Cost of California dam crisis reaches $870 million
UPDATE: 1/26/2018 2:46 p.m. California officials say the costs of dealing with last February’s near-disaster at the tallest dam in the country have climbed to $870 million.
That’s up from the $500 million total that the state estimated last fall. Both spillways at the Oroville Dam collapsed in February, forcing officials to order nearly 200,000 people to be evacuated.
Department of Water Resources spokeswoman Erin Mellon says California still hopes that federal emergency funds will cover three-fourths of the cost. Mellon says the costs so far do not include more than $1 billion in legal claims filed by property owners downstream.
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California state officials say they are reviewing their organizational structure and dam-safety program in the wake of a scathing report on the causes of the Oroville Dam crisis.
Director Grant Davis of the Department of Water Resources said Friday his agency would study the fact-finding report carefully and make changes to improve.
An independent panel of dam-safety experts looked at the causes of February’s near-disaster at the nation’s tallest dam in Oroville, California. Both spillways at the dam failed that month, prompting evacuation orders for nearly 200,000 people downstream.
The experts conclude that the half-century-old spillways were badly built from the start. It faults the department and regulators for failing to recognize and deal with the structural problems.
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8:30 a.m.
National dam safety experts say long-term and systemic failures by officials in California and elsewhere caused last year’s near-disaster at the nation’s tallest dam.
The report released Friday comes from experts appointed to investigate the causes of spillway collapses at California’s Oroville Dam.
Both spillways at the half-century old dam gave way in February 2017, forcing evacuation orders for nearly 200,000 people downstream.
The independent panel of dam experts says the dam had inherent design and construction weaknesses.
The report faults California’s Department of Water Resources and other regulators for allegedly failing to recognize and address those problems.
