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Federal officials Monday ordered California to convene a five-member independent board of dam experts to review the condition of Oroville’s auxiliary spillway and the damaged regular concrete spillway, and to make recommendations about how to improve safety during the emergency and over the long-term. In a letter to the state Department of Water Resources, the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission also required the state to hire “a fully independent third party” to perform a “forensic analysis” to determine the cause of the main spillway failure and whether it could occur again.

Here are some central questions and answers about the damage to the Oroville Dam and the fight to prevent a catastrophe: What is the Oroville Dam? Work on the Oroville Dam — the tallest dam in the country at 770 feet — started in 1957 and included the relocation of California State Route 70 and Union Pacific Railroad tracks. It was completed in 1968, creating what is now the second-biggest reservoir in the state, sitting on the Feather River about 75 miles north of Sacramento in Butte County.

North state senators Ted Gaines and Jim Nielsen expressed their disagreement last week with the California State Water Resources Control Board’s decision to extend the state’s emergency drought regulations. Gaines, who represents the 1st Senate District that includes Siskiyou County, stated in a press release that by voting to extend the regulations, urban water districts will be subject to an additional 270 days of consumption reports, “stress tests,” and water-use cuts. “This decision is blind to the plain fact seen on every mountain, river and reservoir in the north state,” Gaines said.

More than a decade ago, federal and state officials and some of California’s largest water agencies rejected concerns that the massive earthen spillway at Oroville Dam — at risk of collapse Sunday night and prompting the evacuation of 185,000 people — could erode during heavy winter rains and cause a catastrophe.

California Gov. Jerry Brown asked President Trump on Friday to declare a major disaster in the state because of damage from a month of storms as more rain hit the south. Brown’s letter said a powerful series of January storms brought “relentless” rain and high winds that caused flooding, mudslides, evacuations, erosion, power outages and at least eight deaths. Northern California was hardest hit. Brown said the storm system was so severe and widespread that state and local governments need federal assistance to continue dealing with the problems it created.