An urgent evacuation has been ordered in northern California after officials said the US’s tallest dam had been weekend by heavy rain.
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An urgent evacuation has been ordered in northern California after officials said the US’s tallest dam had been weekend by heavy rain.
People living in flood risk areas have been told to leave immediately. It is feared the spillway on the Lake Oroville Dam could collapse at any moment.
Incredibly helpful graphic for those of us trying to understand what's happening. #OrovilleDam https://t.co/IppjFhvh1l pic.twitter.com/b90TClucgS
— Tim Grieve (@timgrieve) February 13, 2017
It’s not clear how many residents are affected, but the local sheriff’s office has been using social media to stress the evacuation was not a drill.
BREAKING: At least 130,000 people asked to evacuate over concerns California's Oroville Dam's emergency spillway could fail.
— The Associated Press (@AP) February 13, 2017
.
ButteSheriff</a> issued an Immediate Evacuation Order at 4:20 pm due to the <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/spillway?src=hash">#spillway</a> incident for the area shown on the map. <a href="https://twitter.com/CA_DWR">CA_DWR pic.twitter.com/b7lX9FHkJd— Butte County, CA (@CountyofButte) February 13, 2017
Engineers are are using helicopters to drop rocks to fill in gaps in the spillway while releasing water to lower the lake’s level.