The Oroville Crisis Exposes The Vulnerability Of America's Entire National Dam System
Submitted by Adam Taggart via PeakProsperity.com,
Submitted by Adam Taggart via PeakProsperity.com,
With the water level at California's Lake Oroville receding ahead of tomorrow's forecast rainfall, California officials lifted the evacuation orders for residents downstream of Oroville Dam, saying the dam may hold up to upcoming storms although following the government's failure to be forthright with the citizens, it is unclear how many of the almost 200,000 residents who were told to evacuate in the last possible moment after erosion threatened the emergency spillway, will return.
As discussed previously, the biggest priority for California officials tasked with restoring the damaged Oroville Dam as they race against a coming Wednesday storm, is to plug the hole in the damaged spillway while draining as much water as possible ahead of the coming rainfall.
After discovering a hole in Oroville Dam's emergency spillway, officials said late Sunday that they will attempt to plug it using sandbags and rocks. But, as the LA Times notes, they stressed the situation remains dangerous and urged thousands of residents downstream to evacuate to higher ground. Video from television helicopters Sunday evening showed water flowing into a parking lot next to the dam, with large flows going down both the damaged main spillway and the emergency spillway.
Following a woefully belated response by California authorities' to the dangerous situation unfolding at the Lake Oroville Dam in Northern California over the weekend, an evacuation order forcing some 200,000 people living below the tallest dam in the US remained in place early on Monday after residents were abruptly told to flee when a spillway appeared in danger of collapse.