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Oroville dam did not collapse. The main spillway developed a large crater in it that put it out of operation, and there was serious worry about the emergency s
by nostrademons 4y ago
Oroville dam did not collapse. The main spillway developed a large crater in it that put it out of operation, and there was serious worry about the emergency spillway collapsing, but the dam itself was never in any serious danger of collapsing. (If it had, you would've heard about it. The impact of the emergency spillway collapsing would've been a 30 foot wall of water going down the Feather River; the impact of the dam itself collapsing would've been a 700 foot wall of water going down the Feather River.)
Both the emergency and main spillways were fully repaired in 2018, and the repairs have held up nicely in subsequent rainstorms. You probably didn't hear about the repairs because the media never reports on stuff that goes as planned. There are several case studies about it on civil engineering blogs & channels though:
https://practical.engineering/blog/2021/12/20/rebuilding-the-oroville-dam-spillways https://practical.engineering/blog/2021/12/20/rebuilding-the...