If Oroville Dam were to fail, people likely would be stuck
Although the dam isn’t in danger, warning system wouldn’t give communities time to get out
Updated: 10:56 AM PST Feb 17, 2017
http://cdec.water.ca.gov/cgi-progs/queryF?s=ORO
Date / Time RES ELE STORAGE OUTFLOW INFLOW RIV REL RAIN BAT VOL
(PST) FEET AF CFS CFS CFS INCHES VOLTS
02/17/2017 00:00 863.37 2991747 80054 26455 93537 35.28 13.4
02/17/2017 01:00 863.02 2986842 79673 26965 93772 35.28 13.5
02/17/2017 02:00 862.77 2983341 79907 29501 93386 35.28 13.4
02/17/2017 03:00 862.42 2978445 79859 29346 93326 35.28 13.4
02/17/2017 04:00 862.15 2974672 79979 28044 93555 35.36 13.4
02/17/2017 05:00 861.81 2969926 80014 29734 93210 35.36 13.5
02/17/2017 06:00 861.47 2965184 79963 23018 92987 35.36 13.4
02/17/2017 07:00 861.18 2961145 79799 26991 92771 35.48 13.5
02/17/2017 08:00 860.86 2956692 79908 28930 92958 35.60 13.4
02/17/2017 09:00 860.61 2953217 79792 31527 92821 35.72 13.4
02/17/2017 10:00 860.27 2948495 79898 31627 92531 35.80 13.4
02/17/2017 11:00 860.07 2945720 79823 35530 92287 35.80 13.4
Inflow starting to creep up, now at 35530.
The water level is below the foot of the weir, I believe. That’s a big help.
The sooner that they are able to clear the channel from the dam back to where the spillway comes into the river (it’s “dammed” up by debris and silt), the sooner they can start generating again which will allow some 18000 cfs of water to flow through the dam.