♪♪♪ alexex! mateo, hey y how's busisiness? alexex! great. y you know ththat n has s really wororked wonder. thatat's what u.u.s. bank isis. great. y you know ththat n has s really wororked wonder. and d you're grorowing in calififornia? great. y you know ththat n has s really wororked wonder. -yup, , socal, nororcal... -monteterey? -all d day. -a brancnch in ventutura? that's's for sure-e-ah. atms in n fresno? that's's for sure-e-ah. freses-yes. that's's for sure-e-ah. encinitatas? yes, indndeed-us. encinitatas? anaheim? encinitatas? big g time. encinitatas? more guauacamole? encinitatas? i'i'm on a rololl-ay. encinitatas? how about t you? i'm jujust visitining. u.s.s. bank. ranked #1 1 in customomer satisfafaction h retatail bankingng in calififornia by j j.d. po. i'm raj mathai. next on nbc bay areaa news tonigight, the d deadly aftermaf yesterday's storm. five people have died because of those powerful winds and falling trees. also, wild weather down in southern california. take a look. a tornado ripping the roof off a

business. and how san jose researchers are trying to unlock secrets of beethoven, using a lock of his hair. >> good evening. this is nbc bay area news tonight. i'm raj mathai. we felt it last night and today we are learning just how bad it was. rain and floods are damaging, but it's the wind that's really deadly. we've counted at least five deaths now linked to falling trees or branches. the victims in oakland, san francisco, and walnut creek. in san francisco, on post street in the tenderloin, a witness says a large tree came down yesterday right on to two people, killing one of them. that person has been identified as 36-year-old ryan taylor of las vegas. >> and this tree here, one branch had fallen and another this way. and all i could see was a man's

legs out from under the car and the tree. >> a short time later on lincoln way near golden gate park, witnesses say a tree branch snapped in the wind, killing a woman who was at the bus stop. 55-year-old qiaoying han of san francisco. we're also learning san francisco police sergeant there was rushed to sf general with life-threatening injuries after a tree crushed him as he was in his unmarked police car on brotherhood way. another of the five people who died in the storm, a 79-year-old man in walnut creek. his name thomas huster. he and his wife of 30 years were driving on stanley dollar drive last night. she was driving. huster's son said the couple had been out to dinner, and they stopped for ice cream for dessert. on the way home, tragedy. >> and suddenly, the windshield exploded, and there was a large crash. and that was basically it.

my father was immediately killed. >> we apologize. we showed you some incorrect video right before you heard huster speaking there. this is huster. his wife suffered minor injuries. huster was an attorney in san francisco. his son says the law practice was his passion, and that he truly liked helping people. huster retired to walnut creek a few years ago. and there is this. a plumbing company posted this tribute to jesus cruz. cruz died yesterday in portola valley after a tree fell on his van. the 29-year-old was heading back from a job. his coworkers created a gofundme page to raise money for his family. and here is a familiar story. thousands of people without power. and pg&e is scrambling. let's bring in the outage map now. any color you see on the map, whether it's orange, green or

yellow means thousands of pg&e customers are without power. we're talking businesses, parks, and home. pg&e says crews are working all over the state, but the by area was hit the hardest. >> so i will be honest. we are -- i'll be direct. we are -- our folks are tired. but they're showing up. and we're going keep doing everything we can to get your lights back on. >> that's pg&e's regional vice president aaron johnson. during an update today in oakland, he said other utility companies usually have a mutual aid system to help each other during big storms, but crews from southern california have not been able to come up here because they're busy with their own storm damage. pg&e estimates most customers would have their power back on by today, but some people may have to wait a couple more days. we showed you that outage map that is the case. there are still people without power. well, tonight part of mission street in downtown san francisco remains closed. this after windows cracked, or in some cases fell from two

high-rises during the storm yesterday. we were the first to break the news that windows had failed at both the millennium tower and the salesforce east high-rises. the developer for the salesforce east tower 350 mission confirmed today that they had found issues with windows on several floors after the storm. across mission street, we're told a single window that had been left open during the storm broke off at the millennium tower. this is now the third and fourth buildings to see windows fail during our recent storms. we spoke with at least one person who says they were hit by bits of falling glass last night. >> came down pretty hard. i thought this was just hail. realized afterwards that it was glass, after it didn't melt when it hit the ground. >> we cannot have it raining glass in san francisco's downtown. the miracle is that in these four building window failures, nobody has been hurt. >> let's bring in investigative reporter jaxon van derbeken.

he is working on the story for us. jaxon, the majority of the failed windows happened at the salesforce east building. and let me be clear. this is not the salesforce tower, correct? that's right. it's catty-corner across the street, next to the building, but not the building itself. obviously the tower is a giant structure. this building is somewhat smaller, but it had failures from the 11th floor all the way up to the top of the building, even the roof had window failures, apparently. >> and we talk about it. you're talking about it. windows fail. what does that mean in just common english here? well, the window has what's considered part of the facade which is known as the envelope of the building. and when it cracks or breaks, that's a failure of the facade or the window. it's a structural issue. the windows are not obviously supposed to track, even in high winds. >> okay.

the other issue, not just salesforce east, but the millennium tower. we've talked so much about this tower. this seems to be an ongoing problem there. we're talking specifically now about the windows. >> right. back in 2020, there was a window that was propped open by a resident. it fell out in high winds and crashed to the ground. and millennium acknowledged today that the window that failed was open. and so that's when they told residents earlier that they ought to close these windows because of the risk that the wind could damage them when they're open. they're more vulnerable. >> that is a mess for the people who live there. we heard from supervisor peskin. he is calling for hearing and inspections. will this actually happen? and does it need to happen? >> well, already we have inspections in one of the buildings on california street at 555. that's been ordered to be inspected within the next two

weeks or so-so fairify the integrity of that facade. they had windows fail there on two sides of the building. and then of course we know that what peskin wants is a downtown-wide high-rise review of all the buildings in light of these failures. he just doesn't believe that we can really vouch for the safety of the city without it. >> we heard that gentlemen a short while ago saying he felt shards of glass raining down. okay, we know you'll stay on the story for us. appreciate you joining us tonight. let's move on. how about this? a twister in california. the national weather service says a small tornado touched down in montebello. this is down near l.a. this comes after a day of severe weather that actually included a tornado warning last night in central ventura county and southwestern l.a. county. here is another look. it did damage the roof.

debris from the roof hit several nearby cars. thankfully, no one was hurt. amazing to see that. let's bring in our chief meteorologist jeff ranieri. we're talking about the wind and the rain and flooding, but really, it's the wind that's become so deadly now the last couple days. >> it has. with this relentless hit here storms. on that tornado video, california actually averages 6.4 of those per year. and los angeles actually with the most with a total of 45. the storms we've seen have been back-to-back. they have been relentless. let's take it over to the weather wall. we'll get you a closer look at what's happening with all of the relentless activity. we've seen over a dozen of these since all this started back on december 27th. again, over a dozen strong storms with also that atmospheric river joining in to boost up every single one of these. when it comes to our rainfall season, we are seeing activity

like we have not seen in over a decade. just look at this column here. this is how much rainfall we've picked up so far. 38.34 inches in santa rosa. over 30 inches in san francisco. and san jose over 13 at the airport. but we know some of you down here in the south bay have certainly seen some totals up over 20 inches. so how does all of this stack up against the record books? let's get a look at san francisco. because this is one where the records date back the faerts. the last time we've seen anything closest is 2005. out of the records which started back in 1849, we now rank as the 13th wettest season ever. number one rank you may remember was 1983 with 43.75 inches. let's hope we don't get to that very large number we had back in 1983.

we do have more rainfall coming up. i've got details in my seven-day forecast. again coming up in about 15 minutes. but again, 13th wettest, raj, out of 174 years. >> that's good for perspective. i was here in '83, but i was a kid. i don't remember it. thank you. more problems on the peninsula. some people who live in the upscale town of woodside was told to leave their homes today. a huge mudslide came crashing down nearby. nbc bay area's robert handa shows us what happened and how everyone is responding. >> well, i'm here on patrol road in woodside, one of many neighborhoods in the bay area, struggling with the effects of the storm. you can see they brought in a backhoe right now to try to deal with this mudslide that is stranding about 30 residents at the top of the hill. it was a voluntary evacuation. a lot of the people have left. a few people have stayed. but generally speaking, they are pretty confident that this is going to be a temporary situation. as you can see, they're removing

lots of mud from this mudslide. there is another at the top of the hill they're dealing with. the hills here are very saturated with water. this is a situation that's not going to go away, even though at this point right now, we're getting a break from the storm. and that's giving people a chance to assess the damage as well as prepare for the next one. in woodside, robert handa, nbc bay area news. >> thank you. this is the third street bridge near oracle park, lefty o'doul's bridge. an industrial barge, you see there it, got loose in the bay and hit the bridge. this bridge connects the ballpark with several of its particular. today a lot of the city crews got to work trying to fix what's happening here. engineers still need to check on the mechanics that lift the bridge. let's move on to some other headlines now that we are watching, the heavily understaffed san francisco police department just got a much needed boost. the board of supervisors have approved $25 million in additional funding for overtime.

mayor breed called the money critical to fight crime. sfpd is short more than 500 officers. its leaders tell us they're relying on overtime to address the crime problems. >> i greatly believe that the residents' concerns about the officers responding in a timely manner, investigating crime, being responsive, preparing incident reports, conducting investigations is all tied to this overtime. as a matter of fact, i know that based on what we've done in the last couple of weeks to really build up to this, that we've staffed more officers and patrol cars. it had improved our response time. >> they're getting more money to pay the cops. not everyone, though, supports the funding proposal. at least one supervisor, dean preston voted against this proposal, saying the current police budget needs to be more closely scrutinized. up next, the los gatos neighborhood had a special visitor. you see him there? or see her there right along the fence?

that's a mountain lion crashing one of the neighbors there in los gatos. also, beethoven has been dead for nearly 200 years. but scientists are learning more about his musical genius. but not just from his songs. we'll see how dna is playing a big role at san jose state. you're watching nbc bay area news tonight.

welcome back to nbc bay area news tonight. an interesting discovery in los gatos. one of our viewers actually

tipped us off to this story. a mountain lion, you see it right, there hanging out on a fence in a woman's backyard. the big cat showed up last night and didn't leave. around noon today, though, officials finally decided to tranquilize the cat. the mountain lion is a two to 3-year-old female that may have been passing through and decided to take cover under the tree when the storm started picking up last night. >> at fist light, i was so scared. have i cats and dogs and there is kids around and all this stuff. but how cool. and i kept saying like i'm happy to host you, but please never come back. >> good attitude. there is no evidence that the mountain lion was hurt or sick. so they took her back to the hills today and returned her where she belongs, the wild. this is a fascinating story now. nearly 200 years after his death, we're learning more about ludwig van beethoven. yes, the german composer. a new paper was published about beethoven's dna.

how did the world get this dna? partly thanks to work done at san jose state home of the center for beethoven studies. the high-tech analysis teaches us that beethoven was among other things likely not even named beethoven and probably he had another last name. the german composer also had hepatitis b, but did not have lead poisoning at the time of his death in 1827. >> what the study showed was that beethoven had two genes or sets of genes that predispose you to have liver disease. >> our business and tech reporter scott budman joins us now. we know you love doing this story. this is amazing. it's right in our own backyard. let's start with the basics here. how are we finding out information? i believe there is a lock of hair that san jose state has. how did the university get it? >> so the university actually, raj, had at any given time two locks of hair. it turns out on beethoven's death bed, several of his acolytes and fans took lots of hair.

through the years, some of them have survived. it turns out some of them turned out not to be from beethoven through the years. but enough did where this dna sampling could happen with i believe five lox of hair, and they were able to take the strands do and the genetic testing and find out quite a bit about the man and his life and death that they didn't know before. >> and this is happening just recently within the last weeks or months? or was this discovered years ago and it is now for some reason being publicized? >> it was publicized today. it's been ongoing for years. there have been so many debates. and i didn't even realize it until looking into the story today about beethoven's life, what he looked like, his skin complexion, how he died and how much, for instance, even alcohol he drank or what mood he was in when he wrote some of the incredible pieces of music. and we don't yet know everything, but we know a lot more as of today. and again, yes, san jose center had a lot to do with it. and those strands of hair are what ultimately gave away some of the secrets of his life. >> that is really an incredible

story. so the dna technology, kind of like 23 & me or something way more intricate? >> no, it's intricate to an extent. but as soon as i found out that beethoven's last name was not likely beethoven, this is something out of a 23 & me episode, or i don't know, early pearl jam lyric. it's one of those things where an entire family in europe has the last name beethoven. they always thought they were related to the composer. they were told after their own genetic testing and that of, well, the composer himself, hey, you're all beethovens, but it turns out the composer is very likely not a beethoven. i'm sorry you're not related. that was a shock after generations of the family thought they had a relation to the composer himself. now it turns out they're beethovens, but the composer is probably something else. >> maybe he was a budman or mathai. what else can we find out that could be interesting? >> you know, when talking to the experts, they said it is

possible to dig even deeper into what ultimately killed him or perhaps some of the other genetic factors. and raj, you mentioned 23 & me. that's one of the things they do is tell you someone in your family may have had this. or because of your background you may have that. and there are still very intricate details to be found out about beethoven, and really about anyone else whose dna we can track. this science is fascinating. and it happens to be done in biotech labs not only here in the bay area, but also because of this beethoven center also right here in the bay area. it's a fascinating confluence of events that come together to teach us about this extremely famous man, and we're only going to get to know him more in the future. >> that's really fun. nice work. really interesting. thank you, scott. have a good evening. big concert is not going to happen. stevie nicks has canceled her concert, she says because of a covid illness within the band. the band will have new dates.

this particular concert was one of 14 extra shows she added when she extended her concert season from last year into this year. in berkeley now, one of the nation's first asian american bookstores is about to close its doors permanently. for decades, eastwind books has created space for asian american authors that you couldn't find at larger mainstream book stores. co-owners harvey and beatrice dong bought the store in the late 1990s and described it as a personal mission. both were activists during the civil rights movement, and among other things protested for ethnic studies curriculum at all college campuses. they say east wind books played a role in furthering that cause. >> we need to promote asian american studies, ethnic latinx, native american, because the american public doesn't know very much about peoples of color. >> they have been a big part of

our community for a long time. the owners say they're closing the store for personal and financial, including the cost of renewing their lease, which comes up on april 30th. however, they are exploring plans to take the bookstore online and will continue to promote events for asian american authors. all right. take you outside on this wednesday evening. a live look at the bay bridge, looking into san francisco. we're going to have a check on our forecast. jeff is going to come back with us. plus, how last night's storm c created a a bird shahade for t oakland d zoo. we'e're back inin a moment.t.

all right. here is a sign of the times. what about all our driverless cars driving during the storm is not fun, even with no human behind the wheel. take a look at these photos we were tagged in. those ar driverless cars from san francisco-based company called cruise. they got tangled up in muni lines and caution tape. twitter says the cars couldn't detect the downed trees or the tape and drove right through them. crews confirming to us that some of their cars went into areas that had storm damage and needed to be removed by their teams. others were able to get out themselves. and then there is this. a wild bird chase at the oakland zoo today. the storm blew many over. one tore open the fence at the african savannah aviary. no birds were hurt, but six escaped and took a stroll around

the zoo. the bird are still on the zoo property. zookeepers are troying to get ahold of the escapees. >> the storm system is slowly moving towards the south. take a look at the microclimate forecast. and we'll show you what is happening as we hit tonight. 11:00 p.m., we are on the drying side of things. thankfully. tomorrow morning we will get in on some sunshine over the north bay. so we'll start it off with temperatures in the 40s. by the afternoon, just 50s for highs on that seven-day forecast, raj. what you're going to see here is a substantial break friday, saturday and sunday. next storm as we hit next tuesday and wednesday. but that break, that's everything for us. >> that sunshine looks awesome. thank you, jeff. thanks for join us here at 7:00. have a great evening.

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♪ >> tonight on "access hollywood." >> are you readady? >> got it? >> it wasn't tom's return to football that caused the