© Josh Edelson/AFP/Getty Images
Water released so far by emergency spillways at Oroville Dam in Northern California washed away roadways, eroded the landscape and flooded communities downstream.
Authorities lifted mandatory evacuation orders Tuesday for communities downstream of the imperiled
Oroville Dam amid a lessened flood risk, but they stressed that an incoming storm system means the danger is not over and that many residents might have to flee again.
Although the storms are expected to be far weaker than the ones that inundated Northern California last week, any additional rainfall could exacerbate the problems in the region, where more than 100,000 people were evacuated Sunday amid concerns that a damaged spillway at Oroville Dam could fail.
Officials have been lowering the level of Lake Oroville for several days, preparing for the storm. Both the main and emergency spillways are damaged, but officials are hoping to continue using the main spillway throughout the storm to keep the lake below maximum capacity. By doing that, they hope to avoid more water flowing down the emergency spillway, which was so damaged Sunday that officials feared it could collapse and cause major flooding downstream.
Comment: This is the second young gray whale found dead on the coast of California within 2 weeks, see also this other report: Dead newborn gray whale found in Redondo Beach, California