They're evacuating all of Oroville, CA. Eroding more slowly now!! Trying temp repair.

[herding cats]

Last edited Mon Feb 13, 2017, 12:35 AM - Edit history (7)

Update: Good News!!

There's still going to be flooding, but it won't be a sudden deluge tonight if their plan works. It turns out the overflow (which had never been needed before) auxiliary spillway caused a hole to erode back into the earthen levee wall, which they realized could cause the whole area to collapse for 30' down and, subsequently wash away. They're going to try and drop bags of rocks via helicopters into the hole and they're releasing water at 125k cfs out of the main (but partially collapsed) spillway. Basically, I'm thinking the Feather river, and all ithose it feeds will exceed flood stage by some impressive numbers, but the rest "might" be spared!!

"“They have what they expect to be an imminent failure of the axillary spillway,” said Mike Smith, a spokesman for the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection. “What they’re expecting is as much as 30 vertical feet of the top of the spillway could fail and could fail within one to two hours. We don’t know how much water that means, but we do know that’s potentially 30 feet of depth of Lake Oroville.”

Read more here: http://www.sacbee.com/news/state/california/water-and-drought/article132332499.html#storylink=cpy

Yuba County Office of Emergency Services (Yuba is the county where Sacramento is in)
18 mins ·
ALERT-ALERT-ALERT -- Yes, an evacuation has been ordered. All Yuba County on the valley floor. The auxiliary spillway is close to failing. Please travel safely. Contact family and friends. Help the elderly.
https://www.facebook.com/YubaCountyOES/posts/1115184581925634

Flash Flood Warning

7:47pm, 12th February 2017 (ET)

...A FLASH FLOOD WARNING FOR A DAM FAILURE REMAINS IN EFFECT UNTIL 415 PM PST MONDAY FOR SOUTH CENTRAL BUTTE COUNTY... At 441 PM PST * Flash Flood Warning for... A Dam Failure in... South central Butte County in northern California... * Until 415 PM PST Monday * At 445 PM PST, Officials now anticipate a failure of the auxiliary spillway in 60 minutes. Residents of Oroville should evacuate in a northward direction such as towards Chico. Other city`s should follow the orders of their local law enforcement. Operation of the auxiliary spillway has lead to severe erosion that has lead to a failure of the structure. Failure of the auxiliary spillway structure will result in an uncontrolled release of flood waters from Lake Oroville. Immediate evacuation from the low levels of Oroville areas downstream is ordered. From Oroville to Gridley...low level areas around the feather river will experience rapid river rises. This is not a Drill. This is not a Drill. Repeat this is not a drill. * Locations impacted include... Oroville, Palermo, Gridley, Thermalito, South Oroville, Oroville Dam, Oroville East and Wyandotte.

http://share.3sidedcube.com/arc/hazards/alerts/NOAA_bea06d3df7c4f175d7f9738116c6cd8c?identifier=ARC_STORM-1-8

California Department of Water Resources
18 mins ·
EMERGENCY EVACUATION ORDER ISSUED: Officials are anticipating a failure of the Auxiliary Spillway at Oroville Dam within the next 60 minutes.
Residents of Oroville should evacuate in a northward direction, toward Chico. Other cities should f
https://www.facebook.com/CADWR/posts/10154432719172449


Butte County Sheriff
35 mins ·
This is an evacuation order.
Immediate evacuation from the low levels of Oroville and areas downstream is ordered.

A hazardous situation is developing with the Oroville Dam auxiliary spillway. Operation of the auxiliary spillway has lead to severe erosion that could lead to a failure of the structure. Failure of the auxiliary spillway structure will result in an uncontrolled release of flood waters from Lake Oroville.
In response to this developing situation, DWR is increasing water releases to 100,000 cubic feet per second.
Immediate evacuation from the low levels of Oroville and areas downstream is ordered.
This in NOT A Drill. This in NOT A Drill. This in NOT A Drill.

https://www.facebook.com/bcsonews/posts/781255845358029

I just noticed my phone has been changing levee to levy here. My apologies.

[underpants]

1. Yikes.

Keep us updated.

[herding cats]

3. It's a really big deal.

Not only for all the people in Oroville (abt. 16,000) but everyone down river. And it's the drinking water for all of the state basically.

[KewlKat]

6. Rachel had covered this I thought last night or maybe the night before....

[herding cats]

8. The night before I think.

I'm from that are like she is and like her I also have family down the river from the dam, so I've been keeping up with it, too.

[dewsgirl]

17. Friday night. I Just watched a video that said no imminent danger,

Yet there has appeared to be somewhat of a media blackout on this (of course the media has it's hands more than full, covering this idiotic administration). I hope everyone is going to be O.K..

[rainbow4321]

87. Right?!? I turn to CNN and there's a foodie show....

So much more important than trying to evac 60k people in the dark within 60 minutes.....

[dewsgirl]

119. CNN just mentioned It briefly.

[DK504]

73. This makes me wonder why there are not more waterways

leading to smaller reservoirs downstream. Instead of letting all that necessary water out to the Pacific, California needs to have feeder band rivers leading to other reservoirs. Something that has always confused me.

That said, I hope every stay safe and can get out quickly.

[elmac]

86. a few online EMS audio feeds from the affected area

Yuba County Sheriff and Wheatland Police
http://www.broadcastify.com/listen/feed/8294/web

Butte County Sheriff and EMS, Oroville Police / Fire - Live Audio Feed Web Player
http://www.broadcastify.com/listen/feed/24979/web

[yuiyoshida]

97. Yikes, indeed.

[dragonlady]

2. Highlights the need for infrastructure work n/t

[herding cats]

5. Kind of, it was just inspected last year and passed.

It was just so much water it couldn't handle it all.

[Susan Calvin]

32. Well, I'm blaming the greedheads anyway... ;-

What a mess. All best hopes and wishes.

[scscholar]

90. Not quite

Pictures from the beginning of last week showed problems with the spillway then pictures later in the week showed catastrophic damage. It isn't a problem with the amount of water. The dam was designed to handle the amount of water. The problem is concrete damage that wasn't repaired.

[herding cats]

114. That's very possible.

It's going to be difficult to prove now, but forensic investigations will take place.

[TexasBushwhacker]

110. Even so, it's at the end of its useful life

It was meant to last 50 years and it went online 49 years ago. Were there any plans to repair or replace it?

[herding cats]

115. I don't know of any plans to replace it in the next few years before this took place.

Of course, now it's on the express lane for replacement. The optimal time would have been during the extended drought when it wasn't needed.

[TexasBushwhacker]

116. Yeah, but that would have meant doing it preemptively

Spending tax dollars BEFORE it's actually "needed". Even if it passed inspection, I wonder what grade it was given by the corp of engineers. Grade 1 is the worst, and half of the country's 10,000 dams are grade 1 or 2.

[KewlKat]

4. This is huge.....I hope everyone heeds the warnings and is able to get out in time

be safe everyone.

[Adsos Letter]

7. Holy Mackeral!

That's a LOT of water.

Wishing the best for everyone below the dam.

[herding cats]

10. Yep. Let's hope it's only a partial failure.

This is terrifying.

[Adsos Letter]

12. Agreed.

That's a huge lake.

[Hekate]

9. Prayers for the wellbeing of all the people downstream of the dam

[herding cats]

14. I cannot believe this is happening.

This is a disaster with potential to be worse than any I've seen.

[Adsos Letter]

18. Does the terrain below the dam flatten out pretty quickly?

[herding cats]

22. It all runs downhill to Sacramento.

Then it's flattens out mostly.

[AngryAmish]

38. If it lets go all at once everyone in Sacramento is dead.

Kinda big deal.

[Adsos Letter]

44. Yeah, I live here too.

They don't think the dam itself will fail..

[AngryAmish]

52. Of course, state offocials should always be believed.

Do you have any friends in wine country?

Wine country is nice. No one is going to die at in wine country. And going there is just an impromptu vacation.

Dams have a reputation for being solid, until they are not. A few days away can be fun.

[Adsos Letter]

56. You can lay off the snark. n,t

[AngryAmish]

67. Snark, of course is bad.

So is drowning.

It is craaazy to think this is a safe situation. If you can get out, go.

99 out of 100 it is safe.

[Adsos Letter]

74. My apologies.

I misunderstood your first response to me.

[braddy]

11. I was wondering about the accuracy of the safety claims I was reading yesterday.

[herding cats]

15. I was, too.

I saw the update today by CWR and was skeptical then, too.

[malaise]

13. They've been watching this for days

What a disaster - utter dislocation

[herding cats]

16. As have I.

It's going to wash that little town right off the map and everything between them and the ocean on the watershed.

[malaise]

19. Sadly it looks that way

[sheshe2]

20. Houses can be rebuilt.

Lives lost can not be.

Stay safe everyone.

[herding cats]

24. They were given only an hour to get out.

There's going to be chaos.

[Hayabusa]

35. Jesus Christ...

This could be BAD.

[Kber]

21. F*ck!

as of this morning it was "No danger to the surrounding area"!

[handmade34]

23. ...

http://www.kcra.com/article/evacuation-orders-issued-for-low-levels-of-oroville/8735215

[VMA131Marine]

25. It is not the dam that is failing.

It is the auxiliary spillway. This could have been expected as it is not concrete lined, although I think the spillway lip is concrete. Once the spillway fails, the water will easily be able to erode the earth underlying it.

[herding cats]

27. Yes, it's the levy side that's going to wash away.

Lets just hope some of it holds, but I don't feel optomistic at this point.

[Cha]

26. Thank you, herding! Everybody stay SAFE!

[herding cats]

33. This is so sad.

Hope for the best, Cha. This could get ugly.

[Cha]

36. ..

[Susan Calvin]

28. Fallout from decades of infrastructure neglect.

I'd like to, re the greedheads, "pinch their little heads off and tell God they died," as Mom would say.

[tblue37]

29. Image of the spillway overflowing.

Evacuations ordered below Oroville Dam; failure of emergency spillway is possible


http://www.trbimg.com/img-58a0ce6a/turbine/la-anphillips-1486933679-snap-photo/650/650x366

[progressoid]

40. Whoa!

[Jim Beard]

45. I saw that spillway on Google Maps... CNN ....

keeps trudging along with Anthony Bourdain.

[safeinOhio]

104. Weather Channel is keeping up on it.

Along with the big storm in the NE.

[HassleCat]

30. If you don't know about river flows

100,000 cubic feet per second (cfs) is absolutely ripping in a medium sized river. That kind of flow will carry big logs along at 15 to 20 mph, and knock out bridges, etc. Of course, houses in the 100 year flood plain are seriously in danger, and some of them will be swept away, just as in some disaster movie. Serious stuff.

[herding cats]

41. Exactly!

Also there's the additional flow coming from the auxiliary overflow that's about to breach. This is a flood that is going to destroy everything in its path.

[snort]

63. The Feather joins the Sacramento.

Oh shit.

[dpibel]

31. Seems the dam itself is not in danger

At least according to the LA Times.

"Officials emphasized that while erosion had carved a massive hole in the main spillway, the dam itself is structurally sound."

“Believe me, in the last several days there have been a lot of eyes on it,” said Bill Croyle, acting director of the water department. “Oroville Dam is not in any way a part of the damage that occurred.”

http://www.latimes.com/local/lanow/la-me-ln-oroville-update-20170212-story.html

So there may be an uncontrolled dump of the flood water down the auxiliary spillway. But the lake is not going to drain.

[herding cats]

43. 30' of lake Oroville is about to be released in 2-3 hours.

That's an insane amount of water.

[Crash2Parties]

75. Unless the area under the spillway gets undermined in which case it could be more. much more.

[citood]

91. Just to be on the safe side, I would advise those downstream to get the hell out

We can worry about the semantics of which part of the dam failed later.

[bpositive]

34. Makes you wonder

If I lived in an area like this, what would I do to plan for an inevitable flooding event? Buy a canoe! Floatation devices? Flares? Submarine- ok, I'm getting a bit silly, but on a serious side. What did or could people do to save themselves if a levie breaks?

I hope some thought about this and I wish them all good luck and hopefully no harm comes to anyone.

[lastlib]

46. ...

[underpants]

55. Lumberton NC - Hurricane Matthew

We drove through there coming back from the beach last year. It's a good HOUR inland. When Matthew came through one of the dams failed and the city was pretty much ruined. At least at one point NC officials said something to that effect.

I don't think they had any reasonable expectation that that could happen but it did.

[kimbutgar]

37. Wow, I used to go to Chico state and passed Oroville and used to go to that dam on hot days

It is a flat plains areas and this is will be a major disaster if the dam fails and unfortunately we will not get any federal help for repairs or help fir those folks in that community. I just don't see chump saying anything about it. Ironically that area went big for chump! 60/40 would give been more but Butte has Chico State and it is a very blue liberal area in a sea of red.

[Adsos Letter]

39. KCRA out of Sacramento has film and some more explanation of what is happening.

http://www.kcra.com/

[Jim Beard]

48. Thanks for the photo. Its going over the dam on its unprotected area,

[SunSeeker]

49. Wow. The section of the levee pictured at that link is scary.

Last edited Sun Feb 12, 2017, 10:40 PM - Edit history (1)

[itsrobert]

42. LIVE CHOPPER VIDEO FACEBOOK KCRA

https://www.facebook.com/KCRA3/?hc_ref=PAGES_TIMELINE

[Jim Beard]

54. They are really trying hard to get out of there. Lots of traffic going slow.

[Warpy]

58. Live newscast at KCRA

http://www.kcra.com/nowcast

People are bugging out, or trying to. Roads are jammed and traffic is crawling. Police have yet to make the evacuation routes one way.

[Hayabusa]

59. Holy fuck...

[rufus dog]

61. For Fucks Sake

The comments are fucking horrible.

People making it political and basically saying fuck them all.

[StarryNite]

72. Thank you for posting that link. n/t

[lindysalsagal]

77. Some of that water is already very close to the highway.

Seems crazy that they're only using one-way traffic. Aughtta be letting everyone go out in both directions, at least until they can access other roads.

Anyone know if it's broken, yet?

[csziggy]

95. Sacbee has drone footage from this afternoon

That shows the spillway and emergency overflow. It's intimidating.

http://www.sacbee.com/news/state/california/water-and-drought/article132251924.html

[Bernardo de La Paz]

47. Videos that make it clearer

Dunno about the "levy", but the spillway seems in trouble. Further, the dam is overflowing, so there is an emergency spillway which is functioning, but the situation is dire. You can't let water flow over the dam itself because that would erode the dam which would be a massive failure.

http://www.unz.com/isteve/are-there-any-lessons-to-be-learned-from-the-oroville-dam-disaster/

[herding cats]

50. The auxiliary spillway is on an earthen levy that is being eroded.

That's what's failing now, the other spillway (in your video) failed last week.

[herding cats]

51. This is that area right now.

?crop=1.00xw:1.00xh;0,0&resize=900

[Jim Beard]

60. Looks extremely serious!

[herding cats]

66. See all that water behind that, they expect 30' of that to be drained in a matter of hours.

That's 30 vertical feet of erosion expected on the far left of that picture, where it's earth and being eroded away.

Let's just hope it's not that much, because that will be a disaster. Homes lost and possible power out from Oroville all the way down through Sacramento.

[Ellipsis]

71. live coverage

[salin]

98. Thanks for this link.

Dam serious, damn scary.

[Adsos Letter]

53. We're expecting another week of rain starting this Thursday.

[msongs]

57. is there a source other than facebook making these claims? nt

[Jim Beard]

62. One of the Facebook links belonged to a large local news media.

[Adsos Letter]

64. http://www.kcra.com/nowcast

http://www.kcra.com/nowcast

[cally]

65. It's DWR posts on Facebook...It's the official account

Website says updates are on Facebook and twitter. I also saw it on local news. It's bad

[herding cats]

68. Those are the local county accounts and the California department of Water Resources.

They're all very legit, I promise.

Oh, and the Red Cross alert. It's up there, too. Also, The Sacramento Bee is a newspaper. It's the first link.

[gademocrat7]

76. Take care, cats

I have family in Folsom. They are very concerned for the residents of Oroville and surrounding communities.

[herding cats]

81. Thank you. My family all fled to the north.

It's just too dangerous to risk staying there now.

[Adrahil]

69. Imma guess that Trump will give this a brief mention at best...

nd then back to tweeting about the media and Ivaka's junk.

[yeoman6987]

103. Trump will say, "California voted for Hillary. Good luck"

I wish I was being sarcastic. He would say that in a heartbeat.

[gademocrat7]

70. Horrific

[Leghorn21]

78. The Weather Channel is covering this well - now showing evacuation - oh so many cars heading

out, an endless line of headlights in the dark - really horrific

[herding cats]

83. They said they're trying to move upwards to 60k people out and that traffic is terrible!

I hope it erodes slowly to give them more time.

[Leghorn21]

89. Yes - so urgent they get out immediately - I guess there's not enough time to set up a traffic

counterflow senario, as they do for hurricane situations, but that sure would accelerate this achingly slow process -

[herding cats]

94. The good news is they think they might be able to keep it from fully failing.

There's still going to be flooding, but it won't be a sudden deluge tonight if their plan works. It turns out the overflow (which had never been needed before) auxiliary spillway caused a hole to erode back into the earthen levy wall, which they realized could cause the whole area to collapse for 30' down and, subsequently wash away. They're going to try and drop bags of rocks via helicopters into the hole and they're releasing water at 125k cfs out of the main (but partially collapsed) spillway. Basically, I'm thinking the Feather river, and all ithose it feeds will exceed flood stage by some impressive numbers, but the rest "might" survive!!

[Leghorn21]

96. All fingers crossed here, cats! Oh, and speaking of cats and dogs and gerbils, one "tiny" yet

wonderful effect of Katrina - small yet major for us peeps with "pets" (aka "family&quot - the TWC specifically said when talking about shelters starting to open, "...and bring your pets!!" - it's kinda been the norm since K., but is still music to pet-lovers' ears, non??!!

[herding cats]

100. Yes, it's very good news!

Many people postpone, or decide not to evacuate at all, if they can't bring their furry family with them. It ends up costing people's lives, not just their pets.

[janlyn]

79. A spokesman

Said the emergency spill way wss rated to handle 250,000 cubic feet per second,but it started failing at a fraction of that amount. Sounds to me like shoddy workmanship of the structure whenmit was initially built. Hope everyone gets out ok!

[2naSalit]

127. More like

it's been raining really hard fro months now and the soil does not lend itself to holding water well and erodes when prolonged saturation takes place, even when an where there are trees/vegetation. It just isn't the kind of soil that holds together under constant or near constant deluge by extreme amounts of rain all in a short time. That and the age of the dam network contribute to this. Most large infrastructure built in the first 60 or so years of the 20th century was pretty sound and not likely to have had much in the way of shoddy work.

Just sayin'.

[janlyn]

130. Yes,it could be

I suppose time will tell.

[2naSalit]

131. There is the fact that there were many missed opportunities

to take care of upgrades or repairs in the past too. But I don't think it was a design flaw per se.

[Coventina]

80. How horrible! I hope people are able to get their pets and livestock

out of harm's way.

All the wild thing are in danger as well.



This is one of the prices we pay when we "manage" water.

[2naSalit]

126. Or when we "manage" anything in nature....nt

[rainbow4321]

82. Here is the link to the local police scanner

http://www.broadcastify.com/listen/feed/24979/web


If it doesn't take you directly there, go to broadcastify.com, click on browse feeds, go to CA and pick Butte County. They have a special broadcast about the evac area.

[OKNancy]

84. #orovilledam trending on twitter, but nothing on CNN website

as of a minute ago anyway

[Kilgore]

85. Guess the drought is over

[citood]

92. Many of the 'empty reservoir' photos from last year were of this very lake

[lapfog_1]

102. Sad to say, but only temporary

California's real water storage is snow in the Sierras... not resavoirs.

Not to mention ground water which was drastically reduced in the last 10 years.

The snow came, but rain came too (warmer climate) and has melted some of the snow.

There may be more snow later (even next week), but right now, the draught is only temporarily relieved.

We do like the reservoirs full again... that's really good news. But we need snow pack all the way down into the lower elevations of the Sierras.

[scscholar]

88. And still the media refuses to report on it

Well, other than a couple of sentences from Rachel Maddow. I've been following this for a week and a half since a friend has been posting scary pictures and math to Facebook. When you have a huge amount of snow, it's 50 degrees F, and raining beginning of last week, you knew there was going to be a big problem.

[pinboy3niner]

99. A couple of sentences? She did a whole opening segment on it...

[herding cats]

105. Her segment was excellent.

She hit on al the potential dangers in the situation. I was really impressed with her knowledge - then she said how her dad had worked for CWR for some 40 years. No wonder she is so up on her hydrological facts.

[pinboy3niner]

135. And another excellent report from Rachel tonight

Lots of coverage today on cable news shows and all the major media.

[scscholar]

132. I can't watch that since I have a normal speed Internet connection.

Trump is burying this story and not allowing it to be told. Last I heard over 200,000 people had to flee because of his lack of infrastructure budget. He has abandoned us.

[pinboy3niner]

134. Well, her Oroville story was 13 minutes long at the top of her show

And she did another big Oroville story on her show tonight. Cable news shows also have been covering the story all day today.

Trump won't propose his first budget until later this year. He has hardly been in office 3 weeks and had nothing to do with it--at least, not yet, until he makes his decision very soon on requested federal emergency aid to California.

Multiple Oroville threads here and many news reports cover the background of the infrastructure issues and why they were not addressed years ago.

[sweetapogee]

93. Best wishes

To those in the area. Thanks for bringing this news to our attention. This is awful!

[DonCoquixote]

101. ask not for whom, the bell tolls

because there are many places that are in this level of deep shit.

[Leghorn21]

112. Fact.

And though TWC, which was covering evacuation very well (this old iPad can't do FB or streaming of anything very well) - though they have gone on to regular programming now, boy, watching those cars creeping across all manner of bridges? Not...calming. Do not know if dam water is headed towards those bridges, but if so, and a sudden river-tsunami heads their way - -

Anyway, yes, fact.

[regnaD kciN]

106. And if (when) there's massive flooding...

...I'm just sure the administration will do all they can to get emergency federal aid to California...

[StarryNite]

107. Whew!!!

Thank you for the update!

[randome]

108. Is 2 hrs enough time to get 16,000 people out?

I know they issued the evacuation order earlier but I wonder how many heeded it and how jammed up are the roads.

[herding cats]

109. Judging by the traffic I'm seeing still trying to get out, no it's not.

Those are mostly two lane highways out there. Luckily they don't have to rush anymore, and hopefully there won't be a next time.

[Pachamama]

111. Holy shit - this is frightening! I hope it won't be as serious as they are predicting and

That Oroville won't be destroyed. But I'm hoping people all get to safety and all the structural engineers and geological specialists are able to prevent the worst. And that the rain predicted this week moves away....

[pinboy3niner]

113. DWR plans to use helicopters to drop rocks to fill in the gouge...

Link to tweet

CA - DWR
‏@CA_DWR


DWR plans to use helicopters to drop rocks to fill in the gouge in the Oroville Auxilliary Spillway to stabilize.

6:50 PM - 12 Feb 2017

[Takket]

117. waching the stream on youtube...

and the live chat is just riddled with deplorables blaming Obama, Hillary, the governor and just "libtard Californians" in general for this

What is the matter with these people??? They are rooting for a disaster because California is a blue state!!!!! They are completely without any sort of morality of decency. Horrible people!!!

[regnaD kciN]

128. Have one party and its bought-and-paid-for media...

...spend decades telling everyone that their opponents are the pure essence of contemptible evil, and, eventually, surprise!, they come to believe it.

[Leith]

118. This Is Horrific

with the potential of catastrophic. I've been watching the livestream news and they have done a terrific job of explaining what's happening, how it happened, worst case scenarios, and interviews with evacuees. People are keeping their heads and morale is high. I worry about those evacuating to Sacramento, though. If the worst happens, the flood will be coming their way.

All the best to everyone.

[Leghorn21]

120. Thanks for update, cats! And per this meteorologist in Sacramento, it's looking much better

Mark Finan
@ kcraFinan
Sacramento
KCRA-TV Chief Meteorologist

Mark Finan
@kcraFinan
4m

At 8pm, Lake Oroville was at 901.02'. Flow is now ending over the emergency spillway
View details ·

Mark Finan
@kcraFinan
1h
Lake Oroville is down to 100.1% full right now. Dropping about 1/3 foot per hour. The lower it gets the less pressure there will be

[herding cats]

121. Yay!

They managed to save the day, and a lot of people's homes and possibly their lives!

I just love a happy ending.

[Leghorn21]

123. Well, I'm cautiously optimistic (stuff happens!?) - but the meteorologist says

Mark Finan
@kcraFinan

At the current rate of outflow, Lake Oroville will drop about 20' in 36 hours.
8:49 PM - 12 Feb 2017

- - - BUT! Apparently, big rains heading in on Wednesday, so this ain't over yet - poor peeps, oh -

[regnaD kciN]

129. It won't be a truly happy ending...

...until they figure out the way to patch that hole in the main spillway -- and hopefully before another monsoon comes.

[Docreed2003]

122. Stay say folks...you're in our thoughts and prayers!!

[Xolodno]

124. And yet...every time I drive north on 99...

...I see signs of "Trains vs Water Storage".

It pisses me off to no end. We should be talking about dismantling dams and returning the rivers that provided Chinook salmon, an industry destroyed by central valley farms and moving farms to drip irrigation. Many refuse to go that route because as a farmer once said...and I'm sure many others... "If I don't use all the water, then I won't get the same amount next year".

Farmers could be fucking drowning in water in the central valley and they will still say they don't want to be cut off. I'm not advocating laws to prohibit flood irrigation, but if you make these people pay per gallon what the "city-folk" do....they would adopt drip irrigation and other water saving technologies, crops, etc. real fast.

Water "storage" isn't the answer. Its efficient use of resources.

[applegrove]

125. Vibes for the safety of one and all.

[moondust]

133. $2 trillion invading Iraq.

Killing hundreds of thousands and creating ISIS.

Meanwhile, crumbling infrastructure at home that even Al Gore brought up during his campaign...17-18 years ago!!!

Republicans? Republicans? Bueller?