japanese officials have raised the nuclear threat level to four to five on a 7-point scale after under playing the severity of nuclear crisis for days. >> i'm janelle wang, federal officials say radiation from the failing reactor in japan may reach the california coast today, but u.c. berkeley engineers say it's already here. should you be worried? >> the live look at the embarcadero, we have light showers, tracking heavier showers and thunder around the bay area. i'll show you where. >> good morning, roads are wet and we have road work on the dumbarton and bay bridge. details coming up. >> good friday morning. it is 4:30.

we do have some rain in the area as mike told you. i saw a guy jogging when i came to work. >> that is dedication. >> let's check in with mike. >> it is pretty active with healthy cells in marin county where we have yellows showing up around vallejo and downed 680 and 780 as you move into the western section all was the do i town half moon bay. let's take a look at the north bay. this is where a little lightning strike around fort ross earlier and now over to healdsburg, increase in rain there. as we look at the bay, couple of storms to the left. those will arrive in about 45 minutes. south bay is rather quiet. you'll get your rain, as a matter of time. it's all building to the north. first, let's find out about the traffic. >> luckily we haven't seen any

sinouts but there is some road work. two left lanes are blocked between the incline and treasure island until 5:00. and dumbarton in both directions for road work in until 5:00 and following that resurfacing project in oakland where two lanes blocked, northbound 880 around fruitvale. >> today marks one week since a devastating magnitude 9.0 quick crippled japan. the focus continues to be a worsening nuclear crisis and there is a race against the clock. nuclear safety agency raised the severity crisis at fukushima daiichi from a four to a five that is 7-level scale. they compare to a partial

meltdown like three-mile island. they are asking officials for help after dangerously overheated energy plant and fire trucks including one from the u.s. have been able to reach the cooling pool and building 3 this morning. panic is spreading around the plant and reported 10,000 people are fleeing even outside the evacuation zone. more than 16,000 people have been confirmed dead or missing since the quake struck a week ago. now the latest from japan. >> reporter: it's an all out battle to save the fukushima daiichi plant. they went in with high pressure water cannons to spray water to avert a potential meltdown. cruises went in with helicopters dropping 30 tons of sea water. that did little to cool it down at the site site and they said they would not resume aerial

operations for now. 300 men are working around the clock to save the plant all opting to remain nameless. a wife sharing her husband e-mail. please live well, i won't be home for a while. >> friday morning a bus now on the way from sendai to tokyo for those worried about the uncertainty ahead. all of the focus is the nuclear reactor has overshadowed the humanitarian crisis that continues to unfold. the death toll now stands at more than 6,000, more than 10,000 are still missing. some evacuation centers are still waiting for supplies, a week after the earthquake hit. >> in addition to those 300 men who have been working around the clock to save the plant we learned today more 130 firefighters who volunteered to

help with the mission. the firefighters, we expect a lot of difficulties with the mission but the reputation of japan and lots of so many people rests on their actions. radiation particles from japan is supposed to be arriving in the bay area today. scientists at u.c. berkeley believe they are already here. nobody in the scientific community is sounding the panic alarm. janelle wang has the latest. >> reporter: the federal government says none of the radiation detection monitors have detected anything. student and nuclear engineers at u.c. berkeley theirs have. they take their own radiation monitors on top of the building and they say they see traces of radiation particles, but it's so diffused, barely detectable. state officials say the plume

from japan's reactor will reach california today, but it will pose no harmful effects. any radiation that might make it here would are lower than what they are exposed to in their daily lives. >> it's much less than a plane flight. if you go to the clinic and have a x-ray that is much higher that you would be exposed to. >> california has 12 radiation detection monitors scattered around. epa has dozens more that are mobile that will be deployed all over the west coast but every single official on the local, state and national level any radiation that will reach california will not be harmful at all. dozens of people in san jose gathered last night for a vigil to remember the victims of the

earthquake in japan. ♪ >> this gathering took place in front of the san jose buddhist temple. they received numerous calls asking how they could help. >> give an opportunity to start healing, to start connecting and really think of ways they can start helping the tragedy and victims of japan. >> nations at the event and 100% of the proceeds will go to earthquake relief efforts. >> many people are trying to get out of japan and they told us how difficult it was to find a flight. and in tokyo that had to fly out of oakas a 7 than hour drive and immigration offers were hard to deal with. >> the immigration office were jam packed because of people

trying to leave and get out of the country. >> passengers and planes are being scanned for radiation at sfo but no abnormal levels have been detected. >> it is just about 4:38 on friday morning, that sounds good its friday morning. >> i know. that does sound good but the friday morning could be wet and afternoon commute. >> let's go to satellite and radar. this is really is going to tell the story. you can see how wound up the system on the left side of screen. tail end of the storm but closer to the low that we have been in the last couple of storms and we are dealing with stronger rain and storms this morning. you can see the heaviest cell around san rafael, 101 from novato all the way down into san francisco, heavy rain, richmond-san rafael bridge, heavy shower and looks like it will be wet there.

24-hour temperature change that affects everybody even in the south bay where it's not raining. temperatures running from 4-15 degrees warmer. low 50s for the rest of us. by the afternoon hours, you can see the rain coming down in sheets. temperatures in the mid to upper 50s and rest of us to the upper 50s to low 60s. heaviest rain will move in the afternoon and evening hours. low to mid-50s for you. we'll have waves of showers tomorrow and the storm center looks wetter. that is the day i think we'll get flooding and possibly power outages due to strong winds. >> so far the rain has not caused accidents or spinouts. we got word from chp they have issued a heavy rain advisory through santa cruz mountains this morning. please use caution. right now speeds are essentially showing green. live look in be contra costa

county walnut creek, no delays southbound 680 but we also have road work along highway 4 in pittsburg, at railroad, you will find a few lanes blocked until 7:00 this morning. no slowing around antioch on 4. and still ahead, tensions continue to rise in libya as the united nations approves measures to prevent muammar khadafy forces from mounting air zbleix stalemate in sacramento, they

good morning, it's friday and a stormy one. it's amounts windy and it is raining. mike says a lot of us are getting wet at the moment and you might expect to keep that

umbrella handy all day. he'll talk about it and check in with marlena what effect it has on traffic. >> just moments ago britain will send aircraft to help be a a no-fly zone in the coming hours. they have closed to all traffic. it came hours after the united nations voted for a no-fly zone over the country. they are using all necessary measures to protect civilians from attack. it coincides with report that khadafy's air force is bombing another area. state lawmakers will return on monday to deal with a two biggest issues still remaining in the fight to balance the budget. both the senate and state assembly passed the main budget bill, over the past few days they have passed series of bills that would cut $14 billion from

the budget to help bridge the state's $26 billion deficit. lawmakers did not, however, address governor brown's bill to get ri of all the state redevelopment agencies or. >> the house has voted to cut federal funding to npr. it caused democratic congressman of new york to go on a rarnt on the house floor. >> the republican party, no one can say they are in touch, they understand it. the american people are not concerned about jobs, or the economy what is going on around the world, they are staring at the radio, get rid of that. finally my republican friends are doing it. kudos to you. >> it would deprive local stations access to programs such as all things considered. republicans said it made good fiscal sense because the organization can stand on its own two feet.

they received $5 million in federal funding last year. prospects for the democratically controlled senate are split. >> back to japan, while so many are evacuating. exchange students get ready to leave the safety of the bay area for the unknown back home. >> plus, a major announcement concerning the bay to breakers race.

welcome back. here is a look at airport delays. not right now. rain in the bay area which mean flight arrival delays will develop. when they happen i will let you know and flight tracker will let you know at www.abc7.com. >> here is the latest on japan. prime minister says the country must rebuild from scratch and residents should not be

discouraged and they have called on the u.s. military to help prevent a meltdown at fukushima daiichi plant. military fire trucks including one borrowed from the u.s. have reached the cooling pool in building three. the safety agency raised the severity agency of the nuclear crisis from a 4 to a 5 on a 7 level scale. 16,000 people have been confirmed dead or missing since the quake and tsunami struck a week ago. some dramatic video emerging from survivors that barely escaped the tsunami a week ago. this was taken in sendai. car and the people behind the camera were in a white taxi minutes earlier and it was floating away.

they had others stranded in nearby trees and on top of cars. >> group of students in japan will return home today bringing memories of a brief visit to america and much needed supplies. lisa amin gulezian has our story. >> what can be more american than bowling as these host families want visiting students from japan to leave with. these eighth graders are returning to the unknown. they are from a town roughly 200 miles from the leaking nuclear power plant. >> i just want to ensure they are safe. >> the group of 20 left saturday one day after the tsunami and earthquake. their parents specifically asked their host families to limit how much information these students had access to.

>> we have been warning them about electricity, possible disruptions in transportation. we really haven't talked about the nuclear power plant. >> which is on top of minds for most. >> would you rather stay in the u.s.? >> yes. i would like to stay here. >> problems with rolling blackouts and food shortages are just about everywhere, but now help is coming. >> donation drive started with an exchange student got a letter from his mom in japan making sure to put bread and batteries in backpacks as possible. >> each student will take home a box filled with supplies with the hope that the contents will bring comfort to families on both sides of the world.

>> update on a story we brought you earlier this week a school fund-raiser has brought in $22,000 to help with relief efforts in japan. students and parents at the elementary school put on a community event that included a potluck dinner, raffle and auction. 100% of the money raised is going to the northern japan earthquake fund. if you want to donate, we have a full list of organizations on our website under see it on tv. >> time for a look at the weather. i could have sworn, 4:15 this morning, there was a pretty good shot of thunder. >> possibility. we had some around fort ross. lightning detection system picked that up. good morning to you. we'll be pretty active during the morning show watching live

doppler and tweeting this information. check that out at mike nicco. you can see a little rain falling right now. live doppler 7 hd, best rain returns around san francisco all the way up to around san rafael and over to richmond and vallejo. you can see the storms are moving to the northeast i would say about 25-30 miles per hour. two cells at the bottom of the screen which tend to be weakening are headed for the marin county coast. low 50s for the rest of us and santa cruz at about 50 degrees. >> let's talk about what is going to happen. rainy and breezy, isolated thunder. on-and-off showers tomorrow that will produce small hail and even snow up on mount hamilton and

strongest storms will hit sunday. where we can see flooding, maybe power outages. it will be breezy and the ground will be so saturated by sunday. mid to upper 50s through most of the north bay valleys. clearlake around 46. look at all this rain that will be falling during the afternoon hours. rain will move into the monterey bay in the afternoon and evening hours. inland neighborhoods, low to mid-50s for you. tonight we'll taper the rain to showers. it won't be nearly as steady with low to mid 40s inland and mid to upper 40s around the bay shore and out to the coast. look how wrapped up this system is, very mature system but a strong cold front that is going to push the strongest of the rain into the north bay toward the end of the morning commute heading through the heart of the bay right do you remember the lunch hour, exiting south bay around 3:00 or 4:00. timing hasn't changed much from

yesterday, but evening hours, mount hamilton will start to see snow and mount st. helena and hamilton getting a dusting. and we may get a break and tomorrow night, look what happens as we head into sunday morning, another wall of water coming through, this time in orange so it's more intense from mid-morning to midafternoon, by 7:00 sunday it has moved on. this the rainfall totals for today. we could get up to half an inch to an inch around the bay. inch and a half in our mountains. double that and that is what we will deal with sunday. don't forget all this rain we're getting, two to three feet of snow? sierra starting this afternoon through tomorrow. i still have more showers for monday, tuesday, wednesday and thursday -- no escaping the wet weather. we have seen our first

spinout, in the north bay, in the off-ramp and won't slow down your commute. live look at san rafael, southbound, no delays right now, drive time from 37 to 580, nine minutes. south bay, live look at san jose 280 right at the 17 overcrossing no problems in the downtown san jose area but they have issued a heavy rain advisory if you are commuting through the santa cruz mountains this morning. they are asking commuters to drive slowly and with caution. at the bay bridge, road work has been cleared off. no problems heading into san francisco and for the latest traffic updating to www.abc7.com and click on the traffic link. >> a story we mentioned, on stanford possibly, panned go to the east coast. they are proposing to build a research facility on roosevelt

island. it could cost up to billion dollars and house graduate students and offer full degrees. mayor bloomberg wants people to submit ideas for the project. ♪ ♪ >> the bay to breakers races has found a new sponsor. dazzle has agreed to sponsor the race for the neck two years. race on organizers has warned that bay to breakers could be cancelled after the previous sponsor announced it may pull out about growing concerns over alcohol. organizers have announced they have sold all 50,000 tickets for the hundredth anniversary race coming up in may. service members will receive the gift of laughter from

livermore school children. >> knock-knock. >> who is there? >> the kids are writing knock-knock jokes sent in care packages from blue star moms. >> i think it will make them really, really happy, make them think of good things. >> i want them to be happy. >> that was first grader, angelica evans, she came up with the idea and all the other students decided to pitch in. next at 5:00, latest on the disaster in japan, officials reach out to the u.s. for help in stabilizing the radiation leaking complex following the earthquake and tsunami.

>> and live at u.c. berkeley, nuclear engineers say radiation particles from japan have reached the bay area. they have detected it here but there is