Not unique to California. Houston has been warned for years about Addicks Dam as well. From 2012. http://www.houstonpress.com/news/if-the-addicks-and-barker-dams-fail-6594886
Is this why flooding has been worse the past 5 years in Houston because they decided to let more water from the dams flow into the bayou?
As you point out in your post, that article is 4 years old. Has the Corp done anything? Anyone know if this incredible danger to my hometown has been addressed?
Not sure. The original article said repairs wouldn't be completed until Sept 2017 so I am assuming NO
That worries me. I have a bunch of relatives and friends living in the Houston area, and one thing that does happen in Houston, unlike Austin, is that it RAINS.
I am not sure if last year was the worst case scenario but it was bad. This also mentions the repairs. http://abc13.com/weather/weve-never-seen-this-much-water/1303369
It's partly because of all the new construction and also because of how the new construction is being built. For example, I think the grading on some of the newer homes are elevated a little so water accumulates and floods older homes built at a lower grade. http://www.chron.com/news/politics/...ity-residents-sue-city-over-flood-7944854.php Kind of interesting that none of these problems are new, they just were ignored. https://www.houstonpublicmedia.org/...w-houston-home-developers-reduced-flood-risk/ The higher intensity rains of the last few years don't help that much either.
I don't the the dam was ever at risk. I think it's the lip of the emergency spillway that could fail. So the main spillway still works, but is just shooting everywhere because of the sinkhole that appeared last week (that is spreading). I don't think they are addressing this yet since the spillway is messy, but still functioning. The emergency spillway got used for the 1st time ever this weekend due to record levels of the damn. A second hole appeared this weekend, this time, on the emergency spillway, and it grew in size. If the hole gets too big, then the lip of the emergency spillway could break due to support, which is why the evacuation occurred. Since then, levels have lowered below the lip (with the primary spillway in constant use). I think that's what's going on. The dam is like 200 yards or so down from the emergency lip.
Yeah they won't let it over flow again. They are just going to blow out the main spillway, get room for flood storage and then do the best fix they can this dry season on the main spillway. I'm surprised they didn't lift the evac sooner.