Oroville Dam Auxiliary Spillway Failure

[hball55]

I probably didn't have to leave since I am on high ground, but food would be hard to come by if flooding took place. So, I relocated to Chico and staying with my brother. Now, though, if a flood takes out the three bridges crossing the Feather River, I will be cut off from my home for an indeterminate amount of time.

Oh, the woes of winter. DWR, the place I retired from, really screwed up this time.

 

[tfish]

Henry I have been thinking about you. Glad to hear your high and dry.

Tony

 

[hball55]

Yeah, but all I took with me are my two dogs, my wallet and the clothes on my back. I just heard that looting is taking place downtown. I don't live downtown, but they may be looting anywhere. I should have stayed home, as food would have been my only problem.

 

[Worsaer]

Hank, really sorry to hear you're in the fray. Last I heard all was OK - until your post I had not heard things changed.

 

[ThirstyBarbarian]

The first priority is always personal safety, so it's good you evacuated. After that comes property. Hopefully you are not having any problems with that in the form of floods or looting. Take care!

 

[hball55]

Around 10 p.m., the authorities announced that Hwy 99 South was reopened. I had regretted leaving, not bringing anything like a toothbrush or even change of clothes, I decided to try and find a circuitous route back home that avoided all the roadblocks on Hwy 70.

Needless to say, I was able to get back to Oroville, and my home. I'm staying put and tomorrow will look and see if there's a grocery store open.

I get to sleep in my very own empty bed . . . well, my two dogs will share it with me. Gotta go, as I want to see what's on the MLB Network channel.

Thanks for the well wishes.

 

[r66astro]

Around 10 p.m., the authorities announced that Hwy 99 South was reopened. I had regretted leaving, not bringing anything like a toothbrush or even change of clothes, I decided to try and find a circuitous route back home that avoided all the roadblocks on Hwy 70.

Needless to say, I was able to get back to Oroville, and my home. I'm staying put and tomorrow will look and see if there's a grocery store open.

I get to sleep in my very own empty bed . . . well, my two dogs will share it with me. Gotta go, as I want to see what's on the MLB Network channel.

Thanks for the well wishes.

Reminds me of Hurricane Charley here in Florida. Lock and load! Had looters here only once and they decided they were not welcome. If Fema shows up you can watch monkeys *#$(^ a football

 

[cherokeej]

Glad to hear you're OK, Hank.

 

[Woody's Workshop]

Been watching this on The Weather Channel this morning.
Don't look good with more rain on the way.
They are heli dropping boulders and stuff to cut down on erosion.
They sure do need a break in the weather!

 

[Peartree]

Been watching this on The Weather Channel this morning.
Don't look good with more rain on the way.
They are heli dropping boulders and stuff to cut down on erosion.
They sure do need a break in the weather!

Seems odd, after years of drought, that now we're praying that it would STOP raining in California...

 

[shreadvector]

There were reports of a silly old ram in the area before the failure began......

 

[Peter Olivola]

He had high hopes.

There were reports of a silly old ram in the area before the failure began......

 

[o1d_dude]

Glad you're coping adequately, Hank.

Be strong. Keep your head above water. Do you have a small boat in case it comes down to that?

i fully expect the surfing crowd will show up before the emergency spillway fails. If you see them, consider heading for higher ground.

Hope to see you at our next Snow Ranch launch.

 

[hball55]

No boat Kit :wink: I'm on high ground though. Funny thing about surfers, ten or so years ago when storms had the Feather River swollen, a local put on his wet suit and took his boogie board out to surf the river near the Fish Hatchery fish barrier dam (low overhead dam). The first couple attempts were successful, but the third try, the undertow of a low overhead dam sucked him in and he drowned.

Anyway, I had to drive to Grass Valley (54 miles) to buy groceries. Not sure of the distance of my alternate route, that of going through Berry Creek, to the Hwy that goes to Forest Ranch, and then back down to Chico for shopping, but perhaps I'll google it.

If the evacuation is lifted and Hwy 70 is opened, I might be able to make the trip to Snow Ranch; otherwise, driving east to Auburn, then to Snow Ranch would be a longer trip than I care to make.


Breaking News: Authorities have lifted the evacuation order. With all the returning vehicles that are going to be on the road, it will be madness. Also, this comes just in time for me, as UPS has a scheduled delivery for me tomorrow, lol.

 

[DAllen]

......

 

[noffie79]

Funny...Seem to remember Californians wanting to secede from the Union over election results a mere 2 weeks ago...now they need Federal $$ to fix their neglected dam.

You hit the nail on the head. Funny how that works out, isn't it?

 

[BuiltFromTrash]

Lol, just media hype. They are not very grounded in reality.

 

[boatgeek]

....

I should have known better. Apologies to you and yours and stay safe in the next round of rain.

 

[DAllen]

......

 

[qquake2k]

Glad to hear you and your dogs are okay, Hank. See you at the Ranch!

 

[Steve Shannon]

Before you get too high on your horse, CA gives more to the federal government than they get back, ranking around #43 among states in dependency on the federal government. Michigan gets more than they give, although not by much. The true welfare queens are S Carolina and N Dakota, each of which gets more than $5 from the feds for every dollar they send.

https://www.theatlantic.com/busines...tates-are-givers-and-which-are-takers/361668/

Welfare queens might not be the best choice of words. According to the second chart in the article you referred to, only one state, Wyoming, has fewer federal welfare program recipients than North Dakota. You might want to look closer at where those federal dollars are going, and who's spending them.


Steve Shannon

 

[rharshberger]

Welfare queens might not be the best choice of words. According to the second chart in the article you referred to, only one state, Wyoming, has fewer federal welfare program recipients than North Dakota. You might want to look closer at where those federal dollars are going, and who's spending them.


Steve Shannon

Might not be a bad idea to do a per capita comparison as well, California has over 1 million welfare recipients when ND has just under 750k residents total. Hopefully the dam(n) situation in CA gets resolved soon.

 

[Woody's Workshop]

I herd today on the Weather Channel that some are being allowed to return home.
Or at least go in and check on their place, and retrieve anything of value.
An interviewed person said the town looked like a ghost town.
After this next storm, they are expecting for everyone to return home.
They claim they are letting more water out faster than this next storm will add to the lake.
However, this is just a temporary event.
The dam it's self has suffered little damage.
It's the main spill way that needs replaced.
The auxiliary spill way is just earth, part of the dam itself, from my understanding.
They are uncertain from what I heard today, but it sounded like they my first concentrate repair efforts first on the auxiliary spill way, to include a concrete run with sides.
Once that is done, they can shift repairs to the main spill way and use the auxiliary if needed.
I believe I heard they were going to lower the level to 75% of capability before any major repairs would start.
In any case, this is not going to be a simple repair. And not something that is done in just a few weeks.
The reason the concrete gave way in the first place in the main spill way could be a shift in the entire, or part of, the earthen dam.
For those living below the dam this will be an ongoing thing, and you have my deepest sympathy.
I'm sure that home values will drop considerably for years due to this.
It's a reminder how dangerous it is to live below dams.

 

[DAllen]

.....

 

[gdjsky01]

Funny...Seem to remember Californians wanting to secede from the Union over election results a mere 2 weeks ago...now they need Federal $$ to fix their neglected dam.

Wow. Funny how you take a very unfortunate turn of events, something that could have, or still could be a tragedy, and change it into a political p$ssing match. PEOPLE live there. Kids, families, elderly. Hell in that part of CA they may have been blue.

How utterly pathetic.

 

[gdjsky01]

Glad to hear you and your dogs are okay, Hank. See you at the Ranch!

Ditto. We are following events closely. And we are all hoping for the best, but the next storm is heading in... Stay safe.

It will be a shame to find out this was foretold by people several years ago (the emergency spillway - which is a weir being undermined by scouring)

 

[Steve Shannon]

Might not be a bad idea to do a per capita comparison as well, California has over 1 million welfare recipients when ND has just under 750k residents total. Hopefully the dam(n) situation in CA gets resolved soon.

Actually the second chart does that. It's "Percentage of State's Population on SNAP." SNAP is the federal food stamp program. So North Dakota has the second lowest per capita number of people on food stamps.



Steve Shannon

 

[hball55]

Why do people have to turn this into a political topic; that was not what I started and they may as well delete this thread entirely. If I could, I would.

 

[qquake2k]

I'm with ya, Hank. It's frustrating.

 

[DAllen]

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