At least 130,000 people in northern California have been told to evacuate their homes after the tallest dam in the US was weakened by heavy rainfall, the BBC reported.

The emergency spillway of the Oroville Dam could collapse at any moment, officials said.

People living in flood risk areas have been ordered to leave immediately.

Water levels in the reservoir have been rising because of heavy rain and snow in California following years of severe drought.

It is the first time that Lake Oroville has experienced such an emergency in the dam's near 50-year history.

The California Department of Water Resources said on Sunday that it was releasing as much as 100,000 cubic feet (2,830 cubic metres) of water per second from the main spillway to try to drain the lake.

It added that water levels were decreasing and that the flow over the emergency spillway had been reduced to four inches over the top.

Source: MENA