California's Lake Oroville Main Spillway Severely Damaged/Eroded. Oroville Dam's Recently Reconstructed Main Spillway Fundamentally Flawed

Been gone awhile, anyone have a brief and to the point rundown on the status of everything? Thanks in advance.

Looking the first vid at 1:42 you can see the two generators and lights on the bridge on Feb.12 when the ES was overflowing so I don't think they were placed there to prevent driving on that side of the bridge. I'm not sure that's a crack in the bridge surface in the second picture. It could just be reflection on the wet road surface.

Main Spillway is still operating at 50,000. They show a scheduled reduction to 46,000 but it hasn't happened yet.

Current elevation is 841.92 and decreasing.

Advisory evacuation still in place.

Forecast is still clear, with a few drizzles likely over the next couple of days.

DWR apparently changed their radio frequency, no updates being heard on the scanner. I currently have my radio running in 'stalker' mode to see what might hear. Nothing yet.

No word on any progress clearing the diversion pool to enable the power plant operation.

LOL! Good for you!

Looking through the dwr photos I found one from 1963...good color photo showing the beginning constuction on the dam...after seeing this photo...I'm less confident this situation is going to be resolved without catastrophe.

[link to pixel-ca-dwr.photoshelter.com]

Ok Crunch, it sounds like it's starting to mellow out a bit thank goodness. Thanks for the update and stay safe!

How far would it have to go down in order to take the vast majority of sacramento out of the equation if were to completely fail

Thank You, Forty Six. We still have go bags at the ready and just take it one day at a time. I think if the weather holds off, they will shut down the spillway and focus on clearing the channel so the power plant outlets can operate. I suspect that is what the Sheriff is waiting for to lift the evacuation order.

Last Edited by Crunch62 on 02/26/2017 06:39 PM

Flood Warning
Issued: 12:59 PM PST Feb. 26, 2017 – National Weather Service


The Flood Warning continues for
the Yolo bypass near Lisbon.
* At 12:15 PM Sunday the stage was 20.9 feet.
* Minor flooding is occurring and minor flooding is forecast.
* Forecast to recede to near 20.0 ft late Tuesday morning then
forecast to fluctuate near 20.0 ft thru near Tuesday noon.
* Flood stage 19.0 ft
* monitor stage 13.0 ft
* impact... near 19.0 feet, Mound farms and senator Outing Duck club
are flooded.
* Impact... near 16.0 feet, Glide in ranch is completely flooded.
* Impact... near 15.0 feet, County Road 155 is flooded west of the
Golden sprig Duck club.
* Impact... near 14.0 feet, skyrakers Duck club ponds begin to flood.
* Impact... near 13.0 feet, flood waters extend approximately 1 mile
west of the Tow drain downstream of the Lisbon gage.
* Impact... near 12.0 feet, County Road 107 is flooded.
* Impact... near 11.0 feet, Glide in ranch & Mound farms begin to
flood.
* Impact... near 10.5 feet, local roads on the east side of the Yolo
bypass south of the I-80 causeway are flooded.
* Impact... near 9.5 feet, Yolo bypass flooding extends 1/4 mile west.
No structural damage is occurring.

&&

Lat... Lon 3878 12176 3879 12156 3854 12156 3820 12164
3822 12182

Hec



Hydrologic Statement
Issued: 1:01 PM PST Feb. 26, 2017 – National Weather Service


Forecast information for
mokelumne river near benson's Ferry near Thornton.
* At 12:15 PM Sunday the stage was 12.3 feet.
* Forecast to fluctuate near 12.0 ft thru near tomorrow noon.
* Flood stage 17.0 ft
* monitor stage 12.0 ft


&&

Lat... Lon 3829 12154 3829 12134 3820 12128 3820 12150

Signal stalker is good for nearby, 500' away transmissions. I would suggest a band scan, where it samples sequentially every frequency in that band, then locks onto a transmission (or a sideband, as often times happens).

If you have software like Scancat, the scanner can be easily programmed to listen to just one frequency band. Most scanners are a nightmare to program via the front buttons.

Especially with a fading/dead display as mine has. It is an older unit, a PRO-97. I believe it can be programmed via a PC, but I don't have a cable or the SW.

Article stating the Main Spillway will be shut down tomorrow to assess damage and enable clearing the channel in the Diversion Pool.

[link to www.actionnewsnow.com]

Hard to imagine the sheer amount of debris and mud, etc. All has to be removed, against the clock...

It should be a fascinating thing to watch if they let us...

Last Edited by Azaziah on 02/26/2017 07:48 PM

Looking at recent photos of the channel below the spillway, there are actually islands that have been created by the debris flow. Its like a science project gone bad.

Crunch. That is dangerous in the dams current state.

And for any new folks, I don't mean the actual dam part. The water has been rushing at the MS and ES for two plus weeks. The MS has also been shook to death at the base as there is one known crack I suspect others.

Point is -- Crunch be ready to GO. That water is going to hit those gates and it will be pissed and the MS is already structurally unsound.

This is frustrating. According to the published numbers, none of these scheduled release changes ever happened. But they're talking about shutting it down tomorrow?

REL SCH

Date / Time
(PST) REL SCH
CFS
02/26/2017 09:00 46000
02/26/2017 10:00 46000
02/26/2017 15:50 51000

Got that, for sure.

lol. And tell your wife the sue happy lady said hi. And my doggie says ruff ruff woof to your great animals.

Current water level - 840.74

Something that's bothering me on the outflow numbers & the lake level. It's my understanding that the top of the gates sit at 850 ft, & the gates are what... 13 or 17 ft tall. So that means, at the current level of 840 ft, even with the gates open fully outflow could not go any higher than 1/2 max cfps. Not that this is a problem in and of its self, it just means that the gates have been slowly opened more and more as the level dropped below the top of the gates to keep the outflow at a consistent rate. Depending on the actual kind of gate is used going from wide open to fully closed *could* overstress that portion of the dam. Let us pray this doesn't occur.

THIS ONCE GREAT THEREAD WILL B GREAT AGAIN ABOUT THE 1ST ISH....

This thread has tarded for a long time now. NOTHING will happen March 1st or 2nd or any day in March, April or this year with the damn dam.

To the nothingishappeningtardz, I can't help you or pay you what some of you get paid to steer away from center conversations.

The dam is critically unsound. That is all. The proof is through the entire thread.

Good night, try the last liver, I'll be here all week

Guys...theyre stopping outflow as temps move into the 70s after record snowfall

DWR: "The Department of Water Resources will begin gradually ramp down outflows from the Oroville Reservoir Monday. Flows from the main spillway will be reduced from 50,000 cubic feet per second throughout the day and eventually reach zero in the afternoon.

As flows are reduced, DWR will monitor the status of the dam, spillways, and related structures to ensure their continued safety and stability. Flows will be reduced gradually to minimize risk to downstream levees. Through use of water stored in the Diversion Pool and Thermalito Forebay and Afterbay, flows necessary to meet fishery requirements in the Feather River downstream of the dam will be maintained.

Cutting off flows from the flood control spillway for several days will allow workers to aggressively attack the debris pile at its base and reduce the water level surface elevation of the channel that leads from the Hyatt Power Plant.

Removal of debris will help safeguard Hyatt Power Plant and allow for its eventual reoperation. Once operational, the Hyatt Power Plant can discharge roughly 14,000 cfs, which will allow DWR to better manage reservoir levels through the remaining spring runoff season."

Gonzalo & Stephanie Curiel flew over the #OrovilleDam today, and took this video from altitude 5,000ft! Thanks, guys!!!

[link to www.youtube.com (secure)]

Good luck with dredging that pile in a few days with the dredges they have there. Not gonna happen.

The gates are 30' tall and 17' 7" wide IIRC.

They have a picture at the end of the video in the link right above your post that shows the barges moving up to the mound. I'm not sure why they bother, if the water is stopped in all directions it seems they could just run big old bulldozers out there and push all the debris out of the way.

Very strange.

73y9m11d from operation chastise
"Dam busters"

What's even more tardish is you thinking you're going to change our minds with your ill placed confidence.

As if you simply can not be happy unless everyone here thinks and believes as you do.

Futility escapes you or you're not wise enough to understand it.



Go play somewhere else and be nice.

shutting the MS will cause the lake to rapidly fill again...especially with the melt off on the way and the full reservoirs above this dam. They better get that MS open ASAP closing too long would will force ES spill. This situation is far from over and it will be the most popular thread again next week.