The decimation of Lake Oroville: Houseboats crowd together in a trickle of water after California droughts reduce the reservoir levels to an 'historic low' of 24 per cent capacity
Houseboats have been forced to crowd together on the trickle of water that remains in Lake Oroville after the California droughts reduced the reservoir's water levels to an 'historic low' of 24 percent capacity. The water level in the vital California reservoir is now at its lowest since September 1977, with locals saying they have never seen it so empty and officials warning of a detrimental impact on the local environment. In a storage yard near the lake, dozens of other boats have been stacked on wood by their owners in order to prevent their homes being marooned in the lake. Lake Oroville, found Butte County in northern California some 60 miles north of Sacramento, has been the site of a number of environmental disasters in recent years. In 2017, hundreds and thousands of lives were threatened when huge floods damaged the Oroville dam. The area was also left charred by the Camp Fire of 2018, the deadliest and most destructive wildfire in California's history. Now,