Oroville residents blast state over dam repairs

OROVILLE — Living in the shadow of the nation’s tallest dam, the residents of this Northern California town had a complicated relationship with state water managers long before they were ordered to evacuate last February amid fears that a broken spillway would prompt catastrophic flooding.

Decades of frustration over broken promises about the dam met fresh concerns about small cracks in a newly rebuilt spillway Wednesday at a public meeting. There, residents of the town of about 19,000 told state officials they have no credibility when they say the fractures are nothing to worry about.

Another meeting is scheduled for Thursday evening in the more populous community of Yuba City, about an hour drive south of the dam and directly downstream from it.

Nearly 200,000 people had to evacuate eight months ago because of severe damage to the spillways at Oroville Dam, which prompted fears of devastating floods. The crisis was averted, but concern lingers as the rainy winter season begins again and officials prepare the partially rebuilt spillway for potential use.

Wednesday’s meeting was the third hosted by the California Department of Water Resources in Oroville and the first since federal officials made public their concerns about a series of hairline cracks in freshly laid concrete on the new spillway. State officials said cracking is normal and federal regulators agreed that no immediate repairs are necessary, but not everyone is convinced.