UPDATE: Dam structure “stable” but storm may slow work

Feb. 15--Update 12:50 p.m.

A press conference held by officials at the Department of Water Resources in Oroville revealed that the dam structure is safe and conditions are "stable."

Acting DWR director William Croyle, said as of 10 a.m. they've decreased water levels to 878 feet, and the goal is to bring it down to 850 feet. They will continue to release water at 100,000 cubic feet per second, and have been dropping water at an average of 8 inches per hour.

He addressed the oncoming storm, and said the amount of space available in the dam is enough to manage any additional inflow.

"The next storm won't pose a threat," he said.

He said the weather may slow down some of the repair work to the emergency spillway, but as long as weather permits, helicopters will continue to drop crushed rocks, and if roads are safe, trucks will continue to transport rock up the top of the dam.

Butte County Sheriff Kory Honea said about 150 Army National Guardsmen will be coming to Oroville later Wednesday. He said there have been reports of burglaries in the area but no looting. He is urging resident to use this time to prepare for evacuations should they be instructed again.

"It's important for people to be prepared," Honea said. He added that residents should gather belongings and figure out how they would reach their destination in the event of another evacuation order.

He acknowledged that the evacuations displaced many residents, and "this was an incredibly chaotic situation." He added that there were lessons learned from the mandatory evacuations, and that there would be better contingency planning in the future to make sure resources are available for people.

Update, 12:45 p.m.

The public information line for information on the Oroville Dam spillway crisis has been changed to 530-538-7826 for Butte County residents. For Sutter County, it's 530-822-4988 or 530- 822-7556.

Update, 11:55 a.m.

Inmates transferred to other counties are now in the process of returning to the Butte County Jail, open again after the evacuation order from the Oroville Dam crisis was changed Tuesday to an evacuation warning.

Richard Cordova, a California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection captain and public information officer, said the inmates aren't all back yet because some of them were being housed as far away as Kern County.

Meanwhile, DWR officials are "continuing to work all day long" to repair the dam's spillway. Cordova said there wasn't an estimated completion date yet.

Original story

Work continues on the emergency spillway at the Oroville Dam as a storm that will bring more rain to Northern California approaches. Crews continue to drop rocks onto the eroded area as the lake falls to more than 20 feet from the top.

The 188,000 people who fled the flood zone were given the green light to return to their homes when Butte County Sheriff Kory Honea shifted the mandatory evacuation order to a "warning." He stressed to residents that they should be ready to evacuate quickly if the emergency spillway has additional problems.

Wet weather later this week could spell more trouble for the dam, though officials said storms shouldn't be as strong as the recent systems that have pushed lake levels to their highest. Also, the California Department of Water Resources continues to pump out 100,000 cfs of water out of Lake Oroville, far more than the inflow.

President Donald Trump declared a federal disaster late Tuesday for areas affected by a potential collapse in a spillway that holds back Lake Oroville, California's second-largest reservoir. The president's order covers Butte, Sutter and Yuba counties, according to the Federal Emergency Management Agency. It authorizes FEMA to coordinate relief efforts and opens up federal emergency aid to state, tribal and local agencies.

The Yuba County Sheriff's Office late Tuesday said scammers are calling people and telling them to pay a fee for staying home during the evacuation, the department posted on its Facebook page. Officials said the calls or notices are indeed an attempt to defraud people who chose not to evacuate and no such fines are being imposed.

Students in the formerly evacuated areas will have the rest of the week off, officials said Tuesday. Most schools evacuated in Yuba and Sutter counties will resume Tuesday, both counties' offices of education said. Countywide, 13,000 to 14,000 students were affected by the evacuation.

The Sutter County Office of Education announced on its Facebook page that all schools would be closed through Monday, possibly later.

Butte County's Office of Education also announced that all classes "will resume their normal instructional calendar" on Monday. Since that's Presidents Day, classes presumably will start up Tuesday for most.

The U.S. Postal Service said Wednesday morning that mail service will return to all areas in the evacuation zone.

The California Department of Water Resources and other officials will conduct a news conference today near the dam at noon. The Record Searchlight will carry that live on Facebook.

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