What To Do If Your House Might Flood

Something!
Year after year, at about this time, the news focuses in on someone that lives down by the river.  This particular person is in the back yard, gazing out towards the frozen river, wondering what they're going to do if the water gets too high.  Of course, they're also wondering who's going to do all of the work, and who's going to pay for it.
Get real!!!  You had no idea that rivers rise in spring when you bought the house?  That fact hasn't changed for thousands of years.  If you know that your house is prone to flooding, why haven't you built a permanent dike?  Why don't you have sandbags ready from last year, on the off chance that the flood goes higher than the 100 year dike that you built?  What's going on here?
Once again, like every other year, the person being featured on the news was waiting for the Municipality to let them know how high the waters will rise, and if the flood prediction is bad, that person is waiting for the Municipality to bring them sandbags.  Doesn't anybody look after themselves anymore?  Like any other relatively intelligent people, when we bought our last house, we went looking at properties while the spring waters were at their highest, and searched out a place where we wouldn't have to worry about flooding.  When we found our spot, we looked right away at the fact that the neighbor's house was built up much higher than ours, which would mean that water would run towards our house during heavy rains.  We didn't live there for two weeks before digging a ditch along the property line to drain the runoff and keep our basement dry.
I realize that it sounds like I'm trying to say that I'm so much smarter than everyone else, but that's not the point.  My point is that it's just so annoying to know that lots of people (like us) try to use some common sense and protect their investment, while the next person knows very well that their property will get damaged, and yet chooses to sit idly by and wait for someone else to come to their aid.  Grow up!!  Adults should have gained some sort of ability to look after themselves.  Don't buy a house, if you can't afford to protect it.

Stay high and dry my friends.