Flooding worries rise as rain keeps falling
Downstream areas take precautions as a series of storms lines
up.
By Mark Grossi / The Fresno Bee
(Updated Tuesday, April 4, 2006, 6:23 AM)
Several pregnant spring storms have given birth to a new concern
during this wet season — is there a flood in our near future?
The National Weather Service was concerned about the possibility
Monday night in central Fresno County, issuing a flood warning for
areas downstream of Friant Dam. The Bureau of Reclamation, which
operates the dam, said it expected flows from the dam to exceed
8,000 cubic feet — nearly 60,000 gallons — per second by 8 p.m.
The warning was expected to be in force through 2 a.m. today.
Since Sunday, dam tenders have poured enough water from Millerton
Lake into the San Joaquin River to supply most of Clovis for an
entire year. The water has refilled the dry parts of the river,
which drains into the Pacific Ocean.
"The flow is being controlled," said Steve Chedester, executive
director of the San Joaquin River Exchange Contractors Water
Authority, representing downstream farmers. "There's just nowhere to
put it."
North of Fresno, the rain caused flooding in Atwater and Merced.
Merced police reported nonstop flooding calls. Some residents
reported water at their back doors. They were told to go to Fire
Station Company 51 on 16th Street near G Street to get sandbags.
The problem was less severe around Fresno, although residents of
Wildwood Mobile Home Park just north of Fresno on Highway 41 were
closely watching rising waters.
At the Fresno Metropolitan Flood Control District, General
Manager Bob Van Wyk said area ponding basins are in good shape.
Systemwide, he said, the district is ready to deal with as much as 2
1/2 inches of rain.
"We've been pumping all weekend ... to create as much capacity as
we can," he said. "Because what's been happening this year is
breaking a lot of records, we're treating this event as being
different."
On Monday night, some residents of Friant, just below Millerton
Lake, opted to leave their homes when told that flooding was
possible if the volume of water released from the dam increased, the
Fresno County Sheriff's Department said
And more rain is on the way. The storm is expected to clear out
late today and Wednesday, but forecasts call for another front to
move into the area Friday. Yet another storm is expected to follow
Sunday, according to the National Weather Service.
Water in Millerton Lake is about four feet
from the top of the spillway at Friant Dam, which was expected
to release 60,000 gallons per second Monday night into the San
Joaquin River.
Mark Crosse / The Fresno Bee
A flood warning for foothill areas will continue today, the weather
service said. Though no major flooding was reported Monday, officials
advised the public to be aware that streams might be running high.
The rainfall also caused a mudslide on the four-lane portion of
Highway 168 on the way to Shaver Lake. One eastbound lane will stay
closed until Wednesday, the California Highway Patrol said.
"The tropics are feeding warmer air into this storm," said
meteorologist Gary Sanger of the National Weather Service in Hanford.
"You're getting a lot of rainfall in the foothills."
The weather service said there is an 80% chance of rain today in
Fresno and throughout Central California. The temperature is expected to
reach the 60s in many San Joaquin Valley cities.
Rain fell sporadically from Sunday evening through Monday afternoon.
By 11 p.m. Monday, the storm had dropped about 0.74 of an inch in
Fresno.
Fresno's season total has reached 11.72 inches. Now in early April,
the city has more rainfall than the 11.23 inches normally expected for
an entire season, which runs from July 1 to June 30.
The snowpack in the southern Sierra has built up to 134% of average,
while the figure in the northern Sierra has gone beyond 150% of average.
Water is being released from many major California reservoirs to make
enough room for big snowmelt runoff later on. Lake Shasta, a massive
reservoir in Northern California, is releasing enough water each day to
supply 75% of Fresno for a year.
"It's amazing how fast the weather can turn around," said Tony Buelna,
U.S. Bureau of Reclamation operations chief at Friant Dam.
The bureau had been releasing about 7,000 cubic feet of water per
second from Friant Dam at Millerton Lake. Combined with Friant water
releases from Sunday, the water would easily supply a city of almost
90,000 people for a year.
Water also is being released from Pine Flat Reservoir to the Kings
River, according to Steve Haugen, water master for the Kings River Water
Association. Some water will go through a slough to the San Joaquin,
creating an uncommon link between the two large rivers.
"We're expecting the flood releases to continue through May," Haugen
said.
Meteorologist Sanger said a series of storms stretches from the Sea
of Japan to an area south of the Aleutian Islands. The storms are
expected to continue spraying California like a fire hose.
"Some of our most severe weather has come in April," Sanger said. "On
April 5, 1980, we documented the strongest tornado in the Valley since
the 1950s. It doesn't look like we'll get tornadoes now, but funnel
clouds are still possible."
Robert Nieto, left, Jerry Pretzer and John
Williams take part in opening the four 96-inch valves the Bureau of
Reclamation operates at Friant Dam to release water into the San
Joaquin River. Weather predictions and limited storage capacity in
the river drainage system prompted an increase Monday in the water
released.
Mark Crosse / The Fresno Bee
|
 |
Photographer's
Note: Kodak High Speed IR Film with #25 red filter. Old Nikon
FMII manual camera + equally old lens. Friant, CA. I did this
when I was taking my first photography class at my local
community college.
|
|
Obermeyer Hydro, Inc
The second largest component of the Central Valley Project,
Friant Dam is located along the San Joaquin River, 20 miles
northeast of Fresno. Upon completion, the gravity-type dam
served multiple purposes, including flood control, irrigation
and diversion to canals. In a joint venture with Bent
Construction, Griffith Company was awarded the contract for the
construction of Friant Dam in 1940.
The dam was constructed to capture and store water as it headed
toward the ocean, then deliver the water to areas that needed it
most. Once completed, Friant Dam created Millerton Lake, a
reservoir with a capacity of 520,000 acre-feet of water. The
retained water was then diverted for irrigation in the San
Joaquin Valley via two canals. To furnish the massive amounts of
aggregate for the dam and canals, our crews built an automated,
electrical rock plant considered very sophisticated for its
time. We also constructed a private railroad to convey the
aggregate from the plant to the site.
In terms of size and scale, Friant Dam came in a close second
behind Shasta Dam. Around the time of construction, Friant was
the fourth largest dam in the world. At nearly 3,500 feet, the
dam’s top length rivals that of Shasta. In the three years it
took us to complete the dam, Griffith Company provided
employment for 2,500 workers, during a time when work was scarce
|
|
|
 |
The Beginning:
The first concrete was poured at Friant Dam on July 29, 1940.
Four small, diesel-electric cars ran on two tracks each
transporting 4-cubic-yard buckets. The cars were lifted from the
track by two 30-ton gantry cranes and lowered on to the forms.
Steel trestles standing 210 feet high, and 2.200 feet long,
supported the track system. Along the trestles ran two huge
hammerhead cranes with 300-foot arms and a "whirley" crane with
a 125-foot boom. Supplementing the hammerheads and revolving
derricks were a pair of stiff-leg derricks with 180-foot booms.
This system poured 5,500 cubic yards of concrete each day. The
final yard of concrete was placed on June 16, 1942. A total of
2,130,480 cubic yards of concrete went into building Friant Dam,
ranking the dam as the fourth largest dam in the world behind
Boulder, Grand Coulee, and Shasta Dams.
Friant Dam finished in November
1944. In July 1945 construction began to build the Friant-Kern
Canal. The Friant-Kern Canal outlet works are located on the
left side of the spillway. Excavation work began in August 1945.
On July 9, 1949, 2,500 people watched the first delivery of
water to a citrus grower. The system became fully operational on
June 29, 1951. Except for the Delta-Mendota Canal, the Friant-Kern
is the largest lined canal in the West.
Friant Dam, 1940-42
|
|
U.S. Department
of the Interior (DOI) Purchases WhisprWave® Floating Small Craft
Intrusion Barrier™ (SCIB™)
US Bureau of Reclamation - South
Central California Area Office Contracts Order for Friant Dam
Summit, New Jersey - January 20, 2004 - Wave Dispersion
Technologies (WDT)
www.whisprwave.com announced it has received a purchase order from
the United States Department for the Interior (DOI), Bureau of
Reclamation South Central California Area, for installation of a
WhisprWave® Small Craft Intrusion Barrier™ (SCIB™ at Friant Dam in
Fresno, California for
dam
security purposes. The mandate of the Bureau of Reclamation is to
manage, develop, and protect water and related resources in an
environmentally and economically efficient manner. The WhisprWave®
Barrier Technology is designed to address possible breakaway small craft
and homeland security issues made more immediate by the post 9/11 era.
Delivery is estimated for the end of March 2004.
"The Bureau of Reclamation
manages 365 dams, and we are confident this is the first of several
contracts and installations using our unique floating barrier," stated
C.E.O. Dennis Smith.
The WhisprWave® is
specifically designed in a modular format to increase the product's
flexibility and strength for maritime applications. WhisprWave®'s
distinct design and application allow it to withstand adverse marine
conditions such as large storm waves and sustained winds of more than
100 MPH.
Maritime Port Security Buoys and
Barriers:
To facilitate the security needs of the US Navy, US Coast Guard, US
Army, US Army Corps of Engineers, other government agencies and
commercial interests, the company has developed the WhisprWave®
Technology line of Maritime Intrusion and Exclusion Barriers and Warning
Buoys for Homeland Security and Force Protection. The unique
characteristics of the WhisprWave® Homeland Defense Products include
mobility, marine grade design and off-the-shelf availability for
Homeland Security maritime zone demarcation applications, (a requirement
recently mandated by the USCG for all nuclear power plants post 9/11).
About WDT: whisprwave
The Global Leader in Maritime Homeland Port Security Barrier & Buoy
Protection Systems
Wave Dispersion Technologies, Inc. (WDT) has developed the patented
WhisprWave® floating articulated breakwater technology to afford erosion
control protection to shoreline beaches, coastal marinas, anchorages,
and other areas subject to destructive erosion wave / wake forces. The
WhisprWave® is currently installed, being demonstrated or being reviewed
by several agencies including the US Army Corp of Engineers (USACE), US
Navy (USN), US Coast Guard (USCG), US Army (USA) and several US States
for applications that range from Homeland Security / Force Protection to
Beach Erosion Protection to Marina Wave & Wake Protection.
About the United States Department
of the Interior:
http://www.doi.gov/
About the Bureau of Reclamation:
http://www.usbr.gov/
Established in 1902, the Bureau of Reclamation is best known for the
dams, power plants, and canals it constructed in the 17 western states.
These water projects led to homesteading and promoted the economic
development of the West. Reclamation has constructed more than 600 dams
and reservoirs including Hoover Dam on the Colorado River and Grand
Coulee on the Columbia River.
California Dams:
http://www.usbr.gov/dataweb/html/cadams.html
|
