The Army Corps studied what would happen to six dams in California, and the results suggested that two of them would probably be overtopped. It seemed unlikely that a third of all the dams in the state would fail, but would none of them? Cox described the “weird ‘Chinatown’ vibe” he encountered whenever the conversation turned to dams. In the course of my reporting this article, sources would stutter and shut down whenever dams came up. “My boss approved, but it was nixed by higher-ups,” the public information officer at the dam wrote.

---

Persons: Cox, ”, “, they’re, Dale Cox, ruefully Organizations: Army Corps, Reclamation, California Governor’s, Emergency Services Locations: California, Northern California, Oroville, Swain, Sacramento