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   From: morons@sfchronicle.com   
      
   Mandatory evacuations remained in effect Monday afternoon for   
   nearly 190,000 people in Northern California after a spillway   
   serving the country's tallest dam developed a hole that   
   threatened to release uncontrolled floodwaters, officials said.   
      
   The emergency spillway off the Oroville Dam was the second to   
   fail in a matter of days, after the dam's primary spillway   
   developed a 200-foot-long, 30-foot-deep hole last week.   
      
   Officials and contractors were working feverishly to get as much   
   water out of Lake Oroville as possible by Thursday, when another   
   round of storms is expected to sweep across the area.   
      
   The acting director of California's Department of Water   
   Resources, Bill Croyle, told reporters that it was unclear what   
   caused the erosion in the emergency spillway, but he said he   
   expected significant progress in the agency's goal of dropping   
   lake levels by 50 feet.   
      
   The dam itself was not damaged. But because its water levels are   
   so high following heavy rain, the emergency spillway could   
   unleash a wall of water onto communities and rivers below if it   
   collapses.   
      
   Sean Dennis was one thousands of residents trying to make the   
   gridlocked journey to safer ground.   
      
   "We both were kind of shocked. Nothing like this has ever   
   happened," said Dennis, 30, a chef from Yuba City, who recalled   
   the moment he and his wife found out they had to leave. "We just   
   grabbed what we could."   
      
   Dennis spoke while driving his family to a hotel in Willows, a   
   journey that had already taken five hours despite its being only   
   55 miles away.   
      
   Cars quickly piled up at gas stations and on routes out of the   
   evacuation zone after the order was given Sunday.   
      
   "What was usually a 20-minute drive took two hours," said   
   Heather Sutton, 22, a Yuba Community College student. "It was   
   bumper to bumper. ... You can almost see the panic happening."   
      
   Sutton recalled telling her friend before they evacuated that   
   "we need to grab photos, anything that has sentimental value."   
   Everything else was left behind, she said.   
      
   The sudden evacuation panicked residents, who scrambled to get   
   their belongings into cars and then grew angry as they sat in   
   bumper-to-bumper traffic hours after the order was given.   
      
   Raj Gill, managing a Shell station where anxious motorists got   
   gas and snacks, said his boss told him to close the station and   
   flee himself. But he stayed open to feed a steady line of   
   customers.   
      
   "You can't even move," he said. "I'm trying to get out of here,   
   too. I'm worried about the flooding. I've seen the pictures —   
   that's a lot of water."   
      
   A Red Cross spokeswoman said more than 500 people showed up at   
   an evacuation center in Chico.   
      
   The shelter had run out of blankets and cots, and a tractor-   
   trailer with 1,000 more cots was stuck in the gridlock of   
   traffic Sunday night, Red Cross shelter manager Pam Deditch said.   
      
   Butte County Sheriff Kory Honea, who ordered the evacuations,   
   said Monday afternoon that he had no choice but to tell people   
   to flee as quickly as possible.   
      
   "When this incident occurred, it became apparent that we needed   
   to act quickly," he said. "I recognize and appreciate the   
   frustration that people who have been evacuated must feel. That   
   was not a decision I made lightly."   
      
   The order was issued suddenly Sunday after officials spotted the   
   damage to the emergency spillway's concrete lip. The auxiliary   
   spillway was being used for the first time in almost 50 years,   
   according to The Associated Press, because the 770-foot-tall dam   
   was full to the brim and its main spillway was damaged by heavy   
   rain last week.   
      
   It could also breach the network of levees along the way and   
   cause problems as far away as Sacramento.   
      
   Several state water and government officials told NBC News that   
   1 million acre-feet of water could be released, overwhelming the   
   Feather River and flooding communities in Butte County, Yuba   
   City and Marysville. Kevin Lawson, deputy chief of the   
   California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection, said at a   
   news conference Sunday night that 188,000 people had been   
   ordered to evacuate from those areas.   
      
   "We've never seen anything like this in modern times," a state   
   water official told NBC News. "This is a worst-case scenario for   
   any water management agency, a worst-case nightmare."   
      
   Croyle, meanwhile, said he wasn't aware of a 2005 filing with   
   the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission that warned about a   
   possible failure with the emergency spillway.   
      
   "We're not going to get into recommendations or concerns that   
   were voiced in the past," he said.   
      
   Three environmental groups — Friends of the River, the Sierra   
   Club and the South Yuba River Citizens League — filed the   
   document after determining that the dam didn't meet modern   
   safety standards. Its emergency spillway needed to be armored   
   with concrete, the groups said.   
      
   "What nearly happened last night was what I've been fearing,"   
   Ronald Stork, senior policy advocate at Friends of the River,   
   told NBC News. "I thought it was the time to fix it years ago."   
      
   >From Sunday night to Monday morning, the water level of Lake   
   Oroville had decreased, allowing engineers to assess the damage,   
   according to the AP. Officials were still releasing water   
   through the main spillway ahead of this week's expected storm.   
      
   By midday Monday, officials said, water flows into the lake   
   stood at about 45,000 cubic feet per second, with outflows at   
   100,000 cubic feet per second.   
      
   Sheriff Honea said earlier that the damage could result in a   
   "catastrophic failure" of the emergency spillway.   
      
   "Although it brings some stability to the situation, there are   
   still a lot of unknowns," he told reporters. "We have staff   
   looking at the various areas that evacuations have been ordered   
   in and making a determination as to what areas are clearly in   
   danger and what areas may be less vulnerable."   
      
   Rep. Doug LaMalfa, R-California, said Monday that he'd reached   
   out to the White House for assistance but hadn't heard back,   
   while California Governor Jerry Brown issued an emergency order   
   Sunday night to bolster the state's response.   
      
   "I've been in close contact with emergency personnel managing   
   the situation in Oroville throughout the weekend, and it's clear   
   the circumstances are complex and rapidly changing," Brown said.   
   "The state is directing all necessary personnel and resources to   
   deal with this very serious situation."   
      
   Sacramento County wasn't expected to be affacted by increasing   
   flows from the Feather River into the Sacramento River because   
   of a weir (a type of dam) system in place, the county said on   
   Twitter on Sunday evening.   
      
   The Butte County sheriff's office initially ordered the   
   evacuation of an estimated 60,000 to 100,000 people from the   
   city of Oroville and several other low-lying communities along   
   the Feather River.   
      
   "This is NOT a drill," the office said in a statement.   
      
   http://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/potentially-catastrophic-   
      
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