DPChallenge: A Digital Photography Contest You are not logged in. (log in or register
 
Challenge Entries
This image is not a part of any challenge.
Portfolio Images
This image is not part of a public portfolio.
Lake Oroville's Damaged Spillway
Lake Oroville's Damaged Spillway
aircooledguy


Photograph Information Photographer's Comments
Camera: Nikon D750
Lens: Nikon AF Zoom-Nikkor 80-200mm f/2.8D ED
Date: Feb 15, 2017
Aperture: 4.0
ISO: 450
Shutter: 1/250
Date Uploaded: Feb 23, 2017

Viewed: 257
Comments: 1
Favorites: 0

I took this from a helicopter over the tallest dam in the United States. Until this incident, I always thought my hometown dam was the tallest earth filled dam, but officials have been omitting the "earth filled" part, so....

About a third of the way down this spillway, the concrete developed a hole and it grew and grew and grew. When the operators stopped the flow of water to inspect the damage, the area was hit with a mother of a storm that caused the reservoir to spill over at the emergency spillway, creating unforeseen damage that triggered the sheriff to call an immediate evacuation that affected nearly 200,000 people. If the predicted carastrophe would have happened, not all of those evacuated would have survived. Lots of lessons were learned from this event and the education continues as we work to put it all back together.

When I took this photo, the flow down that chute is 100,000 cubic feet per second. As soon as it is safe to shut the flow down, the entirety of the damage will be realized and hopefully, I will be able to get more pictures.

Please log in or register to add your comments!

AuthorThread
02/24/2017 10:21:16 AM
Just.... wow.
  Photographer found comment helpful.


Home - Challenges - Community - League - Photos - Cameras - Lenses - Learn - Prints! - Help - Terms of Use - Privacy - Top ^
DPChallenge, and website content and design, Copyright © 2001-2024 Challenging Technologies, LLC.
All digital photo copyrights belong to the photographers and may not be used without permission.
Current Server Time: 03/29/2024 07:13:49 AM EDT.