Officials order evacuation of residents near California dam
 

https://i.imgur.com/MWRDODV.jpg

OROVILLE, Calif. (AP) - Officials have ordered residents near one of the nation's biggest dams to evacuate the area, saying a "hazardous situation is developing" after an emergency spillway severely eroded.

The emergency spillway of the Oroville Dam in Northern California could fail within an hour unleashing uncontrolled flood waters from Lake Oroville, the California Department of Water Resources said on Sunday afternoon.

People in downstream areas need to leave the area immediately, the department said.

Officials earlier Sunday stressed the dam was structurally sound and said there was no threat to the public.

Residents of Oroville, a town of 16,000 people, should head north toward Chico, and other cities should follow orders from their local law enforcement agencies, the Butte County Sheriff's office said.

The Yuba County Office of Emergency Services asked residents in the valley floor, including Marysville, a city of 12,000 people, to evacuate and take routes to the east, south, or west and avoid traveling north toward Oroville.

The California Department of Water Resources said it is releasing as much as 100,000 cubic feet per second from the main, heavily damaged spillway to try to drain the lake.

Department Kevin Dossey tells the Sacramento Bee the emergency spillway was rated to handle 250,000 cubic feet per second, but it began to show weakness Sunday at a small fraction of that. Flows through the spillway peaked at 12,600 cubic feet per second at 1 a.m. Sunday and were down to 8,000 cubic feet per second by midday.

Water began flowing over the emergency spillway at the dam on Saturday after heavy rainfall damaged the main spillway.

Unexpected erosion chewed through the main spillway earlier this week, sending chunks of concrete flying and creating a 200-foot-long, 30-foot-deep hole that continues growing. Engineers don't know what caused the cave-in, but Chris Orrock, a spokesman for the state Department of Water Resources, said it appears the dam's main spillway has stopped crumbling even though it's being used for water releases.

About 150 miles northeast of San Francisco, Lake Oroville is one of California's largest man-made lakes, and the 770-foot-tall Oroville Dam is the nation's tallest. The lake is a central piece of California's government-run water delivery network, supplying water for agriculture in the Central Valley and residents and businesses in Southern California.

article...

We've had 9 days of storms and 3 days ago our governor declared a state of emergency due to extreme flooding, destroyed roadways, damage to property & deaths.

Our governer appealed to Donald 3 days ago to declare a federal state of emergency for FEMA relief to bring in the national guard to help strengthen the dam, but Donald has been too busy tweeting about his daughter, golfing at Mara largo and dancing with the Japanese PM to respond!!!

Fuck Donald fucking selfish asshole

California Gov. Jerry Brown asks President Donald Trump for emergency help

It's his way of "getting even" with California.

Suck it up pussies!

if you fall in the water do you become a wet@ack?

Yuba City, Marysville, Plumas Lake, and Wheatland have all received evacuation orders. I live in Lincoln, California; Wheatland is just north of us - twenty miles. They are shutting down freeways in one direction and opening up all lanes in one direction.

Let's just say we are watching the news carefully and preparing for the worst.

Don't worry he has full control of the weather machine. He will turn it off when he's ready. Look at it this way. During Obama's admin you guys were dying of thirst. Now you're getting all the water you wanted and then some.

Turns out our area was very busy last night, hotels packed up, fast food restaurants stayed open until the early hours of the morning....