There is an emergency evacuation for people downstream near oroville dam. Dam operators said the spillway put into use yesterday has led to severe erosion, that could lead to a failure of the spillway and release the waters from lake oroville. Residents are being told to move to Higher Ground now, head north to chico. Dam managers have increased the amount of water being drained. We spoke by phone with the butte county manager. This is below lake level. It caused a boil. The water is seeping through underground. The oroville dam is above the city of oroville. The city is located in the sierras, 25 miles south of chico. The dam was completed in 1968. This is a live look at the dam. Lake oroville can store 3. 5 millionacre feet of water. Right now the amount of water leaving the dam is slowing and is expected to stop monday. Conditions changed this afternoon when the Evacuation Order was issued. The oroville dam is the tallest dam in the united states, taller than the hoover dam. Dwr off
On sunday officials noted a hole in that spillway is more water flowed into the lake. They thought it would fail so they issued an emergency evacuation for nearly 200 they thought it would fail so they issued an emergency evacuation for nearly 200,000 people. Extended beyond butte county in to sumter county. As they urge people in low lying areas to move to higher ground. The governor. Issued an emergency order. Experts are emphasizing the orville dam is not in danger. They want to stress the problem is erosion on the emergency spillway. Water Officials Say they need to lower the level lake by 50 feet in the next few days to prepare for another storm. With so many People Living below the orville down order to leave their homes nearby Evacuation Centers are filling up. Alex savage is now in chico this morning where some people are saying at the fairgrounds. Reporter we are at the Silver Dollar fairgrounds in the town of chico. We just got here a short time ago. This is the parking lot b
Capacity 25 miles southeast of chico is the tallest in the country. Evacuation orders extend beyond butte county into yuba county. Paul chambers is in our newsroom. He has the latest developments in a few minutes. The spoke to steve paulson. Weather is a big factor. We have about three more days and rain is going to turn. The inflow has been coming down. That should lower the lake 4 or 5 feet. They need to lower it 50 feet. At least is not coming over the emergency spillway anymore. It picked out at 1 am sunday morning. The inflow has gone down. There is a huge snowpack still up there. That is not an issue right now but in march be might be in march and april. The rain returns on thursday and michael for a while. Still 100,000 coming up. They are trying to get that lower so they can do some work on the emergency spillway. It peaked out now it is below capacity level of 900. Water levels are slowly dropping. That is the good news. Three more days of a break and rain returns. There are s
Homes because of fear the emergency spillway could collapse. The danger has eased a bit. We are not out of the woods yet. We will have the latest on the situation as mornings on 2 continues. Monday morning february 13. We are starting 188 we are starting 188,000 people are under Evacuation Orders right now. State and local officials warned that the emergency spillway of the oroville dam might fail because of erosion. A lot of evacuees are at red cross shelters. Right now that spillway is holding. Crews took the pressure off of it. We showed you live a few minutes ago repairs on the spillway are happening at this very moment. We want to show you a map of the area we are talking about. Lake oroville filled to capacity. 25 miles southeast of chico. It is the tallest dam in the country. Evacuation orders extended beyond butte county into yuba county. Governor. Brown has issued an emergency order to help with the situation. He called in National Guard troops to help out. There is a Flood Wa
That video on the left, that is from yesterday. Gasia and sal, quite a difference and a good difference. Its nice to see no more water going down but erosion a very huge concern. You know what gets me . They say to fix a main spillway would be 200 million. Thats a lot of money to fix the main spillway and they have to do that obviously not now because theyre still using it. They have never used the emergency spillway this year. Why isnt the emergency spillway concrete . I dont know. Were talking about that down the road. I know were getting a few more answers about whats happening today coming up in an hour. The 10 00 News Conference set to start in an hour. Well brng it to you live. It will be interesting to see when they allow the individuals to come back. Could be today or another week. I want to give you live pictures now from sky fox over the oroville dam. About an hour ago, we are expected to get an update at a News Conference with the department of Water Resources. Alex savage h