A decent drone video of the damaged spillway at lake Oroville. At one point, they highlight the only place where what they identify as rebar is visible in the concrete (and in full screen a few other spots are visible), but it is clear that most of the spillway had almost no rebar at all, and certainly wasn't made to code or specifications. If it had been built even close to specifications, rebar should be protruding at least every 18 inches in both directions and clearly visible at every single break of concrete, as well as holding the chunks together and tangled in a huge pile at the bottom of the runoff, but we can see almost no rebar anywhere besides the one spot they highlight, and where it can be seen it seems to have only been laid in one direction.
Someone should really go to jail for this dangerous, certain to fail construction, but the contractors are probably no longer living, so who?
This should make us all wonder about all the infrastructure in the USA. This was built in an earthquake zone and was still criminally underbuilt. It's likely this is the norm, not an isolated event, and most of our concrete structures built 50+ years ago either don't have enough, or any rebar, making them at risk for catastrophic failure. We need to have all our dams inspected ASAP before another hyper expensive failure happens and kills a few thousand people.
6 Comments
siftbotsays...Lake Oroville dam spillway damage has been added as a related post - related requested by newtboy on that post.
bobknight33says...I have been watching this for the last 2 weeks. Most of CA dams at above normal levels, some at critical levels. A lot of sitting on pins and needles about this and possible Dam failure. Yesterday they shut down the dam so no water is released for inspection and repairs. They have forecast 6 to 8 good days of weather to do dredging and repairs. Hope all goes well.
I have been watching this guy he has been doing a great job.
Mordhausjokingly says...Maybe they heard "Install Heath bars at 18 inch intervals" and obviously those melted by now.
newtboysays...Here's a few still shots of the bottom of the spillway being dredged to open the channel for the power plant to start discharging water. Note, one thing not seen in all those piles of concrete that have plugged the channel.....rebar. Not one piece seen in any of these shots of millions of pieces of concrete.
Fairbssays...' Someone should really go to jail for this dangerous, certain to fail construction, but the contractors are probably no longer living, so who?'
I suggest trump
greatgooglymooglysays...Almost all of that pile below the spillway is rock eroded from the hill, not concrete. I think one of the videos said 1 million cubic feet or so of material?
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