Emergency: California’s Oroville Dam Spillway Near Failure, Evacuations Ordered

Breitbart ^ | Feb 12, 2017 | Joel B. Pollak1

[janetjanet998]

The California Department of Water Resources issued a sudden evacuation order shortly before 5 p.m. Sunday for residents near the Oroville Dam in northern California, warning that the dam’s emergency spillway would fail in the next 60 minutes.

The Oroville Dam is the highest in the nation.

[maggief]

http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/politics/2017/02/19/oroville-dam-president-trump-governor-jerry-brown-feud-funding-conservative/98129510/?utm_source=feedblitz&utm_medium=FeedBlitzRss&utm_campaign=usatodaycomwashington-topstories

Oroville Dam exposes rift between conservative town, coastal liberals

2:49 p.m. ET Feb. 19, 2017

[meyer]

I’ve read elsewhere that it IS anchored, and that they shaved away looser rock so that they had something solid to anchor it to. I don’t think that the weir was about to slide away, but there appears that some of that rock might not have been as solid as it was thought some 40 years ago. The erosion at the parking-lot end of the weir shows that things could have gotten pretty dicey pretty fast.

[maggief]

Scanner: At 1400 increasing outflow by 5 cfs

From 55 to 60

[SE Mom]

Just got home, thanks for pings. So is this as bad as it looks? Or, does the ruined spillway not matter so much because they’ve lowered the lake so much? Orrrr?

Ok...going to read up on this...

[Yaelle]

I don’t know anything about dams and weirs but that sounds like a deep liability.

This state’s priorities are so bad we could replace the governor and legislature with squirrels and they’d do a better job.

[EarthResearcher333]

>>The concrete weir at the top of the emergency spillway was “just plopped on top of that ridge.<<

Just as I was about to post this research/conclusion independently this morning. Good to have an official come out and confirm the truth (the evidence is overwhelming that this was the case). Now they unleashed another can of worms. Waterflow under this structure is now a real part of the equation and very likely associated with the huge water bubbling in front of the this Weir. Another big issue is that this structure is not Solid Concrete. It is only a concrete shell that is filled with aggregate. Weepage, from leakage waterflow into the center filled aggregate can compromise the integrity of the strength of the Wier (capillary action). There are drain channels at the bottom of the Wier footing to keep the aggregate dry. A strong penetration of waterflow through the highly fractured rock may make these drains insufficient.

First image: Blueprints of Emergency Spillway & "Its Plopped on top of that Ridge"

Second image: It is sitting atop highly fractured rock, called "rotten rock" in structural terms. Erodes swiftly as proven by the recent 12,000cfs short time overtopping.

Here is another insanity: The original designers stated that this Emergency Spillway + the Main Spillway could handle 624,000cfs. Yet only a dinky 12,000cfs over the Emergency Spillway cut down to 797ft (36ft crevasse/hole) only 300ft from the main spillway. Yikes! Imagine if they tried what they said it could do?

==

----- https://archive.org/stream/zh9californiastatew2003calirich#page/92/mode/2up page 92-93: The emergency spillway, in conjunction with the flood control outlet, has the capacity to pass the maximum probable flood release of 624,000 cfs for the drainage area (peak inflow 720,000 cfs) while maintaining a freeboard of 5 feet on the embankment. The maximum probable flood has a probability recurrence interval in excess of 10,000 years.

[Yaelle]

Ho Lee Fuk

[editor-surveyor]

.
The weir will go nowhere.

It rests on drilled piers that go more than 25 feet into the native rock.

The concern at the weir was errosion below its bottom near the main spillway.

That was the very first thing that was reinforced with the grout and rock.

The dam is not an issue; flooding and storm flow management is. This has actually been true all of the time, but there was great concern for more possible damage to the main spillway before the erosion was addressed.
.

[editor-surveyor]

.
The great Chinese engineer?
.

[maggief]

“Ho Lee Fuk”

Weir Tu Lo

;o)

LIVE feed:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z8PvcfA13P4

[Freee-dame]

Lake Oroville dam power plant picture bump.

[maggief]

Youtube live feed lost.

Here’s FOXNews LIVE FEED:

https://www.facebook.com/FoxNews/videos/vb.15704546335/10155128737211336/?type=2&theater

[Ray76]

Tidbit

There are old gold and quartz mines nearby.

Location marked on this map

http://mapper.acme.com/?ll=39.54708,-121.50694&z=14&t=T&marker0=39.55151%2C-121.51857%2C3.2%20km%20WxNW%20of%20Oroville%20Dam%20CA&marker1=39.54582%2C-121.52058%2C3.2%20km%20WxNW%20of%20Oroville%20Dam%20CA

info:

https://mrdata.usgs.gov/mrds/show-mrds.php?dep_id=10109115

info about mine shafts, etc

https://books.google.com/books?id=_XHOAAAAMAAJ&pg=PA153&lpg=PA153&dq=south+banner+mine+%22journal+of+mines+and+geology%22&source=bl&ots=WDiLQUEMmV&sig=RxC1nl-3CkY2KcpE9OzttqmYmBE&hl=en&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwiRs5uMjZ3SAhUJSiYKHSk_BHIQ6AEIPjAH#v=onepage&q=south%20banner%20mine%20%22journal%20of%20mines%20and%20geology%22&f=false

https://books.google.com/books?id=v3LOAAAAMAAJ&pg=RA1-PA82&lpg=RA1-PA82&dq=banner+mine+oroville&source=bl&ots=kJDV_aiNdg&sig=p3by03Y_ab_YYImYtf-vIWIwYcU&hl=en&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwjgpdTMgZ3SAhUGbSYKHetKB9YQ6AEIUTAN#v=onepage&q=banner%20mine%20oroville&f=false

[Ray76]

Looking at the weather forecast I’d leave now.

[Jim W N]

WOW!

The original designers

As they used to say, "It's only government work..."

[Jim W N]

Whaddyathink in light of the next storm barreling down on Oroville?

[Ray76]

The spillways are the issue. There are maintenance issues but more importantly design issues.

[janetjanet998]

they either just increased the flow again or something else has changed

more water coming down the “good” portion of the lower part

[SE Mom]

I guess it’s “standard procedure “..

Talk 650 KSTE
@kste650

NOW: DWR says they’re ramping up outflow on the damaged control #Orovillespillway at #orovilledam from 55k cfs to 60cfs. Standard procedure. pic.twitter.com/vHy2dqbKR1
2:08 PM - 19 Feb 2017