OROVILLE
With stormwater and snowmelt pouring into the reservoir faster than expected, the operator of the crippled Oroville Dam raised the possibility of having to release water from the facility’s emergency spillway as soon as Saturday – a last-ditch alternative that officials had been hoping to avoid.
William Croyle, director of the state Department of Water Resources, told reporters Thursday evening that water levels in Lake Oroville could reach the brim sometime Saturday, forcing activation of the emergency spillway. The emergency system, which has never been used, would dump water onto an exposed hillside, dislodging trees and earthen debris into the Feather River and potentially affect communities downstream.
I especially love the "approximate path of water" shading on the Google Earth overlay in the article as the sort of cheerful non-engineering optimism that you'd expect from Yours Truly The Media, most especially how it follows a near-perfect rectangular path instead of a wonky looking trapezoid ...
ReplyDeleteLet's re-label the Google Earth overlay with my variety of British cynicism:
"Parking": "Temporary emergency helipad for rescuing workers from the parking area"
"Approximate path of water": "Mud slide and forest debris zone of certain death"
"Damaged concrete spillway": "Mud slide, forest debris, and chunky concrete debris zone of certain death"
"Power lines": "Live electrical mains zone of certain death"
"Conceptual water level": "Hypothetical water level before the water crested the dam"
"Oroville Dam": "The former Oroville Dam", now chunky concrete debris zone of certain death
There, much better now. :-)
At first, I thought that this was typical Snarkolepsy hyping the weather, but then I saw that there were millions of fishes loves at risk and I'm now ready to commit to an 8 percent tax on tuna, but only if we can preserve the dam in its current condition, as a historic monument. DF
ReplyDeleteListen - how else are people in the rest of the country going to have hope that we will slide into the ocean if I don't hype the weather? I mean, come on - that's pretty exciting for California. PAC has the right idea - weather in California means certain death. Better?
ReplyDeleteOMG THAT CHUNKY CONCRETE DEBRIS IS COMING RIGHT FOR US
ReplyDelete:-)