Their concern, which seemed to have fallen on deaf ears: The emergency spillway is not really a spillway. “The emergency spillway meets FERC’s engineering guidelines for an emergency spillway,” Onderdonk wrote. “The guidelines specify that during a rare flood event, it is acceptable for the emergency spillway to sustain significant damage.”Fast-forward 11 years later. The emergency spillway appeared to be working as expected — until Sunday, when officials spotted a hole. READ MORE:The Lake Oroville dam stress test isn’t over — more rain this week, then spring thawSee photos as thousands are evacuated after Oroville Dam threatens floodsFlooding from hurricane hits lower-income North Carolina residents hard

Source: Washington Post February 13, 2017 23:44 UTC