US Appeals Court sides with homeowners in Harvey flooding case

HOUSTON, Texas (KTRK) -- It's been eight years since Hurricane Harvey--eight years of a legal slog for Catherine Popovici and her family since their home flooded along the Barker Reservoir.

"We were trapped in our house," Popovici told ABC13. "Basically, what was really surprising for us is the rain came down, and then the rain stopped, and yet the water kept rising, rising up."

As the water rose, she took measurements with a ruler. Then, once they receded, she sued the government for flooding her property. This week, the U.S. Court of Appeals sided with her and five others, blaming the government, which built the reservoir, and saying they're owed money.

"The government has taken the right to flood your property," said plaintiffs' attorney Daniel Charest. "It built the dam so it would flood your property, and it was foreseeable that these floods would happen, and they inevitably will reoccur."

In the 27-page ruling, the court wrote exactly that.

"We hold that the flooding of Plaintiff's properties gave rise to a permanent taking," records stated. "Even if the flooding of Plaintiff's properties were temporary, we would still hold that the government took Plaintiff's properties."

Christina Micu is another of the six plaintiffs. Her home flooded after she evacuated to Dallas as the rain fell.

"It's just really was hard," she said. "It sucked really bad to watch all the flooding happening, knowing that my oldest son was at home, and seeing the pictures from the neighbors, the water rising up to the door, and me kind of freaking out, like, 'What's gonna happen with my son? What's gonna happen with my house?'"

She is grateful for the ruling. Her attorney, Charest, said it was a big win for the homeowners who did not know their homes could flood because of their proximity to the reservoir.

"Broadly speaking, we won everything that we asked for," Charest said, "With small margins on the damages side, and the government lost everything it asked for with small margins on the damages side."

And while this case represents just six plaintiffs, the ruling could impact countless other cases among thousands who flooded upstream of the reservoir after Harvey, potentially providing precedent.

Catherine Popovici is happy her case is one step closer to being over--eight years after the flood.

"I feel that the claim is correct," she said. "I feel it's the right thing to do morally. I feel that we have a moral claim, a good claim, and so I'm happy that the court affirmed this."

ABC13 reached out to the Department of Justice for a comment on the ruling and how they might proceed, but as of Tuesday afternoon, we have not yet received a response.

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