California water authorities stopped the flow of water down the Oroville Dam's crippled spillway Monday, enabling workers to get started clearing out massive debris that is blocking a hydroelectric plant from working.
Water will not be released for the next five to seven days, in the hopes that workers can take away amongst 500,000 and 1 million cubic yards of debris by barge and excavator, said Lauren Bisnett, spokeswoman with the Division of Water Resources.
"That is absolutely the purpose," she stated. "They've got to get down and see what is going on."
Water managers turned to the emergency spillway for the first time in the 48-year history of the country's tallest dam following a chunk of concrete tore out the major spillway following heavy rains.
But the flow of water ripped through a road under and carved out deep chasms in the ground, leading authorities to evacuate nearly 200,000 folks Feb. 12 for two days for worry the emergency spillway could fail.
Monday's slowdown started at six:45 a.m., going from 50,000 cubic feet per second to zero. The water was shut off by two p.m.
Removing the debris will bring officials a single step closer to restarting the Hyatt Energy Plant, which in turn will support eliminate water from the dam to make way for additional water in advance of the spring runoff, Butte County Sheriff Kenneth Honea said Monday.
Mountains have swelled with a massive snowpack in Northern California this winter.
"We're in it for the long haul and I've asked the public to be conscious of that and be patient as we go forward," Honea stated.
The typical inflow into Oroville Dam this month was 570 percent of the typical for February, the department said. The reservoir's water level has been lowered almost 60 feet considering that it reached capacity at 901 feet earlier this month, the department stated.
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