http://www.sacbee.com/news/state/california/water-and-drought/article132332499.html
“5:52 p.m.
Releases through the main spillway at Oroville Dam have been boosted to 100,000 cubic feet per second from 55,000 cfs in hopes of easing pressure on the emergency spillway before a failure occurs, officials said Sunday night.”
Why were they even using the ‘emergency’ spillway when the regular spillway wasn’t at maximum? Poor operation.
Good link for updates.
You can use Google Maps in 3D to get a fairly comprehensive view of the whole layout. The emergency spillway is a fixed configuration. If the level comes up that high, over it goes.
They had their worries about the main spillway, but now I guess it's "screw that, get the level down."