It’s tough not to get frustrated with the level of federal support relating to levee construction and flood protection in St. John the Baptist Parish.

It doesn’t take the evaluation of a seasoned field representative with the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers to ascertain that South Louisiana is vulnerable to storm surge and hurricane devastation. It shouldn’t take thousands of homes impacted by flooding through Hurricane Isaac to know this region will always remain susceptible to wide-scale ruin without significant federal help through public works projects.

The need is here. The threat is credible.

Yet, while still maintaining a heavy sense of caution, we think St. John Parish residents can finally feel relief is in sight.

After more than 40 years of study, local and national leaders started telling L’OBSERVATEUR readers in November that 2016 may be the year a levee protection system for the parish could finally get funded.

Six months ago, U.S. Rep. Garret Graves (R-Baton Rouge) described the pace as “inexcusable” — a sentiment shared by just about anybody with ties to our region.

“Heads should be rolling,” Graves said in late November. “We are going to continue to urge the White House and (U.S. Army Corps of Engineers) to fund the construction of the project in next year’s budget.”

At the time, Graves said the lack of a levee in St. John was an example of how failed federal policies are having huge impacts locally and costing “taxpayers around the country significantly more money through FEMA flood claims and other reactive — rather than proactive — efforts.

“These communities have been around for 300 years, yet had repetitive flooding in recent years,” he said.

Thankfully, Graves and other politicians are in a position to do something about it. Graves sits on the House Transportation & Infrastructure Committee, which can vote this month to approve the Westshore Levee Protection Project for inclusion in the Water Resources & Development Act of 2016.

Many thanks goes to Parish President Natalie Robottom and Parish Councilman Buddy Boe, who joined with other local elected leaders and Parish administrators, in keeping our community’s safety on the radar of Washington legislators.

A week ago, Robottom said this is the closest St. John has ever come to getting a levee built; yet, we’re still years away from anything substantial.

That doesn’t mean the next few weeks are any less crucial, because the process of building a levee has only just begun.

“We must work with our federal and non-federal partners to finalize agreements, cost shares and maintain our project’s inclusion in both WRDA16 and the State’s Coastal Master Plan,” Boe recently said. “We can’t wait for someone else to do this for us. We have to lead or we will be waiting forever.”

The time for action is now.