Authorities lift mandatory evacuation order for those living below the Oroville Dam

Almost 200,000 people were evacuated on Sunday over concerns that a damaged spillway at Lake Oroville could fail, flooding the region with water.

“In the event of a mandatory evacuation, such as the case in the Oroville Dam area, residents might only have minutes to evacuate the area, leaving little time to gather even the most basic necessities. The Oroville Dam – the nation’s largest earthen dam – was completed in the late 1960s when Ronald Reagan was governor of California.

Tuesday at 9 a.m., the lake’s level had dropped to 888.68 feet, about 12 feet below the Oroville Dam’s capacity of 901 feet.

Crews are working furiously to bolster eroded sections of the emergency spillway.

The emergency spillway, which is an embankment covered with trees, is a last resort and was used for the first time in its 48-year history on Saturday. “I want that to happen as soon soon as possible”.

State authorities and engineers on Thursday began releasing water from the dam after noticing that large chunks of concrete were missing from a spillway.

Kelly said he believes the inmates will be transferred back to Butte County “in a matter of several days”. The mostly flat northern Central Valley is known mainly for its sprawling agriculture industry, which is fed by dammed-up rivers that spill down from the Sierra Nevada foothills nearby.

“When we got to our trailer park, it was nearly like a movie, like ‘Independence Day, ‘ and they were all running”, said Manley, 57.

“We’re doing everything we can to get this dam in shape so they can return and live safely without fear”. They didn’t bother trying to fuel up because lines were hours long at gas pumps.

“I just got nervous and chose to hunker down”, he said. “It was pretty scary”. Brown said the complex circumstances are rapidly changing and expressed his gratitude towards local law enforcement agencies for their effort to keep the residents out of harm’s way.

Another series of storms is headed for Northern California starting on Wednesday.

Red Cross shelter manager Pam Deditch said the fairgrounds was well-stocked with supplies but that some people left in such a rush that they left their medications behind. No more water is coming off the emergency spillway, but releases from the main spillway continue at 100,000 cubic-feet per second as dam operators scramble to reduce the water level to 50 feet below the top of the dam, or about 850 feet deep.

Officials are also using trucks and helicopters in an attempt to stop erosion on the emergency spillway with rocks and gravel.

“Officials say a new series of storms coming by Thursday prevents them from saying how long the evacuation could last, and fix crews have been able to drop heavy rocks in key spots of the emergency spillway to prevent further erosion”, Richard reported. He requested an emergency declaration in the states affected by the disaster.

There have been concerns about Oroville Dam safety since the erosion of the primary spillway was discovered a week ago.

They said soil, rocks and debris could be swept into the Feather River, potentially damaging highway bridges and power plants. Officials have insisted the dam itself is not at risk.

But federal officials determined that nothing was wrong with the emergency spillway, and said it “would perform as designed”.

The Department of Water Resources will hold a news conference at noon to discuss progress made on repairing the damaged spillway.

On Monday, Cal Fire officials expressed their gratitude to the thousands of evacuees.

“I’m not going to lift the evacuation order until I have a better idea of what that means and what risk that poses”, said Kory Honea.