Authorities issue dire warnings amid imminent California dam collapse

Authorities are ordering the evacuation of Oroville, California, as a rapidly eroding section of a dam appears ready to collapse.

"Immediate evacuation from the low levels of Oroville and areas downstream is ordered," the Butte County sheriff's office posted on Facebook Sunday night. 

"Operation of the auxiliary spillway has lead to severe erosion that could lead to a failure of the structure. Failure of the auxiliary spillway structure will result in an uncontrolled release of flood waters from Lake Oroville."

Anticipating the auxiliary spillway's failure, officials in the northern California town are frantically attempting to drain water from the dam's main spillway, at a clip of 100,000 cubic feet per second, according to the Sacramento Bee.

"It's uncontrolled. It's uncontrolled," Department of Water Resources spokesman Chris Orrock said, when asked how much water could be released should the spillway break.

An evacuation center has been set up in nearby Chico, the sheriff's office said on Twitter.

It could take up to $200 million to repair the dam, according to the Los Angeles Times.