So that's it folks. That is the Lake Oraville spillway and that's what 35,000 cubic feet of water coming over the spillway looks like and believe it or not. That is just a fraction of what came down in 1997. Back then it was over a hundred thousand cubic feet per second. That raging torrent is intentional. The Department of Water Resources continues to release water out of Lake Oraville despite massive damage being caused by erosion. I guess it's sort of a triage situation. They know it's causing damage but it's it's it's not beyond what they they they deem as being safe. Eric C spokesperson for DWR says a hole in the spillway estimated to be at least 200 feet long and 30 feet deep is not a cause for alarm. It's like getting a dent in your car. That doesn't mean the car doesn't run. It may not look very nice. But it is an issue they're working on with urgency. Record rain continues to pour sending water into Lake Oraville at a rate of 118,000 cubic feet per second. That's more water going into the lake than being sent out so they need to keep releases going. So an incident command post has been set up at DWR headquarters in Butte County. They're doing a lot of work to determine the next steps and processes for the actual dam situation. Ron Quigley, a deputy administrator with the governor's office of emergency services is here with several other Cal OES representatives all on hand to monitor the situation coordinate communication and offer assistance when needed. It's always good to be face to face and be a body in the room to coordinate and support. Oraville Dam opened in 1968 creating the reservoir and using its water to generate power. DWR says it was designed with two spillways. This one and another emergency spillway you can't see. It was also designed to handle water coming over the top of the lake. But for now the spillway is doing its job. Although the whole beneath that flow is sending water over the edge and taking much of the surrounding terrain with it. At least one media outlet erroneously reported the spillway had completely collapsed. That's a rumor DWR and every emergency responder is dispelling. We have dam safety engineers up there. We have geologists. We have spillway design engineers. They're looking at it right now and constantly monitoring it and watching the erosion. So there you have it. You're looking at it folks. The lake oraville spillway has not had a catastrophic failure. So if you happen to get one of those messages coming over your phone whether it be through social media or anything it's a rumor has not happened. You can see it right there. I'm Sean Boyd out here at Lake Oraville for Cali-O-S News. You