And we can’t really count on the government to do it even if the Congress enacts the funding. Look at what happened with the levees that were supposed to be shored up with federal funding.It got frittered away and Katrina tore the place up.
The problem wasn't anything to do with either the Corps of Engineers or the federal aspects....it was due to local corruption and local politics. New Orleans committed suicide with respect to the Katrina flooding. What got built was a compromise between what the COE wanted to build, and what local residents allowed to be built.
I am from South Louisiana and grew up in the midst of the Corps of Engineers projects to tame the lower Mississippi and Atchafalaya Rivers. The Old River Control Structure is about eight miles from our family farm. The Morganza Floodway and locks were built during my childhood, and are about five miles south of that farm.