Uncertainty and Legal Foreseeability in Flood Risk Management
Publication: ASCE-ASME Journal of Risk and Uncertainty in Engineering Systems, Part A: Civil Engineering
Volume 6, Issue 3
Abstract
The legal concept of foreseeability is an important element of proof in flood loss litigation against the US Army Corps of Engineers. Although hydrologic forecasting and engineering uncertainty address foreseeability, the civil engineering literature lacks discussion of how flood risk managers should consider the legal concept during the life cycle of projects. The 1928 Flood Control Act holds federal agencies immune from liability due to flood projects, so the litigation takes the alternate approach of takings per the Fifth Amendment of the US Constitution. Although foreseeability is a long-standing legal concept in determination of personal injury causation, flood risk scenarios involve many more players and complexities. If judges use concepts from simpler situations to judge complex flood cases, it might bias outcomes. A conceptual example synthesizes the main actions in five riverine flood cases against the Corps of Engineers that were alleged to be the proximate causes of flood damages. Foreseeability issues are discussed for hydrologic uncertainty, channel capacity, the condition of reservoirs and levees, changed project purposes, and land development. Based on these, current practices of the Corps of Engineers to address uncertainty and foreseeability in flood projects are reviewed.
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Data Availability Statement
No data, models, or code were generated or used during the study.
Acknowledgments
Jorge Ramirez, Professor of Civil and Environmental Engineering at Colorado State University, reviewed a draft of the paper and made insightful and helpful suggestions.
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Information & Authors
Information
Published In
ASCE-ASME Journal of Risk and Uncertainty in Engineering Systems, Part A: Civil Engineering
Volume 6 • Issue 3 • September 2020
Copyright
©2020 American Society of Civil Engineers.
History
Received: Nov 7, 2019
Accepted: May 5, 2020
Published online: Jun 29, 2020
Published in print: Sep 1, 2020
Discussion open until: Nov 29, 2020
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