Residents flee from dam threat
200,000 moved as emergency crews work to plug hole in damaged spillway
OROVILLE, CALIFORNIA // Nearly 200,000 people living below the tallest dam in the United States were told to leave yesterday as a spillway appeared to be in danger of collapse.
Authorities issued the order on Sunday, saying that a crumbling emergency spillway on Lake Oroville dam in northern California could give way and unleash floodwaters on to rural communities along the Feather River.
“Immediate evacuation from the low levels of Oroville and areas downstream is ordered,” the Butte county sheriff posted on social media.
The California department of water resources tweeted about 4.30pm local time on Sunday that the spillway next to the dam was “predicted to fail within the next hour”.
Several hours later the situation appeared less dire, as the damaged spillway remained standing.
The state water resources department said crews using helicopters would drop rocks to fill a huge gouge, and authorities were releasing water to lower the lake’s level after weeks of heavy rains in the drought- plagued state.
By 10pm on Sunday, state and local officials said the immediate danger had passed with water no longer flowing over the eroded spillway. They cautioned that the situation remained unpredictable. “Once you have damage to a structure like that it’s catastrophic,” said acting water resources director Bill Croyle. He stressed the integrity of the dam was not affected by the damaged spillway.
Asked about the order to leave, Mr Croyle said it was a tough call to make. “It was the right call to make.”
Butte county sheriff Korey Honea said earlier he was told by experts that the hole forming in the spillway could compromise the structure. Rather than risk thousands of lives, the decision was made to get residents out.
Officials said they feared the damaged spillway could unleash a 10metre wall of water on Oroville, north of the state capital Sacramento.
They said evacuation orders were in place for the 188,000 people in Oroville, Yuba county, Butte county, Marysville and nearby communities, and would be re-evaluated at dawn yesterday.
The Yuba county office of emergency services urged residents to travel only to the east, south or west.
Evacuation centres were set up at a fairgrounds in Chico, about 32 kilometres north-west of Oroville, but major motorways leading south out of the area were jammed as residents fled the flood zone and hotels filled up.
Javier Santiago, 42, and his wife, two children and several friends went to the Oroville dam visitors, centre in a public park above the structure and the danger zone.
With blankets, pillows and a little food, he said: “We’re going to sleep in the car.”
The Oroville dam is nearly full following winter storms that brought relief to the state after four years of drought. Water levels were less than 2 metres from the top of the dam on Friday.
State authorities and engineers on Thursday began releasing water from the dam after noticing that large chunks of concrete were missing from a spillway. California governor Jerry Brown asked the federal emergency management agency on Friday to declare the area a major disaster due to flooding and mudslides brought on by the storms.
The earth- fill dam is just upstream and east of Oroville, a city of more than 16,000 people.
At 230 metres tall, the structure, built between 1962 and 1968, is the tallest US dam, exceeding the Hoover dam by more than 12 metres.
‘ We’re going to sleep in the car Javier Santiago one of the Oroville residents affected by the damaged spillway