Stormwater Damage

In our experience, the most common situations when properties are damaged by stormwater are the following:

1. The flooding should have been predicted, or was predicted, and no structures should ever have been constructed at that location.
2. The flooding should have been predicted, or was predicted, but structures were not provided with adequate flood-resistance due to poor planning, design errors, or construction defects.
3. The flood damage was caused by subsequent construction which changed the amount of flow or direction of flow.
4. The flood damage was caused by the lack of inspection or maintenance which should have been performed.

In each of these scenarios, there is a potential path to identify who caused the problem and a potential path for them to pay for the problems they caused.

We frequently see cases where flooding was claimed to be an Act of God, or supposedly caused by global warming, or aging infrastructure.  This is rarely the case. In many cases, the flooded areas were already proven to be flood-prone by previous flooding. After the flood, the mess is cleaned up and everyone carries on as if it never happened.  When it happens again, the public officials are shocked! ...again.

Those who are not familiar with flood controls are not aware that many areas with flood damaged-structures were previously proven to be flood-prone by computerized flooding simulations.  This was the case in both New Orleans prior to Hurricane Katrina, and Houston prior to Hurricane Harvey.

Also, those who are not familiar with infrastructure management would be surprised to learn that environmental restrictions, design errors, poor inspection, lack of maintenance, and mis-management are responsible for far more flood damages than old age or lack of funding.