Evacuation Alert - Oroville Dam Structural Failure

Posted by The Survival Center on 13th Feb 2017

Evacuation - Alert - Oroville Dam

California's huge Oroville dam is overflowing, destroying the spillway that has not been used in

living memory ... until now ...and with more serious rain due later this week, chances are that the situation will get much worse.

Lack of maintenance on the spillway has allowed the millions of gallons of water that is pouring out of the dam to seriously erode the packed earth dam foundation, raising fears of a complete collapse and a sudden release of the entire dammed up lake.

Should that happen, it could potentially wipe out a quarter of California's productive agricultural land, with no chance of recovery for many years into the future.

As we write, the California government has finally issued an evacuation order.

While fine weather is expected for the next few days, the dam itself has over-topped its capacity because of recent extreme storms and rain ... and with another storm coming through from Thursday onward, there is no reserve storage capacity in the dam at all.

That means the spillway will have to continue taking the overflow, which means erosion of the dam's earthen buttress wall will continue, possibly to the point of leading to a total collapse of the dam itself.

We do not want to be alarmist about this .... but we have seen in the past that too many people wait too long to take action for themselves, so this is just a heads-up.

In the light of the Oroville Dam structural failure and weakness, we thought it might be a good time to remind you, why it is good to be prepared and have things ready to go in case an evacuation is necessary. Check out this video about it here.

If you live in this area and haven't evacuated yet, GET READY NOW!

If you don't live in this area, Get Ready NOW! In an emergency you don't want to scramble around not knowing what to take and waste precious time.

Preparedness prevents panic!

An emergency check list of essential items to have ready

Photo ID/ Driver License
Copies of current Insurance papers
Birth Certificates
Cash ( in case ATM's don't work and due to power outages Credit Cards may not work either.)
Food that can be easily prepared like Freeze dried foods or MRE's
Water/ portable water filters
Emergency back up shelter, i.e. a tent, tarps and cordage to make a temporary shelter
First Aid Kit
If you have kids you may want to have some toys, diapers, infant formula etc. for them
Sanitation supplies, i.e. hand sanitizer, baby wipes, hair brush, tooth brush, soap, hand towels, toilet paper etc.
Feminine supplies/ Menstruation pads
Fire Starting tools: Lighter, Matches, Magnesium Fire starter
Rain poncho/ gear
Blanket, emergency
Cook Set ( pots/pans)
Extra clothing and warm weather gear no matter what season, in case you have to spend the night outside.
If you just can't live without them, photo albums and essentials that are very dear to you, if you have room.
A complete emergency kit per person or a family kit should be ready to go.