The Oroville Dam has been making headlines for decades, but especially since a damaged spillway in February forced the evacuation of nearly 200,000 people. Here are some things you may not know about the dam: 1. It’s the tallest dam in the U.S. At 770 feet high, the Oroville Dam tops Hoover Dam and downtown Sacramento office towers. It fares less well against the world’s tallest dams – the Jinping-I Dam in China towers over it at 1,001 feet.