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Emergency: California’s Oroville Dam Spillway Near Failure, Evacuations Ordered
Breitbart ^ | Feb 12, 2017 | Joel B. Pollak1

Posted on 02/12/2017 4:26:47 PM PST by janetjanet998

Edited on 02/12/2017 9:33:58 PM PST by Admin Moderator. [history]

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.


TOPICS: Breaking News; News/Current Events; US: California
KEYWORDS: butte; california; dam; dwr; evacuation; lakeoroville; liveoroville; moonbeamcanyon; moonbeammadness; oroville; orovilledam; orovillelive; runaway; spillway; sutter; water; yuba
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To: Repeal The 17th

The plant may be operational by Thursday!

http://www.sacbee.com/news/state/california/water-and-drought/article135422349.html


2,041 posted on 02/28/2017 1:57:51 PM PST by meyer (The Constitution says what it says, and it doesn't say what it doesn't say.)
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To: meyer

An amazing feat if they do.
There was a short video there showing they are already attacking the rock pile.


2,042 posted on 02/28/2017 2:05:04 PM PST by Repeal The 17th (I was conceived in liberty, how about you?)
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To: tomkat

Well ain’t that just the way it goes...
For two weeks they’ve been having to buy rock
to fill holes up on top of the emergency spillway, and
now, all of a sudden, they’ve got 1/2 million cubic feet
of free rock and have to figure out what to do with it.


2,043 posted on 02/28/2017 2:15:52 PM PST by Repeal The 17th (I was conceived in liberty, how about you?)
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To: Repeal The 17th

There’s a lot to attack. But the fact that the water level dropped 23 feet after shutting down the spillway is very positive. The majority of that debris pile at the bottom of the spillway was covered with water prior to them shutting it down. Hopefully, they can drag out a good channel to flow from the dam to the river.


2,044 posted on 02/28/2017 2:19:50 PM PST by meyer (The Constitution says what it says, and it doesn't say what it doesn't say.)
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To: meyer

Once again the scale/size has been deceptive to my eyes.
Did you see the video of the bulldozer driving on the rock pile?
That’s not gravel, it is huge boulders.
I don’t know how in the heck i would attack it.
I (wild guess) think it must be over five acres of debris
and at an unknown depth.
I tried to find data showing a level gauge on the river
below the dam but had no success.


2,045 posted on 02/28/2017 2:30:25 PM PST by Repeal The 17th (I was conceived in liberty, how about you?)
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To: meyer

“water level dropped 23 feet after shutting down the spillway “
I haven’t figured out where that water went, but there are hints of other minor outlets.

Anyway, for those wondering what difference the power plant will make in the reservoir: flow through the plant at max is 14,000 cfs = 27,768.6 acre foot/day.
There’s a problem running the plant without elect demand. There are pumps to use the excess electricity- but they pump the water... back into the reservoir LOL! (There’s probably an obvious solution that escapes me.)


2,046 posted on 02/28/2017 2:42:04 PM PST by mrsmith (Dumb sluts: Lifeblood of the Media, Backbone of the Democrat/RINO Party!)
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To: mrsmith; meyer

Does that mean the rock pile is 23 feet high
just from what we can see above the surface of the river?


2,047 posted on 02/28/2017 2:50:12 PM PST by Repeal The 17th (I was conceived in liberty, how about you?)
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To: meyer

From your link:
...crews are working to get transmission lines running from the plant reattached to the powergrid...
...the powerplant when fully operational can release about 14,000 cubic feet per second...
... the lake level rose about two feet over night to 840 feet, or 61 feet below the top...
...officials said they’ll open the spillway up again before the lake rises to above 860 feet...
...heavy equipment operators will work round the clock the next few days attacking the debris pile...


2,048 posted on 02/28/2017 3:07:17 PM PST by Repeal The 17th (I was conceived in liberty, how about you?)
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To: mrsmith

I’m pretty certain that they can make room in the generation mix to allow this plant to run. It’s not that huge in the grand scheme of things. I had read elsewhere that the plant’s total generation was capable of pumping almost 17,000 cfs, from a site not related to this incident. Although, it appears that one of the 6 generators might be out for maintenance as witnessed by an image posted earlier (the one where they were putting sandbags along the one wall) that showed the generator hole open. Maybe that’s why they didn’t quote 17,000.

The water level dropped because there was no longer 50,000 cfs pouring down the hill into the river. It likely flowed downstream, as the feather river flows into the Sacramento River farther downstream.

To clarify, I was referring to the water at the bottom of the spillway, not up in the reservoir.


2,049 posted on 02/28/2017 3:20:55 PM PST by meyer (The Constitution says what it says, and it doesn't say what it doesn't say.)
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To: Repeal The 17th
I sense Murphy's presence in this fiasco   ;-)
2,050 posted on 02/28/2017 3:25:40 PM PST by tomkat
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To: meyer

That’s a great article and vid you linked in 2044.
... If only I had read it before my earlier reply I wouldn’t have thought the wuote was referring to the reservoir’s level.


2,051 posted on 02/28/2017 3:26:24 PM PST by mrsmith (Dumb sluts: Lifeblood of the Media, Backbone of the Democrat/RINO Party!)
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To: Grampa Dave; Jim 0216

There is forty one feet of snow in the central Sierras and the resorts are staying open until July 1st.

The damage to the spillway is incredible. I don’t see how the problem gets fixed before next winter, especially since the spillway will have to be opened when the snowmelt starts.


2,052 posted on 02/28/2017 3:35:46 PM PST by daisy12
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To: Repeal The 17th

Wow, that is something.

IRONic...or maybe ironic rock...


2,053 posted on 02/28/2017 3:51:16 PM PST by Jim W N
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To: Repeal The 17th; meyer

I just don’t see until they actually repair the Main Spillway (looks a YUGE project) how they keep from filling up the river again with more debris when they have to use the spillway again.


2,054 posted on 02/28/2017 3:54:46 PM PST by Jim W N
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To: Jim 0216

Whoever is in charge is juggling a lot of variables.


2,055 posted on 02/28/2017 3:58:13 PM PST by Repeal The 17th (I was conceived in liberty, how about you?)
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To: Repeal The 17th

A few more pictures have been added. The first one lends some scale to the size of the bottom of the spillway chute.

https://pixel-ca-dwr.photoshelter.com/galleries/C0000OxvlgXg3yfg/G00003YCcmDTx48Y/I0000WDBb3Z7HxNw/D4S-0257


2,056 posted on 02/28/2017 4:00:15 PM PST by meyer (The Constitution says what it says, and it doesn't say what it doesn't say.)
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To: meyer
Wow

2,057 posted on 02/28/2017 4:07:06 PM PST by Repeal The 17th (I was conceived in liberty, how about you?)
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To: Jim 0216

One thing in their favor is that the ravine is truly carved to mostly bedrock. I don’t think it will erode nearly as bad as it initially did. Which means that there will be a lot less debris moved.

My thought, for a temporary repair (and this is just a WAG), would be to build up the ground at the end of the good section of the chute so that the water can gently fall down at an angle rather than falling hard and beating the ground below. Use the path it’s been following and harden it as much as practical. Use that until a new spillway can be designed and built.

Like I said, a shot in the dark. I have no idea how realistic that might be.

The emergency spillway to the left is truly an extreme emergency use only tool.


2,058 posted on 02/28/2017 4:07:18 PM PST by meyer (The Constitution says what it says, and it doesn't say what it doesn't say.)
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To: meyer

Yeah.

I see the main spillway as a big problem,but not necessarily imminently threatening to life.

I see the emergency spillway as a YUGE and imminently threatening problem.


2,059 posted on 02/28/2017 4:22:13 PM PST by Jim W N
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To: Repeal The 17th

Zowie.


2,060 posted on 02/28/2017 4:23:25 PM PST by Jim W N
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