More than five weeks after erosion damage at Northern California's Oroville reservoir forced residents to flee to high ground, the Butte County Sheriff's Office on Wednesday announced it had lifted an evacuation advisory for residents.
More than 100,000 Butte County residents were given an hour's notice to evacuate on Feb. 12, when officials feared that a concrete weir could collapse and send a 30-foot wall of water into the valley below. The order took residents by surprise because Department of Water Resources officials had repeatedly assured them that erosion damage to the reservoir's main and emergency spillways posed no threat.
Although the mandatory evacuation lasted just days, residents had been living under an evacuation advisory until Wednesday. Residents had been told to remain alert and prepare to leave at a moment's notice while crews worked around the clock to repair erosion damage.
"I feel satisfied with the progress made in reinforcing the primary spillway, emergency spillway and returning the Hyatt Powerhouse to an operational state, as well as the successful efforts by the California Department of Water Resources to lower the lake level enough to buffer for future storms," Butte County Sheriff Kory Honea said in a statement.
State water officials are continuing to drain the reservoir _ the second largest in California _ to make room for runoff from melting snowpack in the Sierra Nevada.
There is enough water frozen in the mountains above Oroville to fill the reservoir more than once over, according to official estimates.
