Rivers have flooded since time immemorial. It happens ... it's a fact of life.
And yet we homo sapiens persist in building things (including cities) in flood plains, and then complaining when the flood plain gets filled with water. :DUH: That's why it's called a "flood" plain.
Flood plains are nature's way of absorbing a flood and minimizing damage. Until we build in the flood plain. And then we build levees to protect the stuff we built that shouldn't be there in the first place. All that does is send more water downstream faster, ensuring (a) more damage wherever the water can get out, and (b) a hue and cry to build MORE levees, thus chasing the problem further downstream and making it somebody else's problem.
Can't help but think that homo sapiens is a poor name for our species. IMHO, the "sapiens" part is seriously in question.