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One of California’s most critical hydroelectric plants is at risk of closing for the first time in five decades as water levels continue to sink. A megadrought and scorching heat, both worsened by La Nina weather effects, have depleted some of the water supply at Northern California’s Lake Oroville. The lake’s current water levels are hoovering around 700 feet above sea level, but if 640 feet is breached, then officials “will likely be forced to close the Edward Hyatt Power Plant for the first time since it opened in 1967,” California Energy Commission spokesperson Lindsay Buckley told CNN. The lake’s...

In Northern California’s Butte County, at least 130 houseboats were evacuated from Lake Oroville as water levels fell to dangerously low levels.The lake’s record low is 646 feet, and the state’s Department of Water Resources expects that level to be breached in August. If that happens, public boat ramps would be inaccessible for the first due to low water levels. According to Aaron Wright, public safety chief for the Northern Buttes District of California State Parks, who spoke with AP, the only boat access point to the lake would be an old dirt road constructed in the late 1960s. Eric...

Millions of Californians could end up with higher water bills after the Trump administration on Friday announced that federal emergency officials aren’t going to reimburse the state for $306 million in repairs to Oroville Dam stemming from the 2017 spillway crisis. The Federal Emergency Management Agency said federal taxpayers shouldn’t have to pay for problems that existed prior to a massive hole forming in the dam’s concrete spillway in February 2017, eventually prompting the two-day evacuation of 188,000 downstream residents and a $1.1 billion emergency response and repair job. Oroville Dam – the nation’s tallest – is operated by a...

Last week, I said that up to a foot of rain could be seen in the Lake Oroville watershed due to a series of “supersoaker storms” coming through. Now, the largest of the storms is bearing down. Dr. Ryan Maue of WeatherBell says there’s going to be an unbelievable “10 trillion gallons” in the next 7 days as more storms come through. Excessive rainfall on way to California 4 to 10 inches of rain along coast from Santa Cruz north … same for mountains above Oroville. –Dr. Ryan Maue on TwitterResult in California over next 7-days is widespread heavy rain...

Communities immediately downstream of California's Lake Oroville dam would not receive adequate warning or time for evacuations if the 770-foot-tall dam itself — rather than its spillways — were to abruptly fail, the state water agency that operates the nation's tallest dam repeatedly advised federal regulators a half-decade ago. Regulators at the time recommended that state officials implement more public-warning systems, carry out annual public education campaigns and work to improve early detection of any problems at the dam. Six years later, state and local officials have adopted some of the recommendations, including automated warnings via reverse 911 calls to...

The music was snapped off, and the lunchtime chatter at the Keg Room quieted down. Bartender Vivian Jenkins cranked up the volume on the two TVs hanging over the bar as “The Young and the Restless” ended and the real daytime drama came onscreen: the noon media briefing from Oroville Dam, 3 miles up the road. Friday’s episode brought encouraging news. Progress was being made on releasing water from Lake Oroville, while work crews continued to patch the dam’s troubled emergency spillway. Kory Honea, the Butte County sheriff, reminded viewers “we’re still operating under an emergency situation” and they needed...

How did a giant, gaping hole tear through the massive Oroville Dam’s main concrete spillway last week, setting in motion the chain of events that could have led to one of America’s deadliest dam failures? Dam experts around the country are focusing on a leading suspect: Tiny bubbles.The prospect is simple, yet terrifying and has been the culprit in a number of near disasters at dams across the globe since engineers discovered it about 50 years ago. In a process called “cavitation,” ...

Private contractors at the Oroville Dam have had to fire some of their workforce because of issues ranging from positive drug tests to violating the state's Department of Water Resources' social media policy. There has also been turnover because of unqualified workers. Private contractors hired to work on the dam have to vet their own employees, according to DWR spokesman Chris Orrock, who noted that no state employees have been let go because of these reasons. Crews are being brought in as needed, as space is tight, DWR Acting Director Bill Croyle said.

Officials at Lake Oroville reduced the rate of water release once again Friday as workers continued make repairs to a damaged spillway and clear debris from a hydroelectric plant. State Department of Water Resources engineers will decrease the flow of water in the Oroville Dam's main spillway from 80,000 cubic feet per second to 60,000 by Saturday morning, giving crews space to dredge debris from a pool at the bottom of the spillway, said DWR acting director Bill Croyle. Engineers had been pumping water out of the lake at 100,000 cfs for several days to make room for incoming storm...

Communities just downstream of California's Lake Oroville dam would not receive adequate warning or time for evacuations if the 770-foot-tall dam itself — rather than its spillways — were to abruptly fail, the state water agency that operates the nation's tallest dam repeatedly advised federal regulators a half-decade ago. The state Department of Water Resources informed federal dam regulators that local emergency officials "do not believe there is enough time to perform evacuations in the communities immediately downstream of the dam during a sudden failure," according to a Feb. 8, 2011, letter reviewed by The Associated Press. Absent "significant" advance...

A number of news outlets claim the near collapse of the Oroville dam's emergency spillway in California is a glimpse of what man-made global warming could bring. "Oroville Is a Warning for California Dams, as Climate Change Adds Stress," the New York Times reported. "Broken California Dam Is a Sign of Emergencies to Come," reads an article published in Scientific American, adding that "[c]limate change is leading to more extreme rainfalls that can overwhelm infrastructure."

Southern Californians have been drinking from the Feather River — and washing in it, flushing with it and sprinkling it over their lawns — for nearly a half century without giving it much thought, so the emergency at distant Oroville Dam provides a jolting reminder of our dependence on the wetter, northern part of the state. A disaster there could easily become a crisis here.

Millions Went To California Dam In Good Shape The Washington Free Beacon is reporting that of the $34 billion that the State of California received from Obama’s 2009 stimulus package, $0 went to the failing Oroville dam while millions went to a dam that was in ‘good shape’. From The Free Beacon: Despite more than a decade of warnings about Oroville, there is no public record of the country’s tallest dam receiving any of the more than $34 billion from the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act sent to California for infrastructure projects. Over $22 million in stimulus funds did go...

It rained through most of the night in the Oroville area. A storm passed over and is currently dumping rain in the foothills and mountains to the east of the lake. It's a warm storm and can be expected to trigger some snow melt and runoff. As of 5 a.m. the reservoir level stood at 870 feet, 30 feet below the lip of the emergency berm. Inflow from the storm should begin late today and max out over the weekend. It remains to be seen whether this will cause the lake to rise dangerously as releases continue at the maximum....

The 2009 stimulus package funded millions of dollars for safety improvements for a dam in California that was in “good shape,” but not to the Oroville Dam that is now on the verge of a spillway crisis. Nearly 200,000 residents north of Sacramento were ordered to evacuate after fears that erosion would cause the emergency spillway to fail, which would lead to “catastrophic flooding“ from a 30-foot wall of water. Despite more than a decade of warnings about Oroville, there is no public record of the country’s tallest dam receiving any of the more than $34 billion from the American...

We’ve already had two big events like this so far this year, now forecasts show a clear pattern of a heavily moisture laden “atmospheric river” taking aim directly onto the Oroville Dam watershed over the next week. Accumulated precipitation forecasts show that the Lake Orovile watershed will score a direct hit with the maximum amount of precipitation over the next 10 days (see graphic near bottom of this article). Meteorologist Paul Dorian of Vencore Weather writes: There have been many occasions in the past in which floods have followed droughts in California and this recent time period is yet another...

Oroville Crews worked into the night Wednesday to shore up the emergency spillway at troubled Oroville Dam, racing to fortify the structure before the next series of storms, the first of which was forecast to hit before midnight. Three storm systems will move into Northern California during the next six days, according to the National Weather Service. The first system will drop about an inch of rain in the Oroville area between 10 p.m. Wednesday and 4 p.m. Thursday. Greater amounts of precipitation will fall in the mountains northeast of the reservoir. Forecasters are confident that the first two storm...

President Trump approved Tuesday disaster relief for California, putting an end to speculation that the bad blood between the White House and Gov. Jerry Brown would jeopardize the state’s plea for emergency aid. The Federal Emergency Management Administration announced that the assistance would be provided “due to the emergency conditions resulting from the potential failure of the emergency spillway at Lake Oroville Dam beginning on February 7, 2017, and continuing.” Mr. Brown, a Democrat who called Mr. Trump a “fraud” during last year’s presidential campaign, made the request for federal help Friday after heavy rainstorms inundated Northern California, flooding creeks,...

Photo series with detailed explanations.

Empty buildings, empty streets, empty businesses. It's like a Hollywood ghost town movie set in Oroville, California due to the dam overflow.