CA - ‘Uncharted territory’ as Lake Oroville rises toward damaged dam

SophieRose

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http://www.sfchronicle.com/bayarea/article/Uncharted-territory-as-Oroville-Dam-10921941.php

As water Thursday night rose toward the brim of the reservoir behind the damaged spillway of Oroville Dam, state officials braced for the unprecedented: having to open the emergency outlet of the tallest dam in the United States, which could have untold ecological consequences.

The trouble started Tuesday in the midst of relentless rainstorms, as a section of the concrete spillway that later grew to more than 200 feet wide and 30 feet deep collapsed, frothing the Feather River below like chocolate syrup, so thick with mud and debris that those toiling to save millions of salmon at the hatchery below could hardly see two inches beneath the surface.


SpillwayThursbh14-3-XL.jpg

I'd be scared to be in that hole but looks like they are connected to the outside by wires.
920x920.jpg
 
[video=youtube;zBmuphzLuEw]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zBmuphzLuEw[/video]

900 feet is the magic number before it starts going over the emergency spillway

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Later | Latest

[h=3]EVENT DATA[/h]REL SCH
Date / Time
(PST)
REL SCH
CFS
02/11/2017 16:0065000
Earlier | Later | Latest
Warning! This data is preliminary and subject to revision.

[url]https://cdec.water.ca.gov/cgi-progs/queryF?ORO


Show ORO Map[/URL] | 24 Hours ORO Data | Plot all ORO Sensors | Daily ORO Data | ORO Info

 
The issue will be trying to get water out of the lake as it continues to pour in.

Lake Oroville is completely filled for first time in 48-year history (built in the 60's)

No threats -- four schools closing. If the emergency spillway is used there is no way to stop that one

They are trying to get a bunch of Salmon downstream out - all is well!

[video=youtube;Y4erbPyYbmc]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y4erbPyYbmc[/video]
 
All is fine

a frantic fight to protect the nation's callest dam. the crisis at lake oroville that could ... shows us the work involved to get the emergency spillway ready just in case. .... scene and have since blocked off the area. this is the worst washout

Something is happening to the cut and paste??

KPIX 5 News at 6:00PM : KPIX : February 10, 2017 6:00pm-7:01pm ...


State engineers expect that water flowing out of the dam will catch up with the torrent flowing in from recent storms by sometime Saturday if they can continue the higher flows.
"Basically it's going to be a triage situation. We know we're going to have erosion going on but it's in the best interest of the lake right now to be able to keep using the spillway to evacuate water,"

clearing trees and brush from the emergency spillway down a steep ravine to minimize the debris that would flow into the Feather River.

Read more at: https://phys.org/news/2017-02-emergency-spillway-oroville-california.html#jCp

So schools are closing, high voltage power lines are being taken down , salmon are being removed, forests are being cut down , , it just started over the emergency one , while being forced to reduce the outflow due to the growing collapse .

all is well..................




 
http://www.sfchronicle.com/bayarea/article/Uncharted-territory-as-Oroville-Dam-10921941.php

As water Thursday night rose toward the brim of the reservoir behind the damaged spillway of Oroville Dam, state officials braced for the unprecedented: having to open the emergency outlet of the tallest dam in the United States, which could have untold ecological consequences.

The trouble started Tuesday in the midst of relentless rainstorms, as a section of the concrete spillway that later grew to more than 200 feet wide and 30 feet deep collapsed, frothing the Feather River below like chocolate syrup, so thick with mud and debris that those toiling to save millions of salmon at the hatchery below could hardly see two inches beneath the surface.


attachment.php


I'd be scared to be in that hole but looks like they are connected to the outside by wires.
attachment.php

Me too!

And it just pisse@ me off when govt officials do this kind of stuff. I ain't no water engineer but common sense kinda seems to indicate if half way down the spill way it is falling apart translates to it is is widening which then translates to water speed will pick up halfway down .



Exactly the notion that as the water above the place where it is falling apart at regular size is falling apart won't do that as the hole grows -- sorry --just makes no sense to me moo

Wider does = faster - if the thing could not handle it when is was one piece ............................................................
 
Power lines have been removed from the big towers near the overflow debris area. From the description in this video

Don't be treating us like idiots!!


all is well

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SOz5y6_Z8gY

Croyle said dam managers face a long, complex juggling act to deal with the impact of the spillway failure amid a continuing very wet winter.
One of the biggest challenges engineers and work crews face is how to clear the Thermalito Diversion Pool immediately below the wrecked spillway of a large volume of concrete debris and sediment that have dammed the waterway and forced closure of the hydroelectric plant at the base of Oroville Dam.

main spillway disintegrated under high flows. To avoid contaminating the power facility, it was shut down early Friday. That had an unfortunate side effect: outflows through the plant, which can handle a maximum of 12,000 cubic feet per second, were halted. That, in turn, limited the amount of water managers could release from the fast-filling reservoir.

another series of storms forecast to arrive in the region starting Thursday,




 
It is odd to think of that much water moving in an uncontrolled fashion. I don't know much about engineering but I am curious now.
 
Another article posted. Water is spilling on to the non-controlled emergency spillway. This is amazing to watch but scary to think about.


http://www.kcra.com/article/water-begins-to-spill-over-oroville-emergency-spillway/8732032


Really scary . I just learned of this a bit ago , glad there was a thread TY Sophie!!

But as I am exploring It is getting more and more scary.


California’s second-largest, is now a foot over the dam’s never-before-used emergency spillway.

The lake filled rapidly this week after severe damage to the main spillway forced dam managers to decrease the volume of water being released at the same time a series of warm storms triggered heavy runoff into the reservoir.

water began moving over the 1,700-foot long emergency weir just before 8 a.m.

https://ww2.kqed.org/news/2017/02/07/engineers-assess-spillway-problem-at-oroville-dam/
 
It is odd to think of that much water moving in an uncontrolled fashion. I don't know much about engineering but I am curious now.

I am sure you can tell - me too!



Took me a while to figure it out, but that chart with all the numbers is actually pretty interesting- it shows what is going in to the lake and what is being discharged via the falling apart one and the just starting over topping !

per CFS has to mean Cubic Foot per Second I would think!

- thats pretty amazing huh??

What on earth "VOLTS" is remains quite a mystery!!

opppsss I was wrong - started being built in 1957 - well just aint that a heap of comfort!!
 
Note photo / post dated Feb 9 @ 9:07 am https://www.facebook.com/groups/454446930018/permalink/10158486794460019/

https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=1205424486160933&set=gm.10158486794460019&type=3&theater

_____________________________________________


ETA: Snipped...
...Earlier this week, chunks of concrete flew off the nearly mile-long spillway, creating a 200-foot-long, 30-foot-deep hole. Engineers don't know what caused the cave-in that is expected to keep growing until it reaches bedrock.

http://www.kwch.com/content/news/Nations-tallast-dam-damaged-at-Lake-Oroville-413500633.html
 

Hi Tara!

Amazing thanx!

Have to ask-- under your name - did that just change!!! it cracked me up!!!!



expects water to flow over the emergency spillway for the next 38 to 56 hours.

But the more we learn this is starting to feel more and more "powerless" moo

http://www.nbc15.com/content/news/Emergency-spillway-use-goes-on-at-California-dam-413511493.html

[FONT=&amp]PG&E crew gets a lift to work on a transmission tower as water flows over the emergency spillway Saturday and in the main spillway in Oroville:[/FONT]


[FONT=&amp]# COMMENTS
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EP-170219992.jpg&maxh=400&maxw=667



OT While we are on cheery news per SKY news Britains nuclear powered submarines are leaking ......................................

Cheers mate.

 
I am sitting here in Sacramento ,3 blocks from the American river ,thinking bout maybe unhooking my boat.
 
I am sitting here in Sacramento ,3 blocks from the American river ,thinking bout maybe unhooking my boat.


Oh my god --unhook your boat. In context how far away from this whole mess are you??

Folks we are not being told the truth - I am not a conspiracy nut

look at the last half of this video. Its already in other places :



900x900.jpg




[video=youtube;bCK1FSKfPwU]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bCK1FSKfPwU[/video]
 
Back in the 70s there was a book published called The Last Days of the Late Great State of California, by Curt Gentry.

It was part history, part science and part fiction. The science was based on the premise of a big earthquake causing Oroville dam to burst and subsequently flooding the San Joaquin valley, in turn causing parts of California to break off and sink into the ocean, because of the weight of all the water from the dam when it floods the valley. At the time the book was written, Oroville Dam was the largest earthen-held dam in the world.

Anyway this news has reminded me of that book. In the story, the loss of large swaths of California causes all kinds of global upheavals, especially because of the loss of California as the largest agricultural producer in the world.

I hope this current situation doesn't lead to bigger problems.

Here's a link: http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/626085.The_Last_Days_of_the_Late_Great_State_of_California
 

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