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I hope so, too, but it comports with what we've been hearing right up until the evacuation was lifted.

I am not in the habit of trusting public officials but I can't imagine they'd make this decision knowing that those-in-the-know continue to expect it to fail.

But then, they limited the outflow of the primary spillway at 55 to 65,000 cfs even though that spillway was capable of handling over 100,000 cfs. I heard as high as 250,000. At one point, the water flowing into Lake Oroville was at about 195,000.

So the capability to release more water than was being taken in was always there.

I think they didn't want to take a chance on washing the rest of the spillway down into the river because that might cause the water to back up to the base of the dam where the powerhouse is.

If the powerhouse flooded, they wouldn't be able to control the gates.