glad you both had a chance to win some money. whoa. oh you >> huge waves smashing up against northern california beaches. but the epic surf is bringing back familiar storm damage and close calls out in the ocean. all as a new storm moves in. good evening. i'm ama daetz, and i'm dan ashley. >> our team of meteorologists warning us this surge was coming. and it sure did. waves and surf so extreme it forced evacuations of some homes up north in stinson beach, caused flooding on streets, and led to an ocean rescue of a surfer off the coast of pacifica. >> tonight, the worst of the damage seems to be in santa cruz

county. caps off this 2023 that has been defined by storms for the coastal towns around santa cruz and capitola. these are striking images from some of northern california's most charming beaches. tonight abc seven news south bay reporter lauren martinez is out surveying some of the aftermath of these waves and what might still be to come. >> people lining the bay area coastline to see the beauty and the power of mother nature up close. sometimes despite several warnings in santa cruz county, different areas were under an evacuation warning that was lifted by thursday afternoon. coach communities like capitola were pummeled. by the evening, city workers and business owners were busy trying to get the area dry. >> everybody's cleaning up from any, you know, water. that little water came in and sand

and stuff. so? so mostly just cleaning and tidying up for a lot of these businesses here in capitola village, they'll be reopened on friday. >> the damage is nowhere near what it was earlier this year, not even close to what happened earlier this year. >> so it was it was a bummer. today but it wasn't quite near like it was last year. so we're thankful for that. >> city workers were inspecting restaurants and other businesses for safety. we saw a couple places yellow tagged for restricted use, but the majority were deemed safe at paradise beach grill. they plan to be open on friday this holiday weekend for the charming beach town will be a big one. >> this is kind of. this two week period is kind of the sunny spot in the winter for restaurants. you know, and retail. so, um, you know, we're, we're, we're hoping to get some people down here, officials are warning residents to prepare for more rain on friday and another coastal wave event that is expected early saturday in capitola. >> lauren martinez abc seven

news intense day let's check in with abc seven news meteorologist sandyha patel because even with all we saw today, sandy amoore's coming. yeah. and i have just bumped the storm impact scale to a three. dan, let's take a look at that storm impact scale. it's going to be a strong one tomorrow with downpours, strong winds, rough surf, thunder chance flooding on roadways and along the coast and speaking of the coast, a live view from our santa cruz camera. >> it's pretty choppy out there. wave heights, 17 footers at bodega bay. we did have bodega bay hit 28ft earlier, point sur 29ft. that high surf warning until 3 a.m. tomorrow. large breakers between 28 and 33ft up to 40 is still possible, with dangerous swimming, surfing and rip currents. so we go hour by hour showing you the wave heights they tempoorary. we will continue to subside going into tomorrow morning, but as a new storm is approaching, the storm will kick up the swells again. so late tomorrow night going

into saturday we are still dealing with a level three storm. as you look at live doppler seven, it is already moving in our direction. we are seeing some radar returns, even some lightning strikes off the northern california coast. and as we go hour by hour here, you will notice tomorrow morning out ahead of the storm, we see some scattered showers. main band of heavy rain moving in at 1 p.m. would downpours for the afternoon and evening commute. some of the biggest storm concerns are standing water on the roadways. it's a high likelihood localized flooding and this is tomorrow afternoon evening power outages, moderate to high and sierra snow is pretty high up there. late tomorrow night. we'll time this all out for you in just a few minutes. >> all right. sandhya, thank you . in the north bay, flooding concerns had people evacuating from stinson beach. a warning was issued in the morning and lifted a few hours later. firefighters were out helping shore up properties and clear sand or anything else that could cause flooding. for some residents. this triggered memories of last winter just

trying to barricade to make sure that we're in better hands than last year. >> i think it came kind of a surprise. um last year with how the water can get completely up to these houses with more of the incoming weather and surf, firefighters plan to be out in the stinson beach area tomorrow, and we let you access the latest weather radars with the same live doppler seven that sandhya and our weather team depend on. >> just search abc seven bay area in your device's app store to download some new developments tonight with former president trump's 2024 election effort tonight, california secretary of state is declining to remove him from the republican primary in march after calls to disqualify him earlier today, maine became the second state to remove the former president from the state's primary, using the 14th amendment. >> colorado supreme court did it earlier this month. both states are citing the constitution's ban on someone from holding office if they participate in an insurrection against the united states. when we looked at the

weight of evidence, it became clear that january 6th was an attack not only on the capitol, on government officials, but also an attack on the rule of law, that it was an insurrection . trump's legal team is planning to appeal this new decision. colorado's republican party is sending its appeal to the u.s. supreme court. just yesterday, michigan supreme courtrillionuled to keep donald trump on the state's primary ballot. >> let's turn now to the east bay, where many in oakland are pushing to start the rehiring process to find a new police chief. mayor shengtao rejected the final list of candidates yesterday and tonight, the police commission agreed to begin the search. abc seven news reporter suzanne fawn was there for the meeting and has new reaction to what's coming next. >> who's going to take care of the public safety? who's going to take care of the citizens of oakland and the businesses of oakland? >> when oakland mayor shengtao on wednesday dismissed the list of three finalists for the city's top cop, now we're back to square one. many community

leaders like bishop robert jackson were deeply concerned about the safety of oakland. opd has been led by an interim chief since february. >> we need a police chief. we've been waiting for a police chief. it's been a year now. we still don't have a police chief. >> carl chan is a community leader who connects with many businesses in oakland's chinatown. he says finding and hiring a police chief is urgent to do. >> of all these issues in our city, especially, there's so many attacks against businesses, residents and pretty much everyone you know is concerned about their own safety. former oakland police chief lauren armstrong was reportedly one of the top three finalists. >> reject mayor tao fired armstrong, citing a federal monitors, finding that he mishandled two officer misconduct cases. an independent arbitrator cleared him of those accusations. many community leaders say they want him to return the mayor was very adamant about she's not going to do that without public comment. >> we will now adjourn to closed

session this thursday night. >> the oakland police commission held a closed session meeting. afterwards, they announced to restart the hiring process with the following timeline january one through january 31st, 2024 open recruitment period. >> march one, 2024 for final names sent to the mayor. >> mayor tao will make the ultimate decision on who to hire . as for the police commission, they remain tight lipped the entire commission will continue to observe a media blackout to respect the confidentiality of applicants who may be presently employed. as others worry about what happens next. >> this decision has to be made as soon as possible. >> according to the oakland police commission. the bottom line is we are committed to finding the best candidate for oakland in oakland, suzanne phan abc seven news. it's a new era

for bart as it begins testing new fare gates. >> this is part of an effort to stop fare evasion and get to more people riding the train. once again, the new gates went into use today at the west oakland station. right now, bart is using the gates to test different door materials undergoing hundreds of tests so far. the transit agency says the response is positive. >> people were happy to see that we're doing something. you know, people let us know that west oakland is a place where they've seen fare evasion happening. so to not see it happening this morning because of these new gates kind of show us initially that it's working. >> more stations will get new fare gates soon. next month, bart is expected to announce the next eight stations that will have them installed, and the oakland airport was packed with long lines at the southwest checked bag area today, you can see people were even lined outside of the airport. >> there were only minor delays, so it meant many passengers missed their flights. despite arriving early. >> we're going to miss our flight, but that's all right. we see another one at seven, so

hopefully it won't make that one. yeah. long line. yeah. we got here two hours early. like it said, but just not early enough. >> yeah i expect it to be busy. i did not expect this line. so this will be an interesting day. >> um, it's been crazy. i've lived here my whole life. i come down here every year for christmas and it's never been this bad. and everybody in line is also like, yeah, it's never been this bad. >> today was supposed to be one of the busiest travel days after christmas and into new year's eve. >> a lot more to come. wipeout waves hit southern california. the chaotic scene as water comes rushing into a neighborhood and a huge bear hiding underneath a home. >> see how one man in tahoe was able to get out and harmony and healing. >> we introduce you to a bay area organization, lifting spirits through the power of music. i one on one conversation ahead

okay. anyone missing? >> holy. >> this wave just came seemingly out of nowhere. just this rush. i mean, you saw it. it was six, eight feet deep. i'm kind of just shaking. um, just. i'm just trying to hold on to positive thoughts. >> this is insane. i was up on the pier. i actually felt the pier shaking. it doesn't even seem real. >> ventura police say they're thankful lifeguards were nearby and ready to pull people to safety. and now people are left cleaning up debris that was pushed onto the surrounding streets. obviously a reminder that we can't underestimate the power of this high surf and we've been putting together a montage of all the crazy weather here locally from today, both from viewers and our own cameras. you can check out the

best of the footage on the front page of our website, abc seven news.com. >> it never gets old, it never goes away. they never heal. that unknown is very painful for them. >> it's a case that has been cold for decades. a 25 year old nurse named donna lass disappeared near her apartment in lake tahoe, and now a human skull may be the missing link. tonight reporter orko manna explains how investigators are finally getting this break and what comes next in the case. >> on september six, 1970, was the last time anyone saw donna lass, the 25 year old south lake tahoe resident was on the job at the time. >> she was working as a nurse at the sahara tahoe, which is a casino on the nevada side. >> that casino hotel is now the golden nugget. while the name has changed, what hasn't is the mystery surrounding lass's disappearance. >> old cases stay open till they're solved. >> south lake tahoe police chief david stevenson tells me a security supervisor at the hotel

filed a missing persons report three days after last went missing. for 50 years, she remained lost until now. the placer county sheriff's office says a skull found in 1986 off of highway 20 near interstate 80 has been identified as las. but what took so long? >> at that time, the dna testing technology wasn't advanced enough to get a sample. >> stevenson also says dna from lassie's relatives was not collected until her sister gave a sample five years ago. enter a new cold case team made up of people from the placer county sheriff's and district attorney's offices. last week, the team sent the skull to the california department of justice, hoping new technology could id it. >> they had those remains sampled for dna. it was processed, run through the system, and they were uh- cal doj was able to get a hit on those remains based on that familial dna that was uploaded.

>> it matched with last, but it's still unclear how she died. >> it hasn't been proven to be a homicide at this point, but we're obviously treating it that way. >> so what happens next? even after more than five decades since donna last was last seen here, there are still no suspects. but police say they won't stop searching from here on. >> it's just a matter of following up, following up on any leads that may come in. >> stevenson hopes laci's family finds some closure to knowing her fate, but understand that there are more questions they want answered. >> obviously it was a long time ago, but families never forget that's true. >> and that was orko manna reporting, and many have long suspected that that donna lass was one of the zodiac killers victims. but an official link has never been established. >> the holidays are a particularly tough time for anyone being treated at a hospital, especially children. but there is a local organization offering a unique way to lift the spirits of people receiving medical care. young and old alike. and it's

helping build a better bay area. one song, one patient at a time. look at the stuff. >> isn't it neat? >> wouldn't you think my collection's complete the nonprofit that connects performers like this one with patients is called harmony and healing, started by a good friend of mine. >> actually, david victor toured with boston as a guitarist and singer, and now he's using his talents to bring musicians to local hospitals that must be really meaningful in a different way, when you can take them back to, as you say, a time when they felt great. >> that's the thing with harmony and healing. you know, we're doing music for hospital patients, hospice patients, you know, people in a uh, you know, really profound times of their lives and, you know, unfortunately, in many cases, it's some of the last times of their lives. so to be able to bring music to them in those moments is just it's profound and spiritual and, you know, it

brings tears to your eyes. i mean, it's so moving for me. um, everyone, if you'd like to help musicians to perform for bay area hospital, hospital and hospice patients just go to their website, harmony and healing.org new at 11. >> a very close encounter with a large bear to get it to leave a home in south lake tahoe. check it out. a man used a paint gun to go underneath the home and push the bear out. you can hear those pops. oh, that is a huge bear, the man says to not try this without years of training and experience. first he says the bear is just fine and will find another safer spot for winter. his years of experience with the paint gun or getting rid of bears, i don't know. >> no, we're not trying this. we need his phone number. we'll call him. we do. all right, let's go back and talk about this storm, which is now been increased by sandy. that's right. >> let's get to sandia for the latest sandia. yeah. >> and dan, and let's first talk about an earthquake that just

hit northwest of the geysers. this was centered at a depth of about a mile. it was a magnitude 3.55. once again northwest of the geysers, just west of cobb. so it just hit. let's take a look at that storm impact scale. as dan mentioned, this is a level three for tomorrow. it's a strong storm downpour cause strong winds, rough surf, thunder chance. and we are expecting flooding on roadways and along the coastline. combination of things. we'll get right to that in just a moment. most of this is going to be happening in the afternoon and evening. here is the storm. it is really getting wound up here. we've seen lightning strikes off the northern california coast. this storm gets here and it is going to soak the bay area. but one of the concerns is astronomical high tide coming up. coastal flood advisory until 2 p.m. tomorrow afternoon. if you could stay at home and work from home or if you could stay off the roads and work earlier in the day, i would advise you to do that. if you can. of course, a flood advisory has

been extended until 2 a.m. this is once again for this area, the carmel lagoon area, as they've already seen flooding and that is going to continue to be the case on live doppler seven. a lot of cloudiness there and a few isolated sprinkles out there, but we're still waiting for the main storm. it's going to get here in just a matter of hours. temperatures right now in the 50s and the 60s. a live view from exploratory camera. you can see the gray skies headlines for the week ahead. high surf warning. rough and dangerous surf. strong storm for tomorrow. we are expecting wet, windy conditions and certainly flooding on the roadways. new year's eve will be dry for most areas, but an isolated shower or two can't be ruled out. wind advisory goes up for all areas shaded here. 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. tomorrow. southerly winds gusts to 50 miles an hour means there's potential for power outages and certainly the possibility of some downed trees as the winds ramp up tomorrow morning, 32 miles an hour, half moon bay, 36 point rays at 8 a.m. watch as the winds get even

stronger. half moon bay over 40 miles an hour going into the noontime hour 30 to 32. not out of the question from the peninsula to even some of our inland areas. early afternoon it is still going to be gusty, although not quite as strong in terms of the wind. the rain first begins as just scattered light showers out ahead of the storm in the morning. and then look what happens at 1 p.m. we're starting to get soaked in the north bay, san francisco, the coastline by 3:00. this is not a time that you want to be on the roads very stormy conditions if you can avoid it, best to do this. 5:00. we're going to be seeing those downpours. if the storm stalls, it could cause even worse problems. so just keep that in mind. 10:00 we're looking at light to moderate rain. continuing scattered showers for your saturday. can't rule out an isolated thunderstorm in the early part of the day. the showers will become lighter in nature by noontime and just really become more scattered as we head towards the early afternoon before this system winds down. rainfall totals have gone way up. i mean, we're talking most of you in that one

to over two inch category of rain, with the hills picking up three, possibly four inches of rain. winter storm in the sierra. it's the winter weather advisory 10 p.m. tomorrow until 10 p.m. saturday, 1 to 2ft for the peaks. we're expecting 8 to 12in above 6000 with the gusty winds. travel will be very difficult for the holiday weekend. 40s, 50s. tomorrow morning you're still fine if you want to get out of town or if you want to commute in the morning, but it's the afternoon that is most concerning here. 50s and 60s on your highs, by the way, san jose did hit a record high today of 72 degrees. your new year's eve forecast scattered showers for your saturday, cloudy new year's eve and isolated shower chance can't be ruled out. monday you'll be ringing in the new year on a dry note with highs in the 50s and the 60s. accuweather seven day forecast. once again, the storm is now a three morning showers, and then we go to a stormy afternoon and evening. so it's a three for tomorrow afternoon evening. a one with scattered showers. saturday sunday is

mostly dry except for isolated showers new year's eve and then dry monday with more wet weather coming your way with a level one on wednesday. ama and dan. we'll be right back after

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the stage is up for the big ball drop with the largest crystal ball in the world. >> earlier today, the 17th annual good riddance day took place in times square. it was a chance to say so long 2023 make 2023 disappear. >> wow. now i think just starting anew and just turning a completely new chapter in our book and starting afresh and saying goodbye to self-doubt. >> any anxiety the new york police department is expecting a million people to pack times square for the ball drop. >> you can ring in the new year right here on abc seven. dick clark's new year's rockin eve with ryan seacrest kicks off at 8 p.m. sunday. abc seven news is on at 10 p.m, and then we take you back to ryan seacrest at 1030 for the countdown to midnight. >> we'll be right back.

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five of the last six open in a huge seven game home stand tonight. jimmy butler out for the opposing miami heat, lets late second quarter warriors down a dozen. steph curry fouled from deep splash. it's a four point play. warriors down just

seven at the break. third quarter brandon good defense on tyler herro steph grabs a loose ball and then 30 goes coast to coast. and the foul three point play. just 13 points though for steph on three of 15 shooting. later in the third rookie jaime jaquez running the break. great pass to jamal cain. tied a career high with 18 points. miami back up 12. look at that pass. goes through jonathan kuminga's leg. uh- miami led by as many as 22. and they were led by heroes game-high 26 points. and here is three of them. was was lose 114 102. they snap an eight game home winning streak. up next, a home date with dallas on saturday night 49 ers injury news trent williams, deebo samuel and javon hargrave were all limited in practice. quarterback brock purdy suffered a stinger. you see it there in monday night's loss. but we'll be good to go on sunday in washington. brock is using monday's four interception game as an opportunity to grow. >> you know, for me it's a great learning experience just in terms of, you know, not, you know, buying into what's going on around and what's being said.

um, instead said, you know, executing, you know, in the moment, making the right reads, being consistent, um, protecting the ball. um, all those things, man, it's such a good learning experience. >> jets and browns thursday night football joe flacco has been a godsend for cleveland. 19 to 29, 309 yards and three touchdowns as the browns win 3720, clinching just their second playoff berth in 21 seasons as they become the first team ever to reach the playoffs with four quarterbacks having multiple starts this season, sharks trying to snap a six game slide hosting edmonton. but the oilers score not one. not not two, not three, but four first period goals against goalie magnus corona, who made an nhl debut to forget before he was pulled in the sharks lose it. five nothing this might be my new favorite bowl game. it's the pop tarts bowl. k-state defeated nc state 2819, but the real story the pop tarts mascot came out of the toaster. goes dancing with the ref, and then at the

end of the game, he becomes the first edible mascot that i've ever seen. that is a tasty, tasty treat. sports on abc seven. sponsored by river rock casino

ali. have a great night everyone . >> jimmy: hi, before by start the show and before the audience comes into our theater, i just want to tell you that last night at around 7:00 p.m., we lost not only a giant in the world of television, but a great man who was one of the most important and impressive people i ever had the pleasure of meeting. his name was norman lear. norman was the genius who brought us some of the greatest television shows and characters of all time, "all in the family," "good times," "the jeffersons," "maude," "the facts