Dodging a deluge in California

First, they faced years of drought. This year, they havesuffered through what looks to be the wettest winter in northernCalifornia.Then, this week, they had to fleefor their safety.

Thousands of people livingbelow theOrovilleDam,120kilometres north of Sacramento, were ordered to leavetheir homes Sunday after the dam reservoir overflowed and the delugeof waterthreatened the integrity of the dam's emergency spillway.

Residents wereallowed toreturn home Tuesday, but Butte County Sheriff Kory Honeawarned them to be "vigilant," and said, "There is the prospect that we will issue another evacuation order ... if the situation changes."

The forecast? More rain this week.

Here are the faces and stories of some of the Californians who were forced into emergency housing, which for some of them meant their cars.

'I'm worried about losing my mom.'

Cheyanna DeBonneville, 9, has been living at the Elks Lodge shelter in Chico, about 55 km northwest of Oroville,since Sunday night.

"My mom told me to go get my phone to check if there's an Amber Alert about it, and there was. We drove off into the mountains, but then we ran out of gas so we had to come back down here, so that's how we ended up in Chico. I'm scared that we might have to stay here for a couple of months. I'm most worried about losing my home. My mom is still in Oroville. She's looking after the animals, and I'm worried about losing my mom."

5 cats and a dad with dementia.

Deborah Lamb is staying at the Silver Dollar fairground shelter in Chico. She's kept her five cats in her car while she cares for her 90-year-old father, who has dementia.

"Nobody seems to know what to do for people that have dementia," she said. "They couldn't do anything for my dad. My dad gets up in the middle of the night and runs off. My dad ran off to the gas station twice. We did have some people help to bring him back when he tried a second time. But someone has to be with my dad at all times. We're hoping to find a home to put him in so it will be better."

Lugging abig oxygen tank.

Raymond Fields, a Vietnam veteran, is staying in the shelter at the Silver Dollar fairgrounds. He needs oxygen, but doesn't have access to portable tanks. He has to carry around an 18-kilogramtank.

"It's real stuffy in the building," he said. "There's no air in there. Dragging this big ol' thing around is hard. Real hard. I'll make it, though. They're not letting anyone back in Oroville. As soon as they say 'OK,' we're going home."

Hopingfor a donated blanket.

Tina Hanson, who works at a mill, has been sleeping in her car in the fairground parking lot with her daughter. They didn't bring any clothes, and they're hoping to get a donated blanket.

"We just feel safer in our little box," she said. "We can't afford a hotel, and it's just too many people in there. We get what food they give us three times a day and whatever someone brings as a donation. But we try not to be greedy so the rest of us get what they need, but some of us don't know what greedy and not being greedy is."

'I've been out here in the cold.'

Deborah Spade has been sleeping in her car since Saturday with her dogs, Brown, Sammy and Giorgio.

"You try to make the best out of a bad situation," Spade said."I've been out here in the cold. You're bundled up, you get yourself together and get warm. We can't do nothing about it. I've been asking the police, and they don't know when [I canreturn]. Hopefully, we can go back today there's no rain."

Worrying about a 9-metre wall of water.

Denise Stucky, who lives half a kilometre from a fish hatchery on Lake Oroville, was forced to evacuate and spent Sunday night sleeping in her car.

"They want the lake level 50 feet lower before that storm comes, and they are nowhere near that goal," she said. "So we're stuck.Let's say the worst-case scenario happens, and it starts filling over that emergency spillway again. I do believe the top is going to disintegrate, or there'll be boil at the bottom so it'll be a little more like a levee break. Either way, you're talking about a 30-foot wall of water coming at you. And when you're in your home, and you can hear your fish hatchery raging, you know that when they said it's time to get out, get out!"

Making a new buddy.

Patsy Vollendorff and her husband brought a stranger,90-year-old Charles Smith,to the Elks Lodge shelter with them.

"We don't have just us to worry about," Vollendorff said. "I brought a 90-year-old man that I met that day, and he had nowhere to go. So I brought him with us. [His car]was broke down, so I took him home, and when they called to evacuate, I went and got him. I said, 'Get in, you're going with me,' and he said, 'OK.' I grabbed his medicine and put it in the car. So, I brought him with me. Now, he's my buddy.