The Latest on problems with an emergency spillway at the nation’s tallest dam (all times local):
12:30 p.m.
Water officials say storms expected later this week near communities evacuated over the threat of a spillway collapse at the nation’s tallest dam will be smaller than last week.
Bill Croyle, acting director of California Department of Water Resources, said more is water leaving Lake Oroville reservoir than coming in. But rain is forecast for Thursday.
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12:30 p.m.
The sheriff in a county where thousands of people have been evacuated over the threat of a spillway collapse at the nation’s tallest dam says he realizes it’s been a hardship on the community.
Butte County Sheriff Kory Honea says it was difficult to decide to ask people to leave their homes, and that their primary purpose is to ensure safety. They’re trying to figure out when people can go home.
Honea also said more than 500 Butte County jail inmates safely transferred to Alameda County Jail farther south.
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12:25 p.m.
Butte County Sheriff Kory Honea says the evacuation below the nation’s tallest dam because of the threat of flooding from a damaged spillway will not end right away. Officials said Monday that they are working on a plan to allow residents to return home when it’s safe.
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12:15 p.m.
Residents and local officials have described a panicked and chaotic scene on roads and freeways during an evacuation over the threat of a spillway collapse at the nation’s tallest dam.
Jodye Manley of Olivehurst says she and her husband were having dinner Sunday at her daughter’s house in Sacramento when she got word from a city councilman friend that her area would probably be evacuated.
She says the couple got gas and made a mad dash to get their four dogs and three cats. Manley says she and her neighbors were completely panicked and that the scene "was almost like a movie."
She says the traffic-filled return to Sacramento was terrifying, with people thinking the spillway would go at any moment.
Chico Councilman Andrew Coolidge says the seven shelters he visited are packed with residents who describe similar terror on jam-packed roads to safety.
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11:45 a.m.
The chief executive of the Oroville Hospital says it is operating normally but that 100 patients have been moved to the hospital’s second floor.
Hospital CEO Robert Wentz says the hospital took the step Monday morning "out of an abundance of caution."
The hospital is outside the flood zone below the dam on Oroville Lake and sits on a hill.
Wentz says evacuating acutely ill people is difficult so it is usually better for them to stay where they are.
He says patients will not go back to the hospital’s first floor until authorities tell the hospital it is safe to do so.
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7:20 a.m.
Kimberly and Patrick Cumings just moved to Oroville from Fresno with 3-year-old daughter Elizabeth a month ago because of a new job.
They were eating at a restaurant when the evacuation order happened and ended up in an evacuation shelter without their belongings.
A driver with a large vehicle and three children of her own gave them a ride to the Red Cross evacuation center at the Silver Dollar Fairgrounds in Chico, where they stayed Sunday night.
They say they thought about waiting it out but decided against it.
They left all of their belongings at the hotel where they were staying. Kimberly Cumings says she’d rather be safe than sorry.
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6:10 a.m.
State officials are waiting for the light of dawn to inspect an erosion scar on the potentially hazardous emergency spillway at northern California’s Oroville Dam.
California Department of Water Resources Action Director Bill Croyle says officials in helicopters overflew the spillway Sunday night to visually inspect it.
Evacuations for at least 188,000 people living below the dam were ordered Sunday after officials warned the emergency spillway was in danger of failing and unleashing uncontrolled flood waters on towns below.
Water levels at the huge dam are continuing to drop and stopping water from spilling over the emergency spillway.
California Department of Water Resources officials say flows into the lake are just under 45,000 cubic feet per second. Outflows remain high at nearly 100,000 cubic feet per second.
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5:35 a.m.
Water levels at northern California’s Lake Oroville are continuing to drop and stopping water from spilling over a big dam’s potentially hazardous emergency spillway.
Evacuations for at least 188,000 people living below the dam were ordered Sunday after officials warned the emergency spillway was in danger of failing and unleashing uncontrolled flood waters on towns below.
California Department of Water Resources officials say flows into the lake are just under 45,000 cubic feet per second. Outflows remain high at nearly 100,000 cubic feet per second.
Officials ordered the evacuation because possible failure of the emergency spillway could send a 30-foot wall of water into communities.
State Fire and Rescue Chief Kim Zagaris says at least 250 California law enforcement officers are in the area of the dam and evacuation routes to manage the exodus of residents and ensure evacuated towns don’t face looting or other criminal activity.
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