Some Oroville residents refuse to return home after evacuation order lifted

OROVILLE, Calif. (KGO) -- While crews work to shore up the spillway at the Oroville Dam and thousands of residents go back to their homes, there are some who refuse to return.

When the sun came up over Oroville Wednesday morning, the sound of traffic filled streets that had been deserted.

People lined up early for Dutch Brothers Coffee, and employee Jacob Thornton says he's happy to be back at work. "Sometimes I open early - give the people what they want."

But not everyone was so enthusiastic.

"I would rather be at home, ready to go," Erica Hill said. She hears all sorts of enthusiastic things talking to customers, and she's not sure what to believe. "It's scary. Some people think we're not OK, some people think we're OK. It's all scary."

The situation with the dam's eroded spillways is scary enough to keep some people from returning home.

At the one remaining shelter in Chico volunteers were starting to pack up Wednesday, but one building at the fairgrounds is still full of evacuees.

They say having to leave once was bad enough. "If they end up saying evacuate again, we didn't want to have to rush and get in the traffic again. We're already here, we're established, we might as well stay," Linda Burchett said.

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