This Saturday, Feb. 11, 2017, aerial photo released by the California Department of Water Resources shows the damaged spillway with eroded hillside in Oroville, Calif. Water will continue to flow over an emergency spillway at the nation's tallest dam for another day or so, officials said Sunday. (William Croyle/California Department of Water Resources via AP)
About 200-thousand people living near the Oroville Dam in northern California are not being allowed back into their homes. Butte County Sheriff Kory Honea says evacuations are for public safety, but admits they are a big hardship on the community. He also says the evacuations were ordered because there was no guarantee dam failure mitigation efforts would be completed in time. It isn’t known when the evacuees will be let back home because more storms are expected later this week.