bumper-to-bumper traffic as they try to leave. i m scared because i have never been in anything like this before. reporter: last week a nearly 230-foot-long hole was created after chunks came out of the major spillway. a plan is in place which will hopefully plug that hole. that would include using helicopters to drop bags of rock into the crevice and prevent any further erosion. reporter: for the first time, officials are forced to use the emergency spillway. then finding a second hole causing evacuations. officials now say the water levels are dropping but the threat is still there. and a little bit of good news is that the water levels have dropped. we are told they are dropping at 4 inches per hour. as you can see behind me, that water rushing through that spillway with a force so strong that it actually looks like there s a mist in the air. reporting live from oroville, california, danya bakas, abc news. any idea when the evacuation orders will be lifted? rep
cars, wherever they can. abc 7 news reporter laura anthony is live with more. laura? reporter: well, hi, christine. this is the older part of downtown oroville. the low-lying area. at this point, it s a ghost town. but as we are speaking, there are folks going by on their bikes. for the most part, though, there s nobody in this area. now, fears have been eased somewhat, but in a worst case scenario, this part of town could be under 30 feet of water. so how long did it take you to get out last night? five hours. reporter: it s a trip that normally takes about 40 minutes, that s the drive from the southern county town to colusa where this family and their puppies are waiting out the ongoing emergency at the oroville dam. i didn t think it was real at first. and then i saw people evacuated actually. and i got scared because i didn t want to leave my dogs. that was the only thing i was worried about. we actually left fairly early. reporter: this couple evacuated ear
why did they wait? they could have done it all summer long. reporter: people here are on edge. those who live on higher ground, they re worried for their friends and neighbors. they want the crews trying keep them safe to know they re grateful. we have a lot of people working 24/7. we see it back and forth and they re doing a great job to keep us safe and we really appreciate the help. reporter: we re back here live. you re looking at the spillway. this is a concrete spillway. we understand crews will be doing some work. in area which is damaged as well. this is a massive operation that is underway. helicopters are flying back and forth. also, they are bringing boulders in on the ground. big dump trucks have been coming up this roadway here bringing the rocks and they are racing, trying get this done before it gets dark, but as of now, all 188,000 people remain evacuated. the sheriff says he is not going to lift that evacuation until he is certain the area is safe. repo
oroville and quickly live oak, yuba city and marysville. the water in oroville would ve been 100 feet deep within an hour. reporter: it didn t happen water officials diverted water away from the emergency spillway . the plan is to use helicopters to drop rocks onto the craters hoping to plug the hole. no water is going over the spillway at this time. reporter: more rain is on the way later this week. there is still a lot of water in the reservoir behind the dam. they are bailing out the wants of our reservoir by releasing water downstream. we aren t out of the woods. the water is still up against the emergency spillway. that s pressure, heavy pressure against the damaged emergency spillway. reporter: california water officials have been spending the day assessing the damage. it still very frustrating for a lot of these folks were out of their homes. they have not brought back a report some we aren t sure what they found. we are in that we ordered weird flux perio
mass evacuations yesterday evening explaining the spillway was in danger of collapsing. it was like 0 to 60. reporter: i asked the sheriff today. that had nearly 20,000 people leaving their homes and ari. when this incident occurred, we needed to act quickly. reporter: the sheriff said the facts on the ground changed weekly. the holes were discovered and he felt the need to call for the emergency evacuation and people need to continue to stay out of their homes. getting this people home is important to me. i have to synchronize the situation. if it s raining and there s more water coming, i can t in good conscious believe those people are safe. reporter: michael and his family were prepared but many others evacuated abruptly leaving valuables and pets behind. they would like a better explanation. i still don t have a clear idea of what their actual danger was. i don t know exactly why we can t go home. i wish they would communicate that better. reporter: in the mea