By Alexis Hunt

With storms pounding the Gulf Coast, anyone can see the environment is changing.

"It's no surprise to anyone that insurance investors have to stepped back and re-assesses where they'll write property casualty insurance. They believe there's a clear climate change," said U.S. Senator Dick Durbin.

Take flooding in the Tri-States for instance. A 500 year flood event happened in 15 years. That's why city leaders, and members of the community met to discuss issues from recent flooding and look ahead to prevent major loss from floods again.

"After 2 flood events in 15 years, and seeing the devastating impact, tremendous economic problems that result. It makes since to talk about prevention now," former Quincy Mayor Chuck Scholz said.

Senator Durbin believes the recent passing of the Water Resource Development Act is critical.

"Now we've got to do our part. We spend 10 to 12 billion dollars a month In Iraq on a war, money I think is more well spent here in the U.S," Durbin said.

Improving levees and locks and dams in our area will not only minimize damage, but help keep farmers profitable and bring more jobs to the Tri-States.

"We understand mother nature can help us, but she can also hurt us. We want to build in a positive way and a economic way to build up the ecosystem around our rivers to reduce impact of flood events," Durbin says.

Many agreed Wednesday that it's best to prepare now, because another flood event could come sooner than later, and it's better to be safe than sorry.

Senator Durbin says, now that the WRDA bill is passed, it's time to appropriate funding.

Because President Bush has threatened to veto any proposal that makes it to his desk, Durbin says Congress will wait until the new president takes office next year to get a move on this process.