Oroville - would you bug out?

Heck of a decision to make walk away form what you have worked for but you must think of your family.

Since this would be a flood most homeowners insurance will not cover it only national flood insurance will cover water related losses.

 

I've seen enough Dam disaster videos(Teton, Stava Dam in Italy, and another one in Europe I can't remember the name of right now) to not want to be near them. I don't know if it was after mom moved out on her own, but she said once that grandpa's house was only a couple miles from evacuation zone once when Van Norman dam(Los Angeles area).got a big crack in it.

Yeah given our location though, mom and I think that we'd be better off physically saving the money that would go to flood insurance in case of an issue. I had thought that our location being on a big hill protected us from having to worry about flooding. This winter has taught me that that is a fallacy. Thursday woke up to horrible wind and pouring rain and our driveway flooded from the rain melting all the snow above us. Am using this as a learning experience to re-evaluate and 'upgrade' my plans. "Nothing is as soft as water, but who can withstand the raging flood?"

 

Looks like the damn is failing!!! Emergency spillway is damaged with a large hole at the base near the main spillway, and is likely to fail. They may be able to plug the hole, but not likely in time! Another rain storm due Tuesday which would bring the levels back up to flood stage of over 901 feet!!!

 

Never been around a dam, However after seeing this if I lived there I would be hauling...well you know!

 

The response is also #becauseclimatechangeismanmade. #becausecarbontaxwillfixit

 

Al Jazeera English on Twitter

Here is a little video on the dam. I would get out of the way. CA has a crumbling infrastructure like the rest of the US. I have read some saying that it is just doom news that is causing panic but I would have been out of there with the opening of the hole.

 

I remember walking along the banks of a stream as a child where a dam had failed. The destruction downstream was memorable.
Just this year I witnessed inland flooding that didn't peak for almost a week after the rains had stopped.

I'd have packed up and moved to higher ground a long time ago.

 

Since I'm not 'educated' as an engineer, would someone explain to me why the plan is to fix the 'hole' in emergency spillway by dropping boulders on it? I'm assuming the ES is earthen as well, and it would seem to me that there are so many things that would be made so much worse by that plan...

 

Pic of the 'emergency spillway'. This is uncontrolled, water goes over when the lake reaches the level at the top. Note just how badly the erosion is - esp the massive 'crack' that has reached the base of the concrete part of the spillway. If the water continues to pour over, this could undermine the concrete structure to the point of failure.

Once that happens, water erosion becomes completely out of control. The dam is still 'safe' but the amount of water flowing will cause massive flooding - much more than now. So - it is big deal and more rain is forecast starting tomorrow.


Damage to 'controlled' spillway. Supposedly engineered to handle 215 m CFS - it started to come apart at about 30% of the maximum flow it was rated to carry.
This spillway is now running at 75% plus of 'capacity' and the breach is growing. No matter how this turns out, repairs to the two spillways will run 100s of Millions of $. Hope Jerry saves some of that train to nowhere $ to pay for this.

I am reminded of just a couple years ago when the Hill Country of Texas was on fire and The Great One, The Exalted Emperor O'bammy the First refused to grant any Federal aid. It was a local problem he said.

Turnabout if fair play as they say. Not a dime of Federal money should go to this. The asshats are (in the press anyway) making noise about succession. Fine.

Let them eat cake. Or mud pies, anyway.....

 

If a pic is worth 1000 words - why the Oroville dam is unlikely to fail-


Hillside erosion causing (even more) uncontrolled release of water is what the evacuation is all about.

 

Just have to wait and see...I don't want it to fail, but when you're only given so much money to do something like that, makes me think there's a good chance it will fail. That and all the disaster videos about dam/building collapses, it usually was due to greedy owner(the dams in Europe were related to mining) more interested in making as much money instead of spending money on safety.

 

These large and regulated/licensed dam can become a problem.

It's all of the thousands of unregulated/private dams that routinely fail which makes the most grief for so many. Examples



Video: Water flows over Quail Creek Diversion Dam

Aging And Underfunded: America's Dam Safety Problem, In 4 Charts
"...the case in and around South Carolina's capital this week, when at least 20 dams collapsed during catastrophic floods."

I could fill the page many times over. Just use the search term - "Private dam fails" - you might be surprised.

I live downstream from a "private dam". Since it (the enpoundment) is the primary water source for Ft Richardson, it is maintained.

This should be a wakeup call for everyone to take a look in their area to see of any of these private dams exist.

 

Live footage-

If this guy stops then look to the right and there are other live streams of this situation.
*ps- close the chat if you are easily offended.

I noticed they are pouring concrete. Even with high early it will still take at least 72 hours to cure, depending on temperatures. They have another storm in appx. 48 hours.

 

Apparently some of the residents are WHINING about the evacuation orders. WTF?! I would have not needed an official order to leave. Same thing happened during Katrina, you get these weirdos who couldn't think their way out of a phone booth...makes me wanna demand there be a legal statue where you have to go smack people when they try and put OTHERS at risk(not themselves, that's Darwinism at its finest) through their stupidity.

 

Let em back in but make em sign a release and only 18+ can go back. Anyone trying to take a minor is arrested for criminal child endangerment, losing the kid.

Go ahead, kill yourself potentially, but sign away any claim for protection or rescue or recourse.

 

i think id bail and take vacation from work barring the place of employment survives.

i dont think i could ever trust an earth dam