Californians blast state over repairs to tallest US dam

OROVILLE, Calif. (AP) — Living in the shadow of the nation's tallest dam, the residents of this Northern California town had a complicated relationship with state water managers long before they were ordered to evacuate last February amid fears that a broken spillway would prompt catastrophic flooding.

Decades of frustration over broken promises about the dam met fresh concerns about small cracks in a newly rebuilt spillway Wednesday at a public meeting. There, residents of the town of about 19,000 told state officials they have no credibility when they say the fractures are nothing to worry about.