SACRAMENTO — Sacramento could suffer catastrophic flooding unless the river levees in the region are repaired quickly, Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger, Sen. Dianne Feinstein and other officials warned Wednesday after a helicopter tour.

“We are literally today one storm or one big earthquake away from a major disaster,” Schwarzenegger said at a news conference atop a levee separating the Sacramento River from a neighborhood just yards away. “Now we have seen what happened with Katrina - I think that woke everyone up.”

Sacramento has less than 100-year flood protection, the lowest of any large urban area in the nation, according to the Sacramento Area Flood Control Agency. Large portions of the 2,300 miles of levees along the Sacramento, American and San Joaquin rivers and the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta were built by farmers or settlers as much as 150 years ago and have been little repaired since.

Some improvement projects have been completed or are under way, including work on the Folsom Dam on the American River, but billions more are needed to shore up levees, map floodplains and complete other work, officials say.

Schwarzenegger’s $68 billion public works bond plan would spend $2.5 billion in state money over 10 years on Sacramento-area flood control and assumes an additional federal contribution of $3 billion. The plan must be approved by the Legislature to go before voters on a ballot.

But Feinstein, D-Calif., told the governor that he should consider boosting the levee money in his bond plan because it would be difficult for her and other federal lawmakers to deliver the federal share he’s anticipating. House Resources Committee Chairman Richard Pombo, R-Calif., and Sacramento-area Reps. Dan Lungren and Doris Matsui also were on the tour.

“The fact of the matter is we have a huge budget deficit and a huge debt and other encumbrances, so it’s extraordinarily difficult. And there’s 50 states - you’re competing with everyone else,” she said.

“California is really in a position to take a major leadership role in its own destiny and to step forward through this bond and put forward a substantial amount of money.”

Schwarzenegger said the $68 billion he’s proposed is already too much for some lawmakers. But he said he is open to boosting the $2.5 billion for levees and floods.

“I’m more than happy to go up with that amount because I think that, as Sen. Feinstein was saying, that it would be harder to get all of the money that we want from the federal government,” the governor said. “I think that therefore we should maybe look for more money here in the state. And I think the people are ready for it. I think the people want to fix this problem once and for all.”

The delta provides drinking water for two-thirds of the state and irrigation water for crops in the Central Valley.

Assemblyman Dave Jones, D-Sacramento, is pushing a bill to require flood insurance for people living within a 200-year flood plain. Current law requires flood insurance for structures in a 100-year flood plain - areas where a significant flood is expected once every hundred years.

Schwarzenegger said he thought purchasing flood insurance was an individual choice, while Feinstein said she agreed people should be required to buy flood insurance. Feinstein also said local jurisdictions should stop allowing people to build in unprotected floodplains, while Schwarzenegger said people should know the dangers involved in where they build.