UPDATED: Trump OKs disaster relief as residents return home
Update 6:15 a.m. Wednesday
Lake Oroville dropped a few more feet overnight as officials continue to pump water out of the reservoir to relieve pressure on a damaged emergency spillway.
Nearly 100,000 cubic feet of water per second is moving out of the dam, more than triple the water flowing into the lake from recent storm runoff, according to California Department of Water Resources. The lake is down about 21 feet from the emergency spillway.
The National Weather Service has issued a flash flood watch for Oroville through 3 p.m.Saturday. Rain should move into the area tonight, with up to a half possible overnight and three-quarters of an inch during the day Thursday. Rain is in Oroville's forecast through at least Tuesday.
Original story
President Donald Trump declared a federal disaster late Tuesday for areas affected by a potential collapse in a spillway that holds back Lake Oroville, California’s second-largest reservoir, even as authorities told 188,000 evacuated downstream residents they could go home.
The president’s order covers Butte, Sutter and Yuba counties, according to the Federal Emergency Management Agency. It authorizes FEMA to coordinate relief efforts and opens up federal emergency aid to state, tribal and local agencies.
As residents slowly returned to the evacuated communities of Oroville, Yuba City and others along the Feather River on Tuesday, many expressed deep wariness about the situation. They remained under an evacuation “warning,” and Butte County Sheriff Kory Honea said they should be ready to pick up and leave again if the situation deteriorates.
Upstream from them at the nation’s tallest dam, crews continued what a state Department of Water Resources executive called 24/7 efforts to shore up the erosion that had led them to fear a total collapse of the emergency spillway. Caravans of trucks brought large rocks while helicopters ferried them into position and dropped them into the crevasse.
The lake level continued to drop throughout the day, helping to stabilize the situation. By Tuesday evening it was down about 15 feet below the crest, and operators were continuing to let 100,000 cubic feet per second wash down the main spillway in an effort to drain it to 50 feet below capacity by this weekend.
As the news of the evacuation order being changed to a warning spread through the Silver Dollar Fair grounds in Chico, people sheltering there immediately started leaving.
57-year-old Robert Kint from Oroville celebrated with his wife.
"It's official! We can go home. We're going home," he told her. "Happy Valentine's Day, sweetheart."
Still, there was no broad rush home for evacuated residents. And some who did go back Tuesday afternoon weren’t planning to stay.
Alicia Tindel, 37, and her daughter returned to Yuba City, but she said she is staying long enough to regroup and repack items they didn't have time to grab — including snow gear and bathing suits to prepare for wherever they end up.
"If you live (in Yuba City), you know evacuation is a possibility," Tindel said. "We are very aware that this could happen."
At the city’s Regency Park, Debbie Canonica also said she’s not staying in town – just doing laundry and picking up more clothes. She stayed with her daughter Jill Mattson in Sutter during the mandatory evacuation and plans to go back until the next storm, which is forecast to arrive Thursday, has safely passed.
Yuba City is downstream of Oroville, where the evacuation also has been lifted and replaced with a warning.
“It seems irresponsible to let people back into Oroville,” Mattson said.
State and local officials tried Tuesday to both reassure jittery residents that they're now safe and defend the decision to disrupt life in multiple communities downstream of Oroville Dam with an emergency evacuation.
In his remarks to the press at an early afternoon press conference, Honea defended the Sunday evening order.
"Thousands of lives were protected from the looming prospect of a catastrophic failure," he said.
But Honea then pivoted to say the emergency spillway at Oroville Dam, where erosion triggered the evacuation order, was never compromised.
"With the water level reduced, geologists and dam-safety engineering specialists from the Department of Water Resources (DWR), the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) and the United States Army Corps of Engineers were able to inspect the damage," he said. "That inspection revealed that the integrity of the emergency spillway was not compromised by the erosion."
Bill Croyle, acting director of the state Department of Water Resources, said the spillway has been stable for four days.
Croyle said more than 120 construction workers are part of aggressive efforts to fortify the damaged spillway.
“We’re drawing down the lake, attacking the spillway, reinforcing the spillway,” Croyle said. “It’s going to be a busy construction season.”
The goal now is to remove as much water from the river as possible, Croyle said.
“We need to prepare for all contingencies,” he said. “We want to make sure it can take higher flows, but the additional measures will be taken in the coming days and weeks. We’re not going to stop.”
Meanwhile, business owners began the process of getting back to normal.
“I am so elated; I think everybody is,” Sandy Linville, president of the Oroville Chamber of Commerce, said Tuesday afternoon. “I don’t think the economic impact is going to be as deep as I was thinking, thankfully. There is going to be some pain felt, but I don’t think the cut will be as deep as it could have been.”
Linville also is president of the Oroville Economic Alliance.
Raley’s on Myers Street in Oroville reopened at 3 p.m. Tuesday and planned to remain open until midnight, spokeswoman Chelsea Minor said.
“We were able to turn around quickly,” Minor said.
The store did not lose any perishable products because power was never cut off, Minor said.
The FoodMaxx on Oroville Dam Boulevard reopened at 4 p.m. Tuesday.
O’Reilly Auto Parts in Oroville also never closed. Assistant Manager Courtney Salazar said the store has been busy helping DWR officials with repair work to the damaged emergency spillway.
“They have been calling and we have been running stuff to them: brake rotors, pads, filters, hinge pins; all that kind of stuff,” Salazar said.
Most schools evacuated in Yuba and Sutter counties will resume Tuesday, both counties' offices of education said.
But Yuba County Superintendent of Schools Francisco Reveles said some superintendents from within his district are still mulling their options, and it can be a difficult decision.
"There are two trains of thought: One is, we need to give the families time to adjust ... bringing back staff, they're all over in the evacuation center," he said. "The other one, though ... we need to bring them in as soon as possible so we can help them adjust, be a source of support."
Countywide, 13,000 to 14,000 students were affected by the evacuation, Reveles said.
The Sutter County Office of Education announced on its Facebook page that all schools would be closed through Monday, possibly later.
Butte County's Office of Education also announced that all classes "will resume their normal instructional calendar" on Monday. Since that's Presidents Day, classes presumably will start up Tuesday for most.
USA TODAY Network reporters Amber Sandhu, Sarah Litz, Mike Higdon, Sean Longoria, David Benda, Alayna Shulman and Nathan Solis contributed to this report.
Earlier story:
Update 7:40 p.m.
President Trump has approved an emergency declaration for disaster relief in Butte, Sutter and Yuba counties, according to FEMA.
The approval gives the Federal Emergency Management Agency authorization to coordinate relief efforts and makes federal emergency aid available to state, tribal and local agencies in their response to the evacuations and potential failure of the emergency spillway at Oroville Dam.
FEMA will provide emergency protective measures from direct federal assistance, under the Public Assistance program at 75 percent federal funding.
Update 5:37 p.m.
Alicia Tindel, 37, and her daughter returned to Yuba City Tuesday, however, she said they aren't planning to stay for long.
Tindel said she is staying long enough to regroup and repack items they didn't have time to grab — including snow gear and bathing suits to prepare for wherever they end up.
"If you live (in Yuba City), you know evacuation is a possibility," Tindel said. "We are very aware that this could happen."
At Regency Park in Yuba City, Debbie Canonica took a break from the evacuation to do laundry and pick up more clothes. Canonica stayed with her daughter Jill Mattson in Sutter and plans to go back until the weekend storm is over.
"It seems irresponsible to let people back into Oroville," Mattson said of the decreased evacuation status.
Canonica said she doesn't trust the ever-changing weather forecast and wants to stay safe.
Jesus Barba, on the other hand, stayed home throughout the evacuation. He said the bumper-to-bumper traffic Sunday would've kept him trapped in the car for an hour-and-a-half.
Instead, he decided if water rushed over the spillway, he said he heard it would take several hours to reach Yuba City. He figured he had better odds escaping on empty roads or sharing a tall roof with neighbors.
"I feel a lot safer now, but Mother Nature plays a role and you can't assume it's totally safe yet," he said.
Barba said his girlfriend took the kids and left early while he stayed behind. He also stayed behind because he worried about looting, which he said, others in town experienced.
Update, 4:27 p.m.
Sheriff Kory Honea said it was important to get residents back to their day-to-day lives, but it will be just as important to keep them aware of any future risks, which is why the evacuation order was dropped to a warning.
“We tell people you have to pay attention,” Honea said. “You have to be cognizant of what’s going on. You have to be prepared to evacuate if the risk level increases and we issue an evacuation order.”
The evacuation shelter at the Silver Dollar Fairgrounds will remain open for residents with disabilities or who cannot move quickly to be safe.
Complete coverage of the Oroville Dam Crisis
“That was part of the design of our process. I didn’t just say we’re releasing the evacuation," Honea said. "That was part of why we kept the evacuation warning in place. We moved it down one step.”
Honea said after the press briefing the evacuation of Oroville was a well-orchestrated process.
"When you order the evacuation of an area this size – you’re inducing chaos into the environment. There is no way around that."
Meanwhile, residents returned to their homes in Oroville after the evacuation order was issued on Sunday evening.
Update, 4:18 p.m.
Shortly after the evacuation was lifted, a line of vehicles began streaming out of the Silver Dollar Fair grounds in Chico, where more than a hundred people had been staying since Oroville was evacuated Sunday afternoon.
A few, though, were in no hurry to leave.
Kayley Reni and some 72 people from the 2nd Step and Jordan Crossing ministries in Oroville decided to stay at the fairgrounds rather than return home.
Reni said she and the others in her group were worried the potential for disaster from the dam had not passed.
"We just think it would be silly to just pack up and go home and then have to leave again because the storms are coming," Reni said. "We want to go home bad, but it's not worth it, with the levy and all that."
James Gallegos, his wife and three kids lounged in the shade, as others fled the fairgrounds for their homes in Oroville or nearby communities.
Gallegos said he planned to return home, but he wasn't going to stay long. He said he was worried there would soon be another evacuation order, so the family will soon be leaving to live with relatives in Yreka.
And there they will stay.
"At least until the next drought," he said.
James Akard also was in no hurry to get back to Oroville.
As people loaded up their belongings into vehicles, Akard sat in a lawn chair near his pickup and ate a Rice Krispies Treat.
It wasn't so much that Akard enjoyed being at the fairgrounds.
"It was a zoo. Everybody's got something different to do," he said.
He didn't want to fight the traffic heading south to Oroville, so he and his six dogs were taking their time before they got on the road.
Update, 3:45 p.m.
With Oroville-area residents allowed to return home, commerce is slowly ramping up again in the community.
“I am so elated; I think everybody is,” Sandy Linville, president of the Oroville Chamber of Commerce, said Tuesday afternoon. “I don’t think the economic impact is going to be as deep as I was thinking, thankfully. There is going to be some pain felt, but I don’t think the cut will be as deep as it could have been.”
Linville also is president of the Oroville Economic Alliance.
“Businesses are still closed and it will take a while to get back to normality, and obviously people are unable to work and will be missing time on their paychecks,” Linville said.
Some businesses remained open despite the evacuations.
Charles Luttrell, who manages Lakeside Market & Gas on Olive Highway, said pumps ran empty Monday but the store received a fuel delivery Tuesday morning. Lakeside was one of the few businesses that never closed.
“We have been swamped the last few days here,” Luttrell said. “It has been wall-to-wall people. It seems like constant traffic at the cash register. They are ripping our shelves bare. It’s a sight to be seen.”
Raley’s on Myers Street in Oroville reopened at 3 p.m. Tuesday and will remain open until midnight, spokeswoman Chelsea Minor said.
“We were able to turn around quickly,” Minor said.
The store did not lose any perishable products because power was never cut off, Minor said.
The FoodMaxx on Oroville Dam Boulevard reopened at 4 p.m. Tuesday.
O’Reilly Auto Parts on Oro Dam Boulevard in Oroville also never closed. Assistant Manager Courtney Salazar said the store has been busy helping state Department of Water Resources officials with repair work to the damaged emergency spillway.
“They have been calling and we have been running stuff to them: brake rotors, pads, filters, hinge pins; all that kind of stuff,” Salazar said.
Update, 3:25 p.m.
Most schools evacuated in Yuba and Sutter counties will resume Tuesday, both counties' offices of education said.
But Yuba County Superintendent of Schools Francisco Reveles said some superintendents from within his district are still mulling their options, and it can be a difficult decision.
"There are two trains of thought: One is, we need to give the families time to adjust ... bringing back staff, they're all over in the evacuation center," he said. "The other one, though ... we need to bring them in as soon as possible so we can help them adjust, be a source of support."
Countywide, 13,000 to 14,000 students were affected by the evacuation, Reveles said.
To make sure everything's in order when students return to class, Reveles said he plans to have his office up and running again by the end of this week, though on a voluntary basis.
"We'll still stay vigilant, though," he said.
Meanwhile, the Sutter County Office of Education announced on its Facebook page today that all schools would be closed through Monday, possibly later.
Butte County's Office of Education also announced that all classes "will resume their normal instructional calendar" on Monday. Since that's Presidents Day, classes presumably will start up Tuesday for most.
Update, 3:06 p.m.
State and local officials tried Tuesday to both reassure jittery residents that they're now safe and defend the decision to disrupt life in multiple communities downstream of Oroville Dam with an emergency evacuation.
In his remarks to the press at an early afternoon press conference where the evacuation order was lifted and replaced with a "warning," Butte County Sheriff Kory Honea defended the Sunday evening order.
"Thousand of lives were protected from the looming prospect of a catastrophic failure," he said.
But Honea then pivoted to say the emergency spillway at Oroville Dam, where erosion triggered the evacuation order, was never compromised.
"With the water level reduced, geologists and dam-safety engineering specialists from the Department of Water Resources (DWR), the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) and the United States Army Corps of Engineers were able to inspect the damage," he said. "That inspection revealed that the integrity of the emergency spillway was not compromised by the erosion."
Honea also noted that operators have been able to draw down the lake level, further stabilizing the situation and preparing Lake Oroville to hold water from expected storms later this week.
Update, 2:40 p.m.
While Oroville-area residents are now allowed to return home, the 5,000 or so students in the Oroville Union High School District won't be going back to class until Feb. 27, as originally planned.
Superintendent Corey Willenberg said the school was already going to be off Friday and Monday, then on a break the rest of next week as well. Because evacuated families are scattered across the area, he said he'd rather give them two more days to deal with logistics.
"I'm worried about people coming in being able to get groceries," he said.
Update, 1:49 p.m.
The evacuation order for communities downstream of the troubled Oroville Dam has been changed to a warning.
Butte County Sheriff Kory Honea, at a news conference this afternoon in Oroville, said authorities will allow the almost 200,000 residents who were evacuated Sunday evening to return home.
Residents must stay alert in case the situation changes, Honea said.
"This reduction to an evacuation warning properly balances (allowing people to) resume their lives, but allows them to deal with increased threat," he said. "The California Department of Water Resources and Butte County Sheriff’s Office will continue to monitor the situation."
As the news of the evacuation order being changed to a warning spread through the Silver Dollar Fairgrounds in Chico, people immediately started leaving.
57-year-old Robert Kint from Oroville celebrated with his wife.
"It's official! We can go home. We're going home," he said to his wife. "Happy Valentines Day, sweetheart."
Kint said he couldn't wait for a good night of sleep in his own bed.
"I'm so happy I'm going to cry."
However, other folks said they were unsure if they would leave.
"They think it's safe, but that's not what they said a few hours ago," said 34-year-old Chad Cox, of Oroville. "I have to get the proper information before I decide."
His fiancée, Alexandra Heath, said they needed to be sure before they head home.
"I don't want to go home and be worried," she said. "I don't want to get flooded."
Operators will continue to monitor the damaged spillway, but Bill Croyle, acting director of the state Department of Water Resources, said the spillway has been stable for four days.
At noon Tuesday the lake level was at 887 feet and the goal is to get it down to 850 feet to have room for new inflows.
“With the weather we’ve been having, we continue to see the inflow into the river drop,” Croyle said, “further reducing the risk to the situation here.”
Croyle said with a net discharge of 80,000 cubic feet per second out of the storage, they expect to be down to the target level by this weekend.
Honea said the damage to the spillway was inspected by the DWR, the Army Corps of Engineers, and Federal Energy Regulatory Commission.
Efforts to fortify the damaged spillway have been aggressive, Croyle said. They includes truckloads of rock.
Croyle said more than 120 construction workers were part of aggressive efforts to fortify the damaged spillway.
“We’re drawing down the lake, attacking the spillway, reinforcing the spillway,” Croyle said. “It’s going to be a busy construction season.”
The goal now is to remove as much water from the river as possible, Croyle said.
“We need to prepare for all contingencies,” he said. “We want to make sure it can take higher flows, but the additional measures will be taken in the coming days and weeks. We’re not going to stop.”
Update, 1:17 p.m.
Oroville police say there have been nine burglaries reported as of Tuesday morning since residents evacuated.
Most of those burglaries were reported by residents who stayed behind, but one was discovered directly by police when a man broke into a liquor store and was found a block away carrying stolen goods, said Bill LaGroane, director of public safety for the city of Oroville.
LaGroane said the Oroville Police Department has 22 law enforcement officers on patrol, and they are joined by additional officers from the California Highway Patrol and other local law enforcement agencies. Altogether, there are 40 officers working in 12-hour shifts keeping watch for anyone who may be thinking of committing crimes.
"We have a greater role to try to be as proactive as possible to keep as many officers and marked vehicles in the area so people don't take advantage of the situation," he said.
Officers are encouraging residents who haven't evacuated yet to do so. They also will answer emergency calls if people are in dire situations, but "we don't do food service; I don't want that to be misconstrued."
Those who need such assistance will be taken to the nearest evacuation center for help, he said.
Update, 12:20 p.m.
With faculty and staff scattered across the area and — to some extent, the state — schools evacuated because of the Oroville Dam crisis could face challenges getting back to normal even after the evacuation order is lifted.
Some staff members are trying to stay close to town so they can help students readjust as quickly as possible whenever it's deemed safe to return to the city.
"Once people are assured that their houses are going to be safe and that they can come back into the community, it's just going to be us helping people assimilate into a normal schedule," said Oroville Union High School District Superintendent Corey Willenberg.
That's especially important for young people, Willenberg said.
"Our kids are resilient, but they like to know what's going to happen, and a lot of them excel with having policies and procedures to where they can know what's going to happen and know what's expected of them," he said.
Some schools in the area were planning to be on break next week anyway, so officials are hopeful they'll only lose about a week because of the dam crisis.
If that's indeed the case, Butte County Office of Education Superintendent Tim Taylor said it should be manageable to make sure high school students catch up on the work they missed in order to graduate on time.
Things would be more challenging if the evacuation order is extended, though.
"I'm trying to think positively," Willenberg said when asked what will happen if kids can't come back on Feb. 27 as planned.
Meanwhile, schools affected by the evacuation are in the process of applying for reimbursement from the state for the attendance-based money they normally get on a given day.
Robert Oakes, a public information officer with the California Department of Education, said once affected schools fill out some paperwork, it's more or less a given they'll get refunded for the average daily attendance rate for their district.
"It's obviously an urgent situation," he said.
(Source: C-SPAN)
Update 11 a.m.
President Donald Trump has been monitoring the Oroville Dam spillway crisis and speaking closely with Rep. Doug LaMalfa, R-Richvale, White House Press Secretary Sean Spicer told reporters Tuesday morning, according to the Los Angeles Times.
He said Trump also has been working with FEMA to provide aid to state officials, the paper reported.
“We hope everyone remains safe as the evacuations continue,” Spicer said.
Update, 10:16 a.m.
More than 100 federal officials are providing aid to the Oroville Dam spillway disaster relief/prevention efforts through the Federal Emergency Management Agency, the agency confirmed Tuesday.
It has called in members to its regional response center in Oakland and its headquarters center in Washington, D.C., including an incident management team, said Mary Simms, spokeswoman for the regional FEMA office.
RELATED: Feds order CA to repair Oroville Dam system
RELATED: Groups warned of dangers at Oroville Dam more than a decade ago
The management team, based in Sacramento, has officials trained and experienced in operations, logistics, communications, finance and other administrative duties, Simms said.
More than 100 of those specialists have been assigned to the Oroville Spillway incident nationwide, including 45 either on the ground or at the regional center, open 24 hours a day, she said.
Many are helping plan for the worst-case scenario, she said. She referred questions on that scenario to the local and state command center in Chico.
"I wouldn't want to speak for the state. They're doing that assessment," she said. FEMA officials are helping plan for that, but the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers is the lead federal agency in planning for that scenario.
One scenario floated by several news agencies is that, should enough of the emergency spillway erode, a 30-foot wave of water could burst out of the lake. While the original spillway remains compromised, the dam itself is sound, officials have said.
READ MORE: U.S. dams aging, many don't have emergency plans
FEMA instead coordinates federal agencies' response, she said. As of Monday, seven agencies were working the crisis, including the Department of Energy, the Department of Defense, the Department of Energy and the Environmental Protection Agency, she said. Its regional team was activated Sunday evening after the evacuation orders and disaster declaration were issued.
The help is already coming, she said. In addition to specialists, FEMA -- a part of the U.S. Department of Homeland Security -- will supply 150,000 bottles of water, 20,000 blankets and 10,000 cots to the state Tuesday, she said.
California is still analyzing and submitting its "unmet need" costs, which FEMA is reviewing, she said. Depending on how the situation shakes out, FEMA's role in the recovery could vary.
Simms suggested evacuees visit www.disasterassistance.gov for more information.
Update, 9:15 a.m.
The U.S. Postal Service announced that the Oroville Dam evacuations continue to affect mail delivery and a number of branches are closed.
Mail pickup for the following cities is available at the following locations:
Marysville Post Office closed. The alternative site is the Yuba City branch at 761 Plumas St.
Nicolaus branch is closed. The alternative pickup location is the Rio Oso branch at 2156 Rio Oso Road.
Olivehurst Post Office is closed. The alternative site is the Wheatland branch at 404 4th St.
Chico midtown branch at 141 W. 5th St. is the alternative pickup site for Gridley, Live Oak, Palermo, Oroville and Berry Creek.
Original story
State water officials continue to work around the clock to repair the emergency spillway at the Oroville Dam as they brace for more rain later this week.
Chris Orrock, a spokesman for the California Department of Water Resources, said water is not going over the emergency spillway and erosion has stopped. The lake is at 889 feet and the goal is to drop the level to around 850 feet. Lake levels reached 902 feet when water started cascading over the emergency spillway Sunday.
“Through our calculations, it looks like that will get us through the next storm,” Orrock said Tuesday morning of the 850-foot goal.
Officials continue to release 100,000 cubic feet per second (cfs) down the main spillway while 20,000 to 40,000 cfs is coming into the lake.
“So we are taking out a lot more water than is coming in,” Orrock said.
Helicopters are dropping boulders into the holes and gouges caused from erosion of the emergency spillway.
“We are backfilling those holes with gravel then putting a slurry mixture to harden those parts, so when the rain comes, it will roll down instead of furthering eroding those holes,” Orrock said.
Evacuation orders are still in place and there is no word when they will be lifted. There are eight evacuation shelters in Butte County, including the Silver Dollar Fairgrounds in Chico, where an estimated 820 people are staying, according to the American Red Cross.
Orrock emphasized again that Oroville Dam has not been compromised and is not affected by the eroding emergency spillway.
“Our primary concern is the safety of the community,” he said. “We don’t want to lift the evacuation orders and have them come back and then have another incident . . . and have them leave again."
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