An underlying problem with the CA fires, NOLA drowning, Atlanta drought*, etc. is that society in general has this crazy notion that people can build anything they want where they want and expect no consequences - and if there are horrible consequences, somehow it's the government's fault.
C'mon, people!
- Build an all-wood home without a firebreak and fire suppression system in the dryest part of the country famous for annual fires - and if it burns, it's the government's fault?
- Build below sea level by the coastline with just a decades-old lowest-bidder scrawny wall to hold back the ocean - and if it drowns, it's the government's fault?
- Build a million homes in an area subject to less water accumulation than usage - and when the [all-manmade] lakes run dry, it's the government's fault?
It's the nature of any population to strain the limits of its environment at times. The consequences are very predictable. Humans should be smarter than this. (Heck, _I_ should be smarter than this.)
Whether the breaking point is caused naturally (lightning, hurricanes, drought) or deliberately (jihadi arson, GWB blasting the dike, Corps overwatering bivales, maniacs with boxcutters), residents of a information-saturated advanced society should prepare & react to such crisies in a manner born of "yes, it CAN happen to ME".
Tempting fate and then whining that complete strangers didn't do something about it should not be tolerated.
* - something I'm learning about the hard way
Well said.