Tuesday, February 14, 2017

Excellent drone footage of the work going on right now to shore up the emergency spillway at Oroville.

6 comments:

  1. CW, do you think any of that work is gonna help? What's the weather and snow melt looking like going forward?

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    1. They are lowering the lake as fast as they can now to keep the water from going over again. Several storms are inbound, starting tomorrow night, and how much effect they have on the water coming in depends on how much rain and how warm the rain is, as that increases the snowmelt significantly.
      What they are doing now is all they can do. The state officials have mismanaged this lake so badly that now they have to pray that the regular spillway can take giant releases without eroding up toward the gates. If that happens, they are going to be in a very bad way.
      Assuming the regular spillway holds up, then the only way they know if the work they are doing will work is to pour water on it. Until then, they can only do this haywire and duct tape fix.
      The snow pack this year is water heavy. That means when it melts in March/April/June, it will pump water into that lake like crazy, and they simply must have room to hold it, or a way to push it down river. The regular dam itself is safe for now, but it won't survive water running over the top - They will risk everything to keep that from happening.
      In short, they are doing what they can, and it might be enough if they can keep the lake from running over the emergency spillway with any force. The crisis will in reality continue until the spring melt is over. Interesting times.

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    2. Thanks for the info. It's obviously on the national news so I have been seeing the daily reporting. Have a great week !

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  2. All of that rock and debris they are putting down will just become water-borne shot-puts when the water pressure picks up. Once the damage is done on a dirt wall like that, the only thing you can do is start from the bottom-up.

    The time to do this was during the height of the drought, when water levels were lowest.

    Dumbasses

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    1. Exactly. By making bad assumptions and delaying repairs, they've backed themselves into a terrible corner. It's day by day at this point.

      The authorities are letting people back into Oroville, Yuba City, and Marysville, but one lady told the news that she knows someone who works in this dam, and that person told his family absolutely NOT to go back to town. What does that suggest?

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    2. It suggests that the people in the area use the Cherynobl backup plan. "Back up. Back UP. BACK WAY THE F))) UP!!!!"

      I wouldn't go back there.

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