What's up with the dam in California. California asks for Trump's help: the largest dam in the US is still under threat
Residents in Oroville, California and surrounding areas have been ordered to leave their homes immediately as parts of the Oroville Dam, the tallest dam in the US, are experiencing severe structural collapse.
Damage to the main structure of the dam is expected within an hour. After this structure is destroyed, over two cubic miles of water will be released. The flood will wipe out an entire region from the face of the earth.
The Oroville Reservoir is located 240 kilometers from San Francisco. The lakeside city of Oroville is home to 16,000 people. The dam, about which in question, is the highest in the United States, its height is 235 meters. The reservoir is also the main source of water supply for California, Agriculture in the Central Valley and State Enterprises.
An old video clip demonstrating what the Oroville spillway should look like in normal operation:
This is how it looks now:
Whereas before the water extinguished its energy by flowing smoothly from a height of 770 feet, today, after a spontaneous damage to the spillway about a week ago
due to a series of downpours flooding the region, the lower part of the structure looks like a seething stream of water with flying blocks of reinforced concrete, eroding the surface to the very rocks.
Evacuation zone maps:
Here is what American bloggers think about the situation:
Flyingcuttlefish: A few years ago, I spoke with a volunteer lifeguard in North Carolina. He told me in secret, afraid that someone would hear us, that they were special teachings in case the dam is destroyed upstream of the large locality. He even gave me an approximate date when this might happen. The words of the rescuer were not a surprise to me and only confirmed my suspicion. The fact is that it somehow strangely coincided and turned out that the United States Army of Engineers built more than 50% of its dams on the sites of active underground faults and in those places where large groups of the population were gathered down the river. But what if the dams were built on purpose - in anticipation of future events, natural Disasters? Or even artificially triggered disasters, such as devices such as HAARP. If a flood kills a lot of people, destroys the local economy - HAARP can affect not just the weather, but politics.
Jim Stone: All Recordings by maintenance the dams show that until recently the spillway was in excellent condition. I have analyzed many hours of video from the dam surveillance camera and in some frames you can see that pieces of concrete decking seem to be bouncing high in the air. That's why I think the spillway was blown up. Or is it some kind of deliberate sabotage. Obviously, I have no evidence of deliberate digging under the drain or traces of explosives, but you must admit - this is quite rational explanation. Even engineers are terribly surprised how this happened. And that means a lot. Therefore, I have doubts that everything will end well. If the dam fails, it will be a double Niagara Falls. Or even Niagara times four.
Based on materials
In northern California, a state of emergency has been introduced and an order has been issued to evacuate 190,000 people due to the threat of a dam break near the city of Oroville, one of the largest dams in the United States. Now the water level in the Oroville reservoir has risen to a critical level due to heavy rains, and the dam's drains are damaged, which at any moment can lead to flooding of the adjacent territory.
In California, the evacuation of residents of the city of Oroville and neighboring areas has been announced due to the threat of a breakthrough of one of the largest dams in the United States. A total of 190,000 people have been ordered to evacuate. California Governor Jerry Brown declared a state of emergency in the area. According to the California Fire Department, 35,000 people were evacuated in Butte County, which contains Oroville, 65,000 people in Yuba County, as well as 76,000 residents of Yuba City and 12,000 residents of Marysville.
The dam itself is intact, but an emergency spillway designed to be quickly emptied in the event of a sudden rise in water levels was destroyed on Sunday. According to the authorities, the spillway could not withstand the load and collapse at any moment, which will lead to the release of water from the Oroville reservoir. The main spillway was also washed out earlier last week.
If the dam breaks, the water could flood nearby towns. The water level in the Oroville Reservoir has risen due to heavy rain showers. Rainfall in Northern California is 228% above average for this time of year. “A dam failure like this is a disaster. We have determined that we cannot repair the damage," the head of the California Office of water resources Bill Croyle.
The Oroville Dam on the Feather River is the tallest in the United States, reaching 230 meters in height. The dam was built in the 1960s. The Oroville Reservoir is the largest in California.
Doctor of Technical Sciences, Head of the Modeling Laboratory surface water Mikhail Bolgov of the Institute of Water Problems of the Russian Academy of Sciences: “You need to know the design of this dam and what place the emergency spillway occupies in it in order to give a full-fledged forecast. But according to preliminary data, the consequences of its breakthrough can be catastrophic, there is a very large reservoir with high pressure, so the destruction can be colossal. Usually the spillway is arranged so that it starts working as soon as the reservoir is close to overflow. Operational services try never to bring the situation to this point, this is a last resort. Why all the negative conditions have accumulated there, why, roughly speaking, this hole began to work in emergency mode, it is not clear. During construction, conduits are specially left, which are then plugged with concrete. Maybe this is one of the remaining construction conduits, but, as I said, they are plugged with concrete. The evacuation of people always occurs when the risks become great. This does not mean that the dam will definitely not withstand, but it is necessary to carry out an evacuation. Need to carry out full set emergency measures, because it is better to resettle people than to catch the corpses later. There is only one way to lower the level - all spillways are opened, all turbines, if any, are turned on at full capacity, thermal stations are turned off for this, and in such a design mode, the hydraulic structure begins to work in order to reduce the pressure on this place as much as possible. where the accident occurred.
Former director for technical policy of JSC RusHydro Rasim Khaziakhmetov:“Information about the state of the Oroville dam is contradictory, I would say too much media and does not allow you to accurately predict the consequences. If the media and local authorities exaggerate the risks, nothing serious will happen. If the photos and videos of the first half of the day are accurate, then watersheds can be destroyed and, again, the consequences will not be excessively catastrophic, especially since the authorities have taken serious measures to evacuate the population. It was a little annoying that on one of the shootings from a helicopter, signs of filtration of the dam itself were visible, but this is scary. Imagine that there will be a landslide and a wave with a height of more than 200 meters with a pressure of 20 atmospheres will rush down. Then it may turn out that it was necessary to evacuate not 180 thousand people, but much more. There was already an accident in history, when in 1963 a landslide occurred in Italy and poured water over the dam. Despite the fact that there was practically a flat desert around and the wave height was about 20 meters, several villages were washed away in 7 minutes, 3 thousand people died. Everything seems much more dangerous here.”
Former Deputy Minister of Energy and former Chairman of the Board of Directors of RAO UES of Russia Viktor Kudryavy: “There is very little accurate information about the real situation with the dam, to what height it can collapse, at what speed, the characteristics of the lake itself, the volume of water accumulated in it, what elevation difference downstream, the terrain, whether there are turns that can provide overflow and mitigate the effects. A lot of factors. But it is clear that the base of the dam is good, since they are not very afraid, and a breakthrough can only occur in the upper part. The dynamics of destruction, height and wave speed are terrible. Total destruction will lead to a catastrophe the world has never seen before. I really hope it doesn't happen."
Yana Rozhdestvenskaya; group "Direct speech"
A dam in California is at risk of flooding the 6 cities closest to it. Now experts are doing everything to prevent a tragedy, but the danger is growing. Thousands of people are being evacuated, a state of emergency has been declared in the state.
A dam near the city of Oroville in California may break due to erosion of the main and auxiliary spillways, which were caused by heavy rains. To prevent an accident, attempts are being made to lower the water level in Lake Oroville, the discharge of water has been increased to 2.8 thousand cubic meters per minute. The destruction of the dam in the United States threatens to form a huge tsunami that will wash away 6 nearby cities.
The authorities announced an evacuation, almost 190 thousand people were advised to leave their homes. Governor Jerry Brown has declared a state of emergency in California, with 20,000 troops on standby.
Today, an online broadcast of the dam in the United States appeared on the network, it is conducted by helicopters that fly over a dangerous object. Millions of people are watching the dam in California online, it is clear that so far the efforts of specialists have not led to noticeable results.
YouTube users watch as the flow of water from the lake overflows the edge of the country's highest dam. The roads and buildings adjacent to the dam have already been flooded.
In the US state of California, an emergency evacuation has been announced in the vicinity of the country's highest dam, Oroville, due to serious damage to the dam structure. Due to the threat of flooding, about 130 thousand people leave the districts.
Dam failure in California
There was a video of the collapsing Oroville dam in California, through which every minute passes up to 2.8 thousand cubic meters of water. Part of the concrete cover on the upper platform of the dam just collapsed. The cause of the collapse has not yet been established.
Artificial Lake Oroville is located 240 kilometers from San Francisco, in the town of Oroville, located near the lake, 16 thousand people live. The dam is the highest in the United States, its height is 235 meters.
It is reported that the situation, which threatens to turn into a catastrophe, arose due to heavy rains. As a result, there was a partial destruction of the main and auxiliary spillways. The authorities fear that the erosion of the emergency spillway could lead to uncontrolled discharge of water from the lake. It is reported that water began to overflow through the main and alternate spillways after heavy rains. The volume of water in the lake is estimated at more than 4.3 billion cubic meters. m.
Destruction of the Oroville Dam in California
The Orroville Dam is one of the tallest dams in the United States. Water began to overflow through the emergency spillway on Saturday after heavy rains. In addition, water began to overflow through the main spillway, which was seriously affected by erosion. Authorities will start assessing the damage on Monday.
Video, Oroville Dam Overflow
The destruction of the dam, video filming
Evacuation in California
Oroville Dam Destruction, Helicopter Video
Euronews report, dam failure in California USA
Destroyed part of the dam, video review
On Friday, the authorities said they might have to use a ground emergency spillway that had never been used before. Trees and shrubs are being cleared there in case it is needed. So far, they have not found out what caused the destruction of the spillway. Minor cracks were found in 2009 and were repaired the following year. The situation repeated itself in the 13th year, but then the spillway was repaired again.
Photo report from the accident at the site of the destruction of the dam
Washout of part of a dam in California, beginning
So the Orville Dam (Oroville) looked before
The Oroville Dams are an earth embankment on the east side of the Feather River in the city of Oroville, California, in the United States. At 230 m, it is the tallest dam in the US and serves primarily for water supply, hydroelectric power generation, and flood control. The Lake Oroville Dam is the second largest man-made lake in the state of California, capable of holding over 4.4 cubic kilometers of water. The lake is located in the Sierra Nevada foothills east of the Sacramento Valley.
The construction of the dam was started in 1961 and despite numerous difficulties encountered during the construction process, including multiple floods and a major train accident on the railway line used to transport materials to the dam site, the dam was opened in 1967 and the entire project was ready for use in 1968. Then the dam began to generate electricity at the Edward Hyatt hydroelectric plant, the largest underground power plant in the country.
California authorities mobilized National Guard soldiers. Over 20 thousand military personnel are ready to help the population in the event of a breakthrough in the largest Oroville dam in the United States. Emergency services are trying to prevent a catastrophe, urgently evacuating residents of nearby cities.
But they warned about this 12 years ago. 2005 year. The California Department of Water Resources is applying for a new license for the Oroville Dam. Numerous demands of the greens - to check and strengthen the structure - remained unanswered by American officials. The inquiries stated that the dam did not meet modern safety standards. In the event of extreme rainfall, water will overflow through the main spillway. The calculations were accurate. And now, on the Internet, Americans blame those who did nothing when extreme measures could still have been avoided. In the meantime, decisions have to be made when every second counts.
“It would be great if, instead of sending billions of dollars to Iran, Obama spent the money to repair the Oroville Dam,” writes Big_Blue15.
"Governor Schwarzenegger and President George W. Bush are responsible for the disaster that occurred at the Oroville Dam," accuses another user.
“We use a variety of techniques to monitor the situation, people are working around the clock on the spot, and we are also monitoring the dynamics of what is happening with the help of video filming from drones. We are dumping two million 800 thousand liters per second,” said Bill Croyle, a representative of the US Department of Water Resources.
The dam was driven by heavy rains. As a result of precipitation, the water level in the lake has reached a critical level. The main spillway was severely eroded and the management company had to carry out an emergency drain through the backup spillway. However, a ravine was also found in it - the water began to overflow. Fearing that backup way unable to cope with the flow, the authorities began the evacuation.
“When this happened, we realized that we had to act quickly. It is especially important to monitor the situation in a timely manner, this allows us to take the right steps. I understand the confusion of people who had to leave their homes,” Butte County Sheriff Corey Honia expressed sympathy to the residents.
Dozens of media outlets also joined the monitoring - they launched a live broadcast from the dam. almost 200 thousand people who had to leave their homes are watching with bated breath. The evacuation order remains in effect indefinitely.
Military and public services have been mobilized in Oroville and the surrounding area. The president had to be asked for help. The letter was sent by California Governor Jerry Brown. Despite the fact that by February 13 the water level dropped, the worst-case scenario is still quite likely.
California editions that formed in the upper platform of the dam. If the ground under the concrete wall continues to erode, 4.5 billion cubic meters of water will break through the dam. Downstream cities will be hit by waves up to nine meters high. At least until February 15, the authorities will get a respite - two days will pass without precipitation. But by the end of the week, meteorologists predict more rain.
