catastrophic flooding. dump trucks and helicopters continue to reinforce the battered hillside with boulders and concrete even now in the rain, and again, lake level now down to about 860 feet from a high on sunday of 901 feet. engineers want to get it down to 850 feet so about ten more feet to go. back live here at the main spillway, they ve begun to scale back relief from the reservoirs so the crews can start fixing the damage caused by severe erosion here. debris pushing water into places it should not be, and this big spray you re looking at is water standing against a massive crater in the concrete that opened last week and continues to grow all the way down to bedrock. officials also want to bring a power plant here back online that has been down for a couple weeks. short-term fixes are underway as teams prepare plans for permanent repairs that could cost as much as $200 million. mandatory evacuations in the area have been lifted, but some 200,000 people who live
spillways will get their next test as warmer than expected storms bring as much as 10 inches of rain. officials are cautiously optimistic that everything will be okay. the main spillway is still sending out more water than the reservoir is taking in. a 36 foot buffer below the rim and they say even with the four storms lined up through next week it is unlikely they ll need to use the dam s emergency spillway again. sunday there were concerns the spillway could fail and cause catastrophic flooding. mandatory evacuations have been lifted but some 200,000 people who live downstream have been told to keep a weather eye and bag packed in case they need to leave again. bill: the reservoir is lower, less water is coming down the spillway.
next tonight here, the spillway emergency here in california. a new rainstorm just hours away now as workers race to repair critical damage near america s tallest dam. families just returning home, but told to be ready to get out fast. as we also learn, there were warnings about that spillway 12 years ago. abc s kayna whitworth is on the scene tonight. reporter: tonight, a scramble to protect the nation s tallest dam. new storms and heavy rain just hours away. 1,200 tons of material now being brought in every hour to reinforce the oroville dam s emergency spillway, including giant bags of rocks. officials say the lake levels falling 20 feet since sunday. this is how the release of all that water is affecting people some 30 miles downstream. they re covered in several feet of water. abc news learning environmental groups warned state officials about potential erosion issues
with that emergency spillway more than a decade ago. this as families like jolene wilson s finally returning home. i m just hoping we don t have to leave again. reporter: david, the temporary fixes to this spillway and the emergency spillway will be challenged tonight as storms move in. the permanent fixes they have planned could cost as much as $200 million, david? kayna whitworth in oroville, california. thank you. when we come back, the accused female assassin. you will see the surveillance. we have new developments tonight. also the immigration crackdown here in the u.s. the mother of four taking sanctuary inside a church tonight to stay in this country. and the passenger plane making an emergency landing. what did it hit on the runway? what did it hit on the runway?
the spillway. president trump has approved emergency aid to the area. there is a new best in show. the name of that dog is rumor. it is a german shepherd, thank goodness why? because it s a real dog. one darn dog. neither a lab has ever won, or a retriever. rumor has it. no pun intended. this is the 141st westminster dog show. the rumor beat out nearly 3,000 dog. her owner right now says she sh. forget disney world. the record run for stocks set to roll into day five this morning. we re looking at dow futures, they re higher. s&p 500 futures up slightly.