Oroville Turns Into Ghost Town After Dam Break And Evacuations

[yuiyoshida]

[ffr]

1. Environmental groups had warned them in 2005! Who's looking out for us?

Environmental groups who've done the research and know the science behind what they're saying.

But what did we get? Arnold Schwarzenegger & W's feds, Washington Outsiders, telling them not to worry, the emergency spillway meets the guidelines.

Fast forward 12 years...

On Sunday, with flows of only 6,000 to 12,000 cubic feet per second — water only a foot or two deep and less than 5 percent of the rate that FERC (Federal Energy Regulatory Commission) said was safe — erosion at the emergency spillway became so severe that officials from the State Department of Water Resources ordered the evacuation of more than 185,000 people. The fear was that the erosion could undercut the 1,730-foot-long concrete lip along the top of the emergency spillway, allowing billions of gallons of water to pour down the hillside toward Oroville and other towns downstream. - San Jose Mercury News

[pfitz59]

2. The dam didn't break, but spillway breach was imminent

another week of rain and melting snow in the forecast... not out of danger yet...