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   From: morons@sfchronicle.com   
      
   OROVILLE, Butte County — The crisis at Lake Oroville may grind   
   on for weeks or longer — leaving the nearly 200,000 people   
   ordered to evacuate on Sunday in nail-biting limbo as crews work   
   to flush water out of the reservoir and shore up a badly eroded   
   emergency spillway, officials said Monday.   
      
   State water officials have been purging nearly 100,000 cubic   
   feet of water per second out of the reservoir’s damaged but   
   functioning primary spillway, an effort that brought the level   
   down below the lip of the emergency spillway Sunday night,   
   averting catastrophe.   
   But they are just beginning to assess the scope of the weekend   
   damage, a first step in developing a plan to secure the   
   reservoir and allow residents to return to their homes.   
      
   More rain is forecast to soak Lake Oroville and the surrounding   
   mountains beginning Wednesday night, increasing the urgency of   
   the work being done at the reservoir.   
      
   “We’re working very hard to deal with the challenges we have,”   
   said Bill Croyle, acting director of the California Department   
   of Water Resources. “We’re focused on the whole facility. The   
   dam itself is sound, but we have some pieces that are critical   
   to the operation that have been impaired.”   
      
   Gov. Jerry Brown said Monday evening that there might be an   
   indication Tuesday on when evacuees can return to their towns,   
   but added that caution was the watchword. “Better safe than   
   sorry,” he said.   
      
   “My message is that we’re doing everything we can to get this   
   dam in shape so they can return and live safely,” said the   
   governor, who declared a state of emergency Sunday to mobilize   
   disaster resources.   
      
   Crews noticed Sunday that the hillside under the emergency   
   spillway — also called the auxiliary spillway — had begun   
   rapidly deteriorating, just one day after water started   
   cascading over its ledge for the first time since the Oroville   
   Dam was put into operation in 1968.   
      
   Evacuees stranded with no end in sight to Lake Oroville crisis   
   By Melody Gutierrez, Evan Sernoffsky and Kevin Fagan Updated   
   8:34 pm, Monday, February 13, 2017   
      
   Approximately 200,000 people remain under evacuation orders on   
   Monday, as authorities try to fix erosion of the emergency   
   spillway at California's Lake Oroville Dam. Located 150 miles   
   northeast of San Francisco, the country's tallest dam and one of   
   California's largest man-made lakes, Lake Oroville experienced   
   water levels so high that an emergency spillway was used on   
   Saturday for the first time in almost 50 years.   
      
   OROVILLE, Butte County — The crisis at Lake Oroville may grind   
   on for weeks or longer — leaving the nearly 200,000 people   
   ordered to evacuate on Sunday in nail-biting limbo as crews work   
   to flush water out of the reservoir and shore up a badly eroded   
   emergency spillway, officials said Monday.   
      
   State water officials have been purging nearly 100,000 cubic   
   feet of water per second out of the reservoir’s damaged but   
   functioning primary spillway, an effort that brought the level   
   down below the lip of the emergency spillway Sunday night,   
   averting catastrophe.   
   But they are just beginning to assess the scope of the weekend   
   damage, a first step in developing a plan to secure the   
   reservoir and allow residents to return to their homes.   
      
   More rain is forecast to soak Lake Oroville and the surrounding   
   mountains beginning Wednesday night, increasing the urgency of   
   the work being done at the reservoir.   
      
   Carmen Corona of Greeley, left, stops to ask for supplies form   
   Tina Kuhl of Sevean Trent, right, who was indepently   
   distributing water and socks at the evacuation center at Silver   
   Dollar Fairgrounds in Chico, Calif., on Monday, February 13,   
   2017. Several hundred thousand area residents were evacuated   
   down river from the Oroville Dam spillways after officials began   
   to worry there might be an imminent collapse on Sunday. The   
   California Department of Water Resources increased the release   
   from the main spillway to 100,000 cubic feet per second to lower   
   the level of the lake and prevent further damage to the   
   auxiliary spillway. Photo: Carlos Avila Gonzalez, The Chronicle   
      
   Photo: Carlos Avila Gonzalez, The Chronicle   
   IMAGE 1 OF 116 Buy PhotoCarmen Corona of Greeley, left, stops to   
   ask for supplies form Tina Kuhl of Sevean Trent, right, who was   
   indepently distributing water and socks at the evacuation center   
   at Silver Dollar Fairgrounds in Chico, ... more   
   ALSO   
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   Series of storms to make trouble for Lake Oroville   
   Drone video shows the Oroville Dam crisis   
   The Oroville Dam crisis explained: What you need to know   
      
   “We’re working very hard to deal with the challenges we have,”   
   said Bill Croyle, acting director of the California Department   
   of Water Resources. “We’re focused on the whole facility. The   
   dam itself is sound, but we have some pieces that are critical   
   to the operation that have been impaired.”   
      
   Gov. Jerry Brown said Monday evening that there might be an   
   indication Tuesday on when evacuees can return to their towns,   
   but added that caution was the watchword. “Better safe than   
   sorry,” he said.   
      
   “My message is that we’re doing everything we can to get this   
   dam in shape so they can return and live safely,” said the   
   governor, who declared a state of emergency Sunday to mobilize   
   disaster resources.   
      
   Crews noticed Sunday that the hillside under the emergency   
   spillway — also called the auxiliary spillway — had begun   
   rapidly deteriorating, just one day after water started   
   cascading over its ledge for the first time since the Oroville   
   Dam was put into operation in 1968.   
      
   That deep erosion scar carved its way back to the foot of the   
   spillway’s apron, a concrete lip perched at the top of the hill,   
   threatening the integrity of the barrier.   
      
   Butte County Sheriff Kory Honea ordered an estimated 188,000   
   residents downstream along the Feather River to evacuate around   
   4:30 p.m. Sunday, when the possible breach in the spillway was   
   detected. There was no plan for that evacuation order to be   
   lifted, but Honea said officials were working on a “repopulation   
   plan” for the residents.   
      
   “When it’s safe, based upon the evaluation by the Department of   
   Water Resources and the state and federal partners, then we’ll   
   be in a better position to decide when to lift that evacuation,”   
   he said.   
      
   The Department of Water Resources began dropping large bags of   
   rocks Monday afternoon via helicopters onto the eroded emergency   
   spillway to divert water coming down the earthen hillside during   
   future heavy rains and snowmelt. State officials did not give a   
   timeline on how long it would take to shore up the scarred   
   hillside.   
      
   Evacuees, meanwhile, anxiously cooled their heels in evacuation   
   centers scattered throughout the area, without any sense of when   
   they could return home.   
      
   Jaswinder Phagura, admitted she was “scared” as she stayed at   
   the Sikh Temple emergency shelter in West Sacramento with family.   
      
      
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