California

With the water level at California's Lake Oroville receding ahead of tomorrow's forecast rainfall, California officials lifted the evacuation orders for residents downstream of Oroville Dam, saying the dam may hold up to upcoming storms although following the government's failure to be forthright with the citizens, it is unclear how many of the almost 200,000 residents who were told to evacuate in the last possible moment after erosion threatened the emergency spillway, will return.

As discussed previously, the biggest priority for California officials tasked with restoring the damaged Oroville Dam as they race against a coming Wednesday storm, is to plug the hole in the damaged spillway while draining as much water as possible ahead of the coming rainfall.

On February 13th, 2017 residents in Oroville, CA, were given a last second, panicked directive to evacuate their homes and flee the area due to concerns that the Oroville dam was about to imminently fail. At the time of this article, the dam has still not yet failed. Should it fail though, California's government may face tough questions about their failure to adequately prepare for a disaster they had been warned about for over a decade.

Residents of Oroville in California have been told to evacuate as the nations largest dam is expected to fail. Approximately 200,000 people living below the Oroville dam have been asked to evacuate as a spillway appeared to be close to collapse. .@JerryBrownGov Issues Emergency Order to Help Response to #OrovilleSpillway https://t.co/RW8XBlLFT6 pic.twitter.com/ULQGjkt1c1 — Gov. Brown Press Ofc (@GovPressOffice) February 13, 2017 Authorities are attempting to stem the breach with the help of helicopters.

The rattling of sabres grows ever louder. Military.com reports that the Air Force says an unarmed Minuteman 3 missile has been launched from California's central coast in the latest test of the intercontinental system.

The missile blasted off at 11:39 p.m. PDT Wednesday from Vandenberg Air Force Base northwest of Los Angeles.

The Air Force says the missile carried test re-entry vehicles that headed for a target area 4,200 miles away to the Kwajalein Atoll in the Marshall Islands in the Pacific Ocean.