They've spent 40 years insisting that government can't do anything in both word and deed. The party is also ideologically allergic to raising taxes to fix issues like this. As @ElPigto said, existing infrastructure isn't meant to withstand the stronger storms, floods, winds, etc. that are the new normal. Private industry isn't going to fix roads and bridges in rural North Carolina; only government can do that. But, so long as one party remains committed to fixing any problem at all, nothing will get better.