The much needed rain has arrived as bay area residents dust off their umbrellas and rain boots, these are scenes from around the area today as drivers face long wet commutes and there was even a small stream advisory issued, good afternoon, i am tori campbell, we have Team Coverage on the rains impact on the roads and how bay area residents are reacting after a record dry period but lets start with mark tamayo to found out where we saw the heaviest rain. A flood advisory has expired but still significant rain. This was at 1 00, look at that especially the southern half. Santa rosa 0. 83 and those places had that much and look at Boulder Creek over an inch of rain, in terms of live Storm Tracker 2 right now not a lot of coverage to show you, a few scattered light showers out there, mist and drizzle, even if you are not covered and there is still a lot of moisture, if you are not covered with green you could have a spotty shower, that chance will actually remain in the forecast today, the bulk of the activity shifting to the south and east and we still have lingering show showers out in the sierra, and what is interesting, this will be the key by the weekend and this will be a key component, especially by saturday, coming up we will take a look at this system as it approaches saturday and forecast totals, we will have them adding up for you at 12 20. The rain caused a mess but here is a live time look at them. You can see those areas, there were accidents flashing on the roadways in the east bay and hercules and concord as well, Sal Castaneda has been monitoring the Road Conditions all morning and just spoke to chp about the number of accidents and collisions on the wet road. He joins us now live. Good afternoon, sal. Reporter good afternoon, tory, this freeway, interstate 80, i bet you that lot of people wish they didnt have to use it ever after this mornings commute. According to the Highway Patrol we had nearly 5 times as many collisions as opposed to a normal morning commute. The wet weather that moved through over night immediately began to cause problems almost as soon as it hit. Right from the start people started losing control of vehicles as the rain moves through. Chp says speed may have been a factor as the man driving this porsche lost control and hit a tree on 101 near paul avenue. But soon a major crash. In richmond this big rig loaded down with concrete was involved in a three vehicle crash near interstate 80, chp says the driver of the truck hit an suv which caused it to hit another suv. Lanes were narrowed down to one for most of the morning commute causing a miles long traffic jam. Chp thinks it knows the cause of the crash. The truck driver made that move and hit them and that caused problems there. The also had jams, early this morning this suv hit a parked pickup truck that hit the cliff house near the ocean beach. Chp said the driver was transported to the hospital where he was arrested for suspicion of dui. Driving in this weather means adding more time. Drivers have to reduce their speed on days like this and create a safe following distance between the vehicle in front of themselves and themselves, allowing them time to stop. As you can see her tory, interstate 80 is much better than it was, but chp says they are busy all during the day because even though the commute time is not yet they still have plenty of accidents to deal with. Sal castaneda, ktvu channel 2 news. All right, our Team Coverage continues with tara moriarty, who join us live from San Francisco, usually people think the rain is a nuisance but i bet there are many people glad. Oh, yes, right now it has let up but it will come back and last for several days and people are welcoming the wet weather, it is extremely overdue and forecasters say we need more to make up for one of the driest rainy seasons yet. Workers dawned boots and umbrellas for work this morning and over the weekend we could see two feet of snow in the sierra area and rain in the mountains. I think it is great, we need it for sure, it has been a while. I think we need more of it and this sunday i suppose there will be measurable rain so that is good. So you were looking forward to the rain. Oh, yes, yes, i do conserve water. Oh yes, i am going to put my plants outside. But some folks were not as keen on the rain as it delayed their commute. Hey, what happened with that umbrella. It broke. Oh. It took me a while, i started at 7 00 and just now getting here. So frustrating. Yes, very frustrating. Are you going to buy a new umbrella. Yes. All for that. Yes. Despite that rain we are still behind rainfall totals, even if it dumps as much as expected many areas will only be at half their normal levels, tara moriarty, ktvu channel 2 news. Thank you. You can get all the updates, just follow them on our app and twitter and facebook. Firefighters have a one alarm fire under control at a downtown apartment complex, fire crews were called to the hotel on harrison street near 15th about an hour ago. You can see smoke pouring out of the area, police were called in for crowd control and they were helping the many seniors who live there get out safely. The cause is not known. A construction accident sent a worker to the hospital south of Market Street this morning. They say he fell 15 feet after a crane hit him while he was working at 555 Howard Street between first and second, Officials Say he was alert and talking as paramedics took him to the San Francisco general hospital. There is no word on his condition. The site is part of the construction of the new transbay transit transbay transit center. New at noon Mountain View police have made an arrest in a suspicious fire that burned cars behind an auto body shop last month. Janine de la vega just spoke to police about what led to the arrest and joins us live. Good afternoon. Reporter good afternoon, police tell me the man they arrested set his own suv on fire, which was parked right here at pedros auto body shop and it was getting worked on. It spread to the other cars, now the body shop owner told me he was shocked because he knows the customer and his family, Police Arrested paul and his girlfriend Angela Rutledge as an accessory for driving the get away car. Here are pictures provided by police of the damaged vehicles from the fire on the morning of january 13th, six cars caught fire, two heavily damaged and early on investigators from the Fire Department and Police Department were suspicious. A red flag was raised when police realized one of the vehicles involved was registered to shawn heart, who was known to them, a gas can was also found, investigators say he set it on fire to commit insurance fraud. In the investigation we determined that the Insurance Company had already paid out on the claim, and that money was supposed to go to the body shop which it never did. It was supposed to go to the body shop for the vehicles repair and it was left at the body shop and that is how he was going to take care of the car. They say while that is more prevalent, committing arson to do it is rare, they had good team work between those units, in addition to the arson related charges, both of those are also facing drug charges, from Mountain View, janine de la vega, ktvu channel 2 news. Thank you. Today the man accused of setting nearly a dozen fires is set to enter a plea, Patrick William brennan faces many counts of arson, he is accused of setting a string of fires in downtown san jose last month, the biggest was a warehouse fire that caused an estimated 5 Million Dollars in damage, if convicted he could spend the rest of his life behind bars, san jose firefighters have voted to ratify a contract with the city that maintains a 10 pay cut. The contract extends the pay cut and benefit reductions that firefighters agreed to three years ago but only through june of this year. Firefighters say they are going to demand a new agreement in july to restore the pay and some Emergency Medical Services that were cut. The contract extension now goes to the city council for final approval. The search for a killer in the south bay after a man was stabbed to Death Outside of the Fairmont Hotel in san jose, what one witness reported seeing just before the stabbing. A warning for airlines headed to russia as the sochi olympics get underway, the common household product Officials Say could be a bomb in disguise. The department of Homeland Security is warning airlines to be on the lookout for smuggled explosives as the Winter Olympics get underway, we have this report on the common household item that could be used to make bombs. Reporter they are warning them that terrorists might try to smuggle explosives in through toothpaste tubes or containers, they warned them, including those in the u. S. , they said they are picking up increased chatter about those outside the area but Homeland Security said it is not aware of any specific threat. The olympic site itself is probably locked down pretty well, there is that ring of steel around the olympics itself but getting there and the surrounding areas i would say there is real cause for concern. The americans are expected to arrive there today, the Opening Ceremony is tomorrow but some do kickoff today, secretary of state john kerry says he feels everything that can be done has been done to ensure the publics safety there and he says it will be as safe as any other large public event. A Homicide Investigation is underway in san san jose after a man was found stabbed to Death Outside a hotel there. Police received a report that said two people were fighting in the park across the street from the hotel. When they arrived they found the male victim suffering from at least one stab wound and are looking for see if cameras captured it, and so far no arrests have been made and no suspects identified. Uc Berkeley Police issued a crime alert warning students about a Sexual Assault on campus last weekend, it happened saturday night on university drive. Police say a man grabbed and fondled a 19yearold female student. She was able to fight him off and escape. In alameda, the city council is working to outline how police will use license plate readers before the controversial devices are installed in patrol cars, they can register up to 1800 plates per minute but opponents say it is an invasion of privacy, they want to use them only where a homicide or other crimes occurred, they are already in use in other cities. San Francisco Police vowed to step up efforts to prevent pedestrian accidents and we caught them in action, this was the scene where they wrote up tickets in 40 minutes, they were issueed to both drives and jaywalkers at 16th and capp streets. We want to educate people and we want to correct people who are not behaving correctly as well. The chief gregg sur says about 95 of tickets are to drivers since cars do the most damage but cyclists and pedestrians get ticketed too. The bottom line the chief says everyone just needs to slow down and be more careful. As is so often the case rain here means snow in the sierra, here is how it looked this morning at blue canyon, Mountain Resorts expected two to four inches today and it is also possible a few inches will fall near lake level. They are required to carey chains but no other restrictions listed. Rain is once again putting a damper on the Golf Tournament at pebble beach. This was pictures from yesterday. They suspended play this morning and after checking the greens they ordered the round resume about 45 minutes ago. Todays storm, one moving through the bay area, we have more to talk about as we head into the weekend. In fact the rainfall rates are increasing just in time for friday night and the weekend. Outside right now clouds out there and kind of lingering mist or drizzle but the main organized band shifting south or east shows up nice here too, the rain activity over the past you can see moving over the bay area and toward fresno and lingering showers toward sierra and rain showers up north as well. Here is a closer inspection of our radar with the live doppler sweeps and even if you are not covered with green you can still have mist and drizzle. As for as the systems we had one do that and the next one is scheduled to move in there, so in terms of the rainfall the numbers adding up over the next few days, in fact here is our forecast totals through sunday, north coast could pick up amounts approaching to 7 to 8 inches closer to home for the coastal hills and north bay could have amounts around 7, here in the north bay and around the region 2 to 3 and monterrey bay right around two inches so more rain, in fact things are just developing offshore, so here is the pattern, lots of clouds and moisture and we are looking way out west with that moist pattern developing, here is to give you a reference point, this is all developing and approaching the bay area by the weekend, so that is approaching then and timing tomorrow we could increase the rainfall rates tomorrow night after 7 00 or 8 00 and the weekend periods of heavy rain, flood advisories likely and gusty winds as well, could approach 40 miles an hour into the weekend, still off and on rain sunday and a chance lingers into monday morning. As far as our chance a chance of showers there as we put this into motion and especially in the north bay around Sonoma County yesterday and first thing saturday morning increasing rainfall rates could shift nor north by late saturday but they are expecting more rain chances by the weekend. Winter weather advisory for the sierra will be upgraded to a watch as the pulse moves there. Forecast highs this afternoon not a big change from the current readings, right now 40s and will warm up to 50s, still a chance for a pop up shower. Here is your fivedayforecast and the rainy theme continues, so rainfall develops over the north bay, a chance elsewhere but will bump up those chances by friday night. Tori we will track heavy rain especially by sunday and maybe a lingering chance by monday, so today a reminder of what a february storm could look like, we will break things up as we head into friday night and saturday. All right, good news. Well the river is at record levels there, it needs a foot of rain just to get the river back to levels seen in the 1977 drought. While this storm wont bring that much rain it could add a few inches to the watershed, the Russian River typically flows at 5000 cubic feet per second but yesterday was flowing at just 23 cubic feet per second, if you have pictures send them to us or up load them there and we might share some of them on the air. Well the football season is over but that doesnt mean the season has to be, how a local team wants to change the rules to make the game more exciting. That gives you financial help with your coverage. Millions ornians will qualify. Find out if you do. All plans include free preventive care. Now, you might have a question about what that means. It means free mammograms, immunizations, cancer screenings, and more. Its a big list, and its all free. So dont wait. Without insurance, even a small medical issue can cost you big. Call 8007879159, or go to coveredca. Com, and get covered. Stocks sharply higher on wall street, investors have been encouraged by a drop in unemployment claims and a surge in earning stocks, an exception is twitter stock, down, microsoft reported stronger than expected numbers put they say twitters growth is slowing. There is a look at the stocks. Tonight is the worlds first bitcoin fair and it is right here in the area, that will be the focus of the event at the romman underground, that is in japantown, it is designed to help them understand how to use the coin. It is the first of many and it is from 6 30 to 9 30 and it is free to attend. Are you ready for more football . Plans were announced for a new football league. They will play games in the spring and should have different rules than the nfl which they say should make it more exciting. One rule is making more players on offense eligible to catch passes, the league will have eight times across the country and one will play here in the bay area. The first team is going to be the bay area sea lions, the second team is the los angeles express. Chicago, dallas, tampa and new jersey will also have teams, it is not yet known where the bay area sea lions will play their game. They have agreed to broadcast the first season. A bright quilt may be a disturbing clue in a case, police say this was involved in the murder of a 32yearold working mother in santa clara more than two decades ago, the roll it played in the crime coming up at 5 00. Thank you for making ktvu your choice for news, we are always here for you on ktvu. Com and you can follow us on twitter and facebook. Send comments to comments captioncolorado. Com captions by terry james, caption colorado, llc. [ sports announcer ] heres another one, alyson dudek. Hales corners, wisconsin. Nice pass by alyson dudek. Can she hang on to that spot . And she does [ male announcer ] with the uverse wireless receiver, your tv goes where you take it, allowing inspiration to follow. [ dad ] looks pretty good, right . [ girl ] yeah. [ male announcer ] add a uverse wireless receiver today. Up next on eco company rescuing duck eggs. Combing the rice fields for hidden eggs. Theres a row of people shaking it. Theyre scaring up the hens to find their eggs before the mowers cut the crops. Then, looking for foxes. But this fox can only be found on Santa Cruz Island. It was put on the endangered species list in 2004. Its pretty awesome what theyre doing right now. Teens spending the summer on the island, helping to protect the Santa Cruz Island fox. Then, creatures hidden in the sand. Crabs may sound boring, but they actually play a really big role in the