the 100% directionless thread

StCEMT

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Metallica's "sad but true" always comes on at the perfect times. Gotta enjoy the little things on the long shifts.
beavis_and_butthead_headbanging.gif
 

Handsome Robb

Youngin'
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If I remember correctly he won't be close enough to be affected by it.

I can't think of anyone off the top of my head that's in that area.

Seems like the biggest threat has passed. Unless they get a ton more precip.


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DesertMedic66

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If I remember correctly he won't be close enough to be affected by it.

I can't think of anyone off the top of my head that's in that area.

Seems like the biggest threat has passed. Unless they get a ton more precip.


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They are expecting more storms this week
 

CALEMT

The Other Guy/ Paramaybe?
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They are expecting more storms this week

News says another 1.5"-2" with this upcoming storm. Supposedly we (the desert) are supposed to get around an inch.
 

CALEMT

The Other Guy/ Paramaybe?
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I work Friday (first day of the storm) and Saturday (standby). Should be interesting since everyone freaks out in the desert whenever it rains.
 

DesertMedic66

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I work Friday (first day of the storm) and Saturday (standby). Should be interesting since everyone freaks out in the desert whenever it rains.
I'm working but have zero idea if I'm going to be at the track or in the system haha
 

CALEMT

The Other Guy/ Paramaybe?
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Akulahawk

EMT-P/ED RN
Community Leader
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If I remember correctly he won't be close enough to be affected by it.

I can't think of anyone off the top of my head that's in that area.

Seems like the biggest threat has passed. Unless they get a ton more precip.


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I'm too far south at home and my travels to work are too far west to be affected by even an entire breach of that dam. Right now there's no more water flowing over the emergency spillway and therefore there's no more undermining of that spillway. A breach of that spillway isn't very likely at this point. They are still working to shore up the eroded areas to prevent further erosion/undermining in the event that spillway needs to be used again. The primary spillway has some severe erosion/damage done to it but aside from that, there's no real danger from further damage to the spillway. That spillway currently has an outflow of around 100,000 cubic feet per second of water and was designed to flow up around 250k CFS if necessary. They weren't expecting that much damage to occur though...

The power station can also outflow around 14k CFS if it's running.

Yes, there is another round of storms coming in a few days but they're projecting this round won't be anywhere near as bad as the last set. Dropping the lake 50 feet should easily allow for ample storage of runoff from this round or allow sufficient time to develop a plan to get rid of enough water so that the emergency spillway doesn't get used again.

Just for info, the primary spillway uses a system of gates to control water flow. The emergency spillway is basically like the lip of a tub: get the tub full enough and it'll flow over the lip. No gates there to control flow. This lip is lower than the top of the dam, therefore water will spill over the emergency spillway long before it ever overtops the dam.
 

VentMonkey

Family Guy
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@Akulahawk good info. The best part is how it sounds much more factual, and far less sensationalized than what's been shown on the news (shocking, I know).

Not to take away from its potential severity, but it sounds a lot like the ongoing issues we've been having with the damn up in Lake Isabella. Our day pilot, my partner, and I just happened to be discussing this after he asked about the Oroville damn on our way up to an Isabella flight that way earlier today.

The comparisons are remarkably similar, and they both made mention of how just last year the water was so much lower from where it is now.
 

Akulahawk

EMT-P/ED RN
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The danger of the undermining of the emergency spillway is that if enough undermining does occur, the concrete portion of the spillway that is undermined could collapse. That could open an unknown-width hole that is possibly 30 feet deep, thus allowing a very uncontrolled release of up to 30 feet of water. While it sounds like 30 feet isn't much (it really isn't compared to the full depth of the lake), lowering the lake by 30 feet is a HUGE amount of water. The biggest danger is if a large portion of the emergency spillway collapses, the outflow would be unbelievably huge. If the collapse is not so large, then the outflow might be able to be handled by the river without much impact.

What got them all worried (still) is that the undermined area is reasonably large so if that entire area let go, it would be bad. Very bad. Probably within a few hours of such a breach, that 30 feet of water would be drained. That outflow would devastate a large area downstream simply because the river channel isn't able to handle a flow that large.

They're draining 50 feet so you'd be 20 feet below the bottom of the emergency spillway structure and you still have yet another 30 feet before you'd have water going over the top of said spillway. Smart move... take lots of pressure off the structure and allow room for the next storms.
 

NysEms2117

ex-Parole officer/EMT
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It seems? Like they did a reasonable job in catching the weakness? Granted I'm probably as far away as you can be lol
 

EpiEMS

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Could somebody please tell me what schools taught some of our posters that it is appropriate to post data/figures without a source so I can avoid those schools?

Also...can I get an amen to this gorgeous (if a bit oversized) ambulance?
 
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Jim37F

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When you're getting a ride to the airport from your mom, she's expressing concern that I don't miss my flight.....while stopping for every single yellow
 

VentMonkey

Family Guy
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I wish more people would take advantage of the introduction thread before arbitrarily posting, and/ or creating far out and obscure threads. That is all for now.
 
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