. >> abc 7's rob mcmillen is live at the dam with the latest information. rob? >> must be a stressful night for tens of thousands of people who, given just maybe an hour's notice, had to evacuate the area. a lot of people under evacuation orders. but there is a sigh of relief this morning because water is no longer flowing over the emergency spillway.

rob mcmillen, abc 7 news. >> rob, they're up against the clock. thanks for the update. >>> here's a look at how quickly this issue escalated. remember we showed you the pictures on tuesday last week? engineers found the massive hole in the main spillway. giant chunks of concrete at the bottom. by wednesday, the hole was as big as a football field. state officials said friday, the damage could approach $100 million. they started clearing and reinforcing the emergency spillway in case it was needed and it was. saturday morning, water began flowing over the emergency spillway for the first time in its nearly 50-year history. here's where the problem came in. that was eroding. late yesterday, they put out evacuation orders for several downstream communities. now, they downgraded the threat slightly, as you heard rob mention. they say water is no longer washing over the spillway. they're carefully watching that right now. one evacuee tells us the situation for people in the area went from calm to total chaos in just a matter of moments. >> i just got a

live in lake oroville, rob mcmillen, abc 7 news. >> rob, great front row view for us. thank you so much. >>> here's a look at how quickly the issue escalated. tuesday, engineers found a massive hole in the spillway and giant chunks of concrete at the bottom. wednesday, the hole was as big as a football field. state officials said friday, the damage could approach $100 million. they started clearing and reinforcing the emergency spillway in case it was needed. saturday morning, water began flowing over the emergency spillway for the first time in its nearly 50-year history. late yesterday, evacuations were ordered for several downstream communities. late last night, officials downgraded the threat slightly, saying water was no longer washing over the spillway. one evacuee said the situation in the area for people went from calm to chaos in a matter of moments. >> i just got a text message and an alert saying, get out as fast as you can. there are fire trucks going up and down our street saying evacuate. we packed up our dogs and lifted up our couches and got ready. >> t