Climate change has little to do with this issue. CA has a history of infrastructure mismanagement (see HSR, Bay Bridge, etc). The CA Dept of Water Resources has a history of incompetence. Oroville Reservoir a history of problems.

This was a straightforward civil engineering failure. The flow of water that needed to be handled was known. It had been much higher in the past. The flow in the main spillway could be controlled by gates. There was an emergency overflow spillway.

They had plenty of time and resources to solve this problem but they didn't. We don't yet know exactly why but the design, construction, maintenance and/or operation was flawed. This is the responsibility of the operator of the dam which is ultimately the state.

I think tying everything to climate change can be counterproductive. Yes it can attract attention to an issue but it probably also distracts from less salient but perhaps more important issues in this case like keeping brush clear from the spillway or inspecting concrete structures.

We badly need better infrastructure management. And this will allow us to better respond to climate change.

/rant