of the dumbarton bridge were closed for about three and a half hours. this caused a traffic nightmare for lot of people. the crash happened just on this bridge, read over the curb. that is where a mazda protege stalled in the right hand lane and then was smashed into just minutes later by a tractor- trailer. luckily there were no injuries during this crash. i huge fire. i ran into a bike rider who was riding his bike across the bridge as this happened. he caught it all on video and spoke to the driver of the car just minutes after the crash. >> i saw a stalled car, that's not a good place to have a stall. when i got to the bottom of the bridge i heard a smashing sound. and in the mirror i looked back and saw black plume. i

turned around and look like a giant pile of smoke coming up the top of the bridge. >> did the truck hit it? >> yes. i was on the phone with aaa when it happened. >> i'm the driver, that happened to me. >> is everything ok? >> me and my mom got out. we ran. that's my mom over there. >>kate: the driver of that car from palo alto was very shaken up but very thankful that her and her mother roquet. they got out of the

car before they were hit by the truck. they say no one will be cited for the accident. reporting live, kron 4 news. >>pam: this crash caused a long traffic backed up on the dumbarton bridge. you could see just how far back the cars were lined up. jeff bush was right in the middle of the massey as a closer look at what drivers were dealing with. >>jeff: be to the back of a highway 84 hours after the fire was put out. drivers were diverted into university avenue and told to go different ways. >> i'm going to new work. >>jeff: cars and trucks were funneled down to one lane. a lot of drivers didn't hear the word about the crash. >> were headed to hayward. i guess we will go to 37 are back to san mateo bridge.

>> and heading to fremont for jury duty. >> i'm going to hayward. i don't know how going to get there. >>jeff: those people took it in stride. (laughter) >> this is our this happened life happens we have to adjust. reporting live, kron 4 news. >>pam: in this video you could see one card driving right past it all when the truck was still smoking. our internet reporter kimberly has a look at other pictures of this crash from another viewer. >>isabel: this person was at work one they saw the smoke coming up. this took a look at the pictures she sent us. in this picture you could see the thick dark smoke and plumes go. it must've been frightening for residents to see that. this is blurry but

a closer up look of where the accident took place. he could see the bridge and the car and big rig on fire there. sundance and darker smoke coming up. this person said she didn't hear anything but she said her boss looked out the window, got his binoculars out and said there's a vehicle on fire on the dumbarton. for all of our continuing coverage of the fire just over www.kron4.com. >>jacqueline: a live look inside over downtown san francisco. sunny skies this afternoon. temperatures are warmer as a result. finally a dry, sunny and relatively warmer day. temperatures in the upper 50s. 59 in napa, santa rosa and san rafael. 58 livermore, 58 san jose. 52 in half moon bay. temperatures are up over

what we saw yesterday by several degrees. six degrees warmer concord in fairfield, 5 degrees warmer in antioch livermore. a nice break from the cold weather rainy weather. that weather will return later the week. we will talk about that later. tonight, temperatures will drop off when the sun sets. we want another cool morning tomorrow. temperatures widespread in the 30's. tomorrow afternoon increasing cloud cover and the next storm is not far off. >>pam: dark days for hundreds of people in new zealand. a major earthquake strikes the region killing more than 70 people and causing miles of destruction. kron 4 has complete coverage right after the break.

>>pam: one of new zealand's largest cities is in ruins this evening after a deadly earthquake struck in the middle of the lunch hour. a magnitude 6.3 quake was

centered on christchurch the southern island. it toppled the city's anglican catch diderot. the death toll stands at 70, but is almost certain to go higher. many victims are being pulled from the rubble of a four story office building. he where hundreds of people were working at the time of the quake. when medic describes the scene there as carnage. it's described as an aftershock of the 7.1 the damage the city less september. at the latest tremor caused more damage because it was at a shallower depth. the prime minister calls it his country's darkest hour. here's what it was like. >> devastation. there are

people waiting to be rescued on the roof. it's terrifying. i thought i was going to die. i've never seen anything like it in my life. i'm alive, always in the ground floor when the building came down. a very violent shake. we just don't know if there people under this rubble. >>pam: our internet reporter kimberly is here now with a look at pictures and videos

posted on line show in the aftermath of the earthquake. >>kimberlee: a lot of damage in the images posted on the web. a picture of the cathedral in christchurch that he saw earlier. before the quake on the left-hand side that's before the quake, and on the right-hand side that's the building destroyed. as you heard the fire reduced to rubble, the roof caved in. i found his picture on twitter showing a gaping holes in the side of the building. a lot of videos posted on youtube, were seeing a lot of flooding on the streets. as he could see this all right here, looks like someone's driveway the water is rushing from out of the house down to the sidewalk. >>pam: scientist at the usgs said the recent earthquake in new zealand is a wake-up call for the bay area because there are similarities between the two regions. here's seismologist walter.

>> it occurred on the fault that similar to the hayward fault and the east bay in the san andreas fault and it goes right through the peninsula. secondly, a lot of our communities are built on top of seven entry basins. these basins that we see the flat land that makes the bay area. likewise, in new zealand they have built their communities in the century basins which tend to give a little bit of an earthquake shaking motion. as you know zealand is a modern country, it has advanced building code spots like all countries and like the bay area, there are some older buildings that were built 50 years ago, 100 years ago. this was before the building codes were put into effect. >>pam: he says bay area earthquake faults are better

understood than those in new zealand. as is graphic points out, they believe there's a 63 percent probability for one or more magnitude 6.7 day area between 2007 and 2036. the rest for such a quake on the hayward fault is 31%, 21 percent on the san andreas fault and 7% on the calaveras fault in the east and south bay. more news coming up after the break.

>>pam: leader of libya promising to remain in power in spite of angry protests by those who want him out. train address today he brushed off the man's to step down even as he faces more pressure to leave. >>reporter: >>reporter: they say warplanes have been firing at opposition supporters from the air, while troops and armed mercenaries have been targeting anti- government protesters on the ground. that appears to

stifle opposition demonstrations in the square filled with supporters on tuesday. speaking from the compound in 1986 by u.s. aircraft, he told libyan sea will die as a martyr. >> it's not possible and leave this place. i will be a martyr at the end. >>reporter: there were more signs that his grip on power is slipping. among the most high-profile power, a stunning split between the top two diplomats at the un. while libya ambassador stood by khaddafi his deputy resigned on monday. >> we came to the conclusion that it is in fact against the libyan people. from the 50th of january. >>reporter: gadhafi as said

it a small group infiltrated the country to create this. anyone carrying weapons will be executed. >>pam: the unrest in libya is being felt here at home. gas prices are going home experts say problems overseas are one of the reasons for the price hikes. kron 4 to reset shows us just how much of the price of gas is jumped recently and how far could go. >>reporter: take a look at how much gasoline is tilted one week at the same station in san francisco. this is tuesday's price with a regular list at $3.70 9¢ a gallon. the same sign last week, $3.67. petroleum analyst at show the data shows gasoline prices have skyrocketed recently. if the last month the gas is jumped 20¢. the average going from $3.40 in january to $3.67 in february. i

share in february the average in san francisco was $2.97 a gallon. analysts said the data shows motors won't see any relief anytime soon. effect to predict we will probably see $4 up on the signs in san francisco and elsewhere in the bay area by march. to resell kron 4 news. >>pam: the situation also causing the dow to plummet. stocks dropped over 170 points the biggest drop of the year. the fight between protesters and gadhafi's threat is oil reduction. libya is the world's 15th largest oil exporter accounting for 2 percent of global daily output. libya also sits atop the largest oil reserves in africa. >>jacqueline: a live look from the golden gate bridge, sunny skies. we will see changes tomorrow. a cold it

again tonight, similar to last night. patchy frost in the north bay valleys. the winds will kick up ahead of our next storm. greenback by thursday and potential snow late friday into saturday even locally. our temperatures tomorrow, very cold 31 degrees and now, 30 santa rosa, 34 fairfield, 30's for bay shores. it's going to be a very chilly morning. patchy frost in the north bay valleys and inland valleys as well. high temperatures tomorrow will be a few degrees cooler and winds will pick up. it's not going to feel nearly as nice as we have out there today. 53 redwood city, 55 antioch, 55 san jose, 56 in santa rosa. we do have clear skies right now all but the storm turned out to the north will stop to drop down

along the west coast. that will bring cold air out of canada that could lower our snow levels all the way down to sea level. the widespread showers by thursday evening with a few pockets of heavy rain and added. as we head into friday morning, patchy showers botch, as we get a different night that's when temperatures will really drop off and we could potentially see snow here locally. here's a picture from sfo, 1962. a similar pattern to what were seeing this week. that is snow on the runway and they actually found is something to file with back then. most lo snow levels will be about 34 degrees rob san francisco, from the cold arctic air. the question is how much moisture will remain to squeeze out snow? we will talk more about this

and get your extended forecast of that. >>pam: the mount diablo school district board will face a few tough decisions. they could close down with the closed down.school closure~o close silver would elementary oor west would elementary. >>christine: if this option was chosen to close west would those two schools could be combined into one campus. that would house students from eldorado middle and the students from the now closed at glenbrook middle school. the kids from westwood elementary would almost as a group to mountain view elementary. some may be absorbed by monte gardens. if silver would elementary was chosen, the children from that

school would most likely be spread out among its three different schools. this over with campus would be empty and out of use. reporting live, kron 4 news. >>pam: at 5:00, we will go live to concord for the latest on the school board's difficult budget decisions ahead. we will be right back with more news, weather and traffic in a few moments.

>>pam: a person of interest in custody this evening and connected to a string of occurred since snatching in the oakland hills. kron 4 shows you the location where investigators say these crimes started. >>reporter: you just and shopping at this a foot on 0 redwood road in oakland. he just loaded your groceries, on be known to use on as been watching you. that's what they said police investigators has happened seven times your this grocery store. according to opd investigators the suspect then follows the victims all described as elderly female with a net of the parking lot. continuing to fall victim to the

neighborhood waiting for them to arrive at their home. that's what oakland police say the suspect then snatched a purse of the elderly female victims before running off on foot to a getaway car. the most recent case happened on february 16th. investigators say so far, none of the victims have been injured in any of the cases. the suspect at least five of the seven purse snatching cases have been committed by the same suspect. in oakland, kron 4 news.

live, from the bay area's news station, this is kron 4 news at for 30. >>pam: at 4:30 p.m., america's deadliest hijacking on the open sea. for american shot dead after their yacht was captured by pirates on the coast. one of the captives had tied to the bay area. sandra ando has the details of what happened on u.s. officials are fighting for the release. >>reporter: the journey started out as a group he