The above reference photo gives the proper perspective. Note auxilliary/secondary spillway, far left, and the regular/primary spillway, the long concrete "waterslide" right next to it. The big earthen dam is not affected at all.
As usual, the reporting in the mass media is not very good, but from what I've been able to piece together:
At some point on Tuesday (today is Sunday), the main spillway had a significant hole/crater developing in the concrete pathway, and somebody made the decision to close that spillway to evaluate and/or repair. In the meantime, water in the lake rose quickly enough that the secondary (passive) spillway overflowed. This caused erosion below the auxillliary spillway, and raised concerns that the emergency spillway wall could fail . The main spillway was then activated again (10pm Sunday night it was operating at 100k cfps), and this has lowered the lake level enough that the auxilliary spillway is no longer overflowing. At the same time, 40k cfps was still arriving into the lake, but a drawdown of 50ft has been estimated to be needed to accommodate incoming storms and snowmelt next week.
The big question, I think, is going to be whether the initial closure of the main spillway was the right decision. Right now it looks like it was not the right decision, given that it has been reversed, but one might argue that the spillway needed to be inspected before re-opening. The duration of the closure time for inspection has not been revealed. There was some talk that the reasoning behind the decision was to ensure the safety of some power line towers that serve the dam's power station.
This is a new thread, trying to provide REAL information and links to good information. The earlier thread by other poster https://patrick.net/users/No%20news%20is%20good%20news was a propaganda thread with fake news. No doubt this thread will also be infected, but at least it starts with facts. I moved my posts from yesterday's thread to this new thread.
#oroville #emergency #OrovilleDam #LakeOroville #news #currentevents
Recommended ignores on this thread: Ironman
I'd love to see that math. Care to show your work?