Or the Delta Smelt.
FWIW.
I would hope that someone on this forum has all ready pointed this out. But short of reading every post about the Oroville Dam situation and why this is a very real disaster in the making, I’ll point out a few things.
Water, is a very difficult thing to control.
Water, contrary to popular belief, does in fact flow “uphill”.
The failure of the spillway is just one aspect where the water will migrate, literally up hill, being absorbed and pulled into the earthen dam until gravity takes over. That, combined with rain water on the surface could reach the point were the entire hillside that was designed to hold back the weight of the water in the lake, just lets loose to the forces of gravity.
If the rain forecast is expected to be up stream from the dam itself they may dodge a bullet. If however, they get rain locally, I’m afraid they will experience a mud slide that will be historic.
FWIW