a little bit for mt. diablo. you can see by 1:00 a.m. tomorrow morning, that's when it looks like the atmospheric river is going to line up and really drill the santa cruz mountains with heavy rain that could bring flooding. all of the fire burn zones right now in that flash flood watch. the way things are lining up, the santa cruz mountains would have the highest risk of mudslides and other issues. we'll talk more about this and the exact totals in about 15 minutes. >> as he just mentioned, rain is going to pummel the santa cruz mountains overnight, prompting evacuation orders for 5,000 people living along the highway 9 corridor near boulder creek. county officials announced despite the order more than250

households are choosing to stay behind. they're concerned rain could lead to blocked roads, making it harder to access those home if people need help. still a task force is on hand in case of any emergencies. marianne favro is live in boulder creek where people are packing up or preparing to ride out the storm. >> reporter: with so many trees down after the czu fire, cal fire crews say the biggest concern right now is mudslides, especially for communities like boulder creek nestled at the base of the mountain. a rush to repair downed power lines off highway 9. and remove branches hanging over homes before heavy winds can sever them. as a strong storm rolls in, santa cruz county deputies rolled out yesterday and today, warning people to evacuate. 5,000 people live in the evacuation zones along highway 9, including parts of boulder

creek, ben lowman and felton. jim is filling up gas cans for himself and his neighbors to run generators. >> basically making sure that we have the power so that, you know, we can stay warm and cook food and that kind of thing. >> reporter: at the ace scarborough home center, they sold out of gas tanks and generators yesterday and just got a new supply. they're going fast. that's not all. >> water goes fast, batteries, flashlights, all of that. >> reporter: the fear is after the czu fire destroyed so many trees that soak up rain and hold the soil together, there's a greater chance of mudslides and flooding within the burn scar. so cal fire has prepositioned crews in projected trouble spots. and crews from other counties, including marin rescue have deployed as well to respond to any damage from projected 60

miles per hour winds. in boulder creek, marianne favro, nbc bay area news. ? we want to give you a closer look at all the areas under mandatory evacuation tonight. boulder creek. so they're under an advisory. but right south of boulder creek, around there, mandatory evacuations. also the town of brook dale. this evacuation, these mandatory ones are now in effect for san mateo county. here's the county line right here. it includes a section of pescadero, and ano nuevo state park. if you're in those areas, that means you should leave, but it's not mandatory. and the areas in blue where marianne was, it's like the main strip of highway 9, they're under an evacuation advisory, which means you should be ready to go if needed. if you want a closer look at this map, there's a link on our website, nbcbayarea.com. >> that is hard.

fires last year now possible flooding. people in the burn areas of snowma county told to get their go-bags ready. hillsides are scorched and unsettled. the rain could cause the hills to crumble and slide. you can see county officials passing out flyers with safety tips, urging people to be prepared. >> having your cell phones charged, ready to receive an emergency alert overnight and have your backpacks especially if you live in the burn scar or behind it. >> we feel for the hill behind us there's lots still to be cleared and the hills are fairly burnt and that the landslides could happen in the hills behind us. >> a few simple steps could save you a lot of grief. the trails have been closed off

at risk of seeing flooding or mudslides. the weather is causing problems for fighting against coronavirus. there are reduced hours at testing centers, and the mass vaccination center at city college has been closed until thursday. we are joined with the weather-related changes. damian? >> reporter: it's vacant right now at city college, raj. this is supposed to close at noon because of the storm, but they switched it to 12:30 in case some people didn't get the alert, but yeah, this storm is creating quite a mess. the lines were long all morning as people anxiously waited to get vaccinated. >> i'm so happy my mom was able to get it. really, really happy moment for us. ? >> i'm feeling well, i'm okay.

>> reporter: the looming storm is causing an unwanted pause. the sf department of emergency management announced this drive-through site won't open until friday. >> they rescheduled it. i was happy to see that i could still come today. when i saw that the rain was, i wanted to get this over with. >> reporter: the site on potrero hill is also closed until friday. and the embarcadero center closed at 4 today, catching some people off guard. >> what about tomorrow? closed? okay. i shall call my friend then and tell hem. >> reporter: appointments are being rescheduled and emergency management says no vaccines will be lost. the agency fears the expected high winds and heavy winds could put patients and staff at risk. and when the mass vaccination does reopen on friday, they're asking people to remember, it's

drive-through only and by appointment only. and i checked with the folks in santa clara county, they're going to stay open throughout this storm. we're live at the city college of san francisco, damian trujillo, nbc bay area news. our storm ranger will be live scanning throughout these storms. it's a valuable and exclusive tool, and you have direct access to it. you see the actual storm ranger, the modified truck upper left hand corner of your screen. you can see the scan anytime on our nbc bay area app. if you haven't already, download our app, the live radar scan at the top of the home screen. switching now to our coronavirus coverage, begging for more vaccines, some bay area counties say they need more right now. santa clara health leaders say they have several vaccination sites up and running but they lack adequate vaccine supplies. right now they're falling short of having enough vaccines to vaccinate most of the county by

august 1st. similar message from san francisco. mayor breed is preparing to open two more vaccination sites, but right now the city's vaccinating about 500 people a day. the mayor wants to ramp that up once the state allocates more vaccine. >> we have a plan, and we are ready to distribute 10,000 doses at least, bare minimum once we have enough of the vaccine. but so far the amount of vaccine we are receiving from the state and federal government is insufficient, inconsistent and unpredictable. >> today dr. mark ghaly addressing concerns, they are getting more pharmacies, hospitals, health clinics to all work together throughout this distribution process. governor newsom admits the distribution is slow but improving, take a look at this. six weeks ago, the end of december, the state was vaccinating less than 20,000

people a day. steadily improving, week after week. now about 100,000 each weekday. that's five times more. so what do the numbers look like here in the bay area? this map shows how many doses have been administered in each county, more than 200,000 in santa clara county. alameda says they have received 100,000 doses but it's not clarifying how many have been administered. contra costa county given out about 93,000 shots. san francisco, 59,000, and marin county about 23,000, raj. after nearly a year of covid restrictions and precautions, the ways to protect ourselves are changing. what should we be doing now? jessica aguirre joins us now with new guidance. what do you have, jessica? ? well, raj, that guidance includes an international travel

ban again. now today is the biden administration super seeded basically, an executive order by president trump that the travel ban and today, that is not going to happen, because the biden administration reinstated that travel ban. and that travel ban is on several countries. that includes all non-u.s. citizens traveling from brazil, ireland, the uk, much of europe and now also south africa. the issue is those variants that you're talking about of covid-19. they're actually lots and lots of mutations. but right now we're focussing on three. the uk strain, which is already in 27 states, including california, and it could be the dominant sflan this country by march. the brazilian strain so far only found in minnesota, and the south african strain not so far seen in the united states. dr. john torres says vaccine

maker moderna is already on its game by planning to tweak its vaccine. >> it's talking about tweaking their vaccine to get people a booster shot. once they get to that stage where they need a booster shot, it's probably a year or more away. right now, the different vaccines that we're going to have, you need to get the doses right now. those are going to protect you to some extent against these variants. the smart thing to do, once we find those variants, to start tweaking that booster in a year or more to make sure we're protected, not just for the coronavirus here now but the ones prevalent as time goes on. >> so it's kind of like the flu shot that gets tweaked every year depending on the strain. >> that's right. that's the way to think about it. it's more than likely going to be the same with the covid vaccine. they'll keep an eye on what's out there, look at the variants they think will hit the united

states and tweak the booster shot so it covers those variants. >> so i asked dr. torres about dr. fauci saying about these var apts that we should be double masking. and he said it depends on the situation and the mask. if you're on a crowded bus or someplace where there are a lot of people around you, you should probably double mask. are you wearing an n95 like this? you should put it up to the light and see if you can see through it, right? or is it a thinner mask. how thick is it? if it's a thin mask and the sunlight goes through it, then you need to double mask. most important about it, you have to make sure that the fit is really tight. cover your nose, cover your mouth, and make sure that it's really snug. that's how to protect yourself. >> we've been doing this for ten months, and we're always getting new guidance. thank you, jessica. i'm chief meteorologist jeff ranieri, tracking our incoming storm, i'll talk more about that critical turn the storm needs to

make in order to get these higher totals. i'll spend a lot of time on that timeline coming up in about six minutes. then another name is coming off. cal moved to remove one of the names of its buildings. the complicated history prompting the latest change. wildfires, the pandemic, power outage now, a devastating burglary. how do you keep going after suffering blow after blow. and tonight's bay yare proud, a community steps in to help one of its favorite restaurants and its owner. back in a moment.

the san francisco board of education is expected to vote tonight on whether to rename more than 40 schools. one of the names came down. workers removed crowber hall from the building that has been bearing his name for years. native-american students on campus raised concerns about the name because the famous anthropologist was known for dehumanizing native-americans. a new name has not been announced. it is the third building to be stripped of its name in the year. the latest storm is posing a big threat to people living in the santa cruz mountains. >> but people tell us they get through it all by having each other's backs. it's not just something they say

but something they mean and do. >> reporter: this is at its heart a love story. not between two people, mind you, but between a santa cruz mountain town and its chinese restaurant. boulder creek loves the red pearl, and owner jenny wu loves them right back. and both have spent the past 12 months proving it to each other >> that's so nice. everybody so friendly. yes, we just want to help you. >> reporter: jenny has run the red pearl for 15 years. the last one of course being by far the hardest. >> yes, last year super hard. >> reporter: not only has the pandemic, like everywhere else, cut into restaurant business, in august, the czu wildlife ripped through the region.

jenny lost everything when her homed burned to the ground and the restaurant had to be closed for weeks. the moment evacuations were lifted, though, jenny was already thinking about how to help her neighbors. >> we were all just really freaked out. >> reporter: valeri white is a friend and customer. >> first thing she did was come back into town, put tables out there and have meals for the entire community. so that's how jenny is. >> reporter: the community in turn raised money to help jenny get back on her feet. but the story doesn't end there. just last week during a power outage, a thief stole $1,000 in cash from the red pearl. as word spread, a gofundme popped up that's already raised more than five times what jenny lost. >> just the love and gratitude she showed everybody else. once everybody heard she got stolen from, it was going to go viral for her. >> reporter: valeri wildflower

has worked for jenny for the past three years. she says customers are going out of their way to give jenny business. they were so swamped last weekend the wait was two hours, but nobody complained. others stopped by just to putt money in jenny's hands. >> i felt so moved. >> reporter: we've heard a lot of people use the phrase "we'll get through this together." often those are just words. but every once in a while, if we're lucky, we get to see what that really looks like in action. garvin thomas, nbc bay area news. >> that's a beautiful story. >> unbelievable. that is a beautiful story. well, let's go outside. looks calm right now, but a blizzard warning is in effect for parts of the sierra nevada. some snow falling already, but get ready.

skiers and snowboarders enjoying it, hitting the slopes one last time before the storm hits. about two to three feet of snow is expected over the next 48 hours. >> if you're skiing or boarding, maybe don't go up now. maybe next week. but for now, a lot coming our way. let's bring in jeff ranieri with the latest. >> we have started to see that rain beginning to slowly pick up across the bay area. and what we're going to see through tonight and the early morning hours of tomorrow is heavier periods of rain, and that's going to increase our flooding threat. you can see our flashed into watches are up in the fire burn zones where we'll have the highest risk of mudslides, and it looks like the santa cruz mountains would get in on some of the highest totals. so we will have flooding concerns, primarily right up into the mountains with our incoming storm system. here's the deal.

we get our storm system dropping down. we're still expecting an atmospheric river cap to boost up those totals, and this will bring occasional wind gusts of 30-60 miles per hour. a lot coming our way, let's get a look at the timing. 7:00 p.m. tonight, the atmospheric river starts to drop down over the north bay. once we hit 1:00 in the morning, you can see it positioned right at the santa cruz mountains. again, early tomorrow morning. you'll see my 6:00 still positioned over the santa cruz mountains. then through the day on wednesday, we see this stall out to the south. might seem like a break here for the bay area, but we do expect k and hit us with another round of rain wednesday night, and then, as we continue through thursday's forecast. so right now we are looking at this on and off rain that eventually does start to clear

out and dry out once we hit friday. totals on this down a little bit, with the primary part of the storm stalling to the south. but overall, look, this is a good amount of rain for us. we're averaging one to two inches. then parts of the south bay will be in the two-plus inch range. santa cruz mountains, highest risk of three to six inches. the sierra, traveling not recommended. on my extended forecast, we get a break on friday, the storm exits. a few chances of spotty showers this weekend with another quarter to one inch expect bid next monday. temperatures look similar no matter where you head across the bay area with plenty of 40s and 50s. right now i'll send it back to you. thank you. you are a busy man. up next at 5:00, the gorillas at

the san diego zoo recovering from a covid outbreak. we'll tell you about the special treatment they received to help them beat the virus.

. , a surprise visit at the institutes of health by madam vice president. she shared personal stories of her mother's work as a scientist and her first job cleaning equipment. >> she would take us there after school and on weekends, and then i grew up around science. so i want to say to everyone who works here, i know who you are. i know what you do.

i know that you work around the clock with those experiments that have to be checked on every few hours, and they don't care about what time it is on the clock. >> she can relate so well with them. her passionate endorsement of science included the message that nih is an essential part of government tasked with improving public health. the tree gorillas that were affected by the coronavirus were treated with anti-body therapy. all tree gorillas are recovering, but they won't get the vaccine sense they now have immunity. we'll be right back. nse they no immunity. we'll be right back. unse they n immunity. we'll be right back. ise they no immunity. we'll be right back. e they now

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. . the. welcome back outdoor diners for the first time in weeks, but there's a new problem they have to deal with, that story at 6:00. and before we go, a look at the bay area snow at mt. hamilton. more rain is coming overnight,

and up on the peaks, more snow. >> jeff will be back at 6:00 with the update on the forecast. the morning newscast starts at 4:00 a.m. we will have live team come. and we'll see you back here at 6:00. tonight, president biden announcing dramatic action to take on the deepening covid vaccine shortage the u.s. now planning to buy 200 million more vaccine doses and send a surge of weekly supplies to states at a time when vaccination centers are going from long lines to empty lots. when the president says the u.s. will have enough for every american and when a third vaccine requiring just one shot could be authorized in this country. dr. anthony fauci one on one warning the u.s. is in a race against time to stop those highly contagious variants. and the thing fauci says keeps him up at night. it comes as the