Levee failure is not an 'if', it's a 'when'. There seems to be a willingness to tolerate the human suffering and property loss that might come with these events.

We are an obstinate bunch.

This is a dynamic landscape that is changing at a pace that exceeds the ability of our policy and law to adjust.

[The risk is heightened by climate changes that could bring less snow and more rain to the highest elevations of the Sierra Nevada. As a result, water surging into the Sacramento River and the delta will greatly increase the chances of winter floods.] The state's water policy and all its plans for restoration of the delta are predicated on one flawed assumption -- that the delta is a fixed landscape and will look the same for the indefinite future, ... And it won't.

If these had been in place, at least some of the energy in the storm surge would have been dissipated. This is a self-inflicted wound.

The state's water policy and all its plans for restoration of the delta are predicated on one flawed assumption -- that the delta is a fixed landscape and will look the same for the indefinite future. And it won't.