DAM! (in California)

[CrimsonFox]

Northern California dam about to burst.

1000s told to flee.

http://www.cnbc.com/2017/02/12/evacu...ornia-dam.html

Hope no one here is in its path.

[CrimsonFox]

Some newslinks from nearby

Evacuation orders issued for low levels of Oroville


https://www.facebook.com/KCRA3/video...c_ref=NEWSFEED

That traffic....

scary

[CrimsonFox]

So scary all those people driving right over the water on that bridge. Hope they make it out before it gets any higher

[SirFozzie]

It's not the dam, but a spillway for the dam

[Vince, Pt. II]

130,000+ people have been told to evacuate from as far south as 20 miles from the dam. If there is a major failure, there will be a tremendous impact.

[Vince, Pt. II]

The issue is that the lake is overflowing, causing water to go over the spillway; it's causing earth that was not intended to be wet to have water run over it, causing some large-scale erosion. They have nearly doubled the amount of water they are releasing through the dam in an effort to curb the overflow, and are currently dropping boulders (via helicopter) to stymie the flow of water over the spillway.

[AENeuman]

Looks like they dodged the flood. Released enough that it's no longer spilling over- and into collapsing emergency spillway.

Feel for those evacuated, seems like it was about an hour away from breach. Then it was gridlock and wait. With more rain Wednesday I fear this going to repeat itself.

Also, crazy how fickle our water supply is. Years and years of drought and then a couple feet of rain this season and... near catastrophe.

[CrimsonFox]

Saw one place that said the spillway damage was caused by a sinkhole. Those things scare me. Becoming somewhat common howadays.

[rjolley]

No evacuation orders here, but it's not far away. Keeping an eye on it, but they don't expect it to impact closer to Sacramento.

[nilodor]

I've been part of a few dam safety reviews (on the geotech side), I'll be interested in hearing about what they feel is the root cause. The comment, a hole going back into the dam, that caused the issue on the main spillway is a red flag (see Teton Dam). Although my gut says that it is related to water levels being very low in previous years, then getting a very rapid rise in reservoir levels.

[Vince, Pt. II]

There's an article making the rounds that this emergency spillway was identified as needing an upgrade a decade ago, but it had been ignored.

[albionmoonlight]

Originally Posted by Vince, Pt. II

There's an article making the rounds that this emergency spillway was identified as needing an upgrade a decade ago, but it had been ignored.

One of the things that came out after Katrina was how levee maintenance had been ignored for years. The money was always in the budget . . . and it always got cut for more immediate needs.

Hopefully, this near miss kicks some folks in the butt. It would be nice if y'all could get your waterwalls fixed before the disaster strikes.

[Warhammer]

I wouldn't say it got cut, just re-appropriated. One of my best accounts right now was having money taken out of their funds and appropriated for other needs which was against the law. The guys that ran the town went to jail, and a separate board for water/sewer was setup. The WWTP now has more money than they know what to do with and are upgrading things that were supposed to be upgraded years ago, since the money is remaining in their account.

[NobodyHere]

Remember when Californians were pleading for more water?

I believe in God only because I think he has a twisted sense of humor.

[Chief Rum]

Originally Posted by NobodyHere

Remember when Californians were pleading for more water?

I believe in God only because I think he has a twisted sense of humor.

I was over it after around two straight weeks of off and on grayness and rain.