The Latest: Governor tours damaged California dam

OROVILLE, Calif. – The Latest on the response to damaged spillways at Lake Oroville in Northern California (all times local):

5:20 p.m.

Gov. Jerry Brown has visited crews responding to damaged spillways at Lake Oroville in Northern California.

Brown’s office sent a tweet Wednesday saying the Democratic governor met with people at the incident command centre and surveyed California’s flood control system.

Brown’s visit comes after authorities on Feb. 12 ordered 188,000 people to evacuate when water overflowing from the lake caused dangerous erosion around an emergency spillway.

U.S. Sen. Kamala Harris plans to visit the area on Thursday. The recently elected California Democrat will survey the damage and repair work by air and listen to a briefing by state officials.

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2 p.m.

U.S. Sen. Kamala Harris is planning to visit the Lake Oroville dam as crews work to shore up damaged spillways that forced emergency evacuations in three counties.

The recently elected California Democrat will survey the damage and repair work by air on Thursday. She’ll also get a briefing from state officials, the Butte County sheriff’s office and the National Guard.

The water level behind the dam began dropping Wednesday morning after it rose about 5 feet when a series of storms dumped rain in the area. The lake is still nearly 50 feet below capacity.

Crews are scrambling to fortify an emergency spillway that was badly eroded when the lake reached capacity and overflowed, forcing the evacuation of 180,000 people. The dam’s main spillway also is damaged.