Part of a dam near me is about to fail...

Post Reply New Topic

I live in Sacramento near the Sacramento River. Part of Oroville Dam, near Oroville on the Feather River about 75 miles north, will probably have washed away by the time you read this, along with towns that are far too poor to rebuild such as Oroville itself (including a downtown with some buildings dating from the Gold Rush and a historic orange tree from the same period) and various "suburbs" such as Palermo, Thermalito, and Gridley (Gridley being another town with some beautiful old buildings).

The Feather River may rise more than FORTY FEET! AND immediately after failure. The Feather feeds into the Sacramento, and I'm in a low lying flood plain near the Sacramento River. The Sacramento is already extremely high. The flood control agency has done a lot of levee work, but the river may simply go right over the top.

I have not decided yet whether I will stay (and die), or go. It's possible that the national guard will drag us out by force like New Orleans after Katrina. I am getting out my ham and broadcast radio receivers, and getting ready for a possible evacuation. Damn, I should have filled up my car when I was out earlier.

I hope this isn't a permanent goodbye, but if it is, I really enjoyed WP and everybody here.

More info can be had at kcra.com (Channel 3 Sacramento) and krcrtv.com (Channel 7 Redding).

Why would you stay? Better to get out of there!

My mom, who lives in the main house, has said that if she leaves I will too. I have my radios, meds, computer discs, and document box ready. They are sending Yuba and Sutter Counties down to Sacramento. Radio says that every road from Oroville to the Feather-Sacramento confluence is gridlock. They are saying now that the water flow over the emergency dam has gone down.

Wow,that is seriously scary.Get out of there while you can.I hope you and your Mom make it out safe.I can't even imagine what you must be going thru.

Be safe!

The Marysville suburbs of Linda and Olivehurst, which were destroyed by a flood 30 years ago, have been evacuated as well. They're dropping rocks ("rappel") into the hole right now to try and fill it. No immediate threat to the city of Sacramento itself, where I am.

180,000 people under mandatory evacuation, Oroville to south of Yuba City. Sacramento city has 500k people in the city itself, most on historic flood plains.

Getting out while it still can be done in an orderly fashion might be the best thing. Maybe even stay with some relatives who live in an other location for the time being. It will also gives your more control over what will happen to you, then being forced out by the national guard, or fleeing in a panic.

http://www.kcra.com/article/water-stops ... ay/8736758

The immediate danger has passed. No evacuations for metro Sacramento area. 188,000 people displaced, motels all full in Chico and Sacramento. So far, I won't have to leave. Beneficii, thank you but I don't live near light rail, I live out in Natomas.

Good to hear you and your Mom are ok and the dam didn't break.

200,000 refugees created from the flood that didn't happen. They're not letting them back in for the foreseeable future as they evaluate the damage. kcra.com has some footage of the erosion, which really doesn't look that bad.

My mom said that it appears to her that the bureaucrats in charge of the dam made a bunch of stupid decisions and then panicked when things got out of hand. She compared it to that old 70s disaster movie The China Syndrome where the people at the reactor suddenly realize it's gonna blow and run around screaming "the reactor's critical!".

Anyway, a lot of the refugees have landed in my area, since I live near the first exit on Interstate 5 south of the California 99 interchange. There's a big traveler's plaza right off the freeway, and it's packed. People are crowding the gas station at a Safeway next to the freeway. The farther you go from the freeways, the less cuckoo it gets. People are trying to drive back and run the checkpoints to get home and the cops are trying to turn around a lot of very p!ssed people.

Reminds me of why I have no desire to live downstream of a dam where failure could affect where I live.