severe weathersin right now at 4:30, bracing for a dangerous storm. severe weather moving into the bay area, but before the worst of it hits, the problems already beginning. the news starts right now. good evening, everyone. thank you for joining us. i'm terry mcsweeney. >> i'm peggy bunker. we're in a micro climate alert, strong wind and rain in the bay area tonight. almost no one will be in the clear of this storm. >> this is san rafael. hard to see because of the rain on the lens. light rain this afternoon. that's going to change. let's start with meteorologist rob mayeda. >> the san rafael camera showed you we do have areas of light to moderate rain pushing out from

marin county into the east bay with mostly cloudy skies, but really the main event from this storm still a few hours off shore. look at where the moisture stretches back to hawaii out here and a tropical plume of moisture. we call them atmospheric rivers. and that will double and triple some of the rainfall rates per hour. some of the impacts we're expecting is the potential for very heavy rain, rising creeks and rivers. wind gusts up to 60 miles per hour here's the problem with the storm. we're taking high rain rates per hour. that rain once it starts could last for most of monday. notice bay area wide from north to south, also watching out for wind gusts in these areas here in purple. the hilltops in the east bay, santa cruz mountains in the north bay could get close to 60 miles per hour. all of us ramping up as we head out here tomorrow morning. thank goodness, a holiday break for schools and other

businesses. you won't want to be on the roads as the wind and rain picks up. an hour by hour outlook for when the heaviest rain arrives. that's a good thing. we do have that holiday tomorrow. thank you so much. potentially dangerous situations happening right now at the anderson reservoir in morgan hill. the dam here, as you can see, started spilling over yesterday for the first time in a decade. that's led to a serious flooding concern. we continue our coverage now. tensions are really high for people downstream. >> reporter: yeah, they are, peggy. we just got updated information from the santa clara water district. they are saying they want people who live near any waterway, we're talking rivers and creeks, the coyote creek behind me, to be on the watch for some rising water. you just heard rob talk about flash flood alerts out there. that's what you need to be aware of. they say especially water, as you said, going upstream. this could be damage to possible

property and also put public safety at risk. so be alert. this is, of course, nothing new for a lot of people who live near waterways. anderson reservoir now dealing with intense overflows. the spillway that looks more like niagara falls is sending more of this water from a full reservoir right to the coyote creek. >> this is higher than i've seen in the last five years. it might be the highest that i've seen the whole nine years that i've lived in my house h e here. >> reporter: and this resident says he's worried the rising creek could mean flooding for him. now before the creek could possibly get closer to his home, he's cleaning storm grates and clearing debris doing whatever he can to avoid water backing up on his block. >> just in case things started overfilling the streets that have proper drainage. >> reporter: just ahead i'll tell you why this big spout you

see and hear behind me could soon we shut off. and how that could be bad news, bad news for a lot of people that live along the waterways. rick boone, nbc bay area news. one week ago today that the alarm was sounded in oroville after water there began spilling over the emergency spillway at the lake. 200,000 people were forced to get up, gather their things and leave. after around the clock maintenance and repairs, the water levels thankfully continue to drop. the water is about 45 feet below the top of that emergency spillway. they don't believe the rain will be high enough to cause another emergency situation. crews are trying to shore up a mud slide that threatened power lines ahead of this next storm. christie smith is in orinda. the crews even used a helicopter to try to get a good look at this hillside and try to get it

stabilized. >> reporter: that's right, terry. i just got off the phone with east bay mud and they're saying where this road is is partially on their land. they say that the helicopter that is there is being used to help move some of the material in place where the slide is. we're along highway 24 near gateway boulevard, kind of near cal shakes, if you know the area, you can see workers and some of the equipment they're using to stage to make this repair. right now not a lot of rain, which must be a good thing for the crew of workers who have been out here all weekend. there are several companies, pg&e and that helicopter who helped move material to shore up the hill. according to pg&e there was a slide in a remote area that was discovered on january 29th. it caused soil instability near a transmission tower and damage to a tower, of course, can be serious. since that time they've been working with engineers and experts in ground movement on a fix. out of an abundance of caution

they brought in equipment to shore up the soil and support the tower. they say that tower is still working and right now no customers' power is impacted because of this. now, of course, this follows another slide in orinda earlier this month where a mud slide crashed into a home op van castle lane. one resident had to crawl out of the rubble. it was red tagged as more mud began to slide. the home next door was yellow tagged, too. fortunately in that no one was hurt. but you can see the type of ground saturation that we're dealing with. i did just speak with pg&e, they're telling me that workers will be on the screen throughout the night. that's the latest from here, reporting live in orinda, christie smith. a lot to be done there, christie, thank you very much. relentless rains and strong winds have taken down a lot of trees. viewers are sharing what they have seen. this is from fermin reboja. this is in san jose.

eric mortimer took this picture of a tree in petaluma that crashed on top of this truck smashing it open. thankfully spared the house there. nobody was injured. then look at this comparison, albert rivas sent us these two photos. on the left is today on the right is what it looked like last week. we'd love to see your pictures and videos. you can send this to us on twitter or instagram. make sure you tag it or send it to our facebook page. with another strong storm moving in, tensions are very high for people in the santa cruz mountains. they've been hit very hard there. as rob mentioned earlier, the region's expected to be hit very hard with more rain. coming up at 5:00, we'll talk to the man who made a disturbing discover ne the san lorenzo river and the people in that community who are bracing for more danger. that's coming up at 5:00. police are searching for a suspect in a double shooting at the san jose state campus. it happened just before 3:30

this morning in the area of third and east san carlos streets. police say when they got to the scene they found two men. both had been shot. they were taken to the hospital. they're expected to be okay. witnesses say the men were shot after getting into an argument inside a nearby taqueria. a close call for officers in the bay after they were shot after a traffic stop. it happened around 2:00 this morning off the off ramp in oakland. they were wrapping up the dui stop when they heard flashes and gunfire nearby. neither officer was hit. they found shell casings but no suspects have been found. an alert to the san jose state campus community. police are investigating an alleged sexual assault inside a fraternity house there. it happened after a party at the alpha epsilon phi. they said that they unlawfully touched her then quickly left the party after she confronted him. the victim is okay.

they tweeted that the suspect was not a member of their fraternity and they're sickened by the event. right now we're watching the clouds in ocean beach. snow levels up to 7,000 feet but could see five feet of snow out of this storm. the timeline for when the heaviest rain and wind arrive in the bay area, coming up. plus on this busy holiday weekend, the problems the weather's causing for people heading to and from the sierra. and a community just surrounded by water. the flooding concern for a small town along i-5 up north. ♪ strummed guitar you can't experience the canadian rockies through a screen. you have to be here, with us.

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we are keeping a close eye on the radar. you are looking at our satellite showing the storm's path right now heading for us. rob's working to get the latest information. we're going to check in with him again shortly. while that storm is hitting the sierra as well. a look at traffic on interstate 80. your donner summit earlier

today. kind of wide open. it's the sunday of a three-day weekend. not a lot of fresh snow yet but it is wet there. caltrans has been tweeting out warnings to drivers because of delays from flooding and danger from high winds. a family is bracing for even more flooding there. take a look at the scene when much of the town of maxwell was under a foot of water. the sheriff's office says that local creeks and canals simply have too much. they are full and running over. people rush to pack essential items out of their homes and get across to a red cross site in williams. the voluntary evacuees could be displaced for several days while that water continues to rise. 1100 people live in maxwell. and a view across the san mateo bridge. relatively dry right now but we do have more rain on the approach and strong winds. the hour by hour timeline for incoming storm. when storms hit be prepared.

giving you a more accurate look at what's happening. >> water began flowing over that emergency spillway at the dam for first time in history. >> keeping you informed with live reports. >> when some people walk out of their homes they look at this. >> on air. >> new video just coming into our newsroom. >> or on the go. plus weather warnings based on your location from the nbc bay area app. when storms hit, be prepared. welcome back.

a t scene fm our towercamera ine happy sunday to you. welcome back as we take a live

look outside, a very wet and somewhat dreary scene here from our tower cam in san rafael. the rain drops on the lens and a lot of fog there, too. this storm is expected to get worse as the evening goes on and into monday morning. a lot of people have off tomorrow, the kids out of school. >> it will be challenging morning and we think even into the evening. it will leave a lasting impression on the bay area as well as increasing wind during the day. this is the sneak preview before the main event rolls in tomorrow morning. right now cloudy skies around the south bay, a few showers around the tri-valley, peninsula temperatures in the mid-50s. don't expect temperatures to drop much lower than we're seeing right now. some winds pick up, we'll see sunrise at 5:53 tomorrow morning. we're seeing light to moderate showers push through. south bay not a lot happening just yet. the driest weather the santa cruz mountains will see for the

next 24 hours. the main event still taking shape off shore pulling in tropical moisture that will pull the rain rates up tomorrow morn. rain just into tomorrow morning from about 6:00 to 7:00 a.m. you're looking at a half inch of rain in the santa cruz mountains. the wind and rain will pick up as you wake up with hopefully your day off and you can stay off the roadways tomorrow. highs in the mid-60s with the rain. that tells you about the subtropical connection to this storm. warmer air holds more moisture and means the snow levels probably close to 7,000 feet. the hour by hour outlook. 3:00 a.m., there you go, central bay, santa cruz mountains, 7:00 the potential for runoff flooding. by lunchtime, notice the focus here. peninsula south and now it's 5:00 in the evening and that heavy rain is still hung up in the santa cruz mountains. 9:00, cold front goes pi. that's when we get the strongest

winds and things dry out very slowly late tomorrow night. the areas as we isolate them for you that could pick up 3 to 5 inches of rain. some of the higher tops of the north bay but the progression with the weather models has to put the bull's-eye in the east bay hills, peninsula, 3 to 6 inches of rain possible. the runoff of the san lorenzo river we'll have to watch that. we'll see it go to flood stage late tomorrow. alameda creek and niles canyon, flood stage as well. further to the south. coyote creek we'll see those rises late tomorrow night into tuesday afternoon. could be just slightly above flood stage. highest level since 1998 which was 10.85, could be about 10.9 tuesday afternoon. guadalupe river staying below flood stage. but stay tuned. in that rain holds up we could see the rates increasing tomorrow. wind gusts picking up during the evening hours. tomorrow you see that, 40 to

50-mile-per-hour winds for tortola valley and lomben. that's the cold front and the rain should decrease by tuesday morning. this is the timeline. a very strong, gusty potential for flooding day on monday. that will carry us through the evening. tuesday rain changes to showers and there's better news for the middle part of the week. still chances for showers. but notice the temperatures coming down. gulf of alaska system that will drop in later this week, which means less rainfall but that saturday storm, but the main event rainfall-wise, it's going to last for a while and that's a problem. even if the storm came in on a completely dry bay area, you'd see flooding, but when you have so much saturation that we're seeing right now, that will lead to a lot of problems. >> thanks very much. still to come, medical testing on primates happening right here in northern california. >> once they're in captivity, they'll be affected by it for the rest of their lives. >> we expose records the federal government doesn't want you to

see. got a tip for the bay area's biggest investigative unit call 1-888-996-tips. or e-mail theunit@nbcbayarea.com. where do babies come from?

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you're watching nbc bay area news, holding the powerful accountable. nbc bay area we investigate. well, it's the kind of science that some people believe could eventually cure parkinsons, zika or maybe aids. but to find a cure experts experiment with nonhumanprimate s mostly monkeys. >> investigative reporter begat shaben has more. >> reporter: when it comes to monkeys their similarities to

humans cause them to be prime for research. it's largely fund with your tax dollars and regulated by the usda. earlier this month the agency pulled a ton of data off its website. tonight we'll show you what the federal government doesn't want you to see. meet maya, an 11-year-old rhesus mckak monkey. each time he makes eye contact with a human he immediately motions to bite his arm. it's a behavior some believe he developed while inside the lab that he left four years ago. >> it never completely goes away, i don't think. >> reporter: this man runs the prime at sanctuary in oklahoma. he rehabilitates former lab monkeys and pets and says many still show emotional and physical scars. >> once they're in captivity they're affected by it the rest of their lives. >> reporter: the sanctuary is home to 80 primates from across the country.

>> a quarter came from california. >> reporter: nationwide research labs house more than 100,000 primates. 25,000 are used for experiments that can cause pain or distress. of those about 740 are never given any form of pain medication since that could interfere with the research. >> this is surgery, this is implants in their skulls, in their craniums. >> reporter: bob ingersoll has been studying primates for years. >> it's not as if i don't think that medical research has ever been helpful because it has. 30 years ago you might have had to do that because there wasn't another method on the horizon to get you there, but there is now. >> reporter: ingersoll is now advocating for alternatives like this research out of uc berkeley where scientists created real living beating human heart tissue. it's all connected to a computer and couldent wally be used to test the impact of drugs in humans doing away with one major need for primates. but not all according to some

scientists. >> those who say that the use of animals in research and nonhuman primates in research are unnecessary are simply wrong. >> reporter: this is the associate director for science policy at the nih which funds much of the country's primate research. she spoke to us from headquarters in maryland. >> biologically they're very similar to humans. >> reporter: primate testing the credited for helping develop the polio vaccine, insulin for diabetes, the hepatitis b vaccine and treatments for parkinson's disease, to name a few. researchers at duke say that primate testing allowed them to develop prosthetic arms and legs that can communicate directly with the human brain. >> these are areas in which we just haven't developed alternative technologies that allow us to replace nonhuman primates. >> reporter: you don't believe the science is there yet. >> the science is not there yet. >> reporter: but critics point to problems over how researchers are caring for the animals not

including federal facilities there are 159 primate research centers throughout the u.s. 69% have been cited over the past three years with 77 violations directly impacting the health of animals. uc davis is home to one of the largest research centers in the country with more than 6,000 primates. >> that's absolutely almost unfathom unfathomable. >> reporter: lindsey rubin and other critics of the university's primate program stage silent protests on campus each month to raise awareness. >> we feel that the science they're doing can't be trusted if they can't keep the primates safe alive and keep them from escaping. >> reporter: the uc davis primate center is under federal investigation for repeated violations including serious injuries and deaths of research monkeys. they're funded with your taxpayer dollars. officials there wouldn't allow us inside to show you the

facility. in a statement they said incidents are rare and added the welfare of our animals is extremely important to us and we take each incident very seriously. the center also points to ats own medical breakthroughs including a possible hiv vaccine that's now in human trials. darren tindall hopes scientists scale back their use of primates and focus more on alternatives. that would mean fewer monkeys in the lab and here at the sanctuary. >> ideally places like this shouldn't have to exist. >> reporter: you want to be put out of business. >> sure, absolutely. but there's going to be a lot of this for a long time. >> reporter: the usda cited p privacy concerns in its decision to pull down its records. the plan was already in the works before the trump administration took over. you can log on to our website to find out information about every primate research center in the world. now, if you have a tip for

our investigative unit, give us a call. that's 1-888-996-tips. i'm live in morgan hill. something happened at the anderson reservoir today that could shake up the lives of thousands of people some 30 miles away. i'll tell you how your monday could have a lot of water coming its way. the body of a man is pulled from the san lorenzo river in van loman. i'll talk to the man who first spotted him and called 911. and the outlook for presidents day around the bay area, san jose temperatures in the 60s as rain comes in supplied by moisture stretching back to hawaii.

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area. and with scenes like this at rivers and reservoirs already, a lot of people wondering how much more can we take? the news at five clock starts now. good evening to you. thank you for joining us tonight. i'm peggy bunker. >> i'm terry mcsweeney. a dangerous storm bearing down on the bay area. a live look outside at san francisco. dry right now but heavy rain just hours away. we have team coverage of tonight's storm for you. let's begin with rob mayeda with what's happening on the doppler radar right now. >> you are seeing moderate showers moving through san rafael through berkeley and oakland. relatively dry in the south bay year san jose but you can see where the moisture plume begins in hawaii and aims in towards san francisco. we call these atmospheric rivers. the tropical moisture that comes along for the ride, gets pulled into storm systems and can boost the rainfall rate by hour sometimes doubling or tripling