In California, construction crews are trying to lower the level of Lake Oroville and repair emergency spillways at the Oroville Dam, about 75 miles north of Sacramento, to prevent catastrophic flooding downstream.A secondary spillway was opened Monday after the main spillway, which is supposed to safely release water when the lake level is too high, had developed a huge hole, as we reported.Rain is forecast for later this week in Northern California, and nearly 200,000 people who live downstream have been evacuated from the area.As NPR's Richard Gonzalez reported, "The good news is that the water level in the dam is falling and repair crews have been able to drop heavy rocks in key spots of the emergency spillway to prevent further erosion."For those who were evacuated, hotels in the region were filled to capacity on Tuesday and "evacuation centers are straining to keep up with the demand for shelter," Richard said.FEMA Acting Regional Administrator Ahsha Tribble said the agency is providing support to evacuated people, Ben Bradford of Capital Public Radio reported."We are already moving commodities, and commodities being cots, blankets and water, given the number of people that were actually evacuated last night," Tribble said."Officials say a new series of storms coming by Thursday prevents them from saying how long the evacuation could last," Richard reported.The Los Angeles Times published this diagram of what that catastrophic erosion could look like."Meanwhile, local reports are emerging that environmental groups raised concerns about the dam's emergency spillway decades ago," Richard reported.The Times reported that the the emergency spillways were damaged by far less water than the maximum flow they are supposed to handle:
