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[webfact]

Spillway on California dam in danger of collapse, evacuations ordered

By Dan Whitcomb

REUTERS

 

FILE PHOTO: The Oroville reservoir level is seen very close to the top of Oroville Dam, after a series of storms led to an increased water level while a damaged spillway hampered efforts to let water out of the reservoir, in Oroville, California, U.S., February 10, 2017. REUTERS/Max Whittaker/File Photo

 

(Reuters) - Residents below the tallest dam in the United States, near Oroville in Northern California, were urgently ordered to evacuate on Sunday as a spillway appeared in danger of imminent collapse.

 

The abrupt evacuation orders came as authorities determined that the auxiliary spillway on the Lake Oroville Dam could give way at any time, unleashing floodwaters onto rural communities along the Feather River. "Immediate evacuation from the low levels of Oroville and areas downstream is ordered," the Butte County sheriff said in a statement posted on social media. "This is NOT A Drill."

 

The Oroville dam is nearly full after weeks of heavy rains and snow brought relief to the state after some four years of devastating drought.

 

The California Department of Water Resources said on Twitter at about 4:30 p.m. PST (0030 GMT Monday) that the spillway next to the dam was "predicted to fail within the next hour."

 

However it was still standing nearly three hours later as the Water Resources department said crews would use helicopters to drop rocks to fill a gouge in the spillway. Authorities were also releasing water to lower the lake's level.

 

The Yuba County Office of Emergency Services urged evacuees to travel only to the east, south or west. "DO NOT TRAVEL NORTH TOWARD OROVILLE," the department said on Twitter.

 

Evacuation centres were set up at a fairgrounds in Chico, California, about 20 miles northwest of Oroville, but roads leading out of the area were jammed as residents sought to drive out of the flood zone.

 

It was not clear how many residents were affected by the evacuation order.

 

State authorities and engineers on Thursday began carefully releasing water from the Lake Oroville Dam some 65 miles (105 km) north of Sacramento after noticing that large chunks of concrete were missing from a spillway.

 

Water levels were less than 7 feet (2 metres) from the top of the dam on Friday.

 

California Governor Jerry Brown asked the Federal Emergency Management Agency on Friday to declare a major disaster due to flooding and mudslides brought on by the storms.

 

The earthfill dam is just upstream and east of Oroville, a city of more than 16,000 people.

 

At 770 feet (230 metres) high, the structure, built between 1962 and 1968, is the tallest dam in the United States, besting the famed Hoover Dam by more than 40 feet (12 metres).

 

(Reporting by Dan Whitcomb in Los Angeles; Editing by Peter Cooney and Mary Milliken)

 

-- © Copyright Reuters 2017-02-13

[rice555]

I voted for Jerry the first time he was governor, I though that Oroville Dam was

under state control?  If it's under the Feds, it was O-bummer's neglect!

rice555 

[khwaibah]

17 minutes ago, rice555 said:

I voted for Jerry the first time he was governor, I though that Oroville Dam was

under state control?  If it's under the Feds, it was O-bummer's neglect!

rice555 

It is. Federal Government has no say or do the losers

[ubonjoe]

A post bringing politics into the discussion and the expected replies to it has been removed. The topic is about a serious situation and there no reason to bring politics into the discussion.

[thaihome]

Latest reports are the flows over the emergency spillway have stopped as the lake level was lowered by opening main spillway gates dispite damage to the main spillway. The increased flows appear are not making the damage worse.

 

Some interesting videos and ongoing updates in link

http://www.sacbee.com/news/state/california/water-and-drought/article132332499.html

TH 

[khwaibah]

1 hour ago, rice555 said:

I voted for Jerry the first time he was governor, I though that Oroville Dam was

under state control?  If it's under the Feds, it was O-bummer's neglect!

rice555 

 

The actual organizing of the Oroville Dame started in 1957 under Governor Goodwin Night. In 1961 the project kicked off for real under Governor Pat Brown. It is owned by and operate by the State of California. The Oroville Dam was completed in 1968 under Governor Ronald Reagan. The cost to build the dam in that area was apprxitmaley 2.2 billion USD. The cost of repairing the spillway is estimated today at 200 million USD. At this time the Sacramento Bee is reporting over 188,000 people have been evacuated and  displaced and the no word on lifting of the evacuation order.

 

[khwaibah]

The Latest: National Guard to Assist with Dam Repair

Posted: Feb 13, 2017 8:33 AM ICTUpdated: Feb 13, 2017 4:01 PM ICT

 

 

 

OROVILLE, Calif. (AP) - The Latest on problems with an emergency spillway at the nation's tallest dam (all times local):

11:50 p.m.

A California National Guard official says they will provide eight helicopters to assist with emergency spillway reconstruction at the nation's tallest dam located about 150 miles northeast of San Francisco.

Adjunct General David S. Baldwin said at a news conference late Sunday that the helicopters will also be available for search and rescue Monday near the Oroville Dam.

He added that the California National Guard put out a notification to all 23,000 soldiers and airmen to be ready to deploy if needed.

Baldwin says the last time an alert like Sunday's was issued for the entire California National Guard was the 1992 riots.

Evacuations for at least 188,000 people were ordered after officials warned the emergency spillway was in danger of failing and unleashing uncontrolled flood waters on towns below.

___

11:30 p.m.

Gov. Jerry Brown has issued an emergency order to fortify authorities' response to the emergency at a Northern California dam and help with evacuations.

The Oroville Dam, which located about 150 miles northeast of San Francisco, has erosion on its emergency spillway and evacuation orders were given to 188,000 people south of the dam in case the spillway failed.

Brown said late Sunday the state is directing all necessary personnel and resources to deal with a "complex and rapidly changing" situation.

His office says the Governor's Office of Emergency Services is coordinating with local and federal emergency response officials.

 

http://www.ktvn.com/story/34486141/the-latest-evacuation-order-stands-for-188000-people

[natway09]

See,,, not only Thailand has their problems for all you knockers

[craigt3365]

26 minutes ago, natway09 said:

See,,, not only Thailand has their problems for all you knockers

What's a knocker? LOL

[elgordo38]

44 minutes ago, craigt3365 said:

What's a knocker? LOL

Its something mounted on a door that you can make go Knock, Knock when you want to get the owners attention. Simple. I know it is a state problem but it would be a great show of generosity or reaching out should you know who get his infrastructure check book out. It would be an executive order of course. On a more serious note I wish them all well and with some cooperation all around the problem hopefully will be addressed. 

Edited February 13, 2017 by elgordo38

[Dumbastheycome]

Oh shock  horror!  Is this the result of  corruption, incompetence of  officials?  Did they possibly   employ an  expat Thai in  supervision? 

Give it  your  best  TVF  gurus ! Come up with any  possible plausible alternative to the   anomalies the  climate change  is screwing  up  as often as  humanity!

Leave  out   Trump as  the  blame. He has  already denied  any  responsibility! 

 

[Skywalker69]

Trump supporters are hoping Californians ‘drown’ in the Oroville Dam crisis.

 

Trump fans are calling for Californians to drown amid concerns the Oroville Dam will collapse.

 

http://thetab.com/us/2017/02/13/trump-supporters-hoping-californians-drown-oroville-dam-crisis-60483

[rice555]

10 hours ago, khwaibah said:

 

The actual organizing of the Oroville Dame started in 1957 under Governor Goodwin Night. In 1961 the project kicked off for real under Governor Pat Brown. It is owned by and operate by the State of California. The Oroville Dam was completed in 1968 under Governor Ronald Reagan. The cost to build the dam in that area was apprxitmaley 2.2 billion USD. The cost of repairing the spillway is estimated today at 200 million USD. At this time the Sacramento Bee is reporting over 188,000 people have been evacuated and  displaced and the no word on lifting of the evacuation order.

 

My dad voted for Pat, but they are expecting RAIN on Wed.

rice555

[hawker9000]

5 hours ago, Dumbastheycome said:

Oh shock  horror!  Is this the result of  corruption, incompetence of  officials?  Did they possibly   employ an  expat Thai in  supervision? 

Give it  your  best  TVF  gurus ! Come up with any  possible plausible alternative to the   anomalies the  climate change  is screwing  up  as often as  humanity!

Leave  out   Trump as  the  blame. He has  already denied  any  responsibility! 

 

LOL.  "Climate change".   Explains every thing that happens, doesn't it?  

 

Get a clue.  It's rained a lot this winter (which is a demonstrably cyclic thing in California), the dam was filled to overcapacity, and has developed a crack.  Cracks are bad things for tallest dams and get worse until fixed.  This one needs to be attended to quickly to ward off a possible collapse, hence the precautionary evacuations.  THAT'S the news here, not climate change.

[Andaman Al]

1 hour ago, Skywalker69 said:

Trump supporters are hoping Californians ‘drown’ in the Oroville Dam crisis.

 

Trump fans are calling for Californians to drown amid concerns the Oroville Dam will collapse.

 

http://thetab.com/us/2017/02/13/trump-supporters-hoping-californians-drown-oroville-dam-crisis-60483

The lunatics have taken over the asylum. Americans in their thousands are tweeting that Californians should be left to drown because they may not have voted for Trump. That is an indication of the hate and divisiveness that Trump and Bannon have created. Americans should be shamed of themselves. Truly! You have lost your identity and your nation.

[kannot]

2 hours ago, hawker9000 said:

LOL.  "Climate change".   Explains every thing that happens, doesn't it?  

 

Get a clue.  It's rained a lot this winter (which is a demonstrably cyclic thing in California), the dam was filled to overcapacity, and has developed a crack.  Cracks are bad things for tallest dams and get worse until fixed.  This one needs to be attended to quickly to ward off a possible collapse, hence the precautionary evacuations.  THAT'S the news here, not climate change.

denier  denier  denier.............yawn, i  get  bored  of it  too

[lannarebirth]

It would appear that the extreme drought which would last forever has come to an end.

[chiang mai]

12 hours ago, craigt3365 said:

What's a knocker? LOL

A single knocker is half of one pair of knockers - just trying to keep you abreast of things..

[rijb]

3 hours ago, Andaman Al said:

The lunatics have taken over the asylum. Americans in their thousands are tweeting that Californians should be left to drown because they may not have voted for Trump. That is an indication of the hate and divisiveness that Trump and Bannon have created. Americans should be shamed of themselves. Truly! You have lost your identity and your nation.

Calm yourself.    

 

The thousands of tweets are about the dam, not drowning.  Some 'lunatics' tweets are OTT.  Just like here.

 

[Andaman Al]

2 hours ago, rijb said:

Calm yourself.    

 

The thousands of tweets are about the dam, not drowning.  Some 'lunatics' tweets are OTT.  Just like here.

 

No, the tweets i have read are about leaving Californians to drown.

[khwaibah]

Feds order independent review of Oroville Dam spillway problems

http://www.sacbee.com/news/state/california/water-and-drought/article132552719.html

[otherstuff1957]

Back when I was a university student majoring in Geology I visited the Oroville Dam while on a field trip.  I remember my professor saying that there were a lot of very questionable decisions made about the placement and construction of the dam and that there was a good chance that there would be problems in the future.

 

This was back in about '78 or '79, almost 40 years ago.

[thaihome]

13 hours ago, hawker9000 said:

LOL.  "Climate change".   Explains every thing that happens, doesn't it?  

 

Get a clue.  It's rained a lot this winter (which is a demonstrably cyclic thing in California), the dam was filled to overcapacity, and has developed a crack.  Cracks are bad things for tallest dams and get worse until fixed.  This one needs to be attended to quickly to ward off a possible collapse, hence the precautionary evacuations.  THAT'S the news here, not climate change.

There are no "cracks" in the dam itself. The issue is the emergency spillway started to erode when they allowed the dam to fill where the spillway was used. The concern is that the erosion would cause the 30ft  concrete weir at the top of the emergency spillway to give way allowing the 30 ft of water behind it to flow out. This is well away from the dam itself which was never in any danger (unless it over tops). 

 

They have opened the main spillway gates dispite the damage to it. The opening does not appear to be making the damage to it worse. They are attempting to drop rip-rap (large bags of rock) into the eroded hole in the emergency spillway in case it is needed if the main spillway cannot keep up with rain forecasted for later in the week. 

TH 

 

Edited February 14, 2017 by thaihome

[rice555]

3 hours ago, thaihome said:

There are no "cracks" in the dam itself. The issue is the emergency spillway started to erode when they allowed the dam to fill where the spillway was used. The concern is that the erosion would cause the 30ft  concrete weir at the top of the emergency spillway to give way allowing the 30 ft of water behind it to flow out. This is well away from the dam itself which was never in any danger (unless it over tops). 

 

They have opened the main spillway gates dispite the damage to it. The opening does not appear to be making the damage to it worse. They are attempting to drop rip-rap (large bags of rock) into the eroded hole in the emergency spillway in case it is needed if the main spillway cannot keep up with rain forecasted for later in the week. 

TH 

 

A little OT, but dam and too full related. In Morgan Hill, S. of San Jose,

Anderson is at 99% of capacity and is only suppose to be at 60% max.

because of seismic problems. Draining as fast as the can, it will take

over two weeks to get it down below 60%.

ACofE wanted to build the Alburn Dam E of Sacto, the found a fault close

which stopped the project and save a river.

rice555

Edited February 14, 2017 by rice555
change number

[Dumbastheycome]

17 hours ago, hawker9000 said:

LOL.  "Climate change".   Explains every thing that happens, doesn't it?  

 

Get a clue.  It's rained a lot this winter (which is a demonstrably cyclic thing in California), the dam was filled to overcapacity, and has developed a crack.  Cracks are bad things for tallest dams and get worse until fixed.  This one needs to be attended to quickly to ward off a possible collapse, hence the precautionary evacuations.  THAT'S the news here, not climate change.

And  in many several  years  preceding what was the rainfall? Drought  has more  effect  than  the simple  absence of ready water. Geological  changes   can and do  occur  as  land  subsides on a massive  scale due to  dehydration well  below the  surface. A sudden influx  of  water due to  unusually  high rainfall has an added  capacity  to  aggravate changes geological profiles. California  has suffered drought of a  severity   never  before  recorded in terms  of  duration. That would  be a  clear  indication of  climate  change/variation  rather than short term  cycle. Even structures  as large  as  a hydro  dam are  vulnerable  to the extremes.

I have not  attempted  to denigrate the obvious  importance of the  need to repair this  spillway. Rather  I am simply expressing  an opinion  that  the  global reality of  climate  change which  could  be a long cycle in itself  is likely to demonstrate many  further examples  of vulnerability to the  extremes  of the  changes which in  terms  of  many  facilities have failed  to factor in.

So while  the  headline  is  about a social crisis why is there  a problem in mentioning the possibilities  in what lead  to it?   

[surangw]

about now the fool in charge of inspecting the spillway for undermining water damage is packing his bags

[rice555]

Shasta Dam is also full in N.CA and is dumping water.

rice555