TUESDAY, FEB. 24 UPDATE: INITIAL INSPECTIONS OF NEW COLGATE POWERHOUSE, ROAD REPAIR CONTRACT AWARDED
Yuba Water crews have accessed New Colgate Powerhouse by helicopter and with escort from geotechnical engineers for additional safety to conduct initial damage assessments. While our facility sustained extensive damage, initial inspections show the interior of the powerhouse was not fully inundated by water or mud.
“We are encouraged by what we initially saw inside the powerhouse,” said Willie Whittlesey, Yuba Water Agency’s general manager. “There is significant damage, but we had feared worse. We have a massive job ahead of us to restore safe access to the powerhouse facility and get the power plant back into working condition.”
We also awarded a contract to Nordic Industries of Olivehurst today to begin construction of repairs to the lower portion of Lake Francis Road to enable safe access to the powerhouse area. The road suffered extensive damage from the mudslides and is completely blocked, preventing access to the powerhouse.
Lake Francis Road remains closed to the public beyond the last residence.
And on Englebright Lake, crews have removed a total of 24 bins of oily debris, with each bin able to hold up to 20 cubic yards of debris, for an approximate total of 480 cubic yards of debris removed.
