Evacuation lifted for 200K Californians living below dam

OROVILLE, Calif. (AP) — Authorities lifted an evacuation order today for nearly 200,000 California residents who live below the nation's tallest dam after declaring that the risk of catastrophic collapse of a damaged spillway had been significantly reduced.

Butte County Sheriff Kory Honea said residents can return home immediately. State water officials said they have drained enough of the lake behind Oroville Dam so that its earthen emergency spillway will not be needed to handle runoff from an approaching storm.

But, the sheriff said, the region would remain under an evacuation warning, meaning that residents need to be ready to flee again if conditions worsen.

Residents returning home "have to be vigilant," and "there is the prospect that we will issue another evacuation order ... if the situation changes," Honea said.

Crews also dropped giant sandbags, cement blocks and boulders on damaged areas today.

Officials had ordered residents to flee to higher ground Sunday after fearing a never-before-used emergency spillway was close to failing and sending a 30-foot wall of water into communities downstream.