Shocking Aerial Footage Shows What the Oroville Dam Looks Like Now

Earlier this month, we all heard the news that the Oroville Dam was damaged, and that thousands of residents living in its shadow would have to be evacuated. Fortunately the dam held, and the residents of Oroville were able to return to their homes. For the most part the story has since faded from the news. However, the damage remains.

When the crisis was at its peak, you may have heard about what specifically went wrong with the dam. The main spillway was damaged when the dam operators attempted to release some water to control the depth of Lake Oroville. Essentially, a crater unexpectedly emerged in the middle of the spillway, and when the water flowed through that hole, it eroded the soil beneath. So the dam operators decided to let the water flow over an emergency spillway instead. But as the emergency spillway began to erode as well, an evacuation order was issued.

But hearing that doesn’t really do it any justice. To really appreciate the magnitude of what occurred that day, you have to see it with your own eyes. And now you can.

On Monday the California Department of Water Resources stopped the flow of water down the spillway so that they could assess the damage. Here’s what they found:

I have a feeling that this isn’t going to be fixed for a long time.

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Author: Daniel Lang
Views: Read by 432 people
Date: February 28th, 2017
Website: http://www.SHTFplan.com

Copyright Information: This content has been contributed to SHTFplan by a third-party or has been republished with permission from the author. Please contact the author directly for republishing information.

‘Pure Chaos’ — 200,000 Calif. Residents Evacuated; ‘Nowhere To Get Gas’; 30-Foot Wall Of Water Possible

OROVILLE, Calif. – An evacuation order that forced nearly 200,000 California residents to flee from a damaged spillway remains in effect, as officials hurriedly try to finish the repairs to the tallest dam in the United States before a storm hits Wednesday night.

Around 188,000 residents fled the area Sunday night, out of fear that water from Lake Oroville would collapse the spillway and flood an area that is comparable to the size of Connecticut. The concrete portion of the spillway is sound, officials say. It is the natural spillway to the side – made of dirt – that is in danger.

The spillway is used to release surplus water from behind the 770-food Oroville Dam during emergencies. Torrential rains and heavy snows from the past few weeks damaged the spillway.

The lake behind the dam has fallen 13 feet since Sunday, but the Weather Channel says there is a 100 percent chance of rain Wednesday night, with totals of over an inch possible.

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The dam was built to capture and store runoff from the mountains in 1968. The body of water it created, Oroville Lake, is the second largest reservoir in the state of California. The water is used to generate electricity, irrigate crops in the central valley and supply cities with drinking water.

Repair crews are using helicopters to drop rocks in the gap to try and stop the erosion.

“It would be a massive blow to the state’s water system if they lose Oroville,” Peter Gleick, a water researcher at the Pacific Institute, told the Desert Sun newspaper. “The question is, will it erode away the emergency spillway? Will there be a big uncontrolled release of water? Or will they be able to draw the lake down enough to prevent that?”

The fear is that a “30-foot wall of water coming out of the lake” will flood homes if the spillway fails, said Cal-Fire incident commander Kevin Lawson.

The Sunday night evacuation led to a scene reminiscent of a disaster movie.

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“Everyone was running around. It was pure chaos,” evacuee Maggie Cabral told KFSN.

Sean Dennis, from nearby Yuba City, told NBC News, “Nothing like this has ever happened. We just grabbed what we could.”

But not everyone could get out.

“There’s nowhere to get gas,” Jennifer Neff, an evacuee, told The Sacramento Bee. “I’ve called roadside assistance – I’m on hold with them now. Do we call the police?”

Neff and others were trapped because gas stations in Marysville, Calif., were closed.

Oroville Dam, located 65 miles northeast of Sacramento, is holding back more than 3.5 million acre-feet of water.

Cracks were found in the dam’s spillway in 2009, but officials claimed that they had been repaired.

What is your reaction? Would you be ready to flee your area in a moment’s notice? Share your thoughts in the section below:

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In Race Against Coming Storm, Workers Scramble To Plug Oroville Dam Hole Using Rocks, Sandbags

After discovering a hole in Oroville Dam"s emergency spillway, officials said late Sunday that they will attempt to plug it using sandbags and rocks. But, as the LA Times notes, they stressed the situation remains dangerous and urged thousands of residents downstream to evacuate to higher ground. Video from television helicopters Sunday evening showed water flowing into a parking lot next to the dam, with large flows going down both the damaged main spillway and the emergency spillway.

Breaking Here come the choppers to the site with oversized sandbags pic.twitter.com/sNusIXG5Js

— Dale Kasler (@dakasler) February 13, 2017

They also showed lines of cars getting out of downtown Oroville. An evacuation center was set up at the Silver Dollar Fairgrounds in Chico.

Almost 200,000 people were ordered on Sunday to evacuate from the area below the Lake Oroville Dam, the tallest dam in the United States, after authorities said its emergency spillway could give way.

While officials said the situation seemed less dire overnight, Sacramento television station KCRA reported that helicopters from around the state were sent to drop chest-high bags of rocks to close the hole in the spillway. The NBC affiliate showed dump trucks dropping off piles of rocks - see below -  which were then loaded into the bags with backhoes, while helicopters were deployed to the site with oversized sandbags. The operation to close the gap would begin as soon as it was feasible, the station said.

Live updates: Preparations to shore up #OrovilleDam emergency spillway under way https://t.co/z4p13C4FXX

— Dale Kasler (@dakasler) February 13, 2017

Officials feared a failure of the emergency spillway could cause huge amounts of water to flow into the Feather River, which runs through downtown Oroville, and other waterways. The result could be flooding and levee failures for miles south of the dam, depending on how much water is released.

So to limit the potential damage and flooding, the primary plan of action currently in place is to plug a hole in the emergency spillway, including using helicopters dropping bags of rock into the crevasse to prevent any further erosion. Here"s the loud, chaotic scene as the choppers prepare for the rock drop via @judywbrandt on Twitter.

These sandbags full of aggregate are to be dropped into crevice below #OrovilleDam emergency spillway pic.twitter.com/HdrrkGJ3ST

— Dale Kasler (@dakasler) February 13, 2017

Work is ongoing to prepare bags of boulders to drop onto the weakened #OrovilleDam auxiliary spillway by helicopter pic.twitter.com/D1QPKM6wMv

— Tom Miller (@KCRAMiller) February 13, 2017

#MetroFire has staffed and deployed #Copter1 to Butte Co. in support of the #OrovilleSpillway incident in addition to CA Swift Water TF9. pic.twitter.com/cHIXjEzQeg

— MetroFire Sacramento (@metrofirepio) February 13, 2017

#OrovilleDam #OrovilleSpillway pic.twitter.com/WgetgoFauj

— Judy Brandt (@judywbrandt) February 13, 2017

#OrovilleDam #OrovilleSpillway pic.twitter.com/8Yl1yI30At

— Judy Brandt (@judywbrandt) February 13, 2017

#OrovilleSpillway #OrovilleDam pic.twitter.com/l1m6hUE4GD

— Judy Brandt (@judywbrandt) February 13, 2017

#OrovilleSpillway #OrovilleDam pic.twitter.com/O7jqURWOa2

— Judy Brandt (@judywbrandt) February 13, 2017

#OrovilleSpillway #OrovilleDam pic.twitter.com/qUghUENqkT

— Judy Brandt (@judywbrandt) February 13, 2017

#OrovilleDam #OrovilleSpillway pic.twitter.com/8vNyjS6K4F

— Judy Brandt (@judywbrandt) February 13, 2017

Meanwhile, as the LA Times also adds, the California National Guard is on standby and ready to assist with the Oroville Dam emergency, Adjutant General David Baldwin said during Sunday night"s press conference. The California National Guard put out an alert to all 23,000 of its soldiers and airmen telling them to be “ready to go if needed,” Baldwin said. The last time officials sent out such a broad notification was during the 1992 riots in Los Angeles, he said. The California National Guard would deploy eight helicopters to assist with spillway reconstruction; military police would also be deployed to Yuba County, Baldwin said.

* * *

Finally, the reason for the scramble to fix the dam is because a new storm system is forecast for later this week put water officials on a race against time. Bill Croyle, the acting director of the state Department of Water Resources, said they planned to continue discharging flows at a rate of 100,000 cubic feet per second, with the hope of lowering the reservoir level by 50 feet.

The biggest concern was that a hillside that keeps water in Lake Oroville — California’s second largest reservoir — would suddenly crumble Sunday afternoon, threatening the lives of thousands of people by flooding communities downstream. With Lake Oroville filled to the brim, such a collapse could have caused a “30-foot wall of water coming out of the lake,” Cal-Fire incident commander Kevin Lawson said at a Sunday night press conference. Luckily, so far this scenario has not played out.