As millions of gallons of rushing water continued to pound and erode the massive Lake Oroville Dam spillway on Friday, dozens of onlookers gathered on a nearby hillside to catch a glimpse of the muddy spectacle.
“I’ve never seen it like this, ever,” said Charles Wing, an Oroville bricklayer. “And I’ve been here 44 years,” he said.
Elberta Portman, 63, drove up from the Sacramento area with her husband, Dennis, 66, just to take a look. They weren’t disappointed: A mighty wave of water tumbled down the concrete chute at up to 50 miles per hour and exploded into the air as it hit the fracture that has opened up in the spillway in the last few days. From there, the water carved into the sloping earth beside and beneath the spillway, turning it the color of heavily creamed coffee, and washing mud, rock and concrete into the Feather River below.
“It’s pretty impressive,” Elberta Portman said.
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