Oh my! Hope it gets resolved soon. Thnx for the info bc we hadnt heared anything in spain. Keep safe
200,000 evacuated last night in Northern California.
by compound complex 29 Replies latest jw friends
-
-
-
LevelThePlayingField
Made me think of the "Go bags". I bet every witness who had one grabbed theirs.
-
compound complex
As politicians campaign on rebuilding our crumbling infrastructure, we’ve mostly been engaged in half-measures that require little sacrifice. As one of his final acts as president, Obama authorized the Water Infrastructure Improvements for the Nation Act, which allocated $12 billion dollars to a range of projects related to the nation’s water supply. But only a portion of the money is intended to improve the federal government’s high-hazard dams. The Association of State Dam Safety Officials estimates it would take over $57 billion to rehabilitate all of the nation’s dams.
http://gizmodo.com/why-all-americans-should-be-worried-about-the-oroville-1792304716
-
GLTirebiter
This Mercury-News report discusses what is (and isn't) happening to the dam. The dam itself is in good shape, but the main spillway (drain) was damaged, and had to be throttled back to about 1/3 its maximum flow to avoid its complete failure. The emergency spillway is basically a deliberate low spot where water can flow out if the level gets too high, something which has never happened until now. The emergency spillway's capacity was identified as a limitation years ago, but the money was not spent to upgrade it. The article states:
In denying the request, an engineer for the federal government wrote that "during a rare flood event, it is acceptable for the emergency spillway to sustain significant damage."
That "acceptable risk" has become reality.
-
compound complex
Thanks, GLTirebiter and fellow posters for your thoughts and concern.
GL: The info provided in the link above -- "gizmodo" -- indicates that nearly 70% of US dams are privately owned and, often, avoid strict surveillance. What dams were once categorized as low-hazard structures have become high-hazard dams. They are old and many, many have failed, resulting in loss of life; in some instances, owners have been charged with manslaughter.
-
flipper
Good thread CoCo, thanks for posting. I saw in the news that in our higher elevation area where we live hundreds of people who evacuated the lower areas are staying in our town , they even opened the fairgrounds up to put people up.
In the local news tonight they explained that in order to drop the pressure off of the emergency spillway - water officials increased the flows over the spillway that busted to 120,000 cubic feet per second in order to lower the lake by 50 feet- which will take pressure off the emergency spillway hill where some deep holes were. The broadcasters stated that so far the lake dropped about 7 feet, and they think within 5 days they will lower the lake level 50 feet. Of course- this sends a hell of a lot more water down the Feather river towards Oroville ( the town just below the dam ) - however the weather forecaster stated the river levels are not going up too much- so far from the increased water flow.
We have rain forecast for this weekend - but not the warm kind of rain like last week which melted a lot of snow at 8,000 feet causing flooding- the snow level is expected to be 5,000 feet which will help slow down some of that deluge of water coming down our Sierra canyons and rivers into Lake Oroville and other reservoirs. I just hope the Oroville dam officials and California Water resource folks can get this thing stabilized so 180,000 people can go back to their homes hopefully sometime soon. However - officials won't do that until they get the emergency spillway stabilized and the other water flows at a safe level to avoid flooding. It's like walking a freaking tightrope right now taking it a day at a time for these folks on lower ground. As Coco said, he and I are much higher up away from any danger. Thanks for all the well wishes though. Take care, Peace out, Mr. Flipper
-
compound complex
Thanks, Mr. Flipper, for the personal, first-hand comments. They're so much better than the copy and pasted stuff and links that I put up!
Best to you and Mrs. Flipper.
-
flipper
You are welcome and best to you as well CoCo ! Hang in there, and take care
-
Village Idiot
Thank you CoCo and be careful. I live in Southern California but it feels like it's much closer.