W6AIX – A Retired Ham — Personal Blog

The Rains Keep Coming

by sbhoward on February 18, 2017

By now most of you have heard of the overloaded dam and evacuation here in Oroville, California. It has been on all the national networks for a week now keeping everyone updated.

I have learned more about CFS, inflows, outflows, and spillways than I ever thought I would.

But just to show you some of the differences, here are two pictures showing the before and after of the Dam spillway where excess water is drained to keep the levels down’

Here is the Lake Oroville Spillway both before and after the emergency.

As I am writing this it is still raining, with no end in sight for another week at least, making this the wettest winter in many years here in Northern California.

As soon as it dries out a bit, I’ll have some more pictures.

Right now, I am staying about an hour North of Oroville in a town like Red Bluff. The campground is the Durango RV Park and is by far one of the nicest RV parks I have stayed at.

When we get some sun, I’ll post some photos of this park and the Sacramento River that runs right by the park I am at.

Now, back to trying to dry out.

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Flooded Out

by sbhoward on February 11, 2017

When we sold our home in California, we planned on being in South Dakota before Thanksgiving.

But before close was successful, it was December.

I have a 40 foot fifth wheel RV, and I wasn’t excited about driving through snow and ice to get moved to South Dakota.

After some long discussions, my wife and I decided she would fly out and begin the process of moving in while I stayed back here in Oroville, California with the RV and our 2 small dogs.

Rising Waters caused by rains

Our local park selection was poor due to demand around Christmas, but we finally found a spot near the Feather River. That was our first mistake.

After 5 or so years of drought, little thought was given to rain. Mistake #2.

2016/2017 has turned out to be the wettest season in many years, currently at > 200% of normal and the season isn’t over yet.

At first, the Water Resources board was handling things, water up quite a bit over usual, but manageable.

Oroville Dam Spillway blowout. 300 ft across

Then on February 7th, 2017 a large chunk of the Spillway broke loose beginning erosion on the spillway.

For those who don’t live near dams, a spillway is a way the dam lets off water to keep levels manageable.

With rains continuing, the dam levels continued to rise. Over 135,000 CFS of water was coming into the lake from rains and feeder rivers, yet they were only able to let out up to 65,000 CFS.

I’m no math wizard, but even I could see it wouldn’t be long until it filled.

At this point ( 900 ft) the dam basically runs over the sides like a tub would since it can no longer hold additional water.

On Friday, Feb 10th, we bailed and left the park just downriver a short distance from the dam. On Feb 11th, the emergency spillway went into use for the first time in the dam’s 48 year history. And more rains due to start next week.

Sure glad I am long gone!

More to come!

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