While we cannot control the weather, we can invest in the infrastructure that will minimize the risk of flooding and mitigate its spread when an uncontrollable storm does occur. The Sacramento Area Flood Control Agency has raised and strengthened levees with new slurry walls to prevent seepage that weaken them during times of high flows, armoring weak spots and searching for further weaknesses, and designing strategies to cope with even larger storms.
 
But more needs to be done. Currently, we are only prepared to protect against relatively moderate floods that have a 1-in-100 chance of occurring in any year.  (The storms that hit Sacramento in 1986, 1995 and 1997 were considered smaller than a 100-year flood,  which could come at any time.   We need to take our protections to the next level, so we can be prepared if we are hit by even larger floods. 
 
Next steps include levee improvements (including raising low stretches) along the Sacramento and American Rivers; modifications to Folsom Dam, including a new spillway to quickly lower the levels in Folsom Lake to avoid overtopping; improvements to flood control levees and improvements along local creeks and in the North Sac and Natomas areas; and a long-term integrity and channel maintenance program to keep those levees strong.