Crews Work 24/7 to Patch Up Eroded Oroville Dam Emergency Spillway

The stated goal is to get the reservoir to the 850-foot level.

That's something they aim to avoid by continuing the high-ouput release of the main spillway. Engineers can release excess water through these chutes in a controlled manner in order to prevent flooding.

February 10: Main spillway releases curbed due to increased erosion. They've also doubled the flow of water out of the main spillway to 100,000 cubic feet per second, with the hope of lowering the lake level by 50 feet to leave room for upcoming rain. Officials anxious the spillway would fail, and one warned a "30-foot wall of water" could flood the communities below the dam.

Officials shut the gates to the spillway to inspect the hole, which they estimated to be about 30 feet deep and 180 feet wide.

Bill Croyle, the acting director of the California , said the lake behind the Oroville Dam continues to drain rapidly, and has dropped almost 20 feet since overflowing into an emergency spillway Sunday when it reached full capacity.

It was learned this week that environmental activists and local government officials warned more than a decade ago about the risk of catastrophic flooding below the dam.

It all adds up to a fable for whatever political framework critics would like to apply: regulatory negligence (why wasn't erosion potential recognized earlier?), utilities with perverse incentives (did price-sensitive contractors have undue influence over a safety decision?), even ("California spent on rail and illegals, but not on damaged dam"). The concern is that the storms could dump more water than anticipated.

WASHINGTON - Federal Reserve Chair Janet Yellen pointed Tuesday to a solid US job market and economy and said the Fed will likely resume raising interest rates in the next few months. "This was a new, never-happened-before event".

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Thomas said directly that it "cost us the game", adding that he was running off the court and "the Bulls were even shocked". With the chip firmly on their shoulder, look for another hard fought game from the Sixers in Boston tonight.

Residents below the dam were ordered to evacuate their homes Sunday when an emergency spillway that acts as an automatic overflow channel appeared on the brink of collapse from severe erosion. The cost of reinforcing the hillside was not immediately clear.

With the work being done to increase outflow, Bill Croyle, the state's acting director of water resources, didn't expect that the emergency spillway will be needed, particularly since less rainfall is expected this week than in previous storms.

Is the situation still unsafe?

Rain is in the forecast for Oroville well into next week with a flash flood watch in effect through 4 a.m. Sunday, according to the National Weater Service.

Helicopters are dropping bags of gravel and boulders to shore up the damaged spillways.

Lake Oroville, completed in 1967, is a cornerstone of the system of 34 reservoirs, lakes and storage facilities, built and operated by California's Department of Water Resources.

DWR must submit its picks for board members, a forensic team, and a plan and schedule for both to federal officials by Saturday.