[adolph]

Hey HN, thank you to Federal taxpayers, who funded matching grants to bayou and watershed changes that, even in an incomplete state, have saved many houses and people. The article focuses on an incomplete big set piece that if fully funded would have likely starved the myriad smaller improvements that have made life better for a large number of people and done nothing for this week's disaster.

Everywhere I go I see the things people have done to mitigate weather events: * commercial buildings with high water dams * freeway underpass pumping stations * new suburban neighborhoods and commercial centers with large water retention zones that become parks and playing fields in the 99% of the time they aren't underwater * infill housing in existing neighborhoods that is raised on piers to protect people without displacing water needlessly * regional sized water retention ponds for established neighborhoods that have become wetlands for migratory waterfowl and local wildlife.

Is there a lot left to be done? Sure. Could what is being done be done better? Sure, we learn all the time. I think learning is the reason why the current semi-organic approach is sound. The glass may be half empty or half full, but the fill rate is moving in a direction of increased storm resilience (which this week is toward empty for sure ).