Forget money. How about brain power. Have they got a way to plug a hole in a levee? If so, that would help.
If I remember my history correctly, after the 1900 hurricane which completely wiped the city of Galveston off Galveston Island, the city fathers did the folowing:
1. They filled in the Island, raising it several feet higher than previously. They even jacked up the few buildings which remained and filled in under them. They used sand dredged from Galveston Bay, I believe.
2. They hired some Dutch engineers to come up with and build the present seawall. The idea was so good that the seawall was extended in the 1950's-60's well down the Island from its original western end.
This fix brought Galveston through the 1915 hurricane in good shape. The 1915 storm was much worse than the one in 1900. (At least that's what all my kinfolks said).
Incidentally, out of a population of 20,000 or so, it is "guesstimated" that 5000 people perished.