To add to @eric3579's comment, the work was fairly carefully planned to occur over Summer, and after the water level had been reduced, to minimise the chances that they would get caught out like that. The hydro plant should be able to release more water than required for the duration of the second phase of works.

Their first phase was designed to leave the main spillway usable over winter, so this second phase could commence afterwards. The emergency spillway was designed never to be used, it was more like a fuse to allow evacuation if the dam fails. The revised design, taking into account the fact that the emergency spillway was required, appears to have strengthened it enough to be used as a backup instead.

The repairs would have been a heck of a lot cheaper if they had been conducted a decade ago, although I do wonder if all the flaws would have been obvious at the time.

Former Washington Middle School teacher Kerstin Westcott resigned in front of the school board after detailing incidents of violence, abuse, and fear for the safety of students and staff.

Westcott goes on to detail the following incidents that happened during the 2016-2017 school year:

-"Student set 3 fires in the bathrooms-we were never evacuated"
-"[Redacted] was kicked in the face during a fight and his glasses were broken"
-"Drugs and cigarettes have been both sold and used in and around the school"
-"So many fights that students have started arming themselves with weapons (including brass knuckles, knives, a large stick, and a lock) with which to fight"
-"Student jumped and beaten to the ground and kicked in the head and stomach repeatedly while she was down"
-"Student approached a teacher personally and said he had a gun and was going to shoot that teacher"
-"Student told staff, 'I am going to kill the teacher. I am going to get a shotgun and find out where he lives. Watch me. I am not kidding.'"

During a fight, Westcott recalls an administrator telling a teacher, "We're numb to fights around here. Is it a real fight?"

The letter says 11 percent of Washington Middle School students were in the "red zone" for behavior, meaning they had committed at least six major offenses during the school year.

LOL. Yeah, dont worry about evacuating guys. It's more important to keep filming so you can upload it to your YouTube channel to show your friends.

Your video, Inflating an airplane evacuation slide, has made it into the Top 15 New Videos listing. Congratulations on your achievement. For your contribution you have been awarded 1 Power Point.

Noon report....
Now at 170000 acres burned. 21 confirmed dead, over 500 missing, and averaging <3% contained across 22 fires, many at 0% in populated areas. Calistoga and surrounding areas are now being evacuated with high winds (35mph with 50 mph gusts) expected.
This is far from over.

Rome is burning....where's Nero?

I saw the driver interviewed and he said that's not even his truck. A neighbor lent it to him to do rescues, and he estimated they helped around 1000 people evacuate so far.
That's Texas.

For reference: flows at the their highest out of the spillways were exceeding the flows at Niagra Falls---

And---in 2005, 3 environmental groups tried to get the State to concrete armor the emergency spillway---they protested it would be too expensive and not necessary...And of course, with the main spillway out of action, the emergency spillway has started to erode as well---and 200,000 people have been evacuated. To my understanding---and I'm not a hydraulic engineer---the risk with the emergency spillway is that the water flowing over the concrete "cap" or "curb" has started to...duh...erode the earth below the cap. If it erodes too far, the concrete cap will tumble off, a 30 foot wall of water will cascade over the edge, the the dam will start to erode...

#OrovilleSpillway for current tweets


Orville is under mandatory evacuation as they fear the emergency spillway may fail.
http://www.ktvu.com/weather/weather-news-headlines/235380255-story

Why the spillway may fail from California Dept. of water resources. https://www.periscope.tv/w/1yoKMeddkVeKQ

video
http://www.kcra.com/article/evacuation-orders-issued-for-low-levels-of-oroville/8735215

http://www.nbcnews.com/video/evacuations-underway-as-oroville-dam-prepares-for-failure-875775043662

That was a remarkable evacuation.

Yeah so, a couple of things.
1. It was a 7.5

and
2. as someone who lived through it, and had to be evacuated because of a tsunami warning at 2am, trust me.... it really wasn't that funny.

*nochannel *nature *fear *downunder

Also, cows aren't pets.

I saw a fun Pro Tip about this on reddit.

If you decide not to evacuate the area, write your SSN in permanent marker on your arm to help your next of kin identify your body.

To paraphrase a fire official: We have a three step evacuation procedure. The first step is to warn residents to be ready to evacuate. We skipped that step and went straight to get the fuck out now.

Please tell me this was a lightning strike or other natural occurrence. Because if it was arson then hang that bastard by his toes. Forget the cost of clean up and replacement, the toxic fumes coming off those ties is enough to force an evacuation of the area.

Update: All of Fort McMurray under mandatory evacuation order, 80,000 people. The former main evacuation centre has been evacuated along with the hospital. In this situation usually fire crews from other provinces would be flying into AB to help but the fire situation here in BC is so bad that no BC crews will be going. Hopefully they'll get help from Ont. & Que.

When I was about six I caught some sort of hallucinatory fever that convinced me evil vines and creepers were taking over everything and we had to evacuate the planet.

My mother was trying to get me to sleep it off and I kept screaming at her "You don't understand, we have to get to NASA! The plants are coming!"