"SAN FRANCISCO — California lawmakers blasted state water officials Thursday for their oversight of the half-century-old dam that anchors the state's water system, in a hearing focusing on the design problems and aging that contributed to the evacuation of nearly 200,000 people downstream.

"This frightens me, that this was built in this manner," state Assemblyman Jim Frazier, a Democrat, and an engineer by training, told the state officials overseeing the Oroville Dam, the nation's tallest.

Frazier cited post-crisis inspection reports of concrete as thin as the width of the palm of a hand on Oroville's main spillway. "We have some things we need to address so this doesn't happen again.""

Ellen Knickmeyer reports for the Associated Press May 11, 2017. [2]