TBD

Abstract

Spring has just about sprung as I write this where I am. Of course, many might question whether or not that even applies to California? What that means is there’s a good chance we are past the worst of the winter storms. If we remain incredibly lucky, California’s Oroville Dam might actually hold together long enough for critical repairs to be completed this spring and summer. I don’t think people appreciate just how close the spillway failure came to being a massive, unbelievable catastrophe. When the powers that be issued the emergency evacuation order for the surrounding communities, they fully expected the spillway to burst within the hour. They didn’t say that it “might” fail within the hour; they said that it “would” fail within the hour. Luckily, they were wrong. It is not clear how large a catastrophe that would have unleashed, but it would have been far larger than 200,000 people running for their lives indicates. That, as they say, would have been just the tip of the iceberg.