California Drought

[ForestGrump]

You keep talking about doomsayers, people were concerned about weir failing and the lake emptying by cutting a new channel right at the weir. If you look at the dam as a system, it failed, and needs hundreds of millions in repairs. The scale of damage is staggering. Anyone who thinks we didn't dodge a huge bullet is not being honest.

This is scary, we agree! Beside the failed spillway there is a huge and very deep gorge. The geology that the dam and spillways were on failed and therefore the dam has failed, not literally but technically. The dam may not be anchored as well as they thought it was, basically it's an earthen dam on earth, not rock. I would give that geologist a D-. Nothing new, all the recent big earthquakes in California have occurred in thrust faults, relatively unknowns in the EQ geologist world but very well known in the Petroleum geologists world - Coalinga, Northridge,Landers, Big Bear .... Santa Monica Blvd. is built on a thrust fault.

How much to stabilize, bet its close to $800 million. Maybe not even feasible. Bet you see new guidelines in the future about a new maximum capacity level, somewhere about 50 to 75' down from full.

 

[coldsteelva]

Work begins to clear the Feather River of debris downstream from the power plant so it can resume operation.

The sheer magnitude of the debris now blocking the Feather River is staggering.
That dozer looks like a MicroMachine.

 

[buckeyefarmer]

Yep, water has a lot of power.

 

[check]

That photo is unbelievable. Looks like a nuclear bomb crater! I had no idea it was that bad.

 

[bcp]

This one caught my attention. Do you see the helicopter inspecting the break?

Oroville Dam’s power plant may be operational by Thursday | The Sacramento Bee

Bruce

 

[aczlan]

This one caught my attention. Do you see the helicopter inspecting the break?
View attachment 500345
Oroville Dam’s power plant may be operational by Thursday | The Sacramento Bee
Bruce

Is that a full sized chopper, or a drone? IIRC, the whole spillway is ~178 feet wide, so either that is a drone, or the perspective is misleading.

Aaron Z

 

[bcp]

Looks full-sized to me. You can see it moving in from the right starting at about 00:05 seconds in the video linked under the photo. Big rotor on top.

Bruce

 

[k0ua]

I believe that heli is a big one with people inside.

 

[MossRoad]

Is that a full sized chopper, or a drone? IIRC, the whole spillway is ~178 feet wide, so either that is a drone, or the perspective is misleading.

Aaron Z

A helicopter like that is maybe 5' wide, and its closer to the camera, making it look larger than it is.

 

[bcp]

Maybe same helicopter. Scroll down.

Dramatic new images show scale of damage to Oroville Dam spillway - SFGate

And many more of it here:

Oroville Dam operators stop flow down spillway, see extensive damage

Bruce

 

[RedNeckGeek]

I'm sorry, guys, I just can't take the Chicken Littles anymore. Throughout this discussion numerous links to information about the actual state of the dam and spillway have been given, but an unfortunately large number of folks here refuse to make the slight effort to read. There's a daily news conference that's televised live on local channels up here, and I catch it when I can. They play videos like the one I linked earlier, and others showing real man size helicopters down on the deck surveying the damage. No doubt in my mind that there's enough attention focused on this now that all the money and talent necessary to fix it will be forthcoming. And wasting time on the doom'n'gloomers here is just that.

See ya, have a nice life, and don't forget yer umbrella.

 

[turnkey4099]

No, it didn't fail.

No matter how many times that is pointed out, they won't quit claiming it did or would.

 

[turnkey4099]

Why fix it then if it's not broken?

One fixes things that needs fixing. The dam itself and the overflow dike was in no real danger of failing. Or is your view that when your roof leaks it don't need fixing as long as it ain't raining?

 

[aczlan]

One fixes things that needs fixing. The dam itself and the overflow dike was in no real danger of failing. Or is your view that when your roof leaks it don't need fixing as long as it ain't raining?

Exactly. There was a concern that the headward erosion on the emergency spillway could undercut the spillway, so they called for the evacuation.
Said headward erosion stopped within a few minutes of when they called for the evacuation and IIRC the emergency spillway water was starting to run clear (indicating that the erosion had stopped).

Aaron Z

 

[houstonscott]

One fixes things that needs fixing. The dam itself and the overflow dike was in no real danger of failing. Or is your view that when your roof leaks it don't need fixing as long as it ain't raining?

If your roof leaks it's broken.

 

[flusher]

Work begins to clear the Feather River of debris downstream from the power plant so it can resume operation.

Nice that there are humans and a nice Cat in this photo to give an indication of scale.
I suppose we know where the bedrock is now around that spillway.

 

[downsizingnow48]

I'm sorry, guys, I just can't take the Chicken Littles anymore. Throughout this discussion numerous links to information about the actual state of the dam and spillway have been given, but an unfortunately large number of folks here refuse to make the slight effort to read. There's a daily news conference that's televised live on local channels up here, and I catch it when I can. They play videos like the one I linked earlier, and others showing real man size helicopters down on the deck surveying the damage. No doubt in my mind that there's enough attention focused on this now that all the money and talent necessary to fix it will be forthcoming. And wasting time on the doom'n'gloomers here is just that. See ya, have a nice life, and don't forget yer umbrella.

Mohammeds third rule not used by moderators.

"beating a dead horse" without any sign of rational thought process

 

[downsizingnow48]

Mohammeds third rule not used by moderators. "beating a dead horse" without any sign of rational thought process

I am done with the thread also and for same reason as rng.

 

[NoTrespassing]

This thread isn't about the Oroville Dam, it's about the California drought. Why people went down that road is beyond me.

Kevin

 

[California]

Mohammeds third rule not used by moderators.

"beating a dead horse" without any sign of rational thought process

I am done with the thread also and for same reason as rng.

Tolls are persistent, they will score this as a Win.