Whether it’s a flood of water or a flood of illegals the state of Ca govt is incompetent at securing and maintaining safe borders of security.
In high school one of my summer jobs was mowing grass. I used mow a neighbors yard who was an FBI agent. He retired later and stayed put. I grew up and saw him whenever I visited my folks. He was always very friendly and we talked quite a bit. When on leave from the military I would come and chat.
If I was transferring he would ask questions about my plans for moving and where I thought about living. He gave me great advice concerning choosing a location. Checking stats like NOAA, NWS, statistics like crime rates, demographics and many other resources I would never have considered at that point in time, had he not told me. And yes I always checked flood plains, checked with my insurance to see what info they could provide etc... I never picked a spot based on feel or intuition; I learned to trust in, and to be always guided by facts and trusted data.
The facts are out there. People need to take a lot of info into consideration before they choose a place or neighborhood and here - in this sleepy hollow located in California is an example of choosing wisely.
In the long run it doesn’t matter who is to blame for lack of upkeep or whatever the reason. The facts remains that it would (and did) fail indeed. Just like New Orleans is doomed to fail (witness Katrina), and will inevitably, over time fail again! Physics and hydraulics (at el) demand that it should be so.