Higher than normal rainfall, the possibility city prompts a call to action in the bay area. Good evening. Im ama daetz. And im dan ashley. Thanks for joining us. Its flood preparedness week in california. And tonight, local water and Emergency Operations officials are urging everyone to do just that. Get ready now. Abc seven news south bay reporter Dustin Dorsey shows us the steps theyre taking and what we should do before the winter rain arrives in the bay area. We went from hardly seeing any rain in the region to one of our wettest winters on record. But if you thought 2023 was bad and el nino year is approaching and the National Weather service says that means we could see higher than normal rainfall. Last winter wasnt anomaly this winter. It could be not necessarily repeat, but we could be wet again. And that could lead to widespread flooding. California flood preparedness week is the time for the community and agencies to think about their flood plans. But santa clara countys Flood Protection Agency valley waters preps are year round during the rain. They are cleaning debris, monitoring river and creek levels and responding to flooding. But when its dry, its still all hands on deck, working to try and ensure the flood doesnt happen in the first place. Throughout the past summer, weve worked at 50 locations across the county to maintain our waterways and clear them of debris. That includes here at lower silver creek, where valley water just wrapped up a flood protection project. Crews removed four feet of sediment and enough to span 11 city blocks, all to keep waters flowing without any blockage when the rains come. If we didnt do that, wed have less and less room for water in the channel. And that would exacerbate flooding. So this is a very important program. Valley water remains confident their creeks and rivers will be ready for flooding. The question is, are you . Valley water says the best way you can be ready when the rain comes is sign up for alerts , have emergency kits ready and if needed. Fill up sandbags. Five sandbags locations can be found on valley waters website and are now open across the county and will remain open through april when the rain subsides. We may not see wet weather often, but the theme here is to stay ready so you dont have to get ready. I think we all know that extreme weather is the new normal and we all need to be ready for storms and the potential for flooding in the south bay. Dustin dawsey, abc seven news. A new report tonight claims ski season in the sierra might get shorter by the end of the century because of climate change. According to the Desert Research institute, temperatures around lake tahoe are expected to be nearly nine Degrees Higher 100 years from now. That means it will be too warm for snow to fall at the start and the end of the traditional ski season. Peak snowpack levels are projected to fall as much as 80 by late century. Thats depending on the amount of Carbon Pollution in the area. And this report comes the same day were actually getting a little bit of snow in the sierra. We are abc seven news meteorologist sandy patel is here with a first look at the bay area forecast. Sandy yeah, its just nice to see that snow in the mountains. Dan and anna, let me show you a live view from zephyr cove where you can see the clouds are moving quickly there. Flurries right now in lake tahoe. They are chaining up on 80 and 50. Truckee is reporting snow. You can see in the sierra there is snow falling right now at the Higher Elevations here in the bay area, weve had a few showers, five hundredths of an inch in napa. As we go hour by hour, you will notice that the snow will continue in the mountains for a few more hours for us, its just going to be clouds pushing on out of here. And those showers that came through earlier measured in some areas like napa, as i mentioned, but only trace amounts in places like santa rosa, four hundredths in ukiah. Now, heres whats going to happen. The clouds are still around at 7 00. Look at the clouds clear. And those temperatures drop down to the 30s and 40s for many parts of the bay area. Ill be back with a chillier forecast coming right up. All right. Well check back with you, sandhya. Thank you. Climate change took center stage during todays surprise meeting between Governor Newsom and chinese president xi jinping in beijing. As abc seven News Reporter suzanne phan explains, the sit down is prompting chatter and conjecture about newsoms future endeavors as well as the apec conference in San Francisco. So the timing is really important right now. A surprise meeting between governor gavin newsom and chinas president xi jinping. Its part of a week long visit to china to promote Green Technology and action on climate change. Its really important that the us and china Work Together to address climate change. And of course its such a huge topic for california. Its a its a natural one for them to pursue. But with apec approaching, its also raising eyes with economic and history experts. Sean randolph is executive director of Bay Area Council economic institute. The timing is really important right now. Relations to the National Level are pretty rough and to have the representative of a state like california in china affirming the importance and value of their relationship is very important, especially right now. Cal state, east bay professor nancy park special rises in chinese history. The tenor of the relationships between china and the United States has been getting worse and worse for quite a while now. I feel that the United States and china have a lot of issues that they need to solve, and it works better if they Work Together on facebook, representative Michelle Steele of Southern California criticized the governors visit. She posted, quote, Governor Newsoms effort to cozy up to the Chinese Communist party is delusional. The ccp is the greatest polluter on the planet, but instead the governor should be concerned about the ccps control of the critical mineral supply chains as he prepares to ban gasoline powered cars by 2035. Climate change aside, park also questions whether the governors visit ties into his future plans, including a potential run for us president. I think its quite likely that he has political motives of his own, but i also think if you look at the chinaus relations trip, its important for the purposes of climate change, which is why he says hes there. As for the upcoming Asia Pacific Economic cooperative summit in San Francisco in two weeks, could newsom also be laying the groundwork for a visit by president xi . I think that the steps that newsom has taken and others have taken to make this happen are moving in the right direction. There will be a chinese delegation one way or the other. We hope to welcome them here at the Bay Area Council. Were hopeful that he will be here and several california governors have visited china. Governor jerry brown, governor arnold schwarzenegger, Economic Experts say california and china have had strong ties when it comes to trade and investment. Tonight in the newsroom, suzanne phan abc seven news. Suzanne thanks very much. Hundreds of students calling for a cease fire in gaza among other demands, took part in a rally. And teach in today at uc berkeley. Free, free palestine. Free, free palestine. Theyre calling for an end to the violence to allow humanitarian aid to enter gaza. Several palestinian campus organizations put together this event today. Many of the demonstrators say they want to be the voice for change. Most basic message in the universe. Palestinians are human. They deserve freedom. They deserve equality like everybody else. Its as simple as that. Some of the participants wore masks, fearful of being identified in this tense political climate. A small group of jewish students was also on hand. Theyre organizing their own student rally to be held on campus friday. Controversy in richmond after the city voted last night to condemn the nation of israel, accusing it of ethnic cleansing in gaza during its war with hamas. Some are calling the resolution antisemitic. Abc seven News Reporter ryan curry spoke with some richmond residents about the vote. Richmond is not a city that welcomes us and i feel unwelcomed here. Its good news and whats felt like three weeks of just horrifying tragedy. Anger on one side. Applause on the other. Richmond is a city divided. The city Council Passed a resolution tuesday night supporting the Palestinian People and claiming israel is committing ethnic cleansing. We are on the precipice of a genocide. And despite that, polish petitions hollywood celebrities, School Districts have all been continuing to repeat that they stand with israel. The fact that theres no acknowledgment of jewish humanity and the jewish trauma thats happening right now is really making residents second guess whether this is the right place for them to live. The San Francisco chapter of the center for islamic American Relations hopes other cities do the same. Richmond was courageous last night. And what we are hopeful for is that they will inspire others who may have been afraid to speak out, to know that they can do so. Arnon oren, who is from israel and has owned a Catering Company in richmond for ten years, views his city differently today. Its an embarrassment for the city of richmond because they didnt do their homework, because they didnt really reach out to the people who they represent. The mayor and vice mayor brought this before the city council for a vote. We went upstairs to try and talk to the mayor and they told us hes not in right now. Meanwhile, richmond residents are questioning why the city had to take a stance like this. The city of richmond said needs to deal with the city of richmond. There is unfortunate crime or in wonders where the city council goes from here. Both he and the Jewish CommunityRelations Council say they will be heavily involved in coming local elections. Were not going to let the public in richmond forget about this egregious vote. Members of the Islamic Community say richmonds decision is about spreading awareness. Start to stem the tide in the other direction. To say you are not alone. In richmond, ryan curry, abc seven news. Today say the un agency for Palestinian Refugees issued a warning saying its on the verge of running out of fuel in the gaza strip. The agency says that is forcing it to sharply cut back relief operations across the region. The territory has been blockaded and hit by devastating israeli airstrikes since the deadly attack launched hamas militants launched on israel. Israel is accusing hamas of using fuel for its operations instead of providing that fuel to hospital crews. Meantime, an official says internal National Efforts to secure the release of the more than 200 hostages taken by Hamas Terrorists during the siege are making progress today. President biden reiterated hes urged but not demanded israel delay its planned Ground Invasion of gaza to allow additional time to win the release of israeli hostages and allow aid into gaza. Israel has the right and i would add responsibility to respond to the slaughter of their people. But that does not lessen the need for to operate in a line with the laws of war. Today, President Biden also called for a concentrated effort by the worlds leaders to work toward a two state solution. He added theres no going back to the status quo as it stood before the hamas attacks that killed more than 1400 people in israel on october 7th. Well they went to deter sex work in a San Francisco neighborhood. Then someone tore them down. Up next, the i team looks into the staggering cost to replace the barricade. Decades and the controversy that its created. Also, the end to a search for a stolen uhaul truck. But its not quite the happy ending hoped for by a puppeteer who had thousands and thousands of dollars worth of gear inside. Plus this for me. This isnt even something as a kid you could even dream of. He calls it a surreal moment. Later, todays introduction of bob melvin as the giants new manager. Hes a bay area through and through. Stay with us but his vision dimmed with age. He had amd. I didnt know it then, but it can progress to ga, an advanced form of the disease. His struggle with vision loss from amd made me want to help you see warning signs of ga. Like Straight Lines that seem wavy, blurry, or missing visual spots that make it hard to see faces like this one, or trouble with low light that makes driving at night a real challenge. If youve been diagnosed with amd and notice vision changes, dont wait. Ga is irreversible. Its important to catch it early. Talk to your eye doctor about ga and learn more at gawontwait. Com as Mission District after the latest set installed in an effort to deter sex work was destroyed yet again. Yeah. A iteam reporter stephanie sierra takes a look at the cost and the controversy. Its been four months since these barriers were installed along four blocks of San Franciscos capp street. The barriers also called collapsible steel bollards, cost taxpayers more than 250,000. And within weeks, we saw this and this and this. Bollards collapsed, slanted, broken off the hinges, covered in graffiti, leaving neighbors relying on these planters to block incoming traffic like, frankly, the bollards were inadequate for theyre relatively short and not very sturdy. I would say about a third are destroyed. Santiago, lerma is the legislative aide for supervisor hillary ronen. He says sfmta is considering two replacements. These silver steel bollards that are at least 3 to 4ft tall or these cement planters that are currently being used in berkeley. Lerma says the setup would likely mirror whats happening here with two concrete planters on both sides of the street. A metal bar in the middle restricting smaller cars but still allowing bikes to get through, as well as emergency vehicles. Were were looking at which is better, which is cheaper, which is going to be more efficient. But some residents are doubtful, arguing the existing process has been everything but cheap and efficient from stalled cars to deliveries. Heres a firsthand account from an amazon employee. They go to the next block. We have to bust the uturn. I dont think its a good idea. The city cant come up with a better solution than than making peoples lives harder. There was the traffic barriers. There was the cement krails. There was consideration of the water based barriers. Yes. Then the collapsible steel bollards replacement of those bollards. So thats five attempts. What do you say to critics who argue this is a waste of taxpayer money . Well, i mean, i would have i mean, the problem that we solved was such that really it was our responsibility as a city to spend as much money as we needed to really reduce the amount of sex trafficking that was going on on the street. Hundreds of sex workers walking the streets that were pimps. Johns the traffic was bumper to bumper and if you go out there now, that is no longer present at most residents weve talked to agree its been money. Well spent. Excellent yeah, they really did solve the problem. They were meant to address. No more loud music. Everybody sleeping . Okay. Each bollard can cost between a couple hundred dollars up to a couple thousand dollars. But lerma pointed out its not the materials that are expensive, but the labor. If this process moves forward, its likely all four blocks would need to be replaced, which could be another 250,000 at least. But i would like to say that i hope that its going to be much cheaper. Well, i wish theyd spend the money on creating more services for people, more support for people who need it, and divert some of the revenue that goes into Like Mental Health services. And but as weve seen before, the reality of the price tag depends on the durability. Would you consider doing a phased in approach where, depending on what option you choose, you install it at one intersection to see if they work before purchasing a whole batch. Sure i think thats a great idea for the iteam. Stephanie sierra, abc seven news. Perfect fall day. Perhaps a hint of winter here. Yeah, a little bit. Right. Meteorologist cindy patel is tracking the forecast for santa. Yeah, its going to feel like winter tonight, thats for sure. And dan and i want to show you just a stunning view from zephyr cove. I know you saw it earlier, but the sun is going down and the colors, its just so pretty. All right. They are dealing with snow up in the sierra. Were dealing with a cooler pattern. Many parts of the bay area still running lower than where they were yesterday by 11 degrees in concord, 13 degrees cooler right now in livermore. As we check out the winds uh, they have actually dropped off a little bit, gusting to 15 in novato 17 there in fairfield as we check out live doppler seven right now, notice this snow falling in the sierra starting to push just south of lake tahoe as this cold front is coming in. Thats what ushered in our clouds. The cooler weather and a couple of showers in the north bay. Heres a closer look at that snow in the mountains right now. So they have been