Posted on 02/15/2017 5:59:22 PM PST by Mariner
>>For the most part, the geology at the dam is the same as all the rest of the Sierra foothills until they intersect the Tehachapi. California’s geologic past is one of constant pressure and collisions. The foothills are also riddled with limestone caverns. <<
This answer is sort of a disconnect (understatement). I’ll just assume the best (intentions) on your part. Have a good day my friend.
Ping on posts 31 to 61. FYI Re: Oroville dam “heated debate” amongst “those in the know directing repairs” i.e. stated ultimately protecting the sub-structure of the main spillway (near the top). Stated they contacted an “expert” 1500 miles away who knows of the critical weaknesses of the Dam design/construction.
.
What would you have amplified?
I have nowhere near Maggie’s search skills but I have been trying to get the latest information all today. Seems sparse. The most recent picture I can find of the main spillway is from Monday.
This from Scott Cahill a few hours ago. There is a wide divide on this situation. He and the guys at peakprosperity are getting information from a command team member on site.
https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/oroville-dam-our-fathers-legacy-scott-cahill
Scott Cahill
Construction Expert,Writer,Speech Writer,Public Speaker,Expert Witness,Sailor,Pilot,Political Blogger
latimes.com Updated the storm to 10” of rain and a warmer storm - both very bad for the dam situation. Things are not going well, I fear for the residents of the downstream communities. I would begin preliminary preparations and pack so you are not caught off guard if another evacuation is put in place.
Ping on posts 31 to 61. FYI Re: Oroville dam “heated debate” amongst “those in the know directing repairs” i.e. stated ultimately protecting the sub-structure of the main spillway (near the top). Stated they contacted an “expert” 1500 miles away who knows of the critical weaknesses of the Dam design/construction
Also check out # 63 .
Thanks, EarthResearcher333.
Tuesday the 14th aerial photos
http://www.sacbee.com/news/state/california/water-and-drought/article133195329.html
All I know is when 8-10 inches of rain drops in the mountains over the next 5 days, the result will shock.
One does not have to be an engineer to see the obvious. So-called bedrock was actually fractured, weathered rock. And it cannot stand up to a violent flow.
If either spillway collapses the water will cut the mountain in half.
This would indicated the ground is fully saturated, and forcing the air out under pressure !
This would indicate that under more pressure, the Emergency Spillway might fail.
A continued evacuation would probably be in order downstream ...
That’s hilarious!
>>What would you have amplified?<<
maybe your tagline...
Frank P. February 15, 2017 at 5:57 pmSome useful calculations here… But realize that the truly weak link for California in this scenario is not really a dam breaking, as horrible as that would be. The weak link is ruining the State Water Project’s facilities that take this necessary water to Southern California after it’s picked up at what we used to call, the Tracy pumping plant. The Federal CVP has a similar pumping plant very near by that does the same thing for the Feds. It’s called, the Delta-Mendota Canal. Anyway, many of us in the water biz as well as the USGS were always concerned that a failure would occur as a result of an earthquake centered in the SF Delta area, a not necessarily unlikely event. But no, now we have the risk of the dike and levee system being destroyed by excessive water rushing down the Sacramento River from all the collective discharges from all the waterlogged dams in the Sacramento River watershed, including the water from Oroville Dam, broken or otherwise. It is widely known among water experts that a Delta bypass water conveyance structure is necessary and it will eventually be built but it was thought that it would occur after a disaster like as a dike/levee leveling event precipitated by an earthquake in the Sacramento/SF area. Once that occurred, the pumps at Tracy — both Federal and State — will suck salt water and the transport of fresh water south will not reoccur for perhaps 2-5 years during the construction of such a SF Delta bypass water conveyance system. Now, surprise of surprises, we have TWO ways the dikes and levees can be breached and this one — flooding — is no longer speculative. If you want to read one of the few actual news articles dealing with this horror, read this from yesterdays’ Sacramento Bee. http://www.sacbee.com/news/local/article132779679.html#storylink=cpy
The comment that goes with the link I posted.
That essay is magnificent !
Government always claims to be the answer but more often than not, they are the problem.
New Orleans all over again ???
It’s raining hard in Sac right now, even more so in the Mountains. The further north, the more rain. The higher in elevation, the more rain.
If Oroville does not overflow again, it will be a sign of divine intervention.
>>>New Orleans all over again ???<<<
For the sake of so many people, I certainly hope not.
Just a few feet of flood water causes so much grief to lives. Up here near Vernonia a similar scenario of an atmospheric river melting coast range snow caused massive flooding to the town of Vernonia. I worked with volunteers to help as the radio stations stated where to go at a make shift command center at the town’s Catholic Church. Arriving there, they had a map of who was next to have a volunteer to be “assigned” to a home in need.
I was given a home of an elderly lady, widowed who was next to the river. Firefighters carried her out in the middle of the night in 4ft of water. I was able to enlist a team of volunteers and we virtually rebuilt the home to the level of the flood line.
But every thing a person owns, that was flooded by contaminated water, had to be thrown away. A giant makeshift garbage dump nearly 300 ft long was set up at a logging weigh station. Clothes, toys, refrigerators, shoes, record albums, furniture, appliances, insulation - all piled nearly 10-15 feet high.
It was awful. The towns people were not wealthy (on average). The cost to their lives was more than possessions. Many suffered PTSD.
They called it a 1 in 100 year flood. Then they went through it again a couple of times years later. So the estimates of 1 in 100 year didn’t quite meet expectations.
Makes me glad I’m in the northern Arizona mountains. Some very brief flash flooding occasionally but generally safe from this kind of stuff.
Was this CA Governor Reagan?
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