Residents of Shiloh, Alabama want to hold the state department of transportation responsible for flooding caused by a highway expansion project.
Residents of Shiloh, Alabama are suing the state’s department of transportation, claiming that the agency’s expansion of a highway has caused repeated flooding of their homes.
As Lee Hedgepeth explains in Inside Climate News, “The lawsuit, filed July 1 in federal court, alleges that the flooding in Shiloh continues to worsen as rainwater erodes the land around US-84.”
ALDOT has denied that the flooding is a result of discrimination against the community, but agreed to a “voluntary resolution” that was meant to bring relief to residents by either buying more right-of-way to divert rainwater from homes or building an additional detention basin, but little has been done and flooding continues to affect residents’ homes.
The lawsuit claims the flooding constitutes a taking under the Fifth Amendment and “asks for the court to award damages to residents to compensate residents for the loss of use and enjoyment of their properties, the diminution of the value of their properties and for damages ‘for the mental anguish of having the properties flooded.’” The lawsuit also asks the court to order ALDOT to fully implement one of the two solutions proposed in the original agreement.
Read the full story: Black Alabamians Sue State Department of Transportation Over Repeated Flooding
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