Officials in California have ordered nearby residents of one of the largest dams in the United States to evacuate the area, after a section of the Oroville Auxiliary Spillway is about to collapse.
A dam that is 250 kilometers northeast of San Francisco and that the collapse of the structure of that drain could lead to an uncontrolled release of waters from Lake Oroville. At this time, only the auxiliary spillway at the Oroville Dam is under threat of possible collapse.
That is why the towns of Oroville, Palermo, Gridley, Thermalito, South Oroville, Oroville Dam, Oroville Easy and Wyandotte have been ordered evacuation of its inhabitants before the possible disaster to occur.
#OrovilleSpillway #OrovilleDam just now pic.twitter.com/boWzCPoi1L
- Judy Brandt (@judywbrandt) February 13, 2017
The cause of the alert is due to discovery of a hole in the outlet of the dam and that the local authorities try to plug the hole with bags of rocks to try to reduce the water level of Lake Oroville, and thus can reduce the pressure that the spillway is currently suffering.
2.831 cubic meters of water per second it would be being released through the damaged spillway in an attempt to dry up the lake. The emergency spillway was indicated to be able to handle the almost 6.000 cubic meters per second, but it began to show signs of weakness on Sunday.
Water began to flow over the emergency spillway at Oroville Dam on Sunday. for the first time in 50 years of history after heavy rains.
Moment the causes are unknown for something like that to have happened. Lake Oroville is one of the largest man-made lakes and the 234 meter high dam is the largest in the country. The lake is a centerpiece of California's water supply network, supplying water for agriculture to the Central Valley and to residents and businesses in Baja California.