Nearly 200,000 people have been evacuated from their homes and are waiting for news on what will happen to the nation’s tallest dam in northern California.
Damage to a spillway has caused fears that a section associated with the Oroville Dam about 75 miles away from Sacramento could fail. The 770-foot dam is holding back Lake Oroville, but heavy rainfall has put the lake on the verge of overflow.
According to CNN, the primary spillway that helps control the level of the lake was damaged by erosion. A 250-foot long, 170-foot wide and 50-foot deep hole in the spillway has rendered it unusable.
The emergency spillway began eroding as well on Sunday after even more rain. That led authorities to evacuate 188,000 people from nearby towns.
Authorities were waiting to make a fresh assessment of what to do with the evacuated residents on Monday morning.
The dam itself is not in danger of failing, however, the damage to the spillways could mean that large uncontrolled flows of water could head toward homes. According to authorities, a worst-case scenario is a 30-foot-high wall of water coming off the spillway and onto the valley floor.
The flow of water down the emergency spillway slowed on Sunday night and authorities were releasing about twice the normal amount of water from the main spillway in order to drop the lake’s water level.
Authorities are going to assess the situation and see if repairs can be made to either spillway on Monday morning.
