Oroville dam: California officials 'ignored warnings over risk of collapse' 

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California officials were warned over the Oroville Dam flood risk more than 10 years ago, it has emerged, sparking anger among the 180,000 citizens evacuated from the area. 

In 2005, environmentalists warned that there was a considerable risk of the highest dam in the US, the Oroville Dam, failing.

According to local media reports, the warnings were ignored, leading to the evacuation of 180,000 people over the weekend.

A damaged spillway with eroded hillside is seen in an aerial photo taken over the Oroville Dam in Oroville, California Credit: William Croyle/Reuters

Ron Stork, a policy director with Friends of the River, said the officials were urged to address the issue but took no action. 

"We urged them to put concrete on the spillway. Our argument was that without a proper spillway, the hillside would wash away and cause catastrophic flooding," Mr Stork told CNN.

Water rushes down the Oroville Dam spillway Credit: Rich Pedroncelli/AP

The dam itself was said to have not been in any danger of failing,  but the spillway - the channel that relieves excess water from the reservoir - was eroded as water continually poured down it for 38 hours.

Large pieces of concrete were missing from the spillway, which helps to withhold hundreds of billions of gallons of water, making authorities fear a potential breach which could have created a 30ft wave.

Crews work on a damaged section of the Dam Credit: Josh Edelson/AFP/Getty Images

Tens of thousands of people have still not returned to their homes as engineers attempt to rectify the situation, ensuring that the flood risk will never resurface. Many local communities are like ghost towns.

The panic that ensued from the evacuation warnings led to roads becoming gridlocked as residents feared a potential catastrophe. 

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Gov Jerry Brown is appealing for emergency funding from President Donald Trump but has not received a response.

As the evacuees fled from the affected communities on Sunday, Trump tweeted about "the crackdown on illegal criminals" and Stephen Miller's "Great job!" on representing him on "the various Sunday morning shows" but failed to comment on the Dam.

"Everyone was running around," Oroville resident Maggie Cabral told CNN.  

A farm partially submerged in flood water near Oroville, California Credit: Josh Edelson/AFP/Getty Images


"I just got a text message and then an alert saying get out as fast as you can and there's fire trucks going up and down our street saying evacuate," said Julie Swift. 

Evacuees from cities surrounding the Oroville Dam line up for dinner at a shelter  Credit: Marcio Jose Sanchez/AP

Rae Lynn Jones said she received a text telling her to evacuate: "It was pretty stressful to move everything we could in 25 minutes," she said. 

"I think that the warning that was given should have been taken with the utmost seriousness" said Bob Wright, an attorney at Friends of the River. 

Eight helicopters carrying sand and boulders have been used to fill a 30ft hole in the spillway.