Levee repairs are needed across America, according to inspections done by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers.
The project found thousands of levees across 37 states are in unacceptable condition.
Some problems include weak walls, houses built too close, and decaying pipes and pumping stations.
The condition of levees came into focus after Hurricane Katrina hit in 2005. Rain and a strong storm surge toppled levees in New Orleans.
Following that disaster, Congress ordered the Corps to catalog all federally overseen levees. As of Jan. 10 the agency has rated more than a thousand of them, about 58 percent. Of those, more than 300 were unacceptable.
About a thousand were minimally acceptable, and only about 120 were acceptable.