Pad as they were yesterday and the day before, now what were looking at is because the ground is so saturated, those flooding concerns really are heightened. Along with those strong winds, the potential for downed frees and power lines exists overnight. Well be out here tracking all evening. Back to you in the studio. Jeff . Okay, anthony, ill take it from here. Lets bring in Kimberly Terry now. Reporter the commute through this stretch of roadway here, i80 and i580 can usually be throw, but factor in the weather and it can quickly become a parking lot. The heavy rain and reduced visibility is being blamed for multiple accidents, including a fatal crash on 580. Drivers need to pay much better attention and officers were responding to about a dozen calls every 30 minutes this morning during the peak of the rain. The chp suspect the only agency thats been busy. Tow truck companies, and tire shops say theyre seeing double the business. Its a lot worse when its raining. We havent had a lot of rain this year either. So people arent quite used to it. Gas and go, gas and go. Then they realized i dont have any tires. Reporter there are important things to be aware of in the rain is following distance and distractions. They say these are important things to consider every day, but maybe the difference between life and death when the roads get slick. Kimberly terry, nbc bay area news. Everyone is keeping an eye on our water supplies, hoping these storms are making a difference in the states drought emergency. Marianne favro is live with more. Reporter hi, janelle. Im here at the creek trail. The creek is moving swiftly right now, which is why a section of the pike path is closed because of flooding. Despite our storm, lexington reservoir is up only 0. 7 , compared to monday. Because of the positioning of the last big storm series, much of the south bay got the short end of the downpour. Water experts say this storm is different. Every little bit counts, because we have been waiting for this and weve been frustrated with recent storms that have gone north or south. But the impact locally is minimal. The reservoirs have increased about 1 . Reporter across the south bay, the recent rains have increased all our reservoirs by 1 , and while its not much, experts say i help us recharge our ground water, which we rely on during the summer. The other positive thing happening right now is this weeks storms were spaced out, so that allowed the ground to soak up the water and reduce the risk of flooding. Of course, Water District experts we talked to today say they are encouraged by the fact that we are looking at getting even more rain. Reporting live, marianne favro, nbc bay area news. We heard from Kimberly Terry talking about the traffic problems in the east bay, but an interesting problem in the south bay. The rain kicking up a lot of problems today but it was not the only reason some of the roads were flooded. Copper thieves causing floods in san jose. Sam brock joins us now with the story. Sam . Reporter good evening. The guadeloupe parkway or river i should say is tame right now. Thats not the problem. The problem is what this river looked like overnight, and the barrier, the middleman between the guadeloupe river and the 87 thruway is this water purpose station in the middle thats supposed to be worked properly. But it did not, and you cant blame caltrans. They were out here inspecting this pump station as of yesterday. And sometime in between yesterday and this morning, someone stole the copper attached it to, which led to all kinds of problems. 87 was a pool this morning, roadblocking commuters, snarling traffic, creating issues. They were able to flush out a lot of that water by putting in a transitional pump that flushed it right away. They really have a serious issue on their hands moving forward. The year 2012, statewide we had to spend 50 million on repairing the damage done by copper wire thieves. And they dont just hit pump houses, they hit traffic signals, irrigation systems, et cetera. Reporter this issue sounds familiar here at the pump station on Taylor Street because it kind of is. The last time that copper thieves came away with those materials and created havoc was back in december. The reason why im told by cal traps is that the cost of copper on the open market is up 350 in just the last five years. How to combat this problem or more specifically how to combat the thievery resulting from it, we talked to the San Jose Department of transportation to get their take to try to safeguard future incidents. More information on that topic coming up at 6 00. Sam brock, nbc bay area news. Back to you. Certainly an ongoing problem. Traffic troubles for drivers bu travelers. Dozens of flighted were canceled at San FranciscoInternational Airport and some passengers faced delays up to three hours around noon today. The average delay was about 45 minutes. The passengers werent the only ones impacted in california. Were also seeing a Delay Program at los angeles airport today. Its related to the same weather system, theres large system up and down the coast of california, so its affecting the two largest airports in california. Not surprisingly, a lot of people were without power today. Pg e service was knocked out for thousands. Our latest update shows the total outages for the bay area, just under 1,000 customers as of right now. The east bay has the most customers in the dark with 742. 10 00 a. M. Was the height of the outages. There were more than 13,000 customers without power. Then around knoop, thousands of them in the north bay 1,000 in the north bay. By 1 30 this afternoon, the number was just over 900 homes and businesses. Well be tracking the storm out night and into the wmd. Nbcbayarea. Com is also a good resource. Were tracking the rain on our website. Overseas now, we are following developing news out of ukraine which may be facing an invasion by russia. Late this afternoon, president obama warned russia not to interfere in its neighbors affairs. We are now deeply concerned by reports of military movements taken by the Russian Federation inside of ukraine. Russia has a historic relationship with ukraine, including cultural and economic ties and a military facility there. But any violation of ukraines sovereignty and territorial integrity would be deeply destabilizing. This is video of one of those alleged video movements. It shows Russian Troops seizing a government building in southern ukraine. Coming up, well have Team Coverage on the crisis, including analysis from washington, d. C. To explain what it all means for the u. S. New information about the scandal within the sfpd. Five officers and one former officer made their First Court Appearance today. They face a variety of corruption charges, including stealing property, falsifying records. San francisco public defenders released these recordings, claiming they show raids carried out illegally. A follow up now on a freeway shooting that shut down 580 in castro valley. This was last night during rush hour. Officers closed west bound 580 for about on hour. Police spotted the suspects and arrested them. One car was hit. But thankfully no one was hurt. Coming up, all clear after a San Jose Hospital had to turn away ambulances and patients. The haz mat scare that shut down the e. R. A dramatic water rescue in southern california. More on the storm thats causing problems here and across the state. And good amp. Im chief meteorologist jeff ranieri. We have a little bit of activity on the radar, some of the heaviest near the santa cruz hills. Well have the track of the form and when well get some drier weather. Then at 6 00, 82 million to beef up the san jose airport. To elevate san jose as the gateway from Silicon Valley to the world. How everyone will benefit from the new terminal, even though very few will ever get to use it. Thats new at 6 00. The emergency room at Valley Medical Center closed for about an hour today because of a toxic scare. It started right before 5 00 a. M. A man admitted into the e. R. Said he was sprayed with a chemical. Now, the hospital isolated him while haz mat crews investigated. They decided to close the entire e. R. To new patients. Haz mat workers never determined what the substance was. The map remains in the hospital in fair condition. New information on the Measles Outbreak in the bay area. There are now two new cases. Contra costa county Health Services says the cases are relatives of the cal student who got measles earlier this month. Apparently the student was exposed on a trip to the fill pe philippines. Two of them, young men in their 20s and 30s, have the disease. This brings the total number in the bay area to six. The number of deadly flu cases in the state is at its highest level in five years. California department of Public Health reports 302 cases so far. Last year, california had only 34 cases, but in 2009, the state reported 539 cases. Thats when the strain first surfaced in the u. S. And no vaccine was available. The bay area has had 50 flu deaths so far this year. Lets get back to our weather alert. Not just local, this is a statewide storm. On the left, the sierra, plenty of new snow. On the right, southern california. Heavy rains have triggered big floods. Reporter muddy water is flowing but the big stuff is still staying together in the hills. Im hoping it will go around the house and in the street. Reporter downstream, the runoff in the l. A. River was too much for two people and their dogs. Los angeles city fire came in with a swift water rescue team. That dog is very well behaved. Reporter predictions of the largest rain event, preparation has been all week. The planning for this particular day started immediately and its continued nonstop all the way through until today. Reporter and the more water that comes, the more convinced homeowners are they need to get out and comply with the mandatory evacuations. We implore you to get your belongings together and get out. Weve put some stuff near the glass, so if it breaks it wont go everywhere. Reporter and a reminder here how close fire danger is, even in a rainstorm. A bolder rolling off this hill exposed roots still smoldering. A hot spot from the fire that was on these hillsides a month ago. Were going to be concerned for the next five years. Reporter those homes wont be safe until the trees and brush grow back to anchor these hillsides. And thats because like weve seen in this fire that just decided to flare up a month after they thought it was out, the rainfall can be over, a few weekks go by and the hillsides can break loose under blue skies after nobody thought it was still possible. So thats one thing theyll be looking out for a long time. Latest storm system and he has the forecast. In the core of the storm system is still offshore. Thats moving to the south. Overnight, we were hit by the frontal boundary that is moving into interior california. Multiple storm reports here across the bay area. Trees are down, Power Outages and also areas of flooding. Some of that flooding was pretty numerous this morning. In one case, firefighters rescued a man from the waters of coyote creek this morning. We were expecting the heaviest rainfall in the south bay. But a few particular dynamics. San jose gets some of the most rain. With more perspective on that, heres meteorologist rob mayeda. A lot of the storm reports, a bullseye. We had this rain, heavy amounts of rain coming in from the south during the morning. You put this map into motion, youll see here that we have the rain coming in, out of the south, moving off to the north and that rain, as it tracks inland from south to north is the reason why the Santa Cruz Mountains didnt block out this incoming storm system. We had that rainfall, heavy at times in san jose, good enough to give us a 28 rainfall boost. And the san luis reservoir, it was at 31 of capacity. We have gone up about 2 , thats about 20. 3 billion gallons of water. So every little bit adding up in the south bay reservoirs. And look at the snow pack. 33 of average, but the 197677 low, were now falling behind even that alltime low level. 33 of average statewide right now in the central sierra. And if you could brave the road conditions, yes, it was good for skiing. The snow continues to come down up there tonight. Thank you so much, rob. As we look at the live radar, snow continuing up across the sierra and a few spotty showers throughout the bay. Heavier pockets throughout the Santa Cruz Mountains and some of the more intense rain moving through from around 5 20. So youll likely see that rain come up on a clip on you. So if youre traveling across 17, be aware of that. A chance of isolated thunderstorms the and a slight chance with rotation in the atmosphere we may get a funnel cloud or two as that area of low pressure moves off to the south. Right now, temperatures in the upper 50s and we have a mix of stuff happening. San francisco, looks like something out of a movie here. We have the low clouds moving in, and any clearing we get over the next hour or so is going to heat the atmosphere, and thats what could help to fire off thunderstorms and winds still right now gusting out of the south at 23 miles per hour. So what i want to do is take you into the track of this latest storm system. You can see throughout tonight, what well mainly find is throughout 8 00, 9 00, 10 00, another area of wet weather moving in. That again is the instability in the atmosphere that could fire off a few thunderstorms the. By saturday morning, a little bit of rainfall lingering in the forecast through about 6 00, 7 00, 8 00. Then after that, when that storm moves off toward the south, well be in the clear here on saturdays forecast. So sunnier skies coming into your weekend, eventually once we shape this storm system throughout saturday morning. Throughout saturday, the best chance of wet weather in the morning hours, by the afternoon breaks of sun. San jose 63 for the peninsula. Take the jacket if youre headed towards the city this weekend. As we look throughout the north bay, clearing out first from the storm system, so no rain icon for you. Temperatures in the low 60s and a slight chance of morning showers. When all is said and done, this is a statewide storm as we mentioned. Look at the accumulated precip here. Anywhere you see the blue, green or yellow is where we picked up rainfall. Finally, after 13 months across the bay area, san jose picks up the most with this storm system, where totals ranged from 2 to 3 inches. Much needed. Thanks, jeff. Who needs hollywood . The filmmaker who had a chance to screen her new film at the white house and shes still in high school. Back in a moment. Comcast brought millions of people closer to nbcuniversals coverage of the biggest olympic winter games ever, with the most coverage of the most events on every device. And the most hours of streaming video on the nbc sports live extra app, including the x1 platform from xfinity. Comcast was honored to bring every minute of every medal of nbcuniversals coverage to every screen. So whats next . Rio 2016. Welcome to whats next. Comcast nbcuniversal. Not much drama and plenty of profit. Apple held its annual Shareholders Meeting today in cupertino. They approved every company supported proposal and voted to reelect apples entire board of directors, including former Vice President al gore. Late last year, Apple Management urged shareholders to vote against the human rights proposal, saying the company is committed to the highest standard of social responsibility. A new survey shows interns at some local tech firms are paid nearly twice what the average American Worker brings home every month. The jobsite glass door, found palantir tech pays just over 7,000 a month. Twitters monthly salary of 6800 puts it in third place. The elevated salaries reflect the high price tech firms use luring top talent. The white house is now showcasing new films. And a fremont student was in the spotlight. How about that . The white house hosted the First StudentFilm Festival today. Tiffany lynn from fremont, premiered her production to president obama, its a short how technology is a valuable tool for students. It was one of 16 films selected from more than 2,000 entries. The white house student Film Festival is part of president obamas initiative to bring americas classrooms into the 21st century. How about that . Looks good. Guess whos back with us . Do you remember us . Of course i do. I missed you guys dearly. Do you speak russian or english . Mostly english. Great to have you back from russia. Were going show you some interesting video after the break. Stay with us. Well be back in just under 30 minutes. Heres one of the stories were working on. Its happened, a toll hike. The ride across the Golden Gate Bridge will cost more. Well show you how much youll pay now and the plan that involves even more toll hikes in the future. Jeff and i are very excited today because we have our teammate back from sochi. We missed you so much. I missed you guys so much, too. I thought about you every day. Were still thinking about your time in sochi. You did a great job out there. I learn from the best. You are a legend over there. Bringing all the stories back from russia. Take a look, just reminisce for a second. Im feeling great i skated two great programs here at the olympics. You know your life is going to change, right . Yeah, theres been already so many amazing opportunities. Im here at the art show, and im here with dimitri and dimitri. I have a little visitor who came to say hi to me. Youre so adorable. Hi, how are you . Reporting from the sochi games, im janelle wang. Ill see you back in the bay area. Good night. How much fun. Jeff and i have combined to cover about eight or nine olympics. We can say from our experience, you did a great job. I seriously look up to you guys. I learned from the best. You gave me some good pointers and that really helped. Welcome home. Thanks. See you at 6 00. On our broadcast tonight, on the brink. The russians accused of an armed invasion under way right now in the ukraine. As