Even if the situation remains stable for the next day or two, rain, and lots of it, is predicted to arrive again late Wednesday and continue for several days.
This very dangerous situation could continue to play out for a couple of weeks.
There are now over 100,000 people evacuating, as of 11:00 pm.
There is a hole in the emergency spillway that they are trying to fill with rocks, and bags of rocks, dropped from helicopters. The hole is slowly growing and eroding. If that portion of the emergency spillway gives way, it is expected to lose the 30' of dirt down to bedrock. The presumption is that the bedrock would hold. In that case a 30' wall of water would be released. If the bedrock at the 30' level doesn't hold, then all bets are off.
The Sheriff is reporting that the rumors of looting in Oroville are false, and were started when an individual was caught breaking into a business, that was not related to the evacuations. That was an isolated incident like what happens any day.
I dropped in at Huntingtons on Oro Dam Blvd a few days ago on my way to the Campfire get-together in Tonto Basin, Arizona. Little did I know that those folks would so soon be in peril. My hopes and prayers go out to all those affected by this dangerous situation.
Nifty-250
"If you don't know where you're going, you may wind up somewhere else". Yogi Berra
