I hate the local news. The sensationalism they've used to cover this event is despicable. They've terrified people, they've misrepresented the situation, they've twisted words for maximum impact. They have NOT done their jobs properly IMHO. Especially egregious has been CBS13 (on their CW31 coverage) who actually at one point had a headline about the Oroville Auxiliary Dam failure. (?!?!?!?!?)
Was this a bad situation? Possibly. Did Butte County do the right thing in ordering evacuations? I think so, for the simple reason it's better to be safe than sorry. The main point, however, is that the integrity of the dam itself was never in question. The emergency spillway was utilized and did its job, albeit with some erosion damage that was not anticipated - and did, in fact, create the situation that authorities felt warranted the evacuation orders. The damaged spillway is still functioning and is doing its job. The Feather River system can and has handled in excess of 135,000 cfs without problem. They are going to be releasing as much water as possible with the goal of lowering the lake level by 50 feet.
With rain anticipated to amount to 2 to 4 inches from the next series of storms, the inflow into Oroville will be significantly less than what was experienced during the lst series of storms that dropped between 10 and 15 inches of precipitation. Thus, barring some truly unforeseen catastrophic event, it appears the worst is over.
Of all the Sacramento stations covering the event, I do have to give credit to Mark Finan and the team at Ch. 3 who at least tried to get the facts out there without resorting to sensationalism.
That's my take. I'm exhausted and heading to bed. I was waiting for friends to arrive from Olivehurst. They just got here so we can all sleep soundly.