FWIW

[carlotpilot]

an evacuation order has been issued for 3 counties in california! those just south of oroville  seems the oroville dam is expected to give way sometime tonight if that happens it will dump the biggest man made lake in cal. loose

Edited February 13, 2017 by carlotpilot

[RowdyRebel]

Sounds like fun...NOT! Last winter the Mississippi hit record levels and they were concerns about the levees. We moved out & camped in a horse trailer at the farm for a few days until a levee breeched a ways south of us and the river started going down again. The whole "hoping for the best, expecting the worst" gets old after a day or two...waiting for a news headline to come across the radio indicating you are now homeless. Thankfully, that didn't happen 'round here...but I know what they are going through and it ain't fun.

[carlotpilot]

if that thing pops sure going to leave a lot of devastation

[kscarbel2]

.

 

[kscarbel2]

Nearly 200,000 people told to flee crumbling California dam spillway

Reuters  /  February 13, 2017

Evacuation orders for nearly 200,000 people living below the tallest dam in the United States remained in place early on Monday after residents were abruptly told to flee when a spillway appeared in danger of collapse.

Authorities issued the evacuation order on Sunday, saying that a crumbling emergency spillway on Lake Oroville Dam in north California could give way and unleash 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.

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."

Several hours later the situation appeared less dire, as the damaged spillway remained standing.

The state water resources department said crews using helicopters would drop rocks to fill a huge gouge, and authorities were releasing water to lower the lake's level after weeks of heavy rains in the drought-plagued state.

By 10 p.m., state and local officials said the immediate danger had passed with water no longer flowing over the eroded spillway. But they cautioned that the situation remained unpredictable.

"Once you have damage to a structure like that it's catastrophic," acting Water Resources director Bill Croyle told reporters. But he stressed "the integrity of the dam is not impacted" by the damaged spillway.

Asked about the evacuation order, Croyle said "It was a tough call to make." He added: "It was the right call to make."

'DO NOT TRAVEL NORTH'

Butte County Sheriff Korey Honea told an earlier news briefing he was told by experts that the hole forming in the spillway could compromise the structure. Rather than risk thousands of lives, the decision was made to order evacuations.

Officials said they feared the damaged spillway could unleash a 30-foot wall of water on Oroville, north of the state capital Sacramento.

They said evacuation orders remained in place for some 188,000 people in Oroville, Yuba County, Butte County, Marysville and nearby communities and would be re-evaluated at dawn.

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 warned on Twitter.

Evacuation centers were set up at a fairgrounds in Chico, California, about 20 miles northwest of Oroville, but major highways leading south out of the area were jammed as residents fled the flood zone and hotels quickly filled up.

Javier Santiago, 42, fled with his wife, two children and several friends to the Oroville Dam Visitors Center in a public park above the dam and the danger zone.

With blankets, pillows and a little food, Santiago said: "We’re going to sleep in the car."

The Oroville dam is nearly full following winter storms that brought relief to the state after four years of drought. Water levels were less than 7 feet (2 meters) from the top of the dam on Friday.

State authorities and engineers on Thursday began releasing water from the dam after noticing that large chunks of concrete were missing from a spillway.

California Governor Jerry Brown asked the Federal Emergency Management Agency on Friday to declare the area 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 meters) high, the structure, built between 1962 and 1968, is the tallest U.S. dam, exceeding the Hoover Dam by more than 40 feet (12 meters).

Photo gallery – http://www.reuters.com/article/us-california-dam-idUSKBN15S04W

Video - https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/video/2017/feb/13/tallest-dam-in-us-on-brink-of-bursting-aerial-video

[TeamsterGrrrl]

More infrastructure we need to catch up on... Floods don't care who you voted for.

[BillyT]

Rebuilding the infrastructure could create thousands of jobs lasting years! Politics continues to get in the way!

[kscarbel2]

Certainly not my area of expertise, but it appears that the Oroville's weakness is by design, in that it is an earthfill "embankment dam". In my mind, this type of dam carries with it more risks.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Embankment_dam

[carlotpilot]

the ruling class of ca. have known about repairs to the main spillway being needed for 12 years !

[kscarbel2]

 

[hatcity]

First, they want to secede from the US. Then, they come running looking for Federal Help

[HeavyGunner]

5 hours ago, hatcity said:

First, they want to secede from the US. Then, they come running looking for Federal Help

If you're talking about Northern California wanting to split off from Southern California you are mistaken. I have family who live on the California Oregon border and the gyst of it is Northern California is tired of getting out voted and has unreasonable laws passed by Southern California.  Can't say I blame them. Southern Californians are some of the biggest hypocrites as a whole in my opinion. They want to stop or over regulate everything until it directly affects them. Then it's a different story. I think that being so removed from everything makes people in big cities nutty. If we quit farming, logging, mining and ranching we are going to starve off half or there shouts the worlds population, not be able to create heat, power or build homes.  But it's fine to import everything from countries that pollute 100X what we do and be at their mercy for our every need. 

[TeamsterGrrrl]

"Northern California" includes San Francisco and Sacremento as well as Silicon Valley... Not exactly bastions of conservatism! If a couple rural counties along the Nevada border don't want to join the emerging state of Cascadia, no big deal...

[Bobby j]

Your exactly right hatcity and let there be another mass shooting by an illegal or terrorist and see how quick they'll want our borders secured......Bobby j.

[HeavyGunner]

3 hours ago, TeamsterGrrrl said:

"Northern California" includes San Francisco and Sacremento as well as Silicon Valley... 

According to you that's Northern California but from speaking with people first hand who live there the proposed border was north of the major cities.

[hatcity]

4 hours ago, HeavyGunner said:

If you're talking about Northern California wanting to split off from Southern California you are mistaken. I have family who live on the California Oregon border and the gyst of it is Northern California is tired of getting out voted and has unreasonable laws passed by Southern California.  Can't say I blame them. Southern Californians are some of the biggest hypocrites as a whole in my opinion. They want to stop or over regulate everything until it directly affects them. Then it's a different story. I think that being so removed from everything makes people in big cities nutty. If we quit farming, logging, mining and ranching we are going to starve off half or there shouts the worlds population, not be able to create heat, power or build homes.  But it's fine to import everything from countries that pollute 100X what we do and be at their mercy for our every need. 

I understand what you are saying HG. As Pelosi said-"we should use more natural gas to decrease our dependence on fossil fuels"

[41chevy]

1 hour ago, HeavyGunner said:

According to you that's Northern California but from speaking with people first hand who live there the proposed border was north of the major cities.

Funny how things changed! When Texas talked of leaving the Union, the Obama drones said it was against Federal law to secede, now not so much? As for them leaving, California has "prospered"  under the rules and views of environmentalists, Hollywood's "Model Americans", Timothy O Leary followers and mob rule. I feel they should be allowed to continue that as an independent country.

Edited February 14, 2017 by 41chevy

[tjc transport]

I agree. if they want to leave and join Mexico, more power to them. But once they do leave, they will have no right to votes on how things work, and no handouts for at least 25 years after being let back in the United States. 

[1958 F.W.D.]

Guess the State of California should have spent some of that 25 billion they spent on illegal aliens on some infrastructure maintenance and repairs instead.............

[TeamsterGrrrl]

California sends more tax dollars to the federal government than they get back in federal spending. Thus if California, Oregon, and Washington secede the federal government will probably be bankrupted.

[1958 F.W.D.]

Just now, TeamsterGrrrl said:

California sends more tax dollars to the federal government than they get back in federal spending. Thus if California, Oregon, and Washington secede the federal government will probably be bankrupted.

ok, and what does that have to do with the 25B that they spent on illegal aliens and gubmint handout programs instead of infrastructure repairs and maintenance?

 

[TeamsterGrrrl]

Even if that $25B number were true, California could afford it. California alone would be one of the world's top 10 economies, it's the southern states that really suck up the federal funds. If the U.S. divides into several nations the more prosperous states like the west coast ones (Cascadia) and the northeastern ones will be the first to secede. Nobody will want "welfare states" like Alabama, Mississippi, South Dakota, etc.. and what's left of the U.S. will be stuck with them.

[1958 F.W.D.]

2 minutes ago, TeamsterGrrrl said:

Even if that $25B number were true, California could afford it. California alone would be one of the world's top 10 economies, it's the southern states that really suck up the federal funds. If the U.S. divides into several nations the more prosperous states like the west coast ones (Cascadia) and the northeastern ones will be the first to secede. Nobody will want "welfare states" like Alabama, Mississippi, South Dakota, etc.. and what's left of the U.S. will be stuck with them.

ok, and what does that have to do with the 25B that they spent on illegal aliens and gubmint handout programs instead of infrastructure repairs and maint

[41chevy]

21 hours ago, 1958 F.W.D. said:

ok, and what does that have to do with the 25B that they spent on illegal aliens and gubmint handout programs instead of infrastructure repairs and maint

So Washington State and Oregon are going also? Where is the proof or is she spreading lies? Clinger

http://www.sfchronicle.com/politics/article/California-s-400-billion-debt-worries-analysts-6812264.php

http://www.sfchronicle.com/politics/article/Gov-Jerry-Brown-says-state-must-pay-debt-new-6774764.php

[HeavyGunner]

The contrarian has spoken so it must be true. Lol. Hatcity I hadn't heard the SoCal babies wanted to secede. Let Mexico straighten them self importan a-holes out. I'd also love to know how a bankrupt state gives back more than it receives. Yeah right, I forgot things are always better in la la land.