Posted on 02/14/2017 5:14:04 AM PST by ColdOne
It was sudden, potentially deadly — and nothing any of the residents of a California valley town could have imagined.
Nearly 200,000 people were told to grab what they could — now — and head for higher ground or face being swept away by a breach in the Oroville Dam, the nation’s tallest.
Panic set in as the mass of northern Californians were forced to confront a threat of biblical proportions: a 30-foot wall of water that threatened to come crashing down on their homes.
“Everyone was running around. It was pure chaos,” Oroville, Calif., resident Maggie Cabral told local TV news station KFSN.
The ensuing exodus resembled a 1970s disaster movie.
(Excerpt) Read more at nypost.com ...
It was no secret this was going to be an abnormally high rain/snow year. Why did they not begin releases earlier?? The fact that dam has been a concern go back many years. I recall in either 82 or 86, both heavy snow/rain years rumors had circulated in the Bay Area the dam was about to be breeched or collapse. I guess those “rumors” were just premature facts. Here is another rumor for them to consider, there will be a huge snow melt this spring, water runs down the western sierra range and guess into where?
This could be the johnstown flood on a far larger scale. Anyone who was involved in this fiasco from the dam management officials/water board/EPA up to the governors office and throughout the state elected government should be forced to go stand under that dam and await any outcome. See how long it takes to fix the problem then. Guarantee they would not be worried about the bullet trains or deportations or gay “rights” or snail darters or Trump.
I find it disheartening that so many people just cannot think and plan for themselves anymore. MCommon sense is lacking and dependency upon the nanny state has people unable to assess and plan their own lives....12 years they have known about major problems with the dam.....We moved out of southern Calif 20 years ago to AZ and have been so much better off in every way.
I’ve read that the Army Corps of Engineers had/has to approve at least some releases. If true, were releases requested? If so, were they approved? Does the Army Corps have a share of responsibility for this mess?
It’s unclear the status of the turbines, power lines were cut, read elsewhere the turbines are underwater...?
If the turbines and spillway can’t keep it below the emergency weir after the coming rains, water goes over the weir again, and the weir’s hydraulic erosion becomes THE factor. Read elsewhere there’s major cracks under the weir...?
The extreme lesson of letting failed Libtards run the state. Moonbeam twice! What did “conservative” Californians do? They ran to successful states and once entrenched told them that they were doing it all wrong and that wasn’t the way they did it in California. My estimation is that the problem goes back to California’s failed education system. They can well take all that sanctuary money, train money, Calexit money and cheap illegal labor and get themselves out of this one. That would be an education.
If you look at everything about this episode....I’d say that the dam is presently in a weakened state, and it wouldn’t surprise me in ten to twenty days, after some heavy rain in the area...it collapses. Nothing about this says that the episode is over.
The billions weren’t wasted, they were transferred to “friends” by the Kalifornia oligarchs.
It appears that all of the lakes drain into the Sacramento river. This map shows all the lakes in CA. Troubling future scenarios for rain and snow melt.
http://geology.com/lakes-rivers-water/california.shtml
They cannot divert water to the emergency, or “auxiliary,” spillway. It is simply an overflow point and goes into action when the reservoir level rises to it. Like your bathtub would overflow if the water reached the top.
We live about 40 miles downstream from the Oroville Dam. We evacuated Sunday evening around 6:00 p.m. and returned home around midnight. All our stuff is packed by the front door in case the overflow spillway collapses which it is pretty much a foregone conclusion. We have a son-in-law who works at Oroville Dam and that is what his supervisors have told him. But the lake should be significantly lower by the time that happens.
Yes, traffic was bumper to bumper for miles but you heard very little honking of horns, people made room for vehicles to change lanes and enter traffic from side streets.
Fairgrounds opened their gates with very short notice. The Colusa County Fairgrounds was not aware it was listed as an evacuation site until people started arriving there. They opened the gates to the parking lot and allowed people to stay there until they could get the grounds ready.
All in all, it has been an extremely orderly process.
It’s a sanctuary state though.
So...the dam did let go then?
I hope people were able to get their livestock out.
1. The current elected officials do not manage and maintain the assets hard working tax payers have provided. This ranges from infrastructure to pensions. Instead the politicians use the Government money to 'buy' votes.
2. Then the politicians get into power and force their agendas and beliefs on the hard working taxpayers. You know the plan to govern was laid out in the founding documents, it's not that difficult, just follow the founders plan!
3. The issues with the dam was know for 12 years and yet no plan was created to address!
4. Instead of spending a little bit of money to maintain, the politicians wait for an emergency to spend many times more money to 'fix' the problem. Then the politicians tell us to pay more taxes to cover the emergency. Why not just maintain the assets we have and stop the day to day emergency's?
This is why Trump won, hard working taxpayers are done with the political class!
I read today that those who were evacuated will not be let back in until the dam is fixed. Wow 200,000 people can't go home until the government who did nothing for 12 years gets around to fixing the problem!
"Edward Hyatt Powerplant has six generators (three for reversible pumpback operation), and a capacity of approximately 645 MW. In the bedrock beneath Oroville Dam, a cavern -large enough to hold almost two football fields- was blasted out to house Edward Hyatt Powerplant."
Hmmmmm? It sorta reminds me of the mini series “The Returned”? Saw the better version, the original, in French.
I saw one news feed where the Red Cross was saying do not bring your pets.
No, it didn't. The main spillway is eroding and they are worried about the aux spillway giving out.
The dam is fine.
I know, but what’s up with the headline?
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