The effort to protect Oroville Dam entered a critical phase Monday when engineers shut off water flowing out of the damaged main spillway, giving officials their first unobstructed view of the eroded concrete chute since a crisis prompted mass evacuations earlier this month. For the next five to seven days, geologists and engineers will have an unhindered view of the concrete spillway, which on Monday was revealed to have severely deteriorated on its lower half during the last two weeks of use.

More than 80 percent of California is no longer in drought after a series of winter storms, including last week’s hourslong soaker in Southern California. About 17 percent of the state remains in drought, according to this week’s U.S. Drought Monitor report, the first since last Friday’s powerful storm. That’s a dramatic turnaround from one year ago when 94 percent of the state was in drought during an historic five-year dry spell.

 

Winter storms that have dented the drought across much of California have also boosted reservoir levels in several San Diego County lakes — especially those fed by storm runoff. At Lake Hodges south of Escondido, sparkling blue water is now visible from the Interstate 15 bridge, which for years has only spanned a sad-looking forest. Lake Henshaw near Warner Springs, Loveland Reservoir near Alpine and El Capitan Reservoir near Lakeside have also seen big gains in their water levels over the past few months.

Gov. Jerry Brown on Friday unveiled a $437-million plan for shoring up some of California’s most pressing water and flood-control needs, saying the storms of January and February have made clear the state has substantial needs that have gone unmet for years. “We have our aging infrastructure and it’s maxed out,” Brown said during a news conference at the state Capitol.

Our recent torrential rains both here and throughout California bring the subject of drought to light. The most dramatic and publicized element of this recent deluge has been the Oroville Dam and Feather River catastrophes of the recent few weeks. I was fortunate in my Orange County Grand Jury term to spend a full day at Oroville in 2004 and explore all aspects of its role in the state’s water supply. In light of these overflow disasters, I distinctly remember that Lake Oroville was at 74 percent of capacity and the snowpack was almost nonexistent.