Oroville dam is one of the biggest dams in the US, at 770 feet high it's the tallest dam in the country. After tremendous rainfall recently the dam is failing and part of its spillway may collapse in a matter of hours. If it does collapse, Lake Oroville (California's second largest reservoir) will be released into the Butte County seat of Oroville downstream from the dam which can be expected to be swept away. Everyone is being told to evacuate immediately and drive north to Chico. Several local highways including highway 99 have been converted to all one-way and they are packed. Evacuation centers are being set up in Chico. (Including an equestrian evacuation center for horses. It's a rural area.) As usual, the Red Cross is already in action.
http://www.google.org/publicalerts/alert...source=web
http://www.krcrtv.com/news/flash-flood-w.../330580560
http://www.foxnews.com/us/2017/02/12/off...a-dam.html
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oroville_Dam
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lake_Oroville
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oroville,_California
It isn't just Oroville that's threatened. If all this water reaches the lowlands around the Sacramento River, levees might conceivably fail down through Sacramento (a major city of 2 million people). The cities of Yuba City and Marysville have reportedly been given evacuation orders. (~150k people) Robocalls are going out and police cars with loudspeakers are making announcements in the streets.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yuba_City,_California
Highways are packed with cars all fleeing the threatened towns, heading for high ground in the Sierra foothills. Others are heading for Sacramento and filling up hotels.
Water rescue teams from all over the state are being activated, including one from near where I live that was just interviewed on TV. They are heading to a staging area in Chico.
http://www.google.org/publicalerts/alert...source=web
http://www.sacbee.com/news/state/califor...32499.html
http://sacramento.cbslocal.com/2017/02/1...-spillway/
http://www.google.org/publicalerts/alert...source=web
http://www.krcrtv.com/news/flash-flood-w.../330580560
http://www.foxnews.com/us/2017/02/12/off...a-dam.html
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oroville_Dam
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lake_Oroville
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oroville,_California
It isn't just Oroville that's threatened. If all this water reaches the lowlands around the Sacramento River, levees might conceivably fail down through Sacramento (a major city of 2 million people). The cities of Yuba City and Marysville have reportedly been given evacuation orders. (~150k people) Robocalls are going out and police cars with loudspeakers are making announcements in the streets.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yuba_City,_California
Highways are packed with cars all fleeing the threatened towns, heading for high ground in the Sierra foothills. Others are heading for Sacramento and filling up hotels.
Water rescue teams from all over the state are being activated, including one from near where I live that was just interviewed on TV. They are heading to a staging area in Chico.
http://www.google.org/publicalerts/alert...source=web
http://www.sacbee.com/news/state/califor...32499.html
http://sacramento.cbslocal.com/2017/02/1...-spillway/