” The Yuba County Office of Emergency Services asked residents in the valley floor, including Marysville, a city of 12,000 people, to evacuate and take routes to the east, south, or west and avoid traveling north toward Oroville.”
“OROVILLE, Butte County — Butte County residents near Lake Oroville, including the entire town of Oroville and nearby regions, were ordered to evacuate Sunday evening after the emergency spillway next to the reservoir’s dam suffered a possible structural failure, officials said.
“There has been severe erosion of the emergency spillway and a possible structural breach that could send uncontrolled water down the stream,” said Chris Orrock, a spokesman with the California Department of Water Resources.
Residents downstream from Lake Oroville to the Sutter County line were under mandatory evacuation order. Counties around the reservoir, the second largest in the state, down to Sacramento were warned about the possibility of flooding.
Department of Water Resources officials issued a statement just before 4:45 p.m. that the “auxiliary spillway at the dam was predicted to fail within the hour.”
“Traffic was bumper to bumper as residents of Oroville, Biggs and Gridley headed slowly out of the possible flood zone eastbound on Highway 162.
“This is very serious,” said Scott McClean, a spokesman with the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection who was in the evacuation traffic. “From what I understand it’s the auxiliary spillway at a point of possible collapse. I’m just trying to get through traffic.”
This is serious shit. Luckily the dam proper is not threatened, but still plenty of damage possible from collapse of the emergency spillway…
