By DANIEL SUDDEATH
New Albany officials were aware that sewer and stormwater infrastructure needed upgrading before the Aug. 4 flood, but City Attorney Shane Gibson said that doesn’t mean the city is responsible for the damage the rains afflicted on property owners.
Last week, New Albany’s insurance carrier denied all of the approximately 25 tort claims filed by residents and business owners which asserted the city was negligent in maintaining its drainage system.
Several of the torts reported thousands of dollars in damage caused by sewage backups and flooding.
It was yet another round of bad news for the city, as the Federal Emergency Management Agency had already refused to aid Southern Indiana though Louisville was awarded assistance to deal with destruction caused by the same rain event.
Gibson said Indiana case law provides examples that due to financial reasons, a municipality may know that infrastructure is lacking but cannot afford the required repairs.
“Everyone in the city knows we have stormwater and drainage issues and problems and they’ve been acknowledged,” Gibson said. “But the sources are limited to what we can get fixed.”
But Gibson added the decision was reached by the insurance company and not by the administration. He added the administration, at the request of Mayor Doug England, has been more focused on attempting to get FEMA aid rather than the tort claims.
Gibson doesn’t believe the FEMA decision had any bearing on the insurance company’s ruling.
“Insurance denials are based upon what the law is,” he said.
The FEMA decision was formed on Indiana’s damage, while the insurance judgment was based on whether the city was negligent, Gibson continued.
“They were two different looks at the issue and both of them unfortunately didn’t help out the citizens,” he said.
City officials have stated it would take several million dollars — much more than what rate payers could likely afford — to upgrade New Albany’s system to be able to handle a rain event as what occurred Aug. 4.
The flood was a 500-year storm and the damage that ensued in Louisville and Southern Indiana showed it was out of the city’s control, Gibson said.
“That was an event that doesn’t happen usually in anyone’s lifetime, with that much rainfall in that short of time,” he said. “It was beyond any capacity of what the city may have been able to hold.”
William Greer, owner of A Car Doctor at 602 State St., said he understands maintaining a drainage system can be expensive, but it doesn’t excuse what happened to him.
A clay sewer pipe busted underneath State Street after the Aug. 4 flood. Greer said the two feet of wastewater that accumulated in his business was a result of that line failure.
As he walked through the basement Monday pointing out where one of the walls buckled and the floor had risen about a couple of inches, he admitted he doesn’t know what his next step will be.
Greer filed a tort claim hoping to be reimbursed approximately $60,000, and he feels neglected by the federal government and the city.
“Why should I have to pay for this,” asked Greer.
Along with structural damage, Greer said the business’s elevator has also been damaged. Until the damage to the building is fixed, he said getting flood insurance would be expensive because future flooding could be blamed on the lack of repair.
Despite substantial rains, A Car Doctor hasn’t been flooded since the sewer line under State Street was repaired, Greer said.
But according to Greer’s records, his business went from taking in between $8,000 and $10,000 a week down to a $144 weekly while the line was being repaired and wastewater was being pumped out of his building.
Council will be asked for help
A request will be before the City Council in time for its Dec. 7 meeting asking the body to appropriate discretionary funds for the flood victims, starting with those that filed tort claims, Gibson said.
The ordinance is not ready yet, and the monetary figure is still being decided, but Gibson said the Economic Development Income Tax fund would be the likely choice for the appropriation.
Gibson said he began wording the ordinance at the request of England and Council President Dan Coffey as a way to try and bring some relief to flood victims.
A meeting will be scheduled in two weeks to give flood victims an opportunity to talk about the ordinance and offer their suggestions, Coffey said.
“We are going to have some remedy for them, we just have to decide how much,” Coffey said. “This is pretty much a one-time deal. We’re hoping nothing like this ever happens again. We just don’t want to see the people suffer.”
