Opinion ID: 1919580
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 3

Heading: Liability of the Plaquemines Parish Government

Text: The PPG contends that its building the shell dam across Highway 406 and sandbagging the swales was not a cause-in-fact of any additional flooding in the Lower Coast of Algiers. The PPG points out that the floodwaters at the suction basin of DPS 11 reached 20.0 feet Cairo Datum at 3:30 p.m. on April 7, before the PPG began construction of the shell dam, and that the highest level reached by the floodwaters in the suction basin during the entire period of flooding was 20.0 Cairo Datum. [7] Accordingly, the PPG argues, the shell dam could not have caused additional flooding since no additional flooding occurred after it was built. The rain began at about 8:00 p.m. on April 6, but fell only in modest amounts until intense rainfall began shortly after midnight. [8] The most intense rain was between 12:30 a.m. and 6:30 a.m. on April 7, when almost eight inches of rain fell. Rain again fell between 7:00 a.m. and 9:30 a.m. Although additional heavy rains had been predicted, there was no heavy rainfall after 10:00 a.m., but only drizzling rain. The PPG officials first inspected the Highway 406 gap in the Donner Canal levee about 8:00 a.m. and monitored the rising water throughout the day. About 3:00 p.m., when the water on the highway was over one foot deep and additional heavy rains were predicted, the PPG officials issued an order to place sandbags in the swales and to build the shell dam. Work began about 3:30 p.m., and the dam was completed about 5:15 p.m. The predicted additional heavy rainfall never occurred, and the shell dam was removed early the next morning. The evidence that the level of floodwaters at the suction basin of DPS 11 never went above the level reached at 3:30 p.m. on April 7 raises the inference that the floodwaters in the Lower Coast peaked at 3:30 p.m., before the shell dam was built. In order to overcome this inference, plaintiffs presented the testimony of Dr. Steve McCutcheon that the floodwaters continued rising until 6:30 p.m. that evening. [9] Dr. McCutcheon attempted to attribute continued rising of the floodwaters in the Lower Coast after 3:30 p.m. to lag time caused by the backwater effect and the mounding effect of the floodwaters, which kept the waters from ponding up immediately in the lowest position in the area where DPS 11 was located. However, even accepting Dr. McCutcheon's testimony that the backwater and mounding effect caused a lag time of several hours after the rain stopped for the water to reach the ponded area from the uppermost part of the basin, one must conclude that the levels in the lowest portion would have increased as the waters reached DPS 11. As a matter of fact, the level in the suction basin at DPS 11 never increased after 3:30 p.m. This fact suggests that the lag time caused by the backwater and mounding effect elapsed before 3:30 p.m., a suggestion that is strengthened by the fact that no significant amount of rain necessary to produce further backwater and mounding effect fell after 10:00 a.m. In any event, there is simply no evidentiary basis in the record to support Dr. McCutcheon's conclusion that the time of the peak floodwaters in the Lower Coast of Algiers on April 7 was 6:30 p.m. (or 8:30 p.m.). The trial court implicitly found that the PPG's construction of the shell dam was a cause-in-fact of two and one-half inches of additional flooding in the Lower Coast, but did not address in the reasons for judgment the PPG's evidence that the surface level of the floodwaters peaked before the dam was built. The court of appeal affirmed this cause-in-fact finding on the basis of absence of manifest error. The cause-in-fact issue as to the PPG's conduct involves the question of the sufficiency of the evidence that a rise in the surface level of the floodwaters occurred after the shell dam was constructed. Even viewing the record facts in the light most favorable to the prevailing party in the trial court, we conclude there was insufficient evidentiary support for the trial court's determination that the surface level of the floodwaters rose after the PPG constructed the shell dam. The stipulations and other evidence clearly preponderated over Dr. McCutcheon's unsupported opinion that the surface level of the floodwaters continued to rise after 3:30 p.m. on April 7. We therefore conclude that the PPG's construction of the shell dam after 3:30 p.m. on April 7 did not cause additional flooding in the Lower Coast of Algiers, and thus did not cause any damage to plaintiff because of additional flooding.