Texas Dam Turns Family Farm Into Lake. State Refuses to Pay
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- Опубликовано: 14 июн 2024
- “If you break it, you buy it” is a simple rule that anyone who has shopped at a Pottery Barn probably already knows. It means that if you cause damage to someone else’s property, you are responsible for paying for that damage. And yet, the state of Texas argues that this basic tenet does not apply to state governments when they take private property for public use. Unfortunately, in direct defiance of decades of Supreme Court precedent, the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals agreed, and now the Institute for Justice (IJ) is helping a fourth-generation family farm appeal their case to the U.S. Supreme Court.
ij.org/press-release/texas-fa...
“There is not an asterisk next to the Fifth Amendment that says the government doesn’t have to pay just compensation if it doesn’t want to,” said Institute for Justice Deputy Litigation Director Robert McNamara. “The Supreme Court has repeatedly affirmed Americans’ right to just compensation is an inherent part of the Constitution. It cannot be ignored or circumvented by the government or the courts.”
Richie Devillier is a farmer who has lived on his family’s land in Winnie, Texas, for generations. For as long as anyone can remember, the Devilliers’ land has never flooded-that is, until the early 2000s, when the Texas Department of Transportation (TxDOT) renovated a nearby highway. In an effort to make sure the eastbound lanes of the highway would be available as an evacuation route in the event of a major flood, TxDOT raised the highway’s elevation and built an impermeable concrete barrier down the median.
Now, whenever a major storm hits, the Devillier family farm and many of the surrounding properties are inundated. The effects have been devastating. When Hurricane Harvey hit the Houston area, countless acres of crops were ruined. For days their farmland resembled a lake. Innumerable cows and horses died-drowned, or just killed by the cumulative effects of standing chest-deep in water for days on end. The damage was enormous. Two years later, while the Devillier family was still recovering, Tropical Storm Imelda hit the area, and once again their land flooded. When they complained, the state did next to nothing and refused to pay for the damage caused by its public works project.
“My family has farmed this land for generations, and we’ve never seen anything like this flooding before,” said Richie. “It destroyed our crops, killed our animals, and caused untold damage to our property. I don’t know if we’ll ever be able to farm this land again without worrying that we’ll lose everything in an instant. When we talked to the state, they basically said ‘tough luck.’ That’s not right. We shouldn’t have to pay the price for a public works project that benefits the entire community. We’re not asking that they get rid of the wall. The only thing we’re asking for is the right that is guaranteed to us by the Constitution-the right to be compensated for the damage done to our property.”
Their only option was to take the state to court, which they did in 2020. Texas courts allow property owners to file lawsuits for takings of their property, but Texas’ lawyers asked to have the case moved to federal court. Once they were there, they asked the federal judge to throw the case out because Congress has never passed a law allowing people to sue states for taking their property. That’s true-federal civil-rights laws only allow lawsuits against people, not against states-but courts across the country have held that, when it comes to takings, people do not need a law giving them a remedy. Instead, the Constitution, which guarantees “just compensation” for takings, guarantees the remedy. Shockingly, though, the Fifth Circuit sided with Texas, holding that property owners whose land is taken by the state don’t have any federal remedy at all. The Devilliers’ claim did not exist at all.
That ruling is wrong, and it conflicts with rulings of both the Supreme Court and other courts nationwide. That is why the Institute for Justice has filed a petition for certiorari asking the Supreme Court to take up the Devillier family’s case and affirm that states cannot ignore the Constitution.
“Federal courts are supposed to be places where citizens go to have their constitutional rights vindicated,” said IJ Litigation Fellow Trace Mitchell. “This ruling turns them into places where the government can run to hide when they have violated people’s rights.”
“This case is about holding the government accountable and ensuring that the Constitution’s protections for property owners are respected,” said Scott Bullock, chief counsel and president of the Institute for Justice. “The Institute for Justice will continue to fight for the property rights of all Americans, and we believe that this case will be a critical turning point in that ongoing struggle.”
VICTORY!
This morning, the U.S. Supreme Court unanimously ruled in favor of Richie DeVillier. Today’s ruling makes clear that property owners have more power than Texas thought.
Read more about the Court's decision here: ij.org/press-release/supreme-court-says-texas-ranchercan-sue-over-flooding/
Congratulations! 🎉
They just did. Won their case at the Supreme Court level. Despicable what Government did to this family.
Thank god!!!!
So wonderful that this family won their lawsuit. Texas (and Florida) have some of the screwiest laws I've ever heard of so maybe they'll start thinking twice.... But I doubt it.
This is great. TxDOT needs to be reigned in badly. They act as though they have a golden pass to do whatever they want, even when local governments object to their disasters.
I bet there were civil engineers that told the government this would happen but they just didn’t care. I hope this family receives justice!
Has Texas never heard of culverts? Jeezus.
@@MonkeyJedi99 As it is in many large projects, there had to be some type of cost benefit analysis and criteria. I'm sure culverts were considered, but perhaps not implemented due to cost. They would've had to excavate under an existing highway, which they would've likely had to reinforce at each culvert location. This is all speculation, of course.
@@odesangel No doubt a case of penny-wise and pound-foolish, as you describe.
They must have advised them to put drainage system in place but it could've been costly and refused to do it!
Or worse, it could have been the intent. Maybe buy up that land cheap and then revert the changes.
Is there no water management plan from the Texas DOT? That is gross negligence.
Right?!?! Edit, I had to remind myself where Winnie was, I'm getting old.
Yeah, mostly south of 1-10 east, where the road down to Bolivar peninsula is?
So, rice paddies and coastal sorta-wetland-ish over there.
Whoever TXDOT contracted with was VERY negligent, almost certainly to save themselves money.
Yeah. This could have been easily modeled out in paper. Don't even need a computer program.
They could have built a couple water tunnels to divert the water under freeway or use smaller pipes and pumps.
This will end up costing Texas hundred of millions in mitigations. The water diversion work would have cost $1 million or not too much more.
Attorney cost to the state alone is in the millions.
When the government claims immunity there is no reason for them to acknowledge or avoid the consequences to others caused by their actions.
@@streetcar6080 Where I'm from 1 million (Canadian funny money) is a pretty cheap highway culvert job... that much water needs alot of pipes. But yeah you got the right idea :)
Immeasurably cheaper to just do it right the first time round
Nobody in government is allowed to be held accountable. Our government has taken on the characteristics of many of its citizens.
This cannot be blamed on anyone else but corrupt government, greed and bullying. This family deserves justice and reparation.
❤️🙏
bullying... and emojis. You've had your ass kicked a lot in life...
Its more like a criminal cabal posing as government
They flood your land and don’t even care. No remorse. Wow
They flood your land FOR NO REASON and don't even care. Because if they had simply run culverts under the highway the water would have continued it's natural course just like it always did. Civil Engineers fully know this, or they should know it, and why they didn't know it or do it is the purpose of a lawsuit.
Well its Texas soo....
I suffer from PTSD from school. No remorse from them.
But Republicans care about the little man!
Its republican led texas, this is well known nationwide
They do what they want, and they don’t care whatsoever. Proving more and more everyday that your land isn’t truly ever yours.
This is disgusting
It's yours, to be taxed on... Hope this helps.
I have to agree. A project of this size certainly had engineers that did all kinds of soil and water testing. They likely knew before they started the work that, as built, it would act like a damn. Having worked with/between engineers and managers for years the conversation probably went something like... Engineers: "we can mitigate flooding of this land if we add a drainage systems." Managers: "No, that will cost too much! That's not OUR problem."
@@kentGrey according to this video, raising the road didn't help keep it from flooding, the one side of the road still floods too, it kind of is their problem.
@@procrastinatingnerd I wonder how much tax revenue was lost because one direction of the highway was shut down
@@edwardmiessner6502 Probably more than you think when people can't get anywhere. Plus, that highway will eventually catastrophically fail. They didn't design it to be a dam holding back millions of gallons of water.
This is extremely negligent. They are not only owed damages, the state should be required to fix the problem. Thank you for helping these folks.
God bless the IJ and it's attorneys
F your "god".
god.... hilarious. Where was she when this was going down?
Seriously. May He be with them. 🙏🕊
@@Failure_Is_An_Option Do you have a better alternative. Many that believe in God, including myself get His Help when evil attacks my/their life. Where is Cesar? Where is anyone?
I've been healed of over 30 ailments when doctors have had no answers. God makes a way. God is who ahe says He is. We just live in an evil world. And while I'll admit the reality of living in an evil world, under the watch of an all powerful God is paradoxical, it doesn't change reality. This happened to this family bc of evil. Greed. And The Only One to overcome this level of corruption will be God.
So where is He? Right here fighting for this family. While those who belive in God, will have loss, if they fight in His Ways, as He leads, they will have victory. And then, in Heaven they will have plenty of land and work that can never be taken from them.
So, again why I don't understand why God allows evil to reign, I recognize He's God and its His Rule Book. So if I want victory and to overcome evil it will only be done with His Help.
*its
I'm surprised that they didn't put Culvert under the highway for drainage totally unacceptable and perhaps even criminal!
Look into who owns the land on the other side . Could be they like it staying dry
How hard would it have been to put some drainage pipes or ditches under the highway? Ridiculous
This is what I was gonna post. That's a pretty standard practice to get water to flow past the road.
Just posted something about this myself. It makes no sense. That is standard practice, or at least should be.
My guess? The contractor cut corners.
I bet someone higher up wants to buy these farmers lands!
Also a drainage system will become very costly without river or lake nearby!!
They did that on purpose.
Organizations like the Institute for Justice is our last hope. I'm a huge advocate for them.
UPDATE: The Supreme Court has agreed to hear this case!
Learn more here: ij.org/press-release/u-s-supreme-court-will-hear-case-of-texas-farmer-flooded-out-by-the-state/
F*** the supreme Court
I PRAY YOU WIN!
They need to get all the farmers down river of them to join in, as those farms aren't getting the water that will soak in to the ground to fuel growth. That water is being held back by this dam.
This is why I give $10 a month to the Institute for Justice. Some day it might be me that needs help.
Thanks for your support! 🙏
@Institute for Justice where can I donate
I am low income disability but am considering donating $10 out of my monthly check. I donated online last month & received some stuff from them in the mail yesterday. After Judicial Watch, I think this organization is second in line for saving America. IJ is a God send to everyday, ordinary Americans that are in dire straits. This particular story about a farm getting destroyed breaks my heart. It's 100% the State’s fault & they need to pay for the property destruction the dam caused. It is criminal that they refuse to accept responsibility. They must be held accountable.
We all must that for justice ⚖️ 😢
@Dr Money Gaming There's a donate button at the end of the video. Or just google their name to find their website.
This man DESERVES to be made whole again and the idiots that did the damage need to be imprisoned. The state of Texas needs to remove those barriers PRONTO!
Or just add spillways...
Yeah really! Why the heck didn’t they provide a dang place for the water to go!! I mean it ain’t rocket science! It’s like the State Engineers are retarded??!
What is it with the everybody needs to go to prison with you people?
They have now raised the highway, so it will itself act as a barrier to water flow. What they need to do is send a crew out to run culverts under the highway to allow for natural water flow. Any decent civil engineer knows that, but this is Texas so... oh well.
I'm with you Winston. Fired and or barred from public office should suffice.
Not only can they not manage their electrical grid, but they can’t manage their flood irrigation as well?
Did you know that 80% of Texas electrical grid is run on green power
@@Goodtimes427 "So renewables only account for 26% of the state's total electricity production."
@@Goodtimes427 I posted a link but YT tends to block those now. But basic google-fu does not yield any results that back your claim.
@@Goodtimes427 And TX electric grid, as a result of over privatization of our utilities, is a laughing stock across the country. Gov't isn't perfect but despite the claims among those I generally agree with, greedy self serving dillweeds are just a bad and care just as little.
@@DerakosZrux it's okay I live in Texas so I know
This is heartbreaking. Bureaucrats who don't have to care about professional responsibility is a plague on civilizations.
Why we should go after them instead of taxpayers footing the bill..
To lose everything you worked so hard for, generation after generation, due to others' faults is utterly appalling. Hope him and his family come out on top of all of this.
No one ever said that people that run this country are smart especially the ones that think they know everything it's a shame that they've ruined and destroyed this man's land and his life and somebody should pay for it I mean really pay for it
A lot of misinformed people think that rulers are smart. Govt cares only about its own preservation, not the people it supposedly serves.
The only problem with the term 'somebody' is it translates into the public, via taxpayers. No individual making the calls, those responsible, are ever held personally responsible. Their private assets are not liable. Until that changes 'under the law', fellow taxpayers have to pay for it. So... nothing changes. My heart goes out to this family... I do wish them the best.
I don't believe intelligence is the problem. The people that go into politics are the same people that go into HOAs. They are prone to powertrips, they care little about others, and they believe in the strict application of rules for others but not for them or the ones very close to them. They also like to create arbitrary rules, assign themselves arbitrary powers (like qualified immunity or the misuse of eminent domain) etc. They also have a particularly hard time accepting they are wrong.
I guarantee you there’s a team of civil engineers somewhere local or state that designed authorized and oversaw every step of the construction
Isn't texass one of the worst states to get a
decent education, like the bottom third of ALL states !!!!
I can attest to what Richie is saying 100% with my own eyes. Everyone's heard of Harvey and how bad the flooding was. The one that is unknown to most is Imelda 8/19/19. Imelda's rainfall trained over Winnie for more than 12 hours. Interstate 10 (now raised) acted as a 5' dam for almost 40 miles! Everything North of i-10 was under water for close to a week! Winnie, being south of I-10, drained fairly quickly. But during Imelda's huge rainfall amounts per hour (31" in 12h) nothing was draining. A rain fall rate i can only describe as...biblical. Far worse than the rain fall for Harvey. Cars at a major intersection in Winnie were floating in that intersection. 18 wheelers were stuck or drown out. Tires, ice chests, wood of all types and sizes and anything else that would float was floating down Hwy 124 like a debris swollen river! Within a day or so most of the flood waters in Winnie had drained. Everything North of I-10 was a swamp for close to a week. The further North you went from I-10 the worse and deeper it got!
I know because i was one of two vehicles capable of operating in 4' of flood waters. We were there all night on the 19th rescuing people/pets! All day on the 20th saving what livestock we could.
This is why I donate to the Institute for Justice. They are doing the most important legal work in America these days.
It's horrible to see animals suffering and eventually lost in this tragic way. I certainly hope these people get needed compensation for this extremely costly and heartbreaking mess!
Please spread the word if you see suspicious farm land grabs that at first seemed to be an isolated incident. Look at the Dutch farmers,
These evil freaks are coming after more than our farm land, they want our souls.
Happening in southern NYS too - but via different means.
Get hold of The Boring Company and have them drill water relief holes under the highway, send the bill to those who engineered the highway upgrade. Great that you guys are taking this case. 👍
Grab a hdd crew...my husband does it (horizontal directional drilling) its nothing to bore a hole and pull back even pvc pipe or something to relieve the water. Where there's a will there's a way.
Or maybe there will be an “accident” and that portion of the barrier will go missing
Littlerally any other drilling company would be a better and cheaper option.
Bravo!!!TDOT was so wrong for what they did. I am glad you fought for justice.
I'm a civil engineer and I got the pre approval drawings for the high way. They are free online at a request by the town or state engineering board.
The fatal flaw was not water transfer tube. In simple terms metal or more and more plastic 10" or larger tubes built into the foundation of the high way to allow water to cross over on both sides.
Standard design feature to preserve the environment around the new high way.
My guess is the firm don't install these from the start and were able to bid the project cheaper then everyone else.
This happened in Massachusetts a 2013 and they had to jack up the high to install them. Every time it rained same affect, just smaller in a 3 block area.
The government has some fault, but the firm that did the work unless the state did the work is at fault.
Deliberately ruining the backbone of this country.
It's not even deliberate, it's sheer stupidity. Not that the govt. anywhere gives a sh** about anything but how much money they can take from us.
The Pierce County Washington government altered a water path on my father's private property causing flooding on his land. It is literally illegal for them to do that. That was years ago. To this day they have not had to account for it.
NYC and Roosevelt stole my ancestors' land to build dams and flood entire valleys in the Catskill Mtns! A few years ago, during a drought, the reservoir water level dropped SO far my Mom showed the foundation of HER grandmother's house and entire village. (Shokan reservoir)
@@lp115lp terrible. I hope one day Americans can look back at the injustices of imminent domain and civil asset forfeiture as something that is as extinct as slavery
Any time gov, or anyone really, causes damage to someone or their property they should be on the hook for 100% of the cost to replace/fix everything damaged, including making up for lost wages.
Then should come evaluations for pain and suffering. In cases like this, where the negligence and incompetence are so profound it seems close to malice, that number should be extremely high.
After all, even I know that drainage is important when building roads. Hell, it is mandatory I think in lot of places to put in a massive drainage pipe on your newly biult driveway when connecting to the public roads so that you aren't blockage the drainage ditch. Professionals who do this for a living? No way they can claim to not have known.
When is Texas going to learn not to vote for guys like Abbott?
As a Texan my state needs to do the right thing and take care of this family.
Texas this is Shameful.
Duhh
You have a lot of Democrats that work in the government,no matter the state.
Shame in Texas? This is nothing. Texas is where Uvalde is.
God bless you IJ and you're in my prayers!👍
Absolutely love the work of IJ!! America desperately needs more representation like this.
Power does what power wants. Government has too much power, and isn’t held accountable. This is a very tragic story.
I've said almost this exact thing before. 👌
corporations have fucked up a lot of peoples lives too, I seem to recall a toxic train disaster recently. or how about the BP/Exxon oil spills. How about big pharma putting profit over people ... Govt is only as good as it's elected offices, and if you want a govt that loves big fascist police departments but guts education, energy, environmental policy, ignores the infrastructure etc etc, vote republican. Yes the dems are bad but the repubs are so much worse.
It's Texas. Since when have the people of Texas had more power than the government in Texas, never.
Sad thing , these are your neighbors in your district that are allowing this to happen. " The Government" ARE your neighbors YOU elected. Think about that!!
Devastating beyond words... My heart goes out to these people. And all people being affected by and enduring this horrible utter nonsense 😥
How much more?!?
Thank you IJ & God bless you for all you do ❤️
You can see the pain on this mans face, and you can tell he has given up because he isn't getting anywhere with this. Hopefully a successful lawsuit can give him a new spark and they can have the state to put in drainage systems to prevent this.
The government doesn't give a $#!t about us... There's no justice in court unless you have big money to force them to care.
Govt must compensate for destroying his hand. God bless IJ for doing the peoples work
I was born and raised East of Houston and been to Winnie many times. It's coastal prairie and I remember when I-10 was rebuilt. TXDOT should have placed more channels with bridges to allow water drainage. These people should be compensated by the state and modifications made to the freeway.
the road owner should have put culverts under the road. having that much water pushing on a road can undermine the structure/ foundation of the road. most roads arent designed to cope with a million gallons pushing sideways and upward. a small amount of effort to inststal a bunch of culverts would have avoided all of thi.
Congrats on a hearing at SCOTUS! God bless you for fighting and God bless you IJ for what you do.
Same thing happened in Louisiana on I-12
They widen it, built the barrier with no drain holes in them
2016 we had a freak storm for 3 days
Everything north side of I-12 was a few feet high, south side of I-12 was dry
They were launching boats on the west bound lanes to help evacuate people
Concrete barriers cause flooding...🤔 So, anyone putting those up needs to account for the drainage.
This is a big case to take on. I'm surprised the DOT didn't take the storm drainage into account.
There must be a reason they elevated the road and cast the concrete portions in place. Something tells me look at the property across the road , it used to handle the run off , roads are built to be dams , but this one was converted to a dam for some one’s convenience
Gotta live these government engineers!
UNREAL!!!! But did we expect better from our government!!?
Fellow Texas rancher here, you don't own shit in the US, that's why I'm moving to the Caribbean!
Literally everything in this country is an illusion. The system has you believing you have some sort of control or power but you don't. All the way up to the 2nd amendment, which is just another false sense of safety. This country is a living nightmare.
Just make sure you live somewhere with elevation because if you are near the coast, you will be under water there too soon enough
@@mf-- that's a very good point and yes I will be doing just that.
Texas already has water drainage laws on statute. Inverse Compensation is due here! And, I hope he sues for every penny he's lost in damages!
I pray that this family will find justice ⚖ 🙏 we went to this town years ago and it is beautiful. Lord please help this family
The expected purpose of the barriert can be preserved and the flooding corrected by replacing with cable barriers. An easy fix for the government.
Yep. Or even just a few of those metal pipe things underneath for drainage. The center barrier sounds like it's causing half the highway to get flooded too. You'd think they'd at least try to fix that.
"Easy fix _for the Government"_
Lmao, nothing is ever easy with bureaucracy.
Honestly, the elevation of 1-10 itself is going to cause flooding. Which may sound weird if you haven't lived in coastal east Texas?
I think the last big flood here in Houston dropped 50 inches of rain. I forget whether it was a hurricane or just a big rain event.
So, TXDOT probably needs to build a bridge and drain channel. The "V" shape of a canal allows much more water through.
A bollard-cable barricade down the middle of the road would help a little, or the steel crumple barriers.
I do think they should replace the barrier with something that will allow water through more readily.
@@grmpEqweer I missed that road elevation change. Sounds like no reason not to have used culverts, then.
@@blueberrymcphuckerson9821 I meant easy because you and I (tax payers) pay for it. But I get your point.
Lord Have Mercy
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There were solutions to this problem, and it can still be fixed, the state not only refuses to do so, but refuses to pay for the damages that they already caused.
Poor people often suffer the consequences of development. In cities, vegetation that holds water is cleared out, and flooding begins to occur downstream
Tough sh!t pal, keep paying your taxes.-Your mayor
This gross negligence of some parts of government will lead to anarchy…
Land of the free...
It's for the "greater good".
#ThankYouGovernment 🤬👎🤮
#SmashTheState
The gov needs to be held accountable.
THANK YOU IJ FOR ALL YOU DO ITS PRICELESS
Sue the state.
This is heart breaking. I hope they get some form of resolution... I really do
Great case, it's similar to the situation in Livingston Parish Louisiana after a historic flood in 2016 that submerged 85% of the parish and I-10 interstate in part due to those concrete barriers with no cutaways. Now property owners' only hope is to invest in an aqua dam because it will undoubtedly happen again and the government has settled that they aren't liable.
I don't understand how someone could just accept this as the answer. Jackhammers are cheaper than losing your home, and some drainage holes won't take more than a few minutes apiece.
@@Fred-mv8fx that highway is probably 100 feet across. It is going to take longer than a few minutes.
@@mf-- I'm not talking about trenching across the highway, I'm talking about poking holes in the concrete barriers. Those things are at least 32" tall and DOT prefers them to be at least 42" tall.
Dropping the water level a 2-3 feet is a lot better than doing nothing.
@Fred if Texas DOT is anything like Louisiana they REFUSE to adjust the barriers. They make some with notches along the bottom evenly spaced but after our historic flood, they refused to even allow our parish to replace them at the parish's expense. DOT & Core of Engineers CAN'T be wrong!
@@SamathaNLouisiana who cares about DOT when your house is flooding?
Get a yellow vest and a jackhammer and take care of your business.
Does the Texas Department of Highways not understand the principle of culverts? For water, for animals, for citizens, for life???
Keep up the fight.
This is what you call doing it 'Texas' Style!
Negligence!
Building a dam without proper permits issued!
Eminent domain compensation!
When illinois DOT put in I355 houses upp and down the corridor started having flooding issues. Land that has been developed for decades started having issues that never presented themselves before. People walked away from their properties with nothing to show for it other than pain, heartache, and a grudge
Sue under eminent domain clause. That way they can't use governmental immunity to shoot it down.
This would be amazing, I don't believe that the unlimited denial of responsibility will ever end. Please prove me wrong, please.
Same type of interstate "improvement" they built in Louisiana. Median divider held back ~5 feet of water on the north of the interstate, while the south, where water normally sheds was bone dry. I believe a couple cities joined in a class action.
That section of interstate ten has always flooded. When HURRICANS hit, I-10 is an evacuation route. Texas knew of the flooding of I-10, that was the reason for the elevating the road way so people could use the roadway in an evacuation. In a rush to complete the road work before hurricane season, the proper study and planning by engineering in far away Austin was not done. This flooding zone was known to all the locals. The water would get high, but would drain away, usually by the next day.
give this man justice.
That would break a heart of stone. Mindless destruction
This is so inexcusable. It would be easy to dig and reinforce drain channels beneath the highway. Or elevate a segment of the highway. Texas was cheap and sloppy. A toddler would engineer better infrastructure.
Did Texas never hear of bridges and culverts to allow water to flow under roads?
Apparently Texas don’t like outsiders telling them how to do things. That and the cheapest method wins and dam the consequences. (Pun intended)
I drive through through this property many times a year and I’ve seen the flooding it’s bad.
What ironic is if a private person erected a barrier that caused flooding, the county, state and even the federal authorities would probably be all over that individual. But when the Government does these things it's like they don't recognize any problem or issues.
at least they didn't lock them up in a CAGE for FIVE DAYS AND NIGHTS
When civil projects (roads) are built, you have to look at the environmental impacts and that doesn't only mean plants and animals. IJ, good job fighting this case and winning!
Good please hold them accountable for their poor planning, selfishness, ignorance and lack of empathy.
Thanks for sharing!
Contact the institute for justice, they specialize in cases against government.
Thank You IFJ
Hard to believe the great state of Texas would not take care of there people.. I live in the horrible state of wi and always wanted to move to TX. I have been threw out tx many times. Now I have 2nd thoughts.
Such scenarios are why I'm a proponent of self-governance, as it extends into allowing communities the right to property/infrastructure maintenance on an individual basis -- which allows residents to make changes that are mutually agreed upon, over a central governing body potentially infringing on the property rights of said residents via the damages or overlaps caused by similar development projects.
There are numerous different ways this crisis could've been alleviated, firstly - surface irrigation: digging holes on both respective sides surrounding the bridge, transporting water away from affected areas into a nearby manhole. Secondly - constructing piping underneath of the road which leads into a sewer via a drainage system. Thirdly, relying on the initial method of water being transported into the gulf.
Well, its Texas, the freedom state.
Leave it to Texas engineers to not put in a culvert.
This goes directly against the Texas Landowners Bill.
This is a sad sad story. I pray that the government has to pay.
Hate to say it, but Texas has seriously disappointed me. And after 11 years, I'm getting out, as my US residence. Nothing sucks like Electrolux except Texas.
We have highways like that around here, but they have culverts under them so that when it rains the water can pass through. It’s not rocket science.
This happened over and over also in Towns next to Winnie.
Take out a few traffic barriers.
This is exactly why I donate.
Prayers for this family 🙏dont give up the fight!
Similar things happen more than you probably think. Several places along the Mississippi and its tributaries, dikes were built higher than the maximum limits set by the Corp of Engineers. This caused downstream flooding to become much worse.
Keep Pressing!
I love seeing the government lose in court.
Seems a easy solution could be found .. change the center cement blocks to metal that water can pass through and create a few tiny paths for water to pass under the street
Great job everybody
The engineers knew this was going to be a problem, they just didn't care.