Crews Work Toward Makeshift Oroville Dam Spillway Fix While Evacuees Wait

OROVILLE (CBS13) — It's repair work to prevent a flooding catastrophe.

Crews are busy working on a makeshift fix, creating piles of boulders on the eroded Oroville Dam's emergency spillway to prevent it from failing.

Two helicopters raised 1,000 pound bags of the boulders, one by one. Delivering them minute by minute onto the eroded emergency spillway.

The impressive makeshift air operation to prevent the emergency spillway failure, played out above an equally busy ground operation.

Besides helicopters, crews were using trucks to haul in the boulders and heavy equipment to break them into smaller pieces.

Before the helicopter drops, crews could be seen inspecting the structure.

They've identified four separate erosion locations according to Rep. John Garamendi, who was briefed on the operation.

"Today with these rocks going in place, the risk factor is reduced, not eliminated, but it's reduced," Garamendi said.

Garamendi says the emergency spillway was never properly designed.

"I think it's obvious," Garamendi said. "We can all make that determination."

Now an emergency effort to shore up the threatened structure, and send word to those who live near here, when it's safe to come back home.

"Not gonna happen tonight," Garamendi said. "Will it be tomorrow? Perhaps."