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Tear down this dam? © Getty Images Oroville dam, the tallest in the nation, is currently in danger of structural failure. Thousands living downstream from its desperate cascading water releases are evacuating their homes in Hollywood disaster-film fashion. Something premodern and apocalyptic like this was not supposed to have happened in a postmodern California of Google, Hollywood, and Napa Valley wineries. California’s politicians and pundits in recent years of drought swore the state was entering a cycle of permanent drought (and thus saw no need to start construction on a single dam to store the rain and snow that supposedly...

Persistent precipitation in recent months have significantly improved California's drought conditions, according to the U.S. Drought Monitor. Extreme to exceptional drought – the most severe levels – have been virtually lifted in the entire state since it first appeared on Jan. 24, 2014.

Lake Berryessa's Glory Hole is spilling over for the first time in 10 years. The reservoir two hours north of San Francisco reached full capacity and an elevation level of 440 feet Friday at 6 a.m., and began spilling, according to U.S. Bureau of Reclamation spokesperson Janet Sierzputowski. The unique spillway operates similarly to a bathtub drain

Michigan has thousands of aging and under-maintained dams that could pose localized risks. The Michigan Department of Environmental Quality tells the Detroit Free Press that all but six of the state's 88 potential high-hazard dams are approaching 50 years old, the average engineered life span for a dam. The American Society of Civil Engineers gave Michigan a D grade on the condition of its dams in 2009, saying more than 90 percent of the state's nearly 2,600 dams would reach or exceed their design life by 2020.

A Look Into the Opaque Crystal Ball for Infrastructure Initiatives in the First 100 Days of the Trump Administration President Donald J. Trump's "America's Infrastructure First" plan is one of the Trump Administration's priorities during his first 100 days in office. Throughout the campaign, President Trump heralded his plan to build and restore highways, tunnels, airports, bridges, and water systems across America and promised a $1 trillion investment in the infrastructure sector over a 10-year period. Leaders from both parties acknowledge the nation's deteriorating infrastructure, and there have been expressions of support from both sides of the aisle for some...

Water releases from Shasta Lake are at the highest in 20 years as the lake nears full capacity Monday. The lake stood at 96 percent of capacity and 137 percent of the historical average, as of midnight Monday, according to the California Department of Water Resources. Water officials are releasing 70,000 cubic feet per second (cfs) from Shasta Dam as the lake stands just 5 feet from the top of the reservoir, the Shasta County Sheriff's Office said. "This is higher than it should be for this point in time," the sheriff's office said. "The release is necessary for space...

It all happened so quickly. Water poured down the rapidly eroding hillside of Oroville Dam on Sunday evening. Engineers with the state had to make a series of quick decisions to avert a catastrophic flood. When they weren’t sure it would work, the Butte County Sheriff’s Department made the gutsy call to evacuate tens of thousands of residents in a matter of hours. By Monday, state and local officials were working alongside the Federal Emergency Management Agency to determine the next steps in a still dangerous situation. This is what should happen when people’s lives are in danger, this beautiful...

LiveCopter 3 shows extremely low water levels in 2008Before Lake Oroville became so full that it overflowed the emergency spillway, the lake was a barren body of water that suffered heavily during the drought. This video was taken by LiveCopter 3 in 2008 when water levels were extremely low.

Just 18 months after many California lakes were nearly dried up, the state now has too much of a good thing. California has now seen more moisture in the last 8 weeks than it typically does in an entire year. Parts of the Sierra Mountain range have received more than 400” of snow already this season with some coastal and foothills locations pulling in over 2 feet of rain… and their typical wet season has nearly 2 months to go. San Francisco, Sacramento, Los Angeles, and several other cities have recorded one of their wettest Januarys on record and an...

Releases from Shasta Dam at 20-year highWater releases from Shasta Lake are at the highest they've been in 20 years as the lake nears full capacity Monday. The lake stood at 96 percent of capacity and 137 percent of the historical average, as of midnight Monday, according to the California Department of Water Resources. Water officials are releasing 70,000 cubic feet per second (cfs) from Shasta Dam as the lake stands just 5 feet from the top of the reservoir, the Shasta County Sheriff's Office said. "This is higher than it should be for this point in time," the sheriff's...

Ten years ago, for the 40th anniversary of the Dec. 14, 1963 Baldwin Hills Dam collapse, Los Angeles Times staff writer Bob Pool reported: The Baldwin Hills Dam collapsed with the fury of a thousand cloudbursts, sending a 50-foot wall of water down Cloverdale Avenue and slamming into homes and cars on Dec. 14, 1963. Five people were killed. Sixty-five hillside houses were ripped apart, and 210 homes and apartments were damaged. The flood swept northward in a V-shaped path roughly bounded by La Brea Avenue and Jefferson and La Cienega boulevards. The earthen dam that created a 19-acre reservoir...

"Officials are anticipating a failure of the Auxiliary Spillway at Oroville Dam within the next 60 minutes (5:45 p.m.)," the California Department of Water Resources said on Facebook. The Yuba County Office of Emergency Services said on Facebook an evacuation has been for "all Yuba County on the valley floor." The city of Marysville and Yuba County have been ordered to evacuate, the Marysville Police Department tweeted.

<p>OROVILLE, Calif. - An immediate evacuation from the low levels of Oroville and areas downstream is ordered.</p> <p>A hazardous situation has developed with the Oroville Dam auxiliary spillway. Officials say that operation of the auxiliary spillway has lead to severe erosion that could lead to a failure of the structure.</p>

Officials say water has begun flowing over the emergency spillway at Lake Oroville for the first time since it opened in 1968 in Northern California's Butte County. A spokesman for California's Department of Water Resources says water began flowing over the emergency spillway around 8 a.m. Saturday. Officials had been hoping to avoid using the emergency spillway because it could cause trees to fall

Rep. Phil Phelps, D-Flushing, says it took months for the Michigan Department of Environmental Quality to respond to his Freedom of Information Act request for documents related to the Flint water crisis. The department initially said the documents did not exist, but months later the lawmaker received tens of thousands of documents the agency had withheld. Phelps sent a request in early September 2015 to the DEQ as well as the Michigan Department of Treasury and the city of Flint. Phelps said his FOIAs asked for any documents relating to officials knowing that Flint River water was safe for use...

WASHINGTON, D.C. — U.S. Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas) today released the following statement upon the 6th Circuit’s stay on the “Waters of the United States” rule, which allows litigation over the legality of the rule to proceed before implementation:“The 6th Circuit’s order to halt implementation of the EPA’s new ‘Waters of the United States’ rule is a win for all Americans, but especially for farmers, ranchers, and landowners in the state of Texas. Today’s order is also an important step toward curbing the federal government’s relentless intrusion on the states—power grabs that have become standard practice for President Obama’s EPA....

From USAToday:Trump begins with call to kill climate action planWASHINGTON —- As President Trump delivered his inaugural address Friday, his new White House team posted a proposal to eliminate President Obama’s environmental regulations. “For too long, we’ve been held back by burdensome regulations on our energy industry. President Trump is committed to eliminating harmful and unnecessary policies such as the Climate Action Plan and the Waters of the U.S. rule,” reads the top issue brief on the new president’s White House web site. “ New executive actions are expected later Friday as the nation’s 45th president begins his administration.”At...

After a half-decade of drought, California has been buffeted this winter by a series of powerful rain and snowstorms that dumped countless billions of gallons of water on the state’s watersheds. Some of the deluge was captured in the form of mountain snows that will feed rivers and streams during the annual spring melt. But at lower elevations, it was rain, some retained in man-made reservoirs that had become seriously depleted, but most flowing swiftly to the Pacific Ocean. At one point last week, flows on the Sacramento River and its American River tributary were more than 130,000 cubic feet...

After five years, is the drought over? The feds seem to think so, at least as far as Sacramento and most of Northern California are concerned. Thanks to an unusually wet winter, the closely watched U.S. Drought Monitor reported Thursday that 42 percent of California now is considered free of drought. That includes Northern California from the Bay Area to the Oregon border. When the “water year” began in October, only 17 percent of the state was drought free, and a year ago the figure was 3 percent. Several other experts agreed that considerable progress has been made in alleviating...

Nearly all of California's reservoirs are far above their historical average volumes for this date of the year. This is somewhat due to the La Nina, and it's a La Nina heading OUT of an El Nino, not into one, so a subsequent drought is unlikely. Reservoir levels are so high, that many are approaching their typical April peaks. And the snowcaps are already approaching their average post-winter depths. Shasta Lake, the largest reservoir, is at 81% capacity and 126% of average. Terminus reservoir is at 321% of normal. Statewide snowcaps are at 160% of normal for the date, and...