By David E. Hubler
Contributor, EDM Digest
Nearly 200,000 residents of northern California were ordered out of their homes Sunday as a nearby dam emergency spillway threatened to collapse and inundate the area. The order created a monumental traffic jam, with bumper-to-bumper traffic slowly inching northward away from the Oroville Dam.
State Fire and Rescue Chief Kim Zagaris told the Associated Press that at least 250 California law enforcement officers were in the area of the dam and the evacuation routes. The police presence was there to manage the traffic and prevent looting or other criminal activity.
Officials in helicopters overflew the spillway Sunday night to make an aerial inspection.
By Monday morning, spillage from the dam had stopped. Lower water levels reduced the flood threat, although not enough to reverse the evacuation order.
“The mass evacuations capped a week of frantic efforts to prevent flooding as the reservoir behind America’s tallest dam reached capacity and its main spillway was severely damaged,” the Los Angeles Times said.
Oroville Dam: Rising Water Levels Prompted First Use of Emergency Spillway
Water levels rose so high Saturday that the emergency spillway was used for the first time. Officials initially believed the measure worked.
But on Sunday, more water from record storms flowed into Lake Oroville and water began pouring over the emergency spillway. When officials detected a hole in the emergency spillway, they ordered the evacuations.
Oroville Dam: Aerials show damaged overspill https://t.co/5Xkd4dyY4Q
— BBC News (World) (@BBCWorld) February 13, 2017
California Governor Jerry Brown issued an emergency order. “The state is directing all necessary personnel and resources to deal with this very serious situation,” Brown said in a statement on Sunday.
Environmental Groups Warned of Potential Problems Years Ago
For years, environmentalists and other groups warned of a potential collapse of the massive spillway. But federal and state officials and some of California’s largest water agencies rejected concerns more than a decade ago, according to the San Jose Mercury News.
In 2005, Friends of the River, the Sierra Club and the South Yuba Citizens League filed a motion with the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC), according to the newspaper. The groups said that the dam, completed in 1968 and owned by the state, did not meet modern safety standards. They called especially for strengthening the emergency spillway.
The groups warned that in the event of extreme rain and flooding, fast-rising water would overwhelm the main concrete spillway and then flow down the emergency spillway. That could cause heavy erosion that would create flooding for communities downstream.
But after the state Department of Water Resources and other water agencies said repairs were unnecessary, FERC rejected the environmentalists’ request. The Mercury News noted that the state water agencies would have to pay for the repairs.
About the Author
David E. Hubler brings a variety of government, journalism and teaching experience to his position as a Quality Assurance Editor at APUS. David’s professional background includes serving as a senior editor at CIA and the Voice of America. He has also been a managing editor for several business-to-business and business-to-government publishing companies. David has taught high school English in Connecticut and at Northern Virginia Community College. He has a master’s degree for Teachers of English from the University of New Hampshire and a B.A. in English from New York University. In March 2017, Rowman & Littlefield will publish the paperback edition of David’s latest book, “The Nats and the Grays, How Baseball in the Nation’s Capital Survived WWII and Changed the Game Forever.”
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