Oroville sues California over Dam breach

"A small California city at the base of the tallest U.S. dam filed a lawsuit Wednesday against the state over an emergency that forced authorities to order 188,000 people to flee last year, arguing the crisis was caused by decades of mismanagement. The City of Oroville blames a culture of cronyism and a priority for low cost dam repairs over quality maintenance for the crisis."

"Oroville's lawsuit alleges that managers ignored maintenance needs and condoned shoddy dam work. It quotes one worker who said he was part of a repair crew in 2013 that was instructed to drag chains on the spillway and listen for hollow sounds that might indicate voids underneath the concrete. One person assigned to the task was legally deaf, the worker said."

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