caltrans says right now, it's, quote, very difficult to impossible to get up to the lake tahoe area. a warning will remain in effect until late tomorrow afternoon, so maybe hold off until the weekend to access those slopes. highway 50 right now, caltrans says the road is closed near echo summit for avalanche control. no word yet on when 50 is expected to reopen. we will continue our storm coverage throughout this newscast and this evening. but up next, we want to catch you up on some other headlines, including a security guard killed in san francisco's (steven) every time i come to see caremore, they go abovee and d beyond to o take care e . i feel a l lot better r now. i'm takiking medicatation for t i shshould have e been takining years agago. 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(vo) call the n number on y your scn to learnrn more abouout medice plans inin your neigighborhoo that include caremore. a tragic story in san francisco. a security guard in japantown was murdered, and two young teenagers are suspected of the crime. >> nbc bay area's christie smith has the story. >> reporter: tonight, there are flowers, candles, and a note that reads "rest in peace, gavin" near where a security guard was shot yesterday. steps away, broken glass and damage from the bullets that killed him. >> the tenants inside the mall, they really had close contact. >> reporter: grace is executive director of the japantown community benefit district. today the organization posted condolences on social media. the city's medical examiner identified the victim as 40-year-old gavin boston. >> even though the security staff were only here since november, they really, you know, built that bond there. and as you saw earlier, some of the tenants came by to lay flowers, and they're just all devastated. we are all devastated. >> i heard sounds, wu now i think it was the breaking glass. >> reporter: a merchant who did not want to show her face said boston had a great personality and didn't get emotional in tense situations. tonight she's trying to put together what may have occurred. >> i heard that he asked two kids go out. go outside, because nicely he escort two kids to outside. >> reporter: there's a camera program in japantown and we're told video is provided to police. shortly after, they arrested two teens, a 15-year-old on submission of murder and a 14-year-old as an alleged accessory. today a member of the street violence intervention program was here and shared thoughts about how suspects seem to be getting younger and younger. >> they see a lot of things promoted on social media, which it's hard to control. part of it is gun violence. so this is what, for me, i truly believe it helps trigger some of that. >> reporter: supervisor dean preston's office shared a statement expressing shock and sadness and extending condolences to the victim's loved ones. >> it's no fair. it's more than sad. >> reporter: tonight, a community mourns and tries to understand what led to another senseless killing. christie smith, nbc bay area news. we have new information tonight in the brutal murders of those four idaho college students. the man accused in the killings made his first court appearance today. bryan kohberger is accused of fatally stabbing university of idaho students inside of a home in november while they were sleeping. newly released court records detail how a knife sheath was discovered at the scene of the crime next to one of the victims. records also indicate that dna on the sheath matched dna found in the trash at the home of kohberger's parents in pennsylvania. according to his attorney, though, kohberger intends to plead not guilty. today the judge informed him of the consequences if found guilty. >> the maximum penalty for this offense, if you were to plead guilty or be found guilty, is death or imprisonment for life. >> life in prison or the death penalty up there in idaho. the newly released documents also indicate that one of the roommates who was in the home at the time of the killings came in contact with the attacker before he left the home. we're going to turn now to positive developments today on the condition of football player damar hamlin. the buffalo bills safety suffered cardiac arrest during monday night football. he has been in a medically induced coma since then, but today doctors say hamlin began showing remarkable improvement. he's regained some consciousness and can even move his hands and feet. >> as of this morning, he is beginning to awaken, and it appears that his neurological condition and function is intact. >> hamlin is not yet able to speak, but he can communicate by writing. he asked doctors who won monday's game. a doctor responded, "you, damar. you won the game of life." >> that is a nice story, and the prayers of a nation are with this young man. so glad to get some good news. >> truly incredible news. and we continue to watch not only damar hamlin, but the storm here. you say there could be potential good news on the horizon? >> there's at least a little break coming our way. >> drying out here. >> take it. >> i have a flooded garage. i'm happy that there's sunshine tomorrow hopefully. >> i was cleaning up some damage too. i know we're like a lot of folks, assessing things. tomorrow is going to be a good day for that. then more is lining up for us. i wanted to start off with a look at our storm totals and how things shaped up for us. we know we had heavy downpours. we all heard the wind last night. you can see santa cruz mountains just got hammered, 4 to 7 inches there. north bay mountains, 2 to 5 inches. san francisco, 2.15 inch. redwood city, 1.59. san jose at 1.51. that is a strong storm. but when you add on what we have seen over the past ten days, it's more than a month's worth of rainfall. just astonishing here. 12.33 in kentfield. danville, 11.79. redwood city, you have had a lot of problems there with 8.31 inches. south bay ranging 2 to 7. so the ground is saturated. so saturated because of all this rainfall. we're going to undergo potentially more problems as each one of these storm systems rolls t. let's show you what's happening on stormranger and doppler radar. the bulk of this is done for us, okay? we just have a few straggling showers here across the bay area. a few moderate and isolated heavier pockets. we'll put a track on it. this is now starting to move a little off towards the south through alamo and danville as we head into 6:12 tonight. san ramon by 6:31. so as we roll through tomorrow, again, a little bit of a break. so time to do some of that cleanup, assess what maybe you have to fix before that next storm rolls in. a lot of us have to do something with those gutters. 54 in santa rosa. the next storm system, it is just offshore tomorrow. you can see it right here pointed up towards you're eek ca by tomorrow afternoon. as we roll through this weekend, we do expect it right there to start moving into the north bay by 9:00 in the morning. then we're going to see it swing down to the south bay and peninsula and east bay through saturday afternoon. as we head into sunday, this is where it could get pretty dicey for us by the morning. looks to be a very strong line of thunderstorms, maybe even some small hail that's going to rake across the bay area through sunday morning. then on and off periods of rainfall through sunday. the thing that's different about this storm is the rainfall totals. on saturday, we're looking at a quarter to about one inch for most of the bay area. look up towards guerneville. that's going to be the bull's-eye. two-plus inches. we add on sunday's totals and cumulatively here, we're good for about one to three inches through the bay area. but notice the bull's-eye. santa cruz mountains again and right up towards the north bay, especially guerneville, which this weekend could see four-plus inches of rain. so, again, flooding is expected along the russian river in guerneville. sierra snow, next five days, not a good idea to head up there. you can see why. 69 inches in kirkwood. 63 in kingvale. 22 blue canyon. 30 right there in south lake tahoe. so on the seven-day forecast, again, tomorrow we're considering it a break in the forecast. saturday, that storm arrives. sunday, potential of thunderstorms. stronger storm next monday and tuesday. that's the one i'm concerned about. we could see 1 1/2 to 4 inches with that storm next monday and tuesday. here's the other thing. next wednesday and thursday, not totally sold on this yet. just calling for 60% to 70% chance we see something roll in next wednesday and thursday. i'll keep you up to date on that. but saturday through tuesday, it's coming back for us. >> it is coming back. at least we know and we're preparing for these next several days. up next, we're going to take you to welcome back. the stock market is down again after gains yesterday. it fell today after data showed the labor market is still going strong. employers at the 235,000 jobs in december. that plus the increase in wages exceeded the expectations of economists. investors are now concerned the wage growth may mean more inflation. many big-name companies have announced huge layoffs, but it remains to be seen when rates of hiring will slow down. pope benedict has been laid to rest at the vatican. around 50,000 people gathered to watch the funeral of the former pope in sarnt peter's square this morning. pallbearers brought the body to an altar in the square, where the current pope, pope francis, led his funeral service. benedict was the first pope in 600 years to resign, but he may not be the last. pope francis also plans to resign if his health ever impacts his duties. the body of pope benedict was entombed under the vatican after the service. we're going to take a turn now and talk about the 49ers and how they're preparing for the regular season finale with all this rain. anthony flores talks with the team abouthat could be a soggy w busisiness can h happen anytime,e, anywhere.e. so h help yours s thrive ad stay c connected w with the comcasast businessss complee connnnectivity s solution. it's the l largest, fafaste, reliablele network.. adadvanced gigig speed wif. anand cyberthrhreat protecec. startingng at just $49.99 a a month. plusus, you can n save upup to 60% a a year whenen you add comcast t business m mobil. oror, ask how w to get upp to a $ $750 prepaiaid card. complelete connectctivity. one solulution, for r wherever b business takes s you. comcmcast busineness. popowering posossibilities. welcome back. as the bay area gets drenched, the 49ers are keeping a close eye on the weekend forecast. they are preparing for a soggy sunday. >> it's going to be wet. there's a lot on the line for this regular season finale. here's nbc bay area's anthony flor its. . >> reporter: the tarp is out at levi's stadium. over on the practice field, the 49ers got a brief break from the rain. today a light sprinkle fell off and on. quite a contrast from yesterday when it came down in buckets at times during practice. >> you know it's going to rain on sunday, you might as well practice in it. that's the way it's looking right now. >> reporter: now there's more rain in the forecast for sunday's regular season finale against arizona. no one on the niners seems too concerned about playing in bad weather. >> the thing you need to do is not turn the ball over. so i think it certainly makes that job hard. but as long as i'm not slipping and falling, which i haven't in five years, even when we played against indy here, you know, whenever we played in rain before, our field's been awesome. >> we've played in rainy games. as long as it's not like chicago. chicago f we can play through that, we can play through anything. >> reporter: the wet conditions will not be a factor in deebo samuels' decision to play. he's trying to return to the field after suffering mcl and ankle sprains nearly a month ago. >> i'm not going to risk myself if i'm not 100% ready to go. >> reporter: even with the division already clinched, this is a big game for the 49ers. they're currently the two seed in the nfc. they can move up to the one seed with a win and a loss by the eagles. >> i would love to be the one seed, but right now we got the two seed, and we want to make sure we at least stay the two seed. >> reporter: shanahan says there's only one thing his players should be worried about. >> that's beating arizona. >> reporter: in santa clara, anthony flores, nbc bay area. frightening. frightening. a little overwhelming, right? >> okay. this is the worst. it's time to go. >> a lot of these people are going to have to really work hard at starting over. >> the news at 6:00 starts right now. good evening and thanks for joining us as we continue our extended storm coverage. i'm raj mathai. >> and i'm kira klapper. we start with a microclimate weather alert. the powerful storm killed at least two people, caused extensive damage, and as we don't really need to tell you, is flooding entire communities. >> let's show you some of the most dramatic video into our newsroom. this is along the coast. look at that right there. pounding waves taking out the capitola pier, not just hitting the pier. taking out the pier, that section right there. the storm surge swamping homes along the popular capitola waterfront. all those colorful homes and condos, they're getting hit. this is some drone video that a viewer shared with us. >> farther south, a similar issue in aptos where part of the aptos pier has fallen into the ocean. and to give you a sense of the strength of the waves, take a look at this. this video taken near pleasure point in santa cruz. >> and high tide this morning with six-foot waving pummeling santa cruz. the popular wharf and santa cruz beach boardwalk are off limits. another view from the other side of the boardwalk, the high tide rolling in and forcing surfers to head back to dry land. >> all of this coming as we saw yet another day of rain across the bay area. this is what it looked like this morning in healdsburg. perfect time now to bring in chief meteorologist jeff ranieri. what are things looking like now? >> we still have some of that rainfall holding on as you can see on stormranger, our mobile doppler radar. some isolated heavier pockets that just don't want to get out of here. this is moving towards the south, towards dublin at 6:26. livermore by 6:46. we also have a flood warning that continues through contra costa and alameda counties. this is basically because a lot of the creeks, streams and rivers are running very high and also fast. so be careful tonight with that sun already se