Its been a little more than 24 hours since an emergency Evacuation Order went out, saying the homes of nearly 250,000 people were at risk because a spillway at the oroville dam was expected to fail. This map shows all the cities that are affected. Some far from the dam itself. Like oroville is 70 miles north of sacramento and 160 miles from San Francisco. Right now water is gushing out to bring the water level down. Saturday, water overflowed on the emergency spillway for the first time ever. And sunday, engineers noticed damage along the wall. If the wall failed, a wave of water 30 feet high could have overrun everything down river. Newsom toured the operations vin center earlier today. He warns the shasta dam has similar problems. Close to 200,000 people have been evacuated. Laura anthony met some of them today. And she joins us live with their stories. Reporter were in downtown oroville, the lights are on and many of these shops, but certainly nobody home here. It appears most peopl
Water at the rate of 100,000 cubic feet per second. Lake oroville is a few feet below the spillway eroding when the water topped it yesterdays. 37,000 cubic feet of water running in the lake it is 1063 feet a second out of thelake. Our objective is to lower the lake level by fifty feet to prepare for future inflow of water due to storms and precipitation. Now this may take awhile because officials must monitor for erosion or any other change to spell trouble. Repairs to stabilize the situation could take awhile as officials decide exactly how to do it. Recently helicopters have been placing what appear to be sand bags and in reality are bags of large bolders and hauling the rocks to other locations. Where this takes depends on the dynamics and it could be 10 to 15 days or longer. But our infrastructure is holding up well even though it is damaged. Having heard that, many evacuees are bewildered when they hear there. Though look at how unusual it is. These county sheriffs are looking an
Warnings and winter storm warnings as well. The details in the forecast in just a if minutes. Our details continues now with the water gushing tonight. Reporter what may be a spectacle for some is a danger for others. It could be months before water levels at the reservoir are safe. It would just splash so high. This is the start for california. Who knows when this will come again. Maybe, 14, 15 years. Reporter water spills over the cascade and as the levels rise. Ive never seen it that high. Reporter so is concern. Its a wake up for everyone to be a little more prepared. Reporter and dozens flocking to take a look for themselves. The its trying to release water from the anderson dam to bring water down to normal faster. But with more rain on the way. We have never had this much rain in these many days. Reporter the surge may not be strong enough. If it failed the flooding downstream would be catastrophic. Homeowners are simply hoping for a break. The water is staying in the culvert. I
Warnings and winter storm warnings as well. The details in the forecast in just a if minutes. Our details continues now with the water gushing tonight. Reporter what may be a spectacle for some is a danger for others. It could be months before water levels at the reservoir are safe. It would just splash so high. This is the start for california. Who knows when this will come again. Maybe, 14, 15 years. Reporter water spills over the cascade and as the levels rise. Ive never seen it that high. Reporter so is concern. Its a wake up for everyone to be a little more prepared. Reporter and dozens flocking to take a look for themselves. The its trying to release water from the anderson dam to bring water down to normal faster. But with more rain on the way. We have never had this much rain in these many days. Reporter the surge may not be strong enough. If it failed the flooding downstream would be catastrophic. Homeowners are simply hoping for a break. The water is staying in the culvert. I
Warnings and winter storm warnings as well. The details in the forecast in just a if minutes. Our details continues now with the water gushing tonight. Reporter what may be a spectacle for some is a danger for others. It could be months before water levels at the reservoir are safe. It would just splash so high. This is the start for california. Who knows when this will come again. Maybe, 14, 15 years. Reporter water spills over the cascade and as the levels rise. Ive never seen it that high. Reporter so is concern. Its a wake up for everyone to be a little more prepared. Reporter and dozens flocking to take a look for themselves. The its trying to release water from the anderson dam to bring water down to normal faster. But with more rain on the way. We have never had this much rain in these many days. Reporter the surge may not be strong enough. If it failed the flooding downstream would be catastrophic. Homeowners are simply hoping for a break. The water is staying in the culvert. I