PSA: Random bug out bag reminder

[mislabeled]

Mother Nature has shown us that the S can HTF at any time. Multitudes of people in the path of a damaged dam in CA have been told to evacuate (story if you're interested -- http://www.latimes.com/local/california/la-live-updates-oroville-dam-biggest-fear-at-oroville-dam-a-30-foot-1486999579-htmlstory.html) and this seems like a good opportunity to encourage anyone with a BOB to check their supplies and refresh them if they're past their expiration dates/leaking/turned a color they weren't supposed to/whatever. If you don't have a BOB, now would also be a good time to think about whether adding one to your household makes sense.

That is all.

[L_O_G]

The Dam situation is Cali is scary as hell.

My power went out last week from weighted branched falling on power lines and it was a good reminder to cycle through and take inventory batteries. between Christmas, and camping my battery reserves were gone.

Making a run to the store if the shit really went down would obviously not be possible.

[mislabeled]

The scale of damage to the dam is huge.

Workers in one of the holes:



A wider view of that same hole:


Eek.

[jdhbulseye]

1. this situation could have been prevented by dam responsible parties making better dam decisions on dam maintenance/updates. But.... but, money.
2. someone was pretty obviously pencil whipping their main spillway inspection forms for a while otherwise that hole would not have developed when the spillway actually needed to be used.
3. thats a big fucking hole and they better get some concrete and pump trucks coming quick if they want to patch that mofo before the next storm fills whatever volume they can drain from the dam between now and then and they are right back here with the same problem in a few weeks. Weather dipshits say they have 2 days before it starts pissing again.

[delliottg]

Those energy dissipators at the bottom of the discharge (the four upright pylons) must be made of stern stuff to withstand the onslaught from the water. Given that the sluiceway itself eroded through (I assume that's what happened), you'd think the same type of erosion would be happening to them since they're deliberately placed to interrupt the flow of the water and reduce it's force to the riprap below them.

[jdhbulseye]

Those energy dissipators at the bottom of the discharge (the four upright pylons) must be made of stern stuff to withstand the onslaught from the water. Given that the sluiceway itself eroded through (I assume that's what happened), you'd think the same type of erosion would be happening to them since they're deliberately placed to interrupt the flow of the water and reduce it's force to the riprap below them.

I would bet there is a fair amount of rebar in them connecting them to the foundation and the spillway.

[Guntrader]

Fed and state agencies were warned of this 12 years ago.
The water agencies didn't want to pay to upgrade the dam to modern standards.

"FERC rejected that request, however, after the state Department of Water Resources, and the water agencies that would likely have had to pay the bill for the upgrades, said they were unnecessary. Those agencies included the Metropolitan Water District of Southern California, which provides water to 19 million people in Los Angeles, San Diego and other areas, along with the State Water Contractors, an association of 27 agencies that buy water from the state of California through the State Water Project. The association includes the Metropolitan Water District, Kern County Water Agency, the Santa Clara Valley Water District and the Alameda County Water District.

Federal officials at the time said that the emergency spillway was designed to handle 350,000 cubic feet per second and the concerns were overblown.

[laneends]

The overflow obviously leaked between sections, undermined the structure, and collapsed.

[oneeyeross]

For those of us living in the Cascadia Subduction Zone, this PSA is important. We should be checking our bags on a regular basis. When that 9+ quake finally hits, we won't have time to check it out...

[Col_Temp]

That hole is int he main spillway. The emergency spillway is where things are in the biggest trouble. Here's a different view. (Below) If they have to use the emergency spillway again they are afraid of the water undermining the concrete wall that forms the cap of the emergency spillway. That gives way and you have 30+ feet high wall or water roaring down the valley that will completely destroy everything in its path.

la-me-g-oroville-dam-scene2.png

PS great post and a good reminder.

[jukk0u]

Bump for the bug-out/bug in PSA.

And how about a $5,000 bug out kit to ogle:

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