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Oroville Dam situation: evacuation order lifted, spillway repair underway

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fauxtrot said:
Anyone know of an app that will notify me if evacuations are called for my county? I'm going to be going to sleep in a few hours and I'd like to know if an evacuation for my area happens overnight so I don't wake up in the morning underwater.
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I know phones nowadays have the alert systems on them (usually we see AMBER alerts on them). Hopefully they are pushing them out for evacuations too?
 
I'm in Sacramento County, so it's unlikely they'll need to evacuate us and the water wouldn't reach us for another day or so, I'd assume... but I'd like to not jam up the freeway when it's absolutely critical to get to higher ground, so I'll look into our notification system here.
 
NihonTiger90 said:
... Really? They're wishing for death and destruction just because it's California? I guess I shouldn't be surprised.



Emeryville is near Oakland, your mom's safe.
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She's in San Francisco.

Well she works there but lives in Emeryville for now

Edit; yeah she'll be fine, thanks!
 
It amazes me how many people fail to prepare. I understand that officials have things somewhat under control, and they're not going to intentionally cause mass destruction, but humans generally don't have a great record of controlling mother nature.

We have a few days of good weather, but that is not enough time to do anything about the state of that dam. We're gonna be right back here on Wed/Thurs as the rains head in. The more they pour out the main spillway, the more damage and erosion to that hillside. I'd be making some long weekend plans on Wednesday to stay the heck out of that area.

Now that everyone's had a emergency drill run. I suggest taking the time now to properly prepare for an evacuation. Gather all important documents and store them in Ziploc bags. Keep the gas tank full, and a spare container if you have one. Keep a suitcase of clothes in the car. Have a bag handy for all medications that are needed. And anything else that you may need in a handy, ready to go spot when they make the call.
 
cruets said:
Trump supporters wishing the worst for Oroville on Twitter but Oroville voted Trump.
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I was trying to watch the evacuation press conference live stream and periscope comments were just a stream of "I hope all the liberals die", Pepes, r/the_donald and "cucks"
 
Corran Horn said:
Another visual representation of the Dam/spillways. Emergency spillway and the area just left of it is having the issues right now.
PZpyJvQ.gif
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Thank you for this. I was starting to get frustrated at not understanding what the hell the issue was. People kept saying the emergency spillway but kept showing pictures of the damaged spillway.
 
They're calling the the Guard in for emergency duty to evacuate. My pops just got called out.

Yeah, this is getting serious
 
Lot of Stockton is worked up about this. We're at the bottom of the bowl, so that water is on it's way here, if the next stop doesn't hold it.
 
why is this happening? was the dam damaged in some way? or just didn't have enough funds allocated for repair and maintenance?
 
sazzy said:
why is this happening? was the dam damaged in some way? or just didn't have enough funds allocated for repair and maintenance?
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most dams don't have enough funds for repair and thus aren't in great shape... but mostly... california has gotten a ton of rain in the last few weeks.
 
Trulyworth said:
Thank you for this. I was starting to get frustrated at not understanding what the hell the issue was. People kept saying the emergency spillway but kept showing pictures of the damaged spillway.
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No problem. Here is another image
kPiPRvZl.png



Being told that its not going over the emergency spillway anymore so thats good.



sazzy said:
why is this happening? was the dam damaged in some way? or just didn't have enough funds allocated for repair and maintenance?
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Dam itself isnt damaged. The spillway pathway got damaged and then the emergency spillway (which has never been used before) starting corroding on the ground.
 
sazzy said:
why is this happening? was the dam damaged in some way? or just didn't have enough funds allocated for repair and maintenance?
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As I understand it the root cause of this situation is the primary spillway being unusable when the dam was almost full. If they were able to safely use it they could have just lowered the water level. At the same time heavy rain is the most likely time for a sinkhole to form so it makes me wonder why this was the backup plan in the first place.
 
sazzy said:
why is this happening? was the dam damaged in some way? or just didn't have enough funds allocated for repair and maintenance?
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The main spillway was damaged, so they weren't able to output enough water to keep the water from flowing over in the emergency spillway.

However as with the initial damage to the spillway being erosion due to the recent weather,
the emergency spillway immediately started to suffer erosion which could lead to a mass failure of that section.
 
I take it they just decided "fuck it" on not further damaging the main spillway so they could relieve the over topping on the emergency spillway? Probably a good choice.
 
sc0la said:
I take it they just decided "fuck it" on not further damaging the main spillway so they could relieve the over topping on the emergency spillway? Probably a good choice.
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Its still causing massive corrosion, but at least it's further down the hill and away from the retaining wall. It'll be one hell of a clean up come summer time. If it makes it to that point. We're about to have another week of rain in just a few days.
 
I'm supposed to go to Sacramento from Redding on Monday afternoon via I-5 for a work thing. What can I expect? They haven't said anything about cancelling it yet and I'm not really finding much information for anything that far from the immediate evacuation areas.

I appreciate any insight and more importantly, please stay safe out there, my fellow NorCalGAF dudes.
 
Eye for an Eye said:
Its still causing massive corrosion, but at least it's further down the hill and away from the retaining wall. It'll be one hell of a clean up come summer time. If it makes it to that point. We're about to have another week of rain in just a few days.
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Well yeah. But catestrophic failure at the emergency spillway has to be worse. Second only to failure of the dam itself.
 
Kalnoky said:
I'm supposed to go to Sacramento from Redding on Monday afternoon via I-5 for a work thing. What can I expect? They haven't said anything about cancelling it yet and I'm not really finding much information for anything that far from the immediate evacuation areas.

I appreciate any insight and more importantly, please stay safe out there, my fellow NorCalGAF dudes.
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I-5 doesn't go by Oroville, so you should be fine, might be an increase in traffic.

Drive safe.
 
Kalnoky said:
I'm supposed to go to Sacramento from Redding on Monday afternoon via I-5 for a work thing. What can I expect? They haven't said anything about cancelling it yet and I'm not really finding much information for anything that far from the immediate evacuation areas.

I appreciate any insight and more importantly, please stay safe out there, my fellow NorCalGAF dudes.
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I-5 will be fine, it doesnt go through these areas. 99 and 70 I would avoid north of sacramento (yuba city area).


pseudocaesar said:
Is there a live stream or more current photos of the damage?
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http://www.krcrtv.com/krcr-news-channel-7-live-stream
or
http://www.kcra.com/nowcast

no new pictures since its night time. Waiting till daylight to see what actual damage happened.
 
Expecting this kind of thing to become more common. Dams and other core infrastructure are treated as something that's "done" when it comes to budgets and (lack of maintenance), but most of ours are really old.

And governments don't address it until it's a crisis, at which point it's too late. Good luck to everybody in the affected areas, and hopefully the spillways hold up until everybody's out of harm's way.
 
Kalnoky said:
Yeah, guess I'm more worried about the situation escalating and getting bad in the Sacramento area while I'm there overnight. Hope everybody stays safe.
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Sacramento 'should' be fine. There is a few diverts before Sacramento river reaches the city. Plus if anything truly bad happened. It will take some time before it comes to Sacramento so that will give the flood prone areas time to get out of there.
 
Erosion.....corrosion is something like acid damage.

The problem here is the force of the out flowing water down the emergency spillway has eaten away at the dirt hillside far FAR faster than estimated.
 
Just saw someone posted in a live reddit thread that they need to lower the lake level by still another 50' for the upcoming storms at the end of this week. My cousins live in Plumas Lake and my best friend's family live in Marysville. All are out and staying with family but man this might take a while to resolve... stay safe everyone.
 
I live in Sutter right at the base of the Sutter Buttes, luckily out of the flood plain but damn this is scary. Got family in from Marysville and Yuba City who had to evacuate staying at my place tonight. Stay safe out there.
 
http://www.sacbee.com/news/local/article132356269.html

The Sacramento Bee spoke with Joe Countryman, a member of the Central Valley Flood Protection Board and a former engineer with the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers ​for context on the engineering issues in the Oroville​ Dam crisis. Here​ is an edited transcript of the interview.

​The Bee: What options does the state have given the situation at Oroville Dam?

​Countryman: You have very limited options. The only one right now is to increase the outflow from the dam.

The Bee: ​They have ramped up water releases to 100,000 cubic feet per second down the damaged spillway. What was the highest the main spillway ever ran​?

Countryman: ​In 1997 (during massive storms) it ran at 160,000 cfs.

The Bee: ​The dam is normally rated to handle that​, right?

Countryman: The leve​es that provid​e flood protection downstream ​can handle 150,000​ cfs​

The Bee: If the top ​of the emergency spillway ​goes, is that basically dam failure?

Countryman: ItÂ’s not going to be the (main) embankment failure, but itÂ’s a failure. If it does happen, thereÂ’s nothing saying that the ground is going to stay where it is. That force of water will start tearing that hill apart​,​ and it could eat back into the reservoir and drain the reservoir.

The Bee: If that happens​,​ is it a “who knows what will happen?” situation?

Countryman: Yeah, itÂ’s speculation, but most of the speculation would be itÂ’s not good. It will be a helluva mess downstream. I think theyÂ’re taking the right action. I think between now and Thursday​,​ when the next storm arrives, they need to get the reservoir down as low as they can. Tomorrow, they need to start grouting the hell out of that embankment to try to shut off where that leak is.

​The Bee: Say the top 30 feet of the emergency spillway does break off​,​ and it sends a pressure wave down the system​. That would raise concerns of levees failing in Oroville and other towns along the Feather River channel. ​Would it cause a big risk in Sacramento?

​Countryman: ​ItÂ’s hard to say​, because there is a lot of volume in the floodplain, but once the levee burst​​ most of that water is going to be leaving the river and spreading across the land. With the Yolo Bypass and everything​, my gut tell tells me that Sacramento probably doesnÂ’t have major concern.

The Bee: But Marysville, Oroville, Live Oak​? The Highway 70 corridor?

Countryman: ThatÂ’s gone. IÂ’ll tell you right now thatÂ’s gone. If they lose that 30 feet thatÂ’s gone.

​The Bee: What happens tomorrow?

Countryman: ​YouÂ’ve got this dilemma: YouÂ’ve got a broken spillway that you donÂ’t really want to be putting large flows down. But you donÂ’t have any alternatives now. Now, youÂ’ve got to put more water through it​, and youÂ’re endangering (that structure). Tomorrow, when you wake up and we can get a good view of it​, you may see that those gates are in trouble. If theyÂ’re not – if theyÂ’re making this 100,000 cfs release (and) the gates are in a safe condition – then weÂ’re in a pretty good position to ride it out.

The Bee: That means you can lean on the spillway full throttle?

Countryman: Exactly. And the channels can handle it. They were afraid to open it up because they didnÂ’t know the broken spillway could handle it. Now theyÂ’ve been forced to open it up, and tomorrow weÂ’l​l​ find out if it worked.
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The Bee: But Marysville, Oroville, Live Oak​? The Highway 70 corridor?

Countryman: ThatÂ’s gone. IÂ’ll tell you right now thatÂ’s gone. If they lose that 30 feet thatÂ’s gone.
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:(
 
​The Bee: But Marysville, Oroville, Live Oak​? The Highway 70 corridor?

Countryman: That's gone. I'll tell you right now that's gone. If they lose that 30 feet that's gone.
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The bluntness in that final response is scary. I mean... gone?
 
Hoping for good news at the break of dawn. Good or bad, I wish the crews the best at working their magic by Thursday before the storms come in force.
 
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