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   From: morons@sfchronicle.com   
      
   Roads leading out of Oroville, Calif., were jammed with traffic   
   Sunday evening as more than 130,000 people were ordered to   
   evacuate the area due to the possibility of failure of the   
   alternate spillway at Oroville Dam, authorities said.   
      
   Butte County Sheriff Kory Honea said during a news conference   
   Sunday night that he had no choice but to order the evacuation.   
      
   “I didn’t have the luxury of waiting to see if all was OK. We   
   need to get people moving quickly and to save lives in case the   
   worst case came to fruition,” Honea said.   
      
   “This is a very dynamic situation. This is a situation that   
   could change very, very rapidly,” he said.   
      
   “We recognize that this has caused a significant problem with   
   traffic, in terms of exiting the area.”   
      
   State route 70 northbound, which runs past Oroville, was   
   gridlocked as of 7:20 p.m. PT. Highway 99, an alternate north-   
   south route eight 10 miles to the east, and state route 162   
   heading east, away from the Feather River, were jammed as were   
   nearby surface streets, according to satellite feeds from Google   
   Maps.   
      
   Highway 49 in Nevada County was turned into one-way traffic,   
   according to Caltrans.   
      
   Oroville Police said its department arranged a medical   
   evacuation for a man in a wheelchair in a house on Robinson   
   Street, a few blocks from the Feather River, which runs below   
   the endangered spillway.   
      
   Oroville residents were ordered to evacuate Sunday afternoon.   
   The evacuation order was extended to include Marysville and Yuba   
   County around 5:45 p.m. PT, according to Caltrans.   
      
   In a post on its Facebook page, the Butte County, Calif.,   
   Sheriff’s Department ordered an “immediate evacuation from the   
   low levels of Oroville and areas downstream.”   
      
   Police said a “hazardous situation is developing” with the   
   Oroville Dam auxiliary spillway, in which severe erosion could   
   lead it to fail, resulting in an “uncontrolled release of flood   
   waters from Lake Oroville.”   
      
   California Department of Water Resources officials had decided   
   to use the emergency spillway to take pressure off the dam's   
   regular spillway, which developed a giant crater last week,   
   Redding (Calif.) Record Searchlight reported. That crater had   
   been growing daily, so to take pressure off the spillway, the   
   state began using the emergency spillway, but that also became   
   compromised.   
      
   Flow through the broken main spillway was increased to 100,000   
   cubic feet per second in an effort to lower the water level in   
   the lake more rapidly.   
      
   Residents of Oroville, located about 65 miles north of   
   Sacramento, were ordered to evacuate northward, toward Chico,   
   Calif. As of 6 p.m., Oroville police radio said there were   
   "still a few stragglers" downtown but most people were gone.   
   They also called for expanding the evacuation area to include   
   area around the high school.   
      
   Honea wasn’t sure when residents would be able to return home.   
   “We have to assess the safety of the spillway before we let the   
   public back in,” Honea said.   
      
   Lake Oroville is one of California’s largest man-made lakes, and   
   the 770-foot-tall Oroville Dam is the nation’s tallest. The lake   
   is a central piece of California’s government-run water delivery   
   network, supplying water for agriculture in the Central Valley   
   and residents and businesses in Southern California.   
      
   The dam was built in 1968. Following heavy rains this winter,   
   water on Saturday overtopped the emergency spillway for the   
   first time since its completion, The Sacramento Bee reported   
   Saturday.   
      
   Bill Croyle, acting director of the Department of Water   
   Resources, said the dam itself is not threatened, but that the   
   crisis won’t be over soon, since Northern California is on pace   
   for its wettest winter ever. He said an estimated 2.8 million   
   acre-feet of snow blankets mountains above the dam, putting more   
   strain on it in months to come.   
      
   “Our next 60 to 90 days will be critical, how we route this   
   (snow) runoff through this reservoir,” Croyle told The Bee.   
   “There’s a lot of snow up there.”   
      
   In a tweet, the California Department of Water Resources late   
   Sunday said it planned to use helicopters to drop rocks to fill   
   in the gouge in the auxilliary spillway and stabilize it.   
      
   Michelle Grandinetti and her family quickly left their home,   
   headed for family in Elk Grove, southeast of Sacramento.   
      
   “We took enough clothes for three days, our children, seven   
   total that are still with us, our two dogs and food for them!”   
   Grandinetti wrote in a Facebook message to The Bee. “We just   
   moved here a few months ago and haven't ever had to deal with   
   this! Everyone is leaving! All the stores are closed! Just got   
   on the freeway and the river is only feet away!”   
      
   Erin English of Linda, Calif., told the Record Searchlight she   
   got a robo-call telling her to evacuate and get to higher   
   ground. She immediately called 911 and dispatchers at first told   
   her to go to Chico, then said she might not make it there before   
   water came through. They told her to go to Colusa Casino, about   
   an hour's drive west.   
      
   She headed out with her husband, two children and her dogs. They   
   didn't have time to grab anything from home, she said.   
      
   "I'm scared to death. I've never been through anything like this   
   before. I pray for the safety of everybody here."   
      
   Kevin Carroll of Marysville, Calif., said he was dubious about   
   the evacuation order, but he obeyed it. He and his wife gathered   
   up clothes and their dogs and left. "My wife said go," he said.   
   "The river is right on our back door."   
      
   But he said he didn't expect Marysville to flood. "I'm not   
   saying it won't. There's a lot of room in that river right now,"   
   he said.   
      
   "It can save lives or be a waste of time. I hope for the best   
   for the evacuees. Be safe."   
      
   Two tribal casinos in Oroville were trying to calm customers as   
   they dealt with evacuation orders, and employees who picked up   
   the phone had little time to talk.   
      
   “We’re really rushed right now,” said an employee at Feather   
   Falls Casino & Lodge, about five miles south of the Feather   
   River. “We’ve got the evacuation orders.”   
      
   At Gold Country Casino and Hotel, an operator said the phones   
   “have been ringing off the hook” because of the emergency   
   evacuations. That casino sits about three miles east of the   
   river.   
      
   Kirsten McFaul, a student at Butte College and an Oroville   
   native, said she drove to Sacramento when the college canceled   
   classes on Friday. Yesterday, residents learned that the dam was   
   at capacity and had overflowed into the spillway.   
      
   McFaul had been planning to drive home Sunday, but after the   
   evacuation was announced her family left immediately and drove   
   to Paradise, a town about 20 miles north of Oroville. They’re   
   waiting there until it’s safe to return.   
      
   “We have been in fear of flooding since Friday, when we were   
   told to prepare for evacuations just in case,” she said via   
   Twitter. “We’ve had some (evacuations) uphill for fires but it   
      
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