The Latest: Damage at California dam spillway amid storms

SAN FRANCISCO – The Latest on storms and flooding hitting California (all times local):

3:50 p.m.

California water managers have all but shut down releases from one of the state’s main reservoirs after noticing damage during heavy rain.

Department of Water Resources spokesman Chris Orrock says Lake Oroville workers spotted damage Tuesday to a spillway. Authorities say there’s no damage to the dam itself, and that there’s no danger to the public.

Photos show what appear to be boulder-size chunks of concrete in the spillway’s bottom. Orrock says officials have shut down all water releases through the spillway, but expect to resume releases later today.

Lake Oroville is one of the state’s big reservoirs after Lake Shasta. Heavy rains have the state’s rivers and reservoirs filling after more than five years of drought.

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12:05 p.m.

Authorities in the San Francisco Bay Area are helping with evacuations and rescues as heavy rain and flooding hit low-lying communities.

Marin County Fire Battalion Chief Bret McTigue says authorities sounded emergency sirens at the town of Kentfield Tuesday morning to alert about 1,000 residents of rising water.

McTigue says high tide and heavy rain sent the Corde Madera Creek over its banks. Emergency crews at Kentfield have rescued at least seven people who were trapped in homes or cars.

The fire chief says about 40 homes in the area have substantial amounts of water in them. He calls it the worst flooding in what’s already been a wet winter for residents there.

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5:35 a.m.

Flash flood watches are in place for parts of Northern California down through the Central Coast as heavy rains swamp roads and threaten to overtop rivers and creeks.

The National Weather Service says more than an inch of rain could fall in the San Francisco Bay Area during a series of storms this week.

In the state capital, the Sacramento River is expected to swell to just a few feet below flood stage.

Tuesday’s storm is whipping up strong winds with gusts topping 50 mph throughout the San Joaquin Valley into Southern California.

The weather service says so much rain had fallen in Los Angeles by Monday that the yearly total for downtown hit about 15 1/2 inches — exceeding the normal annual rainfall, even though the new rain year won’t start until October.