Aerial View of Oroville Dam and its Damaged Spillway

[Leyawiin]

Dept. of Water Resources discovered damage to the concrete spillway leading from Lake Oroville to the Feather River. With all the rain we've been having there was no choice but to continue using it resulting in huge chunks of concrete breaking away and the surrounding hillside eroding. The dam (tallest in the US) is structurally sound, but its still unnerving. The water keeps rising and even with them using a portion of the spillway's former capacity the lake is still rising. Tonight at midnight they estimate that the lake will fill to capacity and the water start going down an uncontrolled emergency spillway off to the right off the damaged one. Basically, its a dirt hillside that has never been needed to be used in 49 years. The erosion from that will make the Feather River into an even bigger mess (its usually dark blue/green, not reddish brown). The state fish hatchery is getting filled with mud and millions of young salmon are probably going to die. I don't think I will have to worry about flooding at my house, but I do have a bag packed just in case I have to evacuate. We still have a couple more months of wet weather ahead (and are at about 175% of normal rainfall so far).

The really stupid thing is that even though the National Weather Service says we are out of the drought, the politicians in Sacramento (Gov. Moonbeam and Co.) refuse to lift urban drought restrictions. So yeah, can't water your lawn, but half the state is washing away.

 

[BoomerD]

We were still in Modesto when this happened:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=94sAz3gZciQ

 

[Leyawiin]

I was raised in Oakdale.

 

[BoomerD]

I was raised in Oakdale.

Cowboy capital of the world...

 

[dainthomas]

Amazing what a difference a year makes. We were down in Yosemite last year and everything was bone dry. It's great to see an end to the drought finally.

 

[Thebobo]

Dept. of Water Resources discovered damage to the concrete spillway leading from Lake Oroville to the Feather River. With all the rain we've been having there was no choice but to continue using it resulting in huge chunks of concrete breaking away and the surrounding hillside eroding. The dam (tallest in the US) is structurally sound, but its still unnerving. The water keeps rising and even with them using a portion of the spillway's former capacity the lake is still rising. Tonight at midnight they estimate that the lake will fill to capacity and the water start going down an uncontrolled emergency spillway off to the right off the damaged one. Basically, its a dirt hillside that has never been needed to be used in 49 years. The erosion from that will make the Feather River into an even bigger mess (its usually dark blue/green, not reddish brown). The state fish hatchery is getting filled with mud and millions of young salmon are probably going to die. I don't think I will have to worry about flooding at my house, but I do have a bag packed just in case I have to evacuate. We still have a couple more months of wet weather ahead (and are at about 175% of normal rainfall so far).

The really stupid thing is that even though the National Weather Service says we are out of the drought, the politicians in Sacramento (Gov. Moonbeam and Co.) refuse to lift urban drought restrictions. So yeah, can't water your lawn, but half the state is washing away.

Damn stay safe dude that's a lot of water and if there were ever a full breach you could have water higher then ever imagined due to debris clogging the river.

 

[imported_tajmahal]

It's a damn shame, it's the tallest earthen dam in the country and lack of maintenance was a contributing factor. The hatchery downstream is in serious trouble and they'll probably only save about 1/2 the fry. Scary.

 

[BoomerD]

Dept. of Water Resources discovered damage to the concrete spillway leading from Lake Oroville to the Feather River. With all the rain we've been having there was no choice but to continue using it resulting in huge chunks of concrete breaking away and the surrounding hillside eroding. The dam (tallest in the US) is structurally sound, but its still unnerving. The water keeps rising and even with them using a portion of the spillway's former capacity the lake is still rising. Tonight at midnight they estimate that the lake will fill to capacity and the water start going down an uncontrolled emergency spillway off to the right off the damaged one. Basically, its a dirt hillside that has never been needed to be used in 49 years. The erosion from that will make the Feather River into an even bigger mess (its usually dark blue/green, not reddish brown). The state fish hatchery is getting filled with mud and millions of young salmon are probably going to die. I don't think I will have to worry about flooding at my house, but I do have a bag packed just in case I have to evacuate. We still have a couple more months of wet weather ahead (and are at about 175% of normal rainfall so far).

The really stupid thing is that even though the National Weather Service says we are out of the drought, the politicians in Sacramento (Gov. Moonbeam and Co.) refuse to lift urban drought restrictions. So yeah, can't water your lawn, but half the state is washing away.

Unfortunately, there has been SO MUCH ground water pumped out of the aquifers that the "drought" won't be over for years...Yes, this year's storms have replenished the reservoirs, but the aquifers won't recharge unless the region gets several years of normal to above normal rainfall.

 

[theeedude]

Engineers are on the problem.

 

[MrSquished]

Why isn't there video instead of just pics? Sheesh.

 

[Udgnim]

 

[imported_tajmahal]

They're also saving some of the salmon fry in the Thermalito afterbay area down below the dam, at least mitigating some of the environmental damages.

 

[MongGrel]

They're also saving some of the salmon fry in the Thermalito afterbay area down below the dam, at least mitigating some of the environmental damages.

I thought you were one of the guys screaming support for Trump trying to abolish the EPA etc ?

You should figure out wtf you are supporting someday.

 

[imported_tajmahal]

I thought you were one of the guys screaming support for Trump trying to abolish the EPA etc ?

You should figure out wtf you are supporting someday.

That's because you have no understanding of my issues with the EPA. It's about the bureaucracy extending itself into areas it has no mandate to enter and not doing the job they're required to do by law. Gold King Mine as one example and here for another example
http://synthstuff.com/mt/archives/2016/02/oh-hell-no---th.html

http://www.azcentral.com/story/news...ill-criminal-case-angering-senators/92359796/

 

[K1052]

That's because you have no understanding of my issues with the EPA. It's about the bureaucracy extending itself into areas it has no mandate to enter and not doing the job they're required to do by law. Gold King Mine as one example and here for another example
http://synthstuff.com/mt/archives/2016/02/oh-hell-no---th.html

http://www.azcentral.com/story/news...ill-criminal-case-angering-senators/92359796/

Mine blowouts of acid discharge are not really infrequent occurrences. If the EPA did nothing it probably would have happened eventually just in a different spot when the water found a weak point. People should be angry at mining companies that have left us this problem to deal with. Maybe the new EPA will tell mining states to fuck off and pay for/implement their own remediations in the name of smaller government.

 

[Leyawiin]

The emergency spillway started flowing for the first time ever at 8AM. Its basically a concrete lip pouring over a dirt hillside. They think it will have to be used for up to 50 hours before the outflows are greater than inflows. They keep telling us the river is lower than it was in 2006 or the El Nino of 1997 and no evacuations are ordered. Beautiful, sunny mild day. Kind of forget whats going on a few miles way. I still think its weird they'd build one of the biggest dams in the country six miles up a canyon from a town this size (about 25,000). I don't think there's a dam in the US like that anywhere near a populated area other than this.

http://www.sacbee.com/news/local/article132154774.html

 

[imported_tajmahal]

The emergency spillway started flowing for the first time ever at 8AM. Its basically a concrete lip pouring over a dirt hillside. They think it will have to be used for up to 50 hours before the outflows are greater than inflows. They keep telling us the river is lower than it was in 2006 or the El Nino of 1997 and no evacuations are ordered. Beautiful, sunny mild day. Kind of forget whats going on a few miles way. I still think its weird they'd build one of the biggest dams in the country six miles up a canyon from a town this size (about 25,000). I don't think there's a dam in the US like that anywhere near a populated area other than this.

http://www.sacbee.com/news/local/article132154774.html

Only about 5,000 people lived in Oroville in 1959 when the dam was started. Pat Brown, the father of Jerry Brown was the big initiator of the dam, completed under Gov. Reagan in 1967. It's a very interesting project, people sent dirt from around the world to be placed in the dam. It was the second to last major water storage dam/reservoir built in California.

 

[Paratus]

Only about 5,000 people lived in Oroville in 1959 when the dam was started. Pat Brown, the father of Jerry Brown was the big initiator of the dam, completed under Gov. Reagan in 1967. It's a very interesting project, people sent dirt from around the world to be placed in the dam. It was the second to last major water storage dam/reservoir built in California.

Wow this was an informative post where you came off as knowledgeable and refrained from insulting anyone.

 

[imported_tajmahal]

Wow this was an informative post where you came off as knowledgeable and refrained from insulting anyone.

A little known fact is that part of fund raising for the dam is that they sold packets of flower seeds for the face of the dam in the late 60's for $1 each, but since the face of the dam gets no water, all the seeds died.

 

[K1052]

The state is saying the emergency spillway structure will likely fail soon. Downstream evacuations have been ordered.

 

[imported_tajmahal]

The state is saying the emergency spillway structure will likely fail soon. Downstream evacuations have been ordered.

Yes, most the downstream areas are evacuating to the north. They are still trying to get a handle on it.

 

[K1052]

Looks like they said fuck the main spillway damage and opened all the gates to reduce lake level so the emergency spillway will stop flowing.

 

[imported_tajmahal]

Looks like they said fuck the main spillway damage and opened all the gates to reduce lake level so the emergency spillway will stop flowing.

It's going to be a knife edged situation for the next few days/weeks. Just the amount of water they've been releasing is causing flooding. Any other failures could compound the problems.

 

[IronWing]

Any more dams downstream?

 

[Humpy]

A couple of years ago Lake Orville was in the news because it was going dry.

Crazy.