You are now in California and the U.S. category.

Gov. Jerry Brown asked President Donald Trump on Tuesday to declare a major disaster for California due to damage caused by heavy rains that hit the state from Jan. 18 to 23. “This record-breaking precipitation resulted in numerous rivers, creeks and streams again exceeding flood stages throughout California,” Brown wrote Trump, saying the storms caused flooding, breached levees, left an estimated 55,000 homes and businesses without power, and led to six deaths. A presidential disaster declaration would make available federal assistance to reimburse state and local costs, small-business loans and other programs.

Water was running again through the Hyatt Powerhouse beneath Oroville Dam on Monday evening. Water was sent through the hydroelectric power plant Friday for the first time since Feb. 10, but the flow was shut off about 10 a.m. Saturday when Department of Water Resources officials realized they needed a bigger channel through the debris at the base of the damaged main spillway for the powerhouse to operate at full capacity.

In the wake of the Oroville dam near-disaster, a question floating around Capitol corridors now is:  Given the amount of money needed for what everyone agrees must be an expensive revamping of the state’s water infrastructure, is there room now for Gov. Jerry Brown’s heart’s desire — the $15.5 billion twin tunnels project? “This project has been subjected to 10 years of detailed analysis and more environmental review than any other project in the history of the world. It is absolutely essential if California is to maintain a reliable water supply,” Brown declared in a formal statement issued on Dec. 22, 2016.

Let’s say you owned a four-bedroom house, but one room was useless because of clutter. You’d probably eventually take a deep breath and clear out the crap. You’d reclaim the room. That’s pretty much the situation with many reservoirs in California. They’ve got too much gunk in them. And it’s crowding out space for water storage. But you don’t hear any deep breaths being taken in Sacramento. There’s no serious thought of removing the junk — silt, sand, gravel — and making more room for storm runoff.

Citing recent events at Oroville Dam, two congressmen have introduced a bill to speed up approval of a new reservoir in Northern California. The bill, HR1269, would accelerate federal review of the proposed Sites Reservoir and give officials a better chance at funding for the project under Proposition 1 bond funding, according to a news release from U.S. Rep. Doug LaMalfa, R-Richvale.