Yep, looks bad for the 16k folks in Oroville, my friends and their kids are evacuating north with the rest of the evacuation. My Nephew from Sac county Rangers district is being sent to Oroville to assist the evacuation, and I suspect keep an eye on the vacant houses, Cal fire is also deploying there, not sure what their duties will be.
I am far enough south the water effects won't get here for several days, we are still recovering from last week's rain. Our ground is saturated, most of the local dry canals have overflowed into our Vineyards and wheat fields. Another day or so and the water should stop flowing "downhill", being at the lowest point is bad. Highway 99 south of Sacramento has been partially closed due to floodwater.
I visited Pardee dam today. From a relative who works for EBMUD who control the flows, it was 3' above overflow stage yesterday and 1.5' today and they expect it to drop below the spillway tomorrow, but thursday another 2 or 3 day storm is expected.
Oroville actually has the destinction, maybe overtaken by SF now, but they were the Welfare hub of northern California 6+ years ago, the last time I visited Buzz and the staff at Huntington's store.
