Houston Chronicle by Gabrielle Banks Feb. 20, 2020
They both sued the Army Corps after Harvey flooding in Houston. So why did only one win?
U.S. Judge Charles F. Lettow found the Army Corps liable for knowingly and intentionally taking possession of thousands of upstream properties to contain the water in the reservoirs following the epic downpour. Using some of the same technical data on Tuesday, U.S. Judge Loren A. Smith issued an unwavering ruling noting that while he had sympathy for downstream victims, Harvey had been an act of God. No one is guaranteed perfect flood control, Smith wrote, and any damage from accumulated floodwater released from the dams was not the government’s fault.
Smith wrote that the two situations differed because people upstream of the reservoirs did not derive any benefit from Addicks and Barker. The very existence of the dams caused the flooding to their homes, he said.
However, in the downstream case he found that property owners benefited tremendously from the project.
More:
https://www.houstonchronicle.com/news/houston-texas/houston/article/Hurricane-Harvey-lawsuit-upstream-downstream-win-15071315.php
