Een dambreuk dreigt in Oroville. De dam zelf is nog intact, maar de overloop (spillway) is beschadigd. Helicopters werpen rotsen af in de hoop het overvloedige water 'in goede banen te leiden'...
Tens of thousands of people have been fleeing California towns downstream from the Oroville Dam after fears of an imminent collapse of its spillway prompted an evacuation order. Authorities are seeking to stem the breach with the help of helicopters.
“Immediate evacuation from the low levels of Oroville and areas downstream is ordered. This is NOT A Drill. This is NOT A Drill. This in NOT A Drill,” says the statement posted on the Butte County Sheriff’s Facebook page.
The statement refers to the Lake Oroville Dam, located 105 km (65 miles) north of Sacramento.
Butte County Sheriff Kory Honea said the evacuation orders affect 188,000 people, AP reports.
The dam’s spillway was “predicted to fail within the next hour,” the California Department of Water Resources (DWR) said at around 4:30pm PST Sunday (00:30 GMT Monday).
Dit betreft de grootste dam in California. Wegens slecht weer en hevige regenval staat het water in de dam tot op 2 meter van de rand.