Anyone in Oroville, CA?

[SJG]

Situation there doesn't look good......

[Mazderati]

Damn.

[SkiBall]

Yikes! That could be a very bad situation. CA getting both sides of the water extremes, but this could be catastrophic.

[LegoSkier]

That went south really fast. Thursday: oh it will be fine. Won't even need the espillway. Saturday: e spillway will be used but no problem. Now: shit is back erroding and the concrete lip might fail. Everybody downstream gtfo now.
Hope the thing holds.

[SJG]

I was shocked that authorities did absolutely nothing when that spillway was failing. Do they think that it's not going to rain or snow any more this season or something?

[nickwm21]

I was shocked that authorities did absolutely nothing when that spillway was failing. Do they think that it's not going to rain or snow any more this season or something?

I'm sorry. But what could you do? Magically build a new spillway with full load on the dam over the course a a few days?

[Viva]

If the Feather River feeds into the Sac, this could be a good thing.

[2FUNKY]

I'm sorry. But what could you do? Magically build a new spillway with full load on the dam over the course a a few days?

They knew of the issue clear back in 2013 yet chose to ignore it.

[BmillsSkier]

Damn.

You didn't hold anything back with this comment. Kudos.

[SJG]

I guess they thought the drought would last forever, eh?

They knew of the issue clear back in 2013 yet chose to ignore it.

[SkiBall]

With reservoirs being as low as they have been prior to this winter, if there was a need to re-build and didn't, there should be hell to pay.

[Soups]

I was amazed since day one that they weren't worried about the dam structure after seeing the erosion...its an earthen dam

[Mazderati]

You didn't hold anything back with this comment. Kudos.

Comments are really best when not watered down.

[irul&ublo]

I guess they thought the drought would last forever, eh?

Didn't you know? There was no drought. Trump said so

[BmillsSkier]

Comments are really best when not watered down.

Especially if you're looking for a cascade of replies.

Didn't you know? There was no drought. Trump said so

In all fairness Al Gore said this would be a Mars-scape by 10 years ago.

[DBdude]

that is a huge dam. i can't imagine that thing failing

[snapt]

If Oroville goes there will be a lot of meth labs in trouble.

[huckbucket]

Why not just let the primary spillway continue to erode and then fix it later?

[LegoSkier]

Why not just let the primary spillway continue to erode and then fix it later?

That might compromise the gates eventually. From what I have read the main spillway can go up to 200k+ CFS but the levies downstream can only handle 150k. They were afraid the hole would back erode and compromise the gates causing uncontrolled release. So they are stuck between the chance of damaging the gates on the main spillway and damaging the rim on the e-spillway.

[hutash]

Dam

FIFY

Damn that dam

[BmillsSkier]

FIFY

Damn that dam

Pretty sure your meter needs adjusting.

[snapt]

Not that I would know...but the Butte county drunk tank was in Oroville, so where are they housing the drunk in public, minor in possession, open container Chico State kids. Wonder if they're getting a free pass right now

[nickwm21]

The Butte county drunk tank was in Oroville, so where are they housing the open container Chico State kids.

Can confirm....

If the Feather River feeds into the Sac, this could be a good thing.

It does. Just north of SMF.

Sounds like they have it under control... they are diverting the flow from the emergency spillway back to the normal one, the fucked up concrete one. Water is going to get under that concrete and completely destroy the thing... but rather sacrifice that normal spillway for the sake of the entire structure than risk a flash flood through the state capitol.

[FormerKnuckleDragger]

If Oroville goes there will be a lot of meth labs in trouble.

All the way into Sacramento, even. The levees that protect much of Sacramento are already under considerable stress. The Yolo Bypass, a flood control device on the Sacramento River (which would be the main downstream recipient of a dam failure) has a max capacity of 600,000 cfs, and it's more or less full right now, even after 3 days of sunshine. We've got a warm storm (temps in the mid-40s at 6,000 feet) incoming on Wednesday/Thursday, with a healthy snowpack to feed into Oroville.

People in LA better start saving water right now. They may not have much of a supply come summer.

[Dantheman]

Why not just let the primary spillway continue to erode and then fix it later?

That's basically what they're doing. Amazingly, the main spillway failure seems to be more or less stable for now. Hopefully it stays that way because this could get so bad so fast if it doesn't. Dramatic aerial footage below, from the Tahoe thread: