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Oroville Dam situation: evacuation order lifted, spillway repair underway

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30yearsofhurt

30yearsofhurt

Member
Tovarisc said:
6:20 p.m.
Gov. Jerry Brown is asking the Trump administration for federal assistance in responding to a potential failure of a spillway at the Oroville Dam in Northern California.

In a letter to President Donald Trump released Monday, Brown asks for help for the three Northern California counties affected.

Brown says aid is needed to assist the 188,000 residents of Butte, Sutter and Yuba counties who were ordered to evacuate Sunday after concerns an emergency spillway could give way, unleashing a gush of water to downstream towns.

Brown has criticized Trump on many of his initiatives, but at a news conference Monday he lauded the president's plan to invest $1 trillion on infrastructure.

The governor says California and Washington will work "in a constructive way" to repair failing infrastructure in the state.

AP updates as things evolve: https://apnews.com/a37383d4a96b496f...n=SocialFlow&utm_source=Twitter&utm_medium=AP

Edit: Trump can get political capital with this if handled right
Click to expand...

He'll try and make someone else pay for it.
 
N

Nordicus

Member
GoldenEye 007 said:
I await his idiotic response. Or maybe he'll not be stupid. But only due to dumb reasoning because that area apparently voted for Trump.
Click to expand...
Either way, he'll try turning all attention to himself with some statement, whether it's bragging or being petty towards California
 
WhiskeyDiver

WhiskeyDiver

Member
Marysville GAF representin. I'm still in town. I haven't evacuated yet, but essential supplies and everything I want to take with me if things get worse are packed and ready to go, and cats and dog can be scooped up and put in the cars at a moment's notice as they are all inside animals.

I know it's a risk to not evacuate yet, but everything is ready to be moved and put in transportation within 15 minutes of starting to do so. In fact, I'm surprised that a lot of people besides myself haven't evacuated yet. It seemed like it was a ghost town here last night, but I'm still seeing quite a few cars driving around.

I have three TV's all set to different stations with news on them: KXTL, KCRA and whatever channel 10 is, and I have 4 tablets that receive emergency updates as well as my cell phone, so if something sudden happens, I'll know about it pretty much right away and get the fuck outta dodge without much trouble.

I have to work 7am to 3pm tomorrow which is a concern, but I live with three other people, and their places of employment are all closed down due to evacuation, so I have multiple sources to get in contact with me in case something does happen. I really hope things don't get worse, but there's still a significant chance that something bad could happen.

Again, I know I'm taking a giant risk by staying, but I'm not going to leave yet.
 
Xyrmellon

Xyrmellon

Member
Tovarisc said:
6:20 p.m.
Gov. Jerry Brown is asking the Trump administration for federal assistance in responding to a potential failure of a spillway at the Oroville Dam in Northern California.

In a letter to President Donald Trump released Monday, Brown asks for help for the three Northern California counties affected.

Brown says aid is needed to assist the 188,000 residents of Butte, Sutter and Yuba counties who were ordered to evacuate Sunday after concerns an emergency spillway could give way, unleashing a gush of water to downstream towns.

Brown has criticized Trump on many of his initiatives, but at a news conference Monday he lauded the president's plan to invest $1 trillion on infrastructure.

The governor says California and Washington will work "in a constructive way" to repair failing infrastructure in the state.

AP updates as things evolve: https://apnews.com/a37383d4a96b496f...n=SocialFlow&utm_source=Twitter&utm_medium=AP

Edit: Trump can get political capital with this if handled right
Click to expand...

Im not trying to make light of the situation, but the first thing this made me think of was the quote from Watchmen:

"And they'll look up, and shout 'Save us!' And I'll whisper, 'No.'"
 
C

Chococat

Member
Remember the good old days when Christ Christie talked shit about Obama? Sandy hit. Christie asked for help. Obama was all "I got you fam!"

That is how America is suppose to work. :(

Nice to see FEMA has a proper head, so it is doing it own thing without waiting for Cheeto.
 
Squirrel Killer

Squirrel Killer

Member
The Exploder said:
This dam keeps reminding me of that power plant, and I feel bad for the kids that live there. Even if they fix it I'm sure it'll always be in the back of their minds that it could fail again.
Click to expand...
Not to be too nitpicky, but shouldn't that be "...back of their minds that it could fail." (without the "again")? Has the dam failed yet?

I mean, plan A is for water to go through the dam's outlets, plan B is for water to go over the main spillway, and plan C is for water to go over the emergency spillway. Since plan B was damaged, they resorted to plan C, which while not ideal, is not a failure. When they saw that erosion was causing a risk that plan C would fail, they went back to plan B.

The river hasn't passed flood stage (at Yuba City it hasn't even gotten within 14 feet of flood stage.) And water going over to the west of the emergency spillway isn't a "dam failure" issue, it's a "we didn't build the damned dam big enough" issue.
 
X

XiaNaphryz

LATIN, MATRIPEDICABUS, DO YOU SPEAK IT
Photos from yesterday, looks like the flooding's been pretty much localized to the area close to the dam:

http://www.sfgate.com/news/article/Oroville-Dam-flooding-town-park-spillway-10932133.php

A series of photos taken in parks and rural country around the damaged Oroville Dam and emergency spillway on Monday depict an area that's inundated with water.

Riverbend Park that sits right on the Feather River below the dam is under water and the pictures show the top of its children's play structure peeking out of a what looks like a massive lake.

Several homes and farms near the river are also submerged.
Click to expand...

9rjNeqQ.jpg


FdqCUR2.jpg


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elKXgPA.jpg
 
S

SoldierOfLight

Member
Damn, that's crazy.

Whiskey diver, if you're living like that, why are you still there? Why not just go somewhere safe already?

What's the update as of todsy on this btw?

Edit- Nevermind I see the evacuation call has been lifted. That's a relief for now.
 
J

jyoung188

Member
Evacuation orders lowered to evacuation warning. People can return home and businesses can resume operation. Just be prepared to bounce if things go bad again.
 
S

SkyOdin

Member
Squirrel Killer said:
The river hasn't passed flood stage (at Yuba City it hasn't even gotten within 14 feet of flood stage.) And water going over to the west of the emergency spillway isn't a "dam failure" issue, it's a "we didn't build the damned dam big enough" issue.
Click to expand...
You are correct that the dam has not had a serious failure yet, however things clearly are not working as intended. The emergency spillway began to fail at only 5% of its originally intended discharge capacity. That is the major problem that has caused this situation. Keep in mind that the spillway isn't actually part of the dam, it is built on top of the mountainside that the dam is next to. The Oroville dam is already the tallest dam in the United States. It is not physically possible to build it bigger in that location.

If the emergency spillway worked as intended, there would not have been a problem. However, it failed critically the first time it was used. So, the simple problem is that there was a massive design flaw with the emergency spillway.
 
D

DUFFMCWALIN

Member
This is the first time in a LONG time where I don't want it to rain too much this week. Thats saying something. We always need more rain.
 
R

RedHill

Banned
The rain started. I can't sleep. I feel sick to my stomach.

Edit: I am shocked by how many of you are somewhat local to me
 
Thaedolus

Thaedolus

Gold Member
SkyOdin said:
You are correct that the dam has not had a serious failure yet, however things clearly are not working as intended. The emergency spillway began to fail at only 5% of its originally intended discharge capacity. That is the major problem that has caused this situation. Keep in mind that the spillway isn't actually part of the dam, it is built on top of the mountainside that the dam is next to. The Oroville dam is already the tallest dam in the United States. It is not physically possible to build it bigger in that location.

If the emergency spillway worked as intended, there would not have been a problem. However, it failed critically the first time it was used. So, the simple problem is that there was a massive design flaw with the emergency spillway.
Click to expand...

Well there was an effort put forward about a decade ago to pave it like the primary spillway, which would've probably kept it from just disintegrating the way it did, but it was denied because reasons.
 
R

RumblingRosco

Member
Tovarisc said:
Reuters U.S. News
Trump approves California request for disaster assistance after storms that led to flooding and damage: FEMA
https://twitter.com/ReutersUS/status/831668141965078530
Click to expand...

Good. Trump is 99% awful, but it's fair to give credit when he does what he should do, even if this is essentially a "no-brainer" in terms of how a President should respond. So, I'm happy to see he didn't muck this up.

Seems like this situation is resolving as well as could be expected. Hopefully they get those water levels down further before the next rains arrive.
 
M

Matt

Member
Soka said:
Good. Trump is 99% awful, but it's fair to give credit when he does what he should do, even if this is essentially a "no-brainer" in terms of how a President should respond. So, I'm happy to see he didn't muck this up.

Seems like this situation is resolving as well as could be expected. Hopefully they get those water levels down further before the next rains arrive.
Click to expand...
It's not like refusing aid was really an option. No one of consequence would support that.
 
B

Babyshams

Member
I read some things talking about the "flooding" of riverbend park.

The park was built in what can be the channel of a river. The sidewalks and structures are made with porous concrete because they know the area gets flooded. The water is supposed to go there when we need to release water.

As for some of the trailer parks along the river, those areas are also known to flood.

The feather river is not at its designed maximum even with all the water being released. The releases at the dam are not causing flooding so much as runoff and other failures like culverts taking out roads are.
 
B

Babyshams

Member
2MF said:
How can the water reach 904 feet high if the emergency spillway is at 901?
Click to expand...

Can't flow out as fast until it builds up sufficient height.

By design during a probable maximum flood the lake could get to 917' with 350,000 CFS flowing out of the emergency spillway
 
H

HTupolev

Member
Razgriz-Specter said:
So everything going alright there currently?
Click to expand...
The danger isn't imminent, if that's what you mean. Despite running the main spillway constantly to draw the lake, the sinkhole on the spillway still hasn't crept higher up. Despite rain since Wednesday night, lake levels continue to fall; they're currently around 40 feet below the top:

http://cdec.water.ca.gov/cgi-progs/queryDaily?ORO

The next major concern is that one of the upcoming rains is expected to be warm and cause a significant amount of snowpack melt to flow into the lake.
 
R

Razgriz-Specter

Member
HTupolev said:
The danger isn't imminent, if that's what you mean. Despite running the main spillway constantly to draw the lake, the sinkhole on the spillway still hasn't crept higher up. Despite rain since Wednesday night, lake levels continue to fall; they're currently around 40 feet below the top:

http://cdec.water.ca.gov/cgi-progs/queryDaily?ORO

The next major concern is that one of the upcoming rains is expected to be warm and cause a significant amount of snowpack melt to flow into the lake.
Click to expand...

Thanks, was just wondering as I know it was supposed to start raining again sometimes.
 
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