Part 2: Residents reflect on where they were when crisis struck
Facebook friends share their memories and thoughts
Remember what you were doing one year ago? This Sunday will mark the oneyear anniversary of reportedly the largest evacuation in California history ... as many as 180,000 of us left to find higher ground in anticipation of the failure of the emergency spillway at Oroville Dam.
Luckily, the worst-case scenario did not happen. State Department of Water Resources personnel were able to manage the situation just well enough to avert the crisis. Still ... it was shocking that there was the possibility. And DWR had a lot of work to repair damage to the infrastructure and still has lots to do to repair public trust.
We asked Facebook friends for comments about the situation. This is the second of two parts:
Selena Aguiar: I was driving towards Gridley to pick up my mom.....over 10 hours on the road. Flipping crazy!!
Jen Deth: Got an alert, I wasn’t sure what it meant by flash flood warning, didn’t know what was going on until I got home and saw the news. Husband didn’t get the alert until the next day. Packed up the animals and bags but never left since traffic was so bad we wouldn’t have gotten anywhere in time anyway. Stayed home, kept my eyes on the news and prayed things would hold. One of the most stressful events of my life.
Johnny Carreras: That was already a year ago?
Jen Danny Binkier: Complete Chaos.. I was watching it all unfold from home..the foothills.. knowing that it was a situation to boost our local economy up a little. Couldn’t go to work.. Couldn’t even go shopping, had to go to the corner store. Our mom and pop store.
Amy Galkin: I was making chicken for my husband and I in the crock pot. It was almost done when we got the evacuation order. I unplugged the crock pot and got out of there. One year later, nothing has come between me and dinner. I hope it stays that way.
Rita Taylor: I do photography I was about to head out to the river to take pictures. I had been monitoring all week and taking pictures thinking we were fine. My brother called me I saw the alert I asked few council members of Live Oak they said we were ok but I went to do something and stopped by the fire department. They told me we were not under mandatory evacuation but he recommended for us to go home, pack and leave right away. So I did. We were heading to Grass Valley area but they had just closed the bridge. So we headed to Rocklin. We stayed at my friend’s one bedroom apartment until the day after they lifted the evacuation. But the hardest thing is not knowing what will happen when you’re a single mom really stinks. Very scary.
Andrea Mangan: ***THIS IS NOT A DRILL EVACUATE NOW*** It was scary!!...in that moment, my husband and I looked at each other and knew what to do. We knew what was important (our babies) we grabbed them and left. Wasted no time on material possessions. Kids and the dogs and each other. Once we got to “higher ground” Waiting for all of our loved ones. Who got caught in the 5 hour traffic from Gridley to Chico. Was so stressful and heart wrenching. I still remember the sigh of relief when they all were accounted for and safe!
April Colleen Crabb: Having to evacuate with my 87 year old grandmother who was disabled and someone mentioning that Colusa county Fairgrounds was open for people when it wasn’t set up with anything, so slept in our vehicles. It took us 3.5 hours to get there from Yuba City ...
Christy Pratt: At home. Husband walked in from work. Confusion between county and city officials was ridiculous. Tried to get necessary stuff. And evacuate. 2 dogs, 2 households, 2 cars. With confusion on streets. People panicking. Traffic was horrible... motels and hotels over charging. We spent $300.. only to be told that in reality we didn’t have to evacuate....
Shelley M Proffitt: Loaded up two trucks , 10 people , 3 dogs and took a 4 1/2 hour trip west to the lil town of Arbuckle which on a normal day would only take 45 min to get there . Spent the night at my cousins house 3 adults stayed in her house 2 in her camper 3 in one truck my hubby and I in the other truck and came back home to ghost-town called Yuba City. I have went through 3 evacuations in my life the 1986 , 1997 , 2017 . I guess thats what we gotta deal with living in the Yuba and Sutter area .
Sarah Diadiw: I was getting ready for my The Walking Dead party. Missed the show and had to travel in traffic for hrs with my ex husband. Worst day ever.
Andrea Sandgren: My husband and I had just got done grocery shopping and was headed home. We had just missed the horrible traffic by like 10 minutes. At the time I had a 2 1/2 year old and 6 month baby. I live up in the hills so would have been stuck not being able to go over 5th and 10th St. bridges. I was talking on the phone with my mom,who lives in town, and her neighbor told her about the evacuation. I told her to grab and go! What would have been a 30 minute drive turned into a 6 hour drive to our house.