Evacuation lifted for 200K Californians living below dam
OROVILLE, Calif. — Nearly 200,000 Northern Californians who live downstream of the country’s tallest dam were allowed to return home Tuesday after two nights of uncertainty, but they were warned they may have to again flee to higher ground on a moment’s notice if hastily made repairs to the battered structure don’t hold.
The fixes could be put to their first test later this week with the first of a series of small storms forecast for the region.
But the real test is still to come in the weeks ahead when a record amount of snowfall melts in nearby mountains.
“There is the prospect that we could issue another evacuation order if the situation changes and the risk increases,” Butte County Sheriff Kory Honea said Tuesday, telling residents they could return home but to remain vigilant.