Posted on 02/13/2017 7:30:57 PM PST by WilliamIII
Environmental groups (many years ago) objected to the design of the emergency spillway,
(water would come over the top of the concrete wall and down the earthen slope)
but their objection was not because of fear of losing the dam,
they said it would wash silt and trees into the river
and harm the native fish populations.
They happened to be right, but for the wrong reason...
Unconfirmed:
This comment is from arfcom’s ProFryan, who was live streaming on Periscope from the dam over the weekend.
2/14/2017 12:02:24 AM EST
All right, I just got home. Where are we at?
Clearly O town is f***ed. The latest pictures show the cracks right beneath the Espill are the deathblow. Anyone with half a brain knows that it’s not Fill it’s decomposed granite or who knows what that’s just rock sitting on top of a rock.
( The word from the people working on it who are not allowed to talk publicly is there are seven monster cracks beneath the emergency spillway )
Fire up a few dozen twin rotor Sikorskys, grab a few hundred Abrams and drop 'em in the hole.
Yeah, Schmuckie Chuckie will get right on it.
Three M60 Patton Tanks in foreground at Ft. Irwin, California (my guess).
I stand corrected. My intent is to get some serious weight thrown in that giant pit that won’t get blown downstream by the incredible water pressure. Does anyone have a better idea of a solution at this moment. More rain is coming. That dam may go if the base is undercut by water erosion.
A solution is way beyond my pay grade. I just hope everyone is taking the evac warnings seriously.
Umm no. That’s not how it should work. Let that rebellious state take care of their own people. Where’s the Hollywood donations? They claim state’s rights for everything else and rebel against the president. Can’t have it both ways sorry.
Wow, the situation is worse than I thought. I feel for you guys. How are people going without their prescription medicine? Some are life saving drugs very dangerous to be off too long. The people in hotels and shelters, how long do they foresee them being holed up there? What about people whose workplace is closed. Losing how much money on top of having to spend extra on lodging and food right now...What a mess! Praying for all those in the affected area.
I apologize, for my post. Please don’t take the criticism personally. We all wish the best on our fellow Freepers and all the other good people in California. It’s just the people who run the place and their little pets we lash out about.
If it was in LA or a sanctuary city for dem votes, we could do so much more. Luv the gov.
California has bonded billions in recent years for water projects. Most of those billions have been pissed away on studies and consultants.
“Dams are bad, unnatural. And they cost a lot to keep up.”
I know that your being sarcastic, but I’ll respond anyway...
Floods & droughts are ‘natural’ and therefore ‘good’? Strange world we live in.
Brown should resign in disgrace.
Yeah, I was playing “Save the three peckered poo fish!” greenie.
Seems this dam’s maintenance was lacking, and SoCal users of its water didn’t want to kick in the $$$$$ to fix it.
I say they should reredirect CA funds from immigrants to dams & infrastructure, and end sanctuary cities, as requirements to receive any emergency fed $$$$$.
President Trump should just offer management help. No money.
Main spillway was already damaged years ago, about halfway down. Apparently was not properly repaired. High flow on it days ago scoured out that weak spot and the ground under it, then the collapse. My understanding.
I’m still not understanding the turbine situation. Did cutting the fast spillway flow, after its failure, allow high river water to mess up the turbines? Was it the debris washed into the river from the spillways that back flowed into the turbine ports? I find little reporting on this.
This lake and spillway were around for over 50 years. Its not a bad design. It still works. It has two fail safes. The spillway and the auxiliary spillway. Water runs down the chute in a controlled manner. In the primary spillway or an uncontrolled manner in the auxiliary. But if the rain + the excess water run down the hill along side the cement chute, the water erodes the land under the cement chute. That is what happened. That hole formed. It was not there or at least mostly not there before this past week. Water ran down the chute. And through leaks and overflowing the side rail it eroded the foundation of the chute. Once a small part of the chute fell the hole quickly enlarged.
The auxiliary chute shows the issue. Its the same land with grass and trees. And very quickly the land erodes so that the roads and trees and dirt go into the river below. In fifty years there has been several rainy days. There have even been 10 rainy days in a row. But they have always controlled the level of the lake without overflowing the spillway. This time they were caught with two much water and they broke their spillway. And they realized that their auxiliary spillway has two many structures that got wiped away.
Prayers up for you all. I hope you are out of the flood plain and that the rain fizzles out.
What a damnation of Cali government’s concern for its citizens. Tallest dam in America, and squat for evac plans below it. Maybe this will spark the good citizens of Cali to take back control of things and boot the greedy vermin out.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.