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2017-02-13 -Signs, Portents, and the Weather-
Fearing collapse of emergency spillway at Oroville Dam, Oroville evacuated
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Posted by Fred 2017-02-13 00:00|| || Front Page|| [10325 views ]  Top

#1  130,000 urged to evacuate
Posted by 3dc 2017-02-13 01:06||   2017-02-13 01:06|| Front Page Top

#2  Brown asks Trump for Fed Funds - clean up
Will the "sanctuary state" bit play in this game?
Posted by 3dc 2017-02-13 01:16||   2017-02-13 01:16|| Front Page Top

#3 as of earlier this am, national guard are on standby and there has been some repair work on the emergency spillway

basically, they need lots of boulders placed on the spillway
Posted by lord garth 2017-02-13 09:10||   2017-02-13 09:10|| Front Page Top

#4 FOX news sez 'much repair work has been done, officials are encouraged, some people are being permitted to return. More rain coming Thurs and Fri.'
Posted by Besoeker 2017-02-13 09:31||   2017-02-13 09:31|| Front Page Top

#5 #2 - Trunk should cite Obean's response to Texas' request for federal moneys to cover a disaster.
Posted by Procopius2k 2017-02-13 10:17||   2017-02-13 10:17|| Front Page Top

#6 Good work Brownie.
Posted by Shipman  2017-02-13 11:23||   2017-02-13 11:23|| Front Page Top

#7 The moral of the story is: Don't build your house in a flood plain...especially if the dam was built in California.
Posted by Abu Uluque 2017-02-13 11:38||   2017-02-13 11:38|| Front Page Top

#8 This is just part of the plan to release water for the delta smelt, right?
Posted by Rambler in Virginia  2017-02-13 12:19||   2017-02-13 12:19|| Front Page Top

#9 Just did some googling of the Oroville Dam. It's built on the Feather River which, it turns out, is the main tributary to the Sacramento River. The Sacramento River flows right through, you guessed it, Sacramento which is the California state capitol. So none other that Moonbeam himself and all the loonie legislators and bureaucrats are directly downstream from the Oroville Dam. Now I've heard about draining a swamp but I wonder if flushing it might have the same effect.
Posted by Abu Uluque 2017-02-13 12:20||   2017-02-13 12:20|| Front Page Top

#10 You're thinking Augean Stables, Abu?
Posted by g(r)omgoru 2017-02-13 12:26||   2017-02-13 12:26|| Front Page Top

#11 I come for the civil, well reasoned discourse and stay for the Greek mythology.
Posted by Abu Uluque 2017-02-13 13:28||   2017-02-13 13:28|| Front Page Top

#12 Gracias.
Posted by g(r)omgoru 2017-02-13 13:35||   2017-02-13 13:35|| Front Page Top

#13 the emergency spillway seems to be several hundred feet long and the damage seems to be at least 30' wide

that will require somewhere near 200-400 truck loads of boulders - seems like they really ought to be able to take care of that as today, tomorrow and most of Wed will have good weather

I don't know how they could fix the regular spillway quickly because they are using it to remove water as fast as possible from the reservoir.

unfortunately, the Feb 16-20 storms look to be significant rain events for the basin
Posted by lord garth 2017-02-13 13:50||   2017-02-13 13:50|| Front Page Top

#14 that will require somewhere near 200-400 truck loads of boulders - seems like they really ought to be able to take care of that as today, tomorrow and most of Wed will have good weather.

Funding may be the problem. If I owned a trucking company, I'd be asking for up-front payment. Brown is currently begging for federal funds. You know the old saying about 'money talks'... the other stuff walks.
Posted by Besoeker 2017-02-13 14:01||   2017-02-13 14:01|| Front Page Top

#15 Local TV coverage of the situation at the Oroville Dam in California http://bit.ly/2kILYnX
Posted by newc 2017-02-13 14:40||   2017-02-13 14:40|| Front Page Top

#16 I underestimated the length of the emergency spillway- its 1700' long

also, the damaged area next to the spillway seems to be more like 100' to 200'

so they need thousands of truckloads of boulders, not hundreds
Posted by lord garth 2017-02-13 14:43||   2017-02-13 14:43|| Front Page Top

#17 Lord Garth, that's the main spillway. The emergency spillway starts just to the north-west and ends near the corner of the boat ramp parking lot. See this google maps picture.
Posted by Bob 2017-02-13 16:35||   2017-02-13 16:35|| Front Page Top

#18 Also see this LA Times article.
Posted by Bob 2017-02-13 16:37||   2017-02-13 16:37|| Front Page Top

#19 Gonna have a crack in Butte County?
Posted by swksvolFF 2017-02-13 17:15||   2017-02-13 17:15|| Front Page Top

#20 Funding may be the problem. If I owned a trucking company, I'd be asking for up-front payment.

Word this morning was that they were going to helo it in and dump it.
Posted by Pappy 2017-02-13 17:29||   2017-02-13 17:29|| Front Page Top

#21 That's an awful lot of hydro-electricity going to waste.

It seems the dam is used for pumped electricity storage. I wonder how recently it was used for this, and how much the water level was increased.
Posted by phil_b 2017-02-13 17:33||   2017-02-13 17:33|| Front Page Top

#22 Unlike conventional power systems, renewable power isn't matched to demand, and there are frequent large surpluses. Which get 'stored' in pumped hydro dams like this one. It would not surprise me if this was a contributing cause of the current situation.
Posted by phil_b 2017-02-13 17:38||   2017-02-13 17:38|| Front Page Top

#23 The delta smelt will get their fair share, right? That's the most important thing. /sarcasm
Posted by Rambler in Virginia 2017-02-13 18:36||   2017-02-13 18:36|| Front Page Top

#24 When the dam washes away, does that mean the drought is over?
Posted by SteveS 2017-02-13 18:54||   2017-02-13 18:54|| Front Page Top

#25 If it keeps on raining, the levee's going to break...
Posted by Crusader 2017-02-13 20:00||   2017-02-13 20:00|| Front Page Top

#26 Mods, the image is a possible Trojan horse. File name is way too long and can possibly contain malware.
Posted by Seeking cure for ignorance 2017-02-13 20:35||   2017-02-13 20:35|| Front Page Top

#27 Rantburgers, while I appreciate the opportunity to poke fun at the incompetent government of California, this is a problem.

The first picture in this news article shows the real an imminent danger to the damn dam.

The erosion on emergency spillway is about 50 feet from busting the dam. This erosion was due to less than a day of use. That means 100 feet of water on Oroville, and 10 on Yuba City.

It is going to rain 4" in two days. This thing is an unequivocal emergency situation. Every single truck in California needs to be putting rocks and fill into this hole. Right now. If the water ever gets up over the emergency spillway before it is filled, there are just a few hours before something like a cubic kilometer of water comes down stream. And 50 more if the dam itself is compromised by further erosion.

Keep these unfortunate folks in your prayers.



Posted by rammer 2017-02-13 21:34||   2017-02-13 21:34|| Front Page Top

#28 This is red state part of CA, not that it should make any difference. Been tracking this since Friday. It has not been fun, nor funny in the least.

This has been handled very professionally. Support is important right now
Posted by newc 2017-02-13 22:40||   2017-02-13 22:40|| Front Page Top

#29 One Fire truck can pump 1,000 gallons a minute. Some trucks more. That is 60,000 gallons an hour.

Every fire department in the region should send at least one truck to the area as mutual aid in getting as much water out of that body of water behind the dam as possible.

Pumpers (what firemen call their trucks) should stay during the two day rain continuously pumping.

This is something only firemen know about so people should get the word out about this approach.
Posted by Daffy Platypus2681 2017-02-13 23:00||   2017-02-13 23:00|| Front Page Top

23:56 Besoeker
23:51 rammer
23:38 Besoeker
23:37 Tennessee
23:32 Rex Mundi
23:00 Daffy Platypus2681
22:40 newc
22:23 Sock Puppet of Doom
22:20 Sock Puppet of Doom
22:18 Sock Puppet of Doom
22:04 rammer
21:54 rammer
21:52 USN, Ret.
21:45 USN, Ret.
21:41 USN, Ret.
21:35 USN, Ret.
21:35 49 Pan
21:34 rammer
20:37 phil_b
20:37 john frum
20:36 john frum
20:36 john frum
20:35 Seeking cure for ignorance
20:35 john frum









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