California Evacuates Residents as Flooded Dam Treatens to Overflow

Nearly 200,000 residents in northern California were ordered to evacuate their homes Sunday as a dam threatened to overflow.

Lake Oroville, north of Sacramento, is at record levels after a series of heavy rain and snowstorms – 228 percent higher than average for this time of the year.

Officials were concerned the Oroville Dam could overflow and flood the towns below it. They were unable to open the dam because of a 200-foot-long hole in the spillway, which they feared would get bigger.

For the first time in history, officials used an emergency spillway. They say the dam itself is safe, but they need time to determine how to repair the spillway.

By late Sunday evening, they managed to stem the flow of water, but with more storms predicted this week, the situation remains tenuous.

Lake Oroville is one of the state's largest man-made lakes and the Oroville Dam one of the nation's tallest, nearly 45 feet higher than the Hoover Dam on the Colorado River.

Meanwhile, hundreds of police officers and rescue units are on standby.