From KRCR – Nearly 180,000 people were evacuated from Oroville five years ago following a potential Oroville Dam disaster that threatened to flood the town and the surrounding communities. People were evacuated on February 12, 2017, but the chain of events began on February 7 when a crater began forming in the main spillway. Over the course of five days both the main and emergency spillway was eroding as the Department of Water Resources (DWR) and other officials tried to fix the problems. The Butte County Sheriff, Kory Honea, ultimately made the decision to issue an emergency evacuation fearing the spillway would collapse potentially releasing a 30-foot wall of water in the Feather River below. (more)