Department of Water Resources officials say construction crews continue working around the clock to fix emergency spillway erosion. Meantime, water flow from the primary flood control spillway was reduced incrementally from 100,000 to 80,000 cfs on Thursday. The officials say the reduction allowed crews to begin removing debris from the diversion pool below the spillway.
The level of the reservoir has reportedly been reduced by 36 feet to accommodate inflow from storms moving through California Thursday night through the weekend, and Oroville Dam managers say inflows from forecasted stormy weather are not expected to exceed current outflows.
Photo courtesy DWR
DWR also said on Thursday night that the trail system directly affected by the damaged spillway, including the Brad Freeman and Dan Beebe trails, have been closed. Launch ramps serving the lake remain closed. California State Park Rangers are patrolling the lake after reportedly coming across a large number of people in the closed area.
The dam, spillways, related structures, and progress of repair activities continue to be aggressively monitored, according to DWR.
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