Catostrophic failure of a spillway

[LoopSki]

For those of you not in the know, we have quite the last few days in Northern California. It started on Sunday afternoon. I was with my family at the Boardwalk in Santa Cruz. (Beach town outside of San Francisco Bay Area) My kids had just got on the carousel for the 3rd time when my phone starts blowing up. Friends and family texting to see if we were alright or in need of a place to stay. I had know idea what was going on. I told my wife something is up back home , but no one was being specific on their texts. So I try to get on my phone to see what's happening but my data is at a snails pace and I can only get minor details. I text my neighbor , who replies situation is not good, the Oroville dam is about to fail and they were leaving. By this point we had made our way to a beach side restaurant. Wife was frantic and could not enjoy dinner. I was calm as we were together and out of harms way. My wife and kids were worried about our pets and keepsakes. I was worried our ski lake would be destroyed ! LOL. Luckily nothing happened and it looks like we should be ok even with 7 more days of rain on the way. I think a handful of sites would have been affected. Waterskiing in Nor Cal would have been devastated!

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oFeGGYYz-80

[ski6jones]

Been following intently. Looks like some much needed spillway maintenance is due once the rain stops. The hole in the middle of the main spillway will be impressive once they shut the flow off. Hope everything holds together until it dries up a bit.

[LoopSki]

before shot of the damage, sure its much worse now!