OROVILLE, California—The stress of evacuation and an uncertain future were enough for Donald Azevedo and his family to opt to stay a few more nights in an emergency shelter rather than risk having to do it all again.
The family was among the nearly 200,000 Californians who live downstream from the country’s tallest dam who were told they could return home but warned they may have to flee again if repairs made to the battered Oroville Dam spillways don’t hold.
The fixes could be put to their first test later this week with the first of a series of small storms forecast for the region expected to reach the area Wednesday night.
“There is the prospect that we could issue another evacuation order if the situation changes and the risk increases,” Butte County Sheriff Kory Honea said Tuesday, telling residents they could return home but to remain vigilant.
That’s why Azevedo wasn’t budging yet.
“My plan is to stay here,” said Azevedo, who evacuated from Marysville with his wife, Tasha, their four Chihuahuas and more than 30 relatives. They spent two nights at the Nevada County Fairgrounds in Grass Valley, Calif. and he planned to wait out this week’s upcoming storm before returning home. Many at the shelter said a drive that should have taken one hour took six hours on Sunday.
