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 area news tonight, rain, hail, and snow. we're seeing it all. when will this spring storm finally move out? we're tracking it hour by hour. also, 2,000 trees falling in san francisco alone. some of them perfectly healthy.

so what now do we do to replace them? and where is the money going in the south bay? san jose about to be audited about its homeless spending. and an nba legend honors two high schools in oakland. we'll hear from kareem. good evening. this is nbc bay area news tonight. i'm raj mathai. just when we we thought all these storms were wrapping up, not happening. we get a curveball, or in this case, a snowball, a hail ball. pretty wild today. a winter storm in spring. we have rain, hail and thunder as well. check out the time lapse behind me. you can see one of the storm bands actually rolling into san francisco this afternoon. yep, you can see it, and you can hear it. this is hail. this video in the berkeley hills. the hail really across the bay area. san francisco, santa cruz mountains, and the south bay, and of course the east bay as well.

>> at times pretty heavy. little pellets a little bigger than baby pellets. but where we were, it came down a lot. >> international visitors taking note as well. and of course snow. it was cold enough atop mount diablo and mount hamilton. plenty of snowflakes. let's bring in our chief meteorologist jeff ranieri. you said last night that this might happen today, and it happened today. this was pretty intense. almost reminded me of a january storm. >> we really haven't had a break on these strong storms moving in. it's been back-to-back, as we've been saying. storm ranger mobile doppler radar, and we are tracking moderate rain. a heavier pocket through the santa cruz mountains tonight. scattered rain showing up on the radar. we won't have too much left at 11:00. 30 tonight, and by tomorrow morning, we start to get in on some sunshine, andthat sunshine, i know you all want it, and we all need it. it's going to be coming in as we head through tomorrow's forecast. looking good. >> how much rain do we get today

and tomorrow? >> 1 to 2 inches with this latest storm system. >> okay. impact on our reservoirs? the good news is all this rain, also good news is the by-product is the reservoirs. >> it has been incredible. look at these numbers here. 102% here lake sonoma. lexington, 95. east bay mud right there at 100%. state reservoirs now at 91% of historical average as of today across the region. so it has been just really huge for us. >> remember talking for so many years about the lack of water and our drought. now we're out of it. >> and beyond this, check it out. look at our long-range forecast. we're looking at a few shower chances the next seven days. overall i'm calling it a break. by rain outlook, i'm calling for 75% chance april brings more storms. now the heaviest likely could be just to the north. but the storm door is not closed yet. spring, as we continue through spring, la nina is done for us. and then el nino, that may form

next fall, which can at times bring california some very heavy rainfall. so that is what we're going to be watching as we head into fall. i think most immediately, next seven days is a much needed break for us. >> that's a big break, seven days without a lot of rainfall. >> it really is. >> and then easter, maybe a rainy easter. >> we'll have to wait. >> thank you. one of the biggest problems we've seen this rainy season, all the falling trees crushing homes, cars, and fences across the bay area. this is today in the santa cruz mountains. a cree cutter removing some of the large ones that crashed on to homes. one guy says he is working on 15 different jobs where trees crashed into some sort of building. >> is this one of the worst rain seasons or storm seasons you've seen? >> i've been in boulder creek my whole life. this is the worst i've ever seen it. >> it's a big concern in san francisco as well. a group that tracks the trees that are both standing and falling estimates that about 2,000 trees in san francisco

alone have fallen this year. joining us now is brian wiedenmeier, executive director of the friends of the urban forest. his group is in charge of replacing the fallen trees, along with adding new ones to the city. brian, nice to have you on the program. you estimate that we've lost 2,000 trees in less than four months. do we just replace these trees or do we simply lose them? >> thank you so much for having me, raj. you know, it is a moment to really take stock of what we've lost. and absolutely we need to replace them. san francisco already had a meager urban forest compared to other cities of this size, and this winter and the storms we've had are going to set us back even further. >> you talk about this urban forest. we always think of l.a. as the concrete jungle. how green or how green is san francisco compared to l.a. or new york city, for example? >> you know, actually, we have less urban forest coverage than either los angeles or new york city, believe it or not. only about 14% of san

francisco's streets are covered by shade. and that's not enough. certainly we can do better. and to gain the benefits from trees like shade, habitat, storm water runoff mitigation. we need more. >> i think that comes as a surprise to a lot of our viewers. are you hopeful you can get the funding? is that what it takes to replace the trees? is it simply fund organize is it also staff? >> yes, the friends of the urban forest relies both on volunteers to help us plant more trees and donations. friends of the urban forest.org are always looking for both. but the scale of this loss is so big, we're calling on city leaders, including mayor breed to commit city funding and public funding to address the huge losses we've seen of trees across the city. >> and so far how responsive has the mayor been? and what's your next step in this journey? >> well, we'll see. the city's budget, she is going to release her budget next month some time. i know there are a lot of

priorities, but we have a climate action plan. the city has an urban forestry plan. all of those already call on us to do more, to plant more trees. again, the impact of the storms and the loss of so many large mature trees, it's more urgent than ever. >> final question. for the trees that you cannot replace, what happens? what happens there on the sidewalk where the tree once stood? >> yeah, well, you know, there is going to be an empty basin, and we need to grind the stumps. if it's impossible to plant something there, we can cover it with concrete. but we are really going to do all we can to work with the community, to work with the city to replace as many of those trees as possible and to plant more across san francisco. especially where they need it most. >> okay. we wish you the luck because it is so important for the entire bay area to be green. brian wiedenmeier, we appreciate your time. have a good evening. >> thanks, raj. we love this. a lot of video coming into our newsroom of the stormy weather. this is in san francisco. our friend brian boitano, yes,

the gold medal skater sending this. the hail, incredible to see that. it was also pouring in the south bay. chris jones sent this video in the burbank neighborhood of san jose. that rain coming in strong. let's catch up now on some of the other headlines we're watching this evening. a mother says she is being left in the dark about the deaths of her daughter. her daughter's body found in oakland last week. christy miles says her daughter, 33-year-old megan lynch is the victim in all this. many of the circumstances surrounding the death are still unknown. we reached out the oakland police. they're not providing us any updates at this time. but we do know that police were called out to brush and 21st in west oakland last week. that's where they found the body. lynch's family says the tragedy is taking a toll on them. >> i'm just so mad. i'm very angry. i just wanted anybody that knows something, that see anything to please call the homicide

detectives. >> what's happened, you know? you keep running your mind, you keep going over in your mind. what really happened? >> lynch's mom says the coroner's office did id her daughter's body, but they also would not confirm if she died from suspicious circumstances. also tonight, a new problem at south bay food banks. they're having to turn away families not because they're short on food, but also they're short on volunteers. this happening at the catholic charities in santa clara county. they've had to turn people away recently because they don't have enough people to actually hand out the food. the need for food is growing with high rents, inflation, and the end of the pandemic stimulus benefit. >> they bring us the food. we have to bag it. you can see we're bagging it now to try to get it out to the families, because tonight we're serving almost 800 families in two hours. >> 800 families. you see the line of cars there. if you would like to help, there are several south bay distribution centers to choose

from where you can step in and volunteer. you can find a link to sign up at our website, nbcbayarea.com. well, this one hurts. a beloved bowling alley is closing for good. we're talking about the sea bowl in pacifica. it's been open for six decades. the owners say they're retiring, and they're closing the family business at the end of may. in a letter sent to the community, the owner said it was difficult decision, but they're ready to start a new chapter in their lives. >> we would bring our kids down and have pizza and bowling and invite a bunch of family, friends and we'd all bowl together. >> you can go around this town and talk to a lot of people, and they all have great memories of pacifica bowling alley, yes. people have been great for years. >> sea bowl is a gem not just for pacifica, but the entire coast and people on the peninsula as well. sea bowl first opened in 1959. its current owners took over in 1996. if you want to go before it closes, you've got until may 31st. up next, people living in

overturned cars, and an infestation of rats. a state senator's trip to a san jose encampment spurs calls for an audit on homeless spending in san jose. and how about this? a vip convict oakland today. a vip convict oakland today. why kareem was in t

whenen a truck h hit my car,, a vipthe insusurance compmpany why kwawasn't fair.r. i didn't k know what my case wawas worth, soso i called d the barneses f. callll the barnenes firm now, anand let us h help you gegt the bebest result t possible. ♪ call one eight huhundred, eight mimillio♪ welcome back to nbc bay area news tonight. where is all the money going? the state wants to know exactly

how san jose is tackling its homelessness crisis, and it's ordering an audit. the request for this audit came from state senator dave cortese, a long time san jose civic leader. he pushed for the audit after visiting the columbus park encampment right near san jose airport. state senator cortese says he wans to make sure the $15 billion that the state shell out for homeless projects over the past few years is being spent correctly, a and the people deserve to know where that money is going. according to the latest homelessness count, at least 6600 people were considered homeless last year. that's the highest number in san jose in 13 years. we should also note san jose is doing a better job at getting people experiencing homelessness into housing. last year san jose spent about $26 million on homelessness projects. joining us is state senator cortese. state senator cortese, nice to have you back on the program. you've seen san jose go from small town to capital of the

silicon valley. what concerns you the most about all this money that we're getting but perhaps not spending correctly? >> well, i think what concerns me is what my constituents see, and what they're sharing with me. and of course i have the same observations that we're investing billions of dollars of state money. there is obviously local money being invested as well, as you just noted. but people are driving to and from work, toe and from home, and they're seeing more and more encampments popping up, more and more people on the streets. and there seems to be not only no end in sight, but no reduction of anything that has happened whatsoever. we need to figure out how it is that billions of dollars are being invested and not making the dent in this problem, and whether or not there is deficiencies that we need to address, whether or not the money is getting to places like the city of san jose, the third largest city in the state on time and on budget.

and whether not it's being applied then to the most significant issues that we're facing like the columbus park encampment or other issues like that. i think this will be very, very helpful in helping us be accountable to taxpayers who are the ones who are putting up this money in the first place. >> this is billions of dollars you're talking about. i think a lot of people do have the question, where is our money going. this is not just a san jose problem. many of us do walk by or drive by encampments, and we see it from the outside. what did you see on the inside at columbus park right near sjc? >> i saw the worst humanitarian crisis up close that i've ever seen. and look, i'm a 66 years old. i've travelled a little bit. i've been in third world countries. you know, i've seen areas in the past even in our own city that were not something to be proud of. but i've never seen anything as bad and as unhealthy as much a

public health crisis of what i saw there that day. overturned cars. some cars burning. garbage piled up. at donald trump truckload levels that it didn't appear anyone was cleaning up. people who were there at the time trying to live there told me the garbage had been out there for days, weeks at a time. nobody was even coming in to removing the vehicles that were stacked up there and turned upside down. there weren't anything that would even resemble adequate sanitary conditions. and roads running around. i'm not particularly fond of rodents. it's something i noticed. i'm not talking being there at midnight or 1:00 in the morning. i'm talking about being there in the late morning with the sun shining and that kind of thing going on where you actually had to watch where you were stepping. >> yeah, we see it there. we saw the rats in some of the

video there. when this audit comes out, and there are some discrepancies, or some misuse of funds, is that on the mayor of san jose or the city council? who should shoulder the blame or make the changes? >> everyone should make the changes. you know, we're taking a look at the federal and state dollars, again, whether or not that's happening with the efficiency that it should. certainly we're going look at san jose's application of those funds and their own funds. we want to learn from that. we're looking at alignment with the county. this isn't a blame game. this isn't an indictment. it's an audit, just like any business would run. people tell us at times why don't you run the state like a business? well, that's what we're trying to do with this audit, before we get too much further along with these unprecedented investments. let's take a look at what the audit turns up. and you sent us a tool. and i hope the mayor and the city council view it that way as a tool for them to utilize to do a better job. we can all do better.

and this is a matter of basic decency in my hometown city of san jose and other cities throughout the state. >> you just said. i think a lot of cities will be watching to see what happens in san jose, the bay area's biggest city. state senator dave cortese, appreciate your time. nice the see you. >> thank you. nice to see you. let's move on now. he is one of the greatest basketball players of all time, and today he was in oakland celebrating the next generation of basketball stars. kareem. kareem abdul-jabbar, the six-time nba champ and hall of famer visited oakland high school today to congratulate the boys basketball team for winning its first ever state title. he also congratulated the ladies of oakland tech for winning their third consecutive championship. the man who made the skyhook famous stressed the importance of hitting the books rather than hitting the bucket. >> my hope is that they get an understanding that education is huge. >> it means a lot to us. it feels good to be celebrated and recognized in our city. >> dream come true. >> for him to come down and speak with us and recognize everything that we've done in

our city, it's a blessing. >> how cool to have kareem in town. the celebration is not over. the city of oakland will throw a championship parade for both teams on april 16th. one more note before we move on. talk about perfect timing here. watch what happened when our sports reporter was filming his report. >> celebrating not one, but two state championships with one of the all-time greats in nba history. kareem abdul-jabbar! >> kareem rolls right through it. anthony flores getting it done with the kids, and kareem walking right through. pretty cool to see. another sports legend was in town today. the g.o.a.t. of women's track and field, seven-time gold medalist allyson felix in menlo park at the sharon heights country club. i was honored to host a fireside chat for a fundraiser for lucille packard's children hospital. the 37-year-old felix spoke about her time in the nicu while

giving birth to her daughter years ag she also talked about her battle with nike. i asked if she would come out of retirement for the olympics in paris and she said no, no chance. she is a class act. you're looking outside from our emeryville camera. jeff is going to return with an update on our forecast overnight and in thursday morning.to

no more hollywood for brad pitt. tmz is reporting the oscar-winning actor is moving to

carmel, to this home, the iconic dl james house. it's located on the cliffs of the carmel highlands. he bought this home last year actually for $40 million. brad pitt would be one of the many celebrities to call carmel their home. clint eastwood still lives down there as does george lopez. you like elon musk? this is your chance to win some rare memorabilia. an auction house is selling some musk-themed items. one of them, his first ever business card. this is from 1995 when musk founded his first company in palo alto. the business card expected to go for more than $20,000. >> look at that. kind of like a lightning bolt in that logo. >> i still have a business card. i don't hand them out anymore. >> i do. i hand them out all the time. everybody wants to know when they get that free sunshine. >> chief jeff ranieri. >> and we do have sun coming our way. let's move it into the microclimate forecast, and we'll

take a look at what we can expect. and even through the next couple of hours, we'll see the chance here of some scattered thunderstorms that may produce a little bit of that small hail. and then as we head through tonight, at 11:30, it begins to break up here, and then here we go. as you roll into tomorrow morning, some of that sunshine moving back in. and then we should be into at least mostly sunny to partly cloudy skies. as we head through tomorrow's forecast. so overall, i am calling it a break tomorrow. and we all need it. look at these temperatures, also warming up with that increased sunshine. 3 to 6 degrees. that will bring us to 59 in santa rosa. and upper 50s and low 60s down here through the south bay. on the seven-day forecast, there is some shower chances. don't worry, though. it is nothing big. some spotty chances friday, saturday, sunday. dry on monday. also a few chances here into next tuesday. so all in all, raj, even though we had those shower chances, it's really only going to amount to trace amounts to about a

tenth of an inch. so best seven-day forecast we've seen in over a month. how about it? >> we get to dry out. we'll need it. thank you, jeff. >> sure. as we wrap up, mario lopez just getting started with "access hollywood." >> tonight's "access" has the very emotional interview with jeremy renner since his horrific snowplow accident, which basically crushed his entire body. but jeremy says he, quote would do it again. why? because that was the only way to save his nephew from being hurt. and we're also going to share the next fuji step in jeremy's recovery. and then we're on the red carpet with a stunning jennifer aniston in a very casual adam sandler as usual for the premiere of murder mystery 2. no surprise adams looking out for his buddy when it comes to romance. >> if you were going to set her up with someone, who are the qualities? >> funny, light, good heart. >> he's got her back. chilling with the hoodie on the red carpet. and a great story about the fonz, henry winkler, ehhh.

you don't want to miss. on "access hollywood." >> thank you. we'll see yo shortly. here is what is coming up after mario loez. prime-time, it's all chicago all the time. chicago med at 8:00. chicago fire at 9:00. chicago pd at 10:00, and of course our 11:00 newscast. and coming up at 11:00, it was supposed to be donated to a charity, but a truck, a refrigerated truck was robbed and vandalized. what this step back means for the charity and its mission fighting hunger in the bay area that story and more coming up on our 11:00 newscast. that's going to do it for us here at 7:00. for everyone here at nbc bay area, thanks for joining us. we hope you enjoy your evening. we hope to see you back at 11:00.

hollywood". >> i'd do it again. >> hang in there, brother. >> going to kill me? >> saving his nephew was all worth it, an emotional jeremy