Thousands of people living below the Oroville Dam in California are being evicted as the United State’s tallest dam faces an imminent collapse.
In an emergency order posted on Facebook, the California Department of Water Resources (DWR), said they were anticipating a failure of the dam’s auxiliary spillway within an hour. “Residents of Oroville should evacuate in a northward direction, toward Chico. Other cities should follow the orders of their local law enforcement,” the order said.
Meanwhile, the DWR plans to use helicopters to drop rocks to fill in the gouge in the Oroville Auxilliary Spillway to stabilize.
The latest update from the department says that Oroville lake levels have receded to the point that auxiliary spillway flows have stopped. “DWR hopes to push over a million acre feet of water over the main spillway in the next week, clearing the way for much needed flood storage in the lake,” it said.
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The Butte County sheriff said in a statement posted on social media: "Immediate evacuation from the low levels of Oroville and areas downstream is ordered, This is NOT A Drill."
