Federal court holds Army Corps liable for flooding homes in Addicks and Barker reservoirs after Harvey

The Army Corps of Engineers must compensate the owners of homes and businesses flooded inside the Addicks and Barker reservoirs in Houston after Hurricane Harvey, according to a Dec. 17 ruling by a federal court in Washington.

The U.S. Court of Federal Claims held that because the Army Corps built, maintained and operated the two dams to store excess stormwater, the upstream flooding that resulted amounted to a “taking” of private property under the U.S. Constitution. The Fifth Amendment bars…