I’ve often wondered if it’s a similar incentive misalignment with executives and politicians that helps ignore these low frequency events.
CEOs are graded quarter-to-quarter and politicians every 2-4 years. Low probability events (plane crashes, infrastructure failures, etc.) may not ever happen during their tenure, incentivizing them to defund preparing for them to favor other programs, understanding full well they’re bound to occur
The dam flooding isn't random, its an unfrequent event that will occur so it is something we should prepare for.