188,000 Evacuated In California Fearing Flood Due To Hole In Oroville Dam

It’s mass evacuation, not a drill. About 188,000 residents near Oroville in California have been asked Sunday to leave their home after discovering a hole in the Oroville Dam that could trigger flood in surrounding area.

Lake Oroville is one of the largest man-made lakes in the state and it stores 3.5 million acre-feet water. It has 167 miles of shoreline.

The Oroville Dam is the tallest in California with height of 770-foot.

Hoover Dam on Colorado River is 44 feet shorter than Oroville Dam in height.

The water from Lake Oroville is used by the Californian government for supplying to Sierra Nevada for agriculture in the Central Valley and also for businesses and residents in Southern California.

The threat is not of dam collapsing, but the problem is with the spillways as the valves have been such designed to released water in controlled way so that water does not top over the wall.

A large hole has been created by unexpected erosion that crumbled through the main spillway and chunks of concrete were sent out.

This is the first time in about 5-year history of the dam an emergency spillway has been seen.

An emergency order has been issued by the California Governor Jerry Brown (D) to boost response to the evacuation efforts.