The COE gets to play a god because they a) built the levee, and b) had landowners under the levee sign “flood easements” to be used in the event of high waters like this.
People should think very carefully before accepting the first dollar of federal money for ANYTHING. The attachment to regulatory powers might seem like a gossamer thread then you’re hungry for the money and signing on the dotted line, but I assure you it will turn into manacles of the strongest forged steel come “emergency” times.
If the fed owns the rights to who gets flooded and who doesn’t we already know where the racist in chief stands. By-By productive farmland.