Dam Breaking in California. What happens to the dam in California: photos and videos

Image copyright AFP Image caption

The dam, built in 1968 and having a height of 234 meters, is designed to collect rain and snow water and control their discharge into the Feather River, as well as to power the turbines of a small hydroelectric power station.

This hydraulic structure is located in the western foothills of the Sierra Nevada, 120 km northwest of the Californian capital Sacramento.

At the end of last week, the water level in the reservoir, which bears the name of Lake Oroville, rose to unacceptable levels as a result of downpours, and operators began to dump it into the main spillway. It is a kilometer long concrete gutter with gates leading down to the river.

Image copyright AP Image caption The water from the spare drain was directed directly to the slope

Then a break was formed in the bottom of the trench (the direct reasons for this have not yet been established). The breach quickly reached 100 meters wide, and at 20 o'clock local time last Sunday (it was Monday morning in the Old World), for the first time in almost half a century, water began to be dumped into an emergency spillway, from which it gushed straight onto the rocky hillside.

The second spillway also began to deteriorate rapidly, a rapidly growing wound formed on the side of the hill, and last Sunday the authorities issued an order to evacuate residents of towns south of the dam.

Traffic jams appeared on the roads, since 188 thousand people were to leave the threatened zone.

Image copyright Reuters Image caption Refugees were housed in schools and other public buildings

Most of them fled in their cars, and the elderly and horseless poor were taken out on buses. Refugees were accommodated on cots in schools and other public buildings.

Newspapers again started talking about the need to modernize local transport arteries, in particular, to expand the key highway from two to four lanes. We are talking about multi-million dollar projects, the money for which will not be found tomorrow.

For example, the freeway expansion alone is estimated at $ 300 million. The town of Oroville, a few kilometers south of the dam named after him, and its neighbors have been asking for this since the 1990s, but have not yet been questioned.

Local authorities would also like to introduce more effective means of warning about emergencies. Oroville used to use civil defense sirens for this, but the money ran out for them too.

In recent years, the federal government has classified evacuation and emergency management plans for large dams

Image copyright Reuters Image caption A study conducted back in 2013 showed that in the event of a dam break, almost 9 thousand Oroville residents would be in the flood zone

In May 2013, a study commissioned by the local county of Bute showed that in the event of a dam break, almost 9,000 Oroville residents would be in the flood zone.

Although news of the flood in northern California and the evacuation of nearly 200,000 residents shouted from screens and newspaper strips and briefly interrupted the carpet coverage of Donald Trump's workdays, the dam itself was never threatened by a break, experts say. But here the final collapse of the spillways would have brought down a water rampart of considerable height on the underlying terrain.

By Tuesday, operators had dumped enough water from the reservoir to avoid the danger, and authorities allowed the evacuees to return, but warned them to be ready to leave at the first signal.

This warning may come in handy over the next couple of days, as weather forecasters predicted new torrential rains in Northern California on Saturday night.

According to experts, the water level in Lake Oroville has now dropped low enough to make room for the expected replenishment.

Image copyright AP Image caption For more than a week, large white bags of stones were thrown from helicopters into the gaps of the spillways

For more than a week, helicopters and giant yellow dump trucks have been throwing large white sacks full of stones into the spillway holes and dumping tons of rock, so the gap must have been patched.

But God protects those who are careful, and the inhabitants to the south of the dam probably sleep badly today.

The California authorities have mobilized National Guard fighters. More than 20 thousand servicemen are ready to help the population in the event of the breakthrough of the Oroville Dam, the largest in the United States. Emergency services are trying to prevent a catastrophe, urgently evacuate residents of nearby cities.

But this was warned about 12 years ago. 2005 year. The California Department of Water Resources is applying for a new license for the Oroville Dam. Numerous demands from the Greens - to check and strengthen the structure - remained unanswered by American officials. The requests said that the dam did not meet modern safety standards. In case of extreme precipitation, water will overflow through the main spillway. The calculations turned out to be accurate. And now on the Internet, Americans blame those who did nothing when extreme measures could still be avoided. In the meantime, decisions have to be made when every second counts.

“It would be great if, instead of sending billions of dollars to Iran, Obama spent the money on repairing the Oroville Dam,” writes in Big_Blue15.

"Governor Schwarzenegger and President George W. Bush are responsible for the catastrophe that happened at the Oroville Dam," blames another user.

"We use a variety of techniques to monitor the situation, people work around the clock on the spot, we also monitor the dynamics of what is happening using video from drones. We are dropping two million 800 thousand liters per second," - said the representative of the US Department of Water Resources Bill Croyle.

Lingering rains brought the dam. As a result of precipitation, the water level in the lake has reached a critical level. The main spillway suffered from severe erosion and the management company had to carry out an emergency discharge through the back-up spillway. However, a gulch was found in it too - water began to overflow. Fearing that the backup route would not cope with the flow, the authorities began to evacuate.

"When this happened, we realized that we need to act quickly. It is especially important to monitor the situation in a timely manner, this allows us to take the right steps. I understand the confusion of people who had to leave their homes," Sheriff of Butte County Honia expressed his sympathy to the residents.

Dozens of media outlets also joined in the monitoring - they launched a live broadcast from the dam. almost 200 thousand people who had to leave their homes are watching with bated breath. The evacuation decree remains in force indefinitely.

Military and community services have been mobilized in Oroville and the surrounding area. The president also had to ask for help. The letter was sent by the Governor of California, Jerry Brown. Despite the fact that the water level had dropped by February 13, the worst-case scenario is still quite possible.

Californian edition, which formed in the upper platform of the dam. If the ground under the concrete wall continues to erode, 4.5 billion cubic meters of water will break through the dam. Downstream cities will be hit by waves up to nine meters high. At least until February 15, the authorities will get a break - two days will pass without precipitation. But by the end of the week, meteorologists predict new rains.

. The destruction of a dam in California is being watched from helicopters. Millions of online viewers watch as specialists try to patch a huge hole. US dam collapses breaking news The California National Guard is on full alert to assist authorities and communities in disaster relief in the event of a Lake Oroville dam break. This was announced on Monday by the spokesman for the US Department of Defense Jeffrey Davis. About 23 thousand National Guardsmen are stationed in California. As the Pentagon spokesman assured, "the entire composition" of units in this state is "put on alert" in case of floods. The personnel are “ready for action” if the dam is breached, he added. The Governor of the American state of California Jerry Brown asked the President of the United States Donald Trump for help. It is needed by the 188,000 residents affected by the collapse of the highest dam in the United States. The population of nearby homes in the town of Oroville has been evacuated due to concerns that the dam's emergency spillway will not be able to handle the pressure. One of the most populous states in America today is under the threat of flooding. The dam at Lake Oroville is watched by millions of viewers live. They are trying to patch up the dam in which they found a giant hole. If the dam breaks, a huge mass of water will cover several cities at once. It seems that this is what is called “one step away from disaster”. It is impossible to watch the shots taken by cameramen from helicopters calmly. And, it seems, even engineers can no longer say what is holding all this mass of water in a concrete pool. California Governor Jerry Brown earlier on Monday declared a state of emergency in three counties - Sutter, Butte and Yuba. Butte County Sheriff Coney Honey told a press conference that the water level in the lake "is dropping markedly, but the evacuation order remains in place." According to preliminary information, this order affects 188 thousand people. Usa dam in Oroville destruction photo

Dam in Oroville California breakthrough

Kevin Lawson, head of the emergency headquarters: “We are dropping rocks from helicopters. We are trying to fill this hole with stones to reduce the water pressure on the rest of the dam and prevent a disaster. " Escaping local residents post photos and videos of the evacuation on social networks. The threat of collapse is caused by the fact that a hole the size of a football field formed in the main drainage of the dam, and the reserve channel was damaged by erosion. The state water resources department redistributes flows to drainage systems in an optimal way, and also takes measures to reduce the water level in the lake. A plan has already been prepared for the use of helicopters, whose crews are to throw stones to the damaged section of the main drain to fill the gap. A dam break in California can lead to uncontrollable consequences, warns Professor and Academician of the Russian Academy of Natural Sciences Alexander Solovyanov, deputy director of the All-Russian Research Institute for Nature Conservation. Professor Solovyanov stressed that a similar situation had developed in due time during the accident at the Sayano-Shushenskaya hydroelectric power station. And if there is a final breakthrough of the dam, then four million cubic meters of water will simply not be stopped. In addition, the debris of the dam itself in this case will pose a separate danger. Russian experts in water management are ready to assist the United States in connection with the destruction of the dam, said Ilya Razbash, head of public relations and mass media at the Center for Development of the Water Management Complex of the Russian Ministry of Natural Resources. “If necessary, Russian specialists will be able to provide the necessary assistance to their American colleagues. For example, we provide similar consultations within the framework of cooperation with the countries of Southeast Asia and a number of African countries, ”Razbash said.

Residents of Oroville, California and surrounding areas have been ordered to leave their homes immediately as parts of the components of the Oroville Dam, the tallest dam in the United States, are undergoing severe structural collapse.

Damage to the main structure of the dam is expected within an hour. After this structure collapses, over two cubic miles of water will be released. The flood will wipe an entire area off the face of the earth.

Oroville Reservoir is located 240 kilometers from San Francisco. The lake town of Oroville has a population of 16,000. The dam in question is the tallest in the United States at 235 meters. The reservoir is also a major source of water for California, Central Valley agriculture, and state businesses.

An old video showing how the Oroville spillway should look like in normal mode:

This is how it looks now:

Whereas earlier the water extinguished its energy, smoothly flowing down from a height of 770 feet, today, after spontaneous damage to the spillway about a week ago

due to a series of rainstorms that have flooded the region, the lower part of the structure looks like a seething stream of water with flying blocks of reinforced concrete, eroding the surface to the very rocks.

Evacuation Zone Maps:

Here's what American bloggers think about the situation:

Flyingcuttlefish: Several years ago I spoke with a volunteer lifeguard from North Carolina. He secretly, fearing that someone would overhear us, told me that they were conducting special exercises in case the dam upstream of a large settlement was destroyed. He even gave me an approximate date when this might happen. The words of the rescuer were not a surprise to me and only confirmed my suspicion. The fact is that somehow strangely coincided and it turned out that the army of engineers of the United States built more than 50% of its dams at the sites of active underground faults and in those places where large groups of the population were gathered down the river. But what if the dams were built on purpose - in anticipation of future events, natural disasters? Or even artificial disasters such as devices such as HAARP. If the flood kills a lot of people, destroys the local economy - HAARP can influence not just the weather, but politics.

Jim Stone: All of the dam's maintenance records show that the spillway was in excellent condition until recently. I have analyzed many hours of video from the dam surveillance camera and in some frames it is noticeable that the pieces of concrete flooring seem to bounce high in the air. So I think the spillway was blown up. Or is it some kind of deliberate sabotage. Obviously, I have no evidence of deliberate digging under the gutter or traces of explosives, but you must agree - this is a completely rational explanation. Even engineers are terribly surprised how this happened. And that means a lot. So I have doubts that everything will end well. If the dam collapses, it will be double Niagara Falls. Or even Niagara times four.

Based on materials

An old video showing how the Oroville spillway should look like in normal mode:

This is how it looks now:

Whereas earlier the water extinguished its energy, smoothly flowing down from a height of 770 feet, today, after spontaneous damage to the spillway about a week ago

Evacuation Zone Maps:

Here's what American bloggers think about the situation:

Jim Stone: All of the dam's maintenance records show that the spillway was in excellent condition until recently. I analyzed many hours of video from the dam surveillance camera and in some frames it is noticeable that the pieces of concrete flooring seem to bounce high in the air. So I think the spillway was blown up. Or is it some kind of deliberate sabotage. Obviously, I have no evidence of deliberate digging under the gutter or traces of explosives, but you must agree - this is a completely rational explanation. Even engineers are terribly surprised how this happened. And that means a lot. Therefore, I have doubts that everything will end well. If the dam collapses, it will be double Niagara Falls. Or even Niagara times four.